The Swiftly Skipped-Over Freshman Assessment Arc

"Aunt, although I respect your teaching philosophy, unless Shrek Academy changes its educational policy, doing this will only leave you more and more disappointed.

"Even counting the specially recruited students from the Soul Tool Department, only four hundred and sixty first-years can pass the freshman assessment. That's less than half of all the freshmen.

"Judging by their Soul Power cultivation, more than half the students who haven't reached two rings will be eliminated. Aunt, you just need to do your best. Leave the rest... to luck."

Recalling Shrek Academy's freshman assessment system, Bai Jingtian frowned as he tried to persuade her.

"Jingtian, perhaps you're right, but as a teacher, there are still things I have to do."

"All right, then I'll take those two from the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect and bring back the championship, so you can have an easier time.

"Also, Aunt, you can start preparing the lesson plans for the class you'll lead after the freshman assessment."

Seeing that his persuasion was doing little good, Bai Jingtian ultimately dropped the subject.

He wasn't a teacher, so perhaps he really did lack a teacher's perspective.

He wasn't particularly interested in winning the freshman assessment, but to repay his aunt, he would take the championship cleanly and decisively with overwhelming strength.

A week passed quickly. No one in the class wanted to go to the Soul Tool Department, and no one proposed changing their lineup either.

To prepare for the packed schedule, Mu Jin increased the proportion of physical education and practical combat classes, letting the students get used to the freshman assessment's hellish schedule in advance.

What decent person made people fight five matches in a row in a single day? This was even more deranged than playing a BO10 in one day. Did they really think these level-ten and level-twenty Soul Masters had stamina on the level of the One Piece world, where people could casually fight for three days and three nights without stopping?

Even students taught by a teacher like Zhou Yi, who regularly tormented her students, couldn't adapt to this hellish schedule, could they?

By the later matches, it would turn into a mess of favors and weaklings pecking at each other. Against a slightly stronger opponent, they would surrender outright to conserve their strength, but against an evenly matched one, it would be "The fate of the empire rests on this one battle"?!

What kind of Showa style was this?

In that case, Bai Jingtian could fight poison with poison, use Showa style himself, and stage a "the lower overthrows the higher" to destroy Shrek Academy, couldn't he?

"Besides, weapons are allowed, but Soul Tools aren't...

"This is killing me. What if someone brings a poisoned weapon? Wouldn't they fucking kill any god who stood in their way?!"

Bai Jingtian quickly led Ning Tian and Wu Feng through the freshman assessment. Afterward, watching the students in the other arenas fight desperately in their respective battles for honor or life and death, he couldn't help muttering under his breath.

To save time, Bai Jingtian and his teammates simply stopped concealing their strength and went all out from the start.

He met little resistance, however. No freshman was willing to face the wrath of a Soul Elder with a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, much less one who was also a Magnetic Field Maniac.

Although Bai Jingtian had yet to show his maniac side in front of outsiders, no one would want to see it.

Besides, although losing all five of their first matches would mean elimination, they had no reason to face an opponent they simply couldn't defeat.

Bai Jingtian also took the opportunity to observe the members of several other outstanding teams. Unsurprisingly, those members had plenty of time on their hands too.

Whether it was the "Zhou Yi and Tang Ya Victims' Alliance" team of Wang Dong, Huo Yutong, and Xiao Xiao, or the other two teams led by Soul Elders, they all looked quite relaxed in the end.

But when Bai Jingtian returned to the classroom, he was very surprised by the atmosphere in the class.

"So everyone passed... I thought... Wait, everyone passed?!"

Only after sitting down did Bai Jingtian realize what that meant, nearly launching himself out of his seat.

Mu Jin's class had ninety-nine students, nearly its full capacity. It was nothing like the class led by Zhou Yi, which had been decimated by expulsions.

Even though the students in Mu Jin's class were better on average than those in Zhou Yi's, and Bai Jingtian's shining example had sparked a healthy cultivation craze throughout the class, his understanding of the class as its vice class monitor had led him to expect roughly nine to fifteen people to leave Shrek Academy in dejection.

Yet the entire class had actually passed?

The odds of that were even lower than the odds of his hometown team, Dalian Yingbo, winning the Chinese Super League!

After all, Dalian Yingbo was only a team fighting relegation, and its former glory had vanished into ashes with the departure of Dalian Shide.

Although Chengdu Rongcheng had been in poor form lately, there were still four rounds left in the league. Surely they wouldn't really fail to earn even a single point?

Then perhaps they really could make entirely new history, even surpassing a certain spinning-top team.

Speaking of which, wasn't Chengdu Rongcheng's team emblem a spinning top too?

I hear you say, the morning sun rises and falls...

"Congratulations, everyone. No one in the class was eliminated, and after this freshman assessment, you can all continue studying at Shrek Academy.

"In addition, twenty teams have successfully advanced to the final sixty-four of the freshman assessment. This is the moment when you can truly prove your outstanding strength.

"Your teacher has seen all the hard work you've put in over the past three months. You can relax over the next few days and get yourselves in the right frame of mind.

"As for those of you who made the top sixty-four, don't push yourselves too hard. Although the upcoming fights won't be as frequent, they'll only become more intense.

"More than rankings that don't even come with rewards, your teacher hopes you can return safely."

Mu Jin said a few more things about the top-sixty-four knockout rounds, then dismissed class early so everyone could get a good rest.

Bai Jingtian, meanwhile, took Ning Tian and Wu Feng to Mu Jin's office once again.

After the three entered the office, Mu Jin immediately placed a stack of documents in front of them.

"I put together this information on the championship-contending teams from the other classes. Take it back and have a look.

"Although I believe in your strength, Soul Masters have all kinds of bizarre abilities. If some special ability even I don't know about turns up, and it happens to counter yours, you could run into trouble."

"All right." Bai Jingtian said nothing more and took the documents.

Although Douluo Continent was the sewer of the fantasy genre, it had no shortage of freakish mechanics, especially now, in the early-to-middle part of the story, when mechanic freaks who appeared only briefly were as plentiful as carp crossing a river.

Cao Jinxuan, for example, possessed the prestigious ability to manipulate time, with both Time Stop and Time Rewind. In JoJo, he would have been a major villain at the very least.

And Huo Yutong and her teammates had some downright hellish mechanics too. Even without a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, they couldn't be underestimated.

As for Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu's Hell White Tiger, under normal circumstances, it was even more unbeatable. As long as no one baited it out of them early and they could use it normally in the final, the championship was as good as theirs.

By comparison, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda had nothing but brute force to send bricks flying...