Meng Hongchen looked at him without speaking. She knew her older brother all too well.
Proud, stubborn, and never willing to admit defeat.
Lu Ren's appearance had been like a club to the head, knocking him awake from his dream of being "the greatest genius in the Sun Moon Empire's history."
"Keep at it," she said softly. "I believe in you."
Xiao Hongchen nodded and turned to leave, then suddenly stopped and turned his head to look at her.
"Grandpa talked to you last night too, didn't he?"
Meng Hongchen froze for a moment, then lowered her eyes and nodded gently.
Her thoughts drifted involuntarily back to the previous night.
The hospital room had smelled of medicinal herbs and disinfectant. Xiao Hongchen had been lying in bed receiving treatment, while Jing Hongchen sat in a chair by the window.
"That child isn't someone you can catch up to as you are now."
That was what he had said, his tone free of reproach, carrying only the calm of someone stating a fact.
"But you can follow behind him, see the road he takes and the hurdles he crosses, then find your own direction."
"More than that, if you want to become the strongest in the future, you must keep close on Lu Ren's heels."
"His path is different from yours. You may not be able to reach the heights he can. If you don't want him to leave you too far behind, put away that pointless pride of yours."
She had merely listened in silence at the time, without asking further.
Thinking back now, Grandpa's words about "following behind him" seemed to refer to more than just cultivation...
Meng Hongchen's cheeks flushed slightly.
Lu Ren really was good-looking and strong. Although he treated her a little coldly, he was never overbearing.
He also maintained just the right boundaries with girls. When he had helped her off the stage yesterday, his hand had touched only her sleeve, never overstepping in the slightest.
Someone like that met her standards perfectly.
"Sis? Sis!"
Xiao Hongchen's voice pulled her back to reality.
"Huh?" Meng Hongchen blinked. "What is it?"
"I called you several times. What are you daydreaming about?"
"Nothing... I just didn't sleep well last night and zoned out." She raised a hand to brush aside the hair by her ear, trying to hide the flush on her face.
Xiao Hongchen gave her a suspicious look but asked no further questions. He merely reminded her, "You should hurry up and cultivate too. Try to break through to Soul King soon," then turned and left.
Meng Hongchen watched his retreating figure disappear at the end of the corridor and sighed softly.
Beating Lu Ren... how could it be that easy?
Beneath the shade of a tree not far from the cafeteria, another pair of eyes was also fixed on the direction Lu Ren had left in.
Wang Shaojie leaned against the trunk. The bruises on his face had yet to fade completely, and a medical soul tool patch that held his bones in place covered the bridge of his nose. He looked utterly bedraggled.
His teeth ground audibly.
"Even those two freaks from Illustrious Virtue Hall, Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan, aren't his match..." he muttered, his eyes brimming with venom. "Then who can deal with him?"
He turned it over and over in his mind, but only one candidate kept coming to him.
"My cousin... right, I'll find my cousin!"
He sprang away from the tree trunk and turned toward the academy gates, walking hurriedly as though afraid he might change his mind.
"So what if you're strong? Once I bring my cousin here, you'll have more consequences than you can carry!"
"If you dare hurt a member of the imperial family, it won't matter how strong you are!"
Wang Shaojie had never suffered such humiliation in his life.
Ever since he was little, he had relied on his status as a collateral member of the imperial family and his cousin's authority in the Inspection Team to swagger through the academy without anyone daring to stop him.
Yet now, some brat of unknown origins had humiliated him in public, used him to climb higher, and made him the laughingstock of the entire academy.
Without Wang Shaojie, who would even have known Lu Ren existed?
He had become someone's stepping stone for no reason at all. He, Wang Shaojie, could not swallow this insult!
Not far away, Lu Ren suddenly stopped.
He turned his head, his gaze settling on the distant figure hurrying away.
Wang Shaojie.
Although he could not make out his face, the negative emotions emanating from that figure were like a burning mass of black flames-anger, resentment, and hatred so intense they almost took physical form.
"So that's it. He bears a grudge against me. That's only natural, considering I stepped on him to climb higher."
Lu Ren had thought of the reason almost immediately.
"Looks like I'll have to deal with you first before things settle down."
Lu Ren withdrew his gaze and continued onward.
Before long, Lu Ren arrived at Illustrious Virtue Hall.
After entering, he went straight to the door of Jing Hongchen's office.
He raised his hand and knocked.
"Come in."
Jing Hongchen's voice came from inside.
Lu Ren pushed the door open and entered, only to pause.
Meng Hongchen stood beside the desk, holding a cup of tea and saying something to Jing Hongchen.
Both turned to look at him.
"Am I interrupting?" Lu Ren asked.
"No." Jing Hongchen waved a hand, motioning for him to come in and sit. "What is it?"
Lu Ren did not sit down. Standing where he was, he calmly recounted the matter with Wang Shaojie.
"I suspect he'll drag the Imperial Family Inspection Team into this," he added at the end. "His cousin is the Inspection Team Captain. With authority in his hands and resentment in his heart, he won't let this rest."
After hearing him out, Jing Hongchen's brows knotted tightly.
"The imperial family..." He rubbed his temples, his tone distinctly irritated. "That brat really never gives anyone a moment's peace."
Dealing with Wang Shaojie himself was not difficult. The difficulty lay in his imperial family background.
The connections among the Sun Moon Empire's collateral imperial branches were as tangled as roots and branches; tugging a single hair would move the whole body.
Even as the master of Illustrious Virtue Hall, he was unwilling to clash with those people head-on lightly.
"How about I teach him a lesson?"
Meng Hongchen set down her teacup, an eager gleam in her eyes.
"He may be a Soul King, but my poison can leave him bedridden for ten days or half a month."
Jing Hongchen glanced at her, considered for a moment, and slowly nodded.
"You can, but you absolutely must not be the one to start trouble. Otherwise, we'll lose the moral high ground."
"The imperial family will show the Hongchen Family some respect. Besides..."
He paused, a meaningful smile curling his lips.
"As the master of Illustrious Virtue Hall, I still carry some weight in the Sun Moon Empire."
"Even His Majesty himself has to address me courteously as Hall Master when he sees me."
His words were mild, yet carried an unquestionable confidence.
Of course they did. Within the Sun Moon Empire, his standing was equivalent to that of an imperial preceptor.
Jing Hongchen turned to Lu Ren:
"Starting today, stay by Meng Hongchen's side twenty-four hours a day. If Wang Shaojie dares come looking for trouble, the Inspection Team won't dare touch you with her there."
"And if they still dare touch you, we'll have grounds to get rid of them. A mere Inspection Team, hmph."
Lu Ren thought it over. This was a good method:
"Understood."
Meng Hongchen quietly turned her face aside, the tips of her ears reddening slightly.
Twenty-four hours... together?
She hurriedly shook those jumbled thoughts out of her head and lifted her teacup, pretending to drink.
Lu Ren did not notice anything unusual about her at all and continued speaking to Jing Hongchen:
"One more thing. I suggest raising the academy's alert level a little further. There's no telling when people from Shrek might sneak over."
Jing Hongchen's expression instantly darkened.
"You have the nerve to bring that up?" He snorted coldly, his tone filled with undisguised distaste. "If you hadn't stirred up trouble by showing your Soul Rings over there, would I have to go to all this effort to wipe your backside? Get out. I have my own arrangements for this."
Lu Ren stood up with a grin and headed for the door.
Meng Hongchen hurriedly put down her teacup and followed him.
Inside the office.
Jing Hongchen leaned back in his chair, his gaze resting on the tightly closed metal door, and remained silent for a long time.
There was still one thing he could not understand.
Why had Lu Ren exposed himself at Shrek Academy first, then come running to the Sun Moon Empire?
With his talent, he could have received the best treatment whether he stayed at Shrek or came to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
Why take that unnecessary extra step?
"How irritating." He snorted, picked up the teacup on his desk, and drained it in one gulp. "Every mess that brat leaves behind falls to me to clean up. Meanwhile, he just dusts off his backside and walks away, carefree as can be."
The teacup struck the desktop heavily with a sharp clack.
"Still, something good has finally come of this. That boy Xiao is finally willing to put aside his pride, work hard at cultivation, and enter seclusion to push for Soul King."
Jing Hongchen smiled.
Before you continue