Conceptual Sleight of Hand

And so, for the next half hour,

the pampered young lady, who had never lifted a finger, got a rare taste of what it was like to be a manual laborer ordered around.

Ning Huan: "This one's leaning quite a bit. Zhang Lexuan, come give me a hand!"

Zhang Lexuan: "Just a moment. I'm coming."

Ning Huan: "Tsk~ It's cracked, too. We'd better have a new one made tomorrow... Don't stare at me with those big, beautiful eyes. I'm not asking you to pay for it."

Zhang Lexuan: "...Thank you."

Ning Huan: "Come on, let's face each other and line this up. One, two, lift!"

Ning Huan: "Hey, hey, hey! Hold on, big sis! You move left while I move right—that's how we shift it. If we both go left, we'll just spin in a circle!"

Zhang Lexuan: "Sorry. Let's try again!"

Before long, the displaced bookshelf was back in its original place.

The books scattered across the floor were also sorted and neatly put away.

Seeing that the moment was right, Ning Huan finally showed his true colors.

Then he shifted his gaze to the extra bookshelf, whose position he had deliberately changed to leave it out of place.

"Since you're here, help me finish the job. We just need to move this last one."

"It's not far. Just take it to that corner."

As he spoke, Ning Huan stepped forward and grabbed one side, while giving Zhang Lexuan a meaningful look to urge her to hurry.

Seeing this, she didn't suspect a thing and immediately walked around to the other side.

Together, they lifted the bookshelf and slowly carried it toward the corner.

Yet the girl's effortless ease stood in stark contrast to the boy, whose head was drenched in sweat.

"Cultivation really is... something else!"

Ning Huan gritted his teeth, his face red from the strain.

"My strength isn't even that bad!"

Zhang Lexuan, her expression still calm as if she hadn't exerted herself at all, hurried to comfort him.

"Among Soul Masters of the same rank in the Power Attack System, you really are quite strong. You're even much stronger than an ordinary Soul King in the Power Attack System."

"But the gap in cultivation can't be made up for just by having a stronger body."

"..."

"Has anyone ever told you that your way of comforting people... is pretty unusual?"

She was clearly trying to be kind, but what she said was so ridiculously humblebragging...

But to his utter surprise, his teasing, which hadn't been meant maliciously at all, only made Zhang Lexuan visibly more dejected.

"Whoa! What's wrong with you?!"

The sudden turn of events left Ning Huan at a loss.

His mind raced as he tried to remember whether his teasing had touched on any secrets about her background.

"Sorry. It's just that no one has ever said that to me."

"Hm? You seem to get along pretty well with Han Ruoruo."

"Getting along and being able to confide in someone are two different things. After all, I..."

"Tsk... Big sis, could you stop showing off your status and strength in front of me?"

Seeing Zhang Lexuan's "hard-to-say" expression, Ning Huan instantly understood, then clicked his tongue with envy.

"So what if you have high status and great strength!"

"If I were as strong as you, I'd probably spend all day looking down my nose at people. Who'd care about relationships!"

"Anyone who dared to mess with me would get a big slap first!"

At the end, Ning Huan silently added another thought.

Unlike me now. I went back to the sect to lie low, but I've been running around nonstop. I'm going to work myself to death!

"Heh, you're an interesting one."

Perhaps the boy's exasperated expression had amused her. Zhang Lexuan soon returned to her usual mood.

She even had the time to tease him and offer a few words of advice.

"But, little brother, remember this: strength is important, but humility is indispensable, too."

Thud!

Scrrrape!

As the bookshelf hit the ground with a loud bang and the wood scraped against the floor, Ning Huan raised a hand to wipe the beads of sweat from his forehead.

His dismissive retort followed right after.

"Sometimes, words are the most powerless thing in the world!"

"When reason can't make people listen, only strength can make them lend an ear!"

Zhang Lexuan: "!!!"

Who had raised this kid?

He was far too extreme!

Just as she was about to argue with him, Ning Huan's next barrage caught her completely off guard.

"For ten thousand years, the continent has been mired in conflict. Forget ordinary people—even a Titled Douluo would come out of it battered and bruised."

"And those Evil Soul Masters? There are as many of them as stray dogs by the roadside, and no matter how many we kill, we can't wipe them out!"

As he spoke, Ning Huan pretended to casually pluck a book from the shelf beside him, picking out the exact one he wanted.

Then he tossed it over.

"Isn't Shrek Academy the perfect example? Four thousand years ago, it was you who drove back the Sun Moon Empire."

As his words fell, Zhang Lexuan seemed to have hit some kind of switch.

As she tightened her grip on the book, a few sharp lines appeared on her delicate face, and her tone turned distinctly unfriendly.

"No! Our predecessors acted for the sake of peace on the continent. They did what everyone wanted!"

"Then tell me: did they rely on smooth talk and lofty principles, or on their own strength?"

"You...!"

Watching Zhang Lexuan struggle to come up with a rebuttal, unable to find a flaw in his argument, Ning Huan was on tenterhooks.

There was no helping it. However strong he was among those of the same rank, he was no match for a Soul Saint.

And this big sis was a genius Soul Saint trained by Shrek, too.

If they really fought, it'd be a three-to-seven split.

She'd get three minutes, and he'd be in seven pieces.

I'm just one step away. Please don't lose your temper, big sis. I don't have any guards with me right now...

Feeling his heart pound with excitement, the boy started praying for himself. Then he steeled himself and went on.

"Don't just keep saying 'you.' You should read more, especially history."

"Take history as a mirror, and you can understand the rise and fall of states. Take people as a mirror, and you can understand your gains and losses."

"But judging by that clear, innocent look in your eyes, I doubt you've read much."

"I..."

At his words, Zhang Lexuan's momentum faltered. Her gaze wandered, instinctively landing on the thick book in her hands, which she had nearly crushed.

There was no doubt that Ning Huan's casual remark had struck the very thing she least wanted to face.

After all, becoming a high-ranked Soul Master before the age of twenty meant that most of her life had surely been spent cultivating.

Even when she did occasionally read, it was usually about the academy's history or various subjects related to Soul Masters.

As for the continent's ten thousand years of history...

She had probably only learned the broad strokes.

"It's quiet enough here. You can read for a while and calm down."

"If anything I said just now offended you, I apologize."

With that, Ning Huan turned and walked toward the second floor without looking back, leaving Zhang Lexuan standing where she was, her expression complicated.

Only after he was no longer in sight did she murmur to herself:

"Zhang Lexuan, Zhang Lexuan. You've lived twenty years for nothing—you were left speechless by a child."

"Forget it. I'm not sleepy anyway. I'll stay here and read for a while."

After saying that, she found a nearby table, opened the book Ning Huan had "casually" tossed to her, and began reading it carefully.

But in a corner of the second floor, hidden from her view, a faint whisper slowly rang out.

"Finally, she took the bait..."

"Once the seed of doubt is planted, a crack in trust is sure to appear."