Realizing it was her teacher, Song Wan hesitated, then carefully phrased the simple method Lin Shuguang had told her for controlling blood energy before explaining it.
"Utter nonsense!" The woman in black snorted coldly. "Blood energy is the very foundation of a martial artist. If you recklessly try to control it, the slightest mistake could make your body explode and kill you. Who told you this? Their intentions deserve condemnation!"
Song Wan opened her mouth.
Lin Shuguang's face flashed through her mind, but she did not mention him.
After respectfully listening to a few more words of reprimand from the woman in black, she fell silent.
What he said wasn't wrong, so why is my teacher so prejudiced?
She could not understand it...
In the end, Song Wan still took advantage of a moment when no one was around to try the method Lin Shuguang had taught her.
In fact, this method was only a small trick for recovering blood energy from the advanced version of the Basic Body Refining Technique. It was nothing much to Lin Shuguang, and he had only mentioned it briefly. Song Wan had figured it out herself through her own insight.
Had he not been worried that she would practice blindly on her own, Lin Shuguang would not have given her a detailed explanation at the end.
Half an hour later, after practicing dozens of times, Song Wan finally managed to control the blood energy within her body using Lin Shuguang's method.
Much of her fatigue immediately dissipated.
Song Wan's eyes lit up.
"He really was right!"
She wanted to tell her teacher this good news, so that she would know Lin Shuguang's method was not utter nonsense.
But she had barely taken a step before withdrawing her foot. For reasons she could not explain, she kept this matter buried in her heart as a secret.
Lin Shuguang knew nothing of what had happened on Song Wan's side. During the final remaining week, he did not spend all day in the Blood Desolate Land either.
He would only set aside half a day to kill some Desolate Ghost Apes and earn a little money for upgrades.
The rest of his time was spent traveling between home, school, and the Martial Arts Hall.
Ever since she had successfully verified Lin Shuguang's little trick that evening, Song Wan had placed the utmost faith in his words. Whenever she had time, she wanted to go over to him and ask more questions.
Even though Xu Jie followed him everywhere, he still felt an urgent sense that his position as the primary partner was being threatened.
For the first time in his life, he felt he had met his match.
Fortunately, Lin Shuguang did not know what he was thinking, or he would certainly have given him a taste of life's harsh lessons.
After school that afternoon, Xu Jie wanted to "come between them," but a senior fellow disciple from the Martial Arts Hall picked him up. He could only stare resentfully from the car at the two standing together by the school gate.
I won't give you two my blessing!
"Thank you so much for these past couple of days. This is Blood Rice my dad brought back from out of town. It can increase blood energy, and eating it over a long period can improve your constitution." Song Wan handed him a small bag.
There was not much, only about a fist's worth, but this was already half of all the Blood Rice Song Wan had.
But Lin Shuguang was not someone who failed to recognize value. How could something that increased blood energy possibly be cheap merchandise found on any street stall?
Especially when Lin Shuguang noticed that the grains of Blood Rice were plump and each gave off a crystalline luster, he became even more certain that this Blood Rice was no ordinary thing.
He politely declined on the spot. "I can't accept this."
Although he, Lin Shuguang, was a little greedy for money, he was not insatiable.
He had merely given her a few small pointers. He would feel undeserving accepting such a generous gift.
Besides, she was only an underage girl. Could she have obtained something this precious herself?
Her family had probably paid a hefty price for it...
And she had turned around and brought some of it to him?
She really was adorably foolish...
Without waiting for Song Wan to speak, Lin Shuguang gently shook his head and politely declined again. "With something this precious, I really am not just being polite. I can't take it. Even this little bit must be worth quite a lot, right?"
As he spoke, he looked at Song Wan. Her expression already gave him his answer, so he smiled. "I appreciate the thought. Keep this Blood Rice for your exam preparations. I remember you wanted to get into a top martial arts school, right? This Blood Rice will be more useful to you."
"But..." Song Wan wanted to thank Lin Shuguang for his guidance over the past few days. She really had benefited greatly.
Lin Shuguang waved his hand. "No buts. That Qi and Blood Pill from before was already worth tens of thousands. That was enough."
Song Wan fell silent for a while, then put the Blood Rice away. "Then how about I give you another Qi and Blood Pill?"
Without giving him a chance to object, she pressed her last remaining Qi and Blood Pill into Lin Shuguang's hand. As though afraid he would refuse, she hurried back into the car as soon as she handed it over.
Lin Shuguang was taken aback.
Holding the Qi and Blood Pill, he could not help chuckling softly.
"Interesting..."
Inside the car.
Song Wan's father had seen this. He did not scold his daughter for offering something as precious as Blood Rice, merely asking with a warm smile, "Was that your classmate?"
"You mean Lin Shuguang? Yes. I feel... he's really impressive." Song Wan did not think much of it at all. The moment Lin Shuguang came up, she seemed to have plenty of praise she wanted to voice.
Her father's expression did not change.
At one point as the car turned, his unruffled gaze swept over Lin Shuguang.
Once they returned to their residence, Song Wan called out, "I'm going to train," then hurriedly put her schoolbag back in her room.
Her father watched his daughter bustle about with a warm smile.
Once she had actually gone to the back courtyard to train, he stood before the floor-to-ceiling window and made a call. "Look into Lin Shuguang."
After hanging up, he folded his arms and watched his daughter practicing in the back courtyard.
Lost in thought, his gaze grew dark.
"I hope there's still time... If he dares deceive my daughter, hmph!"
Elsewhere.
Lin Shuguang headed to the Storm Martial Arts School alone.
When he reached that little street, he looked curiously at a red figure not far away.
He was not imagining it!
She was coming toward him!
Lin Shuguang narrowed his eyes, his steps slowing more and more. Beneath his seemingly ordinary bearing lurked a ferocity ready to erupt.
The bleak evening wind swept up a few dead leaves from the street.
Passersby pulled their clothes tightly around themselves against the cold wind and hurried away.
Children laughed and played as they ran through the street in twos and threes...
On this bustling street filled with people coming and going, all that clamor seemed to have ceased to concern Lin Shuguang.
He and the Red-Clothed Woman simply stared at each other in silence from a distance.
The atmosphere grew increasingly tense!
The evening wind grew increasingly biting!
Every time a pedestrian blocked their line of sight, the distance between the Red-Clothed Woman and Lin Shuguang shrank dramatically.
Not a single person around them noticed this.
Twenty meters!
Ten meters!
Five meters!
Two meters!
The Red-Clothed Woman suddenly moved.
But a hand abruptly pressed down with overwhelming force, landing on the Red-Clothed Woman's shoulder like a massive mountain and directly suppressing all her attacks.
The Red-Clothed Woman's expression turned icy.
She raised her head. Song Shi looked calmly at her with those cold, murderous eyes and spat out one word: "Scram!"
The Red-Clothed Woman's face turned livid. She was about to strike, but suddenly felt Song Shi's astonishing aura and the piercing pain in her shoulder. Her expression changed drastically, and she shot backward and vanished.
Everything had happened too quickly.
Lin Shuguang had not even recovered his senses.
He had just been preparing for a fight to the death, yet Song Shi had arrived, and his opponent had fled on the spot.
He looked at Song Shi in astonishment. "Teacher?"
Song Shi withdrew his hand, turned around with both hands behind his back, and looked at Lin Shuguang. His familiar warm, guileless expression returned. "Shuguang, why are you so late today?"
He sounded almost reproachful, yet made no mention of anything that had just happened.
Lin Shuguang froze for a moment and answered instinctively, "I got held up on the way."
Song Shi waved his large hand. "Come on, let's head back together."
Throughout the journey, Lin Shuguang's heart churned.
PS [Thanks to reader 0734 for the tip of five hundred Qidian Coins. The battle is coming soon. Please vote~~]
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