Ye Guyi! (Please invest! Please send recommendation votes! Please send monthly votes!)

Evening fell.

Qin Xu, Zhang Lexuan, and Vielvi walked hand in hand into the Heavenly Profound Academy's dining hall.

The Academy Cafeteria was a three-story building. The first floor provided free meals to every student, with no limits on serving hours or portions. They could eat as much as they wanted, provided they wasted nothing. The food was not carelessly prepared just because it was free, either. Ordinary ingredients, properly cooked—wholesome and tasty. It was one of the benefits the academy offered all its students.

The second and third floors housed paid restaurants where diners ordered from a menu. They used high-quality ingredients and also served soul beast meat.

The three looked around the first floor for a while. It was dinnertime, and many returning students and new arrivals were eating there. They each took a serving and tried the food. It tasted quite good, but the ingredients were all ordinary, so it could only fill their stomachs and offered no other benefits.

Next, the three headed up to the second floor.

The decor on the second floor was completely different from that on the first. The first floor had the standard look of a cafeteria, while the second was more luxurious, resembling the main dining room of an upscale restaurant. There were noticeably fewer people here. It was neither a holiday nor a festive occasion, after all, and not everyone was willing to spend extra money and time on an ordinary dinner.

The three found a quiet spot on the second floor and began ordering. They did not go on up to the third floor. It consisted entirely of private dining rooms, so there was nothing much to see. Surely they could not inspect them one by one.

While waiting for their food, they chatted and studied the other students on the second floor. Judging by their apparent ages, most were from the senior division, with fewer from the intermediate division. Children as young as Qin Xu and Vielvi were even rarer.

"Huh?" Vielvi pointed at two people who had just entered and asked, "Why are their uniforms different from ours?"

Qin Xu and Zhang Lexuan looked over. A young man and woman had entered holding hands, dressed in outfits that shaded from white to red. They looked like matching couples' outfits, but were actually the uniforms of the Heavenly Profound Academy's senior division.

"Those are the senior division's uniforms," Zhang Lexuan explained with a smile. "To make things easier to manage, the academy uses different colors for the intermediate and senior divisions. The senior division wears the red-and-white version that couple has on, while the intermediate division wears blue and white. Replace the red sections with blue, and you have the intermediate division's uniform."

"Our Young Genius Class has its own exclusive uniforms, too—white and gold," Qin Xu added. "Don't they look prettier and more elegant than theirs?"

"They do!" Recalling the uniform in her dormitory, Vielvi wholeheartedly agreed. She giggled. "Hehe, little brother Qin Xu, you have excellent taste."

After that little interlude, all their food arrived. They had not ordered much: four dishes and a soup.

"Wow! This Earth Mystic Pork stir-fried with Green Flame Fruit is delicious! It's so spicy, such a kick! I've never eaten anything like it in the palace!" Vielvi exclaimed delightedly, her eyes shining.

"Then have some more." Smiling, Qin Xu placed a piece of meat in her bowl. Inwardly, he sighed. Poor child. A princess, yet she's never had pork stir-fried with chilies. It looks like the Heavenly Soul imperial kitchens are just like our Black Dragon Kingdom's royal kitchens—they don't make anything spicy or stimulating.

"Wei'er, these braised Earth Mystic Pork ribs are delicious, too. Try one," Zhang Lexuan said with a smile, placing a richly colored rib in Vielvi's bowl.

"Mm, mm, mm..." Vielvi tucked in with such gusto that Qin Xu and Zhang Lexuan, who had not been particularly hungry, found themselves picking up their chopsticks as well.

Before long, the three had polished off all four dishes and the soup. Vielvi had eaten with the greatest enthusiasm, yet ended up eating the least. That was hardly her fault. She had been taught to behave like a proper lady since childhood, and this was her first time eating with such abandon. Naturally, she was not entirely used to it.

After dinner, they sat for a while before getting up to leave the dining hall.

By the time they reached the first floor, few people remained in the main hall. Most students ate quickly, with only a handful still taking their time. It was the start of the school year, after all, and classes had yet to officially begin, so they could afford to be leisurely.

With so few people remaining, Qin Xu noticed someone around his own age.

It was a girl sitting quietly over her meal, her back straight. Her shoulder-length blond hair gleamed beneath the lights. Her profile was lovely, with a high nose bridge and full cheeks that still held a hint of baby fat.

She wore a simple white outfit, clean and plain. Her movements were careful, clearly intended to keep any sauce from splashing onto her clothes. From that alone, it seemed she was a child who liked to keep clean.

"She must be in the Young Genius Class, too," Zhang Lexuan said, following Qin Xu's gaze.

"Where? Where?" Vielvi immediately swung her head around to look, then spotted the girl as well. "She really is! And she's a girl! She looks so cute! Sister Lexuan, little brother Qin Xu, shall we go introduce ourselves?"

"Sure." Qin Xu had been thinking the same thing.

The three walked toward the blond girl.

"Hello! You're in the Young Genius Class, too, right?" Vielvi hurried over to the girl and asked warmly, "What's your name?"

The blond girl was clearly startled by Vielvi's sudden approach. The hand holding her chopsticks trembled, almost dropping them to the floor. She raised her head in irritation and glanced at Vielvi.

Only then did Qin Xu get a clear look at her face. One word immediately surfaced in his mind: Stunning!

The blond girl had delicate features and fair, tender skin. Though she was still young, she possessed an air of holiness. Her eyes were particularly striking: pale-gold phoenix eyes, sharp and commanding, that gave her a stern, unapproachable dignity.

Annoyed at having her meal interrupted, she ignored Vielvi's question. She simply lowered her head, picked up her chopsticks, and continued eating.

"I'm in the Young Genius Class, too," Vielvi said. Seemingly oblivious to the blond girl's resistance, she sat down directly opposite her and giggled. "You're really pretty, just like me. Your hair is blond, and half of mine is blond, too. My name is Vielvi. What's yours?"

"Ye Guyi," the blond girl said coldly.

Both Qin Xu and Zhang Lexuan looked surprised at the name. Was she not one of the two geniuses with innate full soul power? An angel martial soul—no wonder she had blond hair.

Qin Xu's thoughts went a little further. Ye Guyi, with her holy angel. She's even prettier than I imagined. Not bad. Interesting. Life at the academy should be lively from here on.

"So your name is Ye Guyi! What an interesting name," Vielvi said. "Now we know each other, hehe. I live in Residence Two. You can come over and play, or you can tell me where you live and I'll visit you!"

"Three," Ye Guyi replied impatiently. "Please stop interrupting my meal."

Vielvi was about to say more when Qin Xu caught her arm. "Wei'er, since our classmate Ye Guyi would like to eat in peace, let's leave her to it. Once classes start tomorrow, we'll have plenty of time to play together."

Qin Xu's words pleased Ye Guyi, so she turned to look at him. Her expression visibly froze for a moment before she hurriedly turned back, her white-jade ears flushing faintly red.

"All right. We'll see you when school starts tomorrow, then," Vielvi agreed reluctantly, sounding a little disappointed. "Bye-bye."

"Goodbye!" Ye Guyi said.

Watching this, Qin Xu found it rather amusing. Does this count as ditzy sweetness overcoming icy aloofness? Whatever else you might say, Vielvi's social skills are truly maxed out.

After leaving the dining hall, the three wandered around the academy. There were plenty of places suited to an after-dinner stroll: the small lake in front of the villa district, the gardens beside the two dormitory buildings, and the lush green lawns spread throughout the grounds.

As the sky gradually darkened and the moon emerged, they returned to their residences.

"See you tomorrow, Wei'er." Outside Villa Two, Qin Xu and Zhang Lexuan waved goodbye to Vielvi.

"See you tomorrow, Sister Lexuan, little brother Qin Xu." Vielvi turned and ran inside. Before the door had fully closed, they heard her shout, "Grandma Ya, I'm back!"

Wisdom Douluo Ya Yun would be staying at the academy with Vielvi. Her stated reason was to guide Vielvi's cultivation. Whether that was true or not, Qin Tianji certainly would not turn down such a good thing. Having a Titled Douluo stationed at the Heavenly Profound Academy for free delighted him.

Qin Xu and Zhang Lexuan returned to their villa as well. After washing up, they began cultivating.

Zhang Lexuan went straight to the third-floor terrace and sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion she had prepared earlier, beginning to absorb the moon's essence to cultivate. A phantom of her moon martial soul appeared behind her, drawing down the radiance shed by the real moon in the night sky and gathering it over her body.

Qin Xu had actually taught her this method of drawing in moonlight to temper her body. On the first anniversary of their meeting, he had explained how to use her moon martial soul to absorb the moon's essence and strengthen her physique. Only then had she begun trying it. Before that, she had simply treated moonlight as a special form of spiritual energy for cultivating soul power, with poor results.

By now, tempering her body with moonlight had produced remarkable results. Her sixth soul ring was as old as sixty-seven thousand years, and she owed that to this method.

This was also one of the reasons Zhang Lexuan followed Qin Xu's every word.