And then, Xu Sanshi slept with Jiang Nannan. The ridiculous part? Xu Sanshi, the idiot, had learned the wrong way to do it after secretly watching his uncles' bedroom antics. He went in through the backdoor—yeah, that backdoor—so his martial soul bloodline only awakened halfway. Jiang Nannan was terrified and ran off, developing a psychological shadow that haunted her ever since.
Later, the two of them resolved their issues in the Valley of Love Questions. Jiang Nannan finally accepted Xu Sanshi, and this time they did it the right way. Only then did Xu Sanshi fully awaken his true Xuanwu (Black Tortoise) bloodline, just like he always dreamed.
This juicy tidbit was something Ming Zhi Han stumbled upon accidentally, so it's unclear if it's completely true. But one thing is consistent—Xu Sanshi's martial soul is definitely not a complete Xuanwu right now.
Life at the academy continued as usual. Freshmen were still getting burned to death on day one, Xu Sanshi was still trying to redeem himself through love, and Huo Yuhao was still scheming in his dark little corner. Yet none of it caused much of a stir in the peaceful academy life.
In the blink of an eye, three months passed. Class One's student count dropped from over a hundred to just thirty-nine, thanks to constant expulsions. Huo Yuhao's soul power had already reached level 29, and he was confident that in one more month, he'd break through to level 30.
Of course, Huo Yuhao wasn't the only one making progress. Zhou Yi's training could be described as pure hell for any average twelve-year-old soul master. But thanks to that, the Class One students were visibly tougher—each of them built like a mini ox.
Zhou Yi stood before the class, her gaze calm, her tone unreadable.
"It's been three months since school started. You're now facing your first assessment at Shrek Academy. Only after passing it will you officially be considered first-year students. The assessment begins tomorrow. Today, I'll explain what you need to pay attention to."
She was slightly disappointed. In her mind, Class One should've retained more students, especially with talents like Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong around to lead. But Wang Dong, after becoming class rep, turned out to be just as unreliable. Three months in, the class spirit was still a mess. Everyone was doing their own thing. Teamwork? Not in this class.
The excellent students stayed ahead, the stragglers got the boot. That was the state of Class One now.
In the classroom, the students sat up straight and focused. After three months of grinding, their confidence was through the roof. Mule or horse, they were ready to be put to the test.
At Zhou Yi's signal, Wang Dong handed out a sheet of blank paper to each student.
Zhou Yi said, "After the freshman assessment, we'll begin personalized instruction. Write down the path you want to take in cultivation and hand it in."
The students fell silent, deep in thought. They understood that by "cultivation path," Zhou Yi meant soul master types—power attack, agility attack, defense, support, etc.
Each path had very different training needs. You couldn't lump a power attacker with a food-type soul master, for example. Like Zhou Yi's past training method—eliminating whoever ranked last—was actually very unfair, since support-types obviously couldn't match the physical abilities of power or defense types.
Huo Yuhao didn't hesitate. He boldly wrote two characters: "Power Attack."
That was his choice. Honestly, with his Spiritual Detection and Spiritual Sharing soul skills, he was more suited to being a control-type. With those two cheat-level abilities, his team could coordinate perfectly, smooth as silk.
But he still chose Power Attack. Why? Because control-types needed teamwork. And Huo Yuhao didn't want to rely on anyone. He wanted ultimate personal power. And he wasn't being arrogant—he simply didn't see anyone in Class One worthy of being his teammate. No one could keep up.
Zhou Yi continued, her hands resting on the desk.
"As you've probably heard, yes, the freshman assessment is combat-based. Everyone must participate. Theory and soul power level are just surface metrics—they don't reflect real combat capability. Every year, we see students with lower cultivation levels eliminate those with higher ones. The academy isn't here to raise pretty flower vases."
"But don't worry. To account for the different types of soul masters, the assessment will be in team format—three members per team. Each team can only have one Power Attack-type. The other two can be any combination."
"This is a year-wide event. With over 900 freshmen, we'll have around 300 teams. Only the top half—150 teams—will pass. Ranking is based on points earned in battle."
"Match-ups will be determined by lottery. Each team must fight at least 10 matches. Rankings are based on the number of wins. The top 64 teams will enter elimination rounds. The top four teams will receive special rewards. Last year's champion team got a high-quality soul bone."
Huo Yuhao immediately understood what the academy was doing. This was a clever way for Shrek to probe its students' true abilities. Tempting them with juicy rewards like soul bones would push everyone to go all out. Normally, there were plenty of "pretend weaklings" like him, but with a prize like that on the line, everyone would reveal their cards.
The benefit? The academy would clearly see who was truly strong and who was just coasting. Talented students would be nurtured; average ones would be quietly ignored.
Huo Yuhao sighed softly. He realized he'd have to participate too. If he stood out too little, those old foxes might get suspicious. After all, no soul master—especially a 12-year-old—could resist the allure of a soul bone.
Just as expected, the moment the word "soul bone" was mentioned, the students' eyes lit up. Everyone was glancing around, calculating their ideal teammates. Most non-power attackers had their eyes on Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, the two clear heavyweights of Class One. While Huo Yuhao's full strength was still unknown, Wang Dong was undeniably a Power Attack type. Partnering with him? Jackpot.
At that moment, someone nudged Huo Yuhao. He turned his head to see Dong Xinyu staring right at him, eyes full of unspoken intent.
Huo Yuhao smiled and nodded. He was thinking the same thing. The two had become good friends over the past three months, and their personalities matched well.
On stage, Zhou Yi went on.
"Right now, we have thirty-nine students in Class One. That makes thirteen teams of three. I've already grouped you based on your martial soul traits. If you're unhappy with your team, you can rearrange it after class—but by tomorrow morning, your teams must be finalized. I need to submit the list."
"Let's begin the team assignments."
(Author's Note: I'm thinking of changing Jiang Nannan's storyline. I don't want to pair her with Xu Sanshi like in the original, but the MC won't be taking her either. Should she end up with Xu Sanshi anyway or stay single? Thoughts, anyone?)
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More:
[ Douluo II: But This Huo Yuhao Knows the Plot ]
[ Battle Through The Heavens: Rebirth of Emperor Yan ]
[ Douluo: But My Martial Spirit Is The Sharingan ]
[ Douluo: Xiao Yan Transmigrates As Tan San ]
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(End of Chapter)