What's Coming Will Come

Only after they had walked several meters away did Qian Chaoguang speak. "Nothing. I got along pretty well with the old man, so I was just messing around a bit. Oh, right—punch me. Hit here. Put some force into it."

"Brother, do you have a fever? Why would I hit you for no reason?"

"Come on, don't ask. You'll know once school starts. Hit harder. Just treat it like the two of us got into a fight."

"All... all right."

"After you change, hurry downstairs. We still haven't done today's routine exercise."

"Huh? We still have to exercise today? Can't we rest for two days, Brother? School's about to start..."

"The key to training is persistence. I brought all that equipment with us."

"Fine..."

Mu En watched the siblings enter the dormitory, and an almost imperceptible smile appeared on his face.

"I really didn't see wrong before. He is an interesting young man. His mind turns very quickly; it's just that his acting still needs polishing. And he seems to know quite a lot? He also has a bit of goodwill toward Shrek... maybe... Forget it, I'll watch and see. The one Duoduo secretly hid away earlier should have been him, shouldn't it?"

After finishing the daily Morning Exercise with Huo Yutong, Huo Yutong went to find Tang Ya and Bei Bei to learn, and to transform the Soul Power in her body into Mysterious Heaven Skill.

Qian Chaoguang returned to the dormitory alone, sat cross-legged on the bed, and began the training that was unbelievably dull yet ridiculously good at passing time.

As the old saying went, the clumsy bird flew first—but there were benefits when a bird that was not clumsy flew first too, weren't there?

Ever since Old Butler had been attacked and killed, Qian Chaoguang had constantly felt an extreme lack of security, and he trained bitterly every single day without fail.

The Soul Power cyclone spun rapidly, and the stirred Heaven and Earth Origin Power formed a faint "Energy Vortex," continuously surging toward Qian Chaoguang.

The pale-golden Soul Power mist condensed into clear, crystalline droplets of Soul Power and gathered upon the platform foundation, slowly raising his cultivation.

As his Mental Power strengthened, it drew along his Bloodline Power and the native Soul Power within his body, causing his already extremely robust flesh and blood to transform once more, tempering it as if it were rare metal.

If someone possessed eyes capable of seeing through his body, they would be astonished to discover that around one-seventh of the meridians and blood vessels within Qian Chaoguang's body had already transformed into a clear, crystalline texture, as though forged from light.

"Hm? What cultivation method are you practicing? It can actually cultivate Mental Power and Soul Power at the same time, and even temper the body? Damn, kid, could you be a Soul Beast too?"

Just as Qian Chaoguang had been getting into the rhythm of cultivation, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice suddenly appeared in his mind.

"You're awake?"

Qian Chaoguang's aggregate of consciousness appeared within his own Sea of Consciousness. Aside from the enormous glowing Visualization Diagram before his eyes, the most conspicuous thing there was the lazy Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.

Electrolux's Divine Sense was still a mass of gray mist, lying quietly in a corner of the Sea of Consciousness.

"Yeah. Your body really is absurd. Back then, that Titled Douluo I burst apart wasn't as ridiculous as you in terms of Mental Power level or the sturdiness of his Sea of Spirit."

Qian Chaoguang said, "Don't talk nonsense. Mine is a proper Sea of Consciousness and Divine Sense. The quantity may not be much, but the quality is extremely high. Don't compare me to that unlucky bastard. Oh, right, there's something I wanted to say before. You were pretty damn impressive back then too—of all the people you could've chosen, you picked a Titled Douluo. He already had all nine Soul Rings filled, so where were you supposed to put a Million Year Soul Ring? How could he not explode?"

"Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, cough."

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm coughed awkwardly several times. It was unclear how his body structure had mastered the skill of coughing.

"Back then, Brother just had no experience, all right? Brother had never come into contact with humans before! Who the hell knew nine Soul Rings was the limit? Only after I read that guy's memories later did I start to figure things out. And now look—all of it benefited you, kid."

Qian Chaoguang chuckled a few times and said, "So why did you call me here? Don't tell me it was just to compliment me. I accept. Thanks for the praise. If there's nothing important, I'll continue cultivating."

"Don't go, don't go. There's serious business."

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm hurriedly replied.

"With your current physical strength and Mental Power, you're already strong enough to withstand the Second Martial Soul I'll bestow upon you. When are you going to the Far North? When the time comes, Brother guarantees he'll give you a great opportunity."

"The Far North."

Qian Chaoguang thought for a moment, then said, "Eleven months from now. The academy will be on break then. Hopefully, I'll have reached two rings by that time, and I can deal with the Soul Ring issue along the way. Oh, right, you should still be able to handle a ten-thousand-year ice-attribute Soul Beast, right?"

"Relax. Brother knows the Far North like the back of his hand. When the time comes, Brother will cover you. Oh, right, I almost forgot—do you want to fuse with a few portions of my Source Power now? Back then, I divided it into ten portions. Right now, you can fuse with at least two."

"Source Power... Let's wait a little longer. I feel like something's been a bit off with my Martial Soul lately. There are some things I need to think through first."

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm twisted his body in the Sea of Consciousness. "All right, then. Up to you. That's that. I'm going back to sleep. Call me if anything happens."

"Mm. Sweet dreams."

The white light receded, and Qian Chaoguang's consciousness withdrew from the Sea of Consciousness. He slowly opened his eyes.

"Fusing with the Source... I'll think about it later."

Qian Chaoguang shook his head and continued cultivating.

Ever since Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had become his Soul Ring, he had kept feeling as though a few things that did not belong to him had appeared in his personality.

It seemed to have made him a little more... cheeky?

If it had been his original personality, there was absolutely no way he would have tested Mu En in front of him in the early morning. It was far too risky.

Even if the matter truly had a high chance of succeeding, he would not have gambled so rashly.

This concerned his own life.

Qian Chaoguang suddenly thought of a possibility, and in an instant, cold sweat broke out all over him. In his heart, he sucked in a sharp breath.

This Martial Soul of his...

Surely he wouldn't be influenced by some of the Soul Beast's own personality every time he fused with a Soul Ring, right?

If that was really the case, then that was way too damn terrifying.

But if he did not attach a Spirit Ring...

Qian Chaoguang summoned his still-unformed Second Martial Soul, and a faint icy mist spread through the air.

Was he supposed to make Ultimate Ice his main Martial Soul?

Wouldn't the advantage of Twin Martial Souls be wasted?

Qian Chaoguang rubbed his temples with a headache, feeling somewhat irritated.

For now, he could only pin his hopes on Shrek truly recognizing his Martial Soul and offering a way to solve the problem.

Just as Qian Chaoguang was thinking over his Martial Soul, a certain distracted fellow in an office suddenly slapped his thigh hard.

"Damn it, last time I was so focused on covering up the traces that I forgot to ask that kid about his Martial Soul! Extreme Ice Light? Light Mimicry? I think those were the two names, right? No, I have to go check the Inner Court Library."

The next morning, when Qian Chaoguang finished his daily Morning Exercise with Huo Yutong and returned to the dormitory, he found that the dorm room door was already open.

Just then, a fair-skinned youth with short powder-blue hair walked out of the room. After seeing Qian Chaoguang, she froze for a moment.

Although Qian Chaoguang had long prepared himself for this, he still could not help letting out a deep sigh.

So he still could not escape the convergence of this worldline after all?

Oh, no, perhaps he should call it the scheme of a certain God King?

Forget it. Whatever it was, it did not matter.

Qian Chaoguang was too lazy to deal with this cross-dressed one-third of a Little Princess. He did not even look at her properly and simply walked into the dormitory on his own.

He ignored me?

He actually dared to ignore me?

Wang Dong'er was extremely surprised that Qian Chaoguang had actually ignored her. She even found it somewhat unbelievable, with a hint of anger mixed in.

From childhood until now, no one had ever dared ignore her!

"Hey! Who allowed you to come in!"

Qian Chaoguang could not be bothered with him. He did not even spare him a glance and went straight to the cabinet, opening it and starting to take off his clothes.

After finishing Morning Exercise, he was drenched in sweat and needed to take a shower.

"You!?"

Wang Dong'er clearly could not accept the fact that she had been ignored again. And this person had actually started changing clothes right in front of her?

Did he have any regard for her at all?

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

A quick note: the protagonist knows Wang Dong'er's true identity, so the pronoun will be "she." However, because Wang Dong has not revealed herself yet, the name Wang Dong will still be used for the time being.