After sitting cross-legged for so long, and with his meridians expanding and contracting as his Soul Power circulated, his body had grown somewhat stiff. He walked to the window and cracked it open, letting the cool night air drift inside.
"Did you feel it?" Wang Dong's voice came from behind him. She had regained her usual composure, though a trace of hoarseness still lingered.
"That door?" Mu Chen turned and leaned against the window.
Wang Dong nodded and looked up at Mu Chen. The lamplight fell across her face, and a serious gleam shone in her pink-and-blue eyes. "That must be the entrance to the Martial Soul Fusion Skill. I can feel a powerful force waiting for us behind the door. But we just can't push it open."
"It's only right that we can't push it open." Mu Chen walked to the bed and sat down. "We've only been working together for two days, and we already expect to open that door? Nothing in this world comes that easily."
Wang Dong snorted, picked up a pillow, and placed it on her lap. She rested her chin on it. "Then how long will it take?"
"I don't know." Mu Chen answered frankly. "Maybe a few days, maybe a few months, maybe even longer. It depends on how quickly our cultivation improves and how well we learn to fuse our powers."
"How quickly our cultivation improves..." Wang Dong mulled over those words, then looked up at Mu Chen, a hint of competitive spirit in her gaze. "Then don't let me catch up to you. Once my Soul Power Level catches up, that'll be when we open the door."
Mu Chen looked at her earnest expression, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. "I'll be waiting."
"Why are you smiling? I'm serious!" Wang Dong hurled the pillow at him.
Mu Chen caught it in one hand and casually set it on his own bed, then stood up. "I'm going to take a bath. Get to bed 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 with it! I wasn't giving it to you!"
The two of them faced off from less than three paces apart for a moment. In the end, Mu Chen tossed the pillow back and shook his head as he went into the washroom.
Hugging the pillow, Wang Dong listened to the sound of water from the washroom, then buried her face in it and let out a muffled sound only she could hear.
By the time Mu Chen finished bathing and came out, Wang Dong was already lying in bed, facing the wall and lying perfectly still, as if asleep. But the rhythm of her breathing made it obvious she was still awake.
Mu Chen didn't call her out. He switched off the lamp and lay down in his own bed.
In the dark, he gazed at the indistinct patterns of moonlight cast by the window onto the ceiling, recalling what he had felt while cultivating that evening.
That door truly existed. He could feel the power behind it, vast and profound, far stronger than he had imagined. Once they pushed the door open, both of them would undergo a qualitative leap in strength.
But just as he had told Wang Dong, they couldn't rush it.
A Martial Soul Fusion Skill developed gradually. It required two people to build an unspoken understanding through fighting side by side and cultivating together over a long period.
That kind of understanding couldn't be won by forcefully breaking through. It had to form naturally as they spent each day together.
Fortunately, he had plenty of patience.
The next day, in the classroom.
Zhou Yi stood at the lectern, her roll sheet rolled into a cylinder as she tapped it against the edge of the desk—not hard, not gently.
"Freshman Assessment in three months." Her gaze swept over the class from behind her glasses. "The assessment will be team-based, with three people per team. You may form your own teams. You have one day. Submit your team rosters tomorrow morning."
The moment she finished speaking, the classroom erupted.
Forming teams freely meant cliques, favors, and everyone flocking to the strongest. And in this class, no one needed to think twice about who that was.
Mu Chen felt it.
Glances came at him from every direction—some eager, some probing, some carrying a hopeful shyness.
He sat by the window, with Wang Dong on his right. She was pretending to be absorbed in her textbook, but those beautiful eyes kept darting toward him.
"Big brother!" The first to hurry over was a male student named Zhou Qi, who sat in the front row. His Martial Soul was an Iron-Armored Rhino, and he was a level twenty-one defense specialist. "Let's team up! I can take the hits, and you just focus on attacking!"
Before he had finished, another student squeezed over. "Mu Chen, my Martial Soul is a Wind Wolf. I'm fast, so I can cover 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 completely surrounded. Wang Dong was jostled aside, the corner of her mouth dipping slightly. The curve was faint, but Mu Chen caught it from the corner of his eye.
He stood up.
The twelve-year-old boy hadn't fully grown into his frame, but standing there, he had the stillness of a reef exposed after the tide receded—quietly imposing, impossible to overlook. The noise around him gradually died down.
"Sorry." His voice wasn't loud, but everyone heard him. "I've already chosen my teammates."
"Who?" someone asked, unwilling to give up.
Mu Chen turned his head and looked at Wang Dong.
Wang Dong froze.
Her large pink-and-blue eyes blinked, as if she hadn't understood. Then she abruptly turned her face away, the tips of her ears visibly flushing. "W-Why are you looking at me? I never said I wanted to team up with you."
"You never said you didn't," Mu Chen replied.
"You!" Wang Dong choked, her short pink-and-blue hair swaying as she turned back toward him. "Why are you so domineering?"
She said it, but she didn't refuse.
The students around them exchanged glances, and a few tactfully drifted away. But some still weren't ready to give up. "Mu Chen, you've only picked one person. You still need another teammate, right? How about—"
"There's one spot left." Mu Chen's gaze passed over the crowd and settled on a corner in the last row.
Huo Yuhao was sitting there.
He had been sitting quietly the whole time, neither pushing his way forward nor saying a word.
His Spirit Eyes were clear and calm, as if he were waiting for something—or waiting for nothing at all. When Mu Chen's gaze fell on him, he gave a slight start.
"Yuhao," Mu Chen called.
Huo Yuhao stood up and parted his lips, as if he wanted to say something. In the end, he only nodded.
There were no unnecessary 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 understanding they had built along the way needed no words to fill it.
At last, the crowd dispersed. Some were disappointed, some relieved, and some had already started looking for other teammates.
Mu Chen sat back down. Wang Dong lay facedown on her desk, burying her face in her arms and peering at him sideways with just her eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me beforehand?" Her voice was muffled, tinged with complaint and something she couldn't quite put into words.
"Would it have made a difference if I told you now?"
"It would." Wang Dong buried her face even deeper. "You said it in front of so many people..."
The rest of her words came out indistinctly, impossible to make out. Mu Chen didn't press her. He only let the corners of his mouth curve slightly.