"Are you full?"
"Half full."
"..."
Xu Qing looked at Ice Empress's perfectly flat little belly, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
From daybreak to nightfall, he had refined the Soul Power in his body several times, producing a whole bowl of Mystic Ice Marrow of that quality!
That little scorpion had wolfed it down like rice.
Was this how much the Heavenly King of the Far North ate?
He couldn't afford to keep her.
"Why are you looking at this empress like that?"
Ice Empress held a napkin in both hands and wiped her mouth with exaggerated propriety.
"Burp~"
"You're already doing great. There's no need to feel discouraged just because you can't satisfy this empress."
Creak...
Xu Qing rose from his chair. His face had lost some color from Soul Power exhaustion. He opened the door and walked straight out.
"I won't make you Mystic Ice Marrow for a week."
"Tch..."
Ice Empress scoffed, thinking Xu Qing was such a loser.
After watching his figure disappear, she hopped down from her chair and pattered over to lock the door.
"Phew... He's finally gone... I almost let the cat out of the bag..."
The tips of her ears were already bright red. Evidently, even eating a bowl of Mystic Ice Marrow hadn't been easy for her to stomach.
After all, she hadn't broken her seal yet. She'd only managed to endure it thanks to her body's innate abilities.
Ice Empress's legs gave way, and she leaned against the door, her eyes half closed.
Her mind went blank. She simply bent down, hooked her fingers around her sandals, and slipped them off. Her freed, rounded toes stretched out.
Just then, fine beads of sweat began to form on her forehead. She glanced around the vast room, then decided to let herself go completely.
Rustle, rustle...
The following morning.
Comfortable sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows and fell across Xu Qing's big bed.
It was empty.
Where was he?
He'd finished a night of meditation, gotten up, and gone to school.
Ice Empress was stuck at home by herself again...
Royal Soul Master Academy, teaching building.
Meng Hongchen was waiting at the entrance to Class One, Year Five bright and early.
Yesterday, she'd wanted to go back to the big villa after school, but her grandfather had caught her and said something about how girls should be more reserved.
Tch!
This young lady had her own rhythm!
If she didn't make a move, what if that... that Xiao Bing got there first?
Brother Xu wouldn't even tell her what she was like. So annoying!!
"Morning, Xiao Meng."
"Good morning, Brother Xu!"
Hearing the familiar voice, Meng Hongchen immediately tossed her bad mood aside, determined to greet Xu Qing in her most perfect state.
Xu Qing held a cup of soy milk. He quickly drank it, then handed it to Meng Hongchen to throw away. Through the window, he looked into the classroom, feeling a little anticipation.
Creak—
Xu Qing pushed open the classroom door. The sunlight behind him made his figure shine so brightly it was hard to look at, and every student inside turned at the sound.
The black-haired boy's expression was calm, without a hint of excess emotion, as if everything were only natural.
He walked up to the lectern and immediately spotted Xiao Hongchen in the back row, his head topped with dazzling white hair.
That guy had actually dyed all sorts of colors into his hair!
A streak of red here, a tuft of pink there...
"Hello, everyone. I'm Xu Qing, a transfer student..."
"Ha ha ha ha ha!!"
A wildly arrogant laugh burst out. Xiao Hongchen leapt up onto his desk, covering one eye with a hand and pointing at Xu Qing with the other as he shouted:
"You've come, my dear friend!"
That one line immediately got Xu Qing on the same wavelength. He replied without thinking:
"I've come."
Xiao Hongchen wore an expression that said, 'Just as I expected,' and continued:
"You shouldn't have come."
"Then should I leave?"
Xu Qing couldn't keep a straight face. This was so awkward. How had this chuunibyou of a boy still not grown out of it?
Where had he even learned that line? Why did it sound so familiar...
The students around them were already used to this, clearly the result of Xiao Hongchen's long-standing antics.
Still, they were quite curious about this all-powerful transfer student.
After all, he'd passed the secret skip-grade exam personally arranged by the dean and entered Year Five at the age of eleven, despite being surrounded by students who were fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen.
His talent was probably enough to leave anyone dumbfounded.
The chuunibyou boy curled his lips, already playing out an epic tale in his mind: joining hands with his dear friend to crush every enemy in the academy!
He jumped down from the desk, his Soul Power sweeping away the dust, and was about to call Xu Qing over to sit beside him.
But he'd forgotten that he wasn't the only one who wanted the honor of sitting next to Brother Xu.
"I'm not sitting with my stinky older brother. I'm sitting with Xiao Meng."
Before the sweet voice came the girl's unique, delicate fragrance. Xu Qing simply went along with it.
Xiao Hongchen, out!
"Ring, ring—"
Lin Jiayi appeared. He normally didn't need to teach, but after seeing such a brutal fight yesterday, he'd decided that there weren't many teachers in the academy capable of teaching Xu Qing.
So the director of studies had no choice but to step in himself.
"Class is starting. Today we'll analyze a fight between a Level 5 Soul Engineer and a pure-blooded Soul King..."
Lin Jiayi was a Level 8 Soul Engineer and a direct subordinate of Mingde Hall—in other words, a trusted aide of the hall master.
There was no question about his teaching ability.
Xu Qing looked around. Everyone wore expressions like 'I understand,' 'So that's how it works,' and 'You can do that, too?'...
Ha... What was that old man up there babbling about?
He was making Xu Qing sleepy.
As a pure-blooded Soul Master, Xu Qing knew absolutely nothing about Soul Tools.
The scene was like taking a child who had just graduated from kindergarten and putting him in a high school classroom to learn how to solve functions.
The whole morning passed just like that.
"Ring, ring—"
"Class dismissed."
Lin Jiayi gazed fervently at Xu Qing, whose head had drooped onto Meng Hongchen's shoulder. His heart was filled with thoughts of the boy's physique.
What a robust body! What tremendous strength! What absurdly high stats!!
As expected of the genius the hall master had found!
Hall master! My loyalty is yours!!!
He collected himself, looked around, then cleared his throat a few times to get the attention of the students, who were already itching to go eat.
"To prepare for the Continental Soul Master Tournament a year from now, the academy will hold a selection exam for the Year Five and Year Six students in two and a half months."
"We'll select the best of the best from both years!"
"This exam will be completely different from previous ones. It won't test all that complicated Soul Tool knowledge, nor those flashy Soul Tool techniques."
"There will only be two parts: making Soul Tools, and comparing your strength after you've learned to wield them."
Lin Jiayi swept his gaze over the room.
"Of course, in the end, it all comes down to a contest of individual strength. This selection will produce seven official team members and seven reserve members."
"Then the academy will arrange for teachers to train those fourteen students in groups of three. Every teacher will be at least a Level 8 Soul Engineer."
"The dean himself will lead the team! And the most outstanding team member may even receive guidance from Master Kong!"
"Everyone, work hard toward this goal!"
Xu Qing was particularly sensitive to the words 'two and a half months.' He tore himself away from his sweet dream and returned to reality, just in time to hear the crucial part.
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