Lin An shot her a speechless glance.
"Then you want in too?"
Gu Yue froze for a moment.
The next second, she let go of Lin An's wrist, caught his hand firmly in hers, and said with utter seriousness,
"Please let me join."
Xie Xie stood at the edge of the crowd, watching with a complicated expression.
He had heard that people in the Ming Capital were open-minded.
Could those two be...
His face reddened as all sorts of inappropriate images sprang into his mind.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say, "Count me in," but swallowed the words.
He just wasn't thick-skinned enough.
He lowered his head and sighed to himself.
The morning's practical combat class ended under a strange cloud.
Students headed back to the dorms in twos and threes, talking all the way.
Some envied Tang Wulin. Others wondered what would happen in Lin An's dorm tonight. Most were working out how to get closer to Lin An themselves.
Lin An returned to his dorm alone.
He shut the door, leaned against it, and let out a long breath.
He had used Soul Skills repeatedly, helped Tang Wulin clear his meridians, and endured the impact of his Soul Power.
On top of not sleeping a wink last night, his temples were throbbing and his eyelids felt weighted with lead.
There were stimulant injections in his Soul Tool. One shot would perk him up.
But he glanced at his pale wrist and gave up on the idea.
He was frail enough already. Another injection would only make it worse.
He didn't have anything like Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon King Bloodline to help him tolerate the drugs.
A shower, then.
He took a change of clothes into the bathroom.
Hot water poured over his head. Steam rose and blurred the mirror.
Water ran down his shoulders and neck, over his back and waist, and gathered in a warm puddle at his feet.
Lin An closed his eyes and savored the brief quiet.
Yet a chill kept creeping over his back.
It felt as though someone was watching him from the shadows.
He glanced behind him.
The bathroom was empty. Only mist drifted slowly beneath the light.
Must be my imagination.
He shook his head and went on showering.
The bell for afternoon classes rang.
Lin An came out wrapped in a bath towel, water still dripping from his hair.
He checked the time, then his timetable.
Physical training.
Wu Zhangkong's class.
That icy face from this morning came to mind.
In his current state, two laps would land him straight in the infirmary.
Should I skip it?
No. Better ask for leave.
He sent Long Hengxu a quick message and collapsed onto the bed.
The mattress was soft, and the blanket smelled of sunshine.
He buried his face in the pillow and breathed out slowly.
He didn't fall asleep right away.
He had things to think about.
Tang Wulin tolerated the drugs even better than he had expected.
The body granted by the Golden Dragon King Bloodline was like a furnace, able to refine and absorb any medicine.
At this rate, reaching level twenty within six months would be easy.
But leveling up wasn't the real problem.
It was the Golden Dragon King Bloodline going berserk.
To obtain the complete Bloodline, he would have to suppress one of its rampages.
And a rampage would probably mean forcibly breaking the seal inside Tang Wulin.
The killing instinct sealed within might consume him—or even take over his body.
Lin An wasn't confident he could handle that yet.
As for Gu Yue's Silver Dragon King Bloodline, the task was more specific.
He needed to collect complete data on her, build Battle Armor above the one-word level with her, and earn her approval.
He had nearly all the main materials.
Magic Silver, Star Crystal, Void Jade, and Seven Element Crystal.
Every one of them was top-grade, acquired through the Universal Group's core channels.
Gu Yue's Reverse Scale was already in his Soul Tool, too.
The only thing missing was Gu Yue's own knowledge.
She hadn't memorized a single one of those books on forging and Soul Guidance Engineering.
No. I need to push her harder.
Xie Xie's Space-Time Dragon Bloodline came with a task of its own: help him absorb a Space-Time Type Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast and use its Origin to awaken the Bloodline.
It sounded simple.
But Lin An had used every resource at his disposal and searched the Federation's entire Soul Beast catalog without finding a single so-called Space-Time Type Soul Beast.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, which the records suggested might have some connection to space and time, had been extinct for who knew how many years.
The Spirit Pagoda might have a lead, but that didn't mean it would sell him one.
The sky darkened outside the window.
Scattered afternoon raindrops tapped softly against the glass.
Listening to the rain, Lin An finally felt his taut nerves ease. Sleepiness washed over him.
His eyelids slowly closed, and his breathing grew steady.
He fell asleep.
He didn't notice the silver Reverse Scale in his arms giving off a faint glow.
During the afternoon physical training class, the field sweltered in the heat. The morning rain had long since evaporated, leaving only a few shallow puddles in the dirt.
The students of Class Five stood in formation, their faces full of dread.
Wu Zhangkong stood before them, dressed in snow-white clothes, his expression blank.
His cold gaze swept over each student like an icy blade against their throats.
"Stretch."
Everyone bent over in unison.
Gu Yue stood in formation and went through the stretches, but her mind was elsewhere.
Her gaze kept drifting, and the corners of her mouth twitched now and then, as if she were struggling to hold something back.
In fact, she was seeing what the Reverse Scale sent back to her.
She wasn't peeping.
She was only making sure the Dragon Queen was safe.
The Reverse Scale's impressions were hazy, and they weren't limited to sight. Fragments of touch and warmth came through as well.
She could feel warm water flowing and the faint brush of fabric.
She could make out a blurred but beautiful figure amid the steam, along with long hair spilling over its shoulders.
My wife looks so beautiful in the shower.
Shame there's so much steam.
Gu Yue jerked her head from side to side. An unnatural flush burned across her cheeks.
Wait. How can I think that? I believe in pure love.
She drew a deep breath, trying to drive those images from her mind.
But the harder she tried, the more that blurred figure slipped back into her thoughts.
The Dragon Queen was the Dragon God's wife.
And she and the Dragon God were, in theory, two different individuals.
But the Dragon God was dead. As his other half, it was perfectly reasonable—only right—that she care for his wife and children in his place.
Yes.
Only right.
Gu Yue gave herself a silent pep talk.
"Gu Yue, what are you thinking about? Ah! Your nose is bleeding!"
Xie Xie had come over at some point and was staring at her in bafflement.
What on earth is she fantasizing about during training?
She's even more worked up than Tang Wulin after a stimulant shot.
Gu Yue hastily wiped her nose.
Nothing. Not a drop.
She turned to Xie Xie.
"Xie... Xie!"
Her face turned livid. She seized him by the collar and hammered him with her fists.
"Aaah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Xie Xie yelped under the blows, then fled with his arms over his head. "I didn't see anything! I really didn't see anything!"
Tang Wulin stood on the other side of the formation, watching in silence.
He had already sensed Gu Yue's loathing for him—even her desire to kill him.
Bitterness welled up inside him.
Before, even if he and Gu Yue hadn't been lovers, there had at least been some friendship between them.
But now that Lin An had appeared, all he saw in her eyes was coldness and hostility.
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