Ch.22: Teasing
The next morning rose cold and sharp, the kind of winter dawn where even the air felt clean enough to cut.
Lu Sheng woke before sunrise, his breath fogging lightly in the dim room as he sat up and allowed his body a moment to adjust to the chill.
After a slow stretch that loosened every joint, he stood and moved directly into the start of his routine, letting habit carry him forward before his mind fully caught up.
His physical training always came first, and as usual, he began with the foundational drills that had become part of his life for a month or more.
He ran through basic stances until his center of gravity felt perfectly anchored, followed by footwork patterns that forced his tendons and muscles to respond with precision rather than brute strength.
Only when the rhythm of his body stabilized did he transition to controlled strikes, moving through a sequence that balanced speed, accuracy, and internal power.
Then came the main part, full-power control exercises under martial spirit possession.
The golden armor flashed into existence around him, silver-blue runes flowing across the surface like living veins of light.
With each punch or kick, the armor shifted with him, amplifying his presence while balancing the force he produced.
Every blow cracked through the cold morning air yet landed with surgical exactness, as if even the impact itself refused to stray from the intended point.
The combination of the shimmering soul power and the martial spirit armor made him look like a figure carved out of light.
Even in the quiet yard, his movements carried a sense of authority and sharpness that felt too polished for a boy his age.
His breathing technique kept pace, circulating warmth through his limbs and spine, preventing strain from building.
Only when the invisible timer in his mind struck the two-hour mark did he let the final strike fade into stillness.
At precisely seven in the morning, he finished his medicinal bath, the herbal warmth sinking deep into his muscles.
After dressing, he moved seamlessly into the next segment of his routine.
Soul power control was first.
He guided streams of soul force through the intricate meridian network in his body, adjusting flow rates, easing blockages, and regulating the micro-fluctuations that determined how efficiently a spirit master could harness power.
It required attention to detail—too much force and the circuits strained, too little and the progress stagnated.
Spiritual power control followed immediately afterward.
If soul power training was like shaping a river's flow, spiritual power training was like balancing a blade on its edge.
It demanded sustained concentration, mental clarity, and a degree of subtlety that most soul masters, even at a soul king or emperor level, would never be able to muster.
What made it both interesting and troublesome was that the techniques Zhou Yueling had taught him months ago no longer resembled their original form.
The moment his skills in Soul Power Cultivation and Spiritual Power Cultivation leveled up, new variations, corrections, and optimizations emerged in his mind like instincts he had always possessed but never accessed.
Each day, the training method evolved a little more, becoming sharper, faster, and strangely more efficient in ways even he couldn't fully explain.
After that came the checklist.
A short session of medicine practice to keep his familiarity with herbs and materials fresh.
Then soul guide schematics, reviewing and refining diagrams he had memorized.
After that, fifteen minutes of reading, memorization, and writing were sufficient to ensure that the style fluency, recall, and analytical growth provided by his trait didn't reset.
By the time he finished everything, the first streaks of pale gold touched the horizon, painting the courtyard in gentle light. His skill streak remained unbroken.
Exactly as he preferred.
He washed off the sweat, adjusted his robe, tied his sash neatly, and walked toward the mansion with quiet, steady steps.
But the moment he reached the living hall, his pace instinctively slowed.
Because waiting inside, calm, composed, and watching him with unreadable expressions, were all three of them.
Zhou Yueling sat with her body relaxed, leaning lightly against the chair, quietly sipping on the cup of tea, like an elegant noble lady.
From her appearance, no one can guess that she was a training manic through and through, a complete brute on the inside.
Beside her, Zhou Ming sat reading the everyday reports he had missed when he was outside, with a calming, worry-free expression on his face.
And Li Xueya, though she still gave off a serious, elegant aura, but she also had a gentle aura around her with a smile on her face.
Occasionally, she asked both of them about their trip outside as she herself did most of the talking.
"Grandpa! Grandma! Master!" Lu Sheng called as he jogged over.
They turned toward him at the same time.
But as he reached them, he saw that someone else was with them.
A child.
Small. Delicate.
Sitting beside Zhou Yueling.
Lu Sheng's breath caught.
So that's them…
The "heaven-sent prodigy" everyone had been whispering about.
One who awakened twin spirits.
The one rumored to be so beautiful, people compared them to a dream made real.
Someone who caused visions in the sky and one who is said to be destined to "surpass Lu Sheng in no time."
Except—
It wasn't a boy, as the rumors insisted.
Nor was it someone unknown to him, not some newcomer from a distant village.
It was—
"…Yao Yao?"
The child froze.
She'd been sitting quietly, half-listening to the adults speak, but at the sound of her name, she flinched like a startled fawn.
Her small hands tightened in front of her robe, and she lifted her face slowly.
Those bright violet eyes, like dawn before the sunrise, widened with recognition.
Her silver hair, tied neatly into a ponytail, shimmered under the lantern light.
Yes, she was the same Li Yao. Lu Sheng's only childhood friend.
The city's "heaven-defying prodigy."
Zhou Yueling's second disciple.
The one he searched for yesterday.
The extroverted, cheerful girl who used to follow him through the academy halls.
And yet—
She didn't look like the same girl.
Wearing new clothes embroidered with symbols of the Zhou clan.
Aura completely changed.
Soul power vaguely active around her.
Lu Sheng stared at her in stunned silence.
And Li Yao—
She was just as overwhelmed.
Her gaze darted away, cheeks reddening, voice barely above a whisper.
"…Welcome back, Lu Sheng."
It was only then that he realized:
He was the only one who didn't realize.
He had all the clues, he just hadn't joined them together...
'Oh boy, am I an idiot?'
...
Zhou Yueling stepped forward, clearly preparing to deliver a formal introduction of her "new disciple" in the same crisp, authoritative tone she used for important announcements.
But halfway through raising her hand, she froze.
Her gaze slid from Lu Sheng's stunned expression… to Li Yao's trembling, crimson-tipped ears… and then back again, slower this time, as if savoring every detail she observed.
Seeing the two children practically vibrating with reaction, Zhou Yueling's smile widened just a fraction.
Their expressions were priceless—flustered, tangled, and so very telling.
She could already imagine the chaos the coming weeks would bring.
Colorful stories. Endless teasing material
A slow, predatory smirk pulled at her lips.
"Oh my," she murmured, voice deceptively soft, "look at those faces. How very… interesting."
She didn't need spirit power to read them.
Their reactions alone were entertainment—pure, unfiltered, high-quality entertainment.
The more disoriented the two children looked, the more delight sparked in her eyes, like a cat discovering the existence of an entire room full of toy mice.
She straightened, cleared her throat in an overly dignified manner, and adopted a mock-solemn expression that fooled absolutely no one.
"Lu Sheng," she announced, chin lifting, "I was planning to introduce you to my new disciple today."
Her hand drifted in a graceful arc toward the petite figure beside her.
"But it appears," she continued, eyes narrowing with sharp, amused precision as she watched awkward color both their expressions, "that introduction is… unnecessary."
Li Yao practically curled into herself under the weight of that stare.
Lu Sheng stopped breathing for a full second.
And that was all Zhou Yueling needed.
Something clicked behind her eyes—clean, instant, and mercilessly accurate.
Not just classmates.
Not distant acquaintances.
Not even ordinary childhood friends.
Closer? Much closer!
Her grin widened with a kind of wicked elegance only she could pull off.
"Oh?" she said, voice dipping into something sly and far too knowing.
"So that's how it is."
Lu Sheng blinked. "Master—"
Sadly for him, he didn't get the chance to even start.
Yueling's arms folded behind her back as she leaned down just enough to loom without appearing intrusive, her shadow stretching across the polished floor and swallowing the tiny space between the two children.
"Well, well," she purred, "my dear disciple… already finding a girlfriend before you even graduate primary schooling. Truly remarkable. Exceptional talent in every field, I see."
Lu Sheng choked on his own breath.
Li Yao's violet eyes went wide before she nearly tripped over her own feet.
Not understanding the source of the accusation, but trying to retreat from it.
Across the room, Zhou Ming coughed forcefully into his sleeve, once, twice, fighting the clear tremor in his shoulders.
Li Xueya looked away, lips pressed together, doing a very poor job of hiding her amusement as her shoulders shook just slightly.
Zhou Yueling only doubled down.
She placed one hand firmly on her hip, the other lifting as if presenting two misbehaving actors in a drama she found deeply entertaining.
She leaned forward further, just enough that her shadow framed both children in a theatrical spotlight.
"And here I was," she continued, drawing out the words with tragic exaggeration.
"So excited to hear you two call each other 'Senior Brother' and 'Junior Sister.' Such a classic master-disciple hierarchy, full of elegance and tradition."
She let out a long, theatrical sigh.
"But alas~," she lamented, "that dream has been shattered. Ruined. Destroyed before it even began."
The sigh might have been fake, but the mischievous gleam in her eyes was real: bright, sharp, and far too satisfied.
Lu Sheng looked like he'd been hit by a spirit skill he didn't even know existed.
Li Yao's face had gone fully scarlet, ears red to the tips...
Her small fingers gripping her sleeves so tightly that the silk wrinkled under the unknown pressure.
Zhou Yueling absorbed every second of their performance, and her smile deepened to something almost dangerous.
She lifted her hand again—
But before she could deliver the next blow—