Chapter 86 - Guard Auction Venue

The next day, Zhou Qing and Tang San returned to class and reported to Teacher Mo Hen, resuming their normal student life. Upon learning that both of them had already obtained their first soul rings—each of them of the century level—Mo Hen was mildly shocked. He promptly granted the two of them special privileges:

As long as they showed up for the end-of-term assessment, they were free to manage their own time for the rest of the semester.

After all, the curriculum for the first three years mainly focused on literacy, reading comprehension, and repeatedly guiding students in memorizing the rudimentary meridian diagram used for the elementary meditation technique. It also aimed to help students understand the exact locations of the soul power meridians within their bodies.

Zhou Qing and Tang San had already mastered all of this. But for most other six- or seven-year-old children, even the simplified soul power circulation diagram seemed as cryptic as a heavenly tome—let alone the requirement to identify matching meridians within their own bodies during cultivation.

Even now, the vast majority of sixth-year students still relied on their martial souls for assistance just to cultivate soul power. Very few could barely manage independent soul power circulation for cultivation.

So, for Zhou Qing and Tang San, it was far more important to spend time collecting materials in the library, forging at the blacksmith shop, researching soul-guided hidden weapons, and training.

As for Xiao Wu?

She wanted privileges too.

Mo Hen agreed.

After all, Xiao Wu had already become a Soul Master, and during class, she was usually asleep anyway—whether she attended or not made little difference. In fact, seeing someone doze off in class disrupted his teaching rhythm. Better to just let her go, as long as she didn’t transfer to another class...

Xiao Wu mainly wanted to take on tasks from the Notting Guild, earn more gold soul coins to pay her tuition, and shed her work-study student status.

She also wanted to spar with Zhou Qing and Tang San—and even hoped to join them on adventure missions.

Strong individuals always attract one another.

But Zhou Qing and Tang San each had their own priorities. Neither lacked money, and they had no time to accompany Xiao Wu in the short term.

"You guys are really this busy?" Xiao Wu returned from Tang San’s blacksmith shop to the Notting Academy library, where she found Zhou Qing flipping through books. She pouted in boredom. "Tang San’s forging, you're reading—do you both have to work so hard? It’s so boring."

"If you’re bored, go to the guild," Zhou Qing replied, not looking up as he copied down information on soul beasts from a book onto the paper he’d prepared earlier.

"The guild’s boring too. Everyone’s talking about that soul bone auction in three days," Xiao Wu yawned, completely uninterested. "Even that pervert Roman Tina isn’t there—she’s probably hiding out at home..."

She rambled on and on, but when she saw Zhou Qing just nodding along with a series of "mm, mm, mm," she slammed the table in frustration and growled, “Are you even listening to me?!”

“I am.”

Zhou Qing glanced at her, then returned to scribbling quickly. “But I’m busy. You really should go to class.”

It was an honest suggestion.

After all, Xiao Wu was a wild hundred-thousand-year soul beast in human form. She had only recently become human—a cub, really—and it was best for her to learn how soul power actually flowed within the body.

If she ever got seriously injured, relying on instinct and talent alone might not be enough to save her.

“What’s the point? Even without all that, I still cultivate faster than anyone else,” Xiao Wu said smugly.

“So,” Zhou Qing replied, “when are you going to surpass me and Tang San in soul power level?”

“You only ever bully those with worse talent than you!” Xiao Wu huffed, cheeks puffed in anger. “Just you wait!”

Zhou Qing remained unbothered, as if she’d punched a cotton pillow. Xiao Wu muttered bitterly, “You’re so going to die alone.”

“How could I possibly?” Zhou Qing said solemnly, “At the very least, there's one perverted girl who wants to throw herself at me.”

“You actually like Roman Tina?” Xiao Wu gawked.

“We have a soul connection,” Zhou Qing said, utterly serious in his nonsense. “A soul fusion technique, even. If I weren’t worried that merging with her might affect my personality, I wouldn’t mind engaging in deeper interaction. With her perverted personality, she’d probably be great in bed.”

“Ewwww—”
Xiao Wu looked at him in utter disdain. “Gross. Pervert. Scumbag. You’re already thinking about that at your age? You’ve gotta be kidding.”

“Weren’t you the one who started joking around?”

Zhou Qing stopped writing, gathered his notes, and slipped them into a gray pouch. He looked up and asked, “Or are you serious?”

Xiao Wu was speechless. Seeing Zhou Qing stand up, she threatened, “If you’re not careful, I’m telling Roman Tina everything you just said!”

Zhou Qing halted, turned to her, and gave a dramatic ninety-degree bow. “Please don’t!”

“Hehe!”

Xiao Wu smirked mischievously, hands on her hips. “In your own words, what was it again? Right—‘I prefer you when you’re wild and unruly.’”

Zhou Qing rubbed his forehead, eyes filled with resignation. “I’m warning you, don’t push it, or I won’t hesitate—”

“Hesitate to what? Ravish me?” Xiao Wu’s bluntness made Zhou Qing’s gaze suddenly turn serious.

“Wait—you’re actually thinking about it?!” She backed up, crossed her arms protectively, and eyed him with suspicion.

“I meant I wouldn’t hesitate to dump Roman Tina,” Zhou Qing continued.

“Wha?”
Xiao Wu was confused: (⊙_⊙)?

“With how twisted she is, she’d probably enjoy being dumped even more. Then I’d just apologize afterward.” Zhou Qing shrugged, then glanced at Xiao Wu’s completely flat chest. “As for ravishing you? You’re plain and boring right now. Wait until you’ve developed more—then maybe you can be part of the ‘play.’”

Speaking of twisted...
In his previous life, Zhou Qing hadn’t experimented, but he had seen enough to know.

Still, it was all theoretical. He dared joke with Xiao Wu, who had a unique kind of innocent boldness—but he’d never say things like this in front of Roman Tina.

Who knew if the soul connection between them might drive her to strip both of them on the spot


“Perverted scumbag! Disgusting creep!” Xiao Wu didn’t know what "play" meant, but she could tell it wasn’t good. She started cursing him out.

“Keep your voice down. This is a library,” Zhou Qing reminded her.

“So what if it is? It’s just you, me, and the sleepy librarian. No one else is here.” Xiao Wu panted, clearly fuming. “I don’t care. If you don’t want me to shout this out in public, you’re going to listen to me today. Let’s go find Tang San—we’re going to take a mission at the Notting Guild. And I want a proper tour of Notting City. I haven’t seen it all yet!”

“Alright, alright, my dear princess. You really know how to order people around.”

Zhou Qing agreed—his tasks were done for now. Spending a day scouting out Notting City’s layout wouldn’t hurt. He wanted to identify an alternate escape route out of the city besides the main gate, in case conflict broke out soon.

But he still didn’t let up with his words: “I’ve got a feeling
 in the future, you’ll be the worst scumbag of us all.”

“How do you figure?” Xiao Wu raised a brow.

“Isn’t it obvious? You want to have both me and Tang San—two handsome guys—all to yourself.”

Zhou Qing ran a hand through his freshly cropped hair, looking smug.

“You and Tang San? Handsome?”
Xiao Wu widened her eyes, circled Zhou Qing once, then burst into laughter. “With that face? You’re only slightly less chubby than Wang Sheng! And Tang San? Just as forgettable as you. Actually, no—you are more noticeable now, because of that buzzcut.”

Zhou Qing: “

”

That’s not funny at all.
And he only shaved his head to keep enemies from grabbing his hair in a fight!