Chapter 26: Assessment

"As of today, three months have passed since you started school. You're all about to face your first assessment since entering Shrek Academy. If you pass this examination, you'll formally become first-year students, and will truly become students of Shrek Academy. If nothing unexpected happens, you'll be able to continue cultivating within the academy until your first year graduation exam at the very least. The assessment will begin tomorrow, so I'd first like to discuss the main points of the assessment."

"Huo Yuhao."

"Present." Huo Yuhao instantly stood up and respectfully replied.

His respect for this teacher Zhou Yi came from the heart. For her teaching capabilities are at the same level of intensity as Ancestor, torturing them both mentally and physically to maximize their potential. She would also help him with his taijutsu training routine, as she recognized them to be effective, sometimes even implement the routine to the entire class, and provide him with some training equipment.

Zhou Yi beckoned Huo Yuhao towards her, and as he hurried over, she pointed towards a stack of papers. Huo Yuhao understood the assignment and quickly took the pile of papers and handed them over to his classmates.

"After the freshmen assessment ends, your classes will be in line with your abilities. Write down the paths you wish for your future cultivation to go, and give it back to me later." Zhou Yi indifferently said.

The paths she was referring to were: Assault, Defense, Control, and Auxiliary. These were the four types of soul masters. During the first three months of teaching, everyone would be together in the same class. However, once the true freshman classes had started, everyone had to be separated.

After Huo Yuhao had returned to his seat, he immediately wrote down what he already decided on his path to be as a soul master.

'Control.'

This wasn't only because of his mother's wish, but also his own desire. As he inevitably realized that one can only win a fight or in a battlefield if they have absolute control over his enemies. Plus, his fighting style fits this cultivation path more.

'So that's what he decided on...Okay!' Unbeknownst to Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong sneakily took a peak on his papers.

He didn't notice him do it because he'd gotten used to Wang Dong's presence and antics, subconsciously labeling as a non-threat despite something inside of him telling him otherwise.

"....I still don't trust that guy." Ancestor said.

'Huh?' Huo Yuhao blinked, hearing his Ancestor's strange tone of voice. 'You don't trust who exactly?'

"That faker."

'Fake–oh, Wang Dong. Right, right. We've been over this Ancestor, Wang Dong seems like a pretty chill guy. We've been rommies for three whole months! Plus, the guy wears his emotions by his sleeve so if he's hiding anything nefarious I would've seen through it by now.'

Ancestor grumbled, "Your logic is sound but considering you haven't seen through her–his deception, I stand by with my belief."

'Huh? What do you mean by that?'

"Nothing."

Huo Yuhao was about to ask his Ancestor again when Zhou Yi's voice woke him.

"I hope you brats won't forget the things that I've taught you. Hand your papers back to me after class. Now then, I'll go over the main points of the freshman assessment."

"I'll keep this short," Zhou Yi looked over them with a sharp gaze. "this assessment will be a team battle of three people. Tell me, why do you grow stronger and raise your soul power? To extend your lifespan? To have more soul skills? To look over the masses as powerful experts?! The answer is, all of the above!"

A domineering aura filled the classroom as Zhou Yi's dark-red soul power gushed outward, causing the atmosphere to immediately change. Her eyes flashed with killing intent.

"We soul masters grow stronger, to fight! That is a fact and the truth of our existence."

Of course, this was only to intimidate them so they would take what she says more seriously.

Not like she didn't feel any sort of satisfaction or pleasure of doing this or anything~

Caught off guard, most of the students immediately froze up and started panicking. There were even two who fainted, their eyes rolling back.

Only Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong and a handful of students looked unaffected, some clenching their fists to endure it.

To Huo Yuhao, he experienced this sort of scare tactic multiple times by Ancestor–his being more scarier and sadistic.

Case in point, despite Zhou Yi staring at Huo Yuhao's direction and focused most of her aura and killing intent on him, he remained straight face while also training his hands under the table. And no, not that kind of training.

After all, to cast a jutsu meant that he had to have fast hands. So whenever he's in class he'd perform hand seals, and with his near perfect soul power control, he's now able to do six hand seals in a split second.

After retracting her aura and killing intent, Zhou Yi then said. "We'll first put students who are in the same dorm room together into teams, and let you make the rest of your teams as you wish. As for people who aren't able to join a team, we'll draw lots to decide your teams."

"The freshmen assessment will be conducted with every single student from the entire year participating. This year, there'll be a total of almost three hundred teams of students participating in the freshman assessment, but only half of them will be able to remain in the academy, which also means that only the top one hundred and fifty teams will pass. This ranking will be based off of how many points you accumulate in your battles."

"Your matches will be organized via lot drawing, with every team having to fight in at least ten matches. Finally, a ranking will be created based off of the number of matches you've won. Of them, the top sixty-four will have a knockout round, with the top four teams in each getting a different prize. The prize for the champion will be extremely precious."

"Teacher Zhou, how precious is the prize exactly?" Wang Dong raised a hand to ask.

"Frankly, I don't know. The prize for the champions fluctuates every year and the teachers are even kept in the dark of what the prize would be." Zhou Yi said, shaking her head.

"However, to compare, last year's winners received the Martial Soul Institute's support on hunting their next soul ring as well as a few medicines that help increase and stabilize one's cultivation. And let me tell you that those winners last year are almost Soul Ancestors by now!"

"So," Zhou Yi smirked, staring at the shining eyes of her students. "are you all motivated now or what?!"

They all nodded.

Well, except for Huo Yuhao. Because the potential rewards Zhou Yi mentioned are things he didn't need right now.

Help for hunting his next soul ring? Sorry but that isn't possible because he's going after an existence that stands equal to a Titled Douluo and that would certainly raise some questions. Secondly, due to eating those two pills; Mystic Water Pill and Soul Advancement Pill, his physique and meridians rejuvenated to the same level as most of his classmates so he now had more access to his true soul power.

Skydream even said that if he got his second soul ring for his Sharingan, he would instantly skipped towards the Soul Elder realm and would need a third soul ring.

The only reason he hadn't headed towards the Extreme North right now to find the Ice Empress is because of two reasons.

One, he still needed to stay in the academy. Not because of its classes, although very informative but he has eidetic memory so looking at the materials/books would be enough to know about the realms of both soul master and soul beast. But mostly because of its vast resources and its name.

After all, when the time comes when he goes after the White Tiger Duke, he'll need a big stick to wave against the Star Luo Empire to stop them from getting any ideas for retribution. And what bigger stick is there to wave around in the world than Shrek Academy, arguably the strongest organization in the world. They might not protect him forever though, unless he became one of their top operatives.

If that doesn't work, there's always Tang Sect.

Obviously they aren't anything right now, but they still have a great reputation over the continent. Given enough time and resources thrown into it, it could rise back to its former glory and become another stick to wave around.

Only.....if he was the one in charge.....

As for the second reason.... He became attached to the environment. Living a peaceful school life, making friends, making money, and gaining recognition by both his peers and teachers.

It just...made him feel at peace with himself, just a bit though.

He was still going to destroy the White Tiger family and rip out his father's heart out of his chest and make him eat it. Then he would take back his mother's remains and bury her in Sea God's Island, the most beautiful and peaceful land he ever saw.

"Alright, we'll be splitting you into teams. The first team is Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao."

Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong simultaneously stood up and as they stared at each other, they shared a grin and fist bumped each other.

The other person who stood up with them was a female student who sat in the front row. She wasn't tall. She didn't particularly stand out in the class, either. Her various abilities seemed to rank amongst the middle of the class.

The little girl wasn't especially beautiful, but she had a delicate and pretty look, and could at least be appreciated. Her face had a hint of bashfulness when she turned around. Her gaze landing on Huo Yuhao's handsome face and the latter noticed her gaze and smiled.

Her face reddened, before she turned back around and lowered her head.

"...Too handsome–!"

*Pak*

'Hm?' Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow, clearly hearing the crisp sound in his mind and the laughter of Skydream. 'Ancestor? Is something the matter?'

"....No, it's nothing. I'm just wondering if Asura did something to me or father did." Ancestor replied dryly.

"Hahahaha!"

'You're being weird today.'

Zhou Yi continued to call for the students' names and put them into their respective teams of three. Soon after she finished teaming up all the students, the bell rung.

"Alright, that is all for today. If you have any suggestions or requests, you'd best bring them up now. I'll give you a day to think about it. When you return that piece of paper, you can be dismissed."

Hearing that, the students immediately rejoiced. Finally, they got a day off from this demonic woman!

Their smiles and joyful expression soon dropped however as Zhou Yi continued on to say, "However, if any of you brats screw up in the competition and fail — expulsion will be the last thing you'll think about because I will make sure that you'll remember my face."

"Every. Single. Night. Of. Your. Life. As you piss your underwear in bed." she emphasized each word as she leaned forward, her eyes filled with killing intent once more.

"Do you all understand?"

Everyone shivered and nodded hurriedly like chickens.

"Good." Zhou Yi leaned back with a satisfied nod. "Well then, pass your papers!"

The entire class 1 students' shared a look with each other for a brief moment and nodded in silent agreement. Even if it was just for the sake of not being punished by teacher Zhou Yi, they wanted to do their best to pass the assessment!

"Hm? Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao. You three stay behind for a bit."

When the other students handed over their papers that had their future direction of cultivation written on it, they left the classroom. The only people left behind were Huo Yuhao's group of three.

'Sheesh. She's looks genuinely pissed for some reason.' Huo Yuhao blinked his eyes, even through her disguise he can still see her looking angry. Not at him specifically but at...Wang Dong? He turned to stare at him and muttered,

"Dude, what the hell did you do?"

"Me?! Why are you suggesting that she's angry at me?"

"Alright, give it to me. What're you hiding, Wang Dong?" True to Huo Yuhao's words, after Zhou Yi received their papers, she targeted Wang Dong. She scrutinized the papers and read them, a popping vein appeared on her forehead.

Wang Dong immediately lowered his head and quietly took a few steps back, hiding behind Huo Yuhao. Cold sweat rolling down his temple.

"Alright! You three, let's see what you've got." She picked up one of the sheets of paper, then slammed it down onto the table.

*Bang!*

"Control system." Zhou Yi coldly said. She narrowed her eyes and took out another paper, glaring at Wang Dong. "And, control system."

"Huh?!" Huo Yuhao turned towards Wang Dong in surprise. "Dude, what?"

"And lastly," Zhou Yi continued on, taking out the last piece of paper and slamming it on the table, staring at Xiao Xiao. "control system."

"Huh?!" Both Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong turned towards Xiao Xiao in disbelief. They've interacted with her sometimes and from their first impression of her, Xiao Xiao should've been an auxiliary system tool soul master!

The corner of Zhou Yi's mouth twitched following the twitching of her eye. "Is this a prank or something? Huh?! Are you three brats doing this on purpose? Although the freshman assessment limits each team to having a single assault system soul master, it also states that you can't all have the same cultivation direction."

She pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a long sigh, "If it weren't for the fact that the competition was starting tomorrow, I would've made you three run ten hours around the whole school." She huffed and turned towards her favorite student.

"Huo Yuhao, you can be the first to tell me what's going on. What's gotten into you? That spiritual-type martial soul of yours is extremely suitable as an auxiliary-type! What's the meaning behind you becoming a control system soul master?"

Huo Yuhao replied with an earnest expression, "Because I feel that this path of cultivation is the most suitable for me. My soul skills can survey the entire battlefield and I have some attack-type techniques that aren't inferior to normal soul skills either."

"Because of that," Huo Yuhao held his head high, his eyes clear and determined. "I don't want to become a simple auxiliary-type soul master. Being a control-type soul master should be more suitable for my future growth."

Zhou Yi slowly nodded her head and said, "You have a point; control system soul masters have better future prospects than auxiliary-type ones. The choice that you've made isn't exactly wrong. I'll consider you to have passed."

Huo Yuhao let out a relieved sigh.

"Now, onto the next ones... Wang Dong, why are you hiding? Come on out. Even though Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao wrote down the words 'control system', they're still a bit reasonable. But what about you? You, clearly an assault system soul master, writing down the words 'control system'...." Zhou Yi's face twisted, a twitching smile appeared on her face. "are you messing with me, huh?! I thought you were just joking around when I saw you looking at Huo Yuhao's papers... but to actually go through with it!"

'You dumbass.' Huo Yuhao glanced at his shivering friend, the latter silently pleading for his help but he wouldn't be getting any as Zhou Yi continued to stare at him, silently demanding an answer.

"Uh...I-I uh..." Wang Dong slowly stepped away from Huo Yuhao and started poking his index fingers at one another. "I-Is it really that impossible for me to become a control system soul master? I mean, isn't it just controlling the flow of battle? I can fly and launch long-range attacks. Its shouldn't be impossible for me to control the battlefield this way, right?"

"You..."

Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao slowly backed away as they saw a few more popping veins appearing on Zhou Yi's face.

Zhou Yi's anger rose to another level. The nerve of this kid! She slammed a fist on the table and said, "Don't think that I don't know your real reasons – you just don't want to be split up with Huo Yuhao. Are you an idiot?! You clearly have the highest cultivation in the entire class, yet your IQ is lower than most students in my class!"

"Listen up, just when have you ever seen an assault system and control system soul master split up? You're right, they'll be in different classes. However, assault system and control system soul masters are always together! You idiot! Change it for me right now!" At the last part, she roared like a tigress. Startling the trio and the students outside the classroom.

Wang Dong froze, and although he got scolded and was called an idiot, he still looked excited and started changing his paper.

"Humph!" Zhou Yi snorted angrily. She directed her gaze towards Xiao Xiao. "What about you, Xiao Xiao? If I'm not mistaken, your martial soul is the extremely rare Soulcrush Cauldron, which can be considered a top-ranked martial soul. The main effect of the Soulcrush Cauldron is to assist someone else; why did you put down the words 'control system'?"

Xiao Xiao took a deep breath and explained, "Teacher Zhou, my Soulcrush Cauldron is a bit different from an ordinary Soulcrush Cauldron. It can both attack and assist others. I'm even barely able to use it for defense. It can be considered a mutated Soulcrush Cauldron. It's known as a Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron."

Zhou Yi frowned, "Xiao Xiao, don't tell me you don't know that if your cultivation direction is too messy, it'll be disadvantageous towards your future development? I suggest that you lean towards one direction, and develop from there. Even if it's a mutated martial soul, you'll still have to have an direction when you're adding soul rings."

Xiao Xiao nodded, "I know, that's why the main abilities I've chosen for my Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron are attacking and defensive ones."

Zhou Yi was incredulous and said, "That's also unrelated to control!" It could be seen that she was being extremely patient towards Xiao Xiao, as she wasn't being a roaring tigress like she did with Wang Dong.

Wang Dong clearly noticed this and grumbled, "Geez, favoritism much?"

Huo Yuhao glanced at him, "Well, unlike you, Xiao Xiao Has the potential to become a control system soul master."

"What? Are you saying that I don't?" He hissed back in response.

"Clearly." Huo Yuhao rolled his eyes, his lips then twitched as a teasing expression appeared on his face. "So, what's this about wanting to stay with me? My, my. I didn't think you felt that way towards me, Wang Dong. But I'm sorry, I cannot reciprocate your feelings. For I only like women."

Wang Dong's face immediately flustered and he stammered a reply, "I-I, no! That's not what I–!"

"Oi, you brats!" Both boys flinched and turned back towards Zhou Yi and Xiao Xiao, the former pissed off and the latter looking amused. "Do your flirting some other time! I'm trying to interrogate someone here."

"...We're sorry."

Soon after, Xiao Xiao then revealed that she had a second martial soul, making her the only currently known soul master with twin martial souls, Zhou Yi then accepted her cultivation path.

"Alright, you three can go back and rest. Remember, you three definitely have to become the champions of the freshman assessment. I believe in your strength." Zhou Yi said with a gentle tone of voice, after having calmed herself down.

"Yes!" They all answered her simultaneously, before proceeding to leave the classroom together.

Once they'd left, Xiao Xiao looked as if she'd finally gathered up enough courage to ask something. "Huo Yuhao, can I talk to you for a bit?"

...

❄️Shout out to the greats! The Cultivators of my patreon, may you both reach the peak of the heavens and conquer the earth!

  •Vora

•Judd

❄️A bigger shout out to the who ascended to become a One Above All!!

•Orion Chung

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