Suspicion No One Could Tolerate

The next morning, at dawn.

Perhaps because it had been so long since he had returned and everything felt fresh, Qin Yue, who had stayed in the dormitory overnight, slept especially soundly. He only slowly woke when someone knocked on his door with a "thump, thump."

He got up, climbed out of bed, and opened the door. Ning Tian and Wu Feng, both fully dressed and dolled up beautifully, immediately came into view.

Wu Feng let out a surprised "Eh?" and sized him up and down with a look of disgust. "Didn't I remind you yesterday that today was the last day of classes? The two of us girls are already all dressed up, yet you still haven't even gotten out of bed."

Qin Yue found it a little strange as well. After parting with Ning Tian and Wu Feng yesterday, he had not stayed up late. He had only chatted briefly with Qiu'er through their mental link, and he had not cultivated either. After washing up, he had gone straight to bed.

He had not expected to wake up so late today. That really was unusual.

Qin Yue stretched, and arcs of lightning surged over his body. With a series of crackles, he cleaned himself up in just a few moments, looking thoroughly refreshed.

Ning Tian and Wu Feng clicked their tongues in amazement at Qin Yue's novel "washing up." They were all Soul Masters, so naturally, they could tell that Qin Yue had perfect control over his Soul Power.

To say nothing of others, Wu Feng herself was not confident that she could use Soul Power to clean herself without damaging her clothes. Once again, she vividly felt the gap between herself and Qin Yue.

After casually grabbing a few bites of breakfast in the cafeteria, Qin Yue parted ways with Ning Tian at the stairway and arrived early at the classroom with Wu Feng. Only a handful of people were there, but Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, whom they had run into by Sea God Lake yesterday, were among them.

After nodding to each other in greeting, Qin Yue sat in the seat he had only used a few times and passed the time chatting idly with Wu Feng. All in all, it was quite relaxing.

After a while, the classroom gradually filled up. Just as everyone's chatter began to grow noisy and disordered, Class One's homeroom teacher, Mu Jin, and assistant homeroom teacher Wang Yan appeared at the door together.

Before the two teachers could say anything, the entire classroom instantly fell silent. Over the past year, everyone besides Qin Yue had come to deeply understand that although Teacher Mu Jin was gentle, once she got angry, no one could escape. As for Teacher Wang Yan, aside from his special treatment of Huo Yuhao, he was practically the number one emotionless enforcer.

Mu Jin walked onto the podium, while Wang Yan casually found an empty chair at the back of the classroom and sat down.

"Students..."

Realizing that Mu Jin seemed about to launch into a lengthy speech, Qin Yue closed his eyes. Rather than paying attention to those irrelevant words, he might as well cultivate his Soul Power for a while longer.

Wu Feng noticed Qin Yue's actions and grinned, only to reveal a look of envy moments later. She wanted to imitate Qin Yue and escape the lecture, but she feared that Mu Jin would find some excuse afterward to drag her off for training.

Dai Huabin, who had been secretly watching Qin Yue, snorted coldly and followed suit with a convincing imitation.

Ever since Qin Yue had intimidated him by revealing his cultivation last time, Dai Huabin had completely given up on comparing himself to such a monster. He now focused mainly on observing and guarding against the other Soul Elders in the class, lest someone overtake him and leave him without even second place.

No one knew how long had passed before the deeply focused Qin Yue was gently nudged awake by Wu Feng. After getting up, he instinctively headed for the door.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Mu Jin's helpless voice rang out behind him. "Qin Yue, stay behind for a moment. Teacher has something to tell you."

The two stopped. Wu Feng shot Mu Jin a suspicious glance and lowered her voice. "Then Ning Tian and I will wait for you outside the Teaching Building."

Qin Yue nodded slightly, sat back down, and watched Wu Feng disappear through the doorway.

After a while, once the other students and Teacher Wang Yan had all left, Mu Jin finally called Qin Yue to the front of the podium.

"You brat, you were cultivating the entire time just now. You didn't listen to a single word Teacher said, did you?" Mu Jin rolled her eyes at Qin Yue and continued irritably, "I know your cultivation is high, and the Grade Advancement Assessment isn't meant to test you at all. I only kept you behind because someone asked me to. A gorgeous beauty, too~"

Qin Yue raised an eyebrow and looked calmly at Mu Jin.

"Tsk~ It would be one thing if you were only talented, but you had to be handsome too. Who knows how many young ladies will be utterly smitten with you in the future."

Mu Jin curled her lips. Seeing Qin Yue make as if to leave, she immediately spoke up.

"It's Ling Luochen! That girl came to the Outer Court looking for you several times, but she never managed to run into you. Yesterday, she asked me to pass along a message. She wants to invite you to visit her hometown."

"I have no idea what you did, but you quietly won over the Snow Princess of the Inner Court. If Ling Luochen hadn't revealed it herself, I wouldn't have heard even a whisper."

Qin Yue understood. The seed he had planted earlier had finally borne fruit.

Qin Yan and Qin Shu had already returned to Forest Spirit City some days ago. They were going to show off their strength alongside the Soul Saint who had long been stationed within the family, crushing the improper schemes harbored by the other minor forces in Forest Spirit City.

Qin Yue cultivated every day at his Residence in Shrek City and rarely came to the academy. With Qin Yan and Qin Shu suddenly gone as well, Ling Luochen naturally had no way to contact him. Given her personality, it was difficult for her to casually pull aside First Grade students to ask about him, so she had no choice but to seek out Mu Jin.

From Ling Luochen taking the initiative to invite him, it was clear that the aloof beauty had likely already made up her mind. She had even begun to act on it.

Unfortunately, Qin Yue had long since made plans for this month-long break. He had even turned down Ning Tian and Wu Feng's invitation for it. No matter how beautiful, proactive, or impatient Ling Luochen was, she would have to wait.

All that could be said was that while Ling Luochen's character design was beautiful, she lacked the more important beauty of stats and mechanics. Nor was she beautiful enough for Qin Yue to bring her along to the Far North.

Besides, they had spent too little time together. They had only stayed together for a while in Star Dou Forest, and Qin Yue did not yet trust her enough to reveal certain secrets. Nor did he have a special method, like the one he had with Qiu'er, to deepen their trust in a short time. He could only take his time refining things later when he had the chance.

Half a minute passed without Qin Yue responding. Mu Jin, who had caught a few clues from his expression, froze and said incredulously, "You're... rejecting her? That's Ling Luochen, the Princess of Snow!"

She looked Qin Yue's tall, sturdy figure up and down, her gaze passing over the area beneath his nose several times. At last, she seemed to think of something. Her face flushed slightly before turning into concern and pity. She grabbed Qin Yue and started pulling him outside.

"Are you sick somewhere? Or is the pressure too much—do you have some troubles weighing on your heart? I'll take you to Elder Zhuang right now. You're still young, so you absolutely mustn't avoid seeking treatment. If a minor illness drags on and becomes serious, that'll be troublesome..."