Two-Timing, Dai Huabin's Malice

"I know you were worried about me. Nothing major happened on my end, but thank you for worrying about me."

Li Qingming could see that Wang Dong was speaking sincerely, but Wang Dong merely glared fiercely at him.

There was a glimmer of tears in his pink-blue eyes.

He hurriedly turned his head aside and sat directly on his bed.

"Who was worried about you... What does what happens to you have to do with me? I was just afraid you wouldn't come back. But you still have to give me an explanation this time, or I won't talk to you!"

As Wang Dong spoke, he tilted his head slightly toward Li Qingming, wanting to see the reaction on the young man's face.

But to his disappointment, Li Qingming merely smiled at him, his expression still as gentle as ever.

"All right, it was an accident. The main reason was that I reached a bottleneck in my cultivation on the way back, so I broke through and then went to obtain a soul ring."

As Li Qingming spoke, he raised his hand, and four golden soul rings appeared around him.

Wang Dong's eyes filled with surprise as he looked at the four golden soul rings.

"You broke through to four rings so quickly? And why have your soul rings always been this color?"

Sensing Wang Dong's confusion, Li Qingming naturally could not tell him the truth, but finding an excuse was easy enough.

After all, his Martial Soul was the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul, the only publicly acknowledged god-tier Martial Soul in the world. Under such circumstances, it was easy to make up a reason.

"Maybe it's because of my Martial Soul. No matter what level of soul ring I attach, it turns this color after being added to my body."

"Dean Yan, Director Du, and perhaps even Teacher Zhou may already know about this."

He spoke very directly, just as he had expected.

Although the three did not understand the meaning of those soul rings, they had all made some guesses that they might be related to Li Qingming's Martial Soul.

Hearing Li Qingming say this, Wang Dong nodded somewhat blankly.

"That's good... Fine. Your explanation passes, so I won't blame you."

After saying that, Wang Dong plopped down where he was sitting.

Li Qingming smiled and sat down beside him to begin cultivating as well.

But as he looked at Wang Dong, there was a trace of apology in his eyes.

He still rather liked Wang Dong, but he was having a hard time resisting Meng Hongchen as well.

While he was talking with Wang Dong here, his fallen clone—or rather, another Li Qingming—was studying soul tools with Meng Hongchen elsewhere.

At that moment, Meng Hongchen was looking pitifully at Li Qingming as she said,

"Classmate Li Qingming, we're both in the same class now."

"And you promised to teach me properly. You can already make three kinds of second-grade soul tools."

"I can make them too, but this second-grade soul-guided grenade cannon is just too difficult! It's already the highest-level second-grade soul tool. I can't make it."

Meng Hongchen looked at Li Qingming with some grievance as she spoke.

After spending this time together, Meng Hongchen had gained a very accurate grasp of Li Qingming's personality.

The young man before her was the type who responded to softness but not force.

If someone acted domineeringly toward him, he could be even more domineering and colder than them.

But once someone softened up, especially when a girl showed weakness, the young man before her had little resistance.

Looking at Meng Hongchen's appearance, Li Qingming felt somewhat helpless.

But seeing that the girl had already gone this far, he still stepped forward, gently placed his hand over hers, and began teaching her the rest of the process hand in hand.

Li Qingming taught very seriously, but Meng Hongchen's mind was not on the lesson at all.

So the first lesson failed outright. Only after three attempts did Meng Hongchen barely grasp it.

By then, morning had arrived.

Of Li Qingming's three bodies, only the ice-and-snow clone had been cultivating continuously, or rather, remaining in a semi-dormant state to help replenish his spiritual power.

Otherwise, with both sides consuming his energy at once, Li Qingming himself might not have been able to endure it.

At that moment, in the classroom, the moment the two arrived at Class One's room, Zhou Yi, who had hurried over, called them aside.

Zhou Yi briefly asked about Li Qingming's condition.

Because Li Qingming and Zhou Yi were not particularly close, Zhou Yi asked rather casually.

Naturally, Li Qingming's answer was even more casual. He could not even be bothered to mention his breakthrough.

Even so, Zhou Yi said with satisfaction, "All right, as long as you're fine. Make sure to train well for this afternoon's practical combat exercise. Try to pick a thousand-year soul beast and get a good result."

Zhou Yi nodded to Li Qingming, then turned and left.

The two of them returned to the classroom as well.

There were no classes that morning. They were going to undergo the freshmen assessment, which meant heading to the Combat Hall's beast arena to select soul beasts and battle them.

Li Qingming did not care much about any of this, because even relatively powerful thousand-year soul beasts posed no threat to him.

But he also knew that this match would not last long, because Huo Yuhao would most likely show off.

And since Li Qingming had no desire to steal that chance to show off, he did not care.

As they walked, Wang Dong bumped his shoulder.

Following Wang Dong's gaze, Li Qingming saw Wang Dong tilt his head slightly backward in indication.

When Li Qingming turned his head slightly back, his eyes met an incomparably gloomy face.

That person was none other than Dai Huabin.

Dai Huabin was staring at Li Qingming with a dark expression.

Even after Li Qingming turned around, Dai Huabin continued staring at him, the malice in his eyes completely undisguised.

In response to that malicious gaze, a trace of killing intent flashed through Li Qingming's eyes as well.

He liked to play things safe, so when faced with an unpredictable factor that could very likely threaten him, he would do everything he could to eliminate it.

But just as Dai Huabin could not get rid of him here, he could not get rid of Dai Huabin here either.

Still, Li Qingming already had his own plan for making Dai Huabin die early.

He could not continue leaving Dai Huabin alive. He needed a suitable opportunity to find a way to kill him.

And if the timeline did not change, then when Dai Huabin sent soul masters disguised as evil soul masters to assassinate him, that would likewise be a good opportunity for Li Qingming.

Of course, he would not act personally. But when he thought of his ice-and-snow clone, Li Qingming's expression remained calm.

Meanwhile, Dai Huabin noticed that Li Qingming had merely glanced at him before turning around and walking down on his own.

Dai Huabin's already extremely gloomy expression darkened even further.

Malice flickered in his dark yellow pupils.

Zhu Lu, standing beside him, said helplessly, "All right, Huabin. His talent is very high. If there's no need, don't provoke him."

"With talent like that at his age, killing him could very well draw Shrek Academy's attention."

By the time Zhu Lu said this, her tone carried a hint of pleading.

But Dai Huabin only shot her a cold glance before flinging away the hand Zhu Lu had reached out to hold him with.

Seeing the fleeting disgust in Dai Huabin's eyes, Zhu Lu's steps faltered.

She looked at Dai Huabin in confusion, unable to understand why he was treating her this way.

After all, the fact that the two of them could perform a Martial Soul fusion skill had effectively sealed their future as husband and wife. It was an agreement between the White Tiger Duke's Estate and the Zhu Family.

At that moment, being constantly looked at with such disgust by her fiancé left Zhu Lu deeply hurt.