Though those thoughts lingered in her heart, she could not bear to let go of the boy before her. Jiang Nannan reached out with her soft little hand and gently took Chen Jie's.
His palm was warm and broad, her fingertips delicate and soft, and their fingers intertwined.
They stopped joking and chatting, simply holding hands in silence as they strolled along Shrek Academy's tree-lined paths. The evening breeze brushed through the branches and leaves, scattering tiny patches of light. Flowers accompanied them all the way, and the passing moments felt gentle and serene.
Jiang Nannan turned her head, gazing tenderly at Chen Jie beside her with her warm golden eyes. "You've only just enrolled, so you haven't had a proper look around Shrek yet, have you? Let me show you around and help you get familiar with the academy."
Chen Jie nodded slightly and gently tightened his grip on her hand, his smile warm. "All right. Whatever you say, Sister Nannan."
In the shadows of a nearby thicket, a figure stared fixedly at the pair's intertwined fingers, savage hostility and jealousy churning in his eyes. It was Xu Sanshi.
He had been infatuated with Jiang Nannan for years, yet had never seen her so gentle and yielding toward anyone. Now, watching her take Chen Jie's hand of her own accord, her face brimming with tenderness, jealousy instantly consumed his heart. His clenched fists cracked audibly.
In his eyes, Jiang Nannan could only belong to him. This newcomer before him was unquestionably the culprit who had seduced Nannan.
His anger drowning out all reason, Xu Sanshi could no longer restrain himself. He stepped forward, ready to charge out and teach Chen Jie a brutal lesson in public, crushing the fellow who had stolen Nannan's attention.
The instant he moved, a tall, steady figure abruptly stepped forward and planted himself squarely in his path. A firm hand clamped down on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.
It was Bei Bei.
Held firmly in place, Xu Sanshi whipped his head around in fury, his face scarlet. His voice carried a crazed resolve. "Bei Bei! What the hell do you mean by this? You keep stopping me, again and again! If you stop me today, I won't consider you my brother anymore! We're through for good! Every tie between us is severed!"
The friends who had once been as close as brothers had now torn away all pretense of harmony because of Chen Jie.
Faced with Xu Sanshi's threat to end their friendship, Bei Bei's expression did not so much as flicker. Only a deathly gray emptiness remained in his eyes; his heart had turned completely to ashes.
He looked at the raging, out-of-control Xu Sanshi and spoke in a low, hoarse voice laden with endless desolation and resignation, each word firm. "I won't let you hurt him."
Xu Sanshi froze. He could not believe that Bei Bei, who had always protected and indulged him, would go so far as to break with him over an outsider.
No one knew that, just moments earlier, Bei Bei's world had completely collapsed.
While Bei Bei was alone earlier, Tang Ya had sought him out. Her gaze was calm but utterly resolute as she formally asked to break up with him.
She told Bei Bei frankly that she had finally seen her own heart clearly. In this Douluo World filled with bonds of love, the person who truly moved her heart, the person she truly wanted to spend her life with, had never been Bei Bei. It was Chen Jie, who had suddenly entered her world.
She did not need Bei Bei's years of protection and devotion. She only hoped that he could let go of his obsession, find peace, and sincerely give her and Chen Jie his blessing.
Years of deep affection had been reduced to nothing in a single day.
All the favoritism, protection, restraint, and waiting Bei Bei had poured into her had earned him only a dignified farewell and an unfamiliar request for his blessing.
From that moment on, Bei Bei's heart had gone utterly cold, and he had severed every personal attachment.
He let go of his fixation, let go of his love, and let go of the obsession he had harbored for years, choosing to step aside and honor Tang Ya's feelings.
Precisely because of that, no matter how furious Xu Sanshi became, how he threatened to break with him, or what threats he made, Bei Bei would never allow anyone to hurt Chen Jie.
He was not protecting Chen Jie. He was protecting Tang Ya's final wish, and the youth of his own life whose curtain had fallen for good.
Beyond the thicket, Chen Jie and Jiang Nannan continued walking tenderly side by side, utterly unaware of the bitter rupture and heartbreak unfolding in the undercurrents behind them.
After they had toured most of the tree-lined campus, Jiang Nannan remembered the Treasure Gathering Pavilion, where the academy's Inner Court disciples selected treasures and exchanged resources. She softly suggested taking Chen Jie there to broaden his horizons.
Jiang Nannan was now a core disciple of the Shrek Inner Court. A few years earlier, her Martial Soul had advanced and evolved, causing her talent and potential to soar and granting her exceptionally high privileges within the academy.
Shrek's Treasure Gathering Pavilion housed natural treasures, exotic beast essences, and obscure, wondrous materials left behind by generations of students. Its reserves were unfathomable, and ordinary Outer Court students had no chance of even setting foot inside.
With Jiang Nannan's high-ranking Inner Court privileges, the two smoothly entered the Treasure Gathering Pavilion's imposing, ancient hall.
Spiritual energy swirled within the pavilion. Neat rows of jade shelves displayed all manner of glittering, rare soul materials. Chen Jie browsed at a leisurely pace, his gaze passing over the many treasures without stirring his heart, until it landed on an inconspicuous piece of dark-blue, unprocessed gelatinous material in a corner. His steps abruptly stopped.
The piece was deep blue throughout, its texture lustrous and translucent. Faint fluctuations of deep-sea Soul Power lingered over its surface. It looked entirely unremarkable, and the pavilion's steward and the other students regarded it as nothing more than ordinary thousand-year whale rubber. No one paid it any attention.
But Chen Jie possessed the vast spiritual power gifted to him by the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm. His invisible spiritual perception spread outward, instantly penetrating the outer shell and revealing every detail of what lay within.
No one can discern the true value of this ten-thousand-year whale glue. It's been carelessly left in a corner to gather dust. It seems fate has brought it to me, Chen Jie thought.
Seeing him stop and stare at the blue material, Jiang Nannan spoke gently, though a faint blush quietly rose to her cheeks. She had once read about it in fragments of ancient texts in the Inner Court. Besides tempering the body and raising the limit of the Soul Rings one could withstand, ten-thousand-year whale glue also enhanced male virility. Many suggestive rumors circulated about it, and the thought stirred a trace of shyness in her heart.
"Has this material caught your eye? This piece of whale rubber is only a thousand years old, so it isn't particularly precious. If you like it, I can exchange for it for you."
Chen Jie came back to himself, drawing his gaze away from the ten-thousand-year whale glue to look at Jiang Nannan's slightly flushed face beside him. He understood why she looked different, but did not point it out. He slowly nodded. "Then I'm sorry for the trouble, Sister Nannan. Please exchange for it for me. This material will be very useful to me."
Jiang Nannan nodded gently and soon found the Treasure Gathering Pavilion's steward. Using her privileges as a high-ranking Inner Court disciple, she spent a small number of Contribution Points and easily obtained the ten-thousand-year whale glue whose worth no one had recognized. She placed it in an exquisite white jade presentation box and handed it to Chen Jie.
The academy's public cultivation rooms were all packed at the moment, filled with noisy voices. They were utterly unsuitable for refining a cultivation resource that could so easily stir the blood and destabilize Soul Power.
Jiang Nannan considered it for a moment, the tips of her ears still faintly red, then softly suggested taking Chen Jie off campus.
The two left Shrek Academy's grounds and reached the bustling streets outside, finally choosing a romantically decorated couples-themed hotel that offered exceptional privacy.
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