Chapter 71

Tang Wulin sat in class, clearly feeling the surrounding students whispering about something, pointing at the empty seat beside him.

He also knew what they were saying: the seat next to him had been tacitly assigned to Huo Yutong for a year, and now that Huo Yutong was absent, the seat naturally became vacant, standing out conspicuously.

Soon, Wang Yan walked into the classroom, and the students fell silent at once, the previously chattering voices all disappearing.

Wang Yan looked around the classroom, his gaze lingered on the empty seat beside Tang Wulin for a moment, then smiled and said:

"I'm glad to see all of you have returned to the Academy on time. As for Huo Yutong's case, the Academy is investigating it intensively; please stay calm, we'll inform everyone of the results soon. Let's first discuss the upgrade assessment."

Saying that, he stepped onto the podium and began writing on the blackboard.

The expressions of the first‑class students instantly became very tense.

Huo Yutong's matter was curious, but in the end it was someone else's business; however, the upgrade assessment concerned everyone present, and poor performance could lead to expulsion from the Academy.

To reach this point, the first‑class students had all worked hard; none wanted to be expelled by Shilake Academy before even advancing to the second year.

Wang Yan said:

"The format of this upgrade assessment has been decided. First is the individual exam: our Academy will assess you by battling spiritual beasts. Each student must go to the Beast Arena to fight a spiritual beast of a chosen age. A designated teacher will score your performance, with a full score of 150; anyone scoring below 30 will be eliminated."

"As for the class exam, since our first class has the strongest overall combat power, our assessment difficulty is naturally the highest. This time we will select three students to jointly battle three thousand‑year‑level spiritual beasts, and a designated teacher will score them. Oh, and for this class exam, our Class Monitor of the strong‑attack division is prohibited from participating."

When Wang Yan finished his last sentence, all the students' gazes instantly focused on Tang Wulin.

Tang Wulin himself looked a little odd, not knowing what to say.

Clearly, because he was far too strong, his participation would upset the balance, so the Academy directly banned him from competing.

What he didn't know was that the decision was made by the Bow‑Chief Dragon who had recently gone with him to the Star Dou Great Forest.

He had personally seen Tang Wulin easily defeat a seven‑thousand‑year‑level spiritual beast; even though that beast was of the plant type and slightly weaker than an animal of the same level, the performance already surpassed that of a first‑year student and even the scope expected of Outer Courtyard students.

The spiritual beasts in the Beast Arena could never pose any threat to this kid; more than Tang Wulin's safety, the Bow‑Chief Dragon worried that the kid might recklessly kill his prized spiritual beast, and as a disciple of Mu En under Tang Wulin, the Bow‑Chief Dragon could not demand compensation.

Wang Yan looked at the shocked expressions of the classmates, smiled and said, "This afternoon we'll begin the individual upgrade assessments; the class assessment will be held three days later. At that time I will select three students, excluding Tang Wulin, to go to the Beast Arena for the assessment. Those with higher cultivation in the class, please be ready at any moment."

Hearing this, Wang Dong and Zhou Sichen both broke into sour faces.

The highest‑level students in the class were these two; originally they felt the first half of the assessment sounded safe, but the Academy's outright ban on Tang Wulin suddenly shifted all the pressure onto them.

Seeing the atmosphere grow heavy, Wang Yan quickly comforted, "Everyone need not worry. I'll now tell you the points to note for the exam. From what I know of your strength, as long as you listen carefully and perform well, passing the assessment won't be difficult."

Then he picked up a piece of chalk and began writing the exam's precautions on the blackboard.

Tang Wulin stared lightly ahead; Wang Yan's words entered his left ear and left through his right ear, barely lingering in his mind.

Cramping at the last minute is a weak‑person's method; with his strength, the individual assessment poses no difficulty at all, so there's no need to heed Wang Yan's little tips. Rather than how to pass more easily, he still wants to know where Huo Yutong went.

Time often flies fastest when one is daydreaming; in the blink of an eye, the class passed and it was already afternoon.

Teachers of each class gathered their students in the Beast Arena, preparing for the upcoming assessment.

Wang Yan said to Tang Wulin:

"Wulin, in the upcoming exam each class will first send its Class Monitor. Our class will naturally have you lead the charge. You must be careful; I know you're in a bad mood now, but please don't strike too hard and kill the spiritual beast."

Indeed, unlike other teachers who reminded students to stay safe, Wang Yan cared more about the spiritual beast's safety than Tang Wulin's.

In truth, there was nothing to worry about regarding Tang Wulin's safety; if he unleashed his full power, the battle could end in an instant.

Every thousand‑year spiritual beast in the Academy was captured after great hardship; losing one is a huge loss, and Wang Yan certainly didn't want to be held accountable later by the Bow‑Chief Dragon, the current head of the martial soul department.

Tang Wulin lightly nodded, indicating he had heard.

It was afternoon, and there was still no news about Huo Yutong; his mood was indeed very bad.

Wang Yan wanted to say more, but the stage was already urging the first class to send someone up, so he helplessly patted Tang Wulin's shoulder and let him step onto the arena.

Seeing Tang Wulin take the stage, the referee asked, "What level of spiritual beast are you ready to challenge?"

Tang Wulin answered lightly, "A thousand‑year."

He answered without hesitation, which made the referee glance at him twice in surprised curiosity.

The referee didn't know Tang Wulin's background; he only knew that the participants were second‑year students, and based on the usual cultivation of second‑year students, battling a thousand‑year spiritual beast was no easy task.

However, considering Tang Wulin's status as Class Monitor, he did not object, merely saying:

"Alright, be a bit more careful later."

At worst he just needs to pay a little more attention and protect the kid's safety—nothing major.

At this moment the referee still didn't realize that, compared to Tang Wulin, he needed to protect the spiritual beast's safety even more.

Off‑topic, the original said there would be a class exam before the holiday, but after school started the exam was never even mentioned.

Buddha, this was completely forgotten.

(End of chapter)