The Contest

For now, the scene returned to Xu Xingyu. After saying goodbye to Wang Dong'er and Jiang Nannan in the cafeteria, he took Xu Yanxue to their class, Class Nine.

When Xu Xingyu and Xu Yanxue arrived, their good looks immediately made them the center of attention. Before long, a crowd of boys and girls surrounded them, all hoping to get their contact information.

Xu Yanxue grew impatient and loudly declared that Xu Xingyu was the only one she liked, telling everyone else to stop bothering her! As soon as she said it, every boy in the class turned hostile toward him.

After all, a goddess of ice and snow as beautiful as Xu Yanxue was already together with some pretty boy who had come from who knew where! Every boy in Class Nine swore to himself that he would defeat the pretty boy and prove he was the better match!

Xu Xingyu could only sigh helplessly. He had expected this situation, and in his view, things would only get messier if he did not use his strength to suppress them.

While Xu Xingyu was thinking about how to establish his authority in the class, a young woman who looked to be around thirty walked into the classroom. She was Mu Jin, the homeroom teacher of Freshman Class Nine.

With Mu Jin's arrival, the class began to quiet down. Seeing that no one present was making a fuss, he introduced himself and prepared to begin the day's lesson.

Before that, however, Mu Jin explained Shrek Academy's examination system and warned every student present to take each exam seriously. If they failed, the academy would expel them.

Shrek Academy never lacked geniuses. Even those who withdrew from the academy were bound to be geniuses, but Shrek Academy wanted monsters, not ordinary geniuses.

So they should not treat their studies at Shrek Academy as a game. They had to take every course at Shrek seriously. Only then would they have a chance to go from geniuses to monsters and become students of the legendary inner court.

On hearing how strict Shrek Academy's examination system was, the students who had come expecting to play around began to put aside their carefree attitudes and prepare to pay attention.

Mu Jin smiled with relief as the students gradually became more well-behaved. He then announced that there would be no lesson today; instead, they would choose a class monitor and vice monitor.

Mu Jin proposed that Xu Xingyu, who had the highest Soul Power cultivation of anyone present, serve as class monitor. Most of the students were displeased, but fortunately, Mu Jin added that anyone who objected could challenge Xu Xingyu, and if they won, they could replace him as monitor.

That made Xu Xingyu the target of everyone's arrows once again. He looked troubled by the fact, since he did not want such a thankless job.

Being class monitor at Shrek Academy meant no pay, no benefits, and being shoved out to take a bullet when there was nothing else going on. Who would take such a position for no reason?

So Xu Xingyu raised his hand and said he had no intention of being class monitor, asking Teacher Mu Jin to choose someone else for the position.

Mu Jin was somewhat troubled by a thorn like Xu Xingyu, and also a little puzzled.

After all, children that age were usually full of hot blood and easily drawn in by the glory before their eyes.

Why did the boy before him seem so old and decrepit? Or, more precisely, why did he give off the air of a salted fish?

For Xu Xingyu, that attitude was quite normal. He had already reincarnated three times.

Although he could recall little of his first life, in his second he had at least been a university graduate just entering society. Mentally, he was long past the age of hot-blooded enthusiasm.

Just then, however, a grating voice rang out. "A pretty boy, just as I thought. He's good for nothing but his looks."

A girl with short red hair looked at Xu Xingyu disdainfully and continued, "The student with the highest Soul Power in the class? I say he's a turtle hiding in its shell. A Soul Master like Ning Tian should be the class monitor!"

The girl was named Wu Feng, and the Ning Tian she spoke of was the young mistress she served and the person she loved.

Ning Tian was a petite, adorable girl with yellow hair. Her Martial Soul was the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, famed as the finest support-type Martial Soul under heaven, and despite her young age, she had already reached rank thirty-one. She was also the young sect master whom the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect was focusing on nurturing.

Ten thousand years ago, Nine Treasure Douluo Ning Rongrong had come from that sect, and she had been the first person to evolve her Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.

Unfortunately, no one had succeeded in evolving their Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda since Ning Rongrong.

Although Ning Tian's Martial Soul was also an ordinary Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, far inferior to the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, her support abilities were extraordinarily formidable, and she was fully qualified to be class monitor.

After Wu Feng's barrage of mockery, however, Xu Xingyu abandoned his salted-fish attitude and said in a low voice, "Teacher Mu, I take back what I said. I won't give up the position of class monitor."

"You!" Wu Feng looked at Xu Xingyu as though flames were shooting from her eyes, like some combustible object.

Xu Xingyu answered disdainfully, "You what? If you want to fight for the monitor position for your friend, hurry up and beat me! If you don't dare, then quit spouting bullshit!"

"Fine! As if I'm scared of you! Let's go to the Soul Fighting Arena right now!"

But just as Wu Feng rolled up her sleeves and prepared to go all-out against Xu Xingyu in the Soul Fighting Arena, his voice stopped her.

"Idiot, I said both of you. Since Ning Tian, a support-type, wants to run for class monitor, she has to take the field and show everyone her support abilities to convince them, right? Otherwise, she's just a fragile flower who can only hide behind you."

"You! Don't you regret this!"

Ning Tian, who had been watching from the side the whole time, saw that her best friend was being led around by the nose and had dragged her into it as well. She could only sigh helplessly.

Her best friend was good in every way, except that for some reason, she had a mysterious sort of confidence in Ning Tian, believing that nothing in the world could compare to her.

Of course, what troubled Ning Tian most was Wu Feng's feelings for her. She was not blind, after all; it was not hard to see how Wu Feng felt.

The problem was that they were both girls, and girls could not have descendants together.

As the next sect master of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Tian had a responsibility to have descendants of her own, because only then could the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda continue to be passed down on this continent.

She would inevitably have to marry someone. If she failed to fulfill her responsibility to pass down the Martial Soul, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul would die out sooner or later.

Not everyone could be like Ning Rongrong, completely disregard her sect's future, ascend straight to the Divine Realm, and never again concern herself with anything to do with the sect.

Returning to the dispute between Xu Xingyu and Wu Feng, Mu Jin took the students of Class Nine to the Soul Fighting Arena and allowed Wu Feng and Ning Tian to face Xu Xingyu together.

That was partly because Xu Xingyu's Soul Power Level was too high, and partly because Wu Feng was fighting for the monitor position on Ning Tian's behalf, so Ning Tian also had to take the field and demonstrate her support abilities.

Before long, they took their positions. When the whistle sounded, both sides released their Martial Souls and Soul Rings.

Wu Feng's Martial Soul was the Red Dragon, which possessed dragon blood. She had two Hundred-Year Soul Rings and was a Soul Grandmaster at around rank twenty-two. Her partner Ning Tian's Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul had three Soul Rings in the standard configuration of two yellow and one purple, and she was a Soul Elder at around rank thirty-one.

Compared with Xu Xingyu's three purple-black Soul Rings, however, theirs looked unremarkable. As the two girls looked at his three Soul Rings that were nearly ten thousand years old, their expressions grew grave.

When Mu Jin had said Xu Xingyu had the highest Soul Power Level in the class, they had assumed he was a Soul Elder at most. They truly had not expected him to have such a terrifying Soul Ring configuration!

Wu Feng was already starting to regret provoking Xu Xingyu so casually. She had thought that with Ning Tian's support, facing a Soul Elder would be no problem, but who could have known that this freak would have such an incredible Soul Ring configuration on top of his Soul Elder cultivation! Even if he had started cultivating in his mother's womb, he couldn't possibly have achieved this, could he?

Ning Tian, meanwhile, thought of the Spirit Contract Pagoda, a faction established in the past few years. It was possible for someone from there to have such a Soul Ring configuration. After all, she had heard that they could place seals on Soul Spirits, allowing Soul Masters to fuse with Soul Spirits beyond their limits, then gradually raise their levels before unsealing them.

But the match had already begun, and such matters could only wait. Ning Tian called out in a melodious voice, "The seven treasures turn, and glazed light shines. The first is strength! The second is release! The third is speed!"

The battle between the two sides officially began.