The Yuhao Chronicles - Volume 1 Chapter 29

Over the following three days, Yuhao and Wang Dong mainly cultivated. Yuhao, as he was determined to raise his strength as quickly as possible, and Wang Dong to try and catch up with his roommate. Intermingled between cultivation sessions and dining hall visits, the two students had briefly discussed their aspirations, hobbies and backgrounds.

Knowing what Wang Dong’s real background was, he was easily able to make connections between the half-truths told to him. Surprisingly, Yuhao found out that his roommate was quite interested in painting and had been given the opportunity to look through some of the most recent works that he had stored within his luggage.

This was startling to Yuhao at first, as it seemed like a massive waste of time, however, he was told that painting can allow some individuals with a talent for it to enter meditative-like trances, providing various benefits to their cultivation. As he learnt more about the world, he continuously found new professions and cultivation methods that were unmentioned in the original Douluo Dalu stories.

After this time period, the freshman admission period had finally come to a close. Two students could be seen making small talk as they entered the first room of the new student’s teaching area. There were already many people filling up the seats in the spacious classroom.

Spotting two seats side by side about a third of the way from the front the couple headed over and seated themselves. The people already seating within the classroom were focusing on these two individuals as their looks were outstanding, especially the male student with blue and pink coloured hair. Several nearby girls could be seen attempting to stealthily move closer to them.

Following a further ten minutes of talking between them, ignoring the surrounding students that had moved much closer, an old lady walked in through the classroom’s open doorway. She had wrinkled skin, shrivelled hair and a very average body figure, looking almost as unattractive as the eighty-year-old grandma that would regularly visit Zeran’s blacksmith workshop back in Soutuo City. The only thing that stood out about this lady was her eyes, that even though they were coloured black, radiated a bright light.

As the teacher made her way to the front of the classroom, sharply scanning the students within, the disorderly classroom filled with chatter, quickly quieted down.

“I am Zhou Yi and from this point onwards I will be your teacher in charge of this class. I am sure many of you will be unable to keep up with me however if you fall into this category you will receive no support. Trash can’t pass assessments, so if you are trash, get lost from my classroom.”

Noticing no one moving, Zhou Yi continued, “Those of you who have fought in the last few days, stand up.”

Knowing the outcome, Yuhao didn’t bother waiting around to follow her instructions and immediately stood up, pulling the surprised Wang Dong up with him.

“Only two?” Shou Yi raised her eyebrows. “if you can’t overcome the fear of provoking others than what separates you from the sheep and trash that go to other academies? Other than these two, everyone immediately leave and run one hundred laps. If you can’t finish them then you will be directly expelled from Shrek Academy forever.”

Once she spoke, the whole class flew into an uproar. This was only their first day of school, and class hadn’t even begun yet. Who could accept the fact that they were actually being punished for not fighting?

One of the students immediately spoke up. “Teacher, I refuse to accept this. Why do we have to be punished for not fighting?”

Zhou Yi indifferently replied, “Because I said so. If you’re not willing to accept this, you can screw off. As a teacher, I have the authority to expel any student I want. I’ll give you one minute. If I don’t see all of you running around Shrek Plaza within that minute, all of you will be expelled.”

As she spoke, a terrifying aura was suddenly released from her body. The powerful spirit power undulations caused every single student to be choked by the pressure. Following that, soul rings started to rise from Zhou Yi’s feet.

Two yellow, two purple, and two black soul rings burst forth with a strong aura that was hard to describe. Teacher Zhou was a Spirit Emperor ranked expert, and furthermore, she had two ten-thousand-year soul rings. Her face remained expressionless, however, her glow around eyes grew even sharper and more prominent.

Not willing to see how far she will go with her threats, the students hurriedly filed out of the classroom. As they were leaving, Zhou Yi left them one last reminder, “You only have two hours to complete this task. After two hours, the people who haven’t finished a hundred laps will be considered to be unqualified and expelled.”

Wang Dong was slightly astonished as he glanced at Huo Yuhao. At that moment, only the two of them were left in the class. Zhou Yi’s expression seemed to have become much warmer as she beckoned towards them.

Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao walked towards her together.

Looking at the two of them, Zhou Yi nodded her head in a satisfied manner. Then, she said, “Not bad, at least two of you have some guts. Tell me, who did you fight with, and why did you fight with them?”

Wang Dong was just about to speak, but Huo Yuhao interjected, “Reporting to the teacher, we are roommates. We had a small conflict due to our opposing views.”

Zhou Yi seemed to be very interested as she said, “Oh? You’re even roommates. While fighting between roommates is the best kind of fighting, in the future I do not want any more fighting between my own students. If you want to fight, choose someone from another class. Shrek revolves around fighting, so we allow it to occur. There are limits, however, with only students at lower or equal levels, allowed to challenge another to a fight. Well, I think it is time for you to go run outside with the others.”

Wang Dong was stunned, “What?”

Zhou Yi still had a smile on her face, “I never said you were off the hook for the laps. You better get started now as you are several minutes behind your classmates.”

Without giving a reply, Yuhao quickly grabbed Wang Dong’s arm and ran out of the room and into the Shrek Plaza.

The Shrek Plaza was not that large, with one lap being just under three hundred metres in length. This means that Zhou Yi wants everyone to run thirty kilometres in under two hours. For everyone but spirit masters, this figure would be almost impossible, unless the individual has extensively trained all their life for it.

Whilst they were running, Wang Dong asked Yuhao something that just came to mind, “I never did ask you what your spirit was. You know what mine is, so I think it is only fair.”

Yuhao nodded in agreement, “It is called Steel Space Dragon. A beast spirit that has great defence and also a space affinity.”

“A defence spirit?” Wang Dong muttered confused, “But how were you able to beat me so easily then?”

Yuhao chuckled a little, “Personally, I am still surprised how the fight ended so quickly. However, if I really think about it, it is quite simple really. You basically moved at your fastest possible speed without reservation, into the equivalent of a solid wall.”

Wang Dong just looked at him blankly for a few seconds, before speeding up his run. He was annoyed now that he was reflecting on the battle at how stupid his actions were. This action by Wang Dong caused Yuhao to let out a little chuckle.

After completing one lap and seeing as he was still not even going half his maximum speed, Yuhao sped up considerably, passing Wang Dong by. He had a thought. Since he had to complete the activity, he might as well challenge himself to see how far he can run in the next two hours, without using any spirit power or spirit skills to support his physical body.

At that moment, Zhou Yi arrived beside the plaza. As she watched the students running, her gaze was drawn to Yuhao and the insane speed he was moving at, for his age. After a couple of seconds of thought, she matched the name and face, with that of the rumour that had spread through the Martial Spirit Institution. This rumour was about a ten-year-old first-year student, who is a monster in regards to his cultivation speed when compared to the normal Shrek students.

Time quickly passed as the students made their laps. As the number of laps increased, the breathing and running of the students gradually grew heavier, with many people slowing down to a walking pace.

There were more than ten people running at the very front of the group; their speed wasn’t slow at all. Of the group, the leader was Wang Dong. Although he’d come out late, he’d managed to catch up to the people who had the most laps completed within an hour. He’d even overtaken them. Just looking at his appearance, he didn’t seem to have used up much energy; his speed hadn’t decreased at all the entire time.

However, the largest outlier in the students was Huo Yuhao, who had finished his one hundred laps within the first hour and was already nearing his hundred and fiftieth lap.

With only thirty minutes remaining, Zhou Yi spoke up, her voice easily carrying across the plaza to every student, “Speed up and use my location as the finishing point. Huo Yuhao you can stop now.”

Following her instructions, Yuhao ended his one hundred and forty-eight lap and stood next to Zhou Yi watching the rest of his classmates. In the following few minutes, Wang Dong finished, his cheeks a little rosy from speeding through the final three laps required to finish his one hundred.

Gradually, as the final thirty minutes past, all of the students stopped running. The vast majority of them were already collapsed on the floor, panting extremely hard. Yuhao noticed many of these people, with some of the more physically fit individuals that were running closely behind Wang Dong as well, giving him sharp glares. These scowls had low levels of hate and anger within them, most likely due to either jealousy of Yuhao’s performance or their belief that he was trying to show off and make them look bad.

Yuhao personally could not care how these people thought of him. It is not that he is egomaniacal or vain, it is just that he knows he has worked exceptionally hard for his current physique and cultivation, unlike many of the talented, but spoilt and lazy students before him. His effort, combined with the fact that many of these students will be expelled from the academy, is what allows Yuhao to feel this way.

Yuhao, while he does not care how they feel, still takes care to remember who these people are. It is against his values and experience to not properly assess and consider anyone who could be a potential threat. So many of his close comrades on missions back on Earth, had lost their lives due to their negligence and their decision to underestimate potential and current enemies.

After memorising everyone, he looked up at Zhou Yi, only to be met with an indifferent face.