"Dad!"

She bit down hard on her lower lip, both hands clenched tightly around the hem of her uniform. Her body was still trembling slightly, though she couldn't tell whether it was from anger or embarrassment.

Silence fell all around them. The watching freshmen were dumbstruck. From Wang Dong unleashing her shocking Martial Soul and Soul Rings, to her launching a flurry of attacks like a sudden storm, to Su Chen dodging like a ghost and winning with a single strike, and finally to Wang Dong tumbling into Su Chen's arms... The whole thing had taken barely a dozen seconds, yet it had been packed with dramatic twists and... an indescribable air of intimacy.

After a long moment, Wang Dong suddenly raised her head. Her powder-blue eyes shimmered with tears, full of tangled emotions—shame, indignation, unwillingness, and shock—as she glared at Su Chen.

Su Chen met her gaze calmly, waiting for her to speak.

A few seconds passed. It seemed to take every ounce of strength she had to force three words through her clenched teeth, her voice so low it was almost inaudible, thick with humiliation and defeat:

"...I lost."

As soon as she finished, she spun around as if to rush back to the dormitory. But then she remembered their bet, and froze in place, her shoulders trembling slightly.

Looking at her back, Su Chen knew that the proud little princess was probably in turmoil. He didn't bring up the bet right away. Instead, he said coolly, "We'll talk about it when we get back."

Then he turned to the freshmen still staring in a daze, his gaze sweeping calmly across them. For some reason, those who met his eyes instinctively looked away or lowered their heads, as if cowed by some invisible force.

Su Chen said nothing more. He turned and headed for Dormitory 108.

Wang Dong stood there hesitating for a few seconds. In the end, she stamped her foot, lowered her head, and hurried after him, like a defeated little peacock who still refused to accept defeat.

On the recliner, Mu En's eyelid lifted to a narrow slit once more. Watching the two of them leave, one behind the other—especially Su Chen's steady stride—a faint, knowing smile flickered in his cloudy eyes.

Interesting... Without using his Martial Soul, he subdued a twenty-third-level Soul Master with a top-tier Martial Soul and a thousand-year Second Soul Ring, relying purely on his physical abilities... This kid has been hiding his strength well.

Inside the dormitory.

Wang Dong hung her head, nearly burying it in her chest. Her soft powder-blue hair fell forward with the movement, hiding most of her still-burning cheeks.

The spot on the side of her neck where Su Chen's hand had lightly touched her still seemed to tingle with a strange, faint numbness, like electricity crawling over her skin. It kept reminding her that everything that had just happened wasn't a hallucination. It had really happened.

She had lost.

She had lost cleanly and decisively, without the slightest suspense, and... rather miserably.

What she found even harder to accept was that Su Chen hadn't even released his Martial Soul. From beginning to end, he had used only the simplest movements to neutralize all her attacks, then struck lightly once and left her unable to fight back. And in the end, she had even...

tumbled into his arms.

The realization was like a bucket of ice water poured straight over her head, jolting her out of the anger and embarrassment that had filled her mind.

What followed was an even more complicated feeling, one that left her more unsettled than ever—frustration, disbelief, and a hint of... curiosity that even she instinctively tried to deny and suppress.

How had he done it? That ghostlike speed, and the seemingly simple knife-hand strike... No Soul Master her age could do that. Not anyone she knew—not even if they had several more levels of Soul Power than her!

"Who... exactly is he?" The thought circled uncontrollably through Wang Dong's mind.

The door to Dormitory 108 stood ajar. Su Chen had already gone inside, as if certain she would follow.

Wang Dong lingered at the doorway for several seconds, her fingers twisting unconsciously at the hem of her uniform until the smooth fabric wrinkled.

In the end, she took a deep breath, worked up her courage, and pushed the door open. Then she gently shut it behind her.

Click.

The soft sound of the latch cut off the watching eyes, gossip, and every other distracting noise outside. Inside the tiny dormitory, only she and Su Chen remained.

She stood by the door without immediately going to her bed, planted there like a log. Cautiously, she lifted her eyes toward the bed by the window—Su Chen had sat down and was looking back at her calmly.

His gaze was mild. There was no smugness or mockery from a victor, yet somehow that only made Wang Dong feel more at a loss.

The silence weighed more heavily than any words could have.

Second by second, time passed. Wang Dong could hear her heart pounding wildly and feel the heat rising in her cheeks again. Her lips were pressed tightly together, almost a pale, straight line, as she wrestled with herself.

Admit defeat? Honor the bet? Call him that mortifying name? That would be worse than being killed!

Back out? Pretend it had never happened? The thought had barely surfaced before Wang Dong rejected it herself.

She was Wang Dong, the little princess of the Clear Sky Sect. Her pride and self-respect wouldn't let her go back on her word.

Besides... after seeing the strength Su Chen had just shown, she had a vague feeling that backing out might only bring even more "terrifying" consequences.

After a long moment, Wang Dong seemed to have finally gathered all her courage and resolve. She lifted her head sharply and looked straight at Su Chen, her powder-blue eyes fixed on him.

Though embarrassment and indignation still lingered deep in her eyes, the pride of an heir to the Clear Sky Sect made her straighten her trembling back, trying to preserve the last shred of her dignity.

"I..." Her voice was much lower than before, with a barely perceptible tremor, but her tone was stubborn, as if every word had to be forced through clenched teeth. "I, Wang Dong, keep my word!"

She paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "A loss is a loss! The bet... I, Wang Dong, accept it!"

After saying that, she felt as if half the strength had drained from her body, yet somehow she also felt relieved. Admitting defeat was painful, but it was better than lying to herself and running away.

Su Chen raised an eyebrow slightly, a hint of surprise flashing across his handsome face. He really was a little surprised. He hadn't expected this pampered little princess, who seemed spoiled and willful, to choose to "own up" so quickly.

He had thought she would at least struggle with it for a while, or simply try to wriggle out of it.

"Then a bet's a bet," Su Chen said leisurely. He leaned back against the headboard, looking ready to listen. "And then?"

And then?

Those three words pricked Wang Dong's heart like three tiny needles. She knew what Su Chen was asking—the exact terms of the bet.

"Daddy"