"Ladies and gentlemen, the train is arriving at Eastsea Station."
"The doors will open on the left. Please take care when getting off."
At the sound of the announcement, Qing Linyun slowly opened his eyes. He stretched, got up, and casually slipped his hands into his pockets before strolling toward the doors.
Since he had booked a first-class carriage, there weren't many people around.
As Qing Linyun walked along, he stood tall, with an exceptional bearing, graceful manners, and charm to spare. He drew plenty of glances and comments.
Qing Linyun was long accustomed to that sort of thing. Unconcerned, he put on his sunglasses; the sun in Eastsea City was rather fierce today.
Dressed like a young nobleman, Qing Linyun drew frequent sidelong glances from passersby. Even a roadside vendor called out, "Handsome, want to take a look at what we've got? Our fruit is the cheapest around here."
Qing Linyun smiled faintly and declined.
He continued on, pulling out his soul communicator as he walked.
[Great King Na'er]
"Big brother, have you arrived?"
"Take care of yourself over there in Eastsea City. Most importantly, the women outside are all very bad, so don't go off with them so easily."
"Na'er will miss you at Shrek."
Qing Linyun smiled helplessly at Na'er's messages. Na'er was lovely and all, but she seemed a little too clingy, and she was rather hostile toward the women who gathered around him.
I need to straighten out Na'er's thinking when I get a chance. How can I let her stop her brother Linyun from building a harem?
"Brother Linyun received your messages."
"Listen to Sister Ya Li while you're at Shrek, and cultivate hard. Once I've made the arrangements here, I'll come back to see you."
"I'll bring you your favorite tanghulu then."
Qing Linyun had just finished replying and was about to turn off the screen when another message popped up.
"Moshi moshi, has little Linyun arrived in Eastsea City? Remember the task I gave you."
[The Prettiest Sister Ya Li at Shrek Academy]
The corner of Qing Linyun's mouth twitched. He felt quite helpless. Ever since Ya Li had learned to surf the internet from him, she had often brought that playful way young people spoke into their chats.
More importantly, Qing Linyun hadn't set that as Ya Li's contact name. It was simply her username.
"I've arrived, Sister Ya Li. I'm getting ready to head to Eastsea Academy. I guarantee I'll complete the task, so rest easy, ma'am."
"Mm, but am I really that old? You brat, you really don't know how to talk."
The reply came immediately.
Of course, Qing Linyun didn't particularly feel like answering it.
For some reason, during the hours Qing Linyun had spent on the train, he had received pitifully few messages.
But as soon as he got off, they came one after another.
Some were from the company, some from the academy, and others from the major factions he kept in close contact with.
Of course, the most troublesome was still a certain little girl who played with bells.
[Little Girl Who Loves Bells]
"Boss is so mean, boo-hoo."
"You actually left a little cutie like me all alone at the company, sob sob... Boss is so mean... But I still really like you, Boss."
"Let me tell you a secret, Boss. I love you. Mua~"
Qing Linyun expressionlessly stuffed his soul communicator back into his pocket, casually straightened his clothes, and turned to continue toward Eastsea Academy.
Qing Linyun stood at the entrance to Eastsea Academy.
He tilted his head to look at the plaque. Four large, clear characters were inscribed on it: Eastsea Academy.
He rubbed his chin. He certainly had to get in. After all, how could he complete his task without going inside?
But how to get in was a problem.
He couldn't very well tell the gatekeeper, "Hello, my name is Qing Linyun. I'm fifteen, a Seven-Ring Soul Sage, and I'd like to enroll."
Wouldn't the gatekeeper piss himself on the spot?
What a joke.
What respectable academy would take a fifteen-year-old Soul Saint as a student? What would they teach him? How to reach seven rings? Put everyone in Eastsea Academy together, and they probably couldn't scrape together more than a few seven-ringed people.
No, it wasn't even a question of scraping together a few. In the original story, Wu Changkong seemed to be the only one with seven rings, and he only reached that level during the later competition.
Even the dean of students had less Soul Power than Qing Linyun.
When the time came, who would be the student, and who would be the teacher?
...I'll use the back door.
Qing Linyun decisively gave up on taking the proper route. As he was pondering what to do, something in the distance caught the corner of his eye.
Someone stood beside the registration desk.
She was tall and dressed in a black uniform, her long hair tied in a high ponytail and her brows furrowed.
Her figure was decent, though she seemed to be a little girl, so there was no need to dwell on that.
After all, not everyone was a naturally gifted monster like Zhu Zhuqing. Though it seemed the Hell Civet clan was rather well-endowed in general. Qing Linyun had also met Wu Siduo, who was another monstrously well-endowed one.
In any case, Qing Linyun had gotten a nosebleed. She was a giant among giants, and he could only admit defeat.
The girl before him had a... delicate face. But it wasn't the sort of delicate beauty that made one's eyes light up. It was icy, like snow that had yet to melt on a mountaintop.
Just standing there, she had a three-meter space around her clear of people.
She was practically a human snow machine.
It felt as though getting close to her would set off boss-battle sound effects.
Qing Linyun narrowed his eyes.
He actually knew her too. Gu Yue.
"Tsk."
Qing Linyun clicked his tongue. He really hadn't expected to run into someone he knew just as he was setting out into the world. She could also be considered the first big boss he had encountered.
To be honest, judging by their faces alone, Gu Yue really did fall a little short of Na'er.
Heaven itself had practically chased after Na'er to feed her that face. As a child, she had looked like a porcelain doll. Who knew what she would look like when she grew up? In any case, going by the original story's description, she certainly wouldn't be lacking.
But Gu Yue was different.
She had a bearing that Na'er lacked. So lofty that, with her standing there, everything around her seemed to become a backdrop.
She was almost divine.
It was as though a queen had stepped out of a painting.
...If those two really do fuse into Gu Yuena...
Qing Linyun's scalp tingled just thinking about it.
Just how beautiful would she be?
After all, in his previous life, Qing Linyun had only read the novel. As for the quality of its descriptions, those who knew, knew. They certainly couldn't compare to the real thing, especially in a world where people possessed Soul Power.
If Qing Linyun had to put it into words, everyone here looked like a big star.
As he was thinking, Gu Yue seemed to notice him. She turned her head and looked over.
Their eyes met.
Gu Yue visibly froze for a moment.
Of course she recognized that face.
She shared Na'er's earlier memories.
Na'er's memories from before Qing Linyun had found her were very hazy, and Gu Yue couldn't glean much useful information from them. Instead, the day Qing Linyun found Na'er was the one she remembered most clearly.
From that day on, this man appeared endlessly in Na'er's memories.
Feeding her. Buying her tanghulu. Braiding her hair. Comforting her back to sleep after nightmares.
The more Gu Yue thought about it, the more ashamed she felt. She could never have imagined that she, the dignified Silver Dragon King, would be coddled like a child by a boy.
It was an utter disgrace to dragonkind.
Even now, though, Gu Yue couldn't understand.
What gave Na'er the right to refuse to carry out the fusion mission?
That had originally been her sole purpose in coming into this world.
But all because of this man?
Gu Yue's gaze turned a little colder, and a hint of inexplicable disgust entered her eyes as she looked at Qing Linyun.
Curiosity, wariness.
And the fire deep in her heart that she couldn't suppress.
As she saw it, the fellow before her was the heart demon in Na'er's emotions. A perfectly good Silver Dragon King clone had been raised by him into a clingy little girl.
She wouldn't even return to the main body anymore.
What? You say these are human emotions? That this is liking someone? That this is love?
Love, my twisted-braid head!
If you insisted on that idea, then our Lady Gu Yue, the Silver Dragon King, could only sneer.
She, the Silver Dragon King, didn't believe it.
Na'er was young, that was all. A couple of sweet words from this man had been enough to make her lose her bearings.
And who was she, Gu Yue?
The Silver Dragon King herself.
Fall for a slick-tongued brat like him?
Ridiculous.
She had come to Eastsea City this time because she had sensed the Golden Dragon King's bloodline, right here in this academy.
The man before her was, at most, a minor interlude.
She also wanted to prove to Na'er that human emotions were the most unreliable things of all.
If the brat before her really did come up to her, Gu Yue wouldn't mind using her charm to make him fall at her feet beneath her pomegranate skirt, and then prove it to Na'er.
Look, these are your human emotions. They crumble at a single blow.
All it takes is a little effort from Lady Gu Yue, and this brat will immediately fall beneath my pomegranate skirt and obediently do as he's told.
What? You ask why hearts appeared in Lady Gu Yue's eyes later on? Lady Gu Yue will tell you it's all part of her plan. A fish must be caught slowly; rush it, and the flavor will be lost.
Qing Linyun had no idea Gu Yue had already cursed him eight hundred times in her heart.
When he saw Gu Yue looking over, the corner of his mouth curled up. He raised a hand and waved at her.
He had to admit, it was a rather dashing gesture.
Then he spoke, his voice just loud enough for Gu Yue to hear.
"Fellow student, are you here to register too?"
"I've seen you standing here for ages."
"Did you... get lost?"
Gu Yue: "..."
She looked at Qing Linyun expressionlessly. Inside, she had already exploded.
Who's lost?
You're the one who's lost.
Your whole family is lost.
She was standing here because... because...
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but swallowed the words.
Because she really had missed the registration period and been stopped outside by the gatekeeper.
But how could she possibly tell a stranger that?
Especially when that stranger was Qing Linyun.
Gu Yue took a deep breath and tried to make her voice sound calmer.
"None of your business."
"Oh?"
Qing Linyun raised an eyebrow. Seeing that he seemed to have struck a nerve with Gu Yue, he became interested.
"Quite fierce, aren't you?"
He took two steps forward and looked her up and down.
Then he turned to look at the academy gates.
Then he looked at Gu Yue again.
He pretended that realization had dawned on him.
"Oh... I get it."
"Did you miss registration and get stuck outside?"
Gu Yue's face turned red in an instant.
That was the advantage of answering a question when you already knew the answer. Easily solved.
"I-I did not..."
"All right, all right."
Qing Linyun waved a hand, an I understand, I understand look on his face.
"I'll go in with you."
As he spoke, he was already heading toward the gates.
The gatekeeper had noticed them long ago.
A young man dressed like a nobleman and a pretty girl with a cold expression had been whispering over there for quite a while.
It would have been hard not to notice.
Seeing the young man approach, the gatekeeper was just about to question him.
Qing Linyun beat him to it, stepping in front of Gu Yue in two strides. With perfect ease, he pointed at her.
He smiled at the gate guard and said:
"This is my younger cousin. She's late, so sorry for the trouble, but could you make an exception?"
The gate guard said, "...Huh?"
He looked at Qing Linyun.
Then he looked at Gu Yue's face, which plainly said, "I don't know him."
No, man, are we close? Why are you claiming we're related? Do I even know you?
The gate guard hesitantly opened his mouth.
He seemed to be wondering whether Qing Linyun belonged to some special group, or whether Qing Linyun really did have some sky-reaching connections.
After all, judging by Qing Linyun's outfit, he didn't look like an ordinary person. Could he be some family's young master who'd run off with a few screws loose?
Qing Linyun had already wrapped an arm around Gu Yue's shoulders and swaggered inside.
The gate guard froze at the sight.
For a long while, he couldn't process what had happened.