Got It

Zheng Li could tell what Ling Nan was thinking. He couldn't exactly tell Ling Nan that Bei Bei had activated "Huo Gua."

Back at the dorm.

Ling Nan turned his confusion into an appetite, while Zheng Li began cultivating.

The next day, Zheng Li opened his eyes just as a sliver of pale dawn appeared on the horizon.

"Ling Nan, wake up."

He didn't go wash up first. Instead, he went to Ling Nan's bed and shook him awake.

He hadn't been thinking of keeping the Soul Ascension Pill all to himself.

Ling Nan was only an eleven-year-old kid, but Zheng Li could tell that he genuinely considered him a good friend. Naturally, Zheng Li thought of Ling Nan as a friend too, even if their ages didn't quite match...

If they were being precise, he was old enough to be Ling Nan's uncle.

Actually, if Su Yunqing weren't in the girls' dorm, where it was inconvenient for him to go, he would have wanted to bring her along too.

He couldn't exactly sneak into the girls' dorm to wake her up.

"A Li...?" Ling Nan opened his eyes groggily and glanced out the window. It was still dark.

He looked a little dazed.

"Why are you waking me up so early? Is something going on?"

"Come with me to the shore of Sea God Lake."

Zheng Li didn't explain. He couldn't, either. He couldn't exactly say he could see the future and that an opportunity was waiting for them!

"Huh?! The shore of Sea God Lake?"

Ling Nan was even more confused.

What were they going to Sea God Lake for so early in the morning? Had Zheng Li lost his mind?

"What do you mean, 'huh'? Get up. I want to watch the sunrise. Is that so hard? Hurry up." Zheng Li yanked the covers off Ling Nan.

"Can I say no...?"

"No." Zheng Li's expression remained blank.

He clearly remembered that after Huo Yuhao swallowed two Mysterious Water Pills, his Soul Power had reached the peak of level thirteen. After taking the Soul Ascension Pill, he'd gone up three levels at once—or four, strictly speaking, since he'd broken through the bottleneck between levels sixteen and seventeen and reached level seventeen.

If Zheng Li took one, he wouldn't necessarily reach level nineteen, but level eighteen was a sure thing!

As for Ling Nan, Zheng Li didn't know his exact Soul Power, but he wasn't a Soul Grandmaster. The pill would certainly have a major effect on him, and he'd probably reach level twenty after taking it.

And yet he was refusing!

Ling Nan felt a headache coming on. Watch the sunrise? Wasn't that something you were supposed to do with your girlfriend? Why was Zheng Li asking him?

Could it be... Ling Nan's face filled with alarm.

Had A Li finally been unable to resist making a move on him because he was so cute?

Zheng Li's mouth twitched at Ling Nan's expression. "You little cat, are you thinking something inappropriate?"

As he spoke, Zheng Li raised his right hand. A faint golden light shimmered in his palm.

Ling Nan shuddered at the sight and hurriedly smiled. "No, no! I was just thinking about what to wear..."

"Shrek Academy usually requires students to wear their uniforms. If you're going to lie, at least come up with a good excuse. Hurry up and get dressed."

Zheng Li snorted.

"Uh..."

Ling Nan was embarrassed.

Fifteenth Chapter: Obtaining It

"Mm..."

As he walked through the woods beside the lakeside path, Ling Nan rubbed his bleary eyes. He still wasn't fully awake.

Zheng Li hadn't even given him time to wash up before dragging him out.

And Ling Nan had stayed up cultivating until the middle of the night before going to bed.

Luckily, he didn't say that out loud. Otherwise, Zheng Li would have wanted to punch him.

Cultivating was tiring? Zheng Li thought it made you feel even more energetic, like you'd taken some kind of drug.

Though Zheng Li himself didn't know what kind.

There was a light mist that morning, but it wasn't thick.

Shrek Academy was already lush with beautiful plants, and the mist made Zheng Li feel as if he were in a fairyland.

After walking a few steps through the woods, Zheng Li saw Sea God Lake, veiled in mist and blurred at the edges. It gave him the feeling of being unable to see Mount Lu's true face.

They came through the forest to the shore of Sea God Lake. It still wasn't fully light out, just as Zheng Li had expected.

He found a place to stop, occasionally admiring the clear, pristine water and looking around.

That was right—he was waiting for Huo Yuhao to show up.

But Zheng Li never once looked at the sky, so it was safe to say he wasn't watching the sunrise.

Time passed slowly.

Ling Nan felt like he'd been duped.

"Hey! A Li, didn't you say we were watching the sunrise?"

Zheng Li didn't look at Ling Nan. "I did. What about it?"

"What about it?" Ling Nan was speechless. "What do you think? You said we were watching the sunrise, but I've been waiting here forever and you haven't even looked at the sky! Is this what you call watching the sunrise?"

"Can't I suddenly decide that Sea God Lake and the scenery around it are nice to look at?"

Zheng Li glanced at Ling Nan and gave him a perfunctory reply.

"..."

Ling Nan's mouth twitched. A huge question mark seemed to hang over his face.

He looked as if he were saying, I suspect you're messing with me!

"Forget it..." Ling Nan had been about to ask something else, but gave up. "A Li, have you looked enough? If you have, let's go get breakfast!"

Ling Nan looked full of anticipation.

"Gluttonous Cat... You're hopeless." Zheng Li shook his head. "We're skipping breakfast this morning. If you're hungry, eat some of the stuff you bought last night."

"Why?" Ling Nan was confused again.

"No reason," Zheng Li said.

"...A Li, I feel like you're brushing me off." Ling Nan stared at Zheng Li, looking as if he'd die on the spot if he didn't get an explanation.

Zheng Li said, "Your feeling's right. I am brushing you off."

Ling Nan: "..."

At last, Ling Nan was so angry he couldn't speak. He took some fried Spirit Beast meat out of his Soul Guidance Ring and began wolfing it down.

He turned his frustration into an appetite.

Mm, it was delicious~

Ling Nan freed his right hand to cover his cheek, his face full of bliss.

He was incredibly cute, but Zheng Li's thoughts were elsewhere.

More time passed.

There was still some time before class, but Huo Yuhao and the others hadn't arrived yet, and Ma Xiaotao was nowhere to be seen.

Zheng Li couldn't help wondering if he'd remembered the timing wrong, or if the butterfly effect had happened again.

Just as Zheng Li began to doubt himself, two figures emerged from the small woods they had just walked through. They were Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong.

Zheng Li's eyes lit up.

He tugged Ling Nan by the arm. "Gluttonous Cat, stop eating. Friends are here."

Ling Nan swallowed the meat in his mouth, looking confused. "Friends? Is Su Yunqing here?"

In his mind, Zheng Li and Su Yunqing were his only two friends.

"No!"

Zheng Li rolled his eyes, then led Ling Nan toward Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, who had reached the lakeshore. He greeted them, "Good morning, friends from Class One. Are you here to enjoy the scenery before class too?"

They needed to get closer. Otherwise, they might not be within the protective range of Tian Meng's Finger. If that happened, he'd put not only himself but Ling Nan in danger.

Ling Nan: Enjoying the scenery? More like enjoying the cold breeze!

Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao turned at the sound of his voice. Wang Dong's smile instantly vanished, her expression turning cold and out of place.

Not that she was deliberately targeting anyone.

Zheng Li: "..."

Huo Yuhao, on the other hand, smiled and replied, "Yes. Hello."

He remembered Zheng Li. During the run, he'd been the only other student in Class Five besides Dai Huabin to make it to the end. Later, Wang Dong had heard that Zheng Li's Soul Power wasn't high, but he was only ten years old.

At breakfast, Wang Dong had even teased him about this "classmate." Huo Yuhao hadn't expected to run into him now—and for this "classmate" to strike up a conversation first.

"I'm Zheng Li, and that's Ling Nan. He's in my class." Zheng Li introduced them.

Ling Nan walked up and smiled. "Hello, I'm Ling Nan."

"Mm, I'm Huo Yuhao, and this is Wang Dong." As he spoke, Huo Yuhao nudged Wang Dong with his arm, signaling her not to be so cold.

Wang Dong's brow twitched almost imperceptibly, then relaxed. She simply nodded and said, "I'm Wang Dong."

Zheng Li didn't mind, because... they had arrived.

Huo Yuhao glanced casually at Sea God Lake. His pupils shrank slightly as he pointed at the lake in confusion. "Look, what's that? An upperclassman from the inner academy?"

Zheng Li and the others looked in the direction he pointed.

A red figure raced across the lake! Every time she touched down, she accelerated, like a red bolt of lightning. In only a few seconds, a terrifying wave of heat swept toward them!

"A Li, watch out!"

Ling Nan's pupils contracted. He had once seen an elder from his clan go mad after losing control of his cultivation and attack everyone in sight. If his grandfather hadn't arrived in time, some of the clan's disciples might have died.

The red-clad upperclassman gave off the same kind of madness.

As he spoke, a pair of white cat ears appeared on Ling Nan's head, and a black-and-gray striped tail emerged. Zheng Li was stunned when a pair of wings, patterned in black, white, and gray, appeared behind Ling Nan.

Ling Nan grabbed Zheng Li with both hands and flew into the sky. Wang Dong, beside them, also spread her blue Radiant Goddess Butterfly wings to carry Huo Yuhao away. But in the next instant, the terrifying heat engulfed them!

All four fell. Wang Dong and Ling Nan passed out instantly. Zheng Li felt the terrifying heat for a moment before his consciousness gradually blurred.

Before he lost consciousness completely, he felt an extremely cold force, along with a warmth that welled up from within.

In the Sea of Consciousness, Xiao Nai's whole body radiated dazzling golden light, bathing a vast expanse of the Sea of Consciousness in its glow! She was like a burning golden flame, and within that flame, Xiao Nai's gaze was tense and grave. It seemed that if anything went wrong, she would rush out and shield Zheng Li.

The warmth came from Xiao Nai.

"Ding! The host is in danger. Activating protective measures..."

At that moment, the usually unobtrusive system spoke up as well.

Outside, Tian Meng's Finger, released by Tian Meng through Huo Yuhao's body, collided with a thumb-thick line of fire. The clash ended when Ma Xiaotao was covered in icy blue frost and fell into Sea God Lake.

The four of them were unconscious.

Afterward, more than a dozen figures appeared. An elderly man examined Zheng Li and the others, then had the white-clad teacher with the Tree of Life Martial Soul from the day before treat them.

At that moment, Zheng Li's consciousness returned in the Sea of Consciousness. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Xiao Nai's big blue eyes.

"Xiao Nai, is everything all right?"

"No." Xiao Nai shook her head calmly. "But..."