School Opening

As a new student, he had entered Freshman Class One due to some behind-the-scenes maneuvering.

Seeing the name of his homeroom teacher on the roster, Mu Xuanheng felt his vision go dark.

There was no helping it; as a disciple of Fan Yu, being targeted by Zhou Yi was only natural.

Fortunately, Mu Xuanheng already lived at Shrek Academy, so he didn't need a dormitory and could just show up for reporting when the time came.

Entering the classroom, he had arrived early enough that there were still plenty of seats available.

He didn't want to be singled out as an example on the very first day of school.

He had originally wanted to find Fan Yu and go straight to the Soul Tool Department for a couple of days to bypass the phase where Zhou Yi established her authority, but he had failed and was forced to come here instead.

Mu Xuanheng sat in a seat by the window, where he could see most of the room: "Without Bei Bei, can Huo Yuhao even make it to Shrek? I'm actually quite curious about this Son of Luck."

"Doesn't look like there's much fun to be had here. I'll go find Bei Bei and the others for lunch once the speed run is over."

"Excuse me, classmate, is the seat next to you taken?" a female voice asked Mu Xuanheng.

Mu Xuanheng didn't even lift his head, feeling that whoever it was didn't really matter.

It wasn't as if one-third of the Tang God King's daughter was going to sit next to him.

Sometimes, the reality is harder to accept than what he had imagined.

"Thank you."

He glanced over and saw a silver-haired beauty.

He took another look and immediately stood up, feeling that his martial soul was incredibly close to the silver-haired girl.

In his memory, there was only one person in the entire world who met this condition.

A crowd of people looked at him and whispered, as if mocking his inexplicable behavior. This made him feel extremely awkward as he stood up so abruptly.

The girl spoke: "Classmate, are you not welcoming me to sit here?"

"No. I just felt a sense of familiarity from you. I'm Mu Xuanheng. Could you tell me your name?" He was somewhat reserved, both hoping she was the person he thought she was and hoping she wasn't.

"Hello, I am Gu Yuena."

He sat back down quietly. He looked perfectly calm, but inside, a storm was raging.

How could she be here? That's impossible. This is supposed to be the timeline of the Peerless Tang Sect; how could Gu Yuena have appeared?

The butterfly effect? He, a mere butterfly, shouldn't have been able to influence Gu Yuena at all.

Mu Xuanheng was very nervous: "I feel that your martial soul is very close to mine. Is yours a dragon-type martial soul?" This was his small probe.

Gu Yuena: "That's right, it's a powerful martial soul called the Seven-Colored Dragon. How about you? Yours should be a dragon-type as well, right?"

"Phantom Scale Dragon, a mutated and strengthened version of the Bright Holy Dragon. It is also a True Dragon martial soul."

Neither of them spoke a single word of truth.

And they both knew perfectly well that the other was lying.

How could she possibly misidentify the aura of Chaofeng?

How could he possibly believe that a Seven-Colored Dragon actually existed?

"I remember there is a dragon called the Rainbow Dragon; since the names are so similar to the Seven-Colored Dragon, is there any connection?" Mu Xuanheng launched another attack.

Gu Yuena: "There is no connection, or rather, the Seven-Colored Dragon is more powerful than the Rainbow Dragon. I recall that the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian, the first of the Ten Great Beast Kings, has a higher status than the Bright Holy Dragon. Between the two, which do you think has a higher status compared to the Phantom Scale Dragon?"

The enemy launched a counterattack, striking directly at Mu Xuanheng's martial soul.

"I don't know either. After all, the Phantom Scale Dragon is stronger than the Bright Holy Dragon."

Tit for tat, neither side backed down.

Mu Xuanheng's breathing quickened involuntarily, and he scanned his surroundings, realizing there was no possibility of escape.

At this moment, he began to pray for Zhou Yi to arrive quickly. He couldn't take much more of this.

Gu Yuena's aura was very strong, and she was clearly and consciously leaning toward Mu Xuanheng.

In his mind, Xue Di sounded a bit strange: "I've never heard of a Seven-Colored Dragon or a Phantom Scale Dragon. Isn't your martial soul Chaofeng?"

"So, she's lying to me too." Mu Xuanheng didn't know whether he should explain it to Xue Di. He could only offer a subtle hint.

"Go check the ancient texts; these two dragons definitely don't exist. Mine is Chaofeng, and there are only a few dragons that could be close to it. There is absolutely no such thing as a Seven-Colored Dragon that I haven't heard of."

Xue Di chuckled: "Chaofeng is truly a collection of disasters; you haven't even left the school yet, and a huge secret has already found you."

Mu Xuanheng felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, not knowing what to do.

"She shouldn't be planning to cause trouble, right?"

At this point in time, many powerful gods were present; her being able to appear was one thing, but using divine power was an entirely different matter.

Gu Yuena suddenly looked at him: "You seem very nervous. Is it because I'm sitting next to you?"

The extinguished battlefield was reignited once more.

Mu Xuanheng reacted quickly: "Because our homeroom teacher is Zhou Yi, the wife of my soul tool teacher—my teacher's wife. She's coming soon, so I'm nervous."

Gu Yuena tilted her head to look at him, as if preparing for her next attack.

How could he hand the initiative on the battlefield over to the enemy?

Better to sacrifice a piece than to lose the initiative.

Mu Xuanheng made up his mind; he had to steer the conversation away and find a topic that wouldn't cause any trouble.

Before Gu Yuena could speak, he dragged the conversation toward Soul Tools: "My Soul Tool teacher is named Fan Yu, an eighth-level Soul Master. I've benefited a lot from learning Soul Tools from him, and perhaps one day I'll surpass him to become a ninth-level Soul Master. I will definitely create even better Soul Tools."

Mu Xuanheng had already figured out how to continue; as long as he asked questions about the direction of Soul Tools, he could start a passionate monologue until Zhou Yi arrived.

"But whether it's a Soul Master or a Soul Tool Master, the essence is the application of soul power. Only with better soul rings can one have stronger soul power."

Her sharp edge was exposed as she pulled the topic toward soul rings. Once they entered the subject of soul rings, it would inevitably involve the issue of killing soul beasts.

This was not a topic they could discuss right now.

"That's true, but Soul Tools can store energy through specific devices; they don't necessarily require a Soul Master. This type of Soul Tool might not be the mainstream in the future, but it is definitely a research direction."

He pulled the topic back again. He absolutely could not let her lead him onto the track of soul rings.

The two of them pulled and tugged, neither falling into the other's trap.

Mu Xuanheng even forgot to look for Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, focusing all his attention on sparring with Gu Yuena.

It wasn't until Zhou Yi walked in and began her classic routine that Huo Yuhao also appeared in Freshman Class One.

Except for Gu Yuena and him, everyone else was in a normal state.

Mu Xuanheng finally waited for his savior, and regardless of whether Zhou Yi's teaching methods were reasonable, he just wanted to escape this area.

It was too suffocating.

Changing the environment didn't mean he could escape.

The square wasn't large, but it was definitely big enough for the two of them to separate.

Yet, whenever Mu Xuanheng accelerated, Gu Yuena would keep pace with him.

The sound of their running footsteps side-by-side made his skin crawl.

He took off his weighted Soul Tool and immediately accelerated, striving to shake off Gu Yuena.

Just when he thought he was finally going to succeed, Gu Yuena deliberately slowed down and waited for him to complete a lap.

"You're running too fast, I can't keep up. Can you slow down a bit?"

???

"Having someone I'm relatively close to makes me feel more at ease."

He really wanted to refuse firmly, but Gu Yuena grabbed him: "You'll agree to it, right?"

He consciously slowed his pace, beginning to think about what to do.

To be spoken to like this, he was definitely being targeted.

"I have one more lap left, do you want to run it with me?"

"Okay."

He desperately wanted to know why this was happening.

In the God Realm, the Tang God King watched his daughter flying with Huo Yuhao, feeling immensely satisfied. "This is as good as done."

Another couple watched the passionate tug-of-war between this pair, unable to hide their smiles.

"They'll be able to fall in love, right?"

"They've entered the arena, which means they can fall in love."