After Long Na'er left Chen Ming's cave residence wearing Chen Ming's clothes, some special rumors began spreading through Heaven Dou Imperial Academy.
But even though they were rumors, no one dared to spread them too viciously about Chen Ming anymore. After all, Chen Ming was nominally a student, but in reality, the teachers in the academy — even the three members of the Board of Education— sometimes had to put on smiling faces and beg Chen Ming to give them some guidance on their cultivation.
The Douluo Heart Method written by Chen Ming had already become a required course that every academy and sect force on the entire continent had to learn.
From Titled Douluo down to newly awakened Spirit Scholars, everyone had to memorize Chen Ming's Douluo Heart Method until they knew it by heart before they could be considered a qualified Spirit Master.
No matter how gossipy someone was, they could only say that there was some improper relationship between Chen Ming and Long Na'er — that something beyond friendship had happened between the Heaven Dou Empire's first genius and second genius.
After the matter spread, many people believed it. However, most of them didn't know whether they should envy Long Na'er or envy Chen Ming.
Faced with these rumors, Long Na'er chose to speak up and refute them. But because she didn't strike back with full force and only gave a lukewarm explanation, her attempt at refuting the rumors not only failed to make others believe it was false, but instead further fueled the spread of the rumors.
Long Na'er disdained explaining herself. She disdained launching a heavy-handed counterattack against a bunch of "foolish Spirit Masters." Chen Ming paid no attention to outside opinions and simply continued his research while teaching others cultivation on the side.
As for Di Tian, who should have cared about this matter the most…
"This kind of ruin should be acceptable, right? Should I add some more inscriptions? Should I make it look more aged?" Inside a mountain within the Star Dou Great Forest, Di Tian, who had been busy for a long time, wiped away nonexistent sweat from his forehead and fell into silence as he looked at the dragon-constructed ruins before him.
This was his first time doing something like this, and Di Tian felt that he really wasn't cut out for it. In order to prevent it from seeming insufficiently authentic, Di Tian had racked his brains to the limit. Even now, even when Bi Ji looked at him with resentful eyes, Di Tian had no energy left to deal with Bi Ji's matters.
In the end, it was Niu Dali — the little brother Chen Ming had kept in a semi-free-range state ever since taking him in — who stepped forward to stop the rumors from getting even more twisted.
Whenever someone expressed dissatisfaction toward Chen Ming or tried to stir up more trouble, this peak-strength attack-type Spirit Elder who was only sixteen years old but already stood at an imposing height of two meters and three would directly go to their door to challenge them or stuff them into a sack and beat them up.
Although Chen Ming only gave him guidance when he had time and did not manage him too much, Niu Dali's medicine had never stopped.
Through constant injections of medicine into his muscles and hard training in the Armored Body Skill, Niu Dali's body had developed greatly.
His strength had even surpassed that of an assault-type Spirit King.
Although he still had horns on his head, he had obtained top-tier strength and cultivation speed. Toward Chen Ming, Niu Dali held nothing but complete loyalty.
Whenever even the slightest voice against Chen Ming or any words belittling him appeared in the academy, Niu Dali would immediately charge over like a bull in heat and beat the speaker up.
This was also one of the important reasons why, even though Chen Ming had always kept a low profile in the academy, no one dared to look down on him or have any real complaints about him.
After all the troublemakers and jealous people had been beaten once, almost everyone could naturally only express "envy" and "blessings" toward the two of them.
But that was only almost everyone.
"Brother Chen Ming—"
Ning Rongrong pinched her voice, wearing an outfit that had clearly been carefully made by a master. She acted spoiled toward Chen Ming in a tone completely different from usual.
Ever since she heard that Long Na'er had walked out of Chen Ming's cave residence wearing his clothes, Ning Rongrong had felt her head grow heavy.
It was as if she were wearing a heavy hat.
Although she was still far from the point of confessing her feelings to Chen Ming and forming a relationship with him, Ning Rongrong felt bitter whenever she thought about how it was because of her own words that Chen Ming became interested in Long Na'er, which then led to the two of them meeting.
It was like she had bitten down on a ten-thousand-year lemon Spirit Beast.
To stop things from really developing in the worst direction for her, Ning Rongrong had specially dressed herself up. She also copied the tone of popular women from books, trying to win some of Chen Ming's favor.
But clearly, this state only made Chen Ming feel a little uncomfortable.
"Cough, cough. Don't act like this. It doesn't really suit you."
Before Ning Rongrong could speak, Chen Ming directly stuffed the four finished bracelets into her hands.
"This is a gift for you. Rongrong, try them on."
"These are?"
Ning Rongrong looked at the four bracelets in surprise.
When Chen Ming designed the decorations on the bracelets, he had referred to many artworks he had seen in both his previous life and this life. He had also carefully chosen the style and colors of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Anyone who had come into contact with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect or the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul would immediately feel the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda elements in them.
With just one glance, Ning Rongrong liked the four bracelets.
"These are for me?"
Ning Rongrong slipped the four bracelets onto both hands and felt that they suited her very well.
"Yes. All four bracelets are storage soul tools. Didn't I spend a lot of time researching Martial Souls and Spirit Power, then taking apart some soul tools? Recently, I had some insights and made a breakthrough, so I made a few soul tools."
"Each one has twenty cubic meters of space inside. If you pour Spirit Power into them, you can adjust the size of the bracelets to a certain degree. Do you like this style?"
"I like it. I love it." Ning Rongrong's eyes shone.
After thinking for a moment, she moved closer to Chen Ming, raised her face, and leaned in to kiss him.
To Chen Ming, Ning Rongrong's movement was far too obvious.
The place her lips were aiming for was also very clear.
Chen Ming quickly thought for an instant, then slightly turned his head.
Ning Rongrong, who had been planning to kiss Chen Ming on the lips, could only kiss his cheek instead.
"This is… this is a return gift."
Ning Rongrong's face turned as red as a cooked crab. She spoke in a very small voice.
But inside, she felt a little disappointed that she had failed to attack Chen Ming's lips.
Looking at Ning Rongrong, Chen Ming raised his hand and rubbed her head.
"Be good, Rongrong. We're still too young right now. It's not the time to think about that kind of thing. Let's focus on cultivating properly first. We can talk about the future later."
"The future… talk about it later…"
Ning Rongrong's mind began racing wildly.
In an instant, she had already imagined scenes ten years, twenty years, even fifty years later.
Her whole body felt a little dizzy.
Chen Ming silently complained about Ning Rongrong's imagination, then knocked lightly on her head and said,
"Forget it… Let's talk about the important matter first."
"Come on. Let's fuse the Eight Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda first."
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