Another Student

Afterward, Qian Yuling no longer wanted to keep playing with Wang Xiong. She had had enough fun, so she summoned Louise and quickly ended the battle.

After Wang Xiong was sent flying off the arena, he was completely stunned. He had never imagined that he would be defeated by a girl—and that she could go head-to-head with him even without summoning her martial soul.

After registering her victory, it was getting late, and she was starting to feel hungry. Qian Yuling then summoned Little Fire Dragon Fleet and flew back to Shrek Academy, planning to have breakfast in the cafeteria.

The so-called cafeteria was actually just an arrangement between the academy and the village. Several villagers had been hired to handle everyone's meals. Breakfast was simple, but the portions were generous enough to fill everyone up.

When Qian Yuling entered the cafeteria, she found six people already inside. She knew five of them, while the extra one was a chubby boy she had never seen before.

When Dai Mubai saw Qian Yuling enter, he said to the chubby boy, "See? This is the strongest of this year's new students, the one I told you about. Her name is Yu Ling, and her Soul Power is even higher than mine."

Then he turned to Qian Yuling and said, "Yu Ling, your twin ponytails look beautiful today. Let me introduce you. This is the last student our academy had before you all arrived. His name is Ma Hongjun, and his martial soul is the Phoenix."

"Phoenix?" Qian Yuling's pupils contracted. Back in Miasma Valley, she had heard Kirin mention that besides Kirin and the Corpse Dragon, there were five other ancient dragons. As for their names, Kirin had not told her, saying that the time was not yet right. There was also a powerful creature whose strength came close to that of an ancient dragon: the Phoenix.

But whether Ma Hongjun's Phoenix martial soul was the same Phoenix Kirin had mentioned was impossible to say.

Dai Mubai noticed Qian Yuling's unusual reaction and asked, "What's wrong?"

Qian Yuling shook her head. "Nothing."

The moment Ma Hongjun saw Qian Yuling, his eyes went blank. He openly swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Dai Mubai glanced over, noticed his expression, and smacked him on the head. "You'd better keep that evil fire under control, or no one will be able to save you."

After noticing Ma Hongjun's gaze, Qian Yuling smiled sweetly at him. He's so chubby. So cute.

Dai Mubai was already dumbfounded. Why was this Qian Yuling different from the one he had met yesterday?

Seeing Qian Yuling smile at him, Ma Hongjun whispered to Dai Mubai, "It looks like the new junior sister is interested in me."

Dai Mubai shot him a look. "How much did you drink to get this drunk?"

Ma Hongjun protested, "You're just jealous."

Qian Yuling walked over to Zhu Zhuqing's side and fell into deep thought as she looked at the bowl of rice soup before her.

Zhu Zhuqing did not notice anything unusual about Qian Yuling and asked, "Yu Ling, I didn't see you this morning. What did you go do?"

Qian Yuling told Zhu Zhuqing about her trip to the Great Soul Arena. Zhu Zhuqing gave her a surprised look, then lowered her head and continued eating her rice soup.

Meanwhile, Qian Yuling continued staring at the rice soup in front of her.

This time, Zhu Zhuqing noticed something was off. "Yu Ling?"

"Mm." Qian Yuling came back to her senses.

"Why aren't you eating breakfast? Did you already eat?" Zhu Zhuqing asked, puzzled.

"No, but Zhuqing, is rice soup all we have for breakfast?" Qian Yuling asked quietly as she looked at the bowl before her. Compared to breakfast at Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Shrek Academy's breakfast was simply unbearable. No wonder she had asked.

"Yes. Breakfast should be light," Zhu Zhuqing replied, then lowered her head and continued drinking her rice soup.

Hearing Zhu Zhuqing's answer, Qian Yuling could only sigh helplessly. She looked at the rice soup and took a small sip. As expected, it tasted awful. But then she spotted eggs, fried dough sticks, and other food nearby, and her eyes lit up again.

Dai Mubai cleared his throat. "Little Ao overslept again. Other than Little Ao, all of us will be living and studying together for a while, so let's get to know one another. This fatty is Ma Hongjun, and the one who just arrived is Yu Ling. Like Tang San, Yu Ling was one of the students who made Teacher Zhao suffer a setback yesterday."

The fatty exclaimed, "She's that strong? Teacher Zhao is a level seventy-six Soul Saint. How could she possibly make Teacher Zhao suffer?"

Hearing that, Dai Mubai smacked his forehead and cursed inwardly. This fatty really has no tact.

Qian Yuling waved her hand. "I was just lucky." Then she thought, This fatty really doesn't know how to talk. He's suddenly not so cute anymore.

Dai Mubai then told Ma Hongjun the names, martial souls, and Soul Power levels of the five new students. As for how Zhao Wuji had suffered yesterday, Dai Mubai did not elaborate. However, he did warn Ma Hongjun. He could pursue Yu Ling, and it would be great if he succeeded; if he failed, there was nothing to be done. But he absolutely must not provoke her.

After the introductions, Dai Mubai continued, "We'll all be studying and living together from now on, so there's no need to be too formal with how we address one another. With the five of you newcomers, there are only eight people in the academy. Little Ao and Fatty call me Boss Dai. Just call Ma Hongjun Fatty. You can call that guy Oscar either Little Ao or Uncle Sausage. Tang San, how about I call you Little San?"

Tang San nodded, indicating that he had no objections. Although he had not spent much time at Shrek Academy yet, he already felt a sense of belonging. Dai Mubai, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun each had their own quirks, but none of them put him off.

Seeing that Dai Mubai was about to mention her, Ning Rongrong readily said, "Just call me Rongrong. My family and friends all call me that."

Her smile never left her face. With that simple sentence, she invisibly brought everyone closer together.

Qian Yuling also stood and said, "My name is Yu Ling. You can call me Yu Ling or Little Yu." After introducing herself, she sat back down and continued eating her fried dough stick.

While Qian Yuling was introducing herself, Ma Hongjun stared at her without blinking.

Xiao Wu's form of address naturally remained unchanged. When Dai Mubai turned his gaze toward Zhu Zhuqing, she stood up instead. "I'm full." Then she walked straight outside.

When Qian Yuling saw Zhu Zhuqing leave, she hurriedly stood up, grabbed an egg from the side, and followed after her with a half-eaten fried dough stick still in her mouth.

Ma Hongjun said dreamily, "Even the way that junior sister walks out with a fried dough stick in her mouth is so beautiful."

Tang San burst out laughing at that, while Xiao Wu called out, "Fatty, don't go ruining Yu Ling's life."

"What do you mean, ruining her life? I'll make her like me," Ma Hongjun said unhappily.

Ma Hongjun looked at Dai Mubai in surprise. "Boss Dai, aren't you supposed to be invincible among women? Aren't you known as a girl killer? Why won't that cold beauty who just arrived even spare you a second glance?"

Dai Mubai did not say anything this time. He merely sighed.

With a bitter smile, Dai Mubai shook his head without explaining anything.

Tang San asked Dai Mubai about the academy's rules and classes, and Dai Mubai explained the rules to him, along with the matter of tuition fees.

After he finished speaking, a sudden clang-clang-clang-clang sound rang out from outside.

Dai Mubai hurriedly stood up. "That's the bell summoning us to the headmaster. Fatty, take them straight to the main field. I'll go get Zhuqing and Yu Ling." With that, he quickly left the cafeteria.