Douluo Continent: My name is Lu Mingfei, and my martial soul is Lu Mingze.

And so another day began, just like any other ordinary day.

Lu Mingfei lay in bed, unwilling to move, staring blankly at the ceiling for a while, his mind a complete blank.

He dawdled as he got up, put on his clothes, and prepared to go to the cafeteria to grab some food.

Just as I reached the door, I heard someone knocking.

"Lu Mingfei! Lu Mingfei, are you there?"

It was the dormitory manager's voice.

Lu Mingfei opened the door and saw the building manager standing there with a somewhat subtle expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Go to the teaching affairs office right away, Teacher Li wants to see you."

Teacher Li? Lu Mingfei thought for a moment. It seemed to be a teacher who taught soul power theory. He didn't usually have much interaction with him.

"What do you want from me?"

"How would I know?" The caretaker waved his hand. "Hurry up and go, don't keep people waiting."

Lu Mingfei responded and left the dormitory building, heading towards the teaching affairs office.

Shrek Academy's buildings are all very grand, except for the administration office, which is located in a drab old building. It is said that this is because successive heads of administration felt that working in such an environment would put more pressure on students.

Lu Mingfei went up to the third floor and knocked on the office door.

"Come in."

I pushed the door open and went inside; there were three people sitting there.

One was an old man named Li, who was his theory teacher. The other two looked unfamiliar, but they were both wearing teachers' uniforms.

When Old Man Li saw Lu Mingfei, his expression was somewhat complicated. He pointed to the chair in front of him.

"Please sit down."

Lu Mingfei sat down, feeling a little uneasy.

Could this be a prelude to his dismissal?

Although he had been at Shrek Academy for so many years, he had always been at the bottom of the class, ranking last every year.

If it weren't for Teacher Wang, who brought him back and protected him, he probably would have been kicked out long ago.

Now that Teacher Wang has passed away, what was bound to happen has still happened.

"Lu Mingfei," Old Man Li spoke, his tone less serious, "I called you here to talk to you about the grade-level assessment."

Lu Mingfei remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"As you know, your grades have been... not very good all these years in the foreign language department." Old Man Li carefully chose his words.

"If you still rank last in this grade-level assessment, according to the college's rules, you will have to repeat the year."

Repeating a grade?

Lu Mingfei was stunned for a moment.

He hadn't expected this outcome; he thought he was going to be fired.

"Not dropping out of school?" Lu Mingfei asked subconsciously.

Old Li and the other teachers exchanged glances.

"Based on your grades, dropping out would be the least of your worries," a teacher nearby said, her tone somewhat sharp. "But when Teacher Wang was around, she always spoke up for you, and we..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but his meaning was clear.

Out of respect for your deceased teacher, Mr. Wang, I'll leave you a way out.

Lu Mingfei remained silent for a while.

Teacher Wang.

The old man who brought him back from outside kept saying that he had good talent, but just hadn't figured it out yet.

After the old man passed away, no one said that anymore.

"I understand," Lu Mingfei said. "I will try my best."

Old Man Li glanced at him, clearly not quite believing him.

This kid has been at Shrek Academy for so many years; if he were going to be hardworking, he would have done so long ago.

"Lu Mingfei, I'm telling you the truth."

Old Man Li sighed: "We all know your situation. Your soul power is low, and your martial soul is also... But as long as you don't come in last place in this assessment, I can speak up for you."

"What if we come in last place?"

"Then you'll have to repeat the year," Old Li said, "with this year's freshmen class."

Lu Mingfei thought for a moment.

Repeating a grade isn't unacceptable, but the problem is—

If he repeats a grade, he'll be with Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong.

Who knows what those two brats will say about him then? How will he maintain his senior status in front of them?

Where does he put his senior's face?

"Teacher Li, how much longer until the assessment?"

"One month."

One month.

Lu Mingfei thought to himself, with his useless physique, what kind of amazing skills could he possibly develop in a month?

But she still said, "Okay, I'll try my best."

"Not just as much as possible, but absolutely necessary." Old Man Li looked at him, his tone suddenly softening.

"Mingfei, before Teacher Wang left, he told me to take good care of you. That's all I can do; the rest is up to you."

Looking at him, Lu Mingfei suddenly felt that this old man was quite nice.

Although he's just like Old Zhou in class, always calling on him and embarrassing him, at least now I'm willing to lend him a hand.

"Thank you, Teacher Li," Lu Mingfei said, unusually serious for once.

"Alright, go back now." Old Li waved his hand. "Prepare well and don't disappoint Teacher Wang."

Lu Mingfei stood up, walked to the door, and looked back once more.

"Ms. Li, if I really do repeat a year, can I still audit classes or skip classes?"

The latter is actually more important. Apart from certain arrogant individuals, who would actually go and audit classes to pretend to be a studious young person?

Old Li was so angry he laughed: "Can't you think of something better?"

"I'm just preparing for the worst."

"roll."

Lu Mingfei quickly left.

Stepping out of the office, Lu Mingfei stood in the corridor and took a deep breath.

Repeating a grade.

In the past, he wouldn't have cared at all.

Anyway, he's a good-for-nothing, what difference does it make whether he repeats a grade or not?

But it's different now.

He now has two friends, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong.

Although he wouldn't admit it, those two little brats did make him feel... that life wasn't so hard anymore.

He didn't want to embarrass himself in front of them.

"Alright," Lu Mingfei muttered to himself, "Looks like I'll have to get serious."

He walked towards the training field.

As expected, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong are already training.

Huo Yuhao was practicing his Spirit Eye, and Wang Dong was practicing his Goddess of Light Butterfly; the two were becoming more and more in sync.

Upon seeing Lu Mingfei arrive, Wang Dong spoke first.

"Why are you taking so long? We've been practicing for quite a while now."

"I was called away for tea by the teacher." Lu Mingfei sat down by the training field.

"Want some tea?" Huo Yuhao stopped and walked over. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing serious," Lu Mingfei said.

"They're telling me that if I get the worst grade again, I'll have to repeat the year."

"What?!" Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong exclaimed at the same time.

"Why are you so agitated?" Lu Mingfei looked at Huo Yuhao. "It's not you who's failing a year."

"But..." Huo Yuhao exclaimed anxiously, "Senior, how can you repeat a year?"

"Why not? I'm a good-for-nothing anyway."

"You're not!"

Huo Yuhao said seriously, "You only have low soul power, but your combat awareness is stronger than many people's."

Wang Dong, standing beside him, frowned as well: "Isn't the academy being incredibly unreasonable? Everyone knows your situation, how can they..."

"Alright, alright," Lu Mingfei waved his hand. "Don't make it sound like I'm having a funeral. It's not like I'm going to repeat a year right away; there's still a month left."

"What can you do in a month?" Wang Dong asked.

"Your soul power..."

"I know," Lu Mingfei said. "Soul power is a major weakness; it's definitely not something you can improve in a month."

This is a fact.

His soul power hasn't increased much over the years, how much can it increase in a month?

A large part of the reason is that they never really practiced seriously.

"So what do you plan to do?" Huo Yuhao asked.

"Let's just deal with it," Lu Mingfei said. "If it really doesn't work out, we can just repeat the year. It's not the first time anyway."

"Did you repeat a grade before?" Wang Dong asked.

"No, not at all." Lu Mingfei thought for a moment.

Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong both fell silent.

Seeing their expressions, Lu Mingfei sensed the atmosphere was a bit heavy and quickly changed the subject.

"By the way, what's the deal with your homeroom teacher, Zhou Yi?"

Wang Dong was taken aback: "Why are you asking this?"

"I'm curious," Lu Mingfei said. "I've been at Shrek Academy for so many years, and I've heard countless legends about Teacher Zhou, but I've never actually met her. You guys are in her class, so tell me about her."

"And if I really can't steam it all up in the end, I'll most likely be transferred to your class."

Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao exchanged a glance, their expressions somewhat subtle.

"What's wrong?" Lu Mingfei asked. "Is she too scary for you all to tell me?"

"Not really." Huo Yuhao scratched his head. "Teacher Zhou... she is indeed quite strict."

"Strict?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"I heard that she once made a student cry."

"That's true," Wang Dong said, "and it happened in front of the whole class."

"Wow!" Lu Mingfei exclaimed, getting excited. "What else? What else?"

Wang Dong thought for a moment: "She also made the whole class run fifty laps."

"Fifty laps?!" Lu Mingfei's eyes widened.

"So later, more than a dozen students were completely exhausted," Huo Yuhao said.

Lu Mingfei gasped.

This isn't a teacher, this is a monster! They're unworthy of being called teachers!

"There's something even harsher," Wang Dong said. "From what I know, she once belittled a student's martial spirit to the point of being worthless, saying that his martial spirit was useless and he should just drop out of school."

"Where is that student?"

"I dropped out of school."

Lu Mingfei swallowed hard.

"Haven't either of you been scolded by her?"

Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong exchanged another glance.

"Of course I've cursed him."

Lu Mingfei remained silent.

He suddenly realized that his reputation as a good-for-nothing was nothing compared to Zhou Yi's.

This isn't a teacher, this is a wicked mother-in-law!

No, she's even more terrifying than an evil mother-in-law.

A wicked mother-in-law will at least not make you run 100 kilometers.