In truth, although Long Feng's team had an obvious gap in strength compared to Xu Zihuang's, a large part of it came from martial soul restraints.
For example, Tuoba Yu's martial soul naturally possessed strong resistance to high temperatures. Nanmen Yuner's Jade Bird martial soul was also a perfect counter to Chen Rui's Flying Squirrel martial soul.
And needless to say, there was Xu Zihuang versus Long Feng.
As an Ultimate Thunder soul master, the soul power within Xu Zihuang inherently carried the nature of ultimate lightning. Long Feng's first soul skill was constructed entirely of electricity. Under such absolute attribute suppression, how could it possibly harm Xu Zihuang in the slightest?
Even so, the battle that had ended in an instant was enough to leave everyone shocked.
After a long silence, the female teacher was the first to record the result on her folder.
"Freshman Class Nine, Yu Tianhuang's team—one victory."
Hearing her announce the result, nearby teams preparing for their own assessments glanced over.
From the start of the match to its conclusion hadn't even been five seconds, had it? And it was already over?
Just then, from the direction of Zone 33, another teacher announced a result.
"Freshman Class One, Wang Dong's team—victory."
Leaving the field, Xu Zihuang instinctively looked toward Zone 33.
On the field there, three students stood. Two were familiar faces: Huo Yuhao, and Wang Dong, whom he had met once before. The third was a delicate little girl—not especially beautiful, but very pleasing to the eye.
Wang Dong stood at the front, chin lifted high, face full of pride. But he indeed had the right to be proud. With the powerful Bright Goddess Butterfly martial soul, and his second soul ring already at the thousand-year level, aside from Xu Zihuang, who had yet to reveal his full strength, and the few freshmen who were already at Soul Elder cultivation, no one else in this year's class could rival him.
At his side, Huo Yuhao clenched his fists tightly in excitement, his fiery gaze seeming to say:
See? I'm not trash!
My martial soul and skills are no worse than yours. What I lack is only foundation!
Zhou Yi hadn't placed Huo Yuhao in Wang Dong's team purely out of favoritism.
The spiritual-attribute soul skill Yuhao had obtained from the Fear Demon Dragon was indeed powerful. Unless facing a Soul Elder or above, most soul masters would be significantly affected. With Wang Dong's formidable strength alongside, their team could easily sweep aside the vast majority of opponents.
Wang Dong flicked his hand casually, grinning. "Huo Yuhao, that soul skill of yours is really strong. Working with you feels amazing. Didn't even need Xiao Xiao to act, and we won with ease."
Beside him, Xiao Xiao spoke softly in apology: "Sorry, Huo Yuhao. At first, I underestimated you because you were only a rank 11 soul master."
She was a straightforward girl who said what she thought, never mincing words.
But Yuhao, still wounded from his earlier experience in the Battle Soul Area, only fixated on the second half of her words. His lips tightened.
So that's what you really think.
He still remembered vividly Xiao Xiao's faint look of disdain when Gao Tu had accused him of cheating in class by using his soul skill.
Whether she'd been influenced or not, that disdainful look had pierced him deeply.
Back then, only Wang Dong hadn't shown disdain. But Yuhao also knew that, at heart, Wang Dong wasn't much different from the others.
He could still recall vividly the lofty arrogance on Wang Dong's face the very first time they met.
After all, what else could he expect? He was just a mere rank 11 soul master.
Because of that, even his joy at today's victory was greatly dampened.
"Huo Yuhao, long time no see. Congratulations on your victory."
Hearing that familiar voice, Yuhao forced down his emotions and looked up.
Walking toward them was Xu Zihuang. Only then did Yuhao remember—Yu Tianhuang's team had won their match even earlier.
"Long time no see." Yuhao forced a smile.
Xu Zihuang chuckled lightly. Seeing Yuhao's low spirits, he said no more. With just a nod, he left.
He wasn't Yuhao's lapdog—why should he go out of his way to cheer him up?
Xiao Xiao's pride had always been hidden deep inside, but Wang Dong's pride was always on full display. Frowning, he studied Xu Zihuang's back, then clapped Yuhao firmly on the shoulder.
"Don't worry. With me here, this year's freshman championship is ours. If we build better teamwork, we can win even faster than they can."
Just then, Long Feng, Xu Haolong, and Chen Rui—the trio who had just lost to Xu Zihuang's team—passed by. Hearing Wang Dong's boast, Long Feng sneered.
"You? Take the championship? What a joke."
"Don't make me laugh."
"Even if Huo Yuhao weren't just a rank 11 soul master—even if he were a Great Soul Master like you two—facing Yu Tianhuang's team, you wouldn't stand a chance."
Perhaps because he needed to vent his frustration after losing, or perhaps because belittling Wang Dong's team made him feel better about himself, Long Feng's voice dripped with scorn.
He especially resented Yuhao. Clearly the weakest in class, yet thanks to Zhou Yi's bias, he had been placed alongside two Great Soul Masters like Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao. Long Feng had never accepted it.
"What did you say?!" Wang Dong flared up at once.
Xiao Xiao, too, frowned in displeasure. "We're classmates. Isn't that going too far?"
"I didn't say anything untrue. Isn't Huo Yuhao's soul power only rank 11? Without you two, could he have won today?" Long Feng shot back coldly. He wanted to add more, but Xu Haolong and Chen Rui quickly stopped him.
They weren't afraid of Wang Dong or Xiao Xiao—but everyone knew Zhou Yi openly favored Yuhao's team. If they ended up assigned to her class, why bring trouble on themselves?
With their reminder, Long Feng cooled down, gave a cold snort, and walked off.
Wang Dong glanced at Yuhao's dark face and bowed head, clearly lost in thought. He couldn't help but try to reassure him.
"Huo Yuhao, don't listen to them. Without your soul skill, we couldn't have won so easily today."
"Yeah, Wang Dong's right." Xiao Xiao, kindhearted as always, also tried to comfort him.
Yuhao's clenched fists slowly loosened. He lifted his head and forced a stiff smile.
"They're not wrong. My soul power really is only rank 11. I can't blame anyone else."
After what had happened before, he understood now. That kind of impotent rage was meaningless.
All he could do was bury the hatred deep inside.
But what he didn't know was that the negative emotions a person could bear had limits. Once past a certain threshold, the eruption of those emotions could drown him completely.