Chapter 20: Mother Dragon is Gravely Ill

At the instant Chen Qiye's sword touched a strand of hair, with a 'bang!' the first thing to fly out of the smoke and dust was Huang Chutian's enormous body, followed immediately by the Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo sisters.

The match ended!

"Freshman Class One, Chen Qiye team wins!"

Chen Qiye's consumption was not great.

"Rest well, there are still four matches ahead." Wang Yan gave Chen Qiye a strange look.

Yes!

It's true that Chen Qiye still respects Teacher Wang Yan quite a bit, who pays attention to students' physical condition and training methods; if it weren't for Zhou Yi's background, someone like him would have been kicked out of the academy long ago.

In fact, Chen Qiye could easily take down Zhou Yi with his strength, but what does that have to do with him? The world is inherently unbalanced; if you can't resist, you just go with the flow……

Six teams participated in the assessment; after Chen Qiye's side finished their match, the second match started immediately.

Who could have guessed that the freshman Class Seven would still be defeated in one move by Chen Qiye? After this battle, the other teams also fared poorly, after all, as the competition went on, everyone's strength was not weak.

But Chen Qiye seemed unfazed by the intensity; with just one move he could always settle the opponent, leaving some students in the stands dumbfounded, wondering if we're really from the same cohort? This time the opponent was Freshman Class Three, three assault-system Soul Masters, whose strength was even less than Huang Chutian's group, and they were simply kicked away with two legs, leaving Freshman Class Three feeling utterly stifled……

Precisely because Freshman Class Seven went on to win afterward, the teams behind basically didn't want to meet Chen Qiye, mostly choosing to surrender, after all the best option is to preserve strength for the next match.

In the end, amid everyone's expectations, the Chen Qiye team representing Freshman Class One actually only he himself achieved a perfect record.

"Chen Qiye, stay a moment."

Wang Yan really wanted to know whether the strike Chen Qiye used to defeat Lan Luoluo and Lan Susu was an original soul skill!

But Chen Qiye didn't want to waste words with him, just simply two words: 'Original……'

…………

Outside the assessment area, a row of academy teachers stood, about thirty or so, among them was Elder Zhou Yi.

At this moment her gaze was unfriendly, sweeping over the nearly two hundred students below, yet she just couldn't find the person she was looking for.

Freshman Class One had the most participants, so roll call took the longest; when it came to Xiao Xiao's group, besides Xiao Xiao responding, the names Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong drew no answer at all. This not only shocked all the freshmen, but even the teachers were greatly surprised.

In Shrek Academy's history, this isn't the first time, but it's definitely extremely rare. Even if they had passed the freshman assessment, not showing up in the elimination rounds would definitely be seen as disrespecting the academy, leaving a bad impression on all teachers.

Chen Qiye, seeing the two missing beside Xiao Xiao, immediately wondered what they were up to: 'How come, do you know what those two are doing?'

Gu Yue, standing beside Chen Qiye, asked.

"I don't know……"

If you told others you knew what those two were up to, wouldn't that feel spooky? 'Tch, I'm not saying, I'm not saying.'

Gu Yue turned her head, puffing her cheeks, looking very angry.

Chen Qiye just shook his head helplessly.

"This brat, still not coaxing me." A purple light flashed in Gu Yue's dark eyes……

"Ah!"

"Isn't it you, Gu Yue, who's sick? Why are you stepping on my foot!"

But Chen Qiye's wait for Gu Yue's reply was met only with a cold snort.

Chen Qiye could only roar in his mind, 'This ten-thousand-year mother dragon is definitely ill, and seriously so……'

………

The roll‑call teacher paused slightly before continuing with the other classes, calling all the way up to Freshman Class Six before Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong finally arrived late.

"Report." Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong ran together to the spot between the teacher and the students and shouted loudly at the same time.

Chen Qiye glanced over, his eyes slightly surprised: 'In the original story weren't the two in a sorry state? How come they look so clean now? Could it be they didn't try a martial soul fusion yesterday, didn't experiment with a martial soul fusion technique……'

The roll‑call teacher immediately stopped; this teacher was about fifty, tall and broad, black‑faced and beardless, with a stern expression.

"Which class are you two from? What's going on?" Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong both recognized him; this teacher's name was Du Weilun, the head of the Outer Institute's Martial Soul Department, whose authority in the Outer Institute was immense.

Huo Yuhao shouted, 'Report, Teacher Du, Freshman Class One's Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, late due to excessive cultivation.'

Du Weilun's face darkened, 'You can be late for the assessment and still have no sense of time? I'm punishing you two to wipe all the hallway floors of the freshman teaching building after today's matches. Fall back into formation.'

"Yes." Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong hurriedly replied, both feeling relieved inside. As long as it wasn't a penalty that would cost them their assessment eligibility, they were fine. They quickly jogged back to the Freshman Class One formation and stood beside Xiao Xiao.

Du Weilun glanced at Zhou Yi standing not far away, then picked up the list and continued reading. With his temperament, if it were another student, he'd likely have outright canceled their assessment eligibility; anyway they had already passed the freshman assessment. But Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong's special point was that they performed exceptionally well in the round‑robin, achieving a perfect record, which prompted this iron‑faced instructor to show leniency.

At Shrek Academy, although it's not purely merit‑based, strong ability and good grades will certainly earn some privileges; this is true of any academy.

After the draw, the sixty‑four‑to‑thirty‑two matches began immediately, thirty‑two matches held simultaneously. This shortened the assessment time as much as possible, giving the winners ample rest to prepare for the afternoon matches.

This time Chen Qiye was assigned to Area Fifteen, the proctor changed—a female teacher in her thirties who looked very kind.

The match didn't last long; although the opponent was tenacious, Chen Qiye settled the fight in under a minute, smoothly advancing to the top thirty‑two.

The freshman assessment elimination round, the thirty‑two‑to‑sixteen matches, officially began in the assessment area when the afternoon class bell rang.

Compared to the morning, the number of participants in the elimination round had already been halved; after another draw, they immediately headed to their assigned areas to compete.

Since it was the same day's competition, the venue hadn't changed; it was still divided as in the morning, but only the fields numbered one through sixteen were used.

On the north side of the assessment area a platform was erected, standing twenty meters high, supported by six metal pillars; looking up from below, one couldn't make out how many people it could hold, the upper part was hazy, as if some people were there watching. From that twenty‑meter height, one could overlook the entire assessment area and see clearly the situation in each field.

This time, Chen Qiye's assessment area became Number Eight. When they arrived at the field, the other team that had also drawn Number Eight was already there.

What surprised the spectators was that Chen Qiye's opponents were all girls, and all of them were pretty young ladies.

………

(End of Chapter)