Ye Lingling paused, a faint blush quietly spreading across her cheeks. "Don't talk nonsense. Teacher just wants to study medicine. Besides, he takes good care of the other students too. Didn't he help Yu Tianheng when his cultivation went wrong?"
"How could that be the same?" Dugu Yan arched a brow. Seeing Ye Lingling like this, she deliberately teased her, leaning closer and lowering her voice. "He didn't make Yu Tianheng the class monitor and put him in charge of the class. Think about it. Your family has the Nine Heart Begonia, the finest healing martial soul under heaven, and your medical skills are among the continent's best. He's an attack-type Soul Master, yet instead of gaining practical experience at the Great Soul Arena, he suddenly wants to study medicine. Maybe he just wants to use this as an excuse to get close to your family, and while he's at it..."
"And while he's at it, what?" Ye Lingling turned to look at her. There was a hint of panic in her eyes, though she still forced herself to remain calm.
"Take you away, of course!" Dugu Yan lightly poked her arm. "You're pretty, and your martial soul is special. So many people have their eyes on you. Teacher Chen looks proper enough, but who knows what he's really thinking?"
Ye Lingling did not respond, but her thoughts began to run wild. She remembered how Chen Chu was in class—strict with everyone, yet he had never once said a harsh word to her, always showing her a bit more tolerance.
Dugu Yan's words were not entirely without reason. She had heard about the uniqueness of the Nine Heart Begonia ever since she was young. Countless factions had tried to approach the Ye Family under the pretense of marriage alliances or study. She had long grown used to it.
After dinner, she returned to the dormitory and took out some letter paper. She hesitated for a long while before finally writing. She did not mention Dugu Yan's suspicions, only saying that an academy teacher wanted to pay a home visit and also wished to study medicine under her mother. She asked whether her parents agreed.
On the third day after the letter was sent, the Ye Family's reply arrived. Ye Tang'er's handwriting was gentle and elegant. She said a home visit was a good thing and told Ye Lingling to arrange it with her teacher so they could return together during the break. As for studying medicine, they could discuss it in detail after Chen Chu arrived.
Early the next morning, Ye Lingling took the letter to find Chen Chu. She had just reached the office door when she heard the sound of pages turning inside. She knocked, then pushed the door open only after receiving a response.
"Teacher, my parents agreed." She handed him the letter. "My mother said you can return with me at the end of the month."
Chen Chu accepted the letter, quickly scanned it, and looked up. "Understood. Go back to class."
Ye Lingling answered with a soft "Mm." Seeing how unruffled he was, the doubts in her heart faded somewhat.
Over the following days, Chen Chu did not mention the home visit again. He only occasionally stopped Ye Lingling after class to ask her some basic questions about medicinal herbs.
Ye Lingling gradually lowered her guard as well. She answered every question and even lent Chen Chu the herbal illustrated guide her family had given her.
Until the end of the month, when the term ended, Ye Lingling carried a small packed bundle and waited for Chen Chu at the academy gates. Before long, she saw him approaching alone.
"Let's go."
The two hired a carriage and headed toward the Ye Family in Autumn Leaf City.
The Ye Family had a sizable estate in the northeastern district of Heaven Dou City, bestowed by the imperial family and inhabited by some collateral clan members. However, the main branch remained in Autumn Leaf City, which was not particularly close to Heaven Dou City and required several days of travel.
Inside the carriage, Chen Chu looked at the somewhat timid Ye Lingling and frowned slightly. Why was this little girl so introverted? She should not have been.
He had been her homeroom teacher for over two months. Why did she still act as though she were with a stranger whenever she was around him?
"Lingling, do you seem to be afraid of me?" Chen Chu could not help asking as he looked at the little girl in her academy uniform.
Ye Lingling froze at the question. Her fingers unconsciously twisted the ribbon of her clothes, and the tips of her ears grew hot. She stammered, "N-No, Teacher."
Though she said that, she quietly shrank farther into the corner of the carriage, her gaze darting unnaturally toward the window. Chen Chu's eyes felt too intense. Whenever their gazes met, her heartbeat quickened. Especially now, with only the two of them in the carriage, even the sound of their breathing seemed unusually clear.
Seeing her like this, Chen Chu did not dare press her further. Feeling a little awkward, he turned to look at the trees rushing past outside. The carriage fell silent for a while.
After an unknown amount of time, Ye Lingling secretly turned her head and glanced at Chen Chu. He was leaning against the carriage wall with his eyes closed, resting. His profile was sharp and valiant, and she found herself staring absentmindedly.
For young girls like Ye Lingling who had only just begun to understand love, a talented young man like Chen Chu naturally possessed an inexplicable attraction.
The carriage traveled for two days. By the evening of the second day, they finally arrived at a relay station not far from Autumn Leaf City.
The guard driving the carriage stopped and said to Chen Chu inside, "My lord, it'll be dark soon. Autumn Leaf City is still half a day away. Why not rest at the relay station for the night and enter the city early tomorrow morning?"
Chen Chu glanced at the sky outside and nodded. "That works."
The moment they entered the relay station, a faint smell of blood drifted toward them. Chen Chu frowned slightly, and his eyes instantly turned cold. The scent was weak, as though it had only just been cleaned up. Something was wrong with this relay station.
"You go get rooms first. I'll go take a look," Chen Chu instructed Ye Lingling.
"Stay in your room and don't come out yet," he added in an unquestionable tone. Then he turned to the guard. "Watch her."
The guard hurriedly nodded. "Rest assured, Count."
Chen Chu headed straight for the rear courtyard of the relay station. The bloody smell was coming from there. He had just rounded a corner and entered a room when he lifted the curtain and looked outside. Two men in black were dragging a corpse toward the woodshed, a short blade still embedded in its body.
"Hmm? A bandit inn? Or Evil Soul Masters?" Chen Chu could not tell for the moment. The scent of blood around those two was heavy, accumulated through years of killing.
He silently retreated behind the door, a strand of Soul Power gathering at his fingertips. The fluctuations of those two men's Soul Power were chaotic and carried the sinister aura unique to Evil Soul Masters. They were definitely not ordinary thugs from a bandit inn.
He did not attack immediately. Instead, he pressed himself against the wall and listened to their conversation.
"That old man's blood was so rich. It felt incredible to drink it." The black-clad man on the left smacked his lips, his voice full of greed.
"Stop talking and clean this up. The lord will inspect the place later." The man on the right kicked the corpse. "Have all the people in this relay station been dealt with? Don't leave any survivors."
"Don't worry. Other than the two who just rented rooms in the front hall, everyone else has been taken care of. But that woman looks like she's from the Ye Family. The lord said she should be kept alive because she'll be useful. As for that man... we'll find a chance to kill him later. He looks young and fair-skinned. He'll probably taste pretty good."
Chen Chu's gaze turned cold. So they really were targeting the Ye Family, and they even dared set their sights on him. They were merely a few insignificant pests. He did not hesitate any longer. His martial soul silently possessed him, and his twin scythes suddenly struck out. The Soul Power pressure of a sixty-fourth-rank attack-type Soul Master instantly shrouded the rear courtyard.
Those two Evil Soul Masters were only in their thirties. They did not even have a chance to resist before both their legs were severed. They dropped to their knees with a thud, their faces deathly pale.
"Who? Ah! My legs!" The suppressed Evil Soul Master screamed. Seeing his legs still writhing nearby, his vision went black, and he let out a hoarse wail.
Chen Chu's figure appeared at that moment. Beneath the moonlight, possessed by King Sagros, he carried an endless majesty as he coldly looked down on the two men like the god of death. The twin scythes in his hands slowly rose, then came crashing down!
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