Come to My House

"I hope we can all be assigned to the same class. Good luck, everyone."

Chen Ming looked at his three roommates and spoke. The three roommates nodded in agreement, and after wishing each other well, they headed off to their respective competition rings.

His opponent was a level 11 spirit master with a Qingniao spirit. As the match began, a fishing rod appeared in Chen Ming's hand, and he immediately whipped it out, knocking his opponent off the ring to secure victory.

There were six hundred spirit masters participating in total. Originally, there had been one thousand students, but four hundred of them were either support-type or had not yet reached the first ring.

Among them, those who had not reached the first ring would be relegated to the regular classes if they failed to break through after the winter break. The testing for the support-type students would be conducted separately, and they would be assigned to support-type classes accordingly.

The remaining six hundred students were all first-ring spirit masters of combat types, such as power-attack, defense, agility-attack, and control.

The first round of duels would send half of the participants to the lower-ranked classes, while the top one hundred would advance to Class One.

Of course, the school administration had certainly rigged things behind the scenes; it was impossible for the top-ranked student, Chen Ming, to be matched against the second-ranked Lan Mengqin or the third-ranked student right out of the gate.

Therefore, the first few matches went very smoothly. Along the way, Chen Ming was invincible with his fishing rod, easily taking down a crowd of opponents in seconds.

Of course, he still had a personal agenda; he took the opportunity to beat up those specific Class One students who had come to pick a fight with him earlier, which could be called settling a personal score under the guise of a public match.

After finishing the morning matches, the group met up in the cafeteria, where Dong Qianqiu voiced a question.

"By the way... how come we haven't seen Di Qiu'er at the competition grounds?"

For the past few days, both Lan Mengqin and Dong Qianqiu had been watching Chen Ming's matches, but they hadn't seen Di Qiu'er once.

"Her? She's been busy lately. Besides, she isn't a student at Tiantou Technology Academy."

"She's not from our academy?!"

Hearing this, question marks appeared over their heads. It was clear they hadn't expected that Di Qiu'er wasn't actually a student there.

"Yeah, she just came here to hang out."

Chen Ming nodded slightly, confirming the fact, and with that, everyone finally knew that Di Qiu'er was not a student of Tiantou Technology Academy.

"Right, where are you all planning to go for the winter break?"

Lan Mengqin asked everyone about their plans for the break, and Chen Ming replied without hesitation:

"Cultivate, read books, practice swordsmanship, and practice marksmanship."

"You cultivation maniac, stop grinding so hard! You're going to grind me to death!"

Hearing this, Lan Mengqin instantly broke down. Seriously? You're already ranked first in the grade and you're still grinding? Are you not going to leave me any way to survive?

"Grind? How is this grinding? At your age, how can you even sleep at night? Don't you have any ambition?"

Chen Ming crossed his arms and reprimanded Lan Mengqin for her laziness. Even his own lazy golden Auspicious Beast had started working hard, so why was she so embarrassed to put in the effort?

"Stop scolding me, stop it... I was wrong..."

Lan Mengqin clutched her head, wanting to cry but having no tears. She wasn't afraid of lacking talent; she was afraid of someone with talent working harder than her.

Huo Tian, Lei Yuan, and Feng Rulang were all returning to their families afterward, and they all had their own cultivation plans.

Lan Mengqin was also returning to her family to cultivate, while Dong Qianqiu chose to stay on campus, planning to spend the winter break at the school.

"Qianqiu, since you aren't leaving campus, why don't you come with me?"

Chen Ming listened to everyone's arrangements and then invited Dong Qianqiu to come with him. The moment those words fell, the atmosphere around them turned strange.

The three roommates were all amazed that Chen Ming was truly a legend, actually inviting a female classmate home so openly. He was truly a role model for them all.

The three looked at Chen Ming with eyes full of awe. Brother Chen was indeed Brother Chen, being so bold as to invite a female classmate home directly. They just hoped Brother Chen wouldn't turn into "Brother Cheng."

Hearing the invitation to go home, Lan Mengqin immediately hugged Dong Qianqiu's arm in vigilance and began to re-examine Chen Ming, questioning him:

"What are you trying to do? What is your intention in inviting my Qianqiu to your house? Tell the truth!"

"...Can you tell me the reason?"

Dong Qianqiu thought for a moment. After spending so many days together, she knew Chen Ming wasn't that kind of person, so she chose to ask for his reasoning.

"Why is everyone looking at me like that? I mean, let Qianqiu come home with me; it's just me and Qiu'er at home right now."

"I was thinking, Qianqiu, since you're staying on campus alone, you might as well come to my place and cultivate with Qiu'er."

Listening to Chen Ming's explanation, Lan Mengqin looked at him suspiciously, while Dong Qianqiu pondered for a moment and said:

"Would that be too much of a bother for you?"

"Not at all. Your appetite isn't even a tenth of Qiu'er's, you're not as rowdy as Qiu'er, and you're better behaved and quieter. It's not a bother at all."

Listening to Chen Ming's description, Lan Mengqin wanted to say something but stopped. Was Di Qiu'er really that bad in his eyes?

"Give me some time to think about it."

Dong Qianqiu needed a moment to think, and Chen Ming nodded slightly to show his understanding.

"By the way... do you really have no ulterior motives toward my Qianqiu?"

"Sister Mengqin..."

Lan Mengqin was still a bit uneasy, her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized him. Dong Qianqiu immediately grabbed her, giving her a pleading look, hoping she wouldn't let anything shocking slip out.

"What kind of motives?"

Chen Ming calmly took a sip of water, a question mark appearing in his mind, just as he saw her dramatically spread her hands to gesture toward Dong Qianqiu:

"My Qianqiu is such a great beauty! She's so pretty, cute, quiet, and refined, with talent second only to mine, and she works so hard too. Don't you have any thoughts at all?"

Lan Mengqin stood up and slammed her hands onto the table, staring fixedly at Chen Ming, trying to discern some sort of clue in his eyes.

Dong Qianqiu's face flushed a deep crimson from embarrassment. She covered her face with one hand while tugging at the corner of Lan Mengqin's shirt with the other, pleading:

"Sister Mengqin, please, stop talking..."

Hearing this, Chen Ming crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes were devoid of any worldly desires, and his voice rang out with a resonant, metallic firmness.

"My mission remains unfulfilled; how could I concern myself with matters of romance?"

"What mission?"

A flicker of curiosity crossed Lan Mengqin's eyes upon hearing this. Other boys always looked at her and Dong Qianqiu with that strange, lecherous gaze, which she thoroughly disliked.

Yet, the way Chen Ming looked at the two of them never changed in the slightest, which was exactly why they were willing to hang out with him.

She firmly believed that all men were heartless pigs and fickle playboys, but she still wanted to see how Chen Ming would respond.

"To raise my younger sister into a powerhouse capable of standing on her own. Romance would only become a burden. This path is destined to be lonely; the road to becoming a powerhouse requires one to discard many things. I will not let any trivial love or affection become an obstacle."

Chen Ming's expression was earnest. Since he had made up his mind to cultivate the Auspicious Beast Di Qiu'er into a true monarch, he would see it through to the end.

As it happened, Dong Qianqiu was also a soul beast, and she carried the power of luck to a greater or lesser degree—she was, after all, the daughter of luck from the fourth installment.

If she didn't possess grand fortune, how could she be a female lead? It would be perfect to recruit her as a subordinate for Di Qiu'er.

Watching Chen Ming, whose eyes were filled entirely with his ambition and not a shred of romantic interest, the others were momentarily stunned.

ps: The first update for February 27th, totaling two thousand words.