Ning Tian and Wu Feng Followed

Beneath the wide hem of her white robe, black stockings as thin as cicada wings clung to Zhou Yi's long, full, snow-white legs. The delicate, silky brush of the fabric sent her mature heart fluttering like a startled fawn and made the tips of her ears burn with embarrassment.

All along the way, her mind had been filled with the black-clad youth's handsome, commanding face. She resented his failure to take the hint, yet inexplicably looked forward to the astonishment in his eyes when he returned and saw her dressed like this.

"Teacher Zhou Yi, what's gotten into you today...?"

Wang Yan gave his colleague a puzzled look. She seemed unusually ill at ease, and her attention kept drifting.

"Usually, all you care about is the students' physical conditioning and combat training. Why the sudden change? Why insist on asking me about high-age Mental Attribute Soul Beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest?"

Wang Yan's question finally jolted Zhou Yi out of her tangled, intimate thoughts. She coughed lightly and hurried to hide the heat in her cheeks.

"Teacher Wang Yan, I have important business, of course. Just tell me everything you know. There's no need for pointless questions."

Seeing Zhou Yi return to her usual harsh, stiff manner, Wang Yan spread his hands helplessly but took no offense.

He turned and pulled a panoramic map of the Star Dou Great Forest from the heavy rosewood bookshelf behind him, then slowly spread it across his desk.

"Mental Attribute Soul Beasts are as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns across the continent. Those over ten thousand years old are rarer still. Even with Shrek Academy's ten thousand years of exploration, we've only managed to piece together a vague outline."

Wang Yan pressed a finger to several red circles near the boundary between the map's outer reaches and its mixed zone, his expression grave.

"According to past Soul Hunting teams' records, students have occasionally encountered rare Purple Spirit Lynxes and Golden Light Eagles in these ravines, which are shrouded in thick miasma year-round. As for the fiercer, more powerful Mental Attribute overlords, they're almost all hidden deep in the perilous Core Zone. It's no place an ordinary Soul Master can casually enter."

Zhou Yi fixed her eyes on the key red marks Wang Yan had made and swiftly committed them to memory. Privately, she wondered whether the information would satisfy that exacting black-clad youth.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Just as Zhou Yi was studying the map intently, faint footsteps sounded in the corridor outside.

Two graceful young women came down the corridor side by side, holding their newly issued student handbooks and dormitory keys.

They were Ning Tian, the young sect master of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, and Wu Feng, a Red Dragon Battle Soul Master. Both had just completed their enrollment.

"Young sect master, I hear this year's intake has quite a few tough ones. Just watch me sweep aside every last one of those fools who don't know how high the heavens are."

Wu Feng raised her confident, fiery face and waved a fist at Ning Tian with a smug grin.

A faint smile rested on Ning Tian's delicate face. She was about to reply when her gaze strayed through the half-open door of the faculty office.

In the next instant, Ning Tian stopped short and froze.

"What is it, young sect master?"

Noticing something was wrong, Wu Feng hurriedly stopped too and craned her neck to follow Ning Tian's gaze.

"Huh? Isn't that... that vicious old witch from the Outer Academy?!"

At the sight of the familiar white-robed woman's back, Wu Feng's narrow, fiery-red eyes went round. She could not help blurting out her surprise in a hushed voice.

Ning Tian's brows drew together, her eyes filled with shock and doubt.

Beside Zhou Yi, there was nothing but empty space. The mysterious black-clad youth who had forced Ning Tian away earlier was nowhere to be seen!

"Strange... where's that arrogant little wretch?"

Wu Feng folded her arms and scanned the corridor and office several times, but found no trace of Xiao Dong. Gossip and confusion sprang up in her mind like weeds.

"Back in Shrek Square, that guy looked as though he had Zhou Yi completely under his thumb. So why's the old witch here alone, sneaking around for information?"

Wu Feng blinked. A host of bloody, outlandish possibilities sprang to mind, and she lowered her voice with a hint of glee.

"Young sect master, do you think Zhou Yi lured that lawless bastard somewhere secluded, called in Shrek's senior experts, and had him chopped into pieces on the spot to silence him?!"

"Don't talk nonsense."

Ning Tian shot Wu Feng an exasperated look, but her own limpid eyes remained fixed on Zhou Yi. The turmoil in her heart was no less intense than Wu Feng's.

With her instinct for reading the smallest changes in expression, Ning Tian had noticed something unmistakable.

Deep in Zhou Yi's eyes lay anxiety and anticipation. There was not a trace of murderous intent. If anything, she looked as though... she were rushing to carry out a task for someone she dared not defy!

The faculty office door closed softly.

Zhou Yi carefully tucked the yellowed Ancient Map recording the distribution of Soul Beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest into her robe, then hurried out.

Wu Feng's narrow, fiery-red eyes darted about. The flames of gossip and curiosity in her heart roared up as though someone had poured a bucket of oil over them.

"Young sect master, the old witch is leaving! Come on, let's follow her quietly and see what's going on!"

Wu Feng reached out and tugged impatiently at Ning Tian's sleeve, urging her on in a low voice.

"This... If we're caught secretly following a teacher, we'll probably face a severe punishment."

Hesitation crossed Ning Tian's delicate face. Her brows knit as she tried to dissuade Wu Feng.

"Oh, young sect master, my dear sect master! You're usually so decisive. Why are you suddenly afraid of your own shadow?"

Wu Feng pouted. Her curvaceous figure swayed with her impatient movements as she leaned close to Ning Tian's ear. "Aren't you even a little curious about what that mysterious black-clad bastard's relationship with Zhou Yi is? Or what the two of them were doing alone just now?!"

Those questions struck Ning Tian exactly where she was vulnerable. Ripples surged through her limpid eyes.

She had to admit that the black-clad youth who had appeared out of nowhere at the city gate had left a deep, deep mark on her proud heart. He had exposed the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect's ten-thousand-year-old pain with a single remark, then casually driven back a Soul Grandmaster with his physical strength alone.

After wrestling with herself for a few breaths, Ning Tian finally took a deep breath and nodded.

"All right. But remember, we mustn't get too close, or she'll notice us."

"Don't worry, young sect master!"

Wu Feng beamed. Taking Ning Tian's hand, she crept after Zhou Yi.

But the two young women had not gone far.

Boom!

A faint, muffled rumble like wind and thunder sounded. Then, before their horrified eyes, a tall, black-clad figure abruptly appeared in the clearing ahead.

"He... how did he get there? Did he fly?!"

Hidden behind a huge rock in an artificial hill, Wu Feng's fiery face froze. She sucked in a cold breath and cried out.

Beside her, Ning Tian's heart lurched. Her eyes widened in disbelief.

They had assumed that even if Xiao Dong could threaten Zhou Yi, his cultivation could not possibly have reached Soul Saint level or higher.

Yet before they could recover from the shock of Xiao Dong's sudden appearance, what happened next brought both their breaths to a halt!