Gu Yue stood where she was, watching his retreating figure until he disappeared from sight. Only then did she look away. She walked silently back to the classroom and returned to her seat.
Before long, Xie Xie, who had been called to the office, came in with his head hanging low.
He plopped down beside Tang Wulin.
Tang Wulin was sitting in his seat, munching on a steamed bun. He jumped in surprise. "What's wrong? What did Teacher Wu say to you?"
"Special training."
Xie Xie spoke listlessly.
"Teacher Wu said the three of us are starting special training tomorrow. And I have to do extra training on my own."
"Extra training?" Tang Wulin clicked his tongue. "What kind?"
"Who knows?"
Xie Xie buried his face in his arms. "Teacher Wu gave me a real scolding and told me to do extra training alone tomorrow. I don't want to do extra training!"
Xie Xie wanted to cry, but no tears would come. He hated his own mouth. Why did he have to run it like that? He just had to talk about those things in class, and now look what had happened. Wu Changkong had caught him, and now he had to do extra training.
"All right, Teacher Wu's doing it for your own good."
Tang Wulin comforted him. "The three of us will be training together. More people will make it lively."
"I don't think it'll be lively at all."
Xie Xie's voice was muffled. Then he turned, spotted Gu Yue, and called out irritably.
"Hey, Gu Yue, Teacher Wu said you're coming tomorrow too. Meet at the sports field in the morning. Don't be late."
"Oh."
Without lifting her head, Gu Yue turned the pages of the book in her hands.
"Can't you be a little more polite? I'm not deaf. There's no need to bark orders at me."
"Bark orders?"
Xie Xie flared up. "I was nice enough to pass on the message, and now you're finding fault with me?"
"If you're passing on a message, do it properly."
Gu Yue spoke at a leisurely pace.
"You came in with a long face. Who's that look for? Did Teacher Wu scold you, so now you're taking it out on us?"
Xie Xie choked on his words.
"I heard Teacher Wu gave you extra training on your own."
Gu Yue turned a page, her tone perfectly even.
"If you ask me, the extra training is just what you need. You dart around everywhere all day, and when it comes to cultivation, you fish for three days and dry your nets for two. Your Soul Power is nearly at the bottom of the class. If someone doesn't keep an eye on you, what are you going to fight with in the Class Promotion Tournament?"
"Y-you're the one at the bottom!"
"How could I possibly be at the bottom? I'm the most... second-most talented person in our class."
"I'm almost level twenty..."
Xie Xie suddenly remembered Gu Yue's terrifying strength during their special training that night, as well as her cultivation as a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster. His words grew hesitant.
"I'm at the bottom?"
Gu Yue finally raised her eyes, a hint of a disdainful smile on her lips.
"Then how about a match? Whoever loses has to go out of their way to avoid the other from now on."
Xie Xie opened his mouth, then closed it again.
What was the point of a match? There was no way he could beat Gu Yue.
He couldn't beat her in a fight or an argument. Holding in his anger, he turned to Tang Wulin.
"Look at her! Listen to that mouth of hers! Do something about her!"
If this had been the original story, Xie Xie's words might have been of some use. After all, Tang Wulin really could influence Gu Yue's choices to some extent in the original story.
But that wasn't the case now. Gu Yue was not the Gu Yue of the original story.
Caught in the middle, Tang Wulin still clutched half a bun in his hand. He didn't know whether to eat it or put it down.
"Well, Gu Yue, Xie Xie meant well. Teacher Wu arranged it, and we'll all be going together. More people will make it lively."
"What's so lively about it?"
Gu Yue replied coldly, shooting Tang Wulin a fierce glare.
Once Gu Yue had determined that the Golden Dragon King Bloodline in Tang Wulin was quite strong, she found him unpleasant to look at no matter how she looked at him.
The main reason she hadn't made a move yet was that she wanted to see how the Golden Dragon King Bloodline could have appeared in a human for no reason. From this alone, it was clear that our Lady Little Gu Yue had indeed become more cautious.
Perhaps it was because she had been tricked too many times by a certain fellow named Qing Linyun? Our Lady Silver Dragon King was actually displaying world-shaking wisdom.
"Training isn't a dinner party."
"And are we close? Do I need you to explain things for him?"
Gu Yue was firing on all cylinders now. He had been thwarted by Qing Linyun for the past two days, and he couldn't get the better of Qing Linyun, so naturally he could only vent his anger on others.
And now two little punching bags had delivered themselves right to his door.
Tang Wulin shrank back innocently. He looked fearfully at the ice-cold Gu Yue, then tactfully lowered his head and said no more.
All he could do was silently pray for Xie Xie and cheer his good brother on in his heart.
Xie Xie wanted to say more, but Tang Wulin beside him had already fallen, and the thought of facing the female tyrannosaurus Gu Yue alone made him glance around before wisely shutting his mouth.
When Gu Yue saw that Xie Xie had stopped arguing back, she merely snorted. She was certainly going to the Class Promotion Tournament. She had only argued with him just now because she found him unpleasant.
"I'm definitely going to the special training. Teacher Wu ordered it, after all."
Xie Xie's eyes lit up. "Really?"
"I've got nothing better to do anyway."
Gu Yue strolled out at a leisurely pace, without looking back.
"I'll treat it as a chance to watch the two of you get trained until you cry."
"I won't cry!"
"Oh." Gu Yue didn't look back. "Then I'll have to watch carefully."
Xie Xie stamped his feet in the classroom, but Gu Yue had already left. Tang Wulin was so anxious that he ran around in circles. In the end, he patted Xie Xie on the shoulder.
"All right, all right, don't be angry. That's just how Gu Yue talks. She's actually a pretty good person."
"What's good about her?"
"Didn't you see how she acted just now? So high and mighty. And Tang Wulin, how could you be so cowardly? She had a go at you too."
Xie Xie felt terribly wronged.
"That mouth of hers is like a knife, stabbing me in the heart over and over!"
"Even so, don't argue with her."
"Don't argue?" Xie Xie glared. "How am I supposed to hold back when she starts talking?"
"Even if you can't, you have to." Tang Wulin held out the bun. "Here, have it. Cool off."
"I don't want it!"
"It's got meat filling."
Xie Xie glanced at the bun, swallowed, and snatched it away. "Just this once! I'm only doing it to give you face!"
Tang Wulin smiled helplessly. Then he remembered something and added,
"Xie Xie, say a little less during special training tomorrow. You can't control that mouth of hers, and you can't beat her in a fight or an argument. What's the point of going head-to-head with her?"
"You're right."
Xie Xie glumly finished the last bite of the bun.
"I'm magnanimous. I won't stoop to her level."
"Besides, my talent isn't necessarily worse than hers. We both have Innate Full Soul Power, so who's afraid of whom?"
Hearing that, Tang Wulin could only smile helplessly.
Xie Xie was a favored son of heaven, but Gu Yue was a favored daughter of heaven among favored sons of heaven. How could he ever catch up with those two in the future?
To him, the jabs Xie Xie and Gu Yue traded were more like something from another dimension.
The strength they considered poor was a future he would have to give his all to reach.
Tang Wulin had long since grown used to it. He was, after all, only a Blue Silver Grass Soul Master with level-three Innate Soul Power. Getting this far was already quite an achievement.
But these geniuses' futures were already bright. Where did his own future lie?
Tang Wulin gazed into the distance, a little melancholy.
Sea of stars, have I really reached you?
Xie Xie munched on his bun. Even though he had said a few things to comfort himself just now, he still felt somewhat uncomfortable.
He, Xie Xie, was a young master of a prominent family in Eastsea City. When had anyone ever needled him like this?
But however unconvinced he was, he didn't dare actually fight Gu Yue. Teacher Wu hated students fighting more than anything. The last time someone had started a fight on the sports field, they had been frozen into popsicles and bedridden for three days.
Besides, even if Xie Xie didn't want to admit it, the gap between him and Gu Yue was considerable. He simply couldn't beat her.
Forget it.
He swallowed the last bite of his bun.
I'll train hard tomorrow, make something of it, and make her see me in a new light. Then my strength will do the talking.
I, Xie Xie, will climb to the very top, one step, one step, one step, one step at a time! I'm going to be Zhao Gao!
Huh? Did I switch channels?
The staff dormitory building.
Qing Linyun sat cross-legged on his bed, eyes half-closed and breathing long and slow.
Only after he had gathered the last trace of Soul Power in his body back into his meridians did the air around him slowly settle.
During this cultivation session, he had gone over all the Soul Power in his body from beginning to end. Only after confirming that the hidden injuries left by the battle in the East Sea were no longer a problem did he end his cultivation and open his eyes.
The scabbed wound on his shoulder blade itched faintly. The green light of his Undying Body had long since faded.
He rolled his shoulder. The wound had almost healed, so he casually tore off the bandages Ye Lingling had wrapped around him.
My Soul Power has nearly recovered.
The injury from the aftermath of the Evil God Shield looked frightening, but in the end it didn't damage my foundation.
Still, thinking back on that battle, Qing Linyun felt that his strength really wasn't quite enough. It was a disgrace to transmigrators.
Just look at the transmigrators in the fanfiction he had read back then. Once they reached Douluo Continent, they reigned as kings and hegemons.
Could a mere level 98 Super Douluo have injured them? Impossible.