Valentine's Day, Lu Leng's Plan

The back mountain had an elegant setting, with a small lake, a graceful pavilion, and lush vegetation. Far from the teaching and administrative buildings, it was an excellent spot—naturally becoming a paradise for students and a sacred place for dates.

"Why would Teacher Mimis come to a place like this?" Lu Leng asked in confusion. Teachers practically never came here.

"Who knows?" Hu Liena shook her head at first, then suddenly seemed to realize something. Her eyes widened. "Could Teacher Mimis be here for a date?"

"That can't be, right?" Lu Leng was surprised by the thought, but clearly did not believe it. "Teacher Mimis is pretty scatterbrained. She probably hasn't even caught on to that sort of thing yet."

"You never know with these things," Hu Liena said as she looked at him.

"Either way, I don't believe it."

"..."

The two speculated back and forth as they made their way to the back mountain.

The back mountain was vast, but they were lucky. After searching for only a short while, they found Teacher Mimis.

However, there was someone else with Mimis—a man. No, more precisely, a male student.

"It's Zhang Kun. Why is he holding a bouquet of roses?" Lu Leng said in surprise after recognizing the boy. He knew Zhang Kun; he was also a student of the Sacred Class and was quite strong, ranking among the top five on Spirit Academy's strength rankings.

"From the looks of it, he's going to confess," Hu Liena said with an amused smile, clearly enjoying the show.

"A teacher-student romance? This is getting interesting." Lu Leng was intrigued as well.

To be honest, Mimis was very beautiful. She was only in her thirties, yet her strength had already reached the terrifying rank of Soul Sage. Even among people her age, she was considered a genius. On top of that, her temperament was distinctive—cool, commanding, or adorably absentminded. She was the secret crush of many male teachers and students at the academy.

He just had not expected Zhang Kun to have the guts to be the first student to take the plunge.

The question was, would Mimis agree? Lu Leng continued watching.

But the answer came quickly. Mimis rejected him decisively and told him to focus on his studies instead of thinking about such nonsense.

Zhang Kun left dejectedly, carrying his flowers with him.

Lu Leng smiled. He had known the outcome would be like this. Just as he was about to walk toward Mimis, another man suddenly sprang out from beside her, also holding a bouquet of roses.

"No way, what is this? Are they taking turns confessing?" Lu Leng was stunned. People could do that?

"You didn't know?" Hu Liena asked instead.

"Know what?"

"Valentine's Day is in a couple of days. It's perfectly normal for them to be this eager now." Hu Liena blinked her beautiful eyes and looked at Lu Leng with a teasing smile.

"Valentine's Day?" Lu Leng paused inwardly. He did not notice Hu Liena's expression, instead thinking to himself, I can't believe another year has passed so quickly. Valentine's Day is here again.

He still remembered spending the last Valentine's Day with Bibi Dong. Their relationship had grown much closer then.

Hmm, Valentine's Day is a good opportunity. I need to make proper preparations this time and hopefully open Bibi Dong's heart a little more.

With that thought, Lu Leng decided not to keep watching.

"Where are you going?" Hu Liena asked curiously.

"Back to the dorm, of course. What, am I supposed to stand here and watch them show off their romance?"

"They haven't even become a couple yet."

"Do you really have to wait until they become one before you're willing to leave?" Lu Leng said without looking back.

Hu Liena really was a woman—far too nosy.

Unfortunately, his luck was terrible. He had only taken a few steps when Mimis spotted him.

"Lu Leng," Mimis called out to stop him.

"Sorry, Teacher. We didn't see anything. Please continue," Lu Leng said with a feigned smile as he turned around.

Mimis blushed, knowing that Lu Leng must have seen everything. She spat lightly, "What do you mean, continue? Hurry up and train. Jin Zhengyang will become the Holy Son in two months."

"Then I'll go defeat him right now," Lu Leng said, making as if to leave.

"Didn't you want to avenge your teacher?" Mimis stopped him.

"Yeah, isn't that exactly what I'm going to do? Help you get revenge."

"Why are you in such a rush? Don't you know that defeating an enemy when he is at his proudest deals the greatest blow?" A trace of ruthlessness appeared on Mimis's face.

Seeing that ruthlessness, Lu Leng immediately teased her in his heart. Teacher Mimis, you're so bad~ But I like it so much, hehe...

"Stop fooling around. Zi Qingyang already knows that your strength has soared, and he's putting Jin Zhengyang through extreme training now. But Jin Zhengyang only broke through to level forty-nine a few days ago. No matter how hard he trains, he won't reach level fifty. Don't worry."

"It's fine. Even if he reaches level fifty, I'm confident I can defeat him." Lu Leng patted his chest in assurance.

"You should really fix that habit of boasting. Jin Zhengyang isn't like ordinary people." Mimis flicked him on the forehead.

After saying that, Mimis called Hu Liena over as well. "Let's go to the training room and begin today's training exercise: Battle Emotion."

"Ah?!" Hu Liena and Lu Leng were both shocked, as though they had remembered something terrifying.

"What's wrong?" Mimis gave them both a strange look. "The competition is about to begin. Now is the perfect time to cultivate Battle Emotion. We can't waste it."

"..."

The next day, Lu Leng woke up, washed up quickly, and went to class.

"Teacher, I'd like to take leave in a couple of days and return to Spirit Hall for a while," Lu Leng said when he found Mimis.

"In two days, isn't it Valentine's Day? What, got yourself a little girlfriend?" Mimis asked with a hint of gossip.

"No, I just have something to do," Lu Leng naturally denied.

"Enough, what's the point of asking me for leave? Approved or not, it makes no difference anyway," Mimis said irritably. Had he skipped too few classes over the past six months?

Lu Leng smiled awkwardly. "Thank you, Teacher."

The two days passed in a flash. Lu Leng once again put his class-skipping skills to use and returned to Spirit Hall a day early.

"Teacher, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Let's have a meal together," Lu Leng said with a smile after finding Bibi Dong. Yet no matter how one looked at it, there seemed to be a trace of scheming in that smile.

Bibi Dong froze. "Why have a meal on Valentine's Day? It's not like you're celebrating it."

Lu Leng immediately corrected her. "That's not right, Teacher. Holidays are meant to be celebrated—who cares what holiday it is? As long as you're happy, right? Besides, it's been a long time since we last sat down and talked."

By the end, a trace of sorrow showed on Lu Leng's face.

Seeing Lu Leng's sincere yet sorrowful expression, Bibi Dong felt somewhat guilty as well. Indeed, over the past year, she had paid less attention to Lu Leng and Nana. So she agreed. "All right. Bring Nana along too. If we're celebrating, then everyone should celebrate together and have some fun."

Bring her along too?

Wouldn't that ruin his plan?