The morning's dull basic theory lessons passed slowly, with a strange, subtle atmosphere hanging over the classroom.
Their homeroom teacher, Mo Lei, stood at the lectern, delivering a lively lesson.
But most of the noble children seated below paid no attention to the blackboard.
Throughout the lesson, the class's attention remained divided between two extremes.
One was Meng Chen, seated in the second row by the window, and Ning Rongrong, the young lady of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
The other was the silver-haired girl, Gu Yuena, seated in a corner of the back row.
The bell echoed through the corridor, and Mo Lei gathered his lesson notes and left the classroom.
Quite a few young noblemen who prided themselves on their distinguished status immediately crowded around the two girls.
Seeing this, Meng Chen had no intention of joining the commotion.
During class, he had noticed Ning Rongrong constantly glancing his way.
Now was the perfect time to make his escape. If that girl caught him later, there was no telling what she might do.
But just as he reached the doorway, Meng Chen suddenly heard Ning Rongrong's sharp cry behind him.
"Gu Yuena! I'm talking to you! Didn't you hear me?"
Ning Rongrong stood before Gu Yuena with both hands planted on her slender waist, her face full of arrogance.
The students who had been making a racket fell silent as a flock of crows struck dumb.
They sensibly edged backward, afraid of being caught in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's Little Demoness's crossfire.
Gu Yuena kept gazing out the window as though she had heard nothing.
Being ignored so completely instantly wounded the young lady's pride. In the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, or even the entire Heaven Dou Imperial City, who dared treat her this way?
Even the reigning emperor's princes had to politely address her as little sister Rongrong.
Yet this wild girl who could not even afford shoes dared treat her like air!
Ning Rongrong's large, dark eyes widened, and she slammed her little hand against the corner of the desk.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!"
At that sharp rebuke, Gu Yuena's gaze slowly settled on Ning Rongrong.
"Did you need something?"
Hearing that, Ning Rongrong grew so furious that her small chest heaved.
She gritted her teeth, lifted her chin slightly, and stared coldly at Gu Yuena.
"Hmph! I don't care which impoverished backwater you crawled out of, or whether your martial soul is some White Silver Dragon or Chicken Dragon. Consider this your warning: stay away from Meng Chen!"
She extended a finger and pointed at Meng Chen, who had been preparing to flee.
"Meng Chen is my friend, and he's under my protection! Only I can touch the ears on his head, and only I can sit beside him! If I catch you looking at him like that again, don't blame me when I make it impossible for you to stay at this academy!"
Her overbearing declaration laid bare the demoness nature Ning Rongrong had developed while being pampered in her sect.
By the doorway, Meng Chen nearly stumbled and fell onto the steps when he heard her.
What kind of jumbled nonsense filled this spoiled girl's head all day?
But faced with Ning Rongrong's barrage of demands and warnings, Gu Yuena reacted in a way that surprised everyone.
"Are you finished?"
Gu Yuena lowered her eyes, her expression neither pleased nor upset. "If you're finished, please move. You're blocking my sunlight."
"You!"
When had Ning Rongrong ever suffered such humiliation?
Even if someone pointed at her nose and cursed her, she could use her status to curse them right back. But this response left her with no way to save face.
"You're asking for a beating!"
Ning Rongrong's pretty face flushed crimson. Soul power surged around her, and a faint light flickered in her right palm.
The phantom of a delicate, translucent little pagoda shimmered in and out of sight.
"Hey! That's enough!"
A helpless sigh rang out.
A figure immediately stepped between the two girls.
Meng Chen spread his arms, keeping the nearly rampaging Ning Rongrong behind him as he warily watched the indifferent Gu Yuena.
"Lady Ning, that's enough."
"This is an academy. Are you planning to tear the classroom apart on your very first day?"
With Meng Chen blocking her, Ning Rongrong's raging fury abruptly subsided, then turned into grievance.
She grabbed Meng Chen's sleeve and stamped her foot, her eyes reddening slightly. "Meng Chen! You're siding with her instead of me! Didn't you see how arrogant she was?"
"No one has ever dared speak to me like that in my entire life!"
Meng Chen felt a headache coming on.
How was I favoring Gu Yuena? I was saving Ning Rongrong's life!
This little silver-haired girl who looked too weak to truss a chicken was actually the Soul Beast Co-Ruler, the Silver Dragon King!
If she really got angry, never mind Ning Rongrong-even Sword Douluo or Bone Douluo, secretly watching over her, wouldn't come out ahead!
He soothed the hot-tempered Little Demoness.
Only then did Meng Chen turn back to Gu Yuena, who stood very close to him.
Their eyes met.
With the two of them so close, the instincts of their bloodlines, both originating from the Dragon God, surged in response to each other like raging tides.
Meng Chen's body grew slightly warm, and a faint golden glow shimmered beneath the skin of his arms.
Gu Yuena also knitted her willow-leaf brows, shifting her gaze from Meng Chen's handsome, spirited features to the pair of fluffy rabbit ears atop his head.
How could this be?
The instant Meng Chen rushed over, the aura in his surging blood had unmistakably belonged to the Golden Dragon King's bloodline!
After awakening from her slumber, she had torn through space and traveled all the way to Heaven Dou City, following that resonance.
Why did this child with a pure Golden Dragon King bloodline have a pair of rabbit ears on his head?
A rabbit martial soul?
Gu Yuena even suspected that her divine sense had suffered such severe damage during the God War all those years ago that her perceptions had become distorted.
Within the Soul Beast Clan's hierarchy, rabbits were among the lowest creatures in the Star Dou Great Forest.
They were weak creatures that even many ten-year carnivorous soul beasts could prey upon at will.
In the eyes of the entire dragon race, such creatures did not even qualify as ants.
The Golden Dragon King... why had he become a rabbit?
Gu Yuena stared fixedly at the rabbit ears atop Meng Chen's head. She even found herself raising her fair fingers, wanting to give them a little pinch.
"Hey! What are you doing!"
Ning Rongrong caught sight of Gu Yuena's movement and instantly bristled, lunging forward to slap her wrist aside.
"Keep your filthy hands off!"
"I already told you, only I can touch Meng Chen's ears! Don't even think about touching them!"
Despite having her hand slapped away, Gu Yuena did not get angry.
She slowly withdrew her hand and gave Meng Chen a meaningful look. For once, the corners of her cool little face actually curved into a smile.
A rabbit?
Gu Yuena murmured inwardly. Ignoring Ning Rongrong's snarling, claw-waving protests, she lightly stepped around the pair and walked straight out of the classroom.
Meng Chen watched her retreating figure, his back already coated in cold sweat.
"Meng Chen, you're still staring! She's already out of sight."
The sharp voice beside him instantly dragged Meng Chen back to reality.
Ning Rongrong's cheeks puffed up with anger as she clutched Meng Chen's arm and shook it back and forth, looking utterly aggrieved.
"You have to explain yourself today! Who exactly is that silver-haired girl?"
"Why did she look at you so strangely just now?"
"And when you stood in front of me, were you protecting me, or could you just not bear to let me hurt her?"
Meng Chen rubbed his aching temples and let out a long sigh.
"Lady Ning, I'm hungry."
Rather than standing here suspiciously interrogating me like a criminal, why not head to the cafeteria and see what's good today...?
"Eat, eat, eat! That's all you ever think about!"
"Until you explain yourself properly, you're not getting a bite to eat!"
Still grumbling, Ning Rongrong clung tightly to Meng Chen's arm, practically pressing her whole body against him as she pulled him toward the academy dining hall.
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