Zhou Yi's gaze instantly turned into two icy spears, piercing fiercely at Gu La.
Yesterday, she had heard that some freshmen had fought but didn't inquire further. She almost let him slip by unnoticed. Fighting on the first day and then lying brazenly in front of her?
In her iron-fisted dictionary, such behavior was tantamount to directly challenging her authority!
"Stand up!" Zhou Yi's voice carried suppressed anger. "Is what he said true? Stand up and answer!"
Gu La finally raised his eyelids slowly, calmly meeting Zhou Yi's stern gaze with a tone as firm as steel: "No."
The word, clear and steady, carried an undeniable calmness.
Zhou Yi furrowed her brows tightly. This attitude... too certain.
So certain that it made her doubt herself. Could Wang Dong be falsely accusing him? Her sharp gaze shifted back to Wang Dong.
Wang Dong shuddered under Zhou Yi's gaze, disregarding her embarrassment, and hastily explained: "Teacher, he's lying, it's true! He defeated me yesterday using that detached Angel martial soul; many people saw it!" Fearing Zhou Yi wouldn't believe her, she even described the details of the martial soul.
Upon hearing this, Gu La merely shrugged indifferently, adding in a tone so flat it seemed like stating a fact: "Oh, you call that fighting? That's called a one-sided defeat."
"You—!" Wang Dong trembled with rage, pointing at Gu La, wishing she could summon her Hao Tian Hammer to smash him immediately.
"Enough!" Zhou Yi slammed the podium, the loud noise reverberating through the classroom. The overwhelming presence of a Soul Emperor silenced all the freshmen.
"This is not a marketplace! It's certainly not a place for your unruly antics!"
Her icy gaze swept over Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong standing, and then over the other freshmen sitting but clearly implicated. Her voice cracked like breaking ice: "Look at yourselves, cowering, afraid to fight? Listen carefully—all of you, cowardly enough to avoid trouble are mediocrities! And those who cause trouble but refuse to admit it are the worst of the worst!"
She pointed at the classroom door: "Now, all students, go out immediately. Run fifty laps around Shrek Square, right now! If you can't finish, you're expelled!"
The sudden punishment stunned the freshmen, but intimidated by Zhou Yi's ferocity, no one dared resist. They stood up dejectedly and filed out.
"And you two, having the courage to fight is good, but losing means losing face! Now go run fifty laps outside! If you don't finish before lunch, forget about eating!"
Under Zhou Yi's wrath, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong also walked out with heads bowed.
Gu La stood up as well, leisurely following behind the crowd. Just as he was about to exit the doorway, a faint, barely perceptible smirk appeared on his lips.
"Gu La!" Zhou Yi's icy voice, like a relentless pest, nailed itself onto his back.
Gu La paused his steps but didn't turn around.
"What were you laughing at just now?" Zhou Yi's voice carried scrutiny and an unyielding command. "Speak!"
Gu La turned around, his face already back to its calm, waveless expression, even carrying a hint of "innocent" earnestness.
He shrugged, speaking in a volume just loud enough for the classmates ahead to hear:
"Reporting, teacher, I wasn't laughing about the fight. I just suddenly remembered, that old man sunbathing downstairs from our dorm often secretly stares at the skirts of passing female students. His gaze is somewhat… hmm, inappropriate. Since you, Teacher Zhou, are so fair and strict, why not educate him after class? After all, it affects the academy's atmosphere."
The classroom fell silent. All the remaining freshmen who hadn't left were dumbfounded, looking at Gu La in disbelief.
Daring to slander the harmless-looking gatekeeper grandpa? Not afraid he might be someone's relative? Daring to involve Zhou Yi?
Zhou Yi's brows instantly knotted into a lump.
Peeping at female students? That was intolerable! Under her watch, such filth would not be tolerated!
She barked sharply: "Is this true? That old thing..." She stopped mid-sentence, realizing there was no evidence, and her primary task now was to discipline the freshmen.
Suppressing her anger, she coldly stated: "Fine! I'll handle this matter later, but now—you—"
Her finger pointed sharply at Gu La, her voice cutting like steel: "One hundred laps! The rest of you, fifty laps. Now, immediately, go run! If you don't finish, don't come back in this door!"
Shrek's playground, wide enough to accommodate tens of thousands of people. The morning sunlight bathed the smooth stone ground, but now it became the freshmen's nightmare.
Dozens of freshmen began jogging sparsely around the enormous square.
Fifty laps! Even for ordinary Soul Grandmasters, this was a massive burden, let alone these newly enrolled freshmen whose soul power generally hovered around twenty levels.
Huo Yuhao gritted his teeth, his eyes determined, pushing his Xuantian Technique to the limit, striving to adjust his breathing and maintain a relatively steady pace.
He knew this was Zhou Yi's show of authority, a test every student entering Shrek must endure.
Wang Dong ran while casting murderous glares at Gu La running not far ahead of her.
One hundred laps? This guy still runs so effortlessly! That leisurely stroll-like demeanor infuriated her more than Zhou Yi's punishment. It was all this bastard's fault, making her lose face and suffer punishment!
As for Gu La, he completely ignored the nearly tangible resentment behind him.
He maintained a moderate speed, breathing steadily, his steps light, even finding time to observe the surroundings and the freshmen staggering around.
One hundred laps? For him, without carrying a ten-ton iron ball, it wasn't even a warm-up. He was more like taking a morning walk.
What he truly anticipated was the "good show" at the edge of the playground.
Sure enough, not long after, a black-clad, icy figure charged towards the direction of the freshmen dormitory building.
It was Zhou Yi! She obviously didn't plan to wait until after class; Gu La's phrase "affecting the academy's atmosphere" had thoroughly ignited her fury.
A gatekeeper old man daring to be so lewd? Such a cancer must be removed immediately!
The arc on Gu La's lips became more pronounced, his spiritual power spreading quietly.
Zhou Yi quickly found her target in front of the dormitory building—Mu En was still lying in that old recliner, squinting at the energetic students passing by, seemingly oblivious or indifferent to Zhou Yi's arrival.
"Hey, old man!" Zhou Yi's voice was icy, laden with the pressure of a Soul Emperor, enveloping him rudely. "Stand up! Someone reported your misconduct, peeking at female students! Come with me to the office and explain yourself."
Mu En's rocking chair movement stopped. He slowly turned his head, his cloudy old eyes looking at Zhou Yi, neither panicked nor angry, just an unfathomable calmness, even tinged with… a bit of resignation towards the antics of the younger generation?
"Little Zhou…" Mu En's voice was hoarse and aged, slowly opening his mouth as if not feeling the oppressive soul force. "Such anger isn't good for your health." He rocked his chair. "Teaching requires patience."
Zhou Yi was momentarily choked by this nonchalant attitude, her anger flaring higher: "Stop fooling around with me, I don't need lessons from you, stand up! Come with me!" She took a step forward, reaching for Mu En's arm.
However, just as her hand was about to touch Mu En's faded gray cloth shirt, an indescribable, terrifying aura, like a sleeping dragon awakening, unexpectedly spread from Mu En's seemingly hunched and withered body.
This aura wasn't deliberately released pressure but rather an absolute dominance on a life level.
It was heavy, ancient, carrying the primitive ferocity of suppressing everything.
Zhou Yi's Soul Emperor-level soul power paled in comparison to this aura, flickering like a candle in the wind, nearly extinguished.
Her extended hand froze in mid-air, as if blocked by an invisible barrier, struggling to move even a single finger. A profound fear from deep within her soul instantly gripped her, turning her face pale, cold sweat drenching her back.
She stared in disbelief at this unkempt old man, who still squinted as if doing nothing.
Deep within those cloudy old eyes, a faint trace of something that froze her soul—a faint golden glow—flashed momentarily.
"Ah…" Mu En sighed slowly, withdrawing his gaze and focusing again on the playground, as if the suffocating terror that overwhelmed a Soul Emperor was merely Zhou Yi's illusion.
He muttered vaguely, "Young people nowadays… so restless…"
Zhou Yi froze in place, as if under a binding spell. Overwhelming fear and incomprehensible shock wiped her mind blank.
What had just happened? Who was this gatekeeper old man?! Reporting? Peeping? Thinking back now, it was utterly absurd and laughable to the extreme!
She looked at Mu En's decrepit physique and face, unable even to straighten his back.
A chill shot from her feet to the top of her head. She finally understood that she had kicked—not against a block—but collided with a bottomless iron mountain! No, a sleeping dragon!
Zhou Yi didn't dare utter another word, even avoiding looking at Mu En again. Stiffly, step by step, she retreated, as if fleeing the lair of some primordial beast, until she reached a safe distance before abruptly turning and leaving quickly, her back a picture of disarray.
On the square, Gu La maintained his "steady" pace while observing the brief yet spectacular scene in front of the dormitory building.
He clearly "saw" Zhou Yi charge in full of anger and return panic-stricken.
"Heh…" Gu La chuckled inwardly, with a mocking certainty, "Just as expected, bullying the weak and fearing the strong. Continuing to confront him would earn my respect."
After tricking Zhou Yi once, Gu La felt pleased. If his dislike for the tsundere Wang Dong was rated 1, his dislike for Zhou Yi was at least in double digits. Oppressive education, or rather, it couldn't even be called education.
With Shrek Academy's reputation on the continent, they weren't short of students; otherwise, there wouldn't be a freshman elimination competition. But this wasn't a reason for Zhou Yi to arbitrarily dismiss students based on personal opinions.
The academy's duty was to educate, and screening wasn't her job.
On the playground, heavy footsteps and labored breathing echoed continuously.
The punished freshmen were drenched in sweat, staggering. Fifty laps, for these newly enrolled students, was akin to brutal torture.
Zhou Yi returned to the playground, standing like a cold statue at the edge, her sharp gaze like a hawk's, fixedly staring at each running figure, especially the one in front maintaining a steady pace—Gu La.
After dozens of laps, this guy's breathing hadn't even faltered; his relaxed demeanor was like a red-hot needle stabbing Zhou Yi's eyes and heart!
The suffocating feeling from earlier, facing the ancient beast, transformed into fear, consumed entirely by a more intense rage. What occupied her mind now was sheer humiliation and provocation.
"It must be him! He definitely knows the old... no, that senior's identity."
Zhou Yi clenched her teeth tightly, her face livid. "Intentionally saying those words to make me hit a brick wall, wanting to see me humiliated, such a young age with such malicious intent!"
She completely ignored that if she hadn't rushed to accuse a "gatekeeper grandpa" based on a student's words, she wouldn't have hit a brick wall.
In Zhou Yi's iron-fisted logic, the mistake could never be hers, but Gu La's—an arrogant, lying, malicious brat.
"Too much! Such a student, no matter how talented, is a menace."
Zhou Yi mentally roared, her gaze as cold as eternal ice, "Stay in my Class One? Dream on, I will kick him out! No, out of Shrek Academy!"
Her gaze measured precisely each lap run by the students.
Especially Gu La, she stared intently, ready to expel him on the spot for "disrespecting teachers and evading punishment" if he dared to miss even half a step!
She had already prepared her words, intending to use the most severe, most indisputable tone to erase this stain completely!
Naturally, Gu La could feel the penetrating icy gaze behind him. But he paid no attention.
After showcasing the ultimate fire and near-ultimate light of the Sun Angel martial soul before Mu En, he was certain of Shrek's upper management's stance.
A genius youth possessing a top-tier ultimate attribute martial soul held far greater value than a biased Soul Emperor teacher.
Even if he did "make a mistake," unless it involved treasonous acts, Shrek would only raise their hand high and bring it down lightly.
Expulsion? Zhou Yi lacked the ability and qualification. He didn't even bother guessing what revenge plan Zhou Yi might be plotting; the gap between them was too vast.
Finally, the last student staggered through their fiftieth lap, collapsing like a fish out of water.
Meanwhile, Gu La had already completed his hundred laps, even slowing down midway to "wait" for others. Now, he stood near the finish line, breathing steadily, not a drop of sweat on his forehead.
Zhou Yi watched his serene demeanor, seething with anger, glaring fiercely at him before sweeping her icy gaze over the collapsed freshmen.
"Wang Jinxi, Cai Haotian, Ruan Hanlin..." Zhou Yi coldly called out seven or eight names, her voice like a judge's verdict, "You few can go pack your things. Shrek Academy has no need for worthless trash who can't even finish fifty laps."
"What?!" The named freshmen erupted, faces filled with disbelief and anger.
"Why? We clearly finished!"
"Teacher, this is unfair!"
"We will appeal to the office!"
Facing the uproar, Zhou Yi's expression remained unchanged, a cruel smile playing at the corners of her mouth: "Finished? Hmph, in my eyes, the number of laps you secretly skipped is crystal clear."
"Lacking basic perseverance and determination, you're worthless! Appeal? Go ahead! Let's see if the office believes you or me, Zhou Yi. In my class, my word is law! Those who disagree, leave now!"
Her words cut like steel, carrying undeniable authority.
Her husband, Fan Yu, was Shrek's sole Rank 8 Soul Guidance Mentor, holding an exalted position. The academy's higher-ups would side with the teacher in such "teaching management" matters. Zhou Yi was fearless.
Watching those few freshmen leave in despair and anger, supported by classmates like wilted eggplants, Zhou Yi felt a twisted satisfaction.
Her gaze finally landed on Gu La, like poisoned icicles.
"Everyone else, dismissed." Zhou Yi barked coldly, then pointed at Gu La, "You, stay!"
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