Zheng Qing did not remember how he got back to the classroom.
As if sleepwalking, he crossed the empty campus, passed the placid Linzhong Lake, and walked down the silent tree-lined paths. A merman surfacing from the water greeted him, but Zheng Qing did not hear a thing. A mischievous squirrel on a branch pelted his head with an acorn, yet failed to earn the young wizard's curse. Even when a brindled puppy brazenly relieved itself right where he was walking, Zheng Qing noticed nothing and stepped straight through it.
His mind was blank.
He did not dare recall the words Su Shijun had whispered into his ear.
Because the moment he thought of them, his thoughts spiraled out of control. His restless heart and wandering mind ran wild, and countless heated, seductive images flooded in, effortlessly overwhelming what little reason he had left.
—Do you want to know what the real, undisclosed reward is?
That small, warm, fragrant voice echoed by his ear again. Zheng Qing could not help shaking his head vigorously, trying to forget those words, while unconsciously murmuring:
"If this is the punishment... then I'll definitely keep making mistakes from now on."
A Treant Sapling taking a nap in the bushes was jolted awake by an indescribable stench. It poked its head out, pinched its nose, and suspiciously watched the fellow who had stepped in dog shit and was talking to himself pass by. Angrily, it spat at him twice.
—The real, undisclosed...
Not even the Calming Spell could stop certain words from repeating endlessly in his ears. For one brief moment, Zheng Qing felt that he finally understood why cultists were always so manic. Whispers like the murmurs of an Evil God could drive anyone mad.
No wonder people had always been so wary of