Chapter 61.3: Icy Domain and the Golden Light
This surprise was simply too pleasant for them. Regardless of how much the Golden Light amplified Wang Dong’s offensive capabilities, the simple fact that it could simultaneously restore their soul power was an enormous gain for them! Their combat strength in a prolonged battle would drastically increase now that they had this. Coincidentally, the Skydream Iceworm had brought up the issue of his soul power consumption in battle earlier.
“This is great news!” Huo Yuhao cheered, then immediately gave Wang Dong a big hug.
Wang Dong was dumbstruck when Huo Yuhao hugged him. His face reddened, but he didn’t resist, nor did he hug Huo Yuhao back.
Huo Yuhao didn’t feel that it was strange at all and smiled mischievously. “Quick, let’s cultivate together to see if this golden light has any effect on our cultivation.”
However, the facts proved that they hadn’t been possessed by the God of Luck. The golden light was only capable of helping them restore their soul power; it didn’t benefit their cultivation whatsoever. Despite this, their excitement didn’t diminish in the slightest. The core disciples’ qualification match would begin in two days, thus any increase to Wang Dong’s strength would be incredibly helpful.
The following two days were undoubtedly both tense and busy for Huo Yuhao. Besides his daily cultivation and studies, he also had to dedicate all of his energy to soul tool creation. For the sake of helping him progress faster, Fan Yu personally helped him create a few simple yet time-consuming components for a few of his soul tools. However, the formation arrays of the soul tools would still have to be personally done by Huo Yuhao. Fan Yu was very specific on this point. Even though he favoured Huo Yuhao, he was still a strict teacher.
Nobody knew how the core disciples’ qualification match would be carried out. Despite this, it was inescapable for all of the core disciples. Fortunately, they wouldn’t receive a punishment if they lost this match.
“Ding—” The class bell rang, signifying that their classes for the day had ended. The students from Class 1 immediately began to relax when they heard the bell.
In Shrek Academy, managing to rise to second years from freshmen was equivalent to managing to pass through a strict filter; every single student left was of sufficient strength. Furthermore, now that they’d finished their studies as a first year student, they truly understood just how hard they’d have to work to remain students. Because of this, every single student was serious about their studies. If they didn’t work hard, it would only signify their expulsion.
Graduates from Shrek Academy were extremely popular on the continent, however graduating from Shrek Academy was easier said than done. Furthermore, this only referred to the outer courtyard.
Wang Yan tidied up his lesson plans, then said, “Those of you who are core disciples stay behind. I need you all to follow me to the Soul Duelling Area for a while.”
It’s come! The spirits of the core disciples present were instantly aroused. They all knew that the qualification match was about to start. However, they hadn’t expected the test to be held after class had ended. Since it was, their class time hadn’t be wasted at all.
The number of core disciples in Huo Yuhao’s generation was extremely high; it was slightly higher than the previous generations. Class 1 alone had eight, while Class 2’s Dai Huabin, Xie Huanyue, Zhu Lu, and Wu Feng—as well as Class 3’s Ning Feng—made for a total of twelve core disciples. This was an extremely rare sight in Shrek Academy’s outer courtyard.
The combined total of third year and fourth year core disciples was around this number.
When they left the classroom, Huo Yuhao immediately saw Dai Huabin, Xie Huanyue, Zhu Lu, and Wu Feng leaving their class together as well. Their teacher in charge, Mu Jin, lead them as they left.
Dai Huabin naturally saw Huo Yuhao as well, and a cold light flashed through his eyes when he did. He concealed his own emotions very well however, as he simply looked away from Huo Yuhao as they left. He didn’t even spare him a second glance. Though his status as a core disciple hadn’t changed, he’d still received a strict warning from the college. He’d also just found out that the corpses of the six experts who’d died in battle had been sent back to the White Tiger Duke’s Mansion. Furthermore, this had all been done in the past two days. Fortunately, his father hadn’t returned yet, thus his mother had been able to keep everything under control. If she hadn’t, he’d have had to suffer his father’s wrath.
Due to this, even though the rancor in his heart had deepened, his only choice was to hide it in the depths of his heart and not reveal any of it. Shrek Academy had already given the White Tiger Duke’s Mansion quite a bit of face, despite not possessing any concrete evidence. Considering the academy’s power, did the fact that they didn’t have any concrete evidence really matter? At the very least, having him expelled wouldn’t trouble the academy in the slightest.
Dai Huabin was similarly terrified once he realized the consequences of his actions. He couldn’t afford to affect his future prospects just for the sake of some petty revenge.
Ning Tian—who hadn’t been seen in ages—glanced at Huo Yuhao the moment she came out from Class 3 just like Dai Huabin.
The twelve core disciples of Year 2 left the teaching building as they followed the three teachers and headed towards the Soul Duelling Area.
Huo Yuhao saw a few familiar faces when they neared the Soul Duelling Area.
His senior brother Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and Jiang Nannan appeared in his line of sight; all of them were Year 5 core disciples. The most conspicuous of them were still the twin stars, Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi. The core disciples of Year 5 naturally weren’t limited to the three of them, but they were the only ones who hadn’t had their fifteenth birthday yet. They were, without a doubt, the strongest amongst the core disciples of the outer courtyard.
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Soul Elders were very common in the outer courtyard, but there were very few students below Year 5 capable of reaching the four-ringed rank.
Advancing from a Soul Elder to a Soul Ancestor was much more difficult than advancing from a Soul Grandmaster to a Soul Elder. This point alone was enough to demonstrate Dai Huabin’s extraordinary talent. He hadn’t even turned thirteen, yet he’d already reached Rank 37. He was absolutely at the forefront of Shrek Academy. This was also one of the main reasons the academy hadn’t been willing to give up on him so easily. However, his path to the inner courtyard had temporarily been sealed away. It would depend on whether or not he could explode out with an even greater amount of strength, such that it moved the academy’s upper echelon, if he wanted to reopen this path. Shrek Academy wasn’t owned by Huo Yuhao, and while it was true that his Ultimate martial soul had attracted the academy’s attention, it wasn’t as if the academy would give up on other talents because of him. Of course, Dai Huabin still had to suffer punishment for doing something malicious. As such, it had become much harder for him to enter the inner courtyard.
In reality, there weren’t any other four-ringed core disciples besides Bei Bei’s group of three. The third and fourth year core disciples began to arrive in succession, but He Caitou was the only core disciple of the Soul Tool Department to arrive. The final number of students participating in the match was twenty-seven, but the second year students occupied half of these spots.
Students from different classes stood behind their teachers in charge and waited silently. Though this test had come about somewhat mysteriously, and even though there wasn’t any punishment if they did badly in it, anyone who could become a core disciple was quite gifted amongst their peers. Naturally, the more talented one was, the more confident one would be. None of them were willing to give up easily.
Dai Huabin stood there, eager to give it a go. He’d reached Rank 37, thus he wasn’t really afraid of the core disciples from the higher year groups. From his point of view, this was an opportunity he could use to prove himself. Even though the teachers hadn’t explained the benefits they’d receive if they entered into the top 7, the academy definitely had its own motives.
At that moment, a swaying figure slowly walked towards the Soul Duelling Area. His swaying appearance gave the impression that he could fall down at any time.
Huo Yuhao revealed a trace of astonishment on his face when he saw him. Wasn’t that Elder Xuan? Even though a large portion of his face was covered by his messy hair, the signature calabash of alcohol in his left hand and the chicken leg in his right immediately revealed who he was. Besides Elder Xuan, Huo Yuhao had never seen a person within Shrek Academy act like this.
Elder Xuan unsteadily walked towards the group of students, then raised his head with an intoxicated look in his eyes. “Little Wang.”
“Elder Xuan.” Wang Yan hurriedly stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
“Is everyone present?” Elder Xuan asked.
Wang Yan replied, “Everyone’s arrived. There are a total of twenty six core disciples from the Martial Soul Department between Year 2 and Year 5, while only a single person has come from the Soul Tool Department.”
“Oh. Let’s head in then.” With that, Elder Xuan turned around and wobbled his way into the Soul Duelling Arena.
Most of the core disciples had never seen Elder Xuan before. Because of this, a large number of them had doubts in their heart. Dai Huabin couldn’t help but whisper to Xie Huanyue, who was beside him, “Who’s this drunkard?”
Xie Huanyue shook his head, but didn’t reply.
The Soul Duelling Arena looked like it usually did, except for the fact that there were no other teachers or students present.
Elder Xuan walked all the way to the middle of the Area before he stopped. The core disciples also stopped, along with their teachers.
Elder Xuan spoke in a muffled voice, “Listen up you brats. The test you’re about to take is extremely simple. I call it the Collective Chaotic Battle. It will be held in this Soul Duelling Area, and you’re free to attack whenever and however you wish. There are no rules in this competition. If you surrender or are rescued by a teacher, you’ll be eliminated. The last seven people will be the victors of this battle. Alright, I’m done explaining. Teachers, get ready. Once this old man gives the signal, you can start fighting.”
“Even this sort of thing is possible?” The students present couldn’t help but look at each other in shock when they they heard Elder Xuan’s words. They’d never seen a test like this before. There were twenty-seven people here! Furthermore, everyone here had different cultivations and specialties! How would they be able to test anything on a chaotic battle like this?
The teachers naturally wouldn’t disobey Elder Xuan’s order, thus they left the Soul Duelling Arena one by one.
Elder Xuan didn’t wait for the students within the Area to react as he suddenly raised the bottle gourd in his hand and shouted, “Begin!”
With a ‘whoosh’, Elder Xuan’s figure vanished, which left only the twenty-seven core disciples of the outer courtyard in the Soul Duelling Arena
The sudden change in events truly happened too fast, thus the students present momentarily paused when they heard Elder Xuan’s shout. Immediately afterwards, all of them made a different decision.
Huo Yuhao’s reaction was extremely quick: He immediately stretched his hands out and grabbed both Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao’s hands. Afterwards, a light erupted from his back, and he shot towards Bei Bei with the two of them in tow.