Running Chatter, a Girl's Thoughts!

"Yes, Teacher."

Gu Yue ran lightly toward the track.

The noon sun baked the rubber track until it gave off a scorched smell.

"Pant... pant..."

Xie Xie felt as though someone had stuffed a handful of burning sand into his lungs. Every breath carried a bloody taste.

The deadweight iron-sand vest on his body slammed against his chest with every step, sending waves of dull pain through him.

Tang Wulin beside him was not doing much better, but the boy's back remained perfectly straight, and he could even maintain an even breathing rhythm.

"Freak..." Xie Xie cursed inwardly, yet stubbornly refused to fall behind.

A light figure silently slipped onto the track. Rather than taking the lead, she followed behind them at an unhurried pace, half a body length back.

Xie Xie turned his head. Sweat ran down his brow and into his eyes, stinging painfully.

Squinting through the sweat, he saw that it was Gu Yue, the elemental artillery platform he had noticed earlier.

She was not wearing an iron-sand vest. Her steps were light as she ran, and her neat short hair bounced faintly with her movements.

No one spoke. Only heavy footsteps and ragged breathing intertwined.

One lap, then two.

"You two have pretty good stamina."

A clear voice came from behind them, breaking the silence that had contained nothing but suffering.

Gu Yue adjusted her breathing, her gaze falling on the two sweat-soaked backs ahead of her.

"Especially when you can run this long while wearing something so heavy. Even ordinary Soul Grandmasters might not be able to keep it up."

Tang Wulin wiped the sweat from his face and turned back with an honest smile, though his expression was rather strained. "I'm used to it. When my brother trained me before, he was much harsher than this."

"I'm... doing fine too." Unwilling to be outdone, Xie Xie puffed out his chest, only to lose his breath and start coughing until his face turned red.

"My name is Gu Yue."

The girl quickened her pace by two steps and ran alongside them. "We'll be classmates from now on."

"Tang Wulin."

"Cough, cough... Xie Xie."

After exchanging names, the invisible barrier between them seemed to thin.

Friendship between teenagers could sometimes form very simply. If they had sweated together and been scolded together, they were half comrades already.

Looking ahead, Gu Yue asked casually, "That Tang Linyuan from earlier... has he always been that strong?"

At the mention of that name, Xie Xie, who had been exhausted like a dead dog, suddenly perked up. Even his steps became lighter.

"Strong? Can that even be called strong? That's just ridiculous!"

Xie Xie's eyes lit up. He looked like a storyteller holding exclusive information, and not even the rasp in his throat could suppress his excitement.

"You just got here, so you don't know. Just yesterday, my boss did something that shook the heavens."

Gu Yue tilted her head slightly, a perfectly timed hint of curiosity appearing in her eyes.

"Did you see Teacher Wu's icy face?" Xie Xie lowered his voice and pointed toward the shade of a distant tree.

"During yesterday's practical combat class, Boss dueled Teacher Wu. A three-ring Soul Elder against a six-ring Soul Emperor. He forced Teacher Wu to even remove his Soul Power suppression, and in the end..."

He deliberately paused, waiting until Gu Yue's attention was fully fixed on him before proudly dropping the bombshell.

"In the end, he forced Teacher Wu to use his Battle Armor!"

Gu Yue's pupils abruptly contracted.

Her originally steady breathing faltered for a beat, and her steps froze for an instant as well.

As the ruler of all Soul Beasts, she understood better than anyone what Battle Armor meant within the human Soul Master system.

It was practically a high-level Soul Master's second life, the dividing line between the strong and mere ants.

A nine-year-old, three-ring Soul Elder had forced a Soul Emperor to use Battle Armor?

In her inherited memories, such a thing was an absolute defiance of all reason.

Even Sea God Tang San—the chief culprit behind the decline of the Soul Beasts—had never possessed such combat power at that age.

"He only used one strike."

Xie Xie was still gesturing vividly, as though he had been the one to unleash that strike himself.

"That black Dragon shadow ignored defenses completely and nearly pierced through Teacher Wu's palm. The whole class was stunned."

"He tore through space..." Gu Yue murmured softly, recalling the hand Tang Linyuan had used to grip her wrist earlier. The icy sensation at his fingertips seemed to still linger on her skin.

No wonder he could see through my spatial displacement so easily.

"What did you say?" Tang Wulin had not heard clearly.

"Nothing." Gu Yue quickly concealed the strange glint in her eyes, returning to the seemingly ordinary girl who was merely somewhat stubborn. "I was saying that he really is impressive."

She looked at Tang Wulin and asked as if casually, "You're his younger brother? Your Martial Souls seem completely different."

Tang Wulin scratched his head, his iron-sand vest rustling against his shoulders.

"They are different. My brother has a mutated Martial Soul, while mine is Blue Silver Grass... well, it's mutated too. But my brother has been amazing since he was little. I was basically beaten into shape by him."

"Is he always so... merciless with people?" Gu Yue asked.

"Not really." Tang Wulin thought for a moment. "My brother is actually very protective of his own. As long as you don't provoke our family, he's usually easy to talk to. Oh, right. He's also especially good at cooking, particularly grilled fish..."

Once food came up, Tang Wulin's floodgates completely opened.

Yet as he kept talking, he suddenly felt that something was off.

When they had eaten together two days ago, Senior Sister Mu Xi had also pulled him aside and asked him all sorts of questions. Every three sentences, the topic returned to his brother.

And now this new Gu Yue had only just met them. Why was she so interested in his brother too?

Did his brother have some kind of magnetic body?

Tang Wulin frowned in complete confusion and even looked down at himself. My brother and I look pretty alike, so why does no one ever ask what I like to eat?

Before they knew it, they finished the final lap.

When the three of them dragged their heavy steps to a stop before Wu Zhangkong, even Tang Wulin, who had the best stamina, was drenched in sweat.

Wu Zhangkong glanced at the Soul Guidance Communicator on his wrist. The time was exactly right.

"Fall in."

He swept his cold gaze across the class. Those students still groaning on the ground immediately scrambled to their feet and lined up.

"Today's physical training class ends here. There's theory class this afternoon. Don't let me see anyone sleeping in class."

With that, Wu Zhangkong turned and headed toward the teaching building without the slightest hesitation.

As he passed Gu Yue, he did not stop, leaving behind only a cold remark.

"Come with me. We'll handle your enrollment procedures."

Gu Yue took a deep breath, calming the slightly hurried breathing caused by her run, then turned and followed him.

Before leaving, she looked back toward the stands on the other side of the field.

They were empty. The black-haired boy had left at some point.

"Tang Linyuan..."

The girl silently repeated his name in her heart, a complicated glimmer only she could understand flashing through her eyes.

That name might become the greatest variable on her path to restoring the glory of the Soul Beasts.