New Student Assessment

Maintaining a cross-legged position for a long time, combined with the expansion and contraction of meridians during the circulation of soul power, left his body feeling somewhat stiff. He walked to the window and pushed it open a crack, letting the cool night air flow in.

"Did you feel it?" Wang Dong's voice came from behind him. Her tone had returned to its usual calmness, though it still carried a trace of hoarseness that hadn't fully faded.

"That door?" Mu Chen turned around, leaning against the window frame.

Wang Dong nodded and looked up at Mu Chen. The light from the desk lamp reflected on her face, and a look of earnestness flickered in her powder-blue eyes: "That must be the threshold of a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. I can feel that there is a very powerful force waiting for us behind that door. But I just can't push it open."

"It's right that you can't push it open." Mu Chen walked to the bed and sat down. "We've only been working together for two days, and you want to push that door open? There's no such easy thing in this world."

Wang Dong snorted, picked up a pillow and placed it on her lap, resting her chin on it: "Then how long will it take?"

"I don't know." Mu Chen's answer was direct. "It could be a few days, a few months, or even longer. It depends on the speed of our cultivation improvement and the level of our fusion synergy."

"Speed of cultivation improvement..." Wang Dong chewed on these words, then looked up at Mu Chen with a hint of defiance in her gaze: "Then don't you dare let me catch up to you. When my Soul Power Level catches up, that will be the time we push that door open."

Mu Chen looked at her earnest expression, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly: "I'll be waiting anytime."

"What are you laughing at? I'm serious!" Wang Dong threw the pillow in her arms at him.

Mu Chen caught the pillow, tossed it onto his own bed, and stood up: "I'm going to shower. Go to sleep early; we have to get up early tomorrow."

"Wait, give me back my pillow!"

"Didn't you throw it at me?"

"I was just hitting you, not giving it to you!"

The two stood in a standoff for a moment, separated by less than three steps. In the end, it was Mu Chen who threw the pillow back, shaking his head as he walked into the washroom.

Holding the pillow and listening to the sound of water coming from the washroom, Wang Dong buried her face into it, letting out a muffled sound that only she could hear.

By the time Mu Chen finished his shower and came out, Wang Dong was already lying on the bed, facing the wall, motionless as if she were asleep. But judging by the rhythm of her breathing, she was clearly still awake.

Mu Chen didn't call her out; he turned off the desk lamp and lay down on his own bed.

In the darkness, he stared at the blurry shadows cast on the ceiling by the moonlight outside the window, recalling the sensations he felt during tonight's cultivation.

That door was real. He could feel that the power behind it was vast and profound, far more powerful than he had imagined. Once that door was pushed open, both of their strengths would undergo a qualitative leap.

But as he had just told Wang Dong, this was not something to be rushed.

A Martial Soul Fusion Skill is a gradual process that requires two people to build an unspoken synergy through long-term combat side-by-side and joint cultivation.

This kind of synergy cannot be obtained by forced impact; it must form naturally through day-to-day interaction.

Fortunately, he had enough patience.

The next day, in the classroom.

Zhou Yi stood on the podium, her roster rolled into a tube, tapping the edge of the desk with a measured rhythm.

"Three months from now, the freshman assessment." Her gaze swept across the class from behind her lenses. "The assessment format will be group combat, three people to a team, free to form your own groups. I'll give you one day; submit the lists tomorrow morning."

As soon as she finished speaking, the classroom erupted into chaos.

Free team formation always implies cliques, personal favors, and, inevitably, the scramble to align with the strong. In this class, there was no need to think twice about who the strong were.

Mu Chen felt it.

Gaze after gaze came from all directions—some eager, some probing, some carrying a hint of shy expectation.

He sat by the window with Wang Dong on his right. Wang Dong was pretending to be indifferent as she flipped through her textbook, but her beautiful eyes were clearly glancing in his direction.

"Big Brother." A male student was the first to rush over. It was Zhou Qi, who sat in the front row; his martial soul was an Iron-Armored Rhino, a level twenty-one defense type. "Let's team up. I can take the hits, you just focus on output!"

Before he could finish, another student squeezed in: "Mu Chen, my martial soul is a Wind Wolf, speed type, I can provide cover for you!"

"Pick me, pick me! I'm a control type!"

"I'm a support type! I can buff you!"

In just a few breaths, Mu Chen's desk was surrounded so tightly that not even water could pass through. Wang Dong was squeezed to the side and curled her lip slightly; the arc was subtle, but Mu Chen saw it clearly in his peripheral vision.

He stood up.

The twelve-year-old boy's frame hadn't fully matured, but standing there, his calm temperament was like a reef exposed after the tide recedes—unassuming, yet impossible to ignore. The surrounding noise gradually died down.

"Sorry." His voice wasn't loud, but everyone heard him clearly. "I already have my candidates."

"Who?" someone asked, unwilling to give up.

Mu Chen turned his head to look at Wang Dong.

Wang Dong froze.

Those large, powder-blue eyes blinked, as if she hadn't reacted yet. Then she abruptly turned her head away, the tips of her ears burning a visible shade of red: "Wh-what are you looking at me for? I never said I wanted to be in a group with you."

"You didn't say you wouldn't be in a group with me, either," Mu Chen said.

"You!" Wang Dong choked, her short powder-blue hair swaying with the movement of her head. "How can you be so overbearing?"

Despite her words, she didn't refuse.

The surrounding students looked at each other, and a few tactfully dispersed. But someone still wouldn't give up: "Mu Chen, you've only decided on one person, don't you still need to find one more? How about—"

"There is one more spot." Mu Chen's gaze crossed the crowd and landed on the corner of the last row of the classroom.

Huo Yuhao was sitting there.

He had been sitting quietly since a moment ago, neither leaning in nor making a sound.

Those Spirit Eye were clear and calm, as if waiting for something, yet also as if waiting for nothing at all. When Mu Chen's gaze fell upon him, he was slightly taken aback.

"Yuhao." Mu Chen called out to him.

Huo Yuhao stood up, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he simply nodded.

There were no superfluous words, but both of them understood the weight behind that nod.

From the Star Dou Great Forest to Shrek, from selling grilled fish to absorbing the Mysterious Water Pill, the tacit understanding built along the way needed no excess words to fill the gaps.

The crowd gathered around finally dispersed. Some felt regret, some felt relieved, and others had already begun looking for different teammates.

Mu Chen sat back down. Wang Dong lay across the table, burying her face in her arms, with only her eyes peeking out to look at him askance.

"Why didn't you tell me beforehand just now?" Her voice was muffled, carrying a hint of complaint and an indescribable nuance.

"Isn't it the same if I say it now?"

"It's not the same." Wang Dong buried her face deeper. "You, in front of so many people..."

The words that followed were slurred and unclear. Mu Chen did not press her, merely curving the corners of his mouth slightly.