Wang Dong and the Ice Empress Drawn In

Night quietly fell. Moonlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains into the dormitory, laying a silver-white band of light across the floor.

Li Changqing still sat cross-legged on the bed, his eyes tightly shut.

The Taiji diagram behind him slowly rotated, emanating a gentle yet profound radiance.

The yin and yang energies coiled and flowed around him like two swimming fish. With every cycle, his aura grew a little more steady.

Neither Jiang Nannan nor Ye Guyi came to disturb him.

They knew that what Li Changqing needed most right now was quiet rest and recuperation, so that he could recover from his injuries as quickly as possible.

The dormitory was so quiet that only the steady breathing of the two of them remained.

Wang Dong sat on her own bed, but she did not lie down to sleep.

Her hands braced against the edge of the bed, her gaze remained fixed on the young man across from her as he sat with his eyes closed, regulating his breath.

More precisely, it was fixed on the slowly rotating black-and-white pattern behind him.

Her beautiful eyes were filled with curiosity and confusion.

For some reason, as she looked at that Taiji diagram, she felt inexplicably drawn to it.

What surprised her even more was that the soul power within her had begun circulating on its own, beyond her control. It was as though some invisible force was guiding it, and its rhythm was gradually aligning with the rotation of the Taiji diagram.

Was this... normal?

Wang Dong felt uncertain and alarmed.

She had never encountered anything like this before.

Someone else's martial soul aura could actually trigger the soul power within her to circulate by itself.

It was simply unheard of.

After a brief moment of stunned reflection, she gritted her teeth. Since that was the case, she sat cross-legged as well, closed her eyes, and released her Radiant Goddess Butterfly martial soul.

A phantom of blue-gold butterfly wings gently spread behind her, emitting a soft glow.

At that moment, she clearly felt the profound aura emanating from Li Changqing's body seem to find a passageway. Through some invisible connection, it slowly flowed into her body.

Guided by that aura, her soul power circulated at nearly twice its usual speed!

Wang Dong was both shocked and delighted.

What kind of martial soul was this?

It could even help others speed up their cultivation?

Suppressing her excitement, she quickly calmed her mind, seized this rare opportunity, and circulated her soul power with all her strength, entering a deep state of cultivation.

When Li Changqing slowly opened his eyes, the sky outside was already bright.

Morning light spilled through the window, making the entire dormitory bright and warm.

He gently exhaled a breath of turbid air and felt that his injuries had recovered seventy to eighty percent. His soul power was also a little more solid than before.

This was all thanks to the Life Goddess's inheritance.

Otherwise, it might have taken quite some time for him to recover.

He withdrew the Taiji diagram behind him, rose from the bed, and stretched his somewhat stiff body.

His gaze swept across the room, and he found that Wang Dong was still cultivating.

Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was calm and deep. She was clearly in a deep state of cultivation.

The phantom of the Radiant Goddess Butterfly behind her gently unfurled, radiating a faint blue-gold glow. It looked a little more substantial than it had yesterday.

Seeing this, Li Changqing was somewhat puzzled.

From what he knew, although Wang Dong was quite talented, she was extremely lazy and disliked cultivating.

Otherwise, when she enrolled at the age of twelve, her soul power would not have been lower than Tang San and Xiao Wu's had been at the same age.

Of course, he was only mildly curious. Once he came back to himself, he pushed open the dormitory door and walked out.

The morning air at Shrek Academy was exceptionally fresh.

He followed the tree-lined path and slowly made his way to the shore of Sea God Lake.

Sea God Lake in the morning was as beautiful as an ink-wash painting.

The lake surface was still as a mirror, reflecting the blue sky, white clouds, and lush trees along the shore.

The morning sun rose over the eastern horizon, scattering golden light across the lake. As the breeze swept over it, shimmering ripples spread across the water, like countless fragments of gold dancing on its surface.

Li Changqing sat down on the grass by the lake. As he looked at the peaceful, beautiful scenery before him, his heart was far less calm than it appeared.

He was thinking.

Thinking about this encounter, thinking about the Holy Spirit Cult's actions, thinking about the direction of this era, and thinking about what path he should take next.

If the Taiji diagram had not possessed the ability to distort space, and if not for the support of the divine powers of Life and Destruction, he might truly have fallen there that day.

It seemed that the Holy Spirit Cult did not simply leave these so-called geniuses to fend for themselves.

Just then, a familiar figure approached from nearby.

Huo Yuhao wore a neat academy uniform and looked far more spirited than when he had first enrolled.

When he saw Li Changqing sitting by the lake, his eyes lit up slightly. He quickly stepped forward and respectfully greeted him. "Senior, so you were here! Senior Brother Bei Bei has been looking for you."

Li Changqing glanced at him, a faintly amused smile curling at the corner of his lips. "He's looking for me? Isn't he busy going on dates with his little girlfriend? What does he want with me?"

Huo Yuhao was momentarily stunned by those words. Then his pupils shrank slightly, as though he had understood something.

Yet a trace of confusion appeared on his face as he cautiously probed, "Senior... aren't they teacher and disciple? Why would you say that?"

Li Changqing gave a light laugh without exposing it, merely asking in return, "Teacher and disciple? Have you ever seen a disciple stronger than their teacher? Or have you ever seen a pair of teacher and disciple interact the way those two do?"

Huo Yuhao opened his mouth, wanting to refute him, only to realize that it really did seem to be exactly as Li Changqing had said.

The way Bei Bei and Tang Ya interacted truly did not resemble a traditional teacher-disciple relationship. It was more like they were lovers.

Then why did they keep calling each other Teacher Xiao Ya all day long?

Were they really into that kind of thing?

He laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head in confusion.

Just then, a cold yet crisp voice suddenly rang out in his spiritual sea:

"Yuhao, get closer to him. I can sense a very mysterious aura around that young man."

The speaker was none other than the Ice Empress.

Ever since completing their contract in the Far North, the Ice Empress had remained lodged within Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea and rarely spoke on her own initiative.

Her sudden voice made Huo Yuhao's heart tighten.

Although he did not understand why the Ice Empress had said that, he obediently asked, "Senior... may I sit down?"

Li Changqing did not turn around, his tone casual and calm. "Do as you please. This isn't my territory. Sit if you want to."

Seeing this, Huo Yuhao quickly sat down beside him.

He followed Li Changqing's example and looked out at the glimmering lake ahead, but all of his attention was focused on his spiritual sea.

"Ice Empress, what did you sense?" he asked eagerly in his heart.