Book 3: Fusion of Martial Souls

Chapter 15.3: Three Months

Neither talent nor his strength were that great. However, he was always the most attentive person in the class.

Zhou Yi’s level of strictness was second to none in the academy, but not even she was able to find any faults with Huo Yuhao. Her long and cruel physical training was considered torment to students of the same age as him, yet not only had he persisted till the very end of every single training session, he even trained more at night.

This was something that Zhou Yi had discovered one night, purely by chance. It just so happened that she needed to go and do something that day. By the time she returned to the academy, it was already late at night. When she’d walked past Shrek Plaza, she’d discovered—to her astonishment—a figure slowly running around the running track. Moreover, the soft clanging of metal had even been ringing out.

When she focused, she was able to see the figure of a shirtless, sweat-drenched person. The chainmail on his body had already been soaked with sweat, and every step he took was extremely heavy. Zhou Yi was even able to see the line of sweat that the figure had left behind on the ground.

The figure, which wasn’t very tall,yet had both steady and persistent footsteps, was precisely Huo Yuhao. Zhou Yi had been deeply stunned by his actions; he was actually giving himself extra training in the middle of the night!

Zhou Yi had called out to Huo Yuhao in order to ask him what he was doing, to which Huo Yuhao had simply replied, “Teacher, I have poor talent; I have to work slightly harder than the others. And, if I meditate after going through physical training, it seems to speed up a bit.”

Zhou Yi somewhat suspected that Huo Yuhao had known that she was going out that day, which was why he’d purposefully put on a show for her. However, she dismissed this thought not long after she’d thought of it as, no matter if it was windy or rainy, a stealthy figure would always appear in Shrek Plaza. His running sessions would last over four hours and, in addition to that, his chainmail had gradually split in two.

When everything was said and done, this was still a school. Even though Huo Yuhao didn’t tell anyone, his actions were still found out by his classmates. There were even a few students who tried to train with Huo Yuhao, but none of them were able to last longer than three days. They already had high-intensity classes during the daytime; if they continued to train late at night, it would no longer be simple physical training. This was practically torturing one’s own body!

However, Huo Yuhao still managed to persevere with this torture to his own body. He made the impossible possible. His level of vigor received both the acknowledgement and admiration of every the students in their class. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao managed to forcefully persevere for an entire three months despite Zhou Yi’s harsh requirements, allowing him to become one of the sixty-seven freshmen left in Class 1 .

‘Hard work can make up for one’s deficiencies.’ These are very simple words, but how many people can truly make them a reality?

And yet, Huo Yuhao had done it. Thus, he’d reaped the benefits of his hard work. Make no mistake, the main reason for his cultivation increasing by such a large amount within such a short period was still because of the two Mysterious Water Pills and the Soul Advancement Pill. However, he hadn’t just increased his soulforce. He’d had a comprehensive improvement. It didn’t matter if it was his knowledge, or his various skills; he’d ‘shed his mortal body and bones’ during the past three months.

He’d originally been slightly shorter than Wang Dong, but his height was now roughly the same as Wang Dong’s. His body had also become much more rugged. He didn’t have any exaggerated muscles, but if he were to expose his upper body, you would clearly be able to see that it had become well-proportioned. Every single one of his muscles seemed to be filled with an abundant amount of power.

Most importantly, Huo Yuhao’s physique had undergone a heaven-defying change during the past three months. This sort of change was due to both internal and external factors; it absolutely wasn’t just caused by the two Mysterious Water Pills.

Since he’d obtained a special understanding of the Mysterious Heaven Technique, Huo Yuhao made sure to report it to Tang Ya and Bei Bei. However, the two of them weren’t able to replicate the passageway-nourishing energy that he’d found.

The reason that Huo Yuhao had trained his body late into the night was because the nourishing effect of the Mysterious Heaven Technique would appear whenever his stamina and soulforce were completely exhausted. The intangible changes that were caused by the nourishing effect he felt every time it occurred caused his passageways to expand slightly, but the feeling gradually grew weaker as time passed. However, his cultivation speed was increased by an enormous amount as a result.

When Huo Yuhao took the second Mysterious Water Pill, his cultivation speed became seven times faster than it’d been at the start. At the same time, the impurities within his body were one step closer to being entirely expelled. After the past three months of cultivation, his body’s passageways been broadened unceasingly, and had become much more durable. As of now, his cultivation speed was ten times faster than at the start! This was an astonishing increase in cultivation speed!

When Huo Yuhao has used the second Mysterious Water Pill, his soulforce had increased by a full rank, bringing him to straight to the peak of the thirteenth rank from the peak of the twelfth rank. After he’d used a period of time to adjust his body’s condition, he’d taken the Soul Advancement Pill. Sure enough, the resulting increase in soulforce brought about by it was even more impressive: Huo Yuhao’s soulforce rose three consecutive ranks, before finally smashing through the fourth’s bottleneck, resulting in his soulforce reaching the seventeenth rank.

Now, Huo Yuhao’s cultivation had reached the average level of the other students in his class. The most praise-worthy thing about this, was that he’d relied on his own cultivation to do so. During these past three months, his soulforce had continued to increase; he’d reached the peak of the seventeenth rank, and was close to breaking through to the eighteenth tank. This was still due to the fact that he’d had to stabilise his foundation after using medicine for his previous breakthroughs. It could definitely be said that his current degree of talent was no longer that of the trash-like degree he’d had when he’d just entered Shrek Academy.

“We’ll stop today’s physical training here.” As Zhou Yi stood behind the teaching platform, her aged face remained indifferent. However, as long as her class was still going on, practically every single student would sit perfectly straight; no one would dare to make any sort of strange movements.

“As of today, three months have passed since you started school. You’re all about to face your first assessment since entering Shrek Academy. If you pass this examination, you’ll formally become first-year students, and will truly become students of Shrek Academy. If nothing unexpected happens, you’ll be able to continue cultivating within the academy until your first year graduation exam at the very least. The assessment will begin tomorrow, so I’d first like to discuss the main points of the assessment.”

It was rare for Zhou Yi’s voice to be as soft as it was. As she swept her gaze across the sixty-seven students beneath her, she was actually extremely pleased with them. Perhaps the quality of this batch of students might not be stronger than the previous batch of students, but after three months of teaching, their willpower absolutely surpassed any previous year’s group that Zhou Yi had taught. To Zhou Yi, this was definitely an unexpected surprise. As the class monitor, Huo Yuhao had played the role of an extremely important role model.

“Huo Yuhao.”

“Present.” Huo Yuhao instantly stood up and respectfully replied.

After three months, Huo Yuhao’s respect for Zhou Yi absolutely came from his heart, and it wasn’t because of her strength. Although Zhou Yi frequently came up with some strange ways to teach, and had even tormented them to the point of them wanting to die, it had to be said that her teaching abilities were extraordinarily strong. Furthermore, these strange things that she’d done had had a much greater effect on them than they could’ve imagined. Because of this, not only had the students of Class 1 had a great change in their psychological state, but the ones who were left after the last three months had an aura as firm as a boulder around them.