Shrek Hotel, inside a luxurious suite.
The curtains were drawn tight. The only light in the room came from the faint glow of circulating Soul Power.
Zhu Lu stood beside the bed, her fingers trembling slightly as she unbuttoned her uniform.
She usually wore a sharp, practical outfit, but now she had changed into a deep-purple silk nightgown. Its neckline hung low, exposing her delicate, pale collarbones.
"Huabin, this all feels like a dream."
Zhu Lu turned around, and her nightgown slipped gently from her shoulders.
Beneath the silk, which only half concealed her, she wore black lace underwear.
The lithe, taut lines unique to an agility-type Soul Master were striking. Her toned stomach rose and fell slightly with her breathing, not an ounce of excess flesh on it.
Her long, shapely legs gleamed with an ivory sheen in the dim light.
Dai Huabin sat down behind her and wrapped his arms around her slender waist.
Zhu Lu tensed for a moment, then leaned back against his chest, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz:
"These past few days, I've felt what you feel for me. If you want this, I don't want to wait any longer, either."
"I treated you poorly before."
Dai Huabin felt the warmth of her in his arms and rested his chin on her shoulder.
"But I'll never let you down again."
Zhu Lu turned around and took the initiative, hooking her arms around his neck. Their Martial Souls emerged from their bodies of their own accord.
The White Tiger's ferocity and the Spirit Cat's chill tangled wildly in the confined space. This fusion, which neither of them had deliberately guided, was more intense than any they had experienced before.
Their Spiritual Seas resonated, their Soul Power boiled, and every barrier between them melted away.
Dai Huabin lowered his head and kissed her.
Long afterward, when the first rays of sunlight slipped through a gap in the curtains and fell across the disheveled bed, Dai Huabin slowly opened his eyes.
The bottleneck that had once blocked him had completely vanished. Soul Power surged through his meridians like a flood bursting its banks.
Level thirty-three.
That wasn't all. His Spiritual Sea had never felt so clear. It was a transformation born of his soul and body reaching their peak in unison.
Dai Huabin could feel that the fusion between their Martial Souls had reached perfection.
It seemed that even their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Hell White Tiger, had changed.
But Dai Huabin didn't dwell on it. Zhu Lu was still asleep in his arms, her long eyelashes fluttering faintly.
Her Soul Power, however, was fluctuating. Clearly, Zhu Lu had also gained a level, reaching level twenty-six.
Dai Huabin lowered his head and kissed Zhu Lu on the forehead. Even in her sleep, the corners of her mouth curved in a satisfied smile.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
Shrek Academy lay beneath a thin veil of morning mist, the air filled with the damp freshness unique to Sea God Lake.
Beside the big tree below the Freshman Dormitory Building, Dai Huabin stood in a brand-new white uniform, his hands in his pockets as he idly nudged a pebble with his foot.
Compared to two days ago, his presence was far more restrained, but the sharp glint that occasionally flashed in his eyes made passing students avert their gaze.
"Huabin."
A light voice called out.
Zhu Lu ran out of the dormitory building.
She looked especially radiant today. Her black hair was tied in a ponytail that swished behind her, and her usually cool face was now like a red apple beaded with morning dew. Alongside her usual gentleness, her gaze held a new fondness for Dai Huabin.
"Let's go to Class Nine. Today is Teacher Mu's first lesson."
Dai Huabin took Zhu Lu's hand as naturally as could be. She lowered her head shyly, her fingers intertwining tightly with his.
Before long, Cui Yajie came out, too. Her pink hair stood out in the crowd.
She looked at the two standing shoulder to shoulder, especially Zhu Lu's unusually rosy complexion, and a sly glint flashed in her foxlike eyes.
"Well, well. Looks like your seclusion these past two days paid off?"
Cui Yajie leaned close to Zhu Lu's ear and teased her in a low voice.
"Lulu, judging by your Soul Power fluctuations... looks like you've been thoroughly spoiled, huh?"
"Yajie, don't talk nonsense!" Zhu Lu's face turned even redder, and she instinctively shrank behind Dai Huabin.
"Enough, don't tease her," Dai Huabin said, cutting Cui Yajie off.
Not long after, Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao appeared, too.
Wang Dong'er still had that cocky air about her, but when she saw Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu holding hands, she couldn't help pouting and muttering:
"First thing in the morning, and you're already being all lovey-dovey."
"Jealous? Find someone for yourself, then."
Dai Huabin teased her, ignoring her bristling reaction as he led the four beauties toward the teaching building.
Now that he'd changed classes, Class Nine would have to answer to him, Dai Huabin.
Meanwhile, in the classroom of Freshman Class 1.
Zhou Yi sat behind the lectern with a dark expression, clutching a list so tightly that her knuckles had gone pale.
"Good. Very good."
She ground out the words, her voice hoarse and harsh, like sandpaper scraping against a desk.
"Wang Dong'er. Xiao Xiao."
Zhou Yi stared at the words "class transfer" and sneered.
"Running away before classes have even begun. With that kind of character, they'll be useless in the future, no matter how talented they are!"
She crumpled the list into a ball and hurled it viciously into the trash can in the corner.
"When the Freshman Assessment comes, I'll make the students who stayed in Class One show them what a real monster looks like!"
The first floor of the Freshman Teaching Building, on the left.
This was the classroom of Freshman Class 9.
Unlike the solemn, stifling atmosphere in Class One, Class Nine was already noisy even though lessons hadn't begun.
Students gathered in little groups, chatting and getting to know each other.
When Dai Huabin and the others appeared at the door, the chattering classroom fell silent in an instant.
There was one reason: the group was simply too dazzling.
Dai Huabin walked at the front, golden-haired with sinister eyes, his noble bearing impossible to miss.
He swept his gaze around the classroom, fixing on the window seats in the last row.
"Come on. Over there."
Under everyone's watchful eyes, the five of them walked straight down the aisle.
"Who's that? He's so handsome!"
"I've never seen him before. I don't think he was in our class when we checked in yesterday."
"That girl with the pink-and-blue hair is so pretty. Oh my god, the black-haired one has such an amazing figure!"
The whispers rose and fell around them.
Dai Huabin paid no attention to the chatter and plopped down in a window seat at the back.
Zhu Lu naturally sat beside him, Cui Yajie took the seat in front of them, and Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao sat in the neighboring row.
As soon as he sat down, Dai Huabin felt two gazes from the other side of the classroom.
He turned his head.
Two girls sat toward the front, near the middle of the room.
One had a short bob, skin as pale as jade, and exquisitely delicate features. Her gentle, elegant bearing was tinged with an innate nobility.
She wore Shrek's uniform, but the priceless gemstone bracelet on her wrist gave away her identity.
Beside her sat a red-haired girl with a voluptuous figure and a bold, fiery look in her eyes. She was watching Dai Huabin warily.
Ning Tian and Wu Feng.
The young mistress of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect and her personal bodyguard.
Dai Huabin's lips curved faintly upward. He gave Ning Tian a slight nod in greeting.
Ning Tian was clearly taken aback.
She hadn't expected the golden-haired boy who had just entered to be so perceptive, or to remain so composed under her probing gaze.
"Young mistress, that guy's a bit arrogant," Wu Feng said quietly with a frown. "Look at the way he's staring. You'd think he knew you."
"He's no ordinary person."
Ning Tian withdrew her gaze and lightly tapped the desktop with her fingers.
"He's Dai Huabin, from the White Tiger Duke Mansion. I saw his name on the freshman roster. He's one of the three Soul Elders in this year's class, and the strongest of them."
"A Soul Elder?" Wu Feng's pupils contracted. "That pretty boy?"
"Don't underestimate him," Ning Tian said calmly.
"And look at the girls around him. None of them have weak auras. Especially the one with pink-and-blue hair. She feels dangerous."
Just then, the crisp sound of high heels striking the floor came from the classroom entrance.
"Click, click, click."
The students who had been whispering fell silent at once, sitting up straight in their seats.
Mu Jin walked up to the lectern in a well-tailored beige dress.
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