The Strange Hu Liena

Hu Liena pursed her lips after hearing this.

The pair of fox ears atop her head twitched back and forth, truly adorable. She thought for a moment, looking thoughtful, then tapped her cheek with her index finger and said, "I think I quite like your first martial soul, the candy. It's sweet and refreshing, but since you're so cold, how about calling it Ice Heart Candy?"

Han Bing thought to himself that it was still better than his Ice Man, but he remained silent.

Hu Liena gave an awkward laugh, looking into Han Bing's deep blue eyes, which were as vast and handsome as the azure sky.

Seeing he had no reaction, Hu Liena said, "I was just saying. So, do you want to know my nickname?"

Hu Liena spoke with bashful charm. For the past few years, Han Bing had either been cultivating or staying in the Elder Hall, never going out.

It was hard to find a chance to be alone, and Hu Liena, who had admired him for a long time, had finally found her opportunity.

Han Bing possessed astonishing strength and excellent features, especially those deep blue eyes, so Hu Liena looked for topics to close the distance between them.

She thought to herself that she was quite attractive, and today, she was determined to melt his frozen heart just a little.

She pursed her lips and thought of a cunning plan.

Han Bing then asked, "Hu Liena, what nickname did you choose?"

Upon hearing this, Hu Liena perked up her fox ears, her extremely alluring eyes gazing straight at him.

She smiled, held up her hands in a peace sign, and raised her eyebrows—she was incredibly cute!

She looked at Han Bing affectionately, thinking, I don't believe you won't be moved by my beauty.

She leaned slowly toward Han Bing and said playfully, "I'm called Little Fox!"

Watching the highly unusual Hu Liena, Han Bing swallowed hard.

What is wrong with this girl today? he wondered.

Han Bing stood stunned for a moment, expressionless. After a brief pause, he said flatly, "Not bad."

Seeing he had no reaction at all, Hu Liena immediately dropped her peace sign. Clearly, she hadn't moved him.

She clenched her hands secretly. Han Bing, you actually have no reaction at all. But you're still young, so I suppose that's normal. I'll wait for you—I'll wait until you're a bit older.

As the Pope's disciple and he as the personal disciple of the Fifth Elder of the Elder Hall, they were a perfect match.

She secretly fantasized about their future happy life.

At this moment, Han Bing had already walked away quickly; he wanted to go to the Soto Soul Fighting Arena early to take a look.

Seeing Han Bing pick up his pace, Hu Liena hurried to chase after him.

"Han Bing, wait for me!"

At the Soto Soul Fighting Arena, a spectacular duel was underway.

The arena was packed with spectators, the noise deafening and the atmosphere heated. Every spectator was captivated by the duel on stage, cheering and shouting for their favorite teams.

Han Bing looked out and spotted a familiar pair in the two-on-two arena.

That team was called the Three-Five Combo.

They were on stage, using exquisite coordination to defeat their opponents, earning applause from the entire arena.

"That team is actually quite impressive. They seem pretty young, too, though compared to Han Bing, they still don't quite measure up."

Hu Liena had caught up and happened to see the Three-Five Combo's duel.

Han Bing nodded, and he and Hu Liena watched quite a few duels at the arena.

The night had grown deep, and Han Bing intended to head home to prepare for tomorrow's duels.

Hu Liena lingered behind, fidgeting, unsure of what to do.

She gathered her courage and called out loudly to Han Bing, "Han Bing!"

Han Bing stopped and turned to look at her. "What is it, Hu Liena?"

Hu Liena pursed her lips and said, somewhat bashfully, "Um, in the future, could you stop calling me Hu Liena? How about calling me Nana?"

"Is that all?"

Hu Liena nodded, like a child who had made a mistake.

Han Bing sighed slightly. What is wrong with this girl today? Don't I usually just call people by their names?

He nodded. "Fine. Nana, let's go home. The duels start tomorrow."

Hu Liena nodded, feeling she had finally taken the first step—starting with how they addressed each other.

He saw her blink, her fox ears twitching gently, a charming smile appearing on her face.

The moonlight spilled down, reflecting on her figure, making her look like a fairy fox from the moon.

She leaned in close to Han Bing and lowered her voice. "I don't want to call you Han Bing either. Calling you by your full name doesn't feel right, especially since we've known each other so long. How about I call you... Bingbing from now on?"

Han Bing's footsteps faltered, his brow furrowing, a trace of helplessness flashing in his deep blue eyes.

After a moment of silence, he replied flatly, "As you wish."

Hu Liena's face instantly blossomed into a smile, and she hurried to walk side-by-side with him.

Moonlight bathed the streets of Soto City, casting their shadows long and thin.

She stole a glance at Han Bing's sharp-featured profile, secretly rejoicing: at least today, he had agreed to change how they addressed each other.

The two then returned to their respective rooms.

Back in his room, Han Bing was well aware of Hu Liena's behavior today. Although he was only twelve, he was a transmigrator.

He couldn't help but shake his head.

"This Little Fox has so many tricks!"

He stretched, didn't think much more of it, and rested quietly for the night.

The next day!

Teacher Gao Lan gathered them in the morning to guide their soul power cultivation, and the afternoon was reserved for team drills and physical training.

After dinner, they began the main event of the day: the Soto Soul Fighting Arena.

The group arrived at the arena.

"Wow! There are so many people, and the arena is huge. This scale is much bigger than the academy."

As Sun Haoran spoke, Gao Lan prepared clothes and various masks for them.

"Put these on. You must not reveal your identities, especially you, Han Bing, understand?"

"Go to the far left to register for the team battle. Once you've finished your one-on-one and two-on-two matches, I'll register you for that!"

The group nodded and chose their individual matches first.

Han Bing wore black robes, his face covered, revealing only his deep blue eyes.

The others were dressed differently, some with masks, some with veils.

Hu Liena wore a pink veil that covered half her face, which only made her look more alluring.

Dressed this way, no one would suspect they were together.

The contestants were dressed in all sorts of ways, so they didn't stand out; many people were covered from head to toe.

Before long, everyone had registered.

Since Xie Yue, Yan, and Hu Liena were level 40, and the others were in their thirties, they were naturally not grouped together.

Hu Liena was far back in the queue, so she wasn't in a hurry and watched Han Bing's battle.

Han Bing was scheduled immediately. The host on stage shouted:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the intense one-on-one duel is about to begin! Coming up next, we have a battle between Soul Elders!"

"Please welcome the level 37 Soul Elder, Evil-Eyed White Tiger, versus the level 39 Soul Elder, Ice Heart Candy! Let's have a round of applause!"

Accompanied by enthusiastic applause, the two slowly took the stage.

When Hu Liena heard that Han Bing had actually used the name she had chosen, she was overjoyed and covered her mouth to hide her smile.

The battle on stage was about to begin.