"Core disciples, all of you, stand up." After class, Wang Yan knocked on the lectern, silencing the noisy Year Two Class One.
A group of seven or eight students stood up with a rustling sound.
"Including the core disciples from the Soul Tool Department—yes, you too! Wang Rui! Stop sleeping!" Wang Yan glared at a certain seat in the middle of the back row, and Huo Yuqing quickly tugged Wang Rui to his feet.
Good-tempered Wang Yan's face didn't look so kind: "My voice is this loud and you can still sleep through it. Seems like the title of Class One's Sleeping God belongs to you alone. What were you doing during the break? The term just started and you're already this tired."
"Ah, Teacher Wang, you flatter me, you flatter me." Wang Rui waved a hand, utterly shameless.
Ugh, what's so interesting about humans talking about soul beast classifications and countermeasures anyway? Better to study simplified magic contracts.
But looks like that part is coming soon—the Shrek Seven Monsters Melee Selection.
Wang Yan really couldn't do much about him. He simply vented by flicking the last half-bit of chalk in his hand at Wang Rui's head. "Alright, core disciples, come with me. You're due for a core disciple assessment. The rest of you, wait here for Teacher Mu to come for the next class."
The group followed Wang Yan straight to the Battle Soul Area. Core disciples from other grades arrived one after another, following their own class teachers.
All together, Shrek Academy's entire outer court core disciples only numbered twenty-four. Because of the Academy's assessment system, the higher the grade, the fewer core disciples there were. The second year had the most, a total of eleven.
At the moment, Huo Yuqing wasn't holding Wang Rui's hand, but the two stood very close, shoulders brushing. She could feel his calm breathing passing over.
She quietly observed the other grades' core disciples.
Huo Yuqing realized that among all these outer court core disciples gathered here, only a few of the oldest ones could even faintly make her feel a bit of threat.
"You've gotten a lot stronger, haven't you, Xiao Qing." Tianmeng Iceworm lazily said in her spiritual sea. "These little brats are only up to Soul Ancestor at best~"
She noticed a familiar face.
Tang Sect's eldest brother, Bei Bei.
But he looked utterly miserable now. Heavy dark circles under his eyes, his face far more haggard than a year ago.
After her fight with Tang Ya, Huo Yuqing had almost no contact with the two from Tang Sect. Seeing Bei Bei now in such a state was somewhat shocking.
She grew curious and secretly used Spiritual Detection to probe Bei Bei's situation.
When Huo Yuqing's spiritual power touched Bei Bei, some kind of inspiration flashed through her mind.
She focused her consciousness on the giant blue-green vertical eye in her spiritual sea. Its azure-gold pupil spun its seven colored light dots wildly, while the "Chef's Manual" left by Rong Nianbing flickered in seven-colored light at the same frequency.
In that instant, what Huo Yuqing saw underwent an earth-shattering change.
Everyone within her Spiritual Detection range was covered in a hazy glow, with Bei Bei's glow particularly intense.
No—that wasn't to say their actual colors had changed.
Huo Yuqing calmly felt out this strange, brand-new vision. It seemed she had gained a new sense, independent of the usual five, but she wasn't fully used to it yet. So she linked it to vision for now.
She saw Bei Bei radiating deep sadness, anger, fear—wrapped in cold hues that represented heavy negative emotions.
Only one thread of color could be considered gentle, in her eyes a lingering pinkish-purple—love.
Did something happen to Tang Ya?
She withdrew her gaze.
It wasn't like she liked Tang Ya, but if something really had happened to her, Huo Yuqing wasn't so petty as to gloat.
Having this new ability to see others' emotions—perhaps she could master the Power of the Seven Emotions faster, finish the Emotional God's trial sooner.
If her spiritual power reached another level, Spiritual Detection might vaguely sense emotions too. But clearly, not as detailed as what Huo Yuqing now saw through that giant vertical eye—where even the faintest feelings were visible.
If such an ability could be applied in battle, it would certainly be valuable. But it seemed she couldn't hold onto this emotional vision for long. After just a few seconds, Huo Yuqing already felt mildly dizzy.
She couldn't help but want to look at Wang Rui beside her.
What's Rui Rui thinking right now?
Spying on his emotions without his consent felt… maybe, uh, kind of bad?
Her heart wavered for half a second. But… she really wanted to know.
"So this is what humans call a double standard, huh," the Ice Emperor mused privately to Tianmeng Iceworm. "She didn't hesitate for a second to peek at that human boy's emotions earlier, so why hesitate with her partner's?"
"Humans care a lot about privacy, so this is love, Bingbing~" Tianmeng Iceworm replied, sticky-sweet.
The Ice Emperor wished she didn't even have a mouth. Shouldn't have asked.
Huo Yuqing couldn't resist anymore and turned to Wang Rui.
Wang Rui seemed off in his own world. His emotions were faint but bright, manifesting in her vision as steady, peaceful hues.
And the moment she looked at Wang Rui, he noticed.
In her eyes, the bright figure beside her flickered with a shallow thread of confusion, followed by a joy so subtle even Wang Rui himself probably hadn't noticed it—like pale golden light—intertwined with gentle love.
Huo Yuqing rarely heard Wang Rui openly express affection, but what she now saw truly set her heart racing.
"What is it?" Wang Rui asked quietly, puzzled.
"Nothing." Huo Yuqing withdrew from the emotional vision, paused, then in her usual tone, very softly asked: "Look over at the upperclassmen—what's going on with him?"
Wang Rui instantly understood who she meant.
That… he actually did know what was going on.
When Feng Ling took Tang Ya away, in order to reduce her resistance, she personally led her back to the Ironblood Sect for revenge.
However, after blood-washing Ironblood Sect, she failed to cover her tracks well enough, so the Shrek inspection team detected it, pursued them, and then destroyed a Holy Spirit Sect base in the Heavenly Soul Empire… Tang Ya's whereabouts must already have reached Bei Bei, hence his reaction.
This wasn't a secret he couldn't share with Huo Yuqing. So he grabbed the girl's hand, discreetly writing in her palm: "Tang Ya, evil soul master, defected."
Huo Yuqing's gaze toward Bei Bei instantly softened into sympathy.
Bei Bei and Tang Ya were a pair, weren't they? The person you like defects and you still have to keep going to school? Putting herself in that position… if it were her, she would've chased after Wang Rui long ago. Forget school.
At that moment, the drunken, swaying Gluttonous Douluo finally arrived, still clutching his signature chicken leg and wine gourd, occasionally taking a bite.
The teachers leading each grade respectfully saluted him.
Gluttonous Douluo led the core students into the Battle Soul Area, gnawing on a chicken leg while explaining the rules for this "grand melee."
"Listen up. This batch of core disciple assessments is simple. I call it—Group Melee."
As soon as the keyword dropped, even though it was an unfamiliar test format, its meaning was obvious enough from the name.
The core disciples quickly reacted.
Ning Tian slowed her steps, moving to Huo Yuqing's right. An Wen pulled Wang Dong toward Wang Rui. Wang Dong signaled his former teammates, and Xiao Xiao agilely slipped through the crowd to join them.
Dai Huabin seemed like he wanted to move over as well, but after glancing at Zhu Lu, he stayed put.
"Within this Battle Soul Area, fight however you like. There are no rules. If you surrender or get carried out, you're eliminated. The last seven standing are the winners."
"I'll handle those fourth- and fifth-years with four rings," Wang Rui quickly whispered, taking the hardest targets first. "An Wen, Wang Dong, the rest of the third- and fourth-years are yours. Ning Tian, you support. Xiao Xiao, help control anyone attacking Ning Tian, and if you've got room, back up Wang Dong and Han Wen."
"Eh? Wait, aren't we supposed to fight everyone else?" Xiao Xiao, unfamiliar with Wang Rui, widened her eyes.
"I'll count to three, then you start. One—"
Wang Rui didn't answer Xiao Xiao. Instead, he gripped Huo Yuqing's hand and squeezed hard: "Nether White Tiger's on you."
At last, a legitimate chance to beat up Dai #2.
"Three!"
Gluttonous Douluo tapped his toes and swiftly leapt out of the field.
The twenty-some prodigies remaining in the arena all released their martial souls in unison. Soul power surged, yellow and purple soul rings gleamed—the Shrek Seven Monsters selection melee had begun!
(End of Chapter)