Core disciples were entitled to a sumptuous breakfast. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao was now a core disciple of both the Martial Soul Department and the Soul Tool Department at the same time.
Normally, he'd only eat the food supplied by the Soul Tool Department, as it was more exquisite and precious than the Martial Soul Department's. However, he was extremely famished today, and his body was in dire need of a large quantity of nutrients. As such, he devoured both of the breakfasts he was provided with today.
Just as he was about to finish his meal, Wang Dong walked in in a dispirited and downcast mood. The moment he walked through the doors, Wang Dong spotted Huo Yuhao, who was pigging out. When he saw him, he immediately began to take large strides towards Huo Yuhao.
"Yuhao, are you alright? Ma Xiaotao didn't do anything to you, right?" Wang Dong ran over to him and questioned him impatiently.
Huo Yuhao kept a natural expression on his face as he replied, "I'm alright! In fact, I'm doing quite well. I simply accompanied senior sister Xiaotao to cultivate. You should know just how extraordinary the nature of her martial soul is. With my help, she's managed to suppress that demonic fire of hers."
When he'd left the Sea God's Island and returned to the lakeside, he'd firmly made up his mind: No matter who it was that questioned him, he wouldn't say what had really happened, even if he was beaten to death. It was too embarrassing!
Wang Dong gazed at him and felt a bit apprehensive. His nose twitched and he asked, "What's that fragrance?"
As a person who could normally control his desire very well, Huo Yuhao was used to controlling everything to the best of his ability. As such, he'd already thought of a countermeasure for this situation a long time ago. Without the slightest bit of hesitation, he sighed and replied, "It's because it was extremely exhausting when I cultivated with senior sister Xiaotao. That phoenix flame of hers is really strong, thus I ended up sweating all over. When I was done, I borrowed her washing liquid to wash my clothes. I never expected her to use such a fragrant washing liquid with that fierce personality of hers."
Wang Dong couldn't find a single mistake in what Huo Yuhao said, thus he gradually heaved a sigh of relief. However, he still bore a little resentment and said, "You actually needed a whole day to cultivate. Ma Xiaotao is too overbearing! What happens if it end up interfering with your studies? Oh right, Teacher Zhou asked for us to see her in her office today before class starts. It seems like there's something going on, as we weren't the only ones called. All of the core disciples have to go and see her. It seems that they're giving us special attention now."
Huo Yuhao nodded and said, "This is a good thing! What was Dai Huabin reaction?"
Wang Dong shook his head and replied, "Nothing. I haven't even seen that fellow since back then. Gosh, are you a pig? How much have you eaten?!" He���d only just now noticed that the table had been filled with empty plates.
Huo Yuhao laughed sheepishly and said, "I exhausted quite a bit of energy cultivating yesterday. However, what senior brother Xu Sanshi said at back then was correct. Even though it's painful to cultivate with senior sister Ma, the increased speed of cultivation I get is pretty good. I even asked her to help me melt that Whale Rubber so that I could eat it. Oh right, has your soul bone arrived yet?"
Wang Dong immediately became excited when he mentioned the Golden Light Left Arm Bone, and nodded repeatedly as he said, "Yep, it's already arrived. Can you protect me tonight so that I can fuse with it? I've already gotten permission from Teacher Zhou for a leave of absence. It won't be a problem even if it takes me more than a day to fuse with the soul bone."
Huo Yuhao nodded and replied, "Then I'll ask Teacher Fan Yu for some materials tonight so that I can remodel my soul tool in our dorm room while I'm watching over you."
Once he'd finished his breakfast, Huo Yuhao returned to the dormitory to freshen up. Afterwards, he changed into a new school uniform before heading off to find Zhou Yi with Wang Dong.
It was still both extremely sunny and cloudless today. Moreover, a new school term had begun in Shrek Academy. Students from every year group were all facing different levels of pressure. The new students had the Freshmen Examination, while students from higher year groups had both their Advancement Examination and courses to study for.
Huo Yuhao lightly knocked on the office door a few times.
"Enter." Zhou Yi's ever ice-cold voice rang out.
Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong pushed opened the door and entered.
The room was already full of core disciples from Class 1. Besides Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, Lan Susu, Lan Luoluo, Chao Jinxuan and Huang Chutian, who had officially become a core disciple, were all present in the room. As such, there were a total of eight people from their class present.
Zhou Yi intentionally glanced towards Huo Yuhao. When she saw that his expression was normal, she didn't ask any questions. With a cough, she directed everyone's line of sight towards herself. "The reason I called you guys here today is because I have a special situation that I need to inform you guys about: In three days time, the outer courtyard will be organizing a core disciple qualification match. Originally, it didn't have anything to do with second years, but the academy suddenly decided to let the Year 2 core disciples participate in the match as well. As a result of this, you guys will need to prepare yourselves."
Feeling somewhat curious, Zhou Sichen asked, "Teacher Zhou, what's this qualification match for?"
Zhou Yi replied, "However, you guys don't need to be too worried about it. There won't be any sort of punishment if you lose this qualification match. Those participating are all core disciples from the outer courtyard who are fifteen years old and under. People from the Soul Tool Department will also be attending. According to my calculations, there are around thirty people participating in the match. We'll be choosing seven from this group to take part in a mission. As for what sort of mission it is, only the students who win will know what sort of mission it is. It's worth noting that these places would normally belong to students from the third, fourth, and fifth years. However, you guys are lucky to be able to participate in this match. You guys should do your best. We have eight core disciples from our class; at least try not to be completely wiped out."
Hearing Zhou Yi speak as though she didn't think of the matter as very important, everyone immediately heaved a sigh of relief. They'd even silently cursed at the academy in their hearts for having a bit too many examinations. The Advancement Examination had just ended! What was the deal with a Core Disciple Examination now?
"Alright, you guys head back to the classroom first. Huo Yuhao, stay behind for awhile. The rest of you can head back first."
"Yes." Everyone uniformly replied. As they left, Zhou Sichen shot Huo Yuhao a glance that said that he was rejoicing in his demise. Afterwards, he took the lead and left the office with Cao Jinxuan.
Wang Dong said in a low tone, "Xiao Xiao and I will wait for you outside."
Once the others had left the room, Huo Yuhao obediently closed the door. He then turned around and faced Zhou Yi as he asked, "Teacher Zhou, do you still have something to tell me?"
Zhou Yi indifferently replied, "I'm only relaying a message from Dean Yan and Dean Xian. Both of them mentioned that it would be fine, even if the others don't enter the top seven. However, they said that if you fail to do so, you'll suffer the consequences."
"Um…" When he heard her say this, Huo Yuhao suddenly felt that the pressure weighing down on him was as great as a mountain! "Teacher Zhou, that's impossible! If the students from the outer courtyard were to compete with the core disciples in terms of strength alone, I would definitely be ranked amongst the top! However, there will be senior students participating in this match as well!"
A hint of a smile appeared in Zhou Yi's eyes when she heard this. She stood up and replied, "It's useless to talk to me about this, as I'm simply relaying their message to you. If you have the guts to do so, reason it out with Dean Yan and Dean Xian. Now then, get going, you still have a class to attend."
"I…" Huo Yuhao immediately became crestfallen. Even though he felt confident about his abilities, that still depended on the circumstances! He'd be competing against a bunch of senior core disciples; how could it be that easy?! Disregarding the other students, Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan alone were bound to be within the fifteen-year-old category, along with the many core disciples he'd never seen before. All three of them had four soul rings! He definitely didn't think that he could fight against his seniors with four soul rings—even if he did have an Ultimate martial soul.
Once he left the room, he noticed Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao waiting for him.
"Why did Teacher Zhou ask you to stay behind?" Wang Dong asked curiously.
This wasn't something that he could hide, thus Huo Yuhao told them what Zhou Yi had told him with a depressed look on his face. By the time he'd finished, Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao couldn't help but look at each other in dismay. They then simultaneously patted him on the shoulder. "You'd best rely on yourself, rather than on us."
Huo Yuhao was full of lament and resentfulness as he replied, "Are you guys even human?! You're not even comforting me!"
Wang Dong laughed mischievously and said, "Who asked you to become a core disciple of two departments? Who asked you to show such an outstanding performance in the Advancement Examination, and to even have an Ultimate martial soul?! We'll cheer for you. Oh right, I keep forgetting to ask you. What was the skill you used the other day called? The one that sucked all of our soul power away and released that dark green light."
The reason that both of them had been able to escape their predicament that day was because Huo Yuhao had decisively used that move. It was mainly because he'd used that skill in the nick of time, which had prevented the three flying Soul Kings from pursuing them. They'd then able to escape to Shrek City's northern gates and had managed to wait it out until Ma Xiaotao and Bei Bei came to save them.
Huo Yuhao snorted and replied, "I'll just let you guys rejoice in my misfortune. This elder brother isn't telling you." As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and headed towards the school building.
Elder Lin's guess that night had been spot on; the skill he'd used back then belonged to the domain-type. Domain-type skills were just as uncommon as Ultimate martial souls. A domain-type soul skill was a skill that affect everything within a certain area based on the user's domain. It could also be regarded as the highest ranked control-type soul skill.
Huo Yuhao's domain-type skill came from the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's torso bone. It was one of the skills she'd bestowed to him, which was known as the 'Domain of Perpetual Ice'.
Based on Huo Yuhao's current cultivation, it was still extremely difficult for him to properly use the Domain of Perpetual Ice. He'd still only been able to use a fraction of the skill, despite having borrowed Wang Dong's power that day. If he wanted to fully unleash the potential of this soul skill, he'd have to wait until he'd managed to obtain seven soul rings at the very least.
When the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion had been known as the Tyrant of the Extreme North, her Domain of Perpetual Ice could freeze over a thousand miles in an instant. As such, it was the one of the highest ranked origin skills. If Huo Yuhao wanted to use the skill at the same level that the Ice Empress had, he'd have to cultivate to the stage that she had been at.
Huo Yuhao was immersed in his anxiety the entire day during his classes. Regardless of how much he mulled the matter over, he couldn't think of a way to rise above a bunch of core disciples. However, he didn't complain about anything in his state of depression. Besides, he'd received preferential treatment from the academy during the Treasure Appreciation Auction; he couldn't say anything, even if he was currently facing pressure!
In the end, Huo Yuhao came to the conclusion that he'd just have to stake it all in the match.
However, when he went to the Soul Tool Department in the evening to study with Fan Yu, he finally received good news. This time, the core disciples of the Martial and Soul Tool Departments would jointly participate in the test. In other words, the two departments wouldn't be separated. In the Soul Tool Department, the number of core disciples under the age of fifteen was scarce. The only ones that could participate and had some hope of being selected were He Caitou and Huo Yuhao. Thus, Fan Yu had directly removed all those students that didn't have any chance of passing the preliminary round. With that, the number of participants had dropped even more. And since he was a core disciple of both departments, Huo Yuhao could use soul tools during the test! This was a great boost to his fighting capability.
After consulting with the professors and receiving some pointers from Fan Yu, Huo Yuhao started to create a Class 2 soul tool that would suit him. He had only three days to improve his equipment.
For the sake of saving time, as soon as he finished his class, he decided to bring all the parts back to the dormitory. He was planning to assemble his soul tool while acting as a protector for Wang Dong, who would absorb the soul bone from the auction in the meantime.
As soon as he opened the dormitory door, he was welcomed by a burst of warm and comfortable golden light that almost made him jump out of his skin. He quickly closed the door behind him.
In the middle of their dorm room, Wang Dong was earnestly inspecting the Golden Light Left Arm Bone, which was hovering in mid-air. He seemed completely engrossed by it and didn't even spare any attention to Huo Yuhao's return.
Huo Yuhao sat beside him and also carefully observed the bone. Without the barrier of the stall, one could completely experience the awesomeness of this bone just by being near it.
It hadn't been priced at 9.5 million Gold Soul Coins for nothing! It looked like an artificial sun as it hovered in the middle of the room. It's warmth filled light had spread to every corner of the room and dispersed every shadow from every corner and nook. Apart from it's warmth, the golden halo also radiated a faint pressure.
The most eye-catching parts were the fingertips. They was a pulsating strange reddish-gold light surrounding them which was continuously emitting a sharp 'chi chi' sound.
Huo Yuhao arrived behind Wang Dong and placed his hands on his vest. After that, he slowly poured his soul power into Wang Dong, activating their Haodong Power.
Wang Dong's whole body shook as he finally came back to his senses.
"I'm here. You can start." Huo Yuhao whispered.
"Fine." Wang Dong didn't waste time. He raised his left arm and activated the Haodong Power.
He had already examined the Golden Light Left Arm Bone for more than two hours. The more he looked at it, the more incredible it felt. The bone also seemed to have felt his gaze. The energy within it had started to rhythmically pulse in sync with Wang Dong's breath. This made Wang Dong slowly enter a strange meditative state.
If he had to describe his relationship with this soul bone, the most apt description would be 'like attracts like'.
When the soul power of his left arm came in contact the left arm bone, the reddish-gold light rushed toward him and started to twine around his arm.
Immediately, Wang Dong's entire body was covered with the shining reddish-gold light. A rich, dense aura of warmth rose and surged about while Wang Dong exhaled deeply. Following which, he closed his eyes and stood there calmly, enjoying the fusion.
At this point in the fusion process, the Haodong Power was irrelevant. Therefore, Huo Yuhao slowly stopped pouring his soul power into him. After stepping around in front of Wang Dong, he looked at his satisfied face and felt that it was somewhat unfair.
They had both fused with a soul bone. But why was the difference so big?
"Idiot. This is called compatibility. This soul bone has a very high compatibility with his body. Therefore, the fusion will also be very simple and quick. On the other hand, what was your cultivation level when you merged with me? Moreover, I was still alive when we combined. It's already a miracle that you succeeded at all." The Ice Impress said in a dissatisfied manner.
Huo Yuhao was startled, "Ice Impress! Skydream! Where did the two of you go?! Didn't you hear me when I was calling you earlier? Why did the two of you keep ignoring me?"
Be it when he and Wang Dong were in danger or when he was in that awkward situation with Ma Xiaotao, these two intelligent soul rings had acted as if they didn't exist.
The Skydream Iceworm said lazily, "If you rely on us for everything, how are you ever going to become strong? We can help you raise your strength but at the end of the day, the one that has to make the breakthroughs is you. Moreover, the more your cultivation rises, the more you'll need to rely on yourself. If you can resolve the situation on your own, we're unlikely to intervene. And you have to remember that we're only soul rings, not your bodyguards. Our strength has long since merged inside your body. If you encounter a dangerous situation, we're as powerless as you in dealing with it. In the worst case, we'll die together with you! That's why you have to rely on your own power, and not on us."
Although Huo Yuhao had already left them very satisfied, nonetheless the Skydream Iceworm and the Ice Empress knew that he would have to do way better if he wanted to become stronger and shock even them.
Huo Yuhao hadn't really blamed them for their actions. Therefore, he immediately said in a somewhat ashamed manner, "I'm sorry. I didn't think that someone would ambush us. I'll be more careful from now on."
The Skydream Iceworm said, "We have good news for you. You didn't suffer in vain yesterday. Although that girl's phoenix flames weren't very pure, their temperature was still quite good. In addition, the benefits your body received from that Ten Thousand Year Whale Rubber were greater than what we had imagined. Therefore, we unsealed some more of our power and merged it with our soul rings and soul bones. Your soul power also increased a bit thanks to the Ice Impress giving you a part of her power. According to our calculations, all of your soul rings can now put out around 4200 years of power. The power of your skills has also slightly increased. However, you'll need to train even more now. The stronger the soul skill, the larger its consumption of soul power. If you don't have enough soul power, it will all be for naught."
As expected, it was very good news. Huo Yuhao was very happy. It was also the greatest benefit that these two sentient soul rings had brought him. Maybe, if he kept cultivating like this… one day, he wouldn't need to use his imitation skill to have red soul rings! No one else could raise the strength of their soul rings, but he could!
"Awesome, thank you very much. I won't slack off. However, I can't cultivate tonight since I need to act as a protector for Wang Dong."
The fusion between Wang Dong and the Gold Light Left Arm Bone went more smoothly than he had imagined. The entire process from start to finish was completed in less than six hours. The process came to an end as the last thread of reddish-gold light merged into his left arm.
Huo Yuhao didn't sleep for the whole night. While acting as a protector for Wang Dong, he had also been assembling his Class 2 soul tool. Since acting as a protector was distracting, he didn't engrave the formation arrays. However, he still made a few accessories.
"Huuuu" After a long exhale, Wang Dong slowly opened his eyes. The reddish-gold light wasn't flickering through his eyes anymore.
Huo Yuhao felt that Wang Dong's disposition had changed a bit. Before, he had given off a gentle and refined feeling. But now, he seemed somewhat aggressive. It was rather similar to the feeling Ma Xiaotao gave off.
"How is it?" Huo Yuhao asked quickly.
Wang Dong nodded and replied, "I've succeeded."
"Why don't you try out your soul skill?" Huo Yuhao asked curiously.
Wang Dong said, "First, tell me about your soul skill. I'll try mine afterward."
"You still remember!" Huo Yuhao said with a smile, "Fine, I'll tell you. The name of this skill is Domain of Perpetual Ice. It can reduce the temperature within a certain range. That day, those guys were frozen and fell from the sky as a consequence of this skill. What about yours?"
Wang Dong glared at him and responded, "It's better if you look." With that, he excitedly raised his left arm. The wings of the Radiant Butterfly Goddess tore the back of his shirt and slowly spread out. Then, his left arm was completely covered in a reddish-gold radiance.
The reddish-gold light was accompanied by a dragon's roar as it pushed forwards. Afterwards, a layer of reddish-gold flames started to cover his wings. It seemed as if those already beautiful wings now had an additional outer garment, making them look even bigger. The entire room was filled with the aura of the Radiant Butterfly Goddess.
"It's called 'Golden Light', and it's an auxiliary-type skill. It can be used with any of my soul skills. I'm also unaware of its concrete ability. I'll need to test it out. But it should have the ability to increase the destructive power of my light element."
Huo Yuhao's eyes lit up. "This soul bone skill can give you an overall power up. I think I've heard Teacher Wang say that an ability like this was very rare!"
Wang Dong, who was releasing the golden light, had an even more surprised look right now. "The restoration rate of my soul power seems to have increased as well. Just like you can feel your soul power slowly reducing when you release your martial soul, right now, I can feel my soul power slowly increasing. Although it's not very clear, I can still feel it."
Huo Yuhao grabbed Wang Dong's hand. Their soul power mixed, transforming into Haodong Power. Immediately, Huo Yuhao also felt a dense light aura entering Wang Dong's body, slowly helping him recover his soul power. At this time, his soul power was abundant. Therefore, it was difficult to feel the recovering soul power clearly.
Huo Yuhao manipulated his soul power and released several skills, such as Spiritual Detection, Spiritual Sharing, Spiritual Shock, and Spiritual Interference, to consume their Haodong Power.
Under these circumstances, the feeling became clearer. That dense light aura started to quickly pour into Wang Dong's body. What made them even more surprised was that after once this light energy had poured into his body, no matter what skill it was, they all had an overall increase in power. The soul power of Huo Yuhao's Mysterious Heaven Technique was fairly calm and didn't cause any trouble either. Moreover, after mixing his power with Wang Dong's and activating the Haodong Power, Wang Dong was also able to directly make use of this power. And now, under the effect of the Golden Light, they could even recover their Haodong Power.
This surprise was simply too pleasant for them. Regardless of how much the Golden Light amplified Wang Dong's offensive capabilities, the simple fact that it could simultaneously restore their soul power was an enormous gain for them! Their combat strength in a prolonged battle would drastically increase now that they had this. Coincidentally, the Skydream Iceworm had brought up the issue of his soul power consumption in battle earlier.
"This is great news!" Huo Yuhao cheered, then immediately gave Wang Dong a big hug.
Wang Dong was dumbstruck when Huo Yuhao hugged him. His face reddened, but he didn't resist, nor did he hug Huo Yuhao back.
Huo Yuhao didn't feel that it was strange at all and smiled mischievously. "Quick, let's cultivate together to see if this golden light has any effect on our cultivation."
However, the facts proved that they hadn't been possessed by the God of Luck. The golden light was only capable of helping them restore their soul power; it didn't benefit their cultivation whatsoever. Despite this, their excitement didn't diminish in the slightest. The core disciples' qualification match would begin in two days, thus any increase to Wang Dong's strength would be incredibly helpful.
The following two days were undoubtedly both tense and busy for Huo Yuhao. Besides his daily cultivation and studies, he also had to dedicate all of his energy to soul tool creation. For the sake of helping him progress faster, Fan Yu personally helped him create a few simple yet time-consuming components for a few of his soul tools. However, the formation arrays of the soul tools would still have to be personally done by Huo Yuhao. Fan Yu was very specific on this point. Even though he favoured Huo Yuhao, he was still a strict teacher.
Nobody knew how the core disciples' qualification match would be carried out. Despite this, it was inescapable for all of the core disciples. Fortunately, they wouldn't receive a punishment if they lost this match.
"Ding—" The class bell rang, signifying that their classes for the day had ended. The students from Class 1 immediately began to relax when they heard the bell.
In Shrek Academy, managing to rise to second years from freshmen was equivalent to managing to pass through a strict filter; every single student left was of sufficient strength. Furthermore, now that they'd finished their studies as a first year student, they truly understood just how hard they'd have to work to remain students. Because of this, every single student was serious about their studies. If they didn't work hard, it would only signify their expulsion.
Graduates from Shrek Academy were extremely popular on the continent, however graduating from Shrek Academy was easier said than done. Furthermore, this only referred to the outer courtyard.
Wang Yan tidied up his lesson plans, then said, "Those of you who are core disciples stay behind. I need you all to follow me to the Soul Duelling Area for a while."
It's come! The spirits of the core disciples present were instantly aroused. They all knew that the qualification match was about to start. However, they hadn't expected the test to be held after class had ended. Since it was, their class time hadn't be wasted at all.
The number of core disciples in Huo Yuhao's generation was extremely high; it was slightly higher than the previous generations. Class 1 alone had eight, while Class 2's Dai Huabin, Xie Huanyue, Zhu Lu, and Wu Feng—as well as Class 3's Ning Feng—made for a total of twelve core disciples. This was an extremely rare sight in Shrek Academy's outer courtyard.
The combined total of third year and fourth year core disciples was around this number.
When they left the classroom, Huo Yuhao immediately saw Dai Huabin, Xie Huanyue, Zhu Lu, and Wu Feng leaving their class together as well. Their teacher in charge, Mu Jin, lead them as they left.
Dai Huabin naturally saw Huo Yuhao as well, and a cold light flashed through his eyes when he did. He concealed his own emotions very well however, as he simply looked away from Huo Yuhao as they left. He didn't even spare him a second glance. Though his status as a core disciple hadn't changed, he'd still received a strict warning from the college. He'd also just found out that the corpses of the six experts who'd died in battle had been sent back to the White Tiger Duke's Mansion. Furthermore, this had all been done in the past two days. Fortunately, his father hadn't returned yet, thus his mother had been able to keep everything under control. If she hadn't, he'd have had to suffer his father's wrath.
Due to this, even though the rancor in his heart had deepened, his only choice was to hide it in the depths of his heart and not reveal any of it. Shrek Academy had already given the White Tiger Duke's Mansion quite a bit of face, despite not possessing any concrete evidence. Considering the academy's power, did the fact that they didn't have any concrete evidence really matter? At the very least, having him expelled wouldn't trouble the academy in the slightest.
Dai Huabin was similarly terrified once he realized the consequences of his actions. He couldn't afford to affect his future prospects just for the sake of some petty revenge.
Ning Tian—who hadn't been seen in ages—glanced at Huo Yuhao the moment she came out from Class 3 just like Dai Huabin.
The twelve core disciples of Year 2 left the teaching building as they followed the three teachers and headed towards the Soul Duelling Area.
Huo Yuhao saw a few familiar faces when they neared the Soul Duelling Area.
His senior brother Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and Jiang Nannan appeared in his line of sight; all of them were Year 5 core disciples. The most conspicuous of them were still the twin stars, Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi. The core disciples of Year 5 naturally weren't limited to the three of them, but they were the only ones who hadn't had their fifteenth birthday yet. They were, without a doubt, the strongest amongst the core disciples of the outer courtyard.
Soul Elders were very common in the outer courtyard, but there were very few students below Year 5 capable of reaching the four-ringed rank.
Advancing from a Soul Elder to a Soul Ancestor was much more difficult than advancing from a Soul Grandmaster to a Soul Elder. This point alone was enough to demonstrate Dai Huabin's extraordinary talent. He hadn't even turned thirteen, yet he'd already reached Rank 37. He was absolutely at the forefront of Shrek Academy. This was also one of the main reasons the academy hadn't been willing to give up on him so easily. However, his path to the inner courtyard had temporarily been sealed away. It would depend on whether or not he could explode out with an even greater amount of strength, such that it moved the academy's upper echelon, if he wanted to reopen this path. Shrek Academy wasn't owned by Huo Yuhao, and while it was true that his Ultimate martial soul had attracted the academy's attention, it wasn't as if the academy would give up on other talents because of him. Of course, Dai Huabin still had to suffer punishment for doing something malicious. As such, it had become much harder for him to enter the inner courtyard.
In reality, there weren't any other four-ringed core disciples besides Bei Bei's group of three. The third and fourth year core disciples began to arrive in succession, but He Caitou was the only core disciple of the Soul Tool Department to arrive. The final number of students participating in the match was twenty-seven, but the second year students occupied half of these spots.
Students from different classes stood behind their teachers in charge and waited silently. Though this test had come about somewhat mysteriously, and even though there wasn't any punishment if they did badly in it, anyone who could become a core disciple was quite gifted amongst their peers. Naturally, the more talented one was, the more confident one would be. None of them were willing to give up easily.
Dai Huabin stood there, eager to give it a go. He'd reached Rank 37, thus he wasn't really afraid of the core disciples from the higher year groups. From his point of view, this was an opportunity he could use to prove himself. Even though the teachers hadn't explained the benefits they'd receive if they entered into the top 7, the academy definitely had its own motives.
At that moment, a swaying figure slowly walked towards the Soul Duelling Area. His swaying appearance gave the impression that he could fall down at any time.
Huo Yuhao revealed a trace of astonishment on his face when he saw him. Wasn't that Elder Xuan? Even though a large portion of his face was covered by his messy hair, the signature calabash of alcohol in his left hand and the chicken leg in his right immediately revealed who he was. Besides Elder Xuan, Huo Yuhao had never seen a person within Shrek Academy act like this.
Elder Xuan unsteadily walked towards the group of students, then raised his head with an intoxicated look in his eyes. "Little Wang."
"Elder Xuan." Wang Yan hurriedly stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
"Is everyone present?" Elder Xuan asked.
Wang Yan replied, "Everyone's arrived. There are a total of twenty six core disciples from the Martial Soul Department between Year 2 and Year 5, while only a single person has come from the Soul Tool Department."
"Oh. Let's head in then." With that, Elder Xuan turned around and wobbled his way into the Soul Duelling Arena.
Most of the core disciples had never seen Elder Xuan before. Because of this, a large number of them had doubts in their heart. Dai Huabin couldn't help but whisper to Xie Huanyue, who was beside him, "Who's this drunkard?"
Xie Huanyue shook his head, but didn't reply.
The Soul Duelling Arena looked like it usually did, except for the fact that there were no other teachers or students present.
Elder Xuan walked all the way to the middle of the Area before he stopped. The core disciples also stopped, along with their teachers.
Elder Xuan spoke in a muffled voice, "Listen up you brats. The test you're about to take is extremely simple. I call it the Collective Chaotic Battle. It will be held in this Soul Duelling Area, and you're free to attack whenever and however you wish. There are no rules in this competition. If you surrender or are rescued by a teacher, you'll be eliminated. The last seven people will be the victors of this battle. Alright, I'm done explaining. Teachers, get ready. Once this old man gives the signal, you can start fighting."
"Even this sort of thing is possible?" The students present couldn't help but look at each other in shock when they they heard Elder Xuan's words. They'd never seen a test like this before. There were twenty-seven people here! Furthermore, everyone here had different cultivations and specialties! How would they be able to test anything on a chaotic battle like this?
The teachers naturally wouldn't disobey Elder Xuan's order, thus they left the Soul Duelling Arena one by one.
Elder Xuan didn't wait for the students within the Area to react as he suddenly raised the bottle gourd in his hand and shouted, "Begin!"
With a 'whoosh', Elder Xuan's figure vanished, which left only the twenty-seven core disciples of the outer courtyard in the Soul Duelling Arena
The sudden change in events truly happened too fast, thus the students present momentarily paused when they heard Elder Xuan's shout. Immediately afterwards, all of them made a different decision.
Huo Yuhao's reaction was extremely quick: He immediately stretched his hands out and grabbed both Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao's hands. Afterwards, a light erupted from his back, and he shot towards Bei Bei with the two of them in tow.