Around the blacksmith shop, the crowd gradually dispersed.
Dongfang Jing pinched his sister's leg: "Want to get down and walk by yourself?"
"No~" Dongfang Yao hugged him tightly, "I want my brother to take me!"
Just then, the blacksmith boy jogged past them.
He smiled and ran towards a pink-clad girl waiting for him not far away.
"Hey! Hurry up! The academy is about to close!" The little girl held a carrot in her hand, took a bite, and mumbled.
"Xiao Wu, you can go back first."
"Hmph! I only waited for you because I was afraid you'd be bored by yourself!" The girl called Xiao Wu raised her chin, quite arrogant.
Suddenly, Xiao Wu's gaze met that of the Dongfang siblings who were looking at them.
Normally, she would have glared back.
She shouted again, "What are you looking at!"
But when she met the silver-haired boy's gaze, which seemed to see right through her, she inexplicably panicked and pulled Tang San, whispering, "Little San, let's go!"
Tang San looked back in confusion and only saw a pair of people who looked like siblings.
He didn't notice anything unusual, but still followed Xiao Wu away.
Dongfang Jing closed his eye-shaped soul bone, his brows furrowing slightly.
Then, his face was gently cupped by two small hands and turned back.
Looking up, he met a pair of large, questioning eyes.
Dongfang Yao pouted and asked weakly, "Brother, you kept staring at that girl. Did you think she was very pretty?"
Her tone sounded sour.
But Dongfang Jing was serious and lowered his voice, explaining, "No, how should I describe it to you? You know my soul bone ability, but what happened just now was that even when I activated my soul bone, I couldn't see through that girl. It was as if she had a strange mist around her?"
After speaking, his expression sharpened!
He turned sharply to look at the street corner, but saw nothing.
"Was it just my imagination?" he muttered to himself.
"What's wrong, brother?" Knowing it wasn't what he thought, Dongfang Yao immediately smiled.
"Nothing, maybe I'm just being a little sensitive. It's getting late, let's find a place to rest."
Just after they left, a figure wearing a tattered cloak quietly emerged from the shadows of the street corner.
Under the cloak was a weathered face, sallow-faced, with a stubble beard and messy hair, only a pair of eyes that were extremely sharp.
Tang Hao looked in the direction Dongfang Jing had left, his tone tinged with surprise: "Such keen perception, able to vaguely sense my presence? Which faction is training this disciple?"
He pondered for a moment, then shook his head slightly: "It shouldn't be someone from the Spirit Hall. If those guys discovered such a talent, they would have kept him under strict control long ago, they would never let him roam freely like this."
"Did that kid sense Xiao Wu's identity?" It didn't seem like it.
Perhaps it was just a young man experiencing his first crush, attracted by a pretty girl.
"Heh," Tang Hao's lips curled into a barely perceptible smile, then he dismissed the matter.
He was about to quietly infiltrate the Notting Junior Soul Master Academy to continue secretly protecting Tang San.
But out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught sight of a figure leaping away at incredible speed on a distant rooftop.
Tang Hao's gaze sharpened; though it was only a fleeting glance, he clearly saw the inconspicuous emblem on the person's clothes.
"The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School? They have people in Notting City too?"
"Such a hurried manner..."
He frowned, his mind racing:
"Coming for Tang San? Discovered his talent and want to recruit him early? But Tang San is hiding it well; he shouldn't have revealed anything yet."
After a moment's thought, he slowly relaxed his brow.
"Forget it. Ning Fengzhi is reasonable enough. The three upper sects are facing pressure from the Spirit Hall, and he understands the principle of unity. If he really has any improper thoughts, I can just stretch my muscles a bit more."
Although his internal injuries were still there,
Tang Hao had his own assessment of his own strength and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's style of doing things.
His figure disappeared into the shadows again, as if he had never been there.
As the sun set,the gate of the Notting Primary Soul Master Academy in the west of Notting City gradually became lively.
Under the wide archway, twenty meters high, two iron gates were half-open.
A young gatekeeper was using his hand as a megaphone, shouting to the children running towards him from afar:
"Hurry up! The gates are closing!"
On weekdays, when the academy didn't have classes or special missions, students were allowed to go out, but they had to return by the designated time.
There were also dormitory supervisors checking attendance at night.
Those children who didn't like to cultivate, or those with average talent but couldn't stay idle, liked to go out to play in the city together.
"Wait for us!"
"Phew! We finally made it!"
Several children ran breathlessly to the gate, their faces beaming with relief.
Tang San and Xiao Wu were among them, arriving just before the gate closed.
The young gatekeeper had given Tang San a hard time when he first enrolled because he was a country bumpkin from the village and hadn't given him a tip.
But after being reprimanded by Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang, he became much more obedient and cherished his job.
Now, seeing Tang San, he only gave him a perfunctory glance; the little scuffle from a few months ago was long forgotten.
At this moment,Dongfang Jing, who was looking for an inn, happened to pass by the academy gate with his younger sister.
He noticed that the little girl on his shoulder had suddenly quieted down, so he looked up.
He found her staring intently at the academy gate, watching the children in uniform, around her age, laughing and playing, arm in arm, walking into the campus.
Dongfang Jing stopped and asked softly, "Yao'er, do you want to go to school?"
If it weren't for the misfortune that befell their family, Dongfang Yao, at her age, should be studying and cultivating peacefully at the academy like these other children, instead of wandering around with him.
Although they cherished freedom, true freedom wasn't aimless wandering.
Hearing her brother's question, Dongfang Yao was silent for a moment, then finally shook her head: "No, Yao'er wants to stay with you, brother."
But as soon as she finished speaking, she noticed her brother standing still.
She looked down and met a pair of purple eyes that seemed to see right through people.
Dongfang Yao felt a pang of panic, and her gaze instinctively darted around.
Finally, pretending to look at the shops along the roadside, she hummed an unknown tune, and after a while, asked casually, "Why aren't you leaving, brother?"
The boy chuckled, "Yao'er, do you know that your eyes always dart around when you lie?"
"I..." Dongfang Yao was speechless for a moment, then finally gave up, "Anyway, Yao'er doesn't want to go to school, she just wants to be with brother!"
"What if I go with you?"
"That would be even worse! Going to school is a waste of time for brother! No, no!"
Dongfang Jing thoughtfully stroked his chin, "That's true, so I can't accompany you as a student."
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