A ray of light flashed through Huo Yuhao's eyes as he said in a low voice, "I choose a hundred year soul beast."
"A hundred year soul beast? Are you sure?" The teacher in charge of assessing his skills thought he had misheard him; the first students to go on stage were usually the most outstanding of the bunch, but choosing a mere hundred year soul beast… this was a bit too strange. Even if he was a control-type soul master, he shouldn't have made a choice like this!
Huo Yuhao nodded and said, "Yes, I choose a hundred year soul beast." His voice was very loud; all the teachers and students, even the ones standing far away, could hear him.
Zhou Yi felt everything in front of her going black, and wondered in her heart, 'What is Huo Yuhao trying to do?'
On the other hand, Mu Jin had the look of someone taking pleasure in another's misfortune. Dai Huabin, who was at first taken aback, immediately regained his senses, showing a disdaining look.
Under Huo Yuhao's insistence, the referee nodded and said, "Then we'll choose a hundred year soul beast to conduct your test. Are you ready?"
"I'm ready," Huo Yuhao replied without the tiniest bit of hesitation.
"The test will now commence." The referee gestured toward a distant place, immediately giving rise to a mechanical sound. In the distance, a huge hydraulic gate was slowly opening, and the sound of something dashing about madly could be heard from the pitch-black corridor behind it. All the students that were busy laughing at Huo Yuhao immediately went silent. It was their first time being in this kind of situation, and they started to feel an indescribable pressure weighing down on them.
A streak of green light burst out from the depths of the corridor. Its speed was incredibly fast, and it traveled dozens of meters in an instant, directly pouncing toward Huo Yuhao.
Its body was two meters long and one meter tall. It had green fur that swayed in the wind, and a pair of pale-brown eyes that were full of excitement. This was a very common agility-type soul beast, the Wind Spiritwolf.
At this moment, Huo Yuhao's body had a sudden change. Under the astonished gazes of the surrounding people, two blood-red rings of light suddenly emerged from under his feet, both with four pale-gold glittering lines on them. When they appeared, even Huo Yuhao's eyes changed to a crimson red.
It seemed as if a terrifying aura from ancient times had suddenly appeared. Everyone around him saw a blood-red light spreading from the center of Huo Yuhao's body. At this moment, they found his small body to be as frightening as a demon from ancient times.
"Awoo–––" The Wind Spiritwolf called out pitifully; that body that was dashing about madly suddenly stopped in midair. After that, it rolled on the ground like a gourd, lying weakly on the floor. Even excrement and urine could be seen here and there.
At the same time, a large number of yells could be heard from that faraway cave inside the great Beast Dueling Arena.
What did a red soul ring represent? It represented a hundred thousand year soul beast, it was the soul ring of a first-class soul beast. Every hundred thousand year soul ring was a rare existence; forget the students, even the teachers present on the scene didn't have one.
And at this moment, Huo Yuhao had not only displayed a red soul ring, but two of them. No matter if it was the visual impact or the terrifying aura, under that oppressive power, every part of the great Beast Dueling Arena was shrouded in a deadly silence.
But those caged soul beasts inside the great Beast Dueling Arena were not the only one to be affected. Even the students and the teachers were greatly affected. It was as if they were facing a terrifying wild beast that had no equal. Under this fearful aura, they unconsciously released their martial souls, immediately assuming a defensive posture.
A certain number of not-so-courageous female students started to cry copiously, and even the teachers' faces went pale from fright when they saw that silhouette in the middle of the stage that was neither big nor tall.
Du Weilun had stood up from his seat long ago, the radiance of eight soul rings emanating from his body. Facing the aura of a hundred thousand year soul beast, he was no exception to the crowd; he had immediately released his martial soul.
"I… Impossible. He's just 12 years old, how can he have a hundred thousand year soul ring? But this aura… is precisely that of a hundred thousand year soul beast! Moreover, that burst of aura just now… was much stronger than that of the hundred thousand year soul beasts I've seen in the past. Just how did he do it?"
The red light slowly started to disappear. First it was the red color in his eyes, then the two red soul rings on his body. Then, the terrifying aura also slowly disappeared without a trace, and everything finally returned to normal. The oppressive aura emanating from Huo Yuhao's body hadn't spread too far; it had only affected those inside the great Beast Dueling Arena.
A bad smell started to spread in every direction from that faraway dark cave, a stench that got stronger as time passed.
Huo Yuhao turned toward the two teachers that were still dumbfounded, and said while respectfully bowing, "Teachers, I've finished my test."
Indeed, the test had concluded. That Wind Spiritwolf was nothing but a hundred year soul beast, and it had taken the terrifying presence of a hundred thousand year soul beast head-on, while being the sole target of its wrath. Therefore, it was not only so scared that it had wet itself, but it was also lying on the ground, twitching, with foam coming out of its mouth. What fighting spirit would it even have left?
"T-this…" The referee was speechless. He had assessed the abilities of god-knew-how many students in this final test in the arena, but this was his first time dealing with something like this.
Although Shrek Academy was famous for producing monsters, they still shouldn't be this monstrous! A Year 2 student with a hundred thousand year soul ring? And two of them to boot?
After the initial great shock had passed, everybody's first thought was clearly, 'What had happened?' The only exceptions were Zhou Yi and Wang Dong, because they had already been shocked last night, but last night's shock was nowhere near comparable to the impact created by the scene just now.
Although Zhou Yi had heard Fan Yu saying that Huo Yuhao's imitation skill could do wonders… never would she have expected it to have such a terrifying effect. He hadn't even had to use his twin martial souls to win this battle.
That's right, Huo Yuhao's opponent was a soul beast that had cultivated for merely a hundred years. However, he hadn't moved from start to end, and had won this battle just by releasing his martial soul. How could this result be considered bad? This was simply the pinnacle of control! Now, Zhou Yi was finally clear on why Huo Yuhao had selected a hundred year soul beast instead of a stronger one. He wanted to have complete assurance. Had that soul beast been stronger, would he have been able to make it lose its fighting capacity with just the aura of a hundred thousand year soul ring? Even if he could, it wouldn't have had as great of a reaction as the hundred year soul beast before them.
The visual and mental impact of Huo Yuhao's display had really been too strong. As a result, not only were the two classes shocked, even all of the teachers were shocked! At this moment, everyone in the Beast Dueling Arena was dead silent, looking stupidly at Huo Yuhao, who was returning to his place with the other Class 1 students.
Zhou Sichen swallowed a mouthful of saliva and whispered, "Old Huo, that isn't the reincarnation of some hundred thousand year soul beast or something, right? That was just too terrifying. I almost wet myself."
Cao Jinxuan said, ill-humored, "I almost shat myself too."
After that short moment of surprise, the referee in the middle of the arena, as well as the other members of the committee on the tall platform, all looked toward Director Du Weilun. The meaning of their looks was very clear: 'What should we do now?'
Exactly! What should they do now? This situation was out of the ordinary, to say the least. How should they proceed? No matter how unbelievable it seemed, a student had used two hundred thousand year soul rings to scare a hundred year soul beast to death. Huo Yuhao had naturally passed the test, but how should they decide the score?
But right at this moment, several forms suddenly emerged from the side door of the great Beast Dueling Arena's beast cage. In front of them was an old man with a red face, a tall stature and an even more eye-catching head of red hair. Rushing forward, he howled, "What happened? Who the hell did it? All soul beasts under ten thousand years were so scared that they shat themselves, and all of them are incredibly weak right now. Du Weilun, was this your doing?"
Du Weilun forced a smile and said, "Old Gong, it wasn't me." While speaking, he descended from the tall platform, landing near that old man and explaining what had just happened to him in a low voice.
This old man with red hair was named Gong Changlong, and he was the person in charge of this great Beast Dueling Arena. He had a high status inside Shrek Academy, and his research regarding soul beasts was very thorough. Even Du Weilun had to be polite to someone like him.
"Hm? Something like that happened? Impossible. Absolutely impossible. No matter what kind of natural talent he has, or how many heavenly treasures he relies on, it's impossible for a 12-year-old to assimilate a hundred thousand year soul ring. Which boy did you say it was? Call him and bring him here, I need to take a look at him." Gong Changlong was a hot-tempered guy, and he immediately started shouting out loud.
Somewhat embarrassed, Du Weilun said, "Old Gong, we're in the middle of the final test, I was wondering if you could wait for the test to be over to…"
Gong Changlong interrupted him with ill-humor and said, "Test, my ass. Were you even listening to me? All the soul beasts under ten thousand years old shat themselves from fright, and all those under a thousand years shared the same fate. How exactly are you planning to continue your test? These soul beasts need at least two or three days of rest to recover. Do you have any idea how long it will take for my men to clean up this awful stench? It was so difficult for us to train them to not shit wherever they wanted to, but now, all our efforts have been wasted."
Even Du Weilun hadn't expected things to become serious to this degree. Right now, they were unable to continue the final test. This seemingly unimportant affair would actually have an impact on the students' studies.
"Fine, old Gong. I'll give everyone a short explanation. Wait a moment."
Du Weilun turned around and arrived near the students of the two classes. After pausing for a moment, he said, "Due to certain circumstances, today's final test will be suspended. The teachers will now bring the students back to their classrooms to take lessons."
Zhou Yi quickly asked, "Chairman Du, what about Huo Yuhao's test?"
Du Weilun frowned and said, "Let's say that he passed. Huo Yuhao, come with me." After finishing his sentence, he turned and returned to old Gong.
However, Huo Yuhao didn't immediately follow behind him. Instead, he went toward the front of Class 1, looked coldly toward Dai Huabin and said, "Remember to wait for me outside. If I'm not mistaken, according to our bet, the one with the higher score will be the winner. You've lost, I'll be waiting for you to kowtow and admit that you were wrong!"