23 The Golden Road Amidst Withering Resplendence

On the one hand, you had the golden-eyed Huo Yuhao;

On the other hand, you had the dazzling winged Wang Dong, who’d released his Radiant Butterfly Goddess.

In the instant that they released their martial souls, everything within ten meters of them lit up. An extraordinary light suddenly blossomed outwards from their bodies.

That light was very peculiar; it was a bizarre light that alternated between the colors blue, purple, and gold. Its core consisted of a dense aura of light, and it was even fused together with a few different mysterious soul power undulations.

An enormous shadow appeared behind Wang Dong’s back. It was a complete and magnificent Radiant Butterfly Goddess.

On the other hand, an enormous eye with a vertical pupil appeared behind Huo Yuhao. This eye was light-gold in color, but its pupil was faintly purple.

After blanking out for a brief moment, the two of them came back to their senses. However, they immediately noticed that everything around them was filled with an intense light.

The two enormous shadows slowly approached each other in midair; as they approached each other, they began to transform. The color of the eye that represented Huo Yuhao’s Spirit Eye gradually turned deeper, and its entire body turned bluish-purple. However, its golden component had vanished completely.

The shadow that represented Wang Dong’s Radiant Butterfly Goddess started to violently combust as it neared Huo Yuhao’s Spirit Eye; it burned with a bluish-golden flame.

In the end, after crossing what seemed to be an entire world, the two martial soul shadows finally touched each other above Huo Yuhao’s and Wang Dong’s heads.

In that instant, their bodies simultaneously shook violently. The Haodong Power that had formed as a result of their fusion erupted like a geyser, draining all of their energy in what seemed to be an instant.

The flaming Radiant Butterfly Goddess spread its dazzling wings, slowly hugging the shadow of Huo Yuhao’s Spirit Eye. In that instant, the shadow of the Radiant Butterfly Goddess disappeared, but the bluish-purple Spirit Eye continued to release a stream of light.

The dazzling bluish-golden flame erupted from the shadow of the Spirit Eye, which slowly descended to protect the two of them.

The enormous Spirit Eye seemed extremely arcane. If one were to look carefully, it would seem as though there was a boundless world contained within it. In an instant, a tri-colored beam of blue, purple, and gold shot out.

This illusion-like ray of light shot forth in a straight line, and everything in its path turned into nothingness. The resplendence contained within that single instant seemed to last forever. The halos of light created wherever the tri-colored beam of light passed didn’t disperse; instead, it left a blurry and distorted brilliance in its wake.

However, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong weren’t able to witness this scene. In the instant that ray of light was released, the Haodong Power within their bodies was instantly drained. The intense feeling of weakness that resulted from this instantly caused them to collapse and faint…

Martial soul fusion skills were always skills that released an extremely large amount of power. This was also their first time trying it out, so they had to undergo the process of two martial souls fusing. Thus, the drain on their soul power and mental energies was extremely large. Furthermore, they had never adapted to a situation like this in the past, so it was no wonder they fainted.

They directly collapsed onto the ground, even though they were still hugging each other…

A speechless night passed…

Daytime gradually arrived…

He didn’t know whether he’d fainted or fallen asleep, but when Wang Dong woke up, he truly felt like dying.

It was fortunate that they had been on Wang Dong’s bed last night. But today, the two of them were still tightly hugging each other, but they were covered in dust, dirt, and dew. They had directly fallen asleep in the forest. Was this the fabled one night stand?

“Huo Yuhao, get up right now!” As Wang Dong struggled to climb out of Huo Yuhao’s embrace, his expression turned somewhat hysterical.

Huo Yuhao drowsily opened his eyes. After discovering that the sun was already up, he was startled and quickly got up. However, the next thing he saw was Wang Dong, who was standing over him and looked as if he were about to beat him up violently.

Clenching his teeth, Wang Dong glared at him. “Didn’t you say that we wouldn’t fall asleep while hugging each other?”

“Did, did I say that?” Huo Yuhao replied blankly.

“You… I’m gonna beat you up.” Wang Dong suddenly pounced, straddling Huo Yuhao. He then started to rain blows down on him.

Huo Yuhao hurriedly caught his hands and looked to the side with a blank look in his eyes, “L-look…”

“What am I supposed to look at…” Once he spoke, Wang Dong subconsciously glanced toward the direction where Huo Yuhao was looking; he couldn’t remain calm after seeing what Huo Yuhao saw.

To their astonishment, a mysterious trench had appeared in a direction forty-five degrees away from them.

This trench was roughly 1.5 metres wide, 30 centimetres deep, and stretched 50 or so meters in a straight line into the distance before quietly disappearing.

If it were just an ordinary trench, the two of them absolutely wouldn’t be this surprised. After all, the fusion skill they had unleashed had completely drained them of their soul power and knocked them out for an entire night. Thus, it was normal for it to be this strong.

However, the most terrifying thing about it was the fact that a layer of light-gold had covered the soil in the trench; this light-gold was actually identical to the light-gold that appeared whenever Huo Yuhao activated his Spirit Eyes.

It wasn’t just the soil. Because there were a few trees in the path of the trench, a semicircular hole had appeared on a tree which was at the edge of the trench. Furthermore, the inside of that hole was covered in a layer of light-gold as well. In addition to that, every plant near both sides of the trench was covered in a layer of light-gold as well.

At this very moment under the sun’s radiance, that dazzling layer of light-gold looked like a golden road that had appeared in front of Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong. How could they not be astonished?

“This, was this created by your Radiant Butterfly Goddess?” Huo Yuhao asked blankly.

Wang Dong was currently still atop Huo Yuhao’s body. He subconsciously shook his head. “No, absolutely not. Although my martial soul’s gold, it’s either bright gold or bluish-golden. It’d never be a light-gold color like this. This, this looks identical to the color of your Spirit Eyes!”

Huo Yuhao slapped his thigh and said, “Quickly, get up. Let’s go and take a look.”

“Okay.” At this moment, Wang Dong was fascinated by the golden road; he didn’t notice that the area Huo Yuhao had slapped was near his buttocks. After getting up, Huo Yuhao hurriedly got up as well, and the two of them quickly walked over to the golden road before squatting down to take a look.

Wang Dong was just about to touch the golden road, but Huo Yuhao grabbed his hand. “You said that this is just like the color of my Spirit Eyes, so I should do this.” As he spoke, he stretched his hand into the trench and touched its golden surface.

Touching the ground didn’t seem like a very dangerous action, but Huo Yuhao instantly retracted his hand after doing so. Furthermore, an astonished expression appeared on his face. In the instant he touched the golden soil, he felt as if his mind had been thrown into disarray. His Spiritual Sea shook violently; it felt as if he’d been struck by his Spirit Shock.

“This, this is only the aftereffects of our fusion skill? Try it out.” Huo Yuhao hurriedly looked towards Wang Dong.

Wang Dong was extremely curious. As a result of this, he quickly stretched his hand out to touch the golden trench.

His reaction to it was much greater than Huo Yuhao’s. His entire body turned sluggish, and it took a long time for him to come back to his senses.

The two looked at each other and saw the astonishment in one another’s eyes.

“This, isn’t this too awesome? This is just the aftereffects of our fusion skill, but it felt like I had been struck by your all-out Spirit Shock. Can you imagine what’d happen if we were hit its full power?” Wang Dong’s voice was trembling slightly due to his excitement. There were no soul masters who didn’t wish to possess a strong soul skill.

Huo Yuhao said, “Look, the range of this soul skill should be around fifty meters or so in a straight line, but I’m not sure about whether or not it can single someone out or not. It’s extremely strong—I believe that it might even have both mental and destruction attributes, making it a double-attribute attack. Only, I’m not sure how many times it increases our attack power by. If someone were to be struck by it at full power, its power would…”

Wang Dong nodded excitedly. “Moreover, the strength of this fusion skill will increase as our cultivation increases! This fusion skill of ours is truly tyrannical. If we were to meet the Lan Sister’s Empyreal Net again, we’d definitely be able to destroy it in an instant!”

Huo Yuhao was similarly excited, but he was slightly calmer than Wang Dong, “Wang Dong, do you think we can use this fusion skill in the assessment? I doubt that a Soul Elder can withstand the amount of power it contains!”

Wang Dong’s face stiffened. “That’s a good question. An extremely strong skill like this is actually quite problematic. Furthermore, we can only use it once, so we can’t even use it to intimidate the others. We’d faint after using it once.”

Huo Yuhao replied, “This is the first time we used it, so we were too inexperienced. I don’t think it’d be this draining when we try using it next time, but we should only be able to use it once. However, having a strong skill is always a good thing. Once we practice it a few more times and get used to it, it’ll be much better.”

Wang Dong said, “If that Ma Xiaotao wants to bully us again, we’ll let her taste this. It shouldn’t kill her with her cultivation, so we can use it to show how awesome we are.”

Huo Yuhao replied, “A strong fusion skill like this should always have a name. Since I was wrong earlier, I’ll let you name it.”

Wang Dong didn’t decline this responsibility. “Fine, I’ll consider you tactful. What would sound nice? Gaze of Death, how about that?”

Without even waiting for Huo Yuhao’s opinion, he immediately rejected that name himself. “No, that won’t do. It’s a fusion skill that’s activated by the both of us, so how can it not contain anything that’s related to my martial soul? Let’s call it the ‘Gaze of the Radiant Goddess’. That sounds cool.”

Huo Yuhao had a speechless look on his face as he stared at him, “How the heck is your Radiant Butterfly Goddess a Radiant Goddess? The ‘Radiant Goddess’ in your martial soul’s name clearly refers to how it illuminates light, as well as the fact that it’s a butterfly that’s as beautiful as a goddess. Let’s not even bother discussing the existence of a Radiant Goddess; even if it did exist, it wouldn’t be related to us at all.”

Wang Dong frowned. “Can’t you admit that it sounds quite nice? Don’t tell me you want to call it ‘Gaze of the Butterfly’? Wouldn’t that sound even worse?”

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. “I’ve got it. Why do we even need to add the names of our martial souls to it? That doesn’t sound special at all. Considering the fact that it’s such a magnificent golden color, and that it releases such a resplendent light for an instant, why don’t we call it: A Golden Road Amidst Withering Resplendence. How about that?”

Huo Yuhao’s eyes widened slightly, “This name sounds cool, but isn’t it too long?”

Pleased with himself, Wang Dong said, “A long name shows off how awesome we are, right? Let’s just abbreviate it to ‘A Golden Road’. In any case, nobody else will even know what it is. Once we get back, let’s ask Teacher Zhou to evaluate the effects and strength of our ‘A Golden Road Amidst Withering Resplendence’. Then, we can find out what’s going on.”

Once he heard the words ‘Teacher Zhou’, Huo Yuhao suddenly felt a chill up his back. He then turned around and noticed the sun, which was already rising gradually.

Wang Dong was instantly reminded by his actions, and started to think of something. The two then looked each other in the eye and simultaneously let out a cry, immediately running.

We’re gonna be late again… and it’s even when the knock-out tournament’s about to start. We’re gonna be late again…

For the sake of getting back to Shrek Academy in the shortest time possible, the two had no choice but to hold hands and run at full speed, activating the Vastwinter Power. Under this situation, not only was the consumption of energy even smaller, it even allowed them to reach their maximum speed.

Fortunately, they weren’t too far away from the Academy. Thus, they didn’t need too much time to return, but they were still late.

Roughly thirty or so academy teachers, including the old lady Zhou Yi, were standing in a line outside the Assessment Area.

Zhou Yi currently had an unhappy look in her eyes. She scanned through the nearly two hundred students beneath her, but she still couldn’t find the people she was looking for.

Xiao Xiao was already there, and she was currently waiting with a panicked expression on her face. This was because registration had already started, and in addition to that, it had started with their Class 1. However, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong weren’t there yet. If they didn’t manage to make it there before registration ended, they’d be disqualified from the tournament. Without even mentioning what a pity it’d be for them to miss this opportunity, Old Lady Zhou’s rage was something they wouldn’t be able to endure! And she, who was part of the same team as Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, would have to suffer this stroke of bad luck with them.

Just what’re those two guys doing? They were late yesterday, don’t tell me they’re going to be late today as well?

The number of participating students from Class 1 was greatest among the ten classes, and as such, the time needed to register them was also the longest among the ten classes. When it was time for Xiao Xiao’s team to be registered, Xiao Xiao was the only person who responded. Unexpectedly, nobody responded to the names ‘Huo Yuhao’ and ‘Wang Dong’. Once this occurred, not only was the entire student body stunned, even the teachers were astonished.

Although this wasn’t the first time that a situation like this had occurred in the history of Shrek Academy, it was an extremely rare occurrence. Even if they had already passed the freshmen assessment, it would seem as if they were looking down on the academy if they didn’t turn up for the knock-out tournament. As such, they would give an unfavourable impression to all the teachers.

The teacher in charge of the registration paused slightly for a moment before continuing to register the students from the other classes. This went on all the way until Class 6, when Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong finally arrived.

The two of them had rushed all the way to the academy, and they’d even slept in the forest overnight. In addition to that, they hadn’t even had time to clean themselves up. As a result of this, their figures looked extremely sorry. Without even talking about how dirty their clothes were, there were even traces of mud and dew on their clothes.

However, the deed was already done. Thus, they could only thicken their faces and come up. After all, they couldn’t actually forfeit their places!

Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong both ran towards the area between the teachers and students, loudly shouting “Reporting in.” as they did so.

The teacher in charge of the registration immediately paused. This teacher looked fifty-or-so-years old, and had a tall frame. He was dark-skinned and beardless, and had a stern expression on his face.

“What class are you two from? What happened?”

Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong both recognised him. This teacher was called Du Weilun, and he was the director of the outer courtyard’s Martial Soul Department. He possessed the greatest authority in the outer courtyard.

Huo Yuhao shouted, “Reporting in, Teacher Du. We’re Class 1’s Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong. We were late due to excessive cultivation.”

Du Weilun’s face darkened. “You’re even late to the assessment? Have you no concept of time? As a punishment, you’ll be sweeping all the corridors of the freshmen teaching blocks two days after the tournament ends. Return to your team.”

“Yes sir.” Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong hurriedly replied. They inwardly let out a sigh of relief. As long as they didn’t lose their qualification to participate in the tournament, everything else was fine. The two hurriedly walked to the area where Class 1’s teams were and stood together with Xiao Xiao.

Du Weilun glanced at the nearby Zhou Yi before continuing to register the other students. With his temper, if any other students were late, it’d be very likely for him to directly strip them of their qualifications to participate in the ranking tournament. In any case, they’d have passed the freshmen assessment anyway. However, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong were unique in the sense that they had performed exceptionally well during the round-robin tournament; they’d obtained a perfect score. This was the reason why the iron-faced director let them off leniently.

Although results weren’t everything in Shrek Academy, students who were strong and obtained good results would have preferential treatment. This was the case in any academy.

“Where’d you two go to? Just wait till Old Lady Zhou takes care of you guys once today’s matches are over. Look at her eyes; they look like blades. If looks could kill, you two would’ve died by a thousand cuts.” Xiao Xiao spoke unhappily.

Wang Dong spoke with a depressed look on his face. “Stop grumbling. This is all Huo Yuhao’s fault. If he didn’t drag me out to compare notes with him, making me lose track of time, how could we be late?”

During the journey back, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong had agreed to keep their martial soul fusion skill a secret for the time being. After all, they weren’t planning on using it during the freshmen assessment. They agreed to only tell this piece of good news to Teacher Zhou, in order to appease her thunderous fury while letting her give them some advice regarding their cultivations. They’d then show it off in future assessments once they were adept at using it.

The director of the outer courtyard’s Martial Soul Department, Du Weilun, quickly finished taking attendance, and what followed that was the drawing of lots. This was only a freshmen assessment, so there weren’t too many complicated procedures involved. Huo Yuhao represented his team to draw lots. The sixty-four teams involved in the knock-out tournament were divided into thirty-two areas where they would fight each other.

Yesterday, the students had had an entire day’s worth of rest, and the layout of the Assessment Area had been changed during that day as well. They merely changed the positioning of the partitioning walls, re-dividing the Assessment Area into sixteen areas. This time, the area of every single sub-area was increased several-fold, allowing the participating students to have even more space to utilise.

The rules of the knock-out tournament were very simple; there would be one match in the morning and one match in the afternoon every day, and eliminated teams would have to return to class, while victorious teams would continue to compete. After three days, the top three teams would be decided.

After the lots were drawn, the round of sixty-four immediately started, and thirty-two matches were simultaneously held. This way, they could shorten the time used for the tournament and give victorious students ample time to rest for their afternoon match.

This time, Huo Yuhao’s team was sent to the 15th area; their proctor had been changed as well. This time, the proctor in charge of them was a thirty-or-so-year-old female teacher who looked extremely good-natured.

When they drew lots earlier, they only obtained a number. Hence, they didn’t even know who they’d be facing. Once they arrived, they were somewhat speechless. Their opponents in the first match was actually a few of their classmates, resulting in this knock-out tournament becoming a civil war.

Their three opponents were people who Huo Yuhao’s team recognised. One of them had even attempted to challenge Wang Dong. According to Wang Dong, that fellow had been immediately humbled after Wang Dong privately beat him up.

Zhou Yi’s judgement was extremely precise. Since she had chosen Huo Yuhao’s team as Class 1’s seeded team, their strength was naturally something that the other teams couldn’t compete against. The match didn’t last for long. Although their opponents were extremely resilient, the match was finished within ten minutes due to Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao working together, along with the assistance of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection. Thus, Huo Yuhao’s team successfully entered the top 32.

However, just as they walked out of the Assessment Area, their originally joyful expressions instantly vanished. This was because the gloomy-faced Old Lady Zhou was waiting for them by the exit to the Assessment Area.

“Xiao Xiao, you can go back and rest first. You two, follow me.” With that, she coldly humphed and turned away.

Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong simultaneously felt a chill up their spines. Fortunately, they had already made their preparations. After glancing at each other, they followed Zhou Yi. Xiao Xiao could only gaze at them with an expression that said ‘you can fend go for yourselves’.

This time, Zhou Yi unexpectedly brought them straight to her office. As the teacher in charge of Class 1, her office was located in the Administration Area that was located behind the black and purple buildings of the outer courtyard’s teaching blocks, as well as the northern area of the Dormitory Area. Her office was situated on the first floor, and she was the only person who was currently working there.

After following Zhou Yi into the Office, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong couldn’t help but feel astonished.

Unexpectedly, the cold and extremely strict Teacher Zhou had decorated her office in an extremely elegant manner. The walls of her office were painted a light pink color, and her table was made with a special type of wood that was light red. Furthermore, there was a large red sofa that was meant for guests along with a few other decorations. There was also a small door that seemed to lead to a lounge. One had to admit that Shrek Academy treated its teachers relatively well; even teachers in charge of freshmen classes had their own private offices.

Huo Yuhao was the last person to walk into the room, and he carefully shut the door upon entering. Zhou Yi was already seated on the large red sofa, and she crossed her arms in front of her chest. She spoke coldly. “Tell me, just what in the world were you two doing? You’re really good! You two were late for two consecutive days. Since you’ve passed the freshmen assessment, your wings have hardened, and I can’t control you anymore. Is that what you think? Let me tell you this. As long as I will it, I can expel you two from the academy with a single word. This world doesn’t lack any geniuses, and I’ve expelled many of them myself. There’s only one reason why I would expel a genius—and that’s because they weren’t suited to become an expert with their personality. Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t expel the two of you.”

Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong glanced at each other, and Wang Dong bumped him, indicating that he should explain.

Huo Yuhao could only brace himself and say, “Teacher Zhou, sorry. We were in the wrong.” During these three months, he could be considered to have become familiar with Zhou Yi’s temper. Arguing with her had no benefits; it’d just enrage this Old Lady Zhou further. If you had a good attitude, you could receive a smaller punishment.

“Do you think sorry will cut it? Do you think that being late is just a small matter? Let me tell you this. Being late represents laziness, and laziness at your age is something extremely serious. If you only have this reason to defend yourself, you can screw off. Tell me, I need a logical explanation.”

Only then did Huo Yuhao respectfully reply, “Teacher Zhou, please don’t be angry. This is what happened. Do you still remember what happened? When we met Huang Chutian’s team, they had a pair of twins who were called Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo.”

“Yes.” Zhou Yi replied.

Huo Yuhao continued, “During that match, we almost lost because the Lan sisters were able to activate a fusion skill. We were only able to forcefully block that powerful skill of theirs after working hard together. After that, we finally won that match and ended the round-robin tournament with a perfect score.”

“After we got back, we both envied the strength of their fusion skill. Thus, we decided to try it out and see whether our martial souls could fuse. The school doesn’t have a class that specialises in fusion skills, so we could only try it out by ourselves. However, who knew that our martial souls would fuse together on our first try? During the fusion process, we fell asleep on Wang Dong’s bed, and class had already started by the time we woke up. That’s why we were late yesterday.”

As Huo Yuhao continued his explanation, he clearly felt Wang Dong softly pinch the skin on his waist and twist it a hundred and eighty degrees.

He felt an intense sensation of pain, but he didn’t dare to show it. However, his expression immediately stiffened by a bit.

“A martial soul fusion?” Zhou Yi was stunned. She didn’t think that Huo Yuhao would actually give a reason like this. She subconsciously asked,: “Did you succeed?”

Huo Yuhao scratched his head and said, “We weren’t sure about it yesterday. Thus, we tried it out for a moment when you asked us to run around yesterday, and it seemed to work. Later that night, we went outside the academy to try out our fusion skill. We never thought that it’d actually succeed in one try. Furthermore, its strength seemed quite strong. However, this was the first time we’d activated a fusion skill, so our soul power was overdrafted. After releasing it, we directly collapsed in the forest, and we were already late when we woke up. Teacher Zhou, we were truly late because we were diligently cultivating. This was just an accident; I promise you that it won’t happen again.”

With that, Huo Yuhao quietly raised his head and stole a glance at Zhou Yi. However, he only saw Zhou Yi’s dumbstruck expression.

“You, you’re telling me that you actually succeeded when you tried to use a fusion skill?” Zhou Yi’s voice clearly rose in pitch. At the same time, she stood up with an astonished and excited look on her face.

Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong nodded simultaneously.

Zhou Yi excitedly said, “Quick, let me see. What’s your fusion skill?”

Huo Yuhao replied, “Teacher Zhou, we still have a match in the afternoon, and we’ll completely drain our soul power after using this skill.”

Zhou Yi unhappily said, “Your energy will be drained the most when you use it for the first time. It won’t be that draining when you use it in the future. If soul masters were to faint whenever they released a fusion skill, wouldn’t it become a suicidal move? Hurry up. I’ll be responsible for helping you recover your soul power, so it won’t interfere with your afternoon match. Come, just use it on me.”

Since Zhou Yi had already said so, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong naturally wouldn’t refuse. The two faced each other, and Huo Yuhao spread his arms and hugged Wang Dong in a very natural manner. Although Wang Dong’s movements were still somewhat stiff, he didn’t push Huo Yuhao away. He shut his eyes and spread his arms as well, hugging Huo Yuhao.

In the instant their bodies touched, they each released their martial souls.

Their soul powers instantly fused, causing the Haodong Power to flow through their bodies. The two of them felt as if their bodies were fused together.

One second, two seconds, three seconds passed…

Teacher Zhou’s office was so quiet that even the sound of a needle dropping could be heard, but there were no other movements in the room besides the soul power undulations caused by Huo Yuhao’s and Wang Dong’s martial souls.

Zhou Yi widened her eyes as she stared at them. She was already prepared to defend against their attack, but the two of them were just standing there hugging each other without doing anything else. The corner of her eyelid was beginning to twitch.

The two of them could feel that something was wrong. In accordance with what had happened yesterday, their soul power should’ve quickly been drained! Then, a Golden Road Amidst Withering Resplendence should’ve been released in a single direction. However, nothing was happening at all.

“Just what the hell do you two think you’re doing?” Zhou Yi’s cold voice sounded as if it was spoken through clenched teeth. The two couldn’t help but feel a chill up their spines, and they subconsciously stopped hugging each other. An expression of shock instantly filled their faces.

Zhou Yi’s body was currently releasing killing intent; it was the second time Zhou Yi had given off this feeling towards the two of them. Old Lady Zhou was clearly about to blow up.

Huo Yuhao hurriedly spoke, “Teacher Zhou, this was how we released our fusion skill yesterday! We don’t know what’s going on.”

Zhou Yi spoke with a chilly voice, “Are you trying to show off your gay love by hugging each other in my office? If I don’t TAKE CARE of you two today, I’ll…”

Without even waiting for Zhou Yi to finish her sentence, Huo Yuhao immediately sprung into action. He grabbed Wang Dong’s hand and instantly used his Spiritual Detection Sharing on Zhou Yi.

“Hmm?” Zhou Yi was just about to blow up from her anger, but everything around her suddenly became clear to her. Her perception rapidly expanded, and within the blink of an eye, everything within a hundred meters of her became a clear three-dimensional image in her mind.

Why did his range increase by this much? Zhou Yi clearly remembered that the range of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection was only thirty meters or so the last time he had used it. However, it had turned into a hundred meters this time around. The magnitude of this increase was simply too large.

As he looked at Zhou Yi’s slight confusion, Huo Yuhao hurriedly explained, “Teacher Zhou, do you remember what I said last time? I told you that my Spiritual Detection would evolve as my cultivation increases, and after your caring guidance during these three months, its range increased to around fifty meters or so. In addition to that, I’ve found a way of concentrating its effects in one direction only, allowing its range to increase even more. On the other hand, the hundred meters that you’re currently sensing wasn’t done by me alone. After Wang Dong and I fused our martial souls, our soul powers fused as well. The reason why my Spiritual Detection’s range increased by so much, to the point where it’s even doubled in range, was due to Wang Dong’s help. Doesn’t this prove that we can fuse our martial souls? We really managed to use a fusion skill last night. If you don’t believe us, we can bring you to the area we tested it out on. There are a still a few traces left there.”

After hearing Huo Yuhao’s words, Zhou Yi gradually calmed down; she knew that she had been slightly impetuous.

During these three months, she had seen Huo Yuhao’s performance in the academy. Even as she looked through her memories, there had never been a student who’d been more diligent than him. Furthermore, he was calmer than his peers, and had a few hints of maturity. Even if he wanted to lie to her, he’d never tell a lie that could be exposed as easily as this one.

This was a perfect example of the saying ‘everyone specialised in their own fields’. Although Zhou Yi was a teacher from Shrek Academy, she wasn’t too familiar with martial soul fusion skills. After all, these skills were truly too niche. After listening to Huo Yuhao’s explanation, she had already believed them. As such, the anger in her heart quickly dissipated.

Waving her hand, Zhou Yi said, “Fine. You can stop using your skill, I believe you two. Only, there’s definitely something that went wrong when you were trying to use your fusion skill. Wait in my office for a while, I’ll go bring a teacher who’s familiar with fusion skills. I’ll get him to dispel your doubts.”

Old Lady Zhou was always a person who made swift and decisive decisions. By the time she had finished speaking, she was already outside, and was walking with quick steps

Once she left, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong simultaneously let out a sigh of relief. The two of them collapsed onto the sofa, and Huo Yuhao used his left hand to wipe away the sweat on his forehead. Wang Dong wanted to use his left hand as well, but he noticed that Huo Yuhao was still holding it.

“Release your hand.” Wang Dong unhappily freed his hand from Huo Yuhao’s grip. He then glared at him, “I’m blaming you for this. If it weren’t for you insisting on trying our fusion skill out, why else would we be caught by that Old Lady Zhou? We don’t really have any secrets now, do we?”

As Huo Yuhao leaned into the sofa, he chuckled, “Blame me if you want to, but this isn’t really a bad thing. We’ll be able to avoid doing things incorrectly if we have a teacher guiding our cultivation. Just when can you change this grumbling attitude of yours? I’m the only one who can tolerate you.”

Wang Dong humphed. “I only do it when I’m with you. If it were anyone else, I’d be too lazy to even complain. However, it’s worth it, since we saw Old Lady Zhou’s stunned expression. Hey, do you think Old Lady Zhou will continue to teach us after we finish the knock-out tournament?”

Huo Yuhao replied, “It’s hard to tell. Teacher Zhou’s teaching seems to be quite comprehensive, but she seems to place emphasis on a few different things. Only, we’re too young, and our cultivation levels are quite low, so we haven’t seen her specialties yet. In any case, we’ll find out after we get reassigned classes once the knock-out tournament ends. I’m hoping that we’ll follow Teacher Zhou. Although she’s somewhat strict, it isn’t really a bad thing for us. At the very least, she’ll continue to encourage us to diligently cultivate and learn.”