The Dragon King Returns!

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, Huo Yutong had arrived at the gates of Shrek Academy.

She stood before those familiar gates and looked up at the five large characters above them, their strokes like iron paintings and silver hooks. Suddenly, she felt that her state of mind was entirely different from when she had first stood here.

Back then, she had always kept her head down, a girl plagued by inferiority. Now, she had returned, reborn, as the king of ice and snow-a proud king.

Ice Jade Scorpion Emperor. Second Martial Soul, ultimate ice, and the soul ring and torso bone of a four-hundred-thousand-year-old ferocious beast.

She smiled faintly.

She really had been useless before, but one moment did not define forever.

Three months east of the river, three months west; never scorn a girl for being poor.

Huo Yutong stepped through the academy gates, officially entering Dragon King Returns mode.

She first went to the Soul Guidance Department to find Fan Yu.

The office door was ajar. She knocked twice, and Fan Yu's voice came from inside. "Come in."

Fan Yu was buried in a pile of blueprints, her short gray hair tucked behind her ears. Several soul tool blueprints brought back from the Sun Moon Empire lay spread across her desk, with a cup of thoroughly cold tea beside them.

When she looked up and saw Huo Yutong, she froze for a moment, then put down her pen.

"You're back?"

"Yes." Huo Yutong stood before the desk and explained honestly, "Hunting for a soul ring held me up, so I came back late."

Fan Yu looked at her for two seconds, then nodded without asking anything further.

Huo Yutong was probably the only person in all of Shrek who dared to return so late and still stand before her with such perfect confidence.

Anyone else would have long since been struck from the student register.

But Huo Yutong was different. Her talent with soul tools was so extraordinary that even Fan Yu had marveled in private: this girl's aptitude for soul tools surpassed even hers at that age.

With a student like this, being late was nothing. Even if she bombarded the academy with a Soul Guidance Cannon, Fan Yu could cover for her.

"Now that you're back, settle down and focus." Fan Yu gathered the blueprints and pushed them to a corner of the desk. "Come to my office in a few days. We'll study these blueprints the Sun Moon Empire gave us together. Come take a look too."

Huo Yutong nodded in agreement, chatted with Fan Yu about her progress with soul tools, then took her leave.

After leaving the Soul Guidance Department building, she unconsciously quickened her steps toward the Outer Court's training ground.

After so long apart, it would have been a lie to say she did not miss Gu Xingyue.

All kinds of thoughts swirled through her head-how would he react when he saw her? Had he, like her, saved up a whole bellyful of things to say?

Then she reached the edge of the training ground.

Two figures were exchanging blows in the arena.

Purple lightning and snow-white sword energy intertwined and collided, accompanied by a rapid, crisp ringing of metal.

Holding a long saber formed from lightning energy, Gu Xingyue traded moves with the white-robed woman opposite him.

Both moved swiftly, yet their rhythms meshed tightly, every transition between attack and defense flowing as smoothly as if rehearsed.

Huo Yutong stopped.

Amid the clashes of sword and saber was an understanding that left no room for anyone else.

Watching those two intertwined figures, Huo Yutong suddenly felt as though something had lodged in her chest.

That sensation was colder than the winds of the Extreme North, spreading from her heart all the way to her fingertips.

"Yutong?"

Gu Xingyue noticed her first.

He withdrew his saber and stepped back. The lightning dispersed, and undisguised delight appeared on his face. "You're back?"

Ji Xueyi stopped as well and turned to look over.

Her gaze swept over Huo Yutong, finally settling on her slightly pale face, and she tilted her head.

She silently wondered, Has she caught a cold? Why is she so pale?

Of course, this thought was rather unnecessary. A soul master with ultimate ice catching a cold was as absurd as one with ultimate fire getting heatstroke.

Huo Yutong came back to herself, shook her head, and forced a smile. "Yes, I'm back. Just a little tired."

She took a few steps closer, her gaze falling on Ji Xueyi. "And this is...?"

"Ji Xueyi, an exchange student from the Sun Moon Empire," Gu Xingyue introduced. "She's been coming to spar with me these past few days."

"Spar?" Huo Yutong repeated softly. She glanced at the sword Ji Xueyi had yet to put away, then at the cuts sword energy had left in Gu Xingyue's clothes. Her brows drew together slightly.

"It's nothing. I just need a change of clothes." Gu Xingyue waved it off carelessly. "Her sword isn't fast enough yet. She can't hurt me."

Ji Xueyi sheathed her sword, a flicker of displeasure crossing her face.

She glanced at Gu Xingyue and grumbled inwardly, Just talk to each other. Why drag me into it?

Sure, a Soul King like me challenging a Soul Elder like you is a bit... but you can't humiliate me in front of someone else like that.

Huo Yutong paused, then answered softly, "I see."

The air fell quiet for a moment.

Gu Xingyue coughed and added, "Anyway, Ji Xueyi and I are just friends. On the path of the sword, you could say we're lofty mountains and flowing waters finding an appreciative ear."

At those words, the corner of Ji Xueyi's mouth twitched.

She thought, What Gu Xingyue calls swordsmanship is nothing but a child waving a branch around, yet he insists it's a return to simplicity, that having no moves beats having moves.

Even more outrageously, he had complained that she was too bound by convention and taught her a dirty sword technique called "Thousand Years of Death."

It truly left her speechless. Great strength was just great strength. What was all this nonsense about swordsmanship embodying the simplicity of the Great Dao?

"Anyway, you can ask her to be your sparring partner too," Gu Xingyue said.

Huo Yutong: "..."

She gathered her thoughts again, her cheeks growing slightly warm, but the indescribable knot in her heart loosened somewhat.

She looked at Gu Xingyue and said softly, "I'm back."

"Yes." Gu Xingyue nodded, his gaze lingering on her face for a moment. "The Extreme North... did things go smoothly?"

Huo Yutong parted her lips. "Fairly smoothly. I gained a few things."

She had not yet worked out how to explain her second martial soul.

"That's good." Gu Xingyue did not press her. He merely smiled. "It's good that you're back."

Ji Xueyi looked from one to the other, then suddenly spoke. "You two talk. I'll head back." She turned and left, but after two steps, she stopped and looked back at Gu Xingyue, saying earnestly, "We continue tomorrow."

Gu Xingyue sounded helpless. "You're coming again?"

"Of course." A flicker of fighting spirit flashed through Ji Xueyi's eyes. "I haven't made a breakthrough in my swordsmanship yet. Besides-" She paused. "Fighting you makes me happy."

With that, she really did leave. Her departing figure was brisk and decisive, without the slightest dragging through mud or water.

Only Gu Xingyue and Huo Yutong remained on the training ground.

"She..." Huo Yutong looked in the direction Ji Xueyi had left, hesitating.

"She's just a martial fanatic," Gu Xingyue explained. "There's nothing in her head but swords. Don't overthink it."

"I'm not overthinking it." Huo Yutong lowered her head, her voice very soft. "It's just... you looked happy when you were fighting her."

Gu Xingyue froze for a moment, then smiled. "That's because she's so single-minded. Exchanging blows with someone strong is a pleasure in itself." He looked at Huo Yutong, his gaze softening. "But no matter how strong an opponent is, they can't compare to having you back."

Huo Yutong raised her head and met his gaze. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

In a distant pavilion, Mu En watched this scene, the corners of her lips rising slightly.

She sipped her tea and murmured, "This girl certainly knows how to keep her composure. But... that boy seems to be attracting more and more romantic blossoms."

She shook her head and set down her teacup, her gaze pausing briefly on a corner at the edge of the training ground.

Ji Xueyi had returned after leaving and now stood in the shadow of an old scholar tree, holding her sword in her arms as she quietly watched the two figures standing side by side on the training ground.

Her expression was difficult to make out, but her fingers gripped her sword a little more tightly than usual.

Mu En withdrew her perception without drawing attention to it and merely sighed softly.

"Young people." She leaned back in her wicker chair, placed the thoroughly cold tea on the armrest, and closed her eyes to rest. "They really do bring back memories of youth long gone."

On the training ground, Gu Xingyue and Huo Yutong walked toward the exit side by side.

"Come on, I'll treat you to a meal to celebrate your return," Gu Xingyue said.

Huo Yutong nodded, a genuine smile finally appearing on her face. "All right."

The two left side by side. Neither noticed that beneath the old scholar tree in the corner of the training ground, Ji Xueyi stood quietly for a long time. Only after their departing figures had completely vanished into the dusk did she lower her head to glance at the sword in her arms, turn, and walk in another direction.