Chapter 107: Win Once, or Win Twice?
After returning from the Spirit Arena district.
Furina's steps were light and brisk. She was even humming a tuneless melody under her breath. The temporary teacher experience, brief as it was, had been thoroughly enjoyable. She was already plotting what new "novelties" she might show that bunch of little rascals next time, should the opportunity arise.
This easy mood didn't last long. She had barely reached the plaza in front of the new student teaching building when a voice, thick with suppressed fury, came from behind her—like a slab of cold iron, shattering the pleasant air around her.
"Furina!" Zhou Yi's figure blocked the center of the path. Her expression was even more rigid than usual, and the eyes behind her spectacles were sharp enough to draw blood. "Come to my office. Now."
Furina halted and turned around. An expression of weary apology surfaced on her face with perfect timing. She raised a hand and gently rubbed her temple, her voice carrying a soft, disarming note of concession. "My apologies, Teacher Zhou. As you can see—hosting a full match, speaking at length, keeping the energy up... My soul power didn't take much of a hit, but my actual energy is truly flagging. I'd really just like to go back and rest properly now. Could we perhaps discuss this tomorrow? Please?"
She made it sound so light, even carrying a touch of coquettish innocence. But in Zhou Yi's ears, it was nothing short of pouring oil on an open flame.
Zhou Yi could feel the veins at her temples throbbing violently. The fury that had been accumulating for days finally burst through the dam of reason. Pushing her luck and taking a mile when given an inch! This girl was testing the absolute limits of her forbearance!
She had let her serve as a temporary teacher for a single lesson, and what did this girl do? She seized the opportunity to tear apart every last piece of her teaching philosophy. She had started by openly challenging the school motto—"He who dares not stir up trouble is mediocre"—and then, once she was in the teacher's role, every single reference Zhou Yi made to Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang's theories was skewered from angles that seemed naive on the surface, yet were viciously cunning underneath.
This was no longer mere questioning. It was grinding the authority of the rightful teacher into the dirt, over and over, right in front of the entire class.
And what was even more infuriating was the way she carried herself. Borrowing the identity of "temporary teacher," she had strutted and swaggered before the other faculty, making rules, applying double standards—one set after another—with a practiced ease that suggested she'd rehearsed it a thousand times. After the entire Spirit Arena session, Zhou Yi could already foresee that the students in her class would henceforth only recognize Furina—the one who could produce pistols, spout astonishing theories, and call herself the "Pope of the Water God." As for their actual homeroom teacher? Her authority had likely been trampled to dust.
A crowd of students had quietly gathered around at some point without anyone noticing. They didn't press too close—they simply stood in twos and threes beneath the colonnades, in the shadows of the trees—but every last gaze was fixed squarely on the scene. Curious, excited, even carrying a faint, veiled sense of anticipation.
Huo Yuhao stood at the very front, arms folded, his expression utterly calm. Beside him, Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao showed no intention of leaving either. Their posture silently broadcast a clear signal: We are watching.
These gazes pricked at Zhou Yi's back like needles. She whipped her head around, her glare sweeping across those young faces like the edge of an icy blade. Her voice, strained to the breaking point by sheer suppression, came out almost shrill. "What are you all looking at?! Have you got nothing better to do?! If I catch any of you still loitering here, do you really think I won't expel every last one of you?!"
She practically screamed the word "expel." It was her habitual, most effective deterrent. In the past, the moment those words left her mouth, even the most recalcitrant student would turn pale and scurry away with their head down.
But this time, the effect seemed to have been greatly diminished. A few timid students shrank their necks and retreated several steps, hiding themselves deeper in the shadows—but they didn't truly leave. And the majority—including Huo Yuhao and the others—remained exactly where they were. If anything, Zhou Yi's near-hysterical outburst only added a new layer of scrutiny and simmering resentment to their eyes. Low, stifled murmurs rippled through the crowd.
"Expulsion again..."
"Besides scaring people with expulsion, what else can she do?"
"Exactly. Same with the running punishment this morning. Always throwing around her Soul Emperor pressure at the drop of a hat..."
The voices were quiet, yet perfectly audible. Zhou Yi's face shifted from ashen to red, her chest heaving violently. She had never imagined that her most powerful weapon would, in the span of a single day, be blunted and broken—jointly, by that grinning girl and these new students.
Just then, Furina's voice rang out once more. The earlier weariness was gone, replaced by a clear, uncompromising note of disapproval.
"Teacher Zhou Yi," she stepped half a pace forward, her brow furrowing slightly as she looked Zhou Yi straight in the eye. "Can we please speak properly, without constantly dangling the threat of 'expelling students' as a bargaining chip?"
Her tone was even, but every word was crisp and distinct, carrying across the silent plaza.
"Shrek Academy gathers geniuses from every corner of the land. A single careless 'you're expelled' from you could very well sever a young person's bright and promising future. And if the academy loses students of genuine potential—do you truly believe it won't hold you accountable? You are a Soul Emperor and a teacher. But that does not mean you can use your position to exert limitless pressure on your students without restraint."
She paused, her gaze sweeping across the students watching her—some openly, some hidden in shadow—and raised her voice slightly.
"If you truly possess the commensurate teaching ability, then let results speak for themselves. For example: ensure that no one in the entire class falls behind. Make sure every single one passes the freshman assessment. Mold them into true 'monsters.'"
"Rather than—on the very first day of school, without the slightest understanding of each person's martial soul characteristics, physical constitution, or soul power level—arbitrarily ordering everyone to complete the near-impossible task of running one hundred laps in two hours. This kind of approach—lacking any planning, relying purely on high-pressure coercion..."
Furina's gaze returned to Zhou Yi's face, which was now faintly twisted with rage, and she delivered the final words softly, yet with absolute certainty.
"...truly cannot produce the 'monsters' you want. If I may be blunt—this is more akin to strangling potential."
She enunciated the word "cannot" with particular clarity, like three cold pebbles dropping into the already-boiling cauldron of Zhou Yi's fury.
"You—!" The last thread of Zhou Yi's reason snapped. A fearsome pressure—the aura of a Soul Emperor—erupted from her body in a violent surge. Though it was withdrawn almost instantly, that momentary oppressive force made every student nearby feel their breath catch in their throats.
"Furina! Don't you get out of line! Do you truly believe I wouldn't dare expel you right now?! Do you truly think I can't handle a mere student like you?!"
Faced with the sudden spike of crushing pressure, Furina didn't so much as shift her stance. She even tilted her head, her face revealing a mixture of resignation and faint irony.
"See, Teacher Zhou? There it is again." She spread her hands, her voice carrying a tone of "I thought so" vindication.
"Aside from threats and intimidation, are you not particularly skilled at other forms of communication? You are a Soul Emperor. Given your irascible temperament, your martial soul clearly isn't a support-type. Whether assault, control, or agility—against a 'defenseless' support-type soul master like myself—if you truly wish to resort to force, do you really think that's appropriate? There are so many fellow students here watching."
She purposefully emphasized the words "defenseless" and "watching," her gaze passing over Huo Yuhao, Xiao Xiao, Wang Dong, and all those students who, though fearful, still hadn't left.
"Oh, I understand now." Furina tapped her chin lightly with her index finger, as if something had just occurred to her. "You've actually been remarkably restrained today. At the very least, you tolerated me speaking so many 'heretical' words, questioning your teaching, even letting me serve as temporary teacher... and indirectly challenging the theories of Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang, whom you so revere. Such 'magnanimity' is truly rare."
This sentence lit the final fuse. Zhou Yi's face turned an ugly, ashen purple. Casting aside any last shred of dignity, she jabbed a finger at Furina's nose, her voice trembling with the force of her rage.
"Shut your mouth! You insolent little brat who knows nothing of the world! Letting you temporarily take over the teacher's duties was my gravest mistake! What's more—"
She drew a harsh breath, as if seizing the ultimate weapon, her voice turning sharp and venomous. "You, the so-called 'Pope' of some outside sect, have infiltrated Shrek Academy, stirred up the students, and challenged the orthodox teachings. Your fundamental purpose is nothing less than to poach talent and shake the very foundations of this academy! Such malicious intent—on this point alone, I have more than sufficient grounds to expel you immediately and purge you from Shrek!"
A silence fell over the plaza, so profound one could hear a pin drop.
"Poach talent"? "Malicious intent"? "Purge"?
These weighty accusations crashed down, stunning every student who had gathered to watch. They looked at Furina, their eyes filled with complex emotions. From today's interactions, the impression Furina had left on them was one of mystery, intrigue, strength, and genuine empathy. The pistols and hidden weapons she'd brought out, the ideas she'd expounded—all of it had made their eyes light up. Yet Zhou Yi's accusation was so grave, so severe—elevated directly to the level of questioning one's loyalty to the academy itself.
Huo Yuhao's brows knotted tightly. Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao exchanged a look of deep concern. If Zhou Yi truly pressed this charge, things could become very troublesome indeed.
Faced with Zhou Yi's near-ultimate accusation, Furina fell silent for a moment.
Then, suddenly, she smiled.
The smile wasn't wild or ostentatious. It even carried a trace of childlike purity. Yet against the backdrop of those heterochromatic eyes, there was a clarity that seemed to see through everything—and... a faint, almost imperceptible trace of pity.
She didn't directly refute the accusation of "poaching talent." Nor did she rush to defend herself. She merely adjusted her slightly disheveled cuffs—ruffled from the day's activities—with a light, graceful touch. She lifted her head and, in a voice so calm it seemed almost hollow, asked a question that appeared entirely unrelated.
"Teacher Zhou Yi, you so firmly believe in the flawless perfection of Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang's theories. You so firmly believe that your high-pressure teaching methods are the one and only correct way... Then—have you ever lowered your head, seriously, without any preconceived bias, and looked into the eyes of the students standing before you?"
Her gaze drifted slowly across every young face. On those faces were nervousness, curiosity, anger, and confusion alike.
"They came here carrying a thirst to grow stronger, a yearning for the future. They are not plants waiting to be trimmed into uniform potted shrubs. Still less are they beasts of burden that need to be driven forward by fear."
Furina looked back at Zhou Yi, her voice as steady as ever, yet it seemed to carry something weighty within it.
"The essence of education is to ignite the soul's fire—not to smother it inside the mold of your so-called 'correctness.' Expelling me is easy, Teacher Zhou. But have you ever stopped to consider—that what you truly wish to expel is perhaps not merely the person called 'Furina'? Perhaps it is that small, newly sparked courage to question that has been lit in these children's hearts. And that longing for a different kind of... light?"
Furina simply gazed quietly at Zhou Yi, waiting for the other's response—or for the next storm to descend.
And all the students around her, Huo Yuhao included, held their breath. What kind of outcome would they witness? Yet no matter what the outcome was—Furina would win. And Zhou Yi would only lose. The only question was: by how much.