Sunlight slanted through the glass windows during the break, spilling over the desks. Kong Xuan rested his chin on one hand, his eyes slightly closed.
The thumb of his right hand, however, tapped rhythmically against the desktop, a habit of his when working through spear moves.
"Brother Xuan!"
Xu Wei's voice suddenly rang out beside his ear, stopping Kong Xuan's finger in midair just before it tapped down.
"Someone outside is looking for you!"
Kong Xuan opened his eyes, his golden pupils turning toward Xu Wei. "Who?"
Xu Wei shook his head. "I don't know her either, but she's a really pretty girl, only a few years older than us."
Kong Ling had been napping with her head on her desk. At those words, she suddenly sat upright, her gaze flickering twice as she looked at Xu Wei.
Kong Xuan frowned and glanced toward the classroom door.
Through a tiny gap at the edge of his field of vision, he caught sight of a slender figure.
His brow relaxed, and his eyes shifted from side to side, as though he were considering something.
A moment later, he got up and headed outside.
After he left his seat, Kong Ling stood up as well.
Rather than following her brother, however, she went over to Xu Wei with a "threatening" expression. "What does the person looking for my brother look like? What did she say?"
Xu Wei did not understand why Kong Ling was reacting so strongly, but under her dangerous gaze, he answered honestly. "Uh... she should be a senior from a higher year. She just said she wanted to see Brother Xuan."
"A senior?"
"Really pretty?"
The lovely face he had seen not long ago surfaced in Xu Wei's mind. "She is really pretty. She has red hair, blue eyes, and very fair skin..."
While Xu Wei was still using his meager vocabulary to describe her in the classroom, Kong Xuan had already stepped outside and come up to her.
Although this was his first time seeing her, Kong Xuan had already guessed her identity from that highly distinctive hair color.
Meng Hongchen!
Dean Jing Hongchen's granddaughter, a genius girl at the academy.
Kong Xuan simply did not know why this girl, with whom he currently had no connection whatsoever, would suddenly come looking for him.
With age on her side, Meng Hongchen could still look down at Kong Xuan slightly.
Although she betrayed nothing on the surface, Meng Hongchen was screaming nonstop inside.
Those golden pupils are way too handsome!
He's still so young. He looks so cute.
In a few more years, he'll definitely be more handsome than my brother!
While Meng Hongchen's thoughts were running wild, Kong Xuan spoke. "Were you looking for me, Miss Hongchen?"
Meng Hongchen froze at his words. She had not expected this "cute little boy" to address her like that the moment he opened his mouth.
"Miss Hongchen" was far too formal.
Yet looking at Kong Xuan's perfectly serious expression, she did not find it presumptuous at all. Instead, she found it rather interesting.
So after a moment's pause, Meng Hongchen asked with a smile, "You know me?"
Kong Xuan merely nodded without offering any further explanation.
Although Meng Hongchen had spent a while swooning over him, she had not forgotten why she had come.
Her expression turned serious as she said, "Actually, to be precise, I'm not the one looking for you. My brother is."
Xiao Hongchen?
The name surfaced in Kong Xuan's mind.
Meng Hongchen continued, "He's just outside. Would you like to see him?"
Although he did not know what these siblings were after, Kong Xuan had already left the classroom. Naturally, he would not simply go back without getting to the bottom of it.
Still, Kong Xuan could not help asking, "Why didn't he come find me himself?"
Meng Hongchen blinked her ice-blue eyes and smiled. "This isn't really a place to talk, after all."
In truth, Xiao Hongchen had originally intended to come find Kong Xuan himself, but his younger sister had stopped him and volunteered to take on the task.
When Kong Xuan followed Meng Hongchen out of the teaching building, he had thought this so-called "place to talk" would at least be a quiet room. He had not expected it to be right outside the teaching building!
By the roadside directly opposite the teaching building, Xiao Hongchen was leaning against a tree. He even seemed to have deliberately struck a pose, looking both melancholy and mysterious.
When someone was speechless, they really were speechless.
Despite clearly having seen the two of them appear, Xiao Hongchen continued gazing into the distance.
Only when they crossed the road and reached his side did Xiao Hongchen slowly withdraw his gaze and look at Kong Xuan.
Kong Xuan truly could not muster the strength to comment. He merely felt that the ten-year-old Xiao Hongchen had some potential as a complete goofball.
And he clearly had not even mastered the act!
"You wanted to see me?"
Kong Xuan's blunt question shattered the mysterious atmosphere Xiao Hongchen believed he had created.
With his arms folded across his chest, Xiao Hongchen said calmly, "Meng should have already introduced us..."
He failed to notice his younger sister frantically signaling him with her eyes and simply continued talking.
Seeing her brother like this, Meng Hongchen was so embarrassed she wanted to dig into the ground with her toes.
She stepped forward and tugged at the hem of Xiao Hongchen's clothes. "Brother! I didn't have to introduce us at all. Kong Xuan already knew who we were."
"Hm?"
Xiao Hongchen turned to glance at his sister, and his expression changed instantly.
When he turned his gaze back to Kong Xuan, he had already straightened away from the tree and lowered his folded arms.
"Ahem!"
He gave a light cough to ease the awkwardness.
After that, Xiao Hongchen behaved much more normally. "I came this time to invite you to take part in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament four years from now."
Kong Xuan was somewhat surprised to hear that. He had not expected this to be why Xiao Hongchen had sought him out.
Naturally, Kong Xuan knew of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament, a competition that had continued for over ten thousand years.
"I'll only be twelve in four years, and as far as I know, the tournament is open to Soul Masters under twenty."
"Don't you think it's too early to invite me now?"
Faced with Kong Xuan's questions, Xiao Hongchen declared boldly, "For ordinary people, it certainly is too early. But you're different!"
"You can already defeat a four-ring Soul Engineer with only two rings. I believe that in four years, your strength won't fall short of those inner court students at Shrek Academy!"
Xiao Hongchen seemed quite confident in Kong Xuan's future strength, and Shrek was the only enemy he saw.
It had to be said that Xiao Hongchen's words at that moment truly gave the impression of geniuses appreciating one another.
And his commanding manner made it seem as though Shrek's inner court students were nothing special!
Xiao Hongchen was indeed a genius, but Kong Xuan knew that in the original storyline, he had ultimately paid a heavy price for that pride.
"Don't the participants need to go through selection? Even if you're the dean's grandson, you can't decide directly, can you?"
Xiao Hongchen smiled. "Naturally, geniuses have their own way of being selected."
Kong Xuan asked, "So it seems you're already certain you'll take one of the spots?"
"That's right!" Xiao Hongchen said confidently. "In four years, I'll definitely advance to Soul King. Combined with my talent as a Soul Engineer, that'll be more than enough to become a main team member. By then, even against a Soul Emperor from Shrek, I'll be able to put up a fight!"
Four years later, Xiao Hongchen had indeed advanced to Soul King, and when he entered the tournament, he had indeed acted outrageously arrogant, cool, and badass.
In the end, however, the incomplete Shrek Team had beaten him into shutting himself away. He could only be called a fated supporting character.
Still, Kong Xuan remembered that Xiao Hongchen had only managed to become a Soul King at fourteen by popping pills all the way there.
He wondered whether Xiao Hongchen's current Soul Elder cultivation had also been forcibly raised with drugs.