Chapter 39: The Connection with Ling Luochen

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Today marked the beginning of the holiday for Shrek Academy’s Outer Court, and many students had already set out for home early in the morning.

The vacation after each semester lasted a month, but it was by no means meant for the students to relax. At the start of the new semester, every year level would face an advancement assessment. Only those who passed successfully would be allowed to remain and continue their studies.

Compared with them, the Inner Court disciples did not have to undergo so many assessments. However, graduating from the Inner Court required meeting several extremely stringent conditions.

The most important was the requirement to complete thirty Monitor missions during their time in the Inner Court.

The operation to exterminate the Death’s Hand Bandit Group in the Mingdou Mountains was one such Monitor mission.

Led by Ma Xiaotao, the group traveled south along the main road. They were in no hurry, strolling along at a pace barely faster than that of ordinary people.

They were all soul masters. With their physical abilities, moving at such a speed was practically a form of enjoyment.

Ma Xiaotao had chosen this pace partly to avoid the dense crowds around Shrek City. The Inner Court’s Monitor missions were carried out in secret, so they naturally could not attract attention by making a grand display of themselves.

Her other purpose was to give everyone a chance to become familiar with Ye Xixuan.

When they were on Sea God’s Island, these Inner Court disciples had been so occupied with cultivation that they knew little about Ye Xixuan. Ling Luochan and Yao Haoxuan, in particular, had only recently been admitted to the Inner Court.

What surprised everyone greatly was that Ling Luochan, who had always been cold and aloof, had actually shown a rare interest in Ye Xixuan.

“Your martial soul has a dark attribute?”

“Yes, Senior Sister Ling.” Ye Xixuan nodded frankly.

From the aura he had revealed earlier, it was not difficult to tell that his martial soul was related to dark-attribute abilities. Even so, he was somewhat surprised that Ling Luochan had taken the initiative to speak to him.

In the memories of his previous life, she was renowned for being exceptionally aloof.

Then Ling Luochan’s next question caused Ye Xixuan’s relaxed body to tense instantly.

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“What is your relationship with the Ye family of Tianling City? I remember that the Ye family of Tianling City suffered complete destruction four years ago.”

“I am the Ye family’s only survivor.”

The relaxed expression had long since vanished from Ye Xixuan’s face. He regarded Ling Luochan with a hint of scrutiny and spoke in a solemn tone.

Apparently noticing his confusion, the icy distance in Ling Luochan’s eyes softened considerably. Her red lips parted.

“I am from the Ling family of Lingbo City in the Heaven Soul Empire. Our two families have been close friends for generations. After that incident, my family even sent experts to Tianling City to search for any possible survivors of the Ye family, but in the end, they returned empty-handed.”

“The Ling family of Lingbo City…”

Ye Xixuan lowered his eyes. As a direct descendant of the Ye family’s main line, he had indeed heard that the Ling family of Lingbo City and his own family had always been close. Lingbo City lay in the northwestern region of the Heaven Soul Empire, near the Extreme Northern Ice Sea, and was renowned for its powerful inheritance of ice-attribute martial souls.

At the time, however, he had not yet awakened the memories of his previous life. Later, after the Ye family was destroyed, those matters gradually faded from his mind.

Ye Xixuan had never imagined that Ling Luochan and his family would have such a connection. It was even possible that he had met her in the family when he was young.

Chen Zifeng, who likewise came from a prominent soul master family in the Heaven Soul Empire, suddenly interjected, “I remember that the Ye family of Tianling City and the Ling family of Lingbo City were connected by marriage for generations, weren’t they? I heard the elders in my family say that elemental martial souls place special demands on a soul master’s constitution. The purer the constitution, the greater the compatibility with one’s martial soul. Luochan’s ice-element martial soul, for example, is also known as an Ice Spirit. If someone’s constitution is pure enough, they can possess an Ice Spirit Body that perfectly matches it. When two soul masters with elemental martial souls have children, their offspring’s constitutions are often even purer, and the chance of twin martial souls appearing rises dramatically as well.”

As soon as he said this, the expressions on everyone’s faces became strange. They all turned in unison toward the otherwise inconspicuous Yao Haoxuan.

Everyone could see how Yao Haoxuan felt about Ling Luochan. Unfortunately, he lacked the courage to do anything about it and had never dared to show his feelings.

Yao Haoxuan was already slight of build, and the back he had finally managed to straighten seemed to collapse again. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, he shrank back, too timid to look in the direction of Ling Luochan and Ye Xixuan.

Gongyang Mo shook his head helplessly.

“Zifeng, where is your emotional intelligence? Is cultivation and sword practice all you have in your head?”

“I was only telling everyone what I knew.” Chen Zifeng realized that he had been too blunt, but speaking in roundabout ways simply was not his style.

Ling Luochan glanced at them expressionlessly, seemingly returning to her usual demeanor of keeping all strangers at a distance.

Yet in truth, Chen Zifeng had not been wrong at all. If the Ye family had not suffered that catastrophe, her family would most likely have valued Ye Xixuan’s talent and arranged a marriage between them from childhood—even though there was a seven-year difference between them.

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Perhaps this was the capriciousness of fate, directly altering the paths their futures would take.

Although he now knew of his connection with Ling Luochan, Ye Xixuan’s heart was not stirred by it very deeply. After all, this was only his first meeting with her, and compared with the ice-cold Ling Luochan, the gentle and amiable senior sister was far closer to his ideal of a future partner.

Even so, he still felt indebted to Ling Luochan’s family for their friendship. Perhaps the Ling family had acted with motives of its own, but if the Ye family had truly had other survivors, their efforts would certainly have amounted to timely aid in the midst of disaster.

At that moment, Ma Xiaotao, who was walking at the front, could not help turning around and urging them on.

“All right, we’re already far from Shrek City. Everyone, prepare to pick up the pace. We have plenty of time for this Monitor mission, but the sooner we deal with those bastards, the sooner the civilians and merchant caravans near the Mingdou Mountains can be spared their harm.”

Dai Yueheng had little interest in the gossip surrounding the families of Ye Xixuan and Ling Luochan. He was far more concerned with Ye Xixuan’s value.

He was the first to walk over to Ye Xixuan’s side and said with a sincere smile, “Xixuan, with your current cultivation, keeping up with us may be difficult. Let me carry you.”

“I can carry you too.”

After Dai Yueheng, Ling Luochan once again delivered a startling remark.

Am I following Huo Yuhao’s script?

Ye Xixuan discovered that this was nearly identical to certain events from the memories of his previous life. Nevertheless, he declined both their offers with complete confidence.

“No need, Senior Brother Dai, Senior Sister Ling. I think I can keep up with your pace.”

“Good lad.” Dai Yueheng praised him from the bottom of his heart. “Xixuan, I have a younger brother about your age, but compared with you, he is far behind. If we get the chance, I’ll introduce you to each other.”

So which brother are you talking about—Dai Huabin or Huo Yuhao?

Ye Xixuan complained inwardly, but on the surface, he merely gave a hearty laugh.

“Senior Brother Dai, I’m sure we’ll have the chance.”

Gongyang Mo passed by Yao Haoxuan and patted him consolingly on the shoulder. Chen Zifeng and Xixi immediately followed, overtaking Yao Haoxuan as well.

Finally, Ma Xiaotao waved her hand decisively. The group abandoned their earlier leisurely pace and began traveling at full speed.

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