At this time, Tuoba Yu also walked up beside Xu Zihuang and asked thoughtfully, "They must be the seed team of Class One, right?"
Xu Zihuang nodded casually.
"Let's go back."
"Eh, you don't plan to watch the other assessments?"
"Do you think that's necessary?" Xu Zihuang gave Tuoba Yu a speechless glance.
"Better to use the time to rest well and prepare for tomorrow's assessments."
Tuoba Yu was stunned at first, then grinned. "True enough. Before the ranking matches, even if you don't step in, there probably aren't many teams that can threaten us."
Today's crushing victory had greatly boosted his confidence. After living alongside Yu Tianhuang for the past three months, he had unconsciously compared himself to him so often that he had begun doubting his own strength.
In reality, among this year's freshmen, the number who could surpass him in martial soul or cultivation was no more than five.
Behind the two, Nanmen Yun'er gazed at Xu Zihuang's tall figure. A gentle smile flickered in her dark green eyes.
How could a powerful and confident youth not inspire admiration?
She was more rational than most girls her age, yet even she could not deny Yu Tianhuang's excellence.
Standing at the edge of the arena, Wang Yan didn't withdraw his gaze until Xu Zihuang disappeared from sight.
From the start of Xu Zihuang's team's assessment, he had been watching closely.
As a representative of Shrek Academy's theoretical stream and gentle faction, his foundations were solid, and his teaching ability outstanding. Though only in his forties, he was already one of the top senior teachers in the outer court.
At Shrek Academy, teacher promotions were even harder than student progress and more strictly graded. Zhou Yi and Mu Jin were only intermediate teachers. That Wang Yan had become a senior teacher—qualified even to teach inner court students—showed the depth of his research into martial souls.
Yet just now, he couldn't make sense of Xu Zihuang's method for resisting Long Feng's first soul skill.
Before rank thirty, especially for strong-attack or agility-attack tool soul masters like Long Feng, their offensive power was always stronger than beast soul masters.
Beast soul masters gained an all-around boost through martial soul possession, while tool soul masters were more specialized.
But Xu Zihuang had simply crushed Long Feng's fully charged first soul skill with raw spirit power. That was unbelievable.
In his view, even with a second awakening of a body martial soul and greatly enhanced physique, it should have been impossible. After all, Yu Tianhuang was essentially a spiritual-attribute spirit master.
But he didn't stop Xu Zihuang to question him as before. One reason was that Xu Zihuang and his team were busy with assessments these days—he didn't want to waste their time. The other was his own inner struggle.
Calling himself a researcher of martial soul theory, yet unable to discern his own student's methods… truly…
Adjusting his glasses, Wang Yan gave a bitter smile and left.
The first round of the freshman assessments quickly came to an end. Today's tests mainly served to get students accustomed to this form of combat-based evaluation. Tomorrow, the intensity would rise sharply. There would be two rounds in the morning and two in the afternoon—four in total. The third day would be harsher still: each team had to undergo five rounds. The entire freshman assessment lasted only three days.
It tested not just combat skill, but endurance.
Yet for Xu Zihuang's team, such problems did not exist.
The other teams in Area 36, having seen their strength, avoided clashing with them directly. To maximize their own chances of victory, they offered only token resistance before surrendering, conserving energy for more winnable matches.
Thus, unlike other exhausted teams, Xu Zihuang's trio breezed through all four matches on the second day, achieving a record of five wins in five battles.
Teams with five losses were eliminated outright, while the rest were regrouped. As an undefeated team, Xu Zihuang's group continued their assessments in Area 36.
The newly assigned teams were indeed stronger than those eliminated. A couple even had Great Spirit Masters. But still, they posed no threat. As Tuoba Yu had said, Xu Zihuang didn't even need to act—he and Nanmen Yun'er easily resolved everything.
After three intense days, the freshman assessments were essentially finished. Advancement or elimination depended solely on results.
A day of rest followed. The top sixty-four teams would continue in the ranking matches. This also gave those eliminated a buffer before leaving Shrek Academy.
More than half the students, faces full of dejection, packed their belongings in their dorms and left disheartened.
After breakfast with Tuoba Yu in the cafeteria, Xu Zihuang saw several Class Nine students carrying their luggage as he returned to his dorm.
They knowingly avoided empty comfort, sparing them the loss of dignity.
Closing his dorm door, Xu Zihuang watered the Mo Xue Ji plant by the balcony as usual. Glancing at Tuoba Yu's hesitant expression, he chuckled softly.
"Moved, are you? But that's reality."
"Whew—" Tuoba Yu sighed deeply, giving a wry smile. "I really don't know what you've been through to see things so clearly."
Meanwhile, in Du Weilun's top-floor office of the faculty building—
Seated behind his desk, Du Weilun flipped through a few files, then looked up at the ten homeroom teachers before him.
These were the instructors of the ten freshman classes. Zhou Yi and Mu Jin were among them.
"This is the statistical report of this year's freshman assessments. Take a look."
After handing them out, Du Weilun, rarely, even praised Mu Jin.
"Mu Jin, your Class Nine's assessment results are particularly outstanding. In some time, prepare for promotion to senior teacher."
"Yes, Director Du." Mu Jin responded respectfully, joy flashing across her face as she followed the others out of Du Weilun's office.
It wasn't the title of senior teacher she valued most, but the chance to outshine Zhou Yi—something that filled her with unusual delight.