When Ye Lingling walked in with an unfamiliar little boy, a girl with short, deep-purple hair and green eyes came down from the stands and headed over to her.
The two people who had been fighting stopped and looked toward Ye Lingling and Ye Qingzhou, who had paused by the doorway. Their gazes fell on the little boy beside Ye Lingling.
Ye Lingling nodded to the girl. "Mm, Yanzi, this is my younger brother, Ye Qingzhou."
Dugu Yan came over to Ye Lingling and Ye Qingzhou. "Not bad. He's pretty cute."
"He must have just awakened his Martial Soul, right?"
"Mm." Ye Lingling answered briefly. "He'll enroll at Heaven Dou Royal Academy later on. He might even become one of us."
At that, the others came over to Dugu Yan.
Looking at the familiar faces before him, Ye Qingzhou recognized them at a glance.
The Jade Phosphor Serpent, Dugu Yan; the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, Yu Tianheng; the Black Tortoise twins, Shi Mo and Shi Mo; the Wind Chime Bird, Yu Feng; and the Ghost Leopard, Osler.
They were the future Imperial Fighting Team. Yet at just thirteen, they had already gathered together this early.
That was certainly beyond Ye Qingzhou's expectations.
Yu Tianheng held out his hand and smiled at Ye Qingzhou. "Hello, Ye Qingzhou. I'm Yu Tianheng. I look forward to learning from you."
Since Ye Qingzhou was Ye Lingling's younger brother, he was also the grandson of that healing-type Titled Douluo.
He absolutely had to build a good relationship with him.
Ye Qingzhou shook Yu Tianheng's hand. "Mm, I look forward to learning from you too."
Over the next little while, Ye Qingzhou got to know Dugu Yan and the others.
Suddenly, a sharp voice rang out beside them.
"What are you all doing here?"
At the reprimand, Yu Tianheng, Dugu Yan, and the others immediately stood at attention. The person who had arrived was none other than their instructor, Qin Ming, who had broken through to Soul King before turning thirty!
There were still seven years until the story began. Qin Ming had only just graduated from Shrek and was now a young teacher.
Because of his outstanding strength and talent, the three members of Heaven Dou Royal Academy's education committee thought highly of him.
They had even entrusted him with training the seven most talented students at the academy.
Yu Tianheng and the others quickly lined up, leaving Ye Qingzhou standing off to the side, bewildered.
"Teacher!"
Standing in the doorway, Qin Ming observed how Yu Tianheng and the others responded.
Not bad. Their strength had improved again.
Hmm?
Just then, Qin Ming noticed something unusual. Besides Yu Tianheng and the others, there was a child in the training ground who had only recently awakened his Martial Soul.
He looked at Ye Qingzhou and asked curiously, "Little friend, are you lost?"
Ye Qingzhou couldn't help but gripe inwardly at the question.
Who would get lost all the way to Heaven Dou Royal Academy, then somehow make it straight into a training ground inside the teaching building, in full view of everyone?
Ye Qingzhou shook his head. "No. I came with my older sister."
Older sister?
After a moment's thought, Qin Ming figured out whose younger brother this unfamiliar little fellow was.
Ye Lingling stepped out of the line and introduced him. "Teacher Qin, he's my younger brother, Ye Qingzhou. He just awakened his Martial Soul, so I brought him to meet my friends."
"After all, he'll be joining Heaven Dou Royal Academy someday too. With his talent, he'll definitely become one of us."
When he heard that Ye Qingzhou was the grandson of the Medical Saint Douluo, Qin Ming's eyes lit up. "So you're the Medical Saint Douluo's grandson. In that case, I'll let you stay here for now."
A Titled Douluo's grandson would become outstanding among his peers, as long as nothing went wrong when he awakened his Martial Soul and it didn't mutate into something terrible.
So Ye Lingling must have been extremely confident in his talent when she said that.
If he could recommend him to his alma mater...
Wouldn't his alma mater have a powerhouse on the level of a Titled Douluo as its backer?
Qin Ming quickly put that thought out of his mind.
With his current strength, he didn't dare try anything like that.
After all, Ye Shuyuan had already turned down many powerful factions. And as for his alma mater's standing now...
Qin Ming clapped his hands and looked at Yu Tianheng and the others. "All right, break time is over. Training starts now."
"First, run ten laps around the entire training ground."
"Yes, Teacher." Yu Tianheng and the others lined up and started running laps around the training ground as Qin Ming had instructed.
Watching them, Ye Qingzhou could only sweat nervously.
As expected of a genius who graduated from Shrek.
So running laps really was part of Shrek's traditional training program.
Whether in its early days, at the end of Douluo I, or ten thousand years later in Peerless Tang Sect, running laps was always part of the deal.
Qin Ming looked at Ye Qingzhou, who was still standing in place. "Ye Qingzhou, watch how they train for now and get used to it in advance."
Ye Qingzhou nodded but said nothing.
Qin Ming didn't press him. He assumed the little boy was wary around strangers.
At dusk.
By the time dinner was approaching, Ye Lingling and the others had finally finished training.
Dugu Yan, sitting beside Ye Lingling and gasping for breath, asked, "Lingling, are you not going back to the dormitory today?"
Ye Lingling answered in her cool voice, "Mm. I probably won't be going back to the dormitory for the next few days."
At that, Dugu Yan immediately grew upset. She wrapped her arms around Ye Lingling and wailed.
"My dear best friend, do you know how I've been getting through the nights while you've been gone these past few days?"
"Do you know how scared I've been?"
Ye Lingling comforted Dugu Yan as she cried in her arms. "All right, Yanzi. I'll sleep in the dormitory again after a while."
Seeing Dugu Yan like this, Yu Feng couldn't help mocking her. "Tch, Sister Yanzi acting scared? That's pretty funny."
"Yu Feng!" Interrupted by him, Dugu Yan angrily lunged at Yu Feng.
Seeing Dugu Yan pounce at him, Yu Feng's eyes widened. "Oh, crap! Captain, save me!"
Yu Tianheng shook his head helplessly. "You're on your own."
Ye Qingzhou couldn't join in with their antics at all.
From what he had seen so far, his first impression of Qin Ming was pretty good.
At least, whenever Shrek wasn't involved, Qin Ming seemed perfectly normal.
Ye Qingzhou and Ye Lingling left the training room and returned to the Ye Family Clinic.
When they arrived, they saw a middle-aged man who looked about seventy percent like Ye Qingzhou, wearing silver-white armor.
The armor bore an engraved angel emblem.
Their grandfather seemed to be discussing something with the middle-aged man.
Seeing this, Ye Qingzhou furrowed his brow, feeling deeply uncomfortable.
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