Somewhere outside the jungle, away from the intense Duze Beixuan-Li Luo fight.

Half of the clearing was covered in frost, the other half completely devoid of life as all of the vegetation had withered.

In the center, two people were facing off.

Lu Qing'er looked down at her hands. They were covered in a viridescent green, poison gas, that was rapidly eating away at the resonant power within her.

She accepted this calmly. It was within her expectations.

She looked up calmly at Wang Hejiu, who was frowning at her. He himself was encased in ice up to his shoulders.

Obviously, he wasn't going to be able to move for a while.

"Must you do this, Friend Qing'er?" he asked mildly.

"Your Glacial Prison is very impressive, but it will only hold me for a while. My poison resonance in you will wreak far greater damage through your body."

"Delaying you this long is enough," Lu Qing'er said serenely.

He looked closely at her. "Was it worth it?

"The school might help you nullify the poison, but you will be in great pain for a long while. All to hold me up for a few moments."

"I'm happy to," she said simply.

He regarded her anew, then burst into laughter. "Friend Qing'er, my interest in you just deepened again.

"Will you really not consider getting together with me?

"Whether in background, talent, or potential, I think I'm better than Li Luo."

Lu Qing'er looked at him indifferently. "Not as handsome, though."

His smile froze.

Really? So shallow?

...

"Aaahhhh!"

Yu Lang was pitched to his feet yet again, tumbling like a gourd. He crawled to his feet again, his face covered in bruises.

But the wind howled from behind him, and another gust smacked him in the back, sending him tumbling forth another few meters.

"Give me back the jade ornament!"

Bai Doudou's voice rang out from behind.

Yu Lang was completely exhausted, but he still clutched firmly on to the jade ornament. "Nope! Kill me if you dare!"

Bai Doudou was furious. She cocked a fist and punched him in the head.

"AHHH! SHE'S KILLING MEE!" Yu Lang wailed.

"You shameless little—!" Bai Doudou choked in her anger. She had never seen such a shameless person, and she started to beat him even harder.

"Pfffft!"

A spray of blood spurted from Yu Lang's mouth, enough blood to stain the entire ground around him red.

Bai Doudou immediately stopped. She was hitting him hard, but surely it wasn't enough to cause this.

"You—are you alright?" She frowned, prodding the bleeding Yu Lang with her spear.

He lay there unmoving as a dead fish.

She bent down to check his breathing.

Just as she stooped over, the dead fish miraculously came back to life, wrapping himself around her like an octopus. The two lost their balance and tumbled to the ground.

Boom!

A heroic burst of green resonant power from Bai Doudou sent Yu Lang flying again. He crashed into a big rock, and his face paled. More blood leaked from his mouth.

He was sprawled on the ground. He felt like he had been dismembered.

Bai Doudou was green in the face as she inspected her bloody clothes. Gross. Yu Lang was truly gross.

"I'll kill you!" Bai Doudou shouted furiously, her spear flashing out towards Yu Lang.

"Kill me, then," Yu Lang said tearfully. "I might have an 80 year-old mother at home and ten younger siblings who depend on me, but I'm not afraid to die."

The spear stopped at his brow. "What a virile mother she is." She snorted. The spear shaft struck Yu Lang painfully on the wrist. With a cry, he dropped the jade ornament.

Bai Doudou snatched it up, carefully wiping it clean before hanging it on her waist again.

"Stay away from my sister," she warned the limp Yu Lang. "Or I will feed you to the dogs."

She turned to leave.

Pa!

She felt a hand clutching her ankle. Yu Lang summoned up the last of his strength. "Who gave you permission to leave?"

She turned and looked at Yu Lang properly. Covered in ugly wounds and bleeding out, he was still trying to stop her. It stirred something within her.

He was shameless and spineless, but his tenacity was admirable.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Yu Lang."

"Yu Lang, you're a fool. If this was not in school, I might have killed you.

"The difference between us is ridiculous. You think you're smart to test my patience again and again?

"Is this for Li Luo's sake? Is he worth it? He is the young lord of House Luolan. You might think of him as a brother, but he probably just thinks of you as a disposable pawn."

Yu Lang was silent for a while. Then he smiled at her, showing her his bloody teeth. "Little girl, what do you know? You think a man of my experience knows less than a pampered princess like you?

"Back in the day, my parents broke the family bank to send me to Southwind Academy. I didn't know a thing then, not even the resonance arts the teachers were teaching. It was Li Luo who taught me everything, starting from my first resonance art. He gave me the courage to keep going to school!

"Sure, it might be nothing to him. But I will forever remember that grace. He is my friend forever!"

"What does it matter what he thinks? And so, Bai Doudou, if you dare walk away today, I'll..."

Yu Lang took a dramatic breath. "I'll die on you!"

"..."

"Is this guy nuts? What would I care if you died?"

"Get away."

She kicked him away, but lightly. She didn't want to really kill him.

Yu Lang crawled forward and grabbed her foot again. "Bai Doudou, you she-devil, remember this well. You caused the death of an innocent student the day you entered the Astral Sage College!

"If I die, I will become a ghost and haunt you."

"Shut up!" She started to stalk away, then she suddenly sat down on a boulder nearby. "No damn point in going now. Li Luo must have been finished off already."

"No guarantees."

Yu Lang smiled weakly. "Well, I tried my best. I managed to stop Miss Number 3 of the newcomers. Hehe. That will make a good story."

"If it were anyone else, you wouldn't even have an unbroken bone left in your body." She rolled her eyes.

"What's with you acting all kind? You think all I need is unbroken bones?" he said indignantly.

Bai Doudou had such an adorable sister. But why was she so fierce?

She shook her head and ignored him.

Yu Lang prattled on a little more, but suddenly Bai Doudou noticed that the chattering had stopped. She looked over to see him unconscious in the pool of blood.

She sniffed.

"Ignorant bastard."