Friends

He was still too weak, and his understanding of his martial soul was too shallow. Rashly exploring that second power might trigger unpredictable consequences.

He might as well focus on cultivating the Black Dragon King martial soul first. Once his strength was strong enough, he would go and unravel that mystery.

Lu Mingfei extinguished the soul guidance lamp, lay down on the bed, and closed his eyes.

The night grew late, and the Spirit Hall garrison quieted in the moonlight like a sleeping giant beast.

The window of Lu Mingfei's room was not tightly shut, and a wisp of silver-white moonlight leaked in through the gap, landing precisely on the back of his hand.

That Black Dragon King tattoo flickered slightly under the illumination of the moonlight, a layer of faint silver luster rising across the black scales before returning to its original state.

Lu Mingfei was already asleep, and he did not see all of this.

Deep within his dreams, however.

A giant white dragon opened its silver-white eyes, overlooking the human figure curled up in the darkness, its gaze carrying an indescribable, complex emotion...

There was expectation, scrutiny, and even a faint trace of a destiny-like pity.

"Roar..."

The White Dragon King's voice was like a chime from the nine heavens, echoing through the boundless void.

Then the dream shattered, Lu Mingfei rolled over, muttered something, and fell even more deeply asleep.

Outside the window, the night wind brushed the treetops, making a rustling sound, as if someone were whispering softly, or as if some ancient prophecy were slowly unfolding.

The next morning, Lu Mingfei was awakened by a burst of urgent knocking on the door.

He climbed out of bed in a daze, thinking it was someone sent by Zhou Dashan to urge him to train, but when he pushed the door open and looked out,

a round-faced boy a half-head shorter than him was standing outside, grinning at him and revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

"You must be Lu Mingfei! My name is Chen Xiaolu, and I live next door to you."

The round-faced boy squeezed through the door with easy familiarity, sitting down on the edge of Lu Mingfei's bed with his two short legs swinging back and forth.

"I watched when you took that test the other day, oh my god, that punch cracked the stone platform right open, you are so fierce!"

Lu Mingfei gave a yawn, not yet fully awake, and responded vaguely, "Oh... thanks."

"What's there to thank, we'll be classmates from now on anyway."

Chen Xiaolu fished two steaming white-flour steamed buns from his chest, shoved one into Lu Mingfei's hand, and started gnawing on the other himself.

"Straight out of the cafeteria pot, I sneakily grabbed an extra one, don't spread it around. You consume so much, you need to build yourself back up."

Lu Mingfei held that warm steamed bun and froze for two seconds.

Back in Holy Soul Village, Old Jack had raised him all by himself, and life was tight, with white flour steamed buns only eaten once every few days.

Now, although he had entered Spirit Hall and the food was much better than before, someone proactively bringing him food still warmed his heart a little.

"Thanks," Lu Mingfei said again, this time much more earnestly than before.

Chen Xiaolu finished the steamed bun in a few bites, wiped his mouth, leaned closer to Lu Mingfei, and lowered his voice.

"Hey, you'd better pay attention. You showed off way too much during the test the other day, and quite a few people in the camp don't like the look of you.

Especially that guy named Wang Teng, thirteen years old, rank twenty-three soul power, already with two soul rings. He struts around our primary camp like he owns the place, and nobody dares mess with him.

After hearing about your talent, he's been spreading word that he's looking for a chance to give you some pointers."

"Give me pointers?" Lu Mingfei took a bite of the steamed bun, his expression unchanged. "How so?"

"How else, by beating you up."

Chen Xiaolu rolled his eyes. "That guy is just like that, he can't stand anyone being better than him.

Last time, a newcomer with rank nineteen soul power found himself hauled to the training ground under some pretext and beaten up, and it took him days of lying in bed just to crawl back up.

You better be careful, his soul power is higher than yours, and he has soul ring enhancement. You really can't beat him."

Lu Mingfei took another bite of the steamed bun and said nothing.

He was digesting the information provided by Chen Xiaolu.

Wang Teng, thirteen years old, rank twenty-three, two soul rings.

This setup definitely counted as top-tier within the primary camp, but Lu Mingfei was not particularly afraid.

Various thoughts spun rapidly through his mind regarding how to handle it if he really got cornered.

Meeting force with force straight on certainly wasn't cost-effective, but losing to someone was one thing; he wasn't the type to offer the other cheek after being slapped.

"Alright, I know," Lu Mingfei shoved the last bite of the steamed bun into his mouth. "Thanks, brother."

Seeing his calm and unruffled demeanor, Chen Xiaolu grew somewhat worried instead. He opened his mouth as if to say more, but the whistle for training assembly had already sounded.

The two of them hurriedly tidied up and ran toward the training ground together.

The first class of the morning was soul power control.

Instructor Ye Fei had brought a new training apparatus today... the soul power induction disk.

It was a palm-sized circular jade disk carved with intricate patterns on its surface. As long as soul power was injected into it, the disk would emit different colors of light according to the strength and purity of that soul power.

Ye Fei instructed everyone to take turns channeling soul power into the induction disk, continuously adjusting their soul power output according to her commands so that the disk's light switched between specified colors.

Lu Mingfei was the first to step up.

He placed his right hand over the induction disk, and black soul power slowly poured in, causing the disk to instantly light up with a deep purple radiance.

Ye Fei instructed, "Switch to blue."

At a thought from Lu Mingfei, his soul power output decreased slightly, and the disk's color transitioned from deep purple to pale blue, stabilizing.

"Switch to red."

"Switch to golden."

Lu Mingfei managed to complete the switch within a few breaths for every single command, and the color each time was extremely pure, without a trace of impurities.

Ye Fei nodded with satisfaction, signaling for Lu Mingfei to step back.

Yet the moment Lu Mingfei withdrew his hand, the patterns on the induction disk suddenly flickered abnormally.

A trace of extremely faint silver-white light flashed and vanished deep within the patterns, so fast it seemed like an illusion.

Ye Fei narrowed her eyes slightly and glanced at Lu Mingfei, but the latter had already retreated back into the formation with his expression as usual.

She shook her head, assuming it was a minor glitch with the induction disk, and did not pursue the matter further.

When it was the other trainees' turn to go up, Lu Mingfei stood in the back row of the formation, his gaze sweeping slowly through the crowd.

He spotted the Wang Teng whom Chen Xiaolu had mentioned.

Standing at the very front of the formation, he was a head taller than those around him, with broad shoulders and a thick back, his square face exuding an unruly and arrogant domineering aura.

His collar was adorned with two star badges, the highest among all the trainees.

Wang Teng had also witnessed Lu Mingfei's performance earlier, and a trace of scrutiny and vigilance flashed in his gaze, though a playful smile hung at the corners of his mouth.

Lu Mingfei did not lock eyes with him for long, naturally shifting his gaze away.

He didn't want to stir up trouble right now; getting his training done properly and raising his strength mattered more than anything else.