Ning Tian couldn't help but feel a little depressed.
This battle was supposedly to gather intelligence on Huo Yuhao's team, but in reality, she didn't learn much.
She only found out the trio's martial souls and general fighting styles, but it was clear that Huo Yuhao and his teammates weren't using their full strength.
At least Zhu Yun and Wang Dong didn't use their second soul skills, while Ning Tian and her team had used all of theirs.
But she couldn't blame Huo Yuhao and the others; after all, they had used their utmost effort but still couldn't force their opponents to use their second soul skills. The blame should lie with themselves.
Feeling sullen, Ning Tian only chatted with Huo Yuhao for a few more sentences before leaving the Soul Dueling Zone.
Watching their retreating figures, Huo Yuhao slightly narrowed his eyes.
As he had expected, Ning Tian's team posed no threat to them whatsoever.
He didn't think this just because they easily defeated Ning Tian's team, but because Ning Tian's team's weakness was too obvious.
The core of their team was clearly Ning Tian, the auxiliary-type tool soul elder. As long as Ning Tian was dealt with, the team would collapse on its own.
And for Huo Yuhao's team, he had at least three ways to secure victory within the first three seconds of the battle.
However, these three methods were meant to be kept as trump cards for the future, and given that it was a friendly match and shouldn't look too bad, he didn't use them.
Just as Huo Yuhao was planning how to deal with the upcoming freshman assessment, Wang Dong suddenly pounced and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, bursting into laughter.
"Yuhao, we won! Did you see that guy named Wu Feng's expression at the end? It was so satisfying! You did great!"
Zhu Yun also came closer and gave him a thumbs-up.
"Brother Hao, awesome."
Huo Yuhao felt a little embarrassed for some reason. He lightly coughed and asked with a smile:
"Today is the day our team won our first battle, it's worth celebrating. Is there anything you want to eat? My treat."
"Hmm..."
Hearing this, Wang Dong and Zhu Yun exchanged glances, then nodded in understanding and said to Huo Yuhao in unison:
"I want to eat the grilled fish you make."
"Brother Hao's grilled fish."
"Uh... to be honest, I guessed Xiaoyun would say that, but Wang Dong, why you?"
"Hehe."
Wang Dong smiled smugly, his eyes sparkling with anticipation.
"In these past three months, Xiaoyun hasn't stopped telling me how delicious your grilled fish is! I've wanted you to make it for ages, but I saw you were always busy with this and that, and I didn't want to waste your time. But you just said you don't have to go to the Soul Tool Department until after the freshman assessment, right? Then I won't miss this chance!"
"You..."
Huo Yuhao couldn't help but laugh.
"If you wanted to eat it, just say so! It's just this little request, I can still make time for you. Alright then, let's go. Today I'll let you eat your fill and show you that your anticipation for the past three months wasn't in vain!"
"Alright, let's go!"
Wang Dong's face immediately bloomed with a bright smile, and a faint smile also appeared on Zhu Yun's usually expressionless face. The three of them huddled together, walking out of the Soul Dueling Zone with their arms around each other's shoulders under the curious gazes of passersby.
As for what happened afterwards... Huo Yuhao discovered that the slender and beautiful-looking Wang Dong was unexpectedly a big eater, consuming more grilled fish than Zhu Yun and Huo Yuhao combined. This dinner directly depleted Zhu Yun's week's worth of reserves.
Fortunately, seeing him rubbing his swollen belly with praise, he seemed to have eaten very happily.
The next day, everyone arrived at Shrek Plaza, ready to participate in the freshman assessment.
Since the freshman assessment has a fifty percent elimination rate, it's actually nicknamed the "true entrance exam" at Shrek Academy.
Only by passing the freshman assessment can one truly become a member of Shrek Academy.
However, for teams of Huo Yuhao's level, they didn't need to worry about whether they could stay.
For them, the only suspense was whether they could become champions.
Soon, the broadcast announcing their turn sounded.
"Freshman Class 1, Huo Yuhao's team, members Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, Zhu Yun, against Freshman Class 4, Xiang Yifeng's team, members Xiang Yifeng, Zhou Guodong, Zhu Zixuan. Please have the members of both teams come forward."
Huo Yuhao and the others couldn't help but be stunned. They hadn't expected their group to be the first one up.
However, this slight surprise naturally wouldn't affect them. The three exchanged smiles and walked onto the competition stage together.
Unlike them, their opponents looked much more nervous. One of them even had trembling legs, clearly terrified.
The stark contrast in the two sides' attitudes immediately attracted the attention of many students in the same area.
With a cry of "Match Start!", the two teams began their actions.
In Xiang Yifeng's team, two people charged forward, while the other remained in place, a short staff appearing in his hand.
As his sole soul ring lit up, the staff emitted a soft halo that shone on his two teammates. Their speed instantly increased significantly.
Their martial souls were Black Iron Dagger and Gale Leopard, both agility-attack type martial souls. Boosted in speed at this moment, the two one-ring soul masters' speed directly increased to near the level of a two-ring soul master.
Unfortunately, even with the boost, their speed was still slower than Nanmen Yun'er's speed without Ning Tian's boost.
In stark contrast, only one person from Huo Yuhao's team appeared: Huo Yuhao himself.
This was the tactic they had decided on yesterday. Unless they encountered a strong enemy at the start, they would hide their teammates' abilities as much as possible.
Anyway, for Huo Yuhao, he could handle opponents of this level by himself.
Both sides were very fast. Less than three seconds after the match began, the three representatives from the teams started their engagement.
Saying it was an engagement... perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it a one-sided crushing.
"Clang!"
"Thud!"
Two crisp sounds rang out as the leopard claw and sharp blade struck Huo Yuhao, making a sound like hitting steel.
At the same time, both of them, one after another, fell into a stunned state under the influence of the mental shock.
Huo Yuhao didn't hesitate, delivering a punch and a kick, directly sending the two flying out and eliminating them from the arena.
Afterward, he leisurely walked up to the auxiliary-type soul master who was standing at the back and smiled gently at the other party.
"Do you still want to continue?"
"Ah, ah..."
The auxiliary-type soul master, whose legs were already trembling with nervousness, directly sat down on the ground. Looking up at Huo Yuhao, who was looking down at him from above, he stammered:
"I... I surrender..."
Huo Yuhao's team's first match ended in such a one-sided rout.