Beneath the Golden Ancient Tree, Yan Shaozhe happened to witness the scene while pushing Mu En on a stroll. He was baffled. Since when had Zhang Lexuan become so cheerful?
"The children can handle their own affairs. We don't need to worry about them. Lexuan has finally opened her heart, hahaha."
Zhang Lexuan had seemed so closed off that Mu En had been deeply worried. He had almost constantly regretted making her promise what she had back then. Although it had been to help Bei Bei grow up healthy and give Zhang Lexuan a reason to keep living, looking back now, he knew that his own selfishness had played a much larger part.
Now Bei Bei had met Tang Ya, while Zhang Lexuan had been held back all this time. But now she had met someone she could open her heart to, too. For an old man like him, who was already close to the grave, this was wonderful news.
"Ah, Lexuan's one we don't need to worry about, but Xiaotao..."
Yan Shaozhe trailed off. Every time Ma Xiaotao suffered as her Evil Fire burned her, his heart twisted with pain. He and Cai Mei'er had no children, so they had always raised Ma Xiaotao as their own daughter. But against the Evil Fire that devoured her mind, he had searched nearly the entire continent over the years and still found no way to deal with it.
"If Xiaotao's condition can't be brought under control, we'll have no choice but to imprison her inside the Golden Tree..."
Mu En sighed. Even he, the Dragon God Douluo, could find no way to suppress the Evil Fire.
"All right, I'll find someone to arrange a dorm room for you."
After laughing for a long while, Zhang Lexuan patted his shoulder and spoke gently, as if to comfort him.
"Sister Lexuan is the best!"
His gentle purple eyes brimmed with laughter, and his handsome face lit up with a bright, obedient smile. The striking contrast with Su Qing's usual personality made Zhang Lexuan stare at him for a moment.
Night fell. The clear moonlight shone through the window onto the floor of Su Qing's dorm room, brightening the entire room. He lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. No matter what, the image of Zhang Lexuan's radiant, flower-like smile from their conversation that evening kept appearing in his mind.
"Phew, it's an illusion. It has to be."
At the same time, Zhang Lexuan couldn't bring herself to close her eyes either. Whenever she did, she thought of that smooth-talking fellow, wearing an obedient smile that was such a sharp contrast with the rest of him.
"He's such a smooth-talker. Why does he look so obedient when he smiles?"
After thinking it over, she decided she might as well stay up and spend the night cultivating.
And so, in the vast expanse of Shrek Academy, another hard-working child appeared in both the inner and outer academies...
The next day.
"Knock, knock, knock—"
The knocking pulled Su Qing, who had cultivated all night, out of his meditative state. He opened his eyes, still a little puzzled. Who would come looking for him at this hour?
The moment he opened the door, he realized it was yet another familiar face.
A wheelchair came into view. Sitting in it was Zhou Qing, the man he had rescued in the Star Dou Great Forest. When Su Qing opened the door, Zhou Qing smiled, slowly wheeled himself through the doorway, and moved over to the table. He took the breakfast he had packed from the inner academy's cafeteria out of his Storage Soul Tool and set it on the table.
"I didn't know what you liked, so I got a little of everything."
Now it was Su Qing's turn to feel awkward. He truly hadn't expected Zhou Qing to wheel himself all the way over to bring him breakfast. He had thought that, given the state of Zhou Qing's legs, he would ask someone else to deliver it.
"Ahem, sorry for the trouble. You came all this way to bring me breakfast when it's hard for you to get around."
At that, Zhou Qing gave an easygoing smile.
"What's the big deal? If you hadn't been there, I'd have died beneath the Flame Demon Lizard's Demon Flame. I lost both my legs, but at least I'm still alive. When I told my family what happened, they all said they wanted to come thank you in person."
"I'm a control-type Soul Master, so I can still fight from a wheelchair. And most of the time, my opponents underestimate me because I'm in one. I've made a fortune betting on matches at the inner academy arena!"
As he spoke, he proudly patted his means of getting around, affectionately calling it his "perfect partner"!
"Man, Senior, your attitude is really something to admire..."
Faced with the optimistic Zhou Qing, Su Qing's words of comfort stuck in his throat.
"All right, eat up. Classes for the new students start in an hour. Oh, right—you were taken away by the Grandmaster yesterday, so you probably didn't have time to check your class assignment. I checked it for you on my way here. You're in Freshman Class Nine, and your homeroom teacher is Mu Jin."
Zhou Qing's words left Su Qing standing there dumbfounded. How did this guy know everything?
"Hahaha, I bet you're wondering how I knew. The truth is, the Grandmaster told me to let you know. Sometimes I really wonder about her. The usually aloof Grandmaster always has a smile in her eyes when she mentions you. Looks like, besides a face that's only a little less handsome than mine, you've got quite a few other good qualities."
"Phew..."
At that, Su Qing finally understood how Zhou Qing had gotten over the shadow of losing his legs so quickly. No, it was entirely possible that the whole thing hadn't bothered him at all!
And he had the nerve to say that his own face was less handsome!
"All right, I won't keep you. Go ahead and eat."
With that, Zhou Qing started wheeling himself back out. He clearly had plenty of practice, and only felt a bit of a squeeze when passing through the door, which was just about as wide as his wheelchair.
Su Qing watched him leave and closed the door behind him before turning back to the food on the table. He had to admit, the inner academy's meals were exceptionally good. Most of the dishes used Soul Beast meat that was over a hundred years old, and the ingredients and cooking were handled perfectly. They were absolutely delicious.
The dorm room Zhang Lexuan had arranged for him was on the first floor. Although it had two beds, he was the only one assigned to it. He was very pleased with the arrangement. Living alone would give him plenty of freedom—not only would it be convenient for him to study his Second Martial Soul, Ring Jade, but it would also make it easier for Chen Yao and Zhang Lexuan, who had promised to bring him lunch and dinner, to visit. Perhaps that was why Zhang Lexuan had arranged it this way.
"Freshman Class Nine? Ning Tian and Wu Feng seem to be in that class. Too bad Xiao Xiao is in Class One, or I'd have one more person to talk to."
It was a little disappointing, but mostly he felt relieved. Fortunately, he hadn't been assigned to Freshman Class One. Coming to register only when the enrollment period was nearly over, after wandering around Shrek City, had paid off.
"Poor Huo Gua and Xiao Xiao. They have to run laps the moment they start school."
After silently mourning the two of them for a moment, he headed out toward the classroom.
On the way, his face—which drew every eye in sight—attracted plenty of attention. Some people even went out of their way to approach him and introduce themselves. But he only fobbed them off with a couple of casual remarks before continuing on. They didn't bother him again, though their gazes held a hint of unwillingness to give up.