After Zhou Yi had been thoroughly dealt with, time passed quickly without anyone noticing.
Before they knew it, three months had gone by.
For Freshman Class One, these three months had been both painful and joyful.
The joy was that although Zhang Lexuan had never formally served as a teacher, her exceptional Soul Power, broad horizons, and past experience guiding younger students in the Inner Court
allowed her to organize Freshman Class One's academic affairs with ease and impeccable order. Her teaching quality was no worse than that of many veteran Outer Court teachers.
Every freshman truly witnessed the foundation of the continent's number one academy.
But that was also precisely what made things painful. Zhang Lexuan tailored her teaching according to factors such as assault-type and control-type martial souls, as well as whether students had combat experience.
She divided the students in the class into several different groups for targeted instruction.
Because her old injury made it difficult for her to move around, and Long Yaochen happened to have little left to learn here,
he took over as the "teaching assistant," giving those troublesome students who refused to obey and those slippery freshmen trying to cut corners some inhumane lessons in loving care.
Freshman Class One's strength advanced by leaps and bounds under this two-pronged approach to teaching.
But the peaceful days of Freshman Class One had nothing to do with Long Yaochen.
Just as he had expected, he had not gotten a moment of peace during this time.
Ma Xiaotao used her status as his "fiancée" to run to the Outer Court every few days.
Her excuse was utterly righteous—"My Evil Fire can't be suppressed anymore. I need him to help regulate it."
Although Long Yaochen continuously stabilized his Divinity in the process and improved the quality of his flames,
it was still exhausting on the mind!
Wang Dong and Ma Xiaotao found each other immensely unpleasant to look at, and nearly every encounter ended in a huge argument, giving Long Yaochen a terrible headache.
Fortunately, Zhang Lexuan appeared in time on several occasions. Using academic business as an excuse, she pulled him away from the center of the battlefield.
Their relationship also grew much closer through her repeated critical rescues.
At the very least, Zhang Lexuan's impression of Long Yaochen had changed considerably.
At least his personality was not as awful as she had initially thought.
However, in certain respects, he was becoming more and more unbearable.
At that moment, inside Zhang Lexuan's temporary office.
Sunlight filtered through the blinds and quietly fell across the neat desk.
Bang!
A thick stack of envelopes was tossed onto the office desk.
"Did you come to Shrek just to attract bees and butterflies? The love letters stuffed into my hands every week could circle Shrek Square." Zhang Lexuan sat behind the desk, looking helpless.
Her complexion was far rosier than it had been three months ago. The fragile, broken feeling she once carried had gradually faded, restoring her former gentle yet capable demeanor.
Meanwhile, Long Yaochen lounged lazily on the leather sofa beside her, idly playing with the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife, which had shed its sinister aura and now emitted a warm, lustrous glow.
No, to be precise—the Holy Blade of Life.
Back then, after Electrolux had thoroughly purified the carving knife with the aid of Long Yaochen's Divinity, that Divinity had become permanently engraved within it.
The originally rich and pure vitality of the Life Gold had gained a sacred aura, while the blade itself had become translucent and bright with a cold golden sheen.
That was why Long Yaochen had given it a new name.
"Sigh! What can I do when I'm this charming? I just took a stroll, and a whole crowd wanted to be friends with me." Long Yaochen spoke as though it were only natural.
"This is the assessment list for the Freshman Grand Competition. Check it over." Ignoring his narcissism, Zhang Lexuan handed him a stack of files.
"Senior Sister, I'm the teaching assistant. Shouldn't this sort of grunt work, like formatting and proofreading, be your job?"
Without even raising his head, Long Yaochen shamelessly pushed the task away.
The pen in Zhang Lexuan's hand paused slightly. A trace of helplessness flickered deep within her cool eyes, yet surprisingly, she did not get angry.
Over the past three months, she had grown completely accustomed to this boy's style.
Though he was always domineering and flamboyant, his methods were incredibly effective whenever he helped deal with the troublesome students in the class.
And besides...
For some reason, whenever this boy stayed by her side, the oppressive heaviness in her heart, built up over the years because of Sea God Pavilion and Bei Bei, would be soothed by an exceptionally warm presence.
After getting used to that feeling, every time she saw the love letters people asked her to pass along, an inexplicable irritation rose in her heart.
It was one thing for this guy to attract girls, but for some reason, even certain boys were stuffing love letters into his hands.
Even his strikingly beautiful roommate constantly clashed with Xiaotao because of him.
How strange...
"You don't have to review the outline if you don't want to." Zhang Lexuan lowered her eyes, her tone calm. "Then tonight, when Xiaotao comes looking for you, I'll truthfully tell her that you asked me to collect love letters from female students on your behalf in the freshman district."
The fingers playing with the carving knife froze.
He had finally gotten a few peaceful days. If that crazy woman Ma Xiaotao found out about this,
he figured that not a single girl in the Outer Court dormitory building would be able to come downstairs tonight...
"You win."
Long Yaochen sat up straight and reached out to take the files. Their fingertips brushed ever so lightly for an instant.
Zhang Lexuan pulled back her hand as if shocked by electricity. Her heart inexplicably skipped a beat, and she lowered her head to continue grading assignments, pretending to be composed.
Elsewhere, on the Outer Court training grounds, the scene was entirely different.
Huo Yuhao stood where he was, drenched in sweat and gasping heavily.
Yet within his deep blue Spirit Eyes was an ambition he had never possessed before... along with a trace of ruthlessness.
"Not bad. Your Spirit Shock has already begun to possess the power to kill enemies above your level."
Old Tang's gentle yet unquestionable voice sounded in his mind:
"Remember, in this Freshman Grand Competition, you must take first place!
Crush beneath your feet everyone who dares to look down on you, and everyone who looks down on the Tang Sect.
Especially... Long Yaochen!
Make that man who stole your destiny regret it completely!"
"I understand."
Huo Yuhao clenched his fists tightly, his gaze passing over the training grounds toward the Freshman Class One teaching building.
Over these three months, he had cultivated desperately. Even when sleeping, he meditated.
Long Yaochen... just wait! In the Freshman Assessment, I will definitely take first place!
I'll prove before everyone that I'm the strongest among this year's freshmen!
I'll make you understand... stealing my destiny is a path to death!
Achoo!
Long Yaochen rubbed his nose. "Why do I feel like someone's cursing me behind my back? Did some evil draft get into your office?"
"Focus! If you get even one name wrong, I'll throw all those love letters to Ma Xiaotao!" Zhang Lexuan snapped, tapping the desk with her pen.
"Women really are unreasonable creatures." Long Yaochen curled his lip, but under the tyranny of her authority, he obediently turned his attention to the assessment list in his hands.
"Group One: Wang Dong, Huo Yuhao, Xiao Xiao..."
The moment he saw the first line, Long Yaochen raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Why did you give Wang Dong to someone else?"
As he spoke, his gaze quickly swept across the entire list.
There were twenty-two groups in total, yet his name was nowhere to be found?
"I'm Chovy, did you even give me the correct list?" Long Yaochen was instantly displeased.
What did this mean?
If he was not allowed to stomp noobs, then wouldn't all his hard work cultivating have been for nothing?
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