Everyone Was Just Friends!

This was already somewhat like a confession, but Chen Ye's face showed no emotion, as if he knew nothing about it.

As the Sea King, Chen Ye had plenty of experience. Whenever trouble arose in his Fish Pond, the first thing to do was sort out priorities and save the most important one.

Besides, everyone here was friends with him and Gu Yue.

Expressing his feelings for Gu Yue in front of everyone would strengthen their identification with him and Gu Yue as a couple.

At the same time, they would subconsciously assume that he and Mu Xi were just ordinary friends.

With that first impression in place, they wouldn't question Mu Xi or say anything strange.

Of course, most importantly, Wu Changkong smacked Chen Ye on the head.

"You're so young. Why are you thinking about useless things? The most important thing now is to study hard and get into Shrek Academy. Then you can think about all that other stuff!"

Wu Changkong gave Chen Ye a rare glare. Although the Douluo World was open-minded, people still had to be fifteen to date.

It was like Chen Ye's old world, where parents only approved of dating once you were eighteen.

Chen Ye rubbed his head, but couldn't hide the smile on his face. "All right, Teacher Wu. That was my fault. I absolutely won't do it again!"

"Besides, I didn't say anything. I was just telling the truth."

Chen Ye blinked, putting on an utterly innocent expression. Wu Changkong glared at him but didn't say anything more.

After getting out of the car, Mu Xi stood there looking a little lost. But when she saw Chen Ye approaching, her eyes immediately lit up.

"Xiao Chen, I'm over here!" Mu Xi waved at him. Chen Ye smiled and quickly walked over.

"Good morning, Senior Sister. These are all my classmates, and they're good friends of mine."

"This is Gu Yue. She's a student of another teacher of mine, so you could say she's my senior sister too."

Chen Ye wore a bright smile. Mu Xi froze for a moment at his words, then nodded and looked at Gu Yue warmly.

"Hello, I'm Mu Xi." Mu Xi smiled and held out her hand to Gu Yue. Gu Yue hesitated briefly, then shook it.

"Let's go. We should enter the Rising Spirit Platform first. Today, I'm going to help everyone increase their Soul Ring Age."

"Mm, okay... Let's hurry inside." Mu Xi nodded. When she saw Chen Ye head straight in, she followed without thinking.

Chen Ye walked ahead without much expression, but inwardly, he let out a long breath of relief.

When two fish in a Fish Pond suddenly met, the best solution wasn't to make one avoid the other. That would definitely arouse suspicion.

The best approach was to have the two fish get acquainted and form a basic understanding of each other.

Give them a false impression that the other had nothing to do with them.

Then separate them, reducing their chances to interact in private.

At the Spirit Pagoda, all six of them put on their helmets. After a brief explanation from the staff, they lay down in the Cultivation Pods.

As the pod doors closed, their consciousness quickly entered the Rising Spirit Platform.

Since they had entered the Rising Spirit Platform as a team, the six of them appeared together. Feeling the fresh air, their eyes all lit up.

"Wow, so this is the Rising Spirit Platform! It's my first time here. It feels so real!" Tang Wulin looked around, his face full of excitement.

The thought of raising his Ten-Year Soul Ring to a Hundred-Year Soul Ring—and having his Little Gold attach a second Soul Ring for him—filled him with excitement.

Chen Ye glanced at Tang Wulin. He understood exactly what made him tick.

Tang Wulin was the least scheming of them all. He failed to pick up on certain things, so he was the most likely to ruin Chen Ye's plans.

But when Chen Ye glanced at Xu Xiaoyan, her expression was perfectly calm.

"Let's go. I'll take everyone to hunt some Soul Beasts so you can get enough experience."

Without giving them a chance to respond, Chen Ye led the other five straight toward the Soul Beast forest.

This place was a one-to-one recreation of the Star Dou Great Forest, so it felt incredibly real.

After they'd hunted a few Hundred-Year Soul Beasts and everyone had absorbed their spiritual power and begun increasing their Soul Ring Age, Chen Ye looked at them.

"I'm going to venture deeper into the Rising Spirit Platform. It'll be dangerous there, and I can't take all of you with me."

"You've gathered enough Soul Rings to raise yours to a thousand years. Just wait here for me."

As he spoke, Chen Ye looked around at them, then turned his gaze to Gu Yue and Tang Wulin.

"Sister Gu Yue, Tang Wulin, come with me!"

"Sister Gu Yue has wind abilities, so she can help me escape. Wulin can take a beating, so he can cover our retreat!"

Chen Ye spoke bluntly and decisively. But when Tang Wulin heard that he'd be used as a decoy, he wasn't upset.

Instead, he scratched his head and grinned. "Sure thing, boss. Thanks for giving me the chance."

Going deeper would be dangerous, but it would also make it easier to hunt high-level Soul Beasts and increase their Soul Ring Age.

Tang Wulin didn't think too much about it. He assumed Chen Ye was giving him a chance to improve.

Chen Ye smiled and nodded, then looked at Mu Xi. Sure enough, Mu Xi was looking at him too.

"I'll go with you. I'm at Three Rings, so I can help you more."

"Don't, Sister Mu Xi. There are only two Three Rings among us, and I need you to protect my classmates."

Chen Ye looked at Mu Xi pitifully. "Teacher asked me to bring them here for training, but I really want to take a look deeper inside. Sorry for the trouble, Sister Mu Xi."

The boy blinked, his delicate face wearing a pitiful expression.

Mu Xi fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

"Fine, let's do that... I'll stay and watch them. You go ahead..."

Hearing Mu Xi's answer, Xie Xie and Xu Xiaoyan didn't say much.

Xie Xie was quick on the uptake—or perhaps he had the makings of a playboy himself—so he'd more or less guessed what Chen Ye was thinking.

Under normal circumstances, he would definitely have called out someone who was deceiving a girl about his feelings.

But if it was his boss, he could pretend he hadn't said anything.

Xu Xiaoyan's thoughts were already a mess, and Chen Ye had so readily left her behind.

That only made her believe that there really was nothing between them.

Gu Yue glanced at Chen Ye when she saw Xu Xiaoyan being left behind.

There was no suspicion on her face, either.

If Xu Xiaoyan had gone along, Gu Yue would probably have seen through Chen Ye's true intentions.

That might have made her resent Mu Xi, or even lowered her opinion of Chen Ye.

But by leaving Xu Xiaoyan behind, he'd managed to fool both of them.

And the more open he acted, the less anyone would suspect that he had something going on with either girl.

After all, everyone was just friends. Before coming of age, Chen Ye absolutely wasn't going to date anyone!