A wooden stick dropped from a boy's hand with a snap, and his mouth hung open wide enough to stuff an egg inside.
Another girl covered her mouth, her eyes rounded in shock.
A few others looked at one another, each trying to confirm if they were experiencing auditory hallucinations.
Unfamiliar.
Far too unfamiliar.
They had never seen Huowu look like this.
Ye Xiao stood there, pelted by dozens of gazes all at once while being sliced to pieces by Huo Wudi's knife-like glare, and he sighed inwardly.
"My eyes aren't playing tricks on me, are they? Sister Huowu is actually acting spoiled?!"
"Who's that guy? He's actually pretty handsome."
"Standing next to Senior Sister Huowu, they're a pretty good match."
"A match they might be, but don't you think Senior Sister Huowu has changed? That tone, that expression... it's like she's a completely different person!"
"I've known her for three years, and this is the first time I've ever seen her like this."
"Damn it, I'm so jealous I could die."
Whispers rose and fell beside the training ground.
The students who had originally been training had no heart for it now, craning their necks one by one as they wished they could pluck their own eyeballs out and stick them onto Ye Xiao.
Huo Wudi's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
He took a deep breath, snapped his head around, and let out a furious roar, "All of you, back to training! What are you all yapping about?!"
His voice exploded like a thunderclap, shaking the training ground floor three times over.
All the students instantly fell silent, turning their heads in unison to grab their weapons and unleash a frantic barrage of attacks against the wooden posts, the empty air, and the sandbags.