"Referee teacher."
Huo Yuhao's calm, steady voice sliced through the heavy, suffocating silence that had settled over the Soul Dueling Arena.
He tilted his head just a bit, his eyes moving past the sharp, still sword tip pressed against Zhou Yi's neck to find the frozen form of Wang Xing at the edge of the platform.
"Shouldn't you announce the result of the match now?"
Wang Xing felt a violent tremor run through his entire body.
"Ah!"
A startled gasp broke from his lips as he finally shook off his shock and snapped back to his senses.
He sucked in a sharp, ragged breath and practically screamed the words, "Huo... Huo Yuhao, wins!"
"Whoosh!!!"
In the spectator stands, the silence that had felt like an iron grip around everyone's throats for the last minute finally shattered into a million pieces.
The dozens of students from freshman class one, most of whom barely knew each other yet, exploded into frantic chatter about the lightning-fast battle; they honestly couldn't process what they had just seen.
At the very front of the stands, one person remained completely silent while everyone else around him shouted and discussed the upset.
Wang Dong sat there perfectly still, his pinkish-blue eyes locked onto the white-clad figure in the arena who was now slowly sliding his sword back into its sheath.
His face was an unreadable mask, but his fingers were gripping his sleeves so hard that his knuckles had turned bone-white.
So that was the truth of it.
He finally realized exactly why he had been defeated so easily the previous night!
A few seconds later, Zhou Yi finally managed to regain some control over her own body as the splitting headache and waves of nausea began to fade.
She slowly pulled her shaking hands away from her head; her temples were still pounding with a rhythmic throb, feeling as though someone was hitting her skull from the inside.
Her hand moved on its own, almost by instinct, to touch the skin of her neck.
When she pulled her hand back, she saw a bright, terrifying smear of crimson blood on her fingertips.
Zhou Yi's pupils shrank into tiny pinpricks of shock.
That sword strike had looked like it stopped just in time, but the truth was that Huo Yuhao's blade had already sliced right through her Protective Dragon Scales.
If that sword had moved forward even another half an inch... it would have opened her throat and ended her life right there!
She had lost.
She had actually... been defeated.
She had been beaten decisively by an eleven-year-old boy who had just joined the academy.
Zhou Yi's body began to shiver; the tremors started in her fingers and crawled up her arms to her back until her whole frame was shaking with agitation.
This was a total disaster and nothing like the triumphant outcome she had pictured in her head!
She had planned to crush Huo Yuhao to force him into submission and show the entire class that she was the ultimate authority.
But now that she had lost in front of everyone, her reputation and her plans were completely destroyed.
Her expression twisted into something monstrous as she glared at the composed boy standing across from her, her eyes burning with a hateful, murderous light.
Even so, she didn't dare to strike out in a fit of rage, because she knew deep down that she couldn't actually beat this student named Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao didn't even bother to look at her; he looked right past Zhou Yi's trembling shoulders and focused on the upper section of the arena stands.
Up there, hidden in the shadows at the very edge of the seating area, three tall figures had appeared without anyone noticing.
In a clear, loud voice, he looked up and said, "Yan Shaozhe, I'd like to request a transfer to a different class."
The loud buzzing of the crowd died down instantly.
Every head turned to follow Huo Yuhao's line of sight; the Dean of the Spirit Hall Department, Yan Shaozhe, was indeed standing there.
Yan Shaozhe stared down at the young man who had turned the entire Outer Court upside down on his very first day, and he finally spoke.
"There's no need for you to change your class."
Yan Shaozhe shifted his gaze away from the boy and turned it toward Zhou Yi, who was still standing like a statue in the middle of the arena.
"Zhou Yi."
"As a teacher and a homeroom leader, you haven't tried to improve your lessons or take your duty of guiding these young minds seriously."
"Instead, you've used cruel tactics to unfairly kick out students, bully the weak, and crush any student who dares to disagree with you."
"Today, just to satisfy your own ego and goals, you forgot your position and attacked a student in public."
His voice suddenly became cold and heavy: "This kind of behavior makes you completely unfit to be a teacher or a role model."
In an instant, every bit of color drained from Zhou Yi's face until she looked as white as a sheet of paper.
Her lips shook uncontrollably, and the murderous fire that had been in her eyes moments ago was replaced by a hollow, empty stare.
She had been a teacher for more than ten years, she had trained many talented students, and she had done a lot of work for the Spirit Department.
How could she possibly be treated like this...
Yan Shaozhe didn't give her a second look: "Now, as the Dean of the Spirit Hall Department of Shrek Academy, I am giving you official notice!"
"You... are fired."
It had always been Zhou Yi's favorite hobby to expel and fire others.
She never dreamed that a day would come when the word 'fired' would be directed at her.
At that moment, the paleness left her face and was replaced by a dark, sickly red flush born of pure rage and deep embarrassment.
She snapped her head up and stared at Yan Shaozhe with a crazed intensity. The respect she usually showed him was gone, replaced by a frantic, hateful glare: "By what right do you fire me?!"
Yan Shaozhe just looked back at her with a face of pure indifference and said, "By the right that I am Yan Shaozhe of the Spirit Department."
"By the right that over your long career, you have made far too many unforgivable mistakes!"
He looked down at her, watching her face twist with anger: "Is that reason enough for you?"
"You..."
Zhou Yi opened her mouth to argue, but as she looked around at the students in the stands, she saw only faces filled with mockery and pure disgust.
She couldn't handle being the target of everyone's hatred like this; her only instinct now was to get away from the crowd as fast as she could.
"Hmph!" The sound was forced through her tightly clenched teeth: "This whole situation... isn't over yet!"
She didn't look at a single person as she spun around and sprinted away, looking more like she was running away in fear than leaving in anger.
The very second she vanished through the tunnel of the Soul Dueling Arena...
"Hurray!"
Up in the stands, the students of freshman class one finally let out their bottled-up emotions and started cheering at the top of their lungs.
After all, none of them wanted a teacher who acted like an Old Hag and told them they were all worthless trash every single day.
Yan Shaozhe looked over the celebrating students before his eyes settled back on Huo Yuhao.
"The school will find a new teacher for your class later today. You're all dismissed; come back for your regular classes tomorrow morning!"
Huo Yuhao caught the Dean's gaze and gave him a polite, slight nod of his head.
Even if Yan Shaozhe had the same annoying personality traits as everyone else at Shrek, he was at least being fair for now, even if it was only because of Huo Yuhao's massive power.
Huo Yuhao calmly walked out of the arena, and the rest of the students began to pack up and head back to their dorms.
Many of them were dying to talk to him or show their respect, but because he was so powerful and cold, nobody had the courage to actually go up to him.
Wang Dong stood near the exit, his colorful eyes blinking as he thought.
He watched the boy in white walking further down the path, then glanced at his classmates who were too scared to follow, and gave a small, quiet hmph.
Then he started walking, catching up to Huo Yuhao with a natural, confident stride as if he belonged there.
The two boys walked side by side, both dressed in their white uniforms.
Wang Dong turned his head and took a quick peek at Huo Yuhao's calm, handsome profile.
The sunlight hit Huo Yuhao's face, making him look like he was glowing with a warm gold light; Wang Dong suddenly felt a weird thump in his chest.
He looked away quickly, cleared his throat, and tried to sound like he didn't care: "Hey."
"Everyone in the class should probably thank you, because this whole year would have been a nightmare if she stayed."
Huo Yuhao knew that Wang Dong was talking about getting Zhou Yi fired, so he just gave a small shake of his head.
"She wasn't a good homeroom leader, and she wasn't a good person to be teaching anyone."
"I just hope the person they send to replace her tomorrow is actually decent."
Feeling that Huo Yuhao seemed a bit more relaxed than usual, Wang Dong smiled: "I'm sure people as crazy as Zhou Yi are rare."
Then, he blinked his eyes and couldn't stop himself from asking the question on his mind, "By the way!"
His voice got a little quieter, sounding a bit nervous: "How do you actually train? How... did you get so strong so fast?"
He was only eleven, yet he was a four-ring Spirit Ancestor with two purple and two black spirit rings, and he had just crushed a Spirit Emperor.
Calling him a 'Genius' didn't even come close to describing it.
Huo Yuhao stopped walking for a second.
He turned his head and looked straight into Wang Dong's eyes, seeing the genuine curiosity and hope shining there.
Then, he gave a small, mysterious smile.
"That's a secret."
His voice was very soft, like a tiny feather landing on the surface of a quiet pond.
Wang Dong was stunned for a moment; he quickly turned his face away, his ears turning a bright shade of red: "Fine, if you won't tell me, then don't. See if I care."
His voice sounded a bit grumpy, but it was obviously fake.
Even though he complained, he didn't slow down his pace and kept walking right next to him.
The two of them walked together down the long, tree-lined path of Shrek Academy, their shadows stretching out and almost merging into one.
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