"Wang Sheng, come here! "
Xiao Wu turned her head and called out to Wang Sheng, who had just walked out of the teaching building, about to head off for his work-study student duties.
"Coming, Sister Xiao Wu! What's up? Oh, Boss Zhou is here too."
Wang Sheng jogged over quickly.
"It's nothing. I just want to ask—do I seem like the kind of person who throws her weight around here at Nuoding Academy? "
Xiao Wu's gaze was sharp. "Be honest."
"Uh…"
Wang Sheng broke out in a cold sweat.
Throwing her weight around…
Well, not exactly, but Xiao Wu did tend to mess with the noble students for fun whenever she had free time.
"Forget it. I already got my answer."
Seeing his reaction, Xiao Wu could tell exactly how Wang Sheng viewed her.
"I'll go back to cleaning, then."
Wang Sheng took off immediately. No way he'd hang around any longer.
"Am I really that scary? "
Xiao Wu was a bit irritated. She scanned her surroundings and spotted Xiao Chenyu.
"Hey, Xiao Chenyu! Get over here and spar with your sister Xiao Wu."
She was in a bad mood, and since she couldn't go all out on Zhou Qing, she needed another punching bag.
Xiao Chenyu was the perfect candidate.
"Sister Xiao Wu…"
Xiao Chenyu walked over quickly, looking troubled, and forced a strained smile.
"Uh, I surrender."
Masochist?
Nope, definitely not!
"Cut the crap. Your sister's in a good mood today, so she's going to give you some personal pointers. You should be grateful! "
Without giving him a chance to refuse, Xiao Wu kicked him square in the face.
Smack!
Xiao Chenyu was sent flying backwards, landing a dozen meters away in a flowerbed, a big shoeprint on his face, tears and snot streaming down.
"Mmm~ I do feel a lot better now."
Xiao Wu stretched lazily and said to Zhou Qing, "I'm heading to the Nuoding Guild to pick up a mission. Time to earn some gold soul coins…"
"…And she says she doesn't throw her weight around."
Zhou Qing shook his head in silence. He didn't bother trying to talk her down—he wasn't her guardian, after all.
And truth be told, in their four-person team that formed because of the Skydream Iceworm, the newest member, Romantina, actually felt more trustworthy than Xiao Wu at this point.
[Good thing she wasn't wearing heels. Otherwise, Xiao Chenyu might've been disfigured… or worse, seriously injured! ]
Zhou Qing walked over to the flowerbed and helped up the miserable Xiao Chenyu.
"Come on now, don't cry. Just consider it karma for all the times you used to bully the work-study and commoner students."
Xiao Chenyu wiped the shoeprint from his face and winced when his fingers brushed over a broken patch of skin.
"You call that comforting? "
"Please. We're not even friends—barely acquaintances, really. Just be grateful I bothered to help you up."
Zhou Qing mimicked Xiao Wu's tone, then turned to leave.
"I'm off."
"Wait!"
Xiao Chenyu called after him.
"What is it? "
Zhou Qing stopped but didn't turn around.
"If you want me to talk to Xiao Wu and ask her to stop beating you up… I'll try, but no promises. The soul master world runs on strength. I can't change that…"
"That's not it."
Xiao Chenyu shook his head. "I graduate next term anyway. Even if she wants to hit me, she won't get the chance."
He shifted topics.
"You've heard the rumors about my father in town, right? "
"I have."
Zhou Qing turned back, walked over, and sat on the flowerbed edge. He motioned for Xiao Chenyu to sit too.
"People say your father staged the whole soul bone auction himself—tricked all the soul masters who came to Nuoding for it, and then secretly bought it himself. That's why someone attacked your manor at night."
"You really believe the soul bone thing was all my dad's doing? "
Xiao Chenyu stared hard at Zhou Qing, trying to read his thoughts.
"It doesn't matter anymore," Zhou Qing replied calmly. He wasn't about to analyze Xiao Chenyu's father to his face—that would just be tactless.
Besides—
Xiao Chenyu wasn't acting arrogant anymore. He didn't dare bully the other students these days.
Last time, Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Xiao Wu had taken on a mission to mentor Xiao Chenyu, went to his home, and even helped capture a soul master spy hiding in the manor. That earned them a small favor from the Xiao family.
Emotionally and logically, Zhou Qing didn't see any reason to make things tense between them.
"You're right. It doesn't matter now. What matters is the soul bone's still in Nuoding. Word is spreading, and more and more soul masters are coming."
Xiao Chenyu's expression turned grim.
Zhou Qing looked at him differently after that.
But—
"My father told me that once this blows over, he'll have enough merit to get promoted…"
"But I don't agree with him."
"The more soul masters gather in one place, the more chaos there will be. As the son of the city lord, my own safety becomes harder to guarantee. If someone dared to attack my dad at home, there must be plenty of others in the shadows watching me too."
"I'm afraid I won't even live to see my dad's promotion. I'm so scared, I don't even dare go home now."
It was obvious—
Xiao Chenyu hadn't matured. He was just scared for his life.
Back before the soul bone auction, a soul master had even used seduction to infiltrate the Xiao household—trying to get their hands on the bone first.
Sure, twelve-year-old Xiao Chenyu slept with someone whose soul power was near that of a Grandmaster-level soul master, which was something he could brag about for life—but now, he was terrified of running into another soul master like that.
He didn't even trust any girl who was remotely attractive anymore.
He wouldn't let them near him, let alone touch him.
As for the Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy being safer than the Xiao estate?
Someone might dare break into the Xiao home—but no one would dare intrude on an official soul master academy. If they did, the Spirit Hall would intervene.
In the case of the Xiao household, the Spirit Hall couldn't step in directly. It would mean interfering in the affairs of the Heaven Dou Empire, the Fasno Province, and Nuoding's city lord—grounds for political backlash. All they could do was offer humanitarian aid.
But a formally registered soul master academy was a different matter. These academies were jointly registered under either the Heaven Dou or Star Luo Empires and the Spirit Hall. If someone violated the academy's boundaries, the Spirit Hall had full authority to get involved.
In fact, depending on the severity, branches, sub-halls, or even the main hall of the Spirit Hall across the continent might issue arrest warrants and pursue the offenders.
No sane soul master would tolerate an adult soul master preying on academy students.
And least of all, the Spirit Hall.
After all, most of their rank-and-file soul masters came from commoner backgrounds—graduates of basic and intermediate academies. The Spirit Hall considered these students their future recruits.
As for the advanced academies…
To even get in, you had to be nobility or from a soul master clan. Ordinary commoners rarely had a chance.
Even within those schools, if something happened, they often tried to resolve it internally to avoid the Spirit Hall's interference.
"So what do you expect me to do with all this? "
Zhou Qing tilted his head.
"I can't fix your personal problems. And since you're staying in the academy, you don't have to worry about your life for now. Maybe you should be more concerned about your future stepmother? "
"Stepmother? That woman…"
He stopped himself.
"She and my dad never officially married. How could she be a stepmother? Besides, she's already… gone."