"What's with you two standing so far apart?"
Xie Xie escaped to Tang Wulin's side, rubbing his bruised arm as he lowered his voice and complained.
"Let's be honest. We've known each other for so long. Is it really worth turning on each other over a woman?"
He paused, then suddenly thought of a crucial question.
"By the way, is Lin An a man or a woman? If he's a man, Tang Wulin, you back off, and we'll stay brothers. If he's a woman, Gu Yue, you can forget about her too."
He thought his proposal was perfectly fair.
Tang Wulin and Gu Yue both turned to look at him.
"What do you know?"
"You don't understand."
They spoke in unison.
Xie Xie's expression cracked.
"Fine, fine, I don't understand. I'm leaving."
He raised both hands and tactfully retreated to one side.
Gu Yue and Tang Wulin stood several meters apart, staring coldly at each other.
Gu Yue seethed with resentment.
Damn it, the fog had been too thick just now, and the dragon scales had been in the wrong place.
She couldn't see whether the Dragon Queen was male or female at all.
But the Dragon Queen cared so much about Tang Wulin—giving him medicine, helping him regulate his meridians, and even taking the initiative to invite him to her dorm.
Could it be... that the Dragon Queen really was a woman?
She couldn't help wondering.
Looks like she'd have to find a chance to verify it herself.
Otherwise, being short one root would put her at a serious disadvantage.
Just then, Wu Zhangkong's gaze swept across the entire formation and suddenly stopped.
His brow furrowed slightly, and his expression darkened before their eyes.
"Where's Lin An?"
The three words struck the ground like icicles.
The formation fell silent for a moment.
Xie Xie stepped forward with a strained expression, his voice wavering. "Reporting to Teacher Wu, he's feeling unwell and resting in his dorm."
"Feeling unwell?"
Wu Zhangkong smiled.
His smile was so cold it sent a chill down their spines.
"He was fine in this morning's practical class. He even came first in the whole class without throwing a single punch. How is he feeling unwell just in time for my class this afternoon?"
His voice suddenly rose, lashing through the air like a whip.
Xie Xie hunched his shoulders and didn't dare answer.
"Teacher Wu, Lin An helped us cultivate last night and didn't sleep at all." Tang Wulin stepped forward to explain. "He really—"
"Enough."
Wu Zhangkong cut him off, the coldness in his voice nearly palpable.
"On his first day of school, he didn't sleep all night—who knows what he was doing? And now he dares skip my class?"
Anger surged through him.
He hated special treatment most of all. This rich kid thought he could come to class when he felt like it and sleep in whenever he didn't.
Everyone else was working themselves to the bone, sweating blood and sweat. What made him so special? Just because he was rich?
"Keep running. No stopping."
Wu Zhangkong swept his cold gaze across them all.
"Ten extra laps each. No Soul Power. Anyone who didn't finish this morning has to make up those laps too."
A wave of suppressed groans rolled through the formation.
After speaking, Wu Zhangkong turned and headed toward the boys' dormitory.
He was going to drag that pampered young master out himself.
And teach him a hard lesson.
Even a rich kid didn't get a pass.
No one was allowed to slack off in his class.
Wasn't he feeling unwell?
Then Wu Zhangkong would see for himself exactly what was wrong.
Gu Yue watched Wu Zhangkong's retreating figure, her expression changing.
This was bad.
She hurriedly pulled out her communicator and tapped rapidly at the screen.
"Wife! Run! Old Wu's coming to catch you!"
At that moment, Wu Zhangkong was striding faster and faster along the tree-lined path to the dormitory.
His white robes fluttered.
The chill around him was almost tangible.
Students who spotted him from afar scattered to either side as if they'd seen a ghost.
None of them dared greet him.
Long Hengxu had just turned out from the corner of the teaching building.
He was holding a freshly brewed cup of goji berry tea.
Before it had even cooled, he saw Wu Zhangkong heading toward the dormitory at a brisk pace.
His heart lurched, and he nearly dropped the cup.
"Teacher Wu! Teacher Wu!"
Long Hengxu hurried after him in three quick strides and grabbed his sleeve.
Before he could catch his breath, he hurriedly asked,
"What are you going to do?"
"Find my student." Wu Zhangkong kept walking, his voice cold as a blade. "If he skips class on his first day, what will happen later?"
Long Hengxu's mind buzzed.
Just as he'd feared.
The thing he'd dreaded most had happened.
"I've already approved Lin An's leave."
Long Hengxu reluctantly stepped in front of Wu Zhangkong and forced an ugly smile. "Please go back and let him rest—"
"He's my student." Wu Zhangkong stopped and looked down at Long Hengxu, his eyes devoid of warmth. "My class. No one but me can approve his leave."
Long Hengxu felt his blood pressure shoot up.
That stubborn mule.
He took a deep breath, lowered his voice, and pulled Wu Zhangkong beneath the trees by the roadside.
He looked around, made sure no one was there, then gritted his teeth and spoke.
"Teacher Wu, can't you do me a favor? Could you please stop making trouble? We just had that whole mess with Gu Yue this morning, and then someone threw soup around in the cafeteria. I've been the director of discipline for years, and I've never had as many disasters in a single day as I've had today!"
He grew more agitated as he spoke, nearly spitting on Wu Zhangkong.
"Do you have any idea who he is? If you really anger him, you couldn't pay him back even if they sold you! Can't you just let him have some peace and quiet?"
Wu Zhangkong looked at him expressionlessly.
"I don't care." The three words landed like nails driven into the floor. "He's my student, and I'm his homeroom teacher. He's under my charge. No one skips my class."
Long Hengxu felt his breath catch in his chest.
He stared at Wu Zhangkong's cold face for several seconds, then took a deep breath and tugged him farther beneath the trees.
"Fine. You want a reason, right? I'll give you one."
His voice sank so low it was almost lost in the wind.
"Do you want to know why that young master came to our remote little place without a single bodyguard?"
Wu Zhangkong's eyebrows twitched.
He had wondered about that.
The heir to the Universal Group was worth an unimaginable fortune.
Forget kidnapping—just that face alone was enough to invite trouble.
By rights, someone like him should have seven or eight Soul Saint-level guards accompanying him in secret whenever he went out.
Yet Lin An had been at the school for two days, and aside from a few students who clustered around him, Wu Zhangkong hadn't seen a single proper attendant.
It didn't make sense.
But Wu Zhangkong merely replied coolly, "I don't."
Long Hengxu choked, nearly coughing himself to death.
He stared at Wu Zhangkong for three seconds, then gave up on trying to reason with him.
"I'm telling you this in secret. Don't tell anyone you heard it from me."
Long Hengxu leaned close to Wu Zhangkong's ear, his voice thinner than a mosquito's. "They say, above our heads—"
He raised a finger and pointed at the sky.
Wu Zhangkong looked up instinctively.
Overhead, a bank of lead-gray clouds hung low, pressing down on the sky.
Faint flashes of lightning rolled through the clouds, much like the lingering aura of the bolt that had struck Li Chushui that morning.
He couldn't make out anything.
"There's a True God-Grade Mecha."
Long Hengxu's voice sounded beside his ear, trembling in a way even he hadn't noticed.
"It has locked onto all of Eastsea City."
Before you continue