On their final lap, Mu Xuanheng's mind was in a daze.
What was he doing? What had he done?
The person beside him was Gu Yuena, of all people. How had he actually ended up running alongside her?
Snow Empress, in his mind, felt strangely as if someone had taken something that belonged to her.
"Who is this person?" She felt a sense of familiarity, yet he was a stranger.
After they finished exercising, the two of them panted heavily.
"Thank you, Mu Xuanheng."
"No need to thank me."
The fact that only the two of them had finished running meant there was no one else around watching.
Mu Xuanheng was a little confused. Unlike Tang Wulin, he knew exactly who this person was.
In the Spiritual Sea, he faced Snow Empress and asked a Soul Beast a question. "If you don't like someone, and that person doesn't like you either, but you have a relationship that could be useful to each other, can you still be together? What would the outcome be?"
Snow Empress: ???
The one with the strongest reaction wasn't Snow Empress, but Electrolux. "You'll die. You'll die horribly. If one of you develops genuine feelings, but one day you have to face each other in battle, who could bear that?"
He was clearly just a wisp of a remnant soul, yet he strongly objected to this sort of thing.
"You can't act against your heart. Child, what will you do?" Electrolux was curious about his choice.
"Now that she's come to my side, how could I just let her go?" He glanced at Gu Yuena beside him. "Whatever happens, I'll try to guide her."
Electrolux said, "If you're going to guide her, you need to stay calm yourself. That means you can't fall for her."
"So I have to make her fall in love with me, but I can't fall in love with her."
Gu Yuena looked up at Mu Xuanheng. Their eyes met by chance, and they immediately looked away.
"You mean I have to make him fall in love with me, but I can't fall in love with him?" The not-yet-transformed Silver Dragon King was talking with a god.
"He has a way to help Soul Beasts ease their conflicts. Only if you make him fall in love with you will he sincerely help you."
The Silver Dragon King regarded him coldly. "Why should I believe you?"
"Because you have no choice but to believe me. I'll help you transform into a human, and then you'll be able to recover your strength as quickly as possible in human society. After all, even I can't simply recover the power of a God King at will. If you can fulfill this wager, I can give you the chance to go to the Divine Realm and kill the Golden Dragon King."
With the help she'd received, the Silver Dragon King took the form of Gu Yuena and came to find Mu Xuanheng.
She was certain she would never fall for him, and Mu Xuanheng had the same inexplicable confidence.
After hearing Mu Xuanheng's plan, Snow Empress said, "Humans are truly despicable. I thought you were different. Turns out you're just the same."
Mu Xuanheng's head was about to burst. Neither of the two spirits at his back seemed very satisfied with how he was handling things.
"Really, you have to believe me. I have my reasons for doing this."
Electrolux said, "You've jumped into a swamp and are sinking deeper and deeper."
Gu Yuena looked at him. "The laps are almost over. Do you have any ideas?"
Mu Xuanheng came out of the Spiritual Sea. "I do have an idea."
He pointed to a student. "Didn't he just run a couple fewer laps?"
"Before the teacher came down, he ran two laps short and pretended he'd finished. He's probably forgotten how many laps he ran by now." She looked at Mu Xuanheng with a hint of amusement. "Are you planning to remind him?"
The corners of Mu Xuanheng's mouth lifted slightly. "Zhou Yi is my teacher's wife. I know what the consequences will be. There's nothing wrong with giving him a reminder, is there? Do you think I shouldn't?"
"Then how are you planning to remind him?"
"I'll just say it outright."
Mu Xuanheng shouted, "Hey, student! You've been found out. Hurry up and get moving, or you're done for!"
The few students who had stopped all looked at Mu Xuanheng. He was the one who had inexplicably stood up in class just now.
"Hey, why are you still looking? I'm talking about you. You ran two laps short. If you don't make them up, the teacher will punish you later."
The student he'd called out looked disdainful, as if mocking Mu Xuanheng for sticking his nose where it didn't belong..
As the saying went, good advice couldn't save someone determined to die. He'd done his best to warn him.
Gu Yuena stood beside him. "What are you going to do later? Watch him get punished?"
She was curious about Mu Xuanheng's choice.
"If it's a minor punishment, I'll leave it. If it's too severe, I'll give it a try." Mu Xuanheng didn't support Zhou Yi's teaching philosophy, and he didn't like those students either.
But if you didn't have the strength to challenge the rules, you should follow them for now.
Otherwise, if you weren't punished, wouldn't that be unfair to the students who'd diligently run their laps?
With Wang Dong leading the way, Huo Yuhao also finished the training at the last moment.
More than a hundred people gathered in the square. Zhou Yi was no different from how she'd been in the original story. She announced the names of nine students who were being expelled.
"You're all trying to cheat the system. Every one of you ran a few laps short, and you really thought I didn't see? Mu Xuanheng even warned you just now. Did you think he was stupid?" In a way, Zhou Yi was backing him up.
Gu Yuena lightly poked him twice. "Weren't you going to give it a try?"
She was curious whether Mu Xuanheng would step in to save these students under these circumstances.
Mu Xuanheng raised his hand. "Teacher, isn't this punishment too severe? The purpose of punishment is to teach them a lesson, and education means giving them another chance. Your punishment will only cut off their chance to grow."
Zhou Yi was quite pleased that someone was willing to challenge her. "You have a problem with that?"
"I recommend letting them do communal work for the class in exchange for a chance to stay." Put plainly, they'd be in charge of cleaning the classroom from then on, and they'd have to handle any other chores first.
"I said you can stay if you beat me."
The cultivation of a Six-Ring Soul Emperor burst forth, pressing down on everyone.
The others were, at most, two-ring Soul Masters. Who could stand up to a Six-Ring Soul Emperor?
Only Gu Yuena stood by his side. She also felt that some of the punishments were too harsh.
And in her eyes, this was exactly what Soul Beasts had gone through.
"Oh, you brought someone along too. Do you two think you can beat me?"
"Can we gang up on you? All of us against you?" Mu Xuanheng decided to recruit a few cannon fodder.
The young men were full of spirit, and there were always people willing to join them.
At least those students who'd been expelled went for it, only to be tossed aside.
The others were too intimidated by Zhou Yi to even raise their heads. "That leaves just you two."
Huo Yuhao actually stood up first. "No, there's me too." He dodged Zhou Yi's first attack, then was embedded in the ground.
Mu Xuanheng said apologetically, "Sorry, Gu Yuena. I dragged you into the swamp with me."
"I've lived in the swamp all along. I don't need you to drag me in."
Mu Xuanheng said, "Teacher Zhou Yi, neither of us will hold back."
Zhou Yi suddenly opened her hand. In it was a disc. "Mu Xuanheng, your teacher gave me a Level 7 Soul Tool yesterday. Do you have the confidence to break through this Level 7 Soul Tool?" The little disc carried a huge threat.
Mu Xuanheng immediately surrendered. He had to be kidding. How could a three-ring Soul Master take on a Level 7 Soul Tool?
"You few, clean up Shrek Square before you go eat. Everyone else, get upstairs and study in fifteen minutes."
The students who'd been threatened with expulsion beamed with joy. Mu Xuanheng had actually saved them.
"Mu Xuanheng, Gu Yuena, thank you. Don't worry, we'll clean up your share too."
Mu Xuanheng took a cleaning Soul Tool out of his Space Soul Tool. "No need. I have a little gadget."
He'd developed it himself as part of the Lazybones Series, and thought it worked very well.
But Zhou Yi jumped down and confiscated it, tossing it aside. "Go find your teacher. Don't interfere with my class."
Before you continue