9 Radiant Butterfly Goddess

“No, I must persevere. I can’t get disqualified.” Huo Yuhao clenched his teeth tightly and sped up his footsteps again. For the sake of clearing up his tired mind, he even activated his soulforce and released a Spirit Shock that was aimed towards himself. The intense pain in his mind also stimulated his bodily functions, and sure enough, his speed increased by a bit once again, allowing him to overtake the few people at the very back of the group.

Zhou Yi quietly stood there. She didn’t pay attention to the students who’d already finished their laps. Instead, her gaze fell upon the students who hadn’t completed their laps.

Out of these students, the one who had the most tired expression was Huo Yuhao. His uniform, which had already been soaked with sweat, wasn’t something that could be faked! However, he clenched his teeth tightly as he strenuously persevered.

Time rapidly passed, and Huo Yuhao persevered for another eight laps. At this moment, there was only five minutes left until the end of the two hours. Along with Huo Yuhao, there were seven other people who hadn’t finished running. However, they seemed to only have three to five laps left. Furthermore, they’d already started to use all of their strength to increase their speed. There was still a chance that they’d finish on time. However, Huo Yuhao still needed to twelve more laps!

At that moment, a figure suddenly rushed out from the middle of Shrek Plaza. It landed behind Huo Yuhao, and caught up to him in just a few steps. Following that, a scene which stunned everyone present appeared.

A pair of blue butterfly wings suddenly spread out from the back of the person that was chasing after Huo Yuhao. The tips of each wing unceasingly changed between deep blue, azure, and light blue, while the surface of each wing was similar to a bright, V-shaped halo that had been embedded within the blue sky that in turn brought light to the human realm. Its shape and colour were incomparably and flawlessly beautiful.

“Ah—” When such a gorgeous pair of wings suddenly appeared, the shock that it brought to everyone was simply too great. Practically all of the students, regardless of whether they were boys or girls, let out a cry.

That pair of wings was simply too beautiful. Its surface resembled white spouts surging from the azure ocean. The patterns on it, as well as its colour, were extremely magnificent. When it was azure, the entire surface of the wing resembled a bright halo embedded within the blue sky. It occasionally turned deep blue, azure, and then light blue. The white patterns of light on both wings were like pearls that had been embedded within them; they had a bright luster that was extremely enchanting.

Although the wings were only an illusory shadow, it caused everyone present to have a stunned and dazzled feeling under their illumination. Even Zhou Yi, who was a teacher, felt the same.

After the figure had released its butterfly wings, it stuck to Huo Yuhao from behind. It hugged Huo Yuhao underneath his armpits, and the wings on its back suddenly began to flap. Just like that, it actually brought them both into the sky.

Huo Yuhao was also shocked. He unconsciously turned around to see who it was, allowing him to see Wang Dong’s handsome face.

“You…”

“You what? Why haven’t you circulated your soulforce to make your body lighter?” Wang Dong flapped his pair of beautiful wings as he spoke, causing them to suddenly speed up. He then took Huo Yuhao with him as he flew around Shrek Plaza at high speed.

Huo Yuhao was also stunned by the pair of wings on Wang Dong’s back. Too beautiful, they were really too beautiful! Was this his martial soul? Huo Yuhao could even sense the V-shaped patterns on Wang Dong’s wings absorbing the warmth of the sunlight. Without mentioning this, just a martial soul that had the ability to fly was already a considerably strong existence. Furthermore, there was a saying in the natural world: beautiful martial souls were always stronger!

A trace of satisfaction was apparent inside of Zhou Yi’s astonishment as she spoke to herself, “Radiant Butterfly Goddess? The continent’s most beautiful butterfly martial soul? Good, very good. At least not all of them have disappointed me.”

Wang Dong’s flying speed was very fast. With his speed, completing twelve laps within five minutes wasn’t an impossible task anymore. When the two simultaneously landed after finishing Huo Yuhao’s last lap, they couldn’t help but stumble. Huo Yuhao hurriedly turned around and supported Wang Dong. However, he also fell backwards, causing Wang Dong to fall on top of him.

Although Wang Dong’s cultivation couldn’t be considered weak amongst his peers, he was still a child! After over three thousand metres whilst carrying Huo Yuhao, his soulforce had been slightly overdrafted. Once he landed, the pair of dazzling wings on his back were withdrawn into his body. His expression had also become pale.

Huo Yuhao was crushed under Wang Dong’s body, but the trace of a smile still appeared on his face. “Thanks. I crushed you last time, and you crushed me back this time.”

Wang Dong crawled back up with a look of revulsion on his face. “You stinking brat, do you think I want to be on top of you?”

Huo Yuhao wasn’t angered by what Wang Dong said as he crawled up along with him. Whilst panting heavily, he gave Wang Dong a thumbs-up.

Wang Dong was stunned for a moment. Then, he nodded his head and gave him a thumbs-up in reply. Following that, the two people couldn’t help but smile. Their previous grudges had also completely disappeared at this moment.

All of the students had completed a hundred laps within the stipulated time. They were now standing in the middle of Shrek Plaza, resting.

Zhou Yi expressionlessly turned towards the students as she indifferently said, “The people whose names I call, step forward. Cheng Cheng, Qiu Jianrao, Tang Dao, Shangguan Chentian, Lin Zeyu, Zhuge Yun, Tai Long, Tang Ling, and Yun Xiaopiao.”

A total of nine students were called out by her. The students had clearly never expected Zhou Yi to be able to actually call out the names of nine students, even though they hadn’t given any self-introductions.

The students who were called out slowly stepped forward.

Zhou Yi indifferently said, “You nine can go pack your luggage and leave the academy. From this moment forth, you’re no longer students of Shrek Academy.”

“Ah?” The nine students who were still tired from running were immediately astonished, while the other students erupted into an uproar.

“Teacher, why?” The tall youth named Tai Long stepped forward with an angry look on his face. Out of the students who’d completed their hundred laps, he’d been in the first group of people; he was one of the first people that had finished.

Zhou Yi coldly replied, “Shrek Academy doesn’t need students who’re full of tricks. If we cultivate a person like you, who has strength but not a good and upright attitude, the only thing you’ll bring to any country is catastrophe, not help. Tai Long, say it yourself, did you run the full hundred laps just now?” “I naturally ran enough.” Tai Long protested.

Zhou Yi laughed. “You ran enough? If my memory serves me right, when everyone started running, you unhurriedly walked two laps due to the fact that I hadn’t arrived at Shrek Plaza yet. You only started to catch up when the leading group were on their fifth laps. Because of this, you didn’t run a full one hundred laps, but ninety-seven. I believe that I’m not the only person who saw your laziness in the beginning.”

“I…” Tai Long’s face immediately turned bright red. He never thought that Zhou Yi, who hadn’t come out to the field at the beginning, would be able to reveal his crafty tricks as if she’d seen them personally. “But, just because I ran a few laps less… you can’t expel me because of this!”

Zhou Yi snorted disdainfully. “I’ve already explained the reason why I’m expelling you. You’re not suitable to be called a student of Shrek Academy. Pack your bags and screw off.”

“You…” Tai Lang was completely flabbergasted. In reality, running a hundred laps or so wasn’t a problem at all for him, with his strength. His cultivation was even ranked amongst the best of all the students in Class 1. However, he’d never expected that he’d be eliminated like this.

Zhou Yi looked towards the other students and spoke indifferently, “Although I have a bad temper, I definitely keep my promises. The nine people who I called out all cheated whilst running, and did not complete their hundred laps. If you’re unhappy with it, you can go and report me to the education administration. But for now, you can leave.”

“Teacher Zhou, I refuse to accept this. He didn’t run a hundred laps just now; he only managed to finish with someone else’s help. Why isn’t he being eliminated?” Another eliminated student named Lin Zeyu spoke furiously whilst pointing towards Huo Yuhao.

Zhou Yi laughed, “You refuse to accept it? ‘He’ is named Huo Yuhao. And if ‘he’ hadn’t finished running a hundred laps, he’d be amongst you right now. I will not change what I’ve said. He finished a hundred laps. I never said that helping others was forbidden. Wang Dong helped him, something that he did voluntarily. If someone willingly helped you whilst you were running, that would’ve been fine too. But did anyone help you? I don’t look at the process, only at the results. And the results were: Huo Yuhao completed a hundred laps, while you did not. Quickly screw off. If you make me any angrier, I’ll waste your martial souls.”

Under Zhou Yi’s powerful might, the nine students who’d been called out could do nothing but dejectedly walk away. They obviously weren’t going to pack their luggage, but were instead going straight towards the educational administration to lodge a complaint. This was only the first day of school! How could they accept this?

The sweat on Huo Yuhao’s body increased as he personally watched Zhou Yi impartially expel the nine students. It would’ve been weird if he didn’t feel nervous. If it weren’t for Wang Dong’s help, he would’ve been with those people! When he thought about this, he couldn’t help but shoot a grateful glance towards Wang Dong.

The remaining students’ expressions had completely changed; they didn’t even dare to breathe heavily whilst looking at Zhou Yi. It had only been two hours, yet Zhou Yi had already established her absolute authority over Class 1.

“Go back to the dorms and change your clothes. After that, come back to the classroom for class. I’ll give you fifteen minutes.” As soon as she’d finished speaking, Zhou Yi turned around and headed back towards the classroom.

No one dared to waste any time this time around. They loudly dispersed, as practically all of them sprinted back to their dorm rooms.

“That old woman is too fierce.” Wang Dong spoke as as hurriedly ran back towards the dorms with Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao turned and said, “Thanks. If it weren’t for you, I’m afraid that…”

Wang Dong snorted and said, “Don’t thank me. If it weren’t for our fight, you could’ve done it on your own. You can go in and change first, I’m not really that sweaty.”

Huo Yuhao was stunned. “You don’t want to change together to save time?”

Wang Dong replied, “Did you forget about the five rules I told you the other day? I don’t like seeing the bodies of other people, it gives me goosebumps. Hurry up.”

Huo Yuhao didn’t bother responding. He hurriedly returned to their room and took off his sweat-soaked shirt. He then used a clean cloth to wipe his body down, before changing into another set of the school uniform. He’d have to wait until after class before he could clean his dirty body.

When he left the room, it was Wang Dong’s turn to change his clothes. At that moment, Huo Yuhao was still somewhat out of breath. The pair of wings that had appeared on Wang Dong’s back subconsciously appeared in his mind again.

Too beautiful, they had truly been too beautiful! Just what was that martial soul? Perhaps the others might not have noticed anything, but Huo Yuhao had. When Wang Dong had released his martial soul, his soul rings had also appeared. He’d unexpectedly had two of them. The thing that astonished him even more than that however, was that Wang Dong actually had both a yellow and a purple soul ring. In other words, his second soul ring was a thousand year one. This had already surpassed the common sense of normal soul masters.

No wonder he was so arrogant, he truly had the means to do so! When he compared his strength to Wang Dong’s, he truly was far too weak.

As he pondered about this, Wang Dong came out of their room after changing into a new set of clothes. The two of them didn’t dare to waste any time; they returned to the classroom as fast as they could.

Zhou Yi had given them fifteen minutes to change, but in reality, even the slowest person didn’t take ten minutes. All of the students had already seated themselves in an orderly fashion inside of the classroom. Their eyes were still filled with fear when they looked at the nine empty seats.

Everyone present had heard the phrase ‘Shrek Academy is hard to enter, but easy to leave.’ However, they only felt a strong sense of danger after it happened right in front of them. No one dared to even think of cheating anymore.

When the fifteenth minute arrived, Zhou Yi walked into the classroom just on time. When she saw that the ninety-one students were all present, she nodded her head. She then said, “We’ll start class now. On the whole, your test earlier has made me satisfied. A majority of you were able to complete the simple running test. Huo Yuhao, stand up.”

“Teacher Zhou.” Huo Yuhao rapidly stood up; his back was ramrod straight.

Zhou Yi coldly said, “Announce your soul rank.”

“Yes. My soulforce is at the eleventh rank.” Huo Yuhao spoke respectfully. Ever since Zhou Yi had called out their names earlier, he knew that in reality, this Teacher Zhou completely understood them, even though she seemed unreasonable. Perhaps he wouldn’t even be able to conceal his cultivation from her.

After hearing the words ‘eleventh rank’, a suspicious expression appeared on all of the students in the class. Wang Dong even directly covered his eyes with his hands.

Embarrassing, this was too embarrassing to him. With his level of cultivation, he’d actually lost to a person at the eleventh rank. Wait, how could he only be at the eleventh rank of soulforce? Didn’t enrolling at Shrek Academy have a basic requirement that students had to be at the fifteenth rank? When he thought about this, Wang Dong couldn’t help but raise his head to look at Huo Yuhao with a flabbergasted expression.

“Correct, his soul power is only at the eleventh rank. I know, you all are very curious as to why he could pass the school’s assessment and was able to become a freshman. I’ll only answer this question once, no one can ask him about it in the future unless he’s eliminated. He’s a student who was specially invited by the academy. When he entered the academy, he didn’t need to pass any tests. However, this is the only exception we make for specially invited students. If he’s unable to complete the studying assignments that the academy sets, he’ll also be eliminated. Okay Huo Yuhao, sit down.”

“Thank you, teacher.” As Huo Yuhao sat back down, he couldn’t help but feel astonished. Teacher Zhou’s words were clearly meant to protect him! By clearly explaining the situation of his enrollment, even with his insufficient soul rank, no one would ask about it in the future.

Zhou Yi didn’t seem to care about the students’ reactions to this. She turned around and wrote two big words on the blackboard: ‘ATTACK’ and ‘DEFENSE’.

After writing the two words out on the blackboard, she turned back to face the students once again. “I know that a majority of you are very unhappy because of the punishment I gave to you earlier, as well as the expulsion of those nine people. Only, you don’t dare to show it because of my pressure. I have no need to give you any explanations. People who are perceptive will naturally understand my reasoning in the future. As for the idiots who can’t understand, it’s fine for them to not understand. We will now start class.”

“You should all recognise the two words that I’ve just written on the blackboard. ‘Attack’, and ‘Defense’. For our first class today, I’ll talk to you about the attacking and defending techniques that soul masters use. Since ancient times, we soul masters have been split into many different systems based off of our innate martial souls, such as the Power Attack System, the Agility Attack System, the Auxiliary System, the Food System, the Control System, the Defense System, and so on. Some soul masters develop their abilities towards an extreme of one system, while others develop their abilities equally in multiple. The various number of methods to cultivate is by no means an isolated path. Wang Dong, answer this question: Of the various systems that soul masters fall into, which is the best at attacking, and which should lean towards defense and auxiliary, or support?”

This question couldn’t be any easier for him. Wang Dong stood up and unhesitantly replied, “Naturally, assault, agility, and control system soul masters are inclined towards attacking, while auxiliary, food, and defense system soul masters are inclined towards defense.”

Zhou Yi spoke with no trace of politeness, “That was a stupid answer.”

Wang Dong was left blank. “Teacher Zhou, my answer-”

“Sit down.” Zhou Yi interrupted him, as she waved her hand in his direction, causing a strong burst of soulforce to hold back the words he was about to say. Then, it forced him to sit back down.

“If this were four thousand years ago—before the Sun Moon Continent had collided with our Douluo Continent—Wang Dong’s answer would’ve been correct. However, as of now, his answer couldn’t be any more incorrect. Huo Yuhao, tell me, why is this so?”

Huo Yuhao instantly thought to himself that Teacher Zhou really had a grudge against him and Wang Dong today. Fortunately, they hadn’t been expelled despite this. After some lightning-quick thinking, he came to an answer. He stood up and said, “Because of soul tools.”

The strictness present on Zhou Yi’s face finally became a bit gentler. “You aren’t considered that stupid; it’s no wonder that you were able to become a specially invited student. Correct. It’s exactly because of soul tools that the line between attack and defense has become blurred. This is also the topic that I want to talk about today. Sit down.”

“I believe that everyone very clear knows that the development of soul tools has been quite rapid during these recent few thousand years. That year, the Sun Moon Continent brought many precious materials with them, as well as the basic manufacturing techniques for soul tools. After a few thousand years of development, the quality of our manufactured soul tools has steadily become better, while their strength has in turn become steadily stronger. This has created a situation where even food system soul masters can have an attack power that’s equal to, or even surpasses, the attack of assault system soul masters—if they possess a sufficiently strong soul tool. Contrastingly, if agility system soul masters have a soul tool with a strong defensive capability, they can temporarily play the role of a defense system soul masters.”

“It could be said that the appearance of soul tools has enormously changed both the direction and current situation of soul masters’ cultivation. In reality, the usage of soul rings have been weakened. As long as you have sufficient soulforce, you can rely on soul tools to make up for the deficiency in your soul rings. This has caused many people to neglect the usage of soul rings, thereby creating the current situation in which the soul masters of the four great empires are cultivating with the sole aim of achieving a high amount of soulforce.”

“This sort of cultivation method is undoubtedly effective in the short-term; especially for soul masters below the fiftieth rank, where the effects of soul tools are extremely obvious. However, what I want to make clear to you is that our Shrek Academy doesn’t cultivate this kind of soul master. And that’s because, after surpassing the fiftieth rank, they’re all trash.”

“You don’t understand, right? Let me give an example. You’re a tool soul master that’s cultivated to the fiftieth rank, while I’m an agility system soul master who’s also cultivated to the fiftieth rank. However, you have a soul tool that’s strong enough to threaten my life, while I don’t have one at all. Who wins the fight?”

“The answer is very simple. I’ll definitely win. Why? Because with my speed, you basically won’t have the slightest chance of hitting me with your soul tool. Even if you have a peak-level soul tool, I can still rely on my speed to grind down your soulforce. The stronger the soul tool, the higher the drain on your soulforce. Because of this, although soul masters of the defense, auxiliary, and food systems can rely on soul tools to possess the attack power of a assault system soul masters, they still won’t have the combat strength of a real assault system soul master. You must remember this very clearly. Because of this, although soul tools can enormously strengthen defense, auxiliary, and food system soul masters, you’ll always be killed first on the battlefield if your body isn’t strong enough. Your opponents won’t let you off just based on the fact that you’re not an offensive soul master. On the contrary, people bully the weak. Your attack power might be very strong by relying on a soul tool, but your other aspects will be very weak in turn. What would your enemies choose to do in that case?”

“Likewise, if I’m extremely fit, my combat strength will be very strong in and of itself. Thus, having possession of a strong soul tool at the same time would be like adding wings to a tiger.This is a true expert.”

“The line separating attack and defense has been blurred; nowadays, anybody within a team of soul masters can fill the role of an attacker. However, only by raising your physical fitness can you increase your chance of surviving on the battlefield by a large degree. Unless soul tools develop to the point where they can completely replace your body, the level of both your physical fitness and your soul rings will still be the most important thing in your futures.”

Zhou Yi didn’t know this, but ten thousand years from now, soul tools would actually develop to the degree where they could actually replace one’s entire body, like she’d just said.

“During the next three months, most of my training for you will be focused on training your physical fitness. No matter who you are, what origins you have or how talented you are, if you can’t pass my test three months from now, you’ll end up just like those nine people. You can screw off.”

“Today’s morning class will end here. I recommend that you eat a proper lunch. Your training will start this afternoon. Huo Yuhao, follow me to the office for a bit.”

After speaking, Zhou Yi turned around and walked away without pausing. The lunch bell hadn’t even rung yet.

The class remained silent until Zhou Yi had walked out of the classroom. A majority of the people there were immersed in what Zhou Yi had said. Although this Teacher Zhou didn’t follow the rules of common sense, they had no choice but to agree that her words made a lot of sense.

Huo Yuhao stood up and followed Zhou Yi out. Besides the office buildings that were located behind the purple and black teaching buildings, there was also a simplistic office located within every school building.

Huo Yuhao followed Zhou Yi to the office, which was close to the classroom. Zhou Yi motioned for him to shut the door, while she proceeded to sit behind an office desk. Although she looked old, her movements didn’t appear elderly at all.

“Huo Yuhao, I don’t like to beat around the bush. Wang Dong’s martial soul astonished me a lot, but your martial soul has caused me to become very curious. Even with my experience, I was unable to sense what your martial soul was. Now, I want to know what exactly it is.” Zhou Yi’s power was undoubtedly manifested in her words.

There was naturally no need for him to conceal his martial soul from his teacher. Huo Yuhao replied, “My martial soul is the Spirit Eyes, a spiritual-type martial soul.”

When she heard Huo Yuhao’s words, Zhou Yi was visibly astonished. A trace of delight flashed through her bright eyes, which were inconsistent with her extremely aged face. “A body soul that has a spiritual attribute? Eyes?”

Huo Yuhao nodded his head.

Zhou Yi’s eyes furrowed slightly, as if she were deep in thought. After a short period of time, she asked Huo Yuhao, “Can you tell me what your first soul skill is?”

Teachers inquiring about their student’s martial souls was very common, but a soul skill was the most important ability of a soul master, as well as their most important secret. Even with Zhou Yi’s might, she’d still used an inquiring tone.

Someone else might’ve hesitated for a moment, but Huo Yuhao didn’t have this problem. His first soul ring had four skills, so only exposing two of them was still quite easy for him.

Without directly answering Zhou Yi, Huo Yuhao’s first pure white soul ring slowly rose from his feet. Following that, his pupils were covered in a faintly golden layer. Immediately afterwards, Zhou Yi felt a spiritual undulation emerge before her eyes.

Zhou Yi was naturally different from Bei Bei and Tang Ya; she was a Soul Emperor expert. Although she wasn’t a spiritual-type soul master, she still naturally had a strong level of spiritual power due to her cultivation. If she wanted to reject Huo Yuhao’s spiritual skill, from someone who was only at the eleventh rank, it couldn’t be any easier for her. However, she clearly wouldn’t reject it right now; she immediately chose to accept it.

Once she accepted it, Zhou Yi’s pupils instantly expanded.

Spiritual Detection Sharing immediately appeared within Zhou Yi’s sense of vision, causing everything around her to become much clearer. This clear sense of reality made it seem as if one was walking out from a dense fog. Everything became clear and orderly, so much so that she was able to completely describe everything using numbers. The precise predictions, almost as if they were coming from a second, separate brain, unceasingly changed along with her line of sight.

After roughly a minute, Huo Yuhao deactivated his skill, and stood conscientiously in front of Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi stood still in a daze for a while, before murmuring to herself, “What a miraculous skill. No wonder the Tang Sect chose you as their specially invited student. With this skill alone, that girl Tang Ya has definitely chosen the right person. I was wondering why that girl, who was extremely smart even though she had ordinary talent, would choose a person who only had a cultivation level of the eleventh rank, and an ordinary level physical fitness. To think that he actually had this secret…”

“Huo Yuhao, follow me.” Whilst speaking, Zhou Yi quickly stood up and took Huo Yuhao with her. She then led him out of the office with quick steps.

At this moment, Huo Yuhao was confused. He could sense that Zhou Yi’s frame of mind had had a huge change after learning about his martial soul and soul skill, but he wasn’t clear about whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. Furthermore, he didn’t know where Zhou Yi was taking him, nor what she wanted him to do there.

After leaving the freshman school building, Zhou Yi led Huo Yuhao straight towards the back of the academy, which was to the west. After walking a short distance, Zhou Yi furrowed her brows slightly and said, “This is too slow. I’ll take you with me.” Mid-sentence, she flashed towards Huo Yuhao and grabbed his shoulder with her right hand. The next moment, Huo Yuhao felt like he was soaring through the clouds.

The scenery around him rapidly changed, while a formless barrier seemed to have appeared around him—seemingly to protect him. Only, his surroundings had become blurry.

Zhou Yi was undoubtedly the strongest soul master that Huo Yuhao had ever seen. Just what sort of speed was this!? He hurriedly released his Spiritual Detection. Only after he’d done this was he able to faintly distinguish the direction they were headed in.

After heading westward for quite a while, Zhou Yi changed directions and headed to the north. Huo Yuhao began to feel that they’d left the outer courtyard’s Martial Soul Institute, and that they’d entered the outer courtyard’s Soul Engineering Institute.

Even with her level of speed, Zhou Yi only halted after a few minutes had passed. They’d arrived before an enormous building.

The school buildings that Huo Yuhao had previously seen had already been quite big, but they were still outshone by the grey, rectangular building in front of them. The total surface area of this building might even be able to compare with the Martial Soul Institution’s dorms.

The grey building looked extremely massive. It wasn’t just made of bricks either; its surface had many metallic glints on it. A low, rumbling sound echoed unceasingly from the building, and the ground beneath Huo Yuhao’s feet was even vibrating slightly.

A signboard to the side of the building told him what this place was: “Soul Tool Testing Area”.

Huo Yuhao was filled with doubt. Why would Teacher Zhou bring him to the Soul Tool Testing Area? What did she want to do?

Zhou Yi naturally didn’t explain anything to him. After loosening her grip on Huo Yuhao’s shoulder, she walked towards the entrance of the Soul Tool Testing Area.

Once they’d entered, Huo Yuhao discovered that everything inside the Soul Tool Testing Area was made of metal. Furthermore, he’d never seen the type of metal that had apparently been used to construct everything; it was a somewhat dark brown colour.

After entering, they were greeted by a long horizontal corridor. It looked similar to the corridors from the Martial Soul Institute’s dorms, but there were only doors located on one side of the corridor, and they were all thirty metres apart from one another. The signs on the doors had words like ‘Testing Area One, Testing Area Two…’ along with other words to the same effect.

Zhou Yi seemed to have come here often, as she was already familiar with everything. She took Huo Yuhao with her as she headed northward through a corridor, before stopping at the end of it, in front of a door that had the sign ‘Testing Area 20’ on it.

Zhou Yi turned her wrist over, and a hexagonal silver command medallion appeared in her hand. She then pressed it to the door that said ‘Testing Area 20’.

A magical scene appeared before Huo Yuhao’s eyes; The door split open, revealing a gap that was perfectly fitted to her command medallion. Huo Yuhao thought he sensed a temporary fluctuation of soulforce before the command medallion was released from the gap. Following that, the door to Testing Area 20 opened horizontally, a grating sound echoing out.

When the door had opened a bit, Huo Yuhao discovered, to his astonishment, that the door was made entirely of metal, and was actually two feet thick. There were smooth rails at the bottom and top of the door, which allowed it to slowly open.

After the door opened had fully, Zhou Yi waved her hand towards Huo Yuhao, and walked in before him.

“Boom—” Once Huo Yuhao entered, he was startled by a loud sound. A strong vibration, mixed together with a stream of air, smashed directly into his face, causing his school uniform to flutter.

Zhou Yi seemed to see this as a common occurrence, and continued to walk inside.

After entering Testing Area 20, Huo Yuhao discovered that this place was a completely different world. There were massive metal plates that divided the world into separate areas that were akin to metal boxes. Under Zhou Yi’s guidance, they quickly arrived at the largest area within the world. It was an empty field that was roughly two thousand square metres in size, while its height was around ten metres tall. There were currently a few people that stood along the edges of the field, who seemed to be fiddling with strange things in their hands.

“Fan Yu.” Zhou Yi shouted loudly, causing the group of people beside the field to immediately look towards her, in which there was a tall, middle-aged man, who furrowed his brows slightly, then walked towards Zhou Yi and Huo Yuhao with large strides.

The middle-aged man was roughly 1.8 metres tall, and his shoulders were extremely wide. He wore a simple cloth shirt that exposed his thick and sturdy shoulders, in turn revealing his granite-like muscles. There were distinct lines on his face, and he had a deep gaze. As he stood there, he gave off the feeling of a mountain that had stood there for time immemorial.

“Zhou Yi, why have you come?” Clearly, this middle-aged man was the Fan Yu that Zhou Yi had called out to.

“Do you still remember the words that you said to me last time?” Zhou Yi seemed to be slightly excited as she spoke.

A helpless smile appeared on Fan Yu’s face as he replied, “I’ve talked to you about a lot of things. How am I to know what thing you’re referring to? If it’s not important, head back first. I still have to conduct a few tests here.”