The silence that followed the cataclysmic series of explosions was profound and absolute. It was a dead silence, the kind that presses in on the eardrums, where even the chirping of insects and the rustling of leaves had been momentarily erased from existence. A thick, choking cloud of dust and pulverized earth blotted out the morning sun, casting the ruined entrance of Shrek Academy in a grim, grey twilight.
Slowly, the sounds of the world returned. First, a collective, hacking cough from the group Zhang Tian had rescued. Then, a groan from the crater where Zhao Wuji stood, his massive frame trembling not just from the impact, but from sheer, unadulterated shock.
From one of the nearby shabby huts, a figure stumbled out, a half-eaten sausage falling from his hand. It was Oscar, his handsome face pale, his peach-blossom eyes wide with terror. He had been setting up a small stall, planning to use his charming smile and obscene spirit spell to sell his recovery sausages to any pretty new female students. The thunderous roar had nearly sent him diving under his cart.
"What in the name of the Spirit Hall was that?!" he squeaked, staring at the smoking crater that had once been the academy's front yard.
Another figure, the elderly teacher Li Yusong, rushed out from another direction, his face ashen. He had been heading back to his room to nap, and the explosion had thrown him from his chair. When he saw the devastation and the injured, bleeding form of Zhao Wuji, his legs almost gave out.
Before either of them could fully process the scene, a furious screech echoed from the sky. A large, shadowy figure descended at incredible speed. It was an owl, but larger and far more menacing than any normal bird. On its back stood a man with a sharp, hawkish face and glasses that glinted with fury. It was the Dean of Shrek Academy, Flender.
He landed lightly, his Owl Martial Spirit dissipating. His sharp eyes took in the scene in an instant: the smoldering crater, the vaporized gate, the unconscious Dai Mubai, the bleeding Zhao Wuji, and the five new, stunned children standing with the equally stunned Zhang Tian.
"Zhao Wuji!" Flender's voice was tight with suppressed rage. "What happened here?! Did the Spirit Hall finally decide to level us?"
Zhao Wuji had the decency to look embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his neck, wincing as his hand came away sticky with blood. "Ah... Flender... it wasn't the Spirit Hall."
"Then what was it?!" Flender demanded, his gaze sweeping over the costly destruction.
"Well... you see... I was testing the new kids," Zhao Wuji mumbled, his booming voice reduced to a guilty grumble. "And... well, they were better than I expected. So I might have... gone back on my word a little and used my fifth spirit ability."
Flender's eyes narrowed. "And?"
"And..." Zhao Wuji gestured awkwardly towards Zhang Tian, who stood with an expression of polite indifference. "That blue-haired kid there decided that since I broke the rules, he could too. And he pulled out... these little exploding balls."
Flender's gaze snapped to Zhang Tian. His expression of fury slowly morphed into one of stunned recognition, followed by a deep, profound sadness. Not sadness for the fight, but for his wallet. His shoulders slumped. He looked at the crater, then at the collapsed walls, and a pained groan escaped his lips.
"The repairs..." he whispered, his voice filled with anguish. "The materials... the labor... all that money..."
He then looked at Zhang Tian properly. "I should have known it was you. No one else in this city is crazy enough to have things like that."
Flender knew Zhang Tian. For the past eight months, the handsome, blue-haired young man had been a frequent, if indirect, customer. He ran that wildly successful cosmetic shop, "Azure Bloom," a place many ladies raved about. More importantly, Zhang Tian had commissioned him several times to procure rare materials and books, including the very expensive golden crystal he'd used for the spirit power tests and, most profitably, copies of Yu Xiaogang's theories and spirit beast encyclopedias. Flender had made a tidy sum acting as the middleman.
He knew Zhang Tian was a powerful Spirit Grandmaster, but he had assumed the boy was older, perhaps sixteen or seventeen. He never imagined he was only twelve and would suddenly close his flourishing business to come to his dilapidated academy.
Flender let out a long, suffering sigh. "Zhang Tian," he said, his voice heavy with the weight of future expenses. "You're going to have to contribute to the repairs. A significant contribution."
"Of course, Dean Flender," Zhang Tian nodded casually, as if discussing the weather. "That seems only fair. Send me the bill."
Money was no object. The destruction had been a calculated investment in deterrence, and the cost was acceptable.
Meanwhile, Oscar's eyes, having recovered from the initial shock, were doing their own calculations. He scanned the new arrivals. The little rabbit girl, Xiao Wu, seemed glued to the plain-looking boy, Tang San. 'Taken,' he noted mentally. The cold, black-haired beauty, Zhu Zhuqing, stood slightly closer to the blue-haired human disaster, Zhang Tian. 'Probably taken, or at least complicated.'
His gaze then landed on Ning Rongrong. She was exquisitely beautiful, with the delicate air of high nobility. And most importantly, she was standing alone, her eyes sparkling not with fear, but with an avaricious curiosity as she stared at Zhang Tian. 'Perfect!' Oscar thought, a charming smile already forming on his face. 'She's the one!' He didn't know their names or spirits yet, but he had his target.
"Oscar!" Flender barked, snapping him out of his reverie. "Stop gawking and make yourself useful! Your sausages! Teacher Zhao and Mubai need healing!"
"Right away, Dean!" Oscar chirped, striking a dramatic pose. He cleared his throat and bellowed, his voice filled with a strange, rhythmic magic:
"I, your father, have a big sausage!"
A shimmering, fragrant sausage materialized in his hand.
The effect on the girls was instantaneous and universal. Ning Rongrong's jaw dropped, her noble sensibilities utterly scandalized. Xiao Wu's face wrinkled in pure disgust. Zhu Zhuqing, despite Zhang Tian's prior warning, still flinched, her cold expression cracking with revulsion. Even Tang San looked deeply uncomfortable.
In Zhang Tian's Spiritual Sea, Ah Yin let out a sound of pure, imperial offense. 'Zhang Tian! You will never, ever eat that disgusting thing! Do you hear me? The healing properties are pathetic compared to your spirit bone anyway!'
'I had no intention of it, Ah Yin,' he replied calmly, maintaining his serene facade.
While the external chaos unfolded, he projected a more serious question to her. 'Ah Yin, can you sense him? Your husband?'
There was a pause, and he could feel a complex wave of emotion from her—longing, sadness, fear, and love all tangled together. 'Yes,' she replied, her mental voice soft. 'He is nearby. Hidden. Watching.' She sighed. 'My heart... it aches to see him. But I know I cannot. He would not understand this. He would see you as a threat, a thief who stole both me and the spirit bone meant for our little San. He would kill you without hesitation.'
'The fact that he hasn't acted yet means he can't sense your presence within me,' Zhang Tian concluded. This was vital information. 'But I must be careful. Using the spirit bone's abilities could expose me.'
'Can the Blood Silver Domain conceal it?' he asked.
'Of course,' she answered with a hint of her empress's pride. 'My domain can alter the appearance of your spirit rings; hiding the aura of a single spirit bone is a simple matter. But his mental power is that of a Titled Douluo. It is profound. I will have to actively manage the domain to shield you from his senses whenever you use its power. Leave it to me.'
A weight lifted from Zhang Tian's shoulders. 'Thank you.'
Back in the real world, Zhao Wuji had snatched the sausage from Oscar and chomped it down, his wounds visibly knitting together at a slow pace. Oscar produced another for Dai Mubai, who had been shaken awake by Zhao Wuji. The young man's handsome face was now marred by soot and a few angry red welts. A significant portion of his blonde hair had been singed off on one side, giving him a lopsided, pathetic look. He took the sausage with a grimace and ate it, glaring daggers at Zhang Tian.
"Alright, that's enough excitement for one day," Flender declared, rubbing his temples. "Oscar, take our new students and show them to their dormitories. Explain the rules. I need to... assess the damages." He walked towards the crater, looking like a man on his way to his own execution.
"Right this way, junior brothers and sisters!" Oscar said, his cheerful demeanor returning now that the threat of death had passed. He led the group of six away from the wreckage.
As they walked through the shabby collection of wooden buildings, Oscar gave them the grand tour, his words painting a picture of a humble but elite institution dedicated to nurturing geniuses, conveniently omitting the death rate, funding issues, and questionable staff behavior that Zhang Tian had detailed for Zhu Zhuqing the night before.
"Other than myself and Boss Dai," Oscar explained, "we have one other student who has been here for a while. You'll meet him soon enough. He's... a character."
As if on cue, as they approached a block of what could generously be called dormitories, a figure emerged. He was short and extremely round, a fatty who moved with a strange, sturdy waddle. He had short, reddish-brown hair and a pair of beady, emerald-green eyes.
It was Ma Hongjun.
His eyes immediately locked onto the three new girls. He scanned Xiao Wu's youthful energy, Ning Rongrong's noble beauty, and Zhu Zhuqing's cold, voluptuous figure. A greedy, lecherous light entered his eyes, and he began to openly ogle them, his gaze lingering on their chests and legs in a way that made their skin crawl.
Xiao Wu scowled, stepping closer to Tang San. Ning Rongrong's face twisted in disgust. Zhu Zhuqing's hand instinctively went to the hilt of a non-existent dagger. Tang San's own expression darkened, a protective anger flaring as he saw the fatty's eyes linger on Xiao Wu.
But before anyone could speak, Zhang Tian's voice cut through the air, devoid of heat but filled with a chilling coldness.
"If you continue to stare like that," he said calmly, looking directly at Ma Hongjun, "I will repeat what just happened at the entrance, right here. And you had better hope that your Evil Fire Phoenix has the power of rebirth like a true phoenix. Otherwise, you'll be picking pieces of yourself out of the trees for a week."
Ma Hongjun, who had been about to make a crude comment, froze. The threat was so calm, so direct, it was more terrifying than any angry shout.
"What did you say, you...?" he started to retort, his face flushing with anger.
"Fatty, shut up!" Oscar hissed, grabbing his arm. "That's him! He's the one who did that! The explosion! He injured Teacher Zhao and Boss Dai!"
Ma Hongjun's eyes widened in shock and a healthy dose of fear. He looked from Zhang Tian's serene, smiling face to the distant, smoking crater, and swallowed hard. The lust in his eyes was instantly replaced by terror. He muttered something under his breath, shot a final, fearful glare at Zhang Tian, and waddled away angrily, unable to offer a single retort.
"Heh, sorry about him," Oscar said sheepishly. "Anyway, dorms! The boys' and girls' dorms are separate. Each room accommodates two people."
A groan of disappointment came from Xiao Wu. "Aww, Ge, we can't be in the same room?" she pouted at Tang San, a comment which drew curious looks from everyone, deepening the mystery of their relationship.
The room arrangements were sorted out quickly. "Alright, beauties first!" Oscar declared. "The two coldest and most noble-looking ladies can room together." He gestured to Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing. They looked at each other and gave a slight, accepting nod.
"Little Wu, you can have a room to yourself for now, until our next beautiful junior sister arrives!" Oscar said with a wink. Xiao Wu accepted this happily, as it was the next best thing to rooming with her brother.
"That leaves the two of you," Oscar said, looking at Tang San and Zhang Tian. "You guys can share."
In Zhang Tian's mind, Ah Yin let out a delighted squeal. 'Perfect! Now I can watch over my Little San every day!'
As they were talking, Oscar smoothly moved closer to Ning Rongrong. "So, I couldn't help but hear about your spirit. A seven-storied pagoda... you wouldn't happen to be from the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile School, would you?"
Ning Rongrong lifted her chin proudly. "Of course. I am Ning Rongrong."
Oscar's heart did a backflip. Not only was she beautiful, but she was also from one of the most powerful and wealthy clans on the continent. His pursuit was no longer just about romance; it was an investment in his future!
Later that day, after settling in, Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing were relaxing in their simple, bare-bones room.
Ning Rongrong sat on her bed, her initial disgust with the academy's conditions warring with her insatiable curiosity. "Zhuqing," she began, her voice losing some of its earlier arrogance. "You came here with that Zhang Tian. Do you know him well?"
Zhu Zhuqing, who was methodically wiping down her side of the room with a damp cloth, shook her head. "No. I only met him two days ago. He saved me in the forest."
Ning Rongrong's eyes widened. "He saved you? From what?"
"My sister," Zhu Zhuqing replied, her voice flat, offering no further details.
Ning Rongrong knew not to press on such a sensitive family matter. She changed the subject. "Those... exploding balls. Do you know what they are? How he makes them?"
"I don't," Zhu Zhuqing admitted. "I saw them for the first time today, just like you. I only know that he ran a successful shop in Suotuo City before coming here. He is... full of secrets."
Ning Rongrong lay back on her bed, staring at the wooden ceiling. Zhang Tian. Handsome, powerful, mysterious, and capable of wielding terrifying, unknown weapons. He was far more interesting than the arrogant Dai Mubai or the crude Ma Hongjun. He was a puzzle she was suddenly very, very eager to solve.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels like "Harem Master: Seduction System" and the "Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist" and I hope you like this story and those stories as well.
Check out more chapters on my P.atreon. The P.atreon will have 20+ Chapters ahead for this story. I hope you like it.
The link of p.atreon is: bit.ly/evildragon