"Hey, Dean Yu, what's up?" Long Yuan answered the Soul Guidance Communication while tidying up his dorm room.
Although he wasn't a teacher, he still had a dorm room of his own. Compared with the freshmen's four-person rooms, the teachers' accommodations were more like small studios. They weren't large, but they had everything one could need.
"What? Wulin got into a fight with his roommate?"
Yu Zhen sighed helplessly. "Yeah. Director Long Hengxu just reported it to me. They even punched a huge hole in the dorm wall."
"Ah, all right. I'll head over now."
Outside Dorm Room 205, the hallway was crammed with students from every year, along with parents who had brought their children to the academy.
They crowded together to watch what was happening inside the dorm, but no one dared go any closer.
"Okay, okay, make way! Go back to what you were doing!"
"Hello, Dean!"
"Hello, Dean!"
The crowd parted. The students watching all greeted him as Yu Zhen and Long Yuan went inside one after the other.
Once Yu Zhen had spoken, most of the crowd dispersed. Only the students who lived on the second floor remained, peeking out from their doorways.
"Dean, you're finally here."
Long Hengxu, caught between a rock and a hard place, looked as if he'd seen a lifeline and hurried over.
"Mm. Director Long, what happened?" Yu Zhen asked.
Although he hadn't figured out how to deal with the situation, Long Hengxu had gotten to the bottom of it. He immediately gave a brief account of what had started the fight.
It turned out that when Tang Wulin had come to register at the dorm, he hadn't greeted Zhou Changxi the way Zhou had demanded, and the two had gotten into an argument.
As a local of Eastsea City, Zhou Changxi's family had some influence. He looked down on someone like Tang Wulin, a "country bumpkin," and had thrown the first punch.
Tang Wulin wasn't exactly a pushover either—Long Yuan had taught him that. He hadn't put up with Zhou's bullying and had hit back on the spot.
But he hadn't held back. One punch had smashed through the dorm's outer wall, and the flying rubble had happened to hit Xie Xie, who had just arrived.
And so the fight had turned into a brawl among all three of them. Yun Xiao had gone to find a teacher, and since Long Hengxu happened to be nearby, he had arrived in time to stop them.
As Long Yuan listened to Long Hengxu recount what had happened, he looked into the dorm. The place was a complete wreck, as if it were about to be demolished.
Fortunately, Tang Wulin had retained some sense and hadn't used the Golden Dragon Claw. Otherwise, this would have been much harder to resolve.
When Long Hengxu finished, he looked to Yu Zhen for guidance. He was at a loss today.
Yu Zhen was conflicted, too.
This wasn't the kind of minor scuffle in the original story. The boys had been fighting in earnest, and with Tang Wulin's monstrous strength, the dorm would have to be completely rebuilt. The hallway had also sustained considerable damage, including a gaping hole in its outer wall...
According to Eastsea Academy's rules, Tang Wulin should be expelled for this. But he wasn't an ordinary student...
Never mind the fact that Tang Wulin was a gifted young genius in his own right. His master was standing right beside Yu Zhen.
Yu Zhen looked at Long Yuan.
Long Yuan understood. He walked over and patted Tang Wulin on the shoulder. "You were in the right, but you went too far. You'll pay the market rate for the repairs."
His meaning was simple: he would have his disciple pay for the damage, and that would be the end of it.
"Mm, I understand, Teacher." Tang Wulin nodded.
Ever since he'd spent several million Federal Coins in the blink of an eye the other day, he'd become much less stingy with money.
"All right. I think Teacher Long's solution is quite reasonable."
Then Yu Zhen looked at Zhou Changxi, who was in a truly miserable state. "Director Long, sorry for the trouble, but please take this child to the infirmary."
Only after everyone had mostly left did Long Yuan turn to Tang Wulin. The boy still had his head lowered, lost in thought.
"Wulin, well done. You didn't let that bloodline of yours down."
Tang Wulin looked up in surprise. "Master, aren't you angry with me?"
"What would I be angry about? He was picking on you, and you weren't supposed to hit back?" Long Yuan rolled his eyes.
"All right, you can't stay in this dorm. Go stay at the Blacksmith Association for the next few days, then come back for the opening ceremony. The academy should have sorted out the rest by then. Remember to pay for the repairs. I'll ask your dean about the amount later."
"I understand, Master!" Tang Wulin nodded, gathered his things, and left.
Fortunately, Zhou Changxi and Xie Xie had been the only ones getting beaten up. The luggage set aside hadn't been damaged.
After seeing Tang Wulin off, Long Yuan returned to his own dorm.
"Hmm? Why are those two boys mixed up together again?" He frowned.
His divine sense told him that Tang Wulin had barely made it out of the school gates before Xie Xie caught up with him. Long Yuan didn't know what Xie Xie wanted, but he couldn't be bothered to interfere.
Still, Xie Xie...
"I remember Xie Xie's Martial Soul eventually awakens as the Space-Time Dragon. He might be worth recruiting, at least."
As for this so-called Space-Time Dragon, Long Yuan didn't know much about it.
It sounded like a descendant of the Emerald Dragon King, but as far as he knew, the Dragon Clan had no Dragon King who controlled time. So where had this Space-Time Dragon come from?
"Could it be that the descendants of the Emerald Dragon King who survived back then changed somehow?"
"Hmm?"
As Long Yuan pondered the origins of the Space-Time Dragon, a familiar presence suddenly entered his perception.
Wherever it passed, the energy of the seven elements stirred to life, as if cheering the arrival of their master.
"Silver hair, purple eyes... Gu Yuena?" Long Yuan raised an eyebrow. "She really managed to convince Na'er?"
That was fine, though. It saved him the trouble of worrying about more things.
It seemed Gu Yuena had no intention of putting on an act, either. The fluctuations of the seven elements around her told Long Yuan that the Martial Soul she was revealing to the outside world this time definitely wasn't the Elemental Master from the original story.
"Forget it. Let her do as she likes. There's no rush. I'll see her at the opening ceremony."
Long Yuan withdrew his divine sense. Gu Yuena had already reached the dormitory, and it wouldn't be polite to keep watching.
That night, Long Yuan lay in bed and, for once, went to sleep. At his level, he could go without sleep indefinitely, but he still enjoyed the feeling of sleeping.
"Long... Yuan... please wake up..."
Hm?
Long Yuan's eyes flew open. Blinding golden light flared in them. He was so vigilant that even in sleep, he kept his divine sense on guard; the slightest disturbance would wake him at once.
Only, the scene before him wasn't his dorm room. It was a bizarre, fantastical space.
At the very center of it, a ball of light floated silently...