"I don't believe you."
"Fine, none of you are allowed to lift a finger in the freshman assessment. Let me handle it myself!"
"Dong'er..."
"Xiao Xiao, say no more. It's only the freshman assessment championship. I can win that easily!" Wang Dong'er looked utterly confident and proud.
Xiao Xiao, however, said quietly, "Dong'er, what I wanted to say was that the other classes have freshmen at the Soul Elder level. More than one, too."
"...So what? Even with one fewer Soul Skill, I can still beat them!" Wang Dong'er remained brimming with confidence.
It's just a thousand-year Soul Skill, isn't it? I have one too.
"Uh..." At Wang Dong'er's reaction, Xiao Xiao didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"That's the spirit. I have faith in you."
Gu Yunxiao smiled faintly. "If you can pull it off, I might consider taking you on as my little underling."
"Just you wait, then. This little underling, I..."
Wang Dong'er stopped halfway through her sentence, suddenly freezing in place as she stared wide-eyed at Gu Yunxiao. "You... what did you just say?"
"If you can pull it off, I might consider taking you on as my little underling," Gu Yunxiao repeated with a cheerful smile.
"Pfft!"
Xiao Xiao burst out laughing and gave Wang Dong'er a playful look. "Dong'er, I never would've guessed you wanted to be Yunxiao's little underling so badly."
Wang Dong'er's face instantly darkened.
"Gu Yunxiao!"
Wang Dong'er shot to her feet, glaring at Gu Yunxiao in embarrassed fury.
The sight startled their nearby classmates, who then all looked at Wang Dong'er with odd expressions.
"Holy crap, what happened?"
"Why's Wang Dong'er so worked up? Did Gu Yunxiao bully her?"
"Uh, why does this look like a little couple fooling around to me?"
"A... a little couple?"
Everyone chattered away,