An hour passed quickly.
Qiao Xiao Yu lay on the ground, weak and limp, as if she had never experienced such a cathartic release in months.
"How do you feel? Haven't regressed, have you?" Zhou Hong asked with a grin.
"Hate you," Qiao Xiao Yu shot Zhou Hong a glare.
"Knock, knock, knock!" Just then, there was a knock at Zhou Hong's dorm room door.
"Zhou Hong, what are you doing? Let's all go out together from our dorm, get to know each other better, and familiarize ourselves with the environment," came a voice from outside.
"Alright," Zhou Hong quickly responded.
"Xiao Yu, you should return to your sub-world first."
"Mhmm, you go do your best."
Zhou Hong nodded and instantly sent Qiao Xiao Yu back to her sub-world.
After Zhou Hong stepped out of his room, his three roommates were already waiting in the living room outside.
"Zhou Hong, why were you in your room alone for over an hour? You just arrived and you're already so diligent," the roommate named Liu Zhen En asked with a chuckle.
"Not at all, I was just sleepy and took a nap," Zhou Hong quickly explained with a smile.
"Let's go, we'll explore Taigu Academy together. After all, we'll be staying here for thirty years."
"Okay."
Zhou Hong knew that the academies here were incomparable to Earth's universities. Cultivation was not easy, often taking ten or twenty years. Thus, their academy life would be at least thirty years. After exceeding thirty years, regardless of their cultivation level, they would be forcibly graduated. Of course, if they advanced rapidly within these thirty years, they could also graduate early.
The condition for early graduation was to reach at least the Nascent Soul stage.
Zhou Hong was currently at the Heartbeat stage. The next was the Spiritual Awareness stage, followed by the Golden Core, and then Nascent Soul.
It wasn't a short or long time for Zhou Hong to reach Nascent Soul; it shouldn't take thirty years.
Afterward, Zhou Hong and his three roommates walked along the campus paths of Taigu Academy, chatting about their upcoming thirty years of campus life.
"Zhou Hong," a woman's voice called out from behind him. Zhou Hong recognized the voice; it was Nalan Yun Zhu.
"Nalan Yun Zhu, what do you want?" Zhou Hong turned around, snorting slightly.
Zhou Hong's three roommates looked at Nalan Yun Zhu with slight shock, finding her very beautiful.
"Congratulations on successfully entering Taigu Academy," Nalan Yun Zhu said with a complicated expression.
"No need. We're not that familiar."
"Zhou Hong, don't misunderstand. I have no feelings for you anymore." Seeing Zhou Hong's arrogant demeanor, Nalan Yun Zhu quickly found an excuse for herself.
"That's good!"
"Oh, right. Let me introduce someone to you." With that, Nalan Yun Zhu immediately beckoned to a man not far away.
Soon, the man ran over.
"Yun Zhu," the man said, grinning at Nalan Yun Zhu.
Zhou Hong also sized up the man, finding him very ugly and short. Zhou Hong wondered in his heart, what was this shorty's relationship with Nalan Yun Zhu?
"Zhou Hong, this is a senior student, one of my admirers. You can see his strength, can't you? Early Heartbeat stage." Nalan Yun Zhu said as if boasting.
"Heh heh, and then?"
"I just want to tell you, what you don't want, people stronger than you are fighting over."
"Ugh...!" Zhou Hong felt like vomiting after hearing that.
"Alright, Nalan Yun Zhu, don't bother me if there's nothing else."
At this moment, the short man, seemingly to please Nalan Yun Zhu, roared at Zhou Hong, "New classmate, speak to my goddess with respect. Otherwise, don't blame this senior for teaching you a lesson."
"Hmph," Zhou Hong snorted dismissively.
"What? Do you really want me to make a move?"
Nalan Yun Zhu seemed to still have a shred of hope for Zhou Hong and also feared the senior student making a move. She quickly said, "Zhou Hong, apologize to the senior, or I won't be able to stop him."
"Scram." Zhou Hong yelled impatiently.
"You!" Nalan Yun Zhu was frustrated. She didn't know that Zhou Hong had already broken through to the early Heartbeat stage, still thinking he was in the late Fusion stage.
"Kid, it seems you really need a lesson." The short man couldn't hold back any longer and immediately wanted to teach Zhou Hong a lesson, wanting to show off in front of his admired goddess.
However, in the next second, Zhou Hong used his Instant Strike, swung his palm, and in the next instant, slapped the short man directly in the face. With a crack, he was sent flying several meters.
"Ah." The senior student, the short man, found himself slapped flying and was completely stunned. He had no warning at all; Zhou Hong's speed was too fast.
"How is this possible?" Nalan Yun Zhu was also dumbfounded.
Zhou Hong's three roommates were also filled with admiration. As expected of someone who could kill 400 demonic beasts alone, his moves were so decisive and swift, their trajectories couldn't even be seen.
"Shorty, scram, or don't blame me for being impolite," Zhou Hong roared at the senior.
"Yes, yes, yes." The senior, the short man, was so scared that he quickly ran away. He had been at Taigu Academy for ten years and had finally cultivated to the early Heartbeat stage, only to be slapped flying by a freshman who had just enrolled. He felt immense sorrow, along with a sense of unwillingness. Why were some people so powerful right from enrollment? Heaven was too unfair.
Nalan Yun Zhu was stunned for a moment before snapping back to reality.
"Zhou Hong, how did you...?"
"The night before the assessment, I broke through to the early Heartbeat stage," Zhou Hong said with a snort.
Seeing how powerful Zhou Hong was, Nalan Yun Zhu's affection for him surged back intensely.
"Zhou Hong, you're amazing," Nalan Yun Zhu couldn't help but exclaim.
"So what? It has nothing to do with you anymore."
"I regret it. Please give me another chance, okay?" Nalan Yun Zhu said, tears streaming down her face.
"Sorry, if I'm going to find a girlfriend, I'll find the most beautiful one in the entire Taigu Academy. And you, you haven't reached that level yet."
Zhou Hong turned and left.
"Zhou Hong, you're my idol." After leaving, Zhou Hong's roommates were filled with immense reverence for him.
"Heh heh, it's not that I'm amazing, it's that the senior just now was too weak."
"Yes, looking at that senior, he's been at Taigu Academy for at least ten years. A ten-year senior is not as good as you, a newcomer," Liu Zhen En said with admiration.
At this moment, Liao Yong said with a wry smile, "Let's not mock him. We might not even reach the early Heartbeat stage after ten years."
"That's true. The three of us are currently at the mid-Fusion stage. Whether we can break through to the early Heartbeat stage in ten years is still an unknown."
Zhou Hong, however, was thinking to himself, would he still be at Taigu Academy in ten years? Would he graduate early?
Afterward, Zhou Hong and his three roommates began to wander around Taigu Academy.