You Really Are a Lovestruck Fool; You Stand in the Light, But Don't Just Stand There

[Spirit Hall Saintess: You're talking nonsense...]

Young Bibi Dong stared at the words in the chat window, unable to calm down for a long time.

Her phoenix eyes widened as she glared at them.

How could she possibly betray Spirit Hall for a colossal, utterly hopeless good-for-nothing?

No—leave Spirit Hall.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and calmed herself down.

Then she thought it over—

Before joining the Past and Present Chat Group, she hadn't known what Yu Xiaogang was like.

And then she would go traveling.

She really might have fallen for Yu Xiaogang.

[A Leaf Knows Autumn: I'm only telling you what I know. You'll find out later whether I'm talking nonsense.]

[Of course, I only know the broad strokes of what happens between you and Yu Xiaogang. I don't know the details either.]

[For instance, after you returned from your travels, you took him to Spirit Hall's library.]

[Qian Xunji discovered your relationship with Yu Xiaogang.]

[Then Qian Xunji apparently confined you and wouldn't let you leave Spirit Hall.]

[And after Yu Xiaogang went a few days without seeing you, he simply left Spirit Hall. He didn't look for you or try to break in.]

[It seems his only reason for getting close to you was to enter the library and read about the Martial Souls and Soul Beasts he was interested in.]

Young Bibi Dong's eyes were bloodshot as she stared at the chat window.

Yu Xiaogang was that unreliable?

And she would do all that for him?

She really was a lovestruck fool.

[Spirit Hall Saintess: You don't think I'm a lovestruck fool, do you?]

[A Leaf Knows Autumn: You really are a lovestruck fool!]

Young Bibi Dong pouted and shot Li Qiu a huge eye roll. He really never pulled his punches.

Wah...

How could I, the Saintess, ever fall for a good-for-nothing like Yu Xiaogang?

Thank goodness I have the Past and Present Chat Group. I won't fall in love with him now.

Hee-hee. I guess I dodged a disaster?

[Spirit Hall Saintess: So I killed my teacher because he separated Yu Xiaogang and me?]

[How could I possibly kill him?]

[Even a hundred of me couldn't beat my teacher! And I'm a Twin Martial Souls genius the likes of which Spirit Hall hasn't seen in a century!]

Young Bibi Dong knitted her slender brows. She couldn't make sense of it.

[A Leaf Knows Autumn: You really couldn't have killed Qian Xunji with the strength you had then. But after he confined you, Qian Xunji went further and further, until he locked you in a secret chamber.]

[Then he slept with you...]

[He wanted you filled with resentment so you'd give birth to an extraordinarily gifted child.]

[That child might then have a chance to become a god.]

Young Bibi Dong's breath came fast and harsh, like a bull's.

Her chest rose and fell.

The sight was striking.

She had never imagined that her teacher's kindness toward her concealed such motives.

She couldn't accept what she had just read.

She thrust out a delicate hand, wanting to smash the window before her eyes.

But her hand passed straight through it.

It struck the bed instead.

Bang! The impact rang out.

Qian Xunji and Elder Lion immediately flashed to her door.

"What happened?"

Qian Xunji's voice came from outside, stern and cold.

Hearing that voice now, young Bibi Dong felt as though a demon stood at her door.

Her face paled slightly, and she shuffled backward to the head of the bed.

Then she took a deep breath. She had to stay calm.

Don't be afraid. He's still my teacher, not that demon.

"Teacher, it's nothing. I dreamed I fell from the sky and landed on the bed. That's what made the... loud noise!"

Young Bibi Dong recalled an old dream in which she had been flying, only to plunge suddenly and wake up striking the bed. The excuse slipped right out.

"Mm. Get some sleep."

With that, Qian Xunji turned and left.

Young Bibi Dong went to the window and gazed at the myriad lights in the distance, unable to calm her heart.

Was it because my teacher forced himself on me...

That I killed him?

That had to be one of the reasons.

[Spirit Hall Saintess: So I held a grudge and found a chance to kill Qian Xunji? But wouldn't I have been executed afterward?]

Young Bibi Dong thought of Spirit Hall's Great Enshrined, and of all the other enshrined elders and elders who were Titled Douluo.

Her scalp prickled.

[A Leaf Knows Autumn: You're thinking a little more clearly now.]

[You guessed right. You killed Qian Xunji when he was gravely wounded and on the verge of death.]

[You weren't executed.]

Young Bibi Dong was startled by A Leaf Knows Autumn's message.

They didn't execute me?

Something strange must have been going on.

Young Bibi Dong felt as though she were reading a bizarre story.

She had never imagined it would happen to her in the future.

And it had all started because she fell for a good-for-nothing, a man who wasn't right in the head.

She felt helpless and speechless.

Reading it all had worn her out.

She no longer wanted to know what happened next.

Instead, she wanted to figure out how to change her tragic future.

Naturally, she would have to start with Yu Xiaogang.

Then she would have to change how she treated Qian Xunji, too.

[Spirit Hall Saintess: I don't know whether what you've said is true, but I'll decide what to do from here. Thank you.]

[A Leaf Knows Autumn: No need to thank me. Won't you call me Daddy to show your gratitude?]

[Spirit Hall Saintess: I'm not in the mood to joke with you.]

Zhao Wuji stood on the grass with his arms folded, waiting to give these new students a loving thrashing from their teacher.

"A melody drifts through the mortal world; whose face does the girl hold in her heart..."

Li Qiu hummed as he sat in the examiner's chair Zhao Wuji had just vacated and began eating KFC.

"I'll give you the time it takes a stick of incense to burn to discuss how to beat me together. After that, the test begins. The four of you must join forces and withstand my attacks for another stick of incense. If even one of you lasts to the end, you pass."

Zhao Wuji sounded rather excited.

The corners of Dai Mubai's mouth lifted, though he still feigned concern. "Teacher, isn't that a bit much? They're new students without much combat experience."

Zhao Wuji rolled his eyes at Dai Mubai.

"There's nothing wrong with it. I'm in charge here, so what I say goes. Hurry up and prepare."

With a flick of his hand, Zhao Wuji sent an incense stick into the grass beside him.

"You heard him? Teacher Zhao is a level seventy-six Soul Saint. His Martial Soul is the Great Strength Vajra Bear..."

Dai Mubai explained Zhao Wuji's strength and Martial Soul to Tang San and the others.

Oscar, meanwhile, caught the smell of chicken and ran over to Li Qiu. "Whoa, you're eating that all by yourself? Give me a drumstick."

"Send me fifty yuan!"

Li Qiu simply turned away, lowered his head, and kept eating.

"Hand it over!"

Oscar lunged, trying to snatch the KFC by force.

"Armpit attack!"

Li Qiu drove an elbow into Oscar's armpit.

"Ah..." Oscar yelped and fled.

He hadn't expected Li Qiu to have a move like that.

Nor had he expected Li Qiu to fight back at all.

Before, Li Qiu had always done whatever he was told. Oscar could simply take anything of his that caught his eye, and Li Qiu wouldn't dare complain.

Now he had gotten this bold?

Seeing that Dai Mubai had finished talking to the new students, Oscar ran over to him.

"Boss Dai, Li Qiu's hogging all the food! He even elbowed me in the armpit!"

Li Qiu saw Oscar standing in the light and was left speechless.

"You stand in the light, but don't just stand there. Looking at you in the light, you're just standing there, bare, in that light..."