Chapter 164: Secrets Beneath the Bed
Without giving Xiao Qiang a chance to stop her, Meng Hongchen dove straight under his bed.
Meng Hongchen: "…"
Ling Luochen: "…"
Ning Tian: "…"
The bed was incredibly small. The three girls were practically pressed against one another in the cramped space, their bodies almost touching, making the situation unbearably awkward.
Xiao Qiang shook his head helplessly, picking up Meng Hongchen's high heels from the floor. Although he didn't understand why she hid under his bed so suddenly, he chose not to question it. Instead, he simply accepted her behavior.
"Teacher," Xiao Qiang called.
"Mm." Jing Hongchen walked in without hesitation as soon as the door opened. As Xiao Qiang's teacher—and with how familiar he was with him—his movements were as natural and easy as Meng Hongchen's.
Soon, Jing Hongchen casually sat on the edge of the bed—exactly where Meng Hongchen, Ling Luochen, and Ning Tian were hiding beneath. He paused, frowning faintly as he detected a trace of Meng Hongchen's scent in the air.
"You didn't fool around here, did you?" he asked with narrowed eyes.
"Huh? Fool around?" Xiao Qiang scratched his head, clearly baffled. "What do you mean?"
"Never mind." Jing Hongchen waved it off. "Judging by your expression, probably not. I heard what happened today. You did a good job. But… about Nana. I heard she called you 'Master'?"
"Yes. I saved her life, and as a result, she willingly acknowledged me as her master."
Jing Hongchen nodded, his expression calm but thoughtful. "I can understand that. But her talent… isn't it a bit unusual? From her earlier records, she never showed that kind of potential."
"Her martial soul is a body-type martial soul based on her own soul. After consuming a lot of rare resources, she used a special method to awaken it. As soon as she awakened, her soul power shot up to level 50. After that, I gave her a soul bone I acquired by chance. Combined with my own soul power compression techniques, her strength increased rapidly."
"That technology, huh? I know what you're referring to."
Jing Hongchen was well aware that Xiao Qiang had long since mastered soul spirit technology. However, both Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen still didn't have their own soul spirits. This was intentional—done to avoid exposing the technology prematurely. Moreover, after some discussions with Xiao Qiang, Jing Hongchen had decided to wait until both of them reached level 60, at which point they would each receive a 100,000-year-level soul spirit.
"I see. So that's Nana's situation. Now, tell me about yourself. Over the past year, how much progress have you made in terms of soul power?"
"Don't worry, Teacher. I recently had a breakthrough. My cultivation speed isn't as slow as we once thought."
"Good!" Jing Hongchen smiled with satisfaction. "You always manage to exceed my expectations."
As he spoke, he pulled out a soul conductor tester from his storage device.
"Come on, test your current status. Let me see how far you've progressed."
Xiao Qiang stepped forward and stood before the soul conductor tester. A light curtain swept over his body, and a series of statistics instantly lit up on the screen:
Physical Strength: Level 91
Physical Toughness: Level 89
Soul Power Fluctuation: Level 68
Soul Power Solidity: Level 92
Bone Age: 16
Soul Bones: Left palm, left arm, right palm, right arm
The moment the results appeared, the room was consumed by silence.
Everyone—Jing Hongchen, Meng Hongchen, Ling Luochen, and Ning Tian—was frozen in disbelief.
Ling Luochen and Ning Tian, in particular, were especially shocked. As Shrek Academy's top students, they were acutely aware of just how monstrous Xiao Qiang's numbers were. Combined with the mention of an ultimate martial soul earlier, the implications were staggering.
"How did you do this?" Jing Hongchen finally broke the silence. "Didn't you just reach level 50 last year? Even Xiao and Meng, who rely on high-grade medicine, couldn't improve at that rate!"
"I got lucky and fused a 100,000-year-old soul ring with both my fifth and sixth soul rings."
"You fused a 100,000-year soul ring… on your fifth ring?"
"Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible," Xiao Qiang replied calmly. "But teacher, you know my situation isn't ordinary. You can't judge me by conventional standards."
"Hmm… true. Still, I find it hard to accept. Not even I—nor your master—managed this level of increase without relying on medicine. And you, barely using any pills, have surpassed even the most elite talents."
Xiao Qiang smiled without offering further explanation.
After a moment's pause, Jing Hongchen continued. "Based on your current soul power—level 68—you should break through to level 70 in a year. After that, cultivation with an ultimate martial soul becomes even faster than that of an ordinary soul master. At this pace, you could reach Soul Douluo by the next competition."
"An ultimate martial soul… twin martial souls… multiple 100,000-year soul rings…"
Jing Hongchen narrowed his eyes slightly. "By the time you reach Soul Douluo, even I may no longer be your match. At 20 years old, you'll stand at the peak of the world. Even the Sea God Tang San didn't achieve such feats at your age."
If there were games in this world, Jing Hongchen would have suspected Xiao Qiang of cheating—but alas, this world didn't have such things.
"Forget it. Since you clearly have your own path, I won't press the matter. To be honest, I originally thought you let Nana participate in the test because your own soul power hadn't improved much. Seems I was overthinking it."
With a faint sigh, Jing Hongchen stood and left.
After sending him off, Xiao Qiang immediately activated his mental detection to scan the surroundings. Once he was sure no one would approach, he knocked lightly on the bed.
"Come out. Seriously, one more person and you could've started a mahjong game down there. Do you girls like hiding under beds that much?"
At his words, Meng Hongchen, Ling Luochen, and Ning Tian all crawled out awkwardly from beneath the bed.
"You heard everything just now?" Xiao Qiang asked calmly.
The three of them nodded. Meng Hongchen looked amused, but the other two wore expressions of worry and tension.
For Ling Luochen and Ning Tian, accidentally discovering such an overwhelming secret was not something to take lightly. Worse, they were fully aware that they had no means to resist Xiao Qiang.
"What are you planning to do?" Ning Tian asked bravely.
"You don't need to be afraid," Xiao Qiang said with a gentle smile. "I'm not a monster. But… there are certain things I'd rather keep secret."
He pulled out a brick-shaped device from his soul guide.
"Relax, it's just a standard memory-erasure tool. Don't worry. I'll be gentle with it."