The next morning.
Qiangu Qingfeng emerged from meditation and opened his eyes to find Gu Yue curled up, her head resting on his legs.
This was a rather sensitive position. Good thing I'm still young, or I'd be standing at attention and poking her in the face...
Watching Gu Yue sleep so soundly, Qiangu Qingfeng sighed. Having a senior sister like her was going to bring him no end of trouble.
Oh, well. Taking a loss was a blessing in disguise.
At least last night's "dual cultivation" had brought him substantial benefits. His Soul Power cultivation had improved significantly, and he'd probably break through to Level 22 in two or three weeks.
If he could rope Tang Wulin and Xie Xie into it too, they might speed things up even more.
He could leave compressing his Soul Power to his Soul Core. What Qiangu Qingfeng wanted was to raise his Soul Power Level as high as possible. If he could crush opponents with a higher level, then he would. Fighting above his level was only ever a last resort.
He didn't want to end up like that genius named Feng Xiaotian from two thousand years ago, whose Self-Created Soul Skill left his Soul Power cultivation out of step with his age and talent.
"Wake up, Senior Sister. It's almost time for class."
"Mm..."
Gu Yue didn't budge. Instead, she started getting handsy, wrapping her arms around Qiangu Qingfeng's waist.
"You were already awake, weren't you, Senior Sister?"
Gu Yue buried her face even deeper, but Qiangu Qingfeng still caught the momentary stiffness in her body.
He decisively woke Gu Yue up, then took her out to wash up.
Being late on only their second day of school wasn't his style.
Seeing the two little ones emerge from the house, Qiangu Qingfeng smiled with satisfaction.
Wonderful, wonderful. Childhood sweethearts, innocent and inseparable—that was exactly what he wanted.
The more he looked at Gu Yue, the more he liked the girl.
"I'll take you to school today."
During the morning rush, Eastsea City's Inner Ring Third Loop was so jammed that not even a drop of water could get through. Students from Soul Master Academies who didn't board at school were getting anxious.
"Dad, hurry up! I'm going to be late!"
"What can I do when traffic's this bad?"
Then the students in the upper grades saw a shooting star streak across the sky. On closer inspection, it was a person flying with two students in matching uniforms.
"Dad, look how great that parent is! They're flying straight to school!"
"Are you stupid? That's a Titled Douluo. How could we compare?"
Just before the class bell rang, Qiangu Qingfeng arrived at the classroom with Qiangu Qingfeng and Gu Yue.
"You were almost late. Don't let it happen again."
Wu Zhangkong said this in his usual icy tone, then had Gu Yue and Qiangu Qingfeng hurry to their seats.
Qiangu Qingfeng gave a slight nod. This Teacher Wu was qualified to serve as an introductory teacher for Qian'er.
He just had some issues with his state of mind. Otherwise, he shouldn't have stopped there.
Was he a student from Shrek?
As Qiangu Qingfeng sized up Wu Zhangkong, Wu Zhangkong noticed him too.
Wu Zhangkong's pupils contracted slightly. For the first time, the expression on his face—an icy mountain that had never thawed in ten thousand years—changed.
"This junior pays his respects to Your Excellency."
It was the first time he'd encountered such an unfathomably powerful expert in Eastsea City.
Looking at him was like gazing into an abyss.
Wu Zhangkong felt that this man's cultivation was surely above his teacher Zhuo Shi's.
Qiangu Qingfeng didn't like Shrek, especially since that old dog Long Yeyue had dared to abuse his grandson.
But one thing was one thing. If Wu Zhangkong devoted himself to teaching, he wouldn't deliberately make things difficult for him.
After all, not everyone was as unreasonable as that bunch of lunatics on Sea God Island.
"Don't mind me. Just teach as you normally would."
With that, Qiangu Qingfeng turned and left.
Inside the classroom, Xie Xie hurriedly waved, signaling Qiangu Qingfeng to take the window seat in the back row beside him.
"Come on, come on, sit here, Boss!"
Back row by the window, the king's hometown.
Qiangu Qingfeng was pleased.
The two hurried over and sat down. Once everyone had arrived, Wu Zhangkong prepared to begin the day's lesson.
But before he could say a word, an unexpected visitor barged in.
"Teacher Wu, you can't be so selfish."
Qiangu Qingfeng looked up. The speaker was a strikingly beautiful female teacher with a graceful figure, dressed in a close-fitting office suit that drew plenty of attention.
Wu Zhangkong's brows furrowed slightly. His tone was unfriendly, and he didn't even look at her. "Teacher Ye, if you have something to say, say it. Don't interfere with my lesson."
Seeing how little he cared about her, Ye Yingluo seethed and spoke up at once.
"I'm here to take Qiangu Qingfeng and Gu Yue with me. They're completely unsuited to Class Five. In this garbage class, they'll only—"
The next moment, she couldn't get another word out.
A layer of frost rose from beneath Wu Zhangkong's feet, radiating a biting chill that made everyone feel as if they'd fallen into an ice cellar.
"Don't insult my students. They may have started behind, but that doesn't mean they'll be any weaker than your Class One students in the future."
Hearing Wu Zhangkong stand up for them warmed the hearts of many students in Class Five.
Even the Ice Mountain had a heart!
Ye Yingluo realized she'd spoken out of turn, but she still lifted her little chin like a proud swan. "Director Long said that assigning Xie Xie to you was meant to give Class Five a different kind of stimulation."
"Since you already have one genius among the new students, it shouldn't be a problem to let me have the other two, right?"
"If they're willing to go with you, I won't stop them."
That was exactly what Ye Yingluo had been waiting for Wu Zhangkong to say. She'd already done her homework yesterday. Qiangu Qingfeng's Martial Soul needed Soul Masters with dragon attributes, and one of the little geniuses in her class, Wang Jinxi, had the Bone Dragon King as his Martial Soul.
"Qiangu Qingfeng, come to Class One. We have everything you need."
"Whether it's resources or Soul Masters with dragon attributes, surely we're far better than Class Five?"
Ye Yingluo said this with complete confidence. She thought Qiangu Qingfeng had no reason to refuse.
Xie Xie and Tang Wulin couldn't help holding their breath. Tang Wulin especially wanted Qiangu Qingfeng to stay.
Why was my Martial Soul a useless Blue Silver Grass?
Why couldn't I have a dragon-attribute Martial Soul?
Why was I so weak, with such poor talent?
A wisp of ferocity seeped quietly from the Sea of Consciousness. Deep within, eighteen golden seals were under intense assault from a certain being.
But a surge of blue-gold light rose up, and the disturbance quickly subsided.
Still, the seal had already begun to loosen. There was no reversing it.
Outside, Qiangu Qingfeng listened to Ye Yingluo's endless boasting and glanced at Tang Wulin, whose eyes were full of inferiority and whose words seemed stuck in his throat.
He cut Ye Yingluo off and walked straight over to Tang Wulin and Xie Xie.
"Teacher, I already have teammates. They're excellent too, no worse than anyone in Class One."
"Boss!"
"Qiangu Qingfeng..."
The two of them were so moved they couldn't speak. They hadn't expected Qiangu Qingfeng to consider them friends after only a day together.
Then Qiangu Qingfeng said, "If you insist on having me join Class One, that's fine."
"Let's have a contest. If you win, Gu Yue and I will go with you."
"If you lose, then Wang Jinxi from your class has to come to ours."
Ye Yingluo was taken aback, but confidence soon returned to her face. "Fine. I accept!"
Qiangu Qingfeng was secretly overjoyed.
Hehe, sorry, Zhang Ziyang, my man. I'm going to steal your best friend away—straight into total corruption!
Moooooo—
At that moment, Wang Jinxi was still in class, completely unaware of what was going on. He only felt a chill run down his back.
Had he caught a cold?