"Good. You understand."
Xiao Hongchen began gathering up the loose metal scattered around the Training Ground, walking toward her as he did.
Just then, he caught a subtle movement out of the corner of his eye.
At some point, a small flame dagger had appeared in Xu Tianzhen's hand. Its blade was wreathed in orange-red flames as she stabbed at him from a tricky angle. She had timed it perfectly, striking while his attention was divided by gathering the metal.
"Sigh."
Xiao Hongchen shook his head helplessly. Even a clay figurine had a temper.
His right arm abruptly liquefied. The golden liquid metal stretched out like a living thing, transforming into a flowing rope. Before the flame dagger in Xu Tianzhen's hand could even reach him, it was precisely knocked away.
The metal rope coiled around her, winding up from her slender calves to just below her chest and binding her firmly in place.
"If you think I'm bad at close combat, you're sorely mistaken."
"You—" Xu Tianzhen struggled without success, then her eyes shifted. "You used your fifth Soul Skill! That's cheating!"
"You're accusing me of cheating?" Xiao Hongchen looked at her. "You were the one who conceded first."
As he spoke, he gave a sharp tug with his wrist and pulled Xu Tianzhen in front of him.
"Hey!"
The smug expression on Xu Tianzhen's face suddenly faltered.
Especially when she looked down and saw the sticky golden liquid tightly wrapped around her, heat crept up to her ears before she could stop it.
"That move of yours is really weird..."
she muttered under her breath.
But that wasn't what she really wanted to say. As the liquid metal slowly flowed against her body, she kept feeling something strange.
It was as if no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't escape his control.
And when Xiao Hongchen could suppress her so effortlessly while standing there perfectly calmly, the stark difference in their strength made her feel strangely flustered.
Xu Tianzhen startled herself with the thought.
She was a princess!
Usually, she was the one who messed with other people. Since when had anyone been allowed to pin her down like this?
And yet, she didn't exactly hate it. In fact, it felt a little... novel.
"If this is uncomfortable, Your Highness, I can let you go."
Xiao Hongchen hadn't noticed her wild thoughts at all. He just felt that this princess was far too much trouble.
"Don't—"
Xu Tianzhen blurted it out almost instinctively, then froze as soon as the words left her mouth.
Xiao Hongchen raised an eyebrow.
Xu Tianzhen's face turned bright red.
"I-I mean..."
She abruptly turned her face away.
"I mean I can break free on my own!"
As she spoke, she immediately circulated her Soul Power. Flames flared above her head, and the blazing Sun Fire surged wildly. The terrifying heat made the air around them ripple violently.
The liquid metal wrapped around her began to grow hot. Feeling the burning sensation travel up his right arm, Xiao Hongchen couldn't help grimacing slightly.
"Fine, fine. I'll let go, all right?"
He released the liquid metal and restored his right hand to its normal shape.
As the restraints vanished, Xu Tianzhen suddenly felt a strange emptiness around her waist.
When that peculiar feeling of being wrapped up disappeared, a nameless sense of loss rose in her heart, and an extremely dangerous thought popped into her mind.
At the thought, Xu Tianzhen's face grew even redder. She hurriedly backed away two steps and pretended to brush the metal marks off her clothes, hiding her awkwardness.
"Xiao Hongchen," she said, with less swagger than usual. "You win."
"Don't state the obvious," Xiao Hongchen said flatly.
"..."
Xu Tianzhen stared at him for two seconds, tucked her tousled hair behind her ear, then lifted her chin.
"A bet's a bet. I'll honor our agreement and transfer to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy."
Xiao Hongchen raised an eyebrow. "Who asked you? When did I ever make a bet with you?"
"I don't care." Xu Tianzhen put her hands on her hips. "I said so, and that settles it. From now on, I'm sticking to you."
Xiao Hongchen's mouth twitched.
As expected, the last thing he wanted had come true.
"...Anything else? I'm going back."
"Go ahead." Xu Tianzhen waved her hand.
Xiao Hongchen let out a sigh of relief and turned to leave without hesitation.
"Xiao Hongchen!"
He stopped.
Behind him, Xu Tianzhen clenched her little fists. A determined light shone in her amethyst eyes as she called out loudly:
"I'll pursue you at any cost and become your woman!"
Xu Tianzhen shouted so loudly that all the spectators in the stands heard her loud and clear.
"What? Her Highness the Princess wants to pursue my Xiao Xiao? I can't accept this!"
"Maya, quit making a scene. Even without the princess, do you think you can compete with Ye Guyi, who's already by his side?"
Her best friend, whom she'd forcibly dragged along, mercilessly roasted her.
Scenes like this were playing out all over the stands...
Some fearless spectators even took out their Soul Guidance recording devices to secretly film it. This explosive news would surely be all over the underground tabloids in no time.
"Suit yourself." Xiao Hongchen didn't even look back.
That girl was unbelievable. If she wanted to say something like that, couldn't she find somewhere private?
Xu Tianzhen was left behind, stomping her foot in anger.
That man hadn't even taken her declaration of pursuit seriously. But she never took back anything she said. If she'd said she would pursue him, then she would see it through. Just you wait!
Over the next week,
the entire Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy—and even the circles of young Soul Engineers in Ming Capital—were completely swept up in the same piece of news.
The empire's little princess, Xu Tianzhen, had announced in public that she was going to pursue Xiao Hongchen.
And she'd shouted it herself right there in the Soul Fighting Arena, with countless people watching.
Some busybodies had even secretly filmed the whole thing with Soul Guidance recording devices. It was said that within just one day, the footage had been copied more than a thousand times through underground channels. The price had soared, yet demand still outstripped supply.
Some people even analyzed Xiao Hongchen's expression frame by frame, trying to figure out whether he'd been moved.
As one of the central figures in the affair, Xu Tianzhen showed no intention of keeping a low profile.
She took care of her transfer faster than anyone else.
The very next day, she was already wearing her new Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy uniform and swaggering through the academy gates.
From then on,
a little tagalong who wouldn't stay away, no matter how many times he tried to shake her, appeared by Xiao Hongchen's side.
It wasn't that Ye Guyi had never considered stopping her.
The problem was that the other girl was a princess of the empire, while she was merely a Soul Master from a common background.
Neither her status nor her position would allow her to openly stop Xu Tianzhen from getting close to Xiao Hongchen.
So she could only watch helplessly as the purple-haired girl went over to Xiao Hongchen again and again, brazenly claiming the spot that belonged to her.
And, little by little, an emotion she couldn't quite explain began to weigh on her heart.
Bitterness, irritation, and just a little... sense of crisis.
Before you continue