Chapter 257: Everyone on Alert

Changing into new clothes, Hao Ren realized that it was too late for him to return to the dorm for books. He went directly to the Academic Building for class.

The class was already half over when he got to the classroom. It was a course in a small classroom which had only a front door.

"Sir, sorry I'm late." Hao Ren stood in the doorway with empty hands.

"It's fine. Come in!" Oldman Sun was notorious for his fierceness among the students, but he was genial with Hao Ren.

Hiss... Yu Rong and guys sitting in the back row gasped.

They dared not skip any of Oldman Sun's classes, but Hao Ren...

When Hao Ren trotted to the back row of the classroom, Xie Yujia who was sitting in the front row noticed that he was wearing new clothes when he passed by.

She smiled at him, and Hao Ren smiled back and gave her a little wave.

Beside Xie Yujia, Ma Lina bumped her with her elbow with a teasing look.

In the back row of the classroom, Zhao Jiayi scooted over and pulled Hao Ren to his side.

"According to our reliable sources, you and Xie Yujia were both absent last night. Did you spend the night out with her?" Zhao Jiayi asked Hao Ren with arched eyebrows.

"You are more impressive, Captain of the Basketball Team. I rarely see you nowadays!" Hao Ren tried to change the subject.

Oldman Sun coughed loudly in the front of the classroom.

Realizing that his voice was too loud, Hao Ren immediately shut up. He found his voice got more resonant after breaking through to Zhen-level.

Xie Yujia turned and looked at Hao Ren with a faint smile.

Hao Ren smiled back. Now that they shared the same secrets, they felt closer than before.

Although Zhao Jiayi didn't know what they were smiling about, he was envious. As the captain of the Basketball Team, many girls came to watch him play each day, but none of them was nearly as gentle and beautiful as Xie Yujia.

Of course, Xie Yujia was Hao Ren's girl, and Zhao Jiayi felt nothing but happiness for his good buddy.

After the class, Zhao Jiayi and the others left without dragging Hao Ren to play online games. Naturally, they expected that Hao Ren would go out with Xie Yujia.

However, Xie Yujia was not the clinging kind of girl, especially at school. She told Hao Ren that she was going to the library and rode her bike to borrow books.

They were intimate but not clinging, perfect for the both of them.

After knowing Hao Ren's secrets, she was no longer worried about him. Their relationship returned to normal.

Meanwhile, Hao Ren had his own business to tend to. First, he ran to the place behind the library and took out Little White which attracted a group of girls who fed it. Then, he went to Su Han's office to cultivate quietly, trying his best to absorb the five-elemental essences from nature.

He knew that he should never slack back in cultivation. Although the Dragon Core could absorb Nature Essence by itself, the cultivation progress would be slow if he didn't work hard at it.

The incident with Black Wolf showed him that despite all the rules and restrictions, strength spoke the loudest in the world of cultivation.

If a high-level cultivator broke the rules and made a move against a low-level cultivator, the latter would have absolutely no power to defend himself or herself.

After cultivating through the two-hour lunch break, Hao Ren returned to class in the afternoon. Then, he went to Zhao Yanzi's home to tutor her.

It was dinner time, and the campus was full of boisterous crowds. Not wanting to attract attention, Hao Ren left his car at the Administration Building and took a bus to Zhao Yanzi's home.

Zhao Yanzi had just gotten home, and Zhao Hongyu was cooking dinner while Zhao Guang was looking through some files in the study room

"Hello, Uncle, Auntie!" Hao Ren opened the door and entered the living room.

"Hello, Ren!" Zhao Hongyu walked out of the kitchen with a plate of vegetables in her hand.

"It has been a while since the last tutoring session." Hao Ren lifted the tutoring materials in his hand which took him the entire afternoon make.

"Ren, you've been busy lately." Zhao Hongyu looked at him with a smile.

"Yeah, he's busy in love," Zhao Yanzi, who was watching TV on the sofa, said with a pout.

"Really? In love with who?" Zhao Hongyu asked curiously.

Zhao Yanzi remained silent.

Zhao Hongyu didn't pursue the topic. She smiled at Hao Ren and said, "I'll go get the fried pork dish. You two should go to the dining room."

She then turned to the direction of the study room and called, "Zhao Guang, time for dinner!"

Zhao Guang rubbed his head and stood up. As he walked into the living room, he nodded at Hao Ren; he looked preoccupied with troubles on his mind.

The four of them sat by the table which was full of delicious-looking dishes, reminding Hao Ren of the old days when he came here every day for dinner.

"I called your Grandma today to invite her to our house, but she insisted on staying in your house by the sea," Zhao Hongyu said while placing the plates and chopsticks before each of them.

"It's ok. Grandma will be fine since Uncle Wang will come to the house to take care of her." Hao Ren smiled at her gratefully. "Oh, how are things going in the Dragon Palace?"

"The elders are still recovering, Elder Xingyue is taking care of Su Han, and Zhao Yanzi's Third Uncle is still traveling. Everything is peaceful for the time being," Zhao Hongyu said.

"Great." Hao Ren nodded. "Today, Zeng Yitao and I..."

"We know already." Zhao Hongyu interrupted Hao Ren.

"Zeng Yitao?" Zhao Yanzi got curious.

"Some trivia stuff. Eat your dinner." Zhao Hongyu placed a pair of chopsticks before Zhao Yanzi with force.

Zhao Guang's face was grim. He didn't speak, seeming to have a lot of things on his mind.

"By the way, I've talked to Elder Sun, and you can go to his martial arts dojo when you want to practice. It's not far from your school, and you may go anytime you want," Zhao Hongyu said.

"Ok!" Hao Ren answered.

He could practice the boxing technique in the small forest by the school, but he needed an open space to practice the sword array formations.

With the conflicts between East Ocean and West Ocean escalating, he must increase his strength as much as he could. However, to make his parents and Grandma happy, he couldn't give up his studies and must pass each exam as well.

On top of that, he must squeeze some time out to tutor Zhao Yanzi.

From the looks of Zhao Hongyu and Zhao Guang, they didn't want Zhao Yanzi to be involved in the conflict. They hoped that she could live her life like an ordinary middle school girl.

After dinner, Zhao Hongyu urged Zhao Yanzi to go to her room for the tutoring session. Zhao Yanzi wanted to stay in the living room a little bit to watch TV. But at her father's stern look, she went upstairs reluctantly.

With the bag of tutoring materials in his hand, Hao Ren followed her up the stairs. He had prepared a lot of practices for her to make up the time lost.

After they had gone upstairs, Zhao Hongyu's calm and ease expression disappeared.

She looked at Zhao Guang with worry. "Is it very serious?"

"Zeng Yitao lost one level of cultivation strength in the fight with Ren, and he is now on Li-level. With what I know about Oldman Zeng, I'm sure he will use this excuse to come to us with a large group of masters from West Ocean. I've ordered Elder Sun to stay alert and have guards all over the city," Zhao Guang said with a sigh.