The next day, as soon as class began, Huo Yuhao reported the team list collected yesterday to the class teacher, Zhang Lexuan.
Zhang Lexuan took the list, glanced over it without saying much, and simply spoke a few words of encouragement to the entire class.
She didn't change the results of the students' self-formed teams, nor did she demand any specific results from anyone.
After class, Wang Dong took the initiative to lead Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao to a secluded grove outside the academy.
The surroundings were quiet, with only the occasional bird chirping, making it feel exceptionally serene.
Wang Dong stopped in his tracks, turned around, and looked at the two behind him.
On that exquisite face, there was now a look of utter seriousness.
His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried an unquestionable firmness: "For this Freshman Assessment, we have only one goal..."
He paused, then said word by word, "And that is the championship!"
Huo Yuhao's participation in this competition was originally for the sake of Dai Huabin.
Whether they became champions or not wasn't important to him.
As for Xiao Xiao... her large, round eyes were currently staring unblinkingly at Wang Dong, filled with twinkling little stars.
She didn't care much about the final ranking either.
She just felt that Wang Dong looked really handsome when he was being so serious.
Thus, among the three members of this team, Wang Dong's "competitiveness" was naturally the strongest.
As the little princess of the Clear Sky Sect, he had been raised as the apple of everyone's eye since childhood and had never lost to his peers.
It wasn't until meeting a Prodigy like Huo Yuhao that he tasted the flavor of defeat for the first time.
Therefore, for this Freshman Assessment, he was determined to seize the final championship!
"Don't worry, Wang Dong!"
Xiao Xiao snapped out of it and approached with a grin.
"With the Class Monitor here, the championship will definitely be ours!"
Wang Dong's expression turned solemn as he looked at her seriously.
"The Freshman Assessment is a team battle. Although Yuhao is strong, we can't just rely on him."
Saying this, he glanced at Huo Yuhao beside him before turning back.
"So my plan is, Xiao Xiao and I will strike first during the matches. If we encounter an opponent we can't beat, then Yuhao, you'll step in."
Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao had no objections to this proposal and nodded in agreement.
Seeing them both nod in agreement, the seriousness on Wang Dong's face instantly vanished, replaced by a hint of a smile.
"Now, let's all talk about our own situations," he said, his gaze sweeping across Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao's faces. "We should get familiar with each other's Spirit Ability effects so we can coordinate better during team battles."
After saying that, he spoke up directly, serving as a demonstration for the two.
"My Spirit is the Light Goddess Butterfly, a light-attribute attack system Spirit. I'm a Rank 26 Spirit Grandmaster, and my first Spirit Ability is..."
After Wang Dong finished his introduction, Huo Yuhao followed up, "My Spirit is the Spirit Eyes, a mental control system Spirit. I'm a Rank 45 Spirit Ancestor..."
After he finished, both Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao gaped in shock, clearly stunned by the power of his Spirit Abilities.
After a good while, Xiao Xiao finally snapped out of it, blinked hard, and began to introduce her own situation.
"My Spirit is the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron." Her voice still carried a trace of lingering shock. "It's a power-type control system Spirit. I'm a Rank 22 Spirit Grandmaster, and my first Spirit Ability is Cauldron's Stability..."
After describing her two Spirit Abilities, Xiao Xiao's face flushed slightly.
She pointedly glanced at Wang Dong and then added in a low voice, "But... I have another Spirit."
A flash of surprise crossed Wang Dong's eyes. "Twin Spirits?!"
"Mm-hmm!" Xiao Xiao nodded, a hint of pride appearing on her face. "My second Spirit is the Nine Phoenix Dancing Flute, a support system Spirit..."
Huo Yuhao looked at Xiao Xiao with a smile on his lips.
He thought to himself that it was indeed a coincidence; all three members of their team actually possessed Twin Spirits, though only Xiao Xiao had spoken of it so far.
Wang Dong also took a special glance at Huo Yuhao; from that day by the Sea God Lake, he knew that Huo Yuhao also had Twin Spirits.
A moment later, Wang Dong spoke again, "Alright, now that we know each other's situations, let's do some practical drills!"
Xiao Xiao blinked her large eyes, looking bewildered.
"How do we drill?"
Wang Dong grinned, a hint of craftiness in his smile. "Naturally, it's the two of us against Huo Yuhao!"
Before his words had even faded, a brilliant golden light suddenly erupted from his body.
The Light Goddess Butterfly Spirit instantly possessed him, and a pair of magnificent butterfly wings unfolded behind his back. With a gentle flap, he soared into the air.
He looked down at Huo Yuhao from above, a smile playing on his lips."Yuhao, do you dare to have a two-on-one match with us without using Spirit Abilities?"
Huo Yuhao looked up at the figure enveloped in golden light in mid-air, a hint of a smile flashing in his eyes.
With a flick of his right hand, a soul tool longsword appeared out of thin air in his palm, its blade slender and gleaming with a faint, cold light.
"Come."
Xiao Xiao stood to the side, watching this scene, suddenly feeling a bit dazed.
Is... is the fight starting just like that?...As it turned out, Wang Dong's reputation as the number one of the Clear Sky Sect's younger generation was not an exaggeration.
Even without using the Clear Sky Hammer, his Light Goddess Butterfly was an extremely powerful Spirit.
With the assistance of Huo Yuhao's Mental Detection Sharing, Xiao Xiao providing control, and Wang Dong leading the attack, they really didn't need Huo Yuhao to step in during the first few matches.
Huo Yuhao, the freshman who had defeated a Spirit Emperor teacher on the first day of school and driven away the class teacher, had long been famous in the Outer Court.
So when the teams from other classes learned that Huo Yuhao was also participating, a chorus of wails immediately rang out.
For a time, almost every team felt that the final championship was out of their reach.
However, after watching a few matches, it seemed that Huo Yuhao hadn't personally taken the field.
This caused many teams that had already lost their Battle Intent to suddenly feel a spark of courage to give it their all.
However, in the match this morning, Huo Yuhao truly took action for the first time.
Because their opponents were the twin sisters they had met once before, Lan Luoluo and Lan Susu.
Facing their savior, the two of them spoke words of gratitude before the match, but once they were on the field, they didn't hold back in the slightest.
Under the deployment of the Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Heavenly Net, Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao's strength alone really wasn't enough to break through.
In the end, it was Huo Yuhao who intervened.
His Spirit Eyes suddenly brightened, and two invisible Spiritual Impacts shot through the air, accurately hitting Lan Luoluo and Lan Susu.
The core of a Martial Soul Fusion Skill is the tacit understanding of two minds being in sync, and Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Impact happened to disrupt that connection.
The blue light instantly shattered, and the Heavenly Net vanished without a trace.
Naturally, the match ended with the Huo Yuhao team's victory.
After leaving the field, both Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao's faces felt a bit hot.
They had won several matches in a row, so it was inevitable that some pride had grown in their hearts.
But today's battle had completely dissipated that quietly burgeoning pride, which could be considered a good thing.
In the evening, they returned to the dormitory.
Wang Dong sat on his bed, uncharacteristically quiet.
On that face, which usually radiated confidence and pride, the high Spirits of the past were gone.
He just lowered his eyes, his gaze landing on the floor by the bed, lost in thought.
Seeing this, Huo Yuhao understood that he had been disheartened by the battle during the day.
He walked over to face Wang Dong and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Don't think about it anymore," his voice was gentle and calm. "Didn't we win?"
Wang Dong looked up and glanced at him.In those pinkish-blue eyes, there were some indefinable, complex emotions.
Then, his head lowered again.
His voice was muffled: "That's only because you stepped in. If it were just Xiao Xiao and me... we would have lost."
Looking at his dejected appearance, Huo Yuhao couldn't help but smile.
"I'm a part of the team too. Even though I'm strong, you can't just exclude me."
These words sounded like boasting, but Wang Dong couldn't refute them.
Because he was telling the truth; Huo Yuhao was indeed very strong.
Watching his expression, Huo Yuhao guessed some of his thoughts and continued, "A Martial Soul Fusion Skill can multiply the strength of two Spirit Masters. Although Lan Luoluo and Lan Susu's Martial Soul Fusion Skill isn't exceptionally strong, it's indeed not easy for any opponent below the Spirit Ancestor rank to deal with."
Knowing that Huo Yuhao's words made sense, Wang Dong still couldn't get past his own mental hurdle.
A moment later, he suddenly looked up.
In those pinkish-blue eyes, a certain blazing light was now burning.
He looked directly at Huo Yuhao and said word by word, "Yuhao, let's give it a try!"
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A/N:
5 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter
I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. I would appreciate some Power Stones if you can spare any. Leave a review if you like the story. Thank you.