Wang Dong's Awkwardness, Three Months

Ma Xiaotao's voice was unusually gentle.

Hearing her words, Li Qingming fell silent for a second before speaking.

"I'm Li Qingming from Class One, Year One—a new student this year. All right, Senior, if there's nothing else, the two of us will be leaving first."

Li Qingming stood up and looked at Ma Xiaotao.

Ma Xiaotao froze when she heard Li Qingming's name. She unconsciously repeated it, then nodded somewhat awkwardly.

She suddenly pushed off the ground, fiery wings spreading from her back as she swiftly flew toward Sea God's Pavilion.

Only after Ma Xiaotao left did Wang Dong stare after her retreating figure, his eyes filled with indignation.

"She was clearly the one who attacked first. Even if she's a senior from the inner courtyard, shouldn't she give us an explanation? We're just letting her off like that? And where's the compensation she promised us?"

As Wang Dong spoke, he pouted and glared resentfully in the direction Ma Xiaotao had gone.

Seeing Wang Dong's displeasure, Li Qingming gave him a helpless glance. "What compensation do you need? I'll give it to you."

Li Qingming's voice was soft—rather, casual.

Yet upon hearing his words, Wang Dong looked at him in utter disbelief, followed by an inexplicable sense of grievance.

Seeing the confusion in the young man's eyes, Wang Dong raised his fist and punched Li Qingming squarely in the chest before turning and running away.

Li Qingming stared at Wang Dong's retreating back, completely baffled.

He had no idea what the other person meant. Wang Dong had gotten angry again for no reason.

But looking at the grilled fish beside him, he fell silent for a moment, then sat back down, took out another grilled fish, and slowly began eating.

Meanwhile, Wang Dong ran back to the dormitory and slammed the door shut. He leaned his entire body against it, gasping for breath.

His eyes were full of confusion. He did not understand why he felt so aggrieved, as though he were an outsider and Ma Xiaotao was Li Qingming's friend instead.

The feeling was strange and made him inexplicably resentful.

"Why do I feel like this? I clearly have no relationship with him. We're not even close!"

"If he wants to speak up for Ma Xiaotao, then fine, let him speak up for her! He might as well have asked for some compensation!"

As Wang Dong spoke, he looked at his fair, slender fingers. His hand slowly clenched into a fist, yet an inexplicable grievance welled up in his heart.

He did not understand why he felt wronged, nor did he know what he was supposed to say.

So he silently leaned against the door and stood there quietly, at a complete loss.

It was already late when Li Qingming returned.

He had admired the night scenery around Sea God's Pavilion for a while before heading back.

Seeing Wang Dong already asleep on the bed, Li Qingming's eyes held a trace of confusion.

However, he did not ask any questions. Instead, he quietly sat cross-legged and continued cultivating.

Inside Sea God's Pavilion, Yan Shaozhe's brows furrowed slightly as he looked at a female soul master nearby.

The female soul master came out and nodded at him. Only then did Yan Shaozhe push open the door and enter.

Ma Xiaotao sat there, the evil fire around her body clearly having been suppressed—or rather, having stabilized.

"What exactly happened? This afternoon, someone saw you rush out of Sea God's Pavilion, only to return shortly afterward. The power of the evil fire around you was clearly on the verge of going out of control, so why did it calm down so quickly?"

Yan Shaozhe looked at Ma Xiaotao, his tone questioning.

He did not know what had happened, but it was obvious that there were things he did not know.

However, seeing his disciple bite her lip and remain unwilling to speak, Yan Shaozhe's brows furrowed further.

He was no fool. As the dean of the Martial Soul Department, he knew many things well—especially the evil fire within his disciple.

For this evil fire to be suppressed, it would be extremely difficult unless someone with ultimate ice intervened.

Yet seeing his disciple grit her teeth and refuse to speak, Yan Shaozhe ultimately did not press her.

"First tell your teacher this: did you hurt anyone this time? Or kill someone, perhaps?"

Yan Shaozhe paused slightly as he spoke.

Meeting his gaze, Ma Xiaotao hurriedly shook her head.

Only after seeing that she had not harmed anyone did Yan Shaozhe breathe a sigh of relief, though his expression grew even more solemn.

He was curious about whom Ma Xiaotao had encountered.

However, there were no surveillance devices in this era, and all sorts of students came and went around Sea God's Pavilion, so he could not determine it for the moment.

Still, seeing the hesitant look in his disciple's eyes, he asked helplessly, "If you have something to say, say it."

"Teacher, could you give me a few of Shrek Academy's exclusive soul coin cards? I want to compensate him. He saved me once. If it weren't for him, my evil fire would most likely have gone out of control again."

Ma Xiaotao lowered her head as she spoke, her cheeks faintly flushing.

The thought of him promising to help her continuously ease her evil fire made her feel strange.

Especially when she recalled that warm sensation, Ma Xiaotao's legs trembled unconsciously.

Seeing his disciple like this, Yan Shaozhe frowned. After hesitating for a moment, he finally took out a card and tossed it directly to Ma Xiaotao.

"This has a balance of two hundred thousand gold soul coins. Give it to that person when the time comes."

"This card can be used anywhere in Shrek Academy. And since it's unregistered, you don't need to worry about your teacher finding out."

Yan Shaozhe glanced at Ma Xiaotao as he spoke. He truly felt rather helpless about this direct disciple of his.

Only after watching Yan Shaozhe turn and leave did Ma Xiaotao let out a long breath.

"I'll give it to him next time I see him. With this card, he should forgive me, right?"

Thinking of how the young man had asked her for money, she guessed that he might be short on funds.

Looking at the card, a somewhat satisfied smile appeared on her face.

Meanwhile, the next morning, Li Qingming opened his eyes and discovered that Wang Dong had already left.

Li Qingming did not understand Wang Dong's inexplicable attitude.

He did not know what it meant, but after a moment of silence, he ultimately said nothing and simply got up to tidy himself up.

The next two days of classes passed quickly.

Aside from practical combat training, which Li Qingming did not participate in, quite a few classmates challenged him in other activities.

However, after hearing about his performance the previous day, the students who had intended to challenge him went quiet again.

Nor did the punishment from the academy arrive.

Or rather, the academy encouraged Li Qingming for defeating two fourth-year students as a first-year.

Li Qingming could only feel helpless about this style of education.

As several days passed, Ma Xiaotao came again.

Li Qingming found her evil fire easy to suppress. Moreover, it had no adverse effect on him; instead, it could temper his body.

His physique was somewhat special. Having been frozen for ten thousand years, he possessed an exceptional affinity for the ice element, along with ultimate holy power.

Now, with Ma Xiaotao's evil fire, he helped her while also using her evil fire to temper himself, creating a force of ice-and-fire tempering.

When Ma Xiaotao left this time, she also gave him the soul coin card containing two hundred thousand.

This relieved his urgent need. Although he had money on him, it was only enough for food; naturally, it was nowhere near enough if he wanted to buy anything else.

Amid these changes, three months passed in the blink of an eye.