Wang Dong the Naive Sweetheart, Xiao Xiao's Choice of Soul Rings

"I'm Ling Luochen."

"Jiang Bai."

The two briefly introduced themselves.

So it was her. Jiang Bai looked at Ling Luochen.

In the original story, she was an ice-attribute Soul King and one of the few geniuses who survived intact after facing a Holy Spirit Cult Supreme Elder.

It seemed that she had come to Shrek to improve her strength, then developed a strong interest in Ultimate Ice.

Early on, she didn't seem to have a strong sense of belonging to Shrek. In the future, he could try recruiting her with Ultimate Ice.

For Jiang Bai, helping Ling Luochen attain Ultimate Ice would be quite simple. Not to mention the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass in the Icefire Yin Yang Well—even without that, once his cultivation grew stronger, he could directly elevate her ice attribute.

"Mm, I know you."

Ling Luochen spoke. She had come to the outer courtyard to try her luck and see whether she could meet him. She hadn't expected her luck to be so good.

"Hm? You know me?"

Hearing Ling Luochen say that she knew him, Jiang Bai froze for a moment, but he quickly understood.

She was ice-attributed too, so she should be interested in Xue Ying as well.

"Your Martial Soul is quite interesting."

Quite a few people in the inner courtyard had been discussing Xue Ying. After all, a Detached Martial Soul was rare, but the academy didn't seem interested. They had merely filed it away as an unusual case of Martial Soul Mutation.

Ling Luochen herself was interested, though. With an ice-attribute Martial Soul, she wanted to take a look.

"Alright, don't disturb Senior Sister's cultivation."

After hearing that, Ling Luochen felt the soft ice in her arms disappear.

She looked at Jiang Bai with a trace of resentment.

But she had an image to maintain in public, so she couldn't say anything.

Then, beneath Ling Luochen's resentful gaze, Jiang Bai ran off.

He really couldn't stay any longer. It was time for class, and Jiang Bai didn't want to be late.

As he passed Class One, Jiang Bai found people still running laps.

Bro, do you only know how to run?

Jiang Bai truly didn't understand why Zhou Yi kept making Class One run.

Training the body was one thing, but if their nutrition couldn't keep up, it was simply a losing proposition.

If this continued, they might end up with hidden injuries.

Forget it. It had nothing to do with him.

Zhou Yi's presence was still pretty good, though. At the very least, he constantly heard Huo Yuhao complaining about her, and it seemed his resentment wasn't small at all.

That was pretty good.

"Jiang Bai."

After returning to his seat, Ning Tian greeted him from beside him.

Jiang Bai truly didn't know why Ning Tian was so interested in him. He glanced at Wu Feng beside her. That resentment... heh, useless Wu Feng.

"Does Jiang Bai know Wang Dong from Class One? I'm just asking. I don't have any ulterior motives."

Following Jiang Bai's gaze, Ning Tian looked out the window.

The people from Class One were still running.

Ning Tian remembered that Jiang Bai seemed rather close to several people from Class One before, including Wang Dong.

Previously, Wang Dong had released one yellow and one purple Soul Ring outside. She had paid special attention to that.

"Not really."

Jiang Bai answered honestly. He really wasn't familiar with Wang Dong.

He glanced at Ning Tian. Could she be trying to lure the little princess into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?

Hmm...

Maybe that wasn't impossible?

The Tang God King probably wouldn't mind, right?

Unfortunately, Wang Dong had already joined the Tang Sect. Otherwise, it really might have been worth a try.

The current Wang Dong could be called a naive sweetheart. A single Soul Pill had stunned her that much. Ning Tian might really be able to talk her into it.

But the Clear Sky Sect probably wouldn't agree either.

After school

They were still at the grilled fish stall. Xiao Xiao, Wang Dong, and Jiang Bai sat off to the side, eating grilled fish.

"Give me a cup."

Xiao Xiao spoke to Jiang Bai, pointing at the Pearl Milk Tea beside Xue Ying.

She'd gotten hooked after drinking it once last time. A bite of grilled fish followed by a sip of this was simply heavenly.

"Here."

Jiang Bai conjured two cups and handed them to Xiao Xiao. Wang Dong saw them from beside her.

"I'll have one too."

Jiang Bai then took out another cup.

"Why isn't it cold?"

Xiao Xiao held the milk tea cup in both hands. Why was it room temperature? It wasn't cold at all.

"You really know how to drink."

Jiang Bai helplessly tapped Xiao Xiao's cup, sending a stream of cold air into it.

"Hehe, cool Wang Dong's too. It's better cold."

Her last sentence was directed at Wang Dong.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

The two still weren't familiar with each other.

After taking a sip of milk tea, Jiang Bai looked toward Huo Yuhao, who was grilling fish.

Unity of Body and Mind. It seemed he had learned it quite well? Tian Meng must have helped him.

"Is it good?"

Xiao Xiao looked at Wang Dong, who was slowly sipping her milk tea, and asked, though she already knew the answer.

Couldn't she see how Wang Dong's eyes had lit up?

"Mm, it's good."

"Exactly."

Hearing Wang Dong's praise, Xiao Xiao smiled as well.

"Are you close with him?"

Wang Dong took a sip of milk tea, looked at Jiang Bai, then asked Xiao Xiao.

Xiao Xiao seemed quite familiar with Jiang Bai.

"When I came to register, I ran into him. He took me to sign in."

Xiao Xiao answered, but Wang Dong clearly saw through what she was thinking.

"You went over to strike up a conversation because Xue Ying and Jiang Bai looked good, didn't you?"

"Wang Dong, that's too much! How could you think that of me?"

Having her inner thoughts exposed, Xiao Xiao immediately gave Wang Dong two little punches.

"A Detached Martial Soul, huh? I wonder how much Innate Soul Power he has."

Wang Dong said. Generally speaking, Detached Martial Souls didn't have high Innate Soul Power.

After they finished the grilled fish, Huo Yuhao was still running his stall.

"I'll head back first."

Jiang Bai stood up and dusted off his pants. He needed to return and cultivate.

"I should go too."

Xiao Xiao was leaving as well. She had things of her own to do.

"I'll wait for Yuhao here."

Wang Dong wasn't leaving. She still had to wait for Yuhao. She would be alone if she went back anyway, so she might as well wait for Huo Yuhao to finish work.

"Then give this to him later."

Jiang Bai tossed a bottle of milk tea to Wang Dong and left.

Xiao Xiao followed Jiang Bai along the road back to the dormitories.

In the setting sun, their shadows stretched long behind them.

"Jiang Bai, slow down."

Watching Jiang Bai walk so quickly ahead of her, Xiao Xiao called out.

"Why aren't you going back to cultivate? You're already level nineteen."

Jiang Bai looked at Xiao Xiao. Her aura wasn't at the twenty-something level she had been when she first appeared in the original story. She was only level nineteen now, though she seemed close to level twenty.

"It's not that far off."

Xiao Xiao answered. She felt that she would break through to level twenty in a few days.

"Tell me, what kind of soul beast should I absorb?"

Xiao Xiao suddenly asked. She truly didn't know what sort of soul beast she should choose.

"Why ask me? Why not ask your teacher?"

Hearing the question, Jiang Bai found it strange. Why ask him? Shouldn't she ask her teacher? He didn't know much about soul beasts.

"Our teacher... sigh, she's really too fierce. I don't want to talk about her."

Xiao Xiao, Wang Dong, and Huo Yuhao had complained plenty about Zhou Yi. They were annoyed whenever they saw her, much less wanted to ask her questions.

"Mm, what path do you plan for your Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron? Assault? Control?"

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Bai remembered that in the original story, her standout moments had only come during the tournament and the period leading up to it. She seemed to possess both control-type and assault-type traits, yet she had never clearly defined her development path.

"Um... can I go with assault?"

Xiao Xiao asked. She didn't know what to choose either.

"You have to ask yourself that."

Only she could answer something like that. Jiang Bai couldn't give her an answer.

"My first soul skill is for control. I want my second soul skill to be strongly offensive."

Xiao Xiao voiced her thoughts. Having both offense and control was what she wanted.

Jiang Bai thought about it after hearing her, then nodded in agreement.

"Not a bad idea. Our Martial Souls only get nine Soul Rings in the end, so naturally they need to be functional."

"But you still need a main focus, or things could become messy in the future."

"Mm..."

Hearing about nine Soul Rings, Xiao Xiao's thoughts stirred.

She had two Martial Souls—eighteen Soul Rings. Her second Martial Soul could focus on control, couldn't it? Then one could focus on offense while the other focused on control.