Chapter 49

Chapter 49 — Ning Chen and Xue Qinghe.

"Who really are ÿ̵̘ȯ̸̯ŭ̵̢?"

Upon hearing those words, Xue Qinghe abruptly halted all of his movements and froze completely.

His expression showed clear shock, but soon replaced by confusion.

"That's a rather weird question. I'm Xue Qinghe, your friend, aren't I?" Xue Qinghe tilted his head to show his puzzlement.

His eyes were clear as crystal, as if there wasn't a shred of falsehood within it. However, there was also an undetectable coldness in it.

Ning Chen went silent before suddenly laughing awkwardly. "Sorry for suddenly asking such a stupid question. Forget about it. Anyway, it's been a long time."

Xue Qinghe smiled brightly.

It was better for Ning Chen to not know anything.

It was the best for both of them...

"It's truly been a long time! Have you been faring well?" Xue Qinghe asked curiously.

Ning Chen simply nodded. "I've been doing well and I even joined the imperial academy, acquainting myself to many different people."

"Oh, is that so? How's your life at the academy and did you found people that caught your interest?"

"My academy life is nice, especially when there's no one who dared to bully me because I'm the strongest. And yeah, I found some interesting people," Ning Chen smiled slightly.

Xue Qinghe chuckled. "Although you're much more older now, you're still the same when I first met you."

"Hehe, you haven't changed much too, still looking so feminine and pretty," Ning Chen said jokingly.

Xue Qinghe simply smiled, unfazed by Ning Chen's words. At this point, he stopped caring about being seen like a female by Ning Chen.

in fact, he slightly liked being seen as one by Ning Chen. For he was the only one that continued to remind Xue Qinghe about his true self.

"So who's the person you're interested in?" Xue Qinghe asked, his curiousity becoming more apparent.

Ning Chen remembered Bai Chenxiang and he chuckled lightly, "She's a girl and also quite like you. She even kissed me on my cheeks."

"I see... that's nice to hear..." Xue Qinghe's smile appeared to become strange.

A chilling coldness appeared within his displeased eyes.

Xue Qinghe didn't liked being compared to other women, especially by Ning Chen

He was different — superior than all beings, he felt he was even more suitable with Ning Chen.

They were both monsters, not being able to understood with normal human logic.

However, his eyes soon grew somber as helplessness appeared within his heart.

It was impossible, even for the superior him.

Ning Chen raised his brows seeing Xue Qinghe's strange expression.

It somehow made him have goosebumps.

"Is something wrong?"

Xue Qinghe snapped from his deep thoughts and his expression quickly changed to normal.

He shook his head and quickly changed the subject. "Why did you wanted to meet with me again?"

Ning Chen widened his eyes and was quite startled. "I almost forgot!" He quickly touched his golden coiling dragon ring.

Xue Qinghe also touched his golden ring unconsciously.

Ning Chen soon took out a silver necklace from his spatial ring and placed it in front of Xue Qinghe.

He smiled lightly. "Here, this is my gift for you and although it's quite cheap, I hope it suits your taste."

Xue Qinghe's eyes became gentle after seeing the silver necklace with golden feather.

He shook his head and said thankfully, "It's okay because it's from you."

Ning Chen was relieved to hear that and soon became happy.

"Great! I'll place the necklace on you myself, so turn around."

Xue Qinghe didn't refused Ning Chen's instruction.

Ning Chen slowly placed the necklace around Xue Qinghe's neck and then locking it at his back.

Xue Qinghe was able to feel his warm breath brushing against his own neck, making him feel slightly twitchy.

It was ticklish and at the same time felt pleasant.

Ning Chen was also able to faintly smell Xue Qinghe and realized he still smelled good like an immortal flower.

Xue Qinghe touched the golden feather of the necklace and smiled warmly.

"I sincerely appreciate this gift and I will also treasure it dearly."

He was gonna treasure it dearly, for the rest of his life.

Ning Chen was quite glad and then took out his own necklace with a small silver sword.

"This two necklaces are pair, symbolising our eternal friendship," Ning Chen said while grinning.

Xue Qinghe bit his own small red lips and tightly held the golden feather.

Their eternal friendship...

He wanted to go beyond that.

But he didn't even know if they were truly friends.

He was after all just a mere impostor — not Xue Qinghe and was always hiding his own true self.

Xue Qinghe soon recovered and he forced himself to smile.

"Before we continue talking, let's first sit and have some tea and snacks."

Ning Chen nodded and sat with Xue Qinghe at the garden. He then rang a bell, causing a maid to quickly come toward them along with some snacks and tea.

The two of them soon started talking with each other peacefully.

It was mostly about themselves and also regarding the situation happening around the continent since Ning Chen was curious about it.

Ning Chen had learned that Spirit Hall was secretly gathering their forces in order to start a war and it was mostly likely to conquer the whole continent.

Although Spirit Hall had tried to hide it, such a large-scale movement was impossible to not notice.

And Xue Qinghe said the war was expected to occur five or ten years in the future.

Ning Chen wouldn't usually care about this kind of thing, but a war involving the entire continent meant a terrifying bloodbath was gonna happen.

And a war happening would also involve their clan inevitably which was recently rising further in both strength and position.

At this moment, Ning Chen realized he needed to grow more powerful to help his clan and protect his family.

Yes, there was his Grandpa's to protect them, but it wasn't bad to be cautious and think deeply about the incoming future.

Ning Chen also got to know about the reason behind the massive improvement of Spirit Hall.

It was because of the new Supreme Pontiff, Bibi Dong!

The former Supreme Pontiff was rumoured to be killed by Tang Hao's hand — the greatest genius of Clear Sky Clan and he was also the reason why the Clear Sky Clan decided to disappear from the world.

Ning Chen was able to learn many things from Xue Qinghe and he was extremely grateful for it.

However, it was soon time for him to leave the palace.

"Ning Chen, keep this badge with you. This will allow you visit me whenever you want without any troubles," Xue Qinghe threw a small badge toward Ning Chen.

Ning Chen caught the badge and inspected it, seeing the mark of imperial bloodline to it.

He placed it inside his spatial ring and smiled at Xue Qinghe.

"Thank you. I will definitely visit you frequently."

Xue Qinghe nodded. "I will always wait for you, no matter what happen."

He was delighted hearing Ning Chen promising to visit him frequently.

Ning Chen waved his hand and shouted, "See you next time in the future!" He soon left the palace.

"..." Xue Qinghe silently stared at Ning Chen's fading silhouette.

He then went back toward the palace with cold and indifferent eyes.

Who was it?

The person who made Ning Chen have some doubts about his true identity?

...

Ning Chen returned toward the Imperial academy and decided to meet with Xue Beng first.

Xue Beng was naturally happy seeing him, but then remembered something, causing him to feel nervous.

"Hey, I got you a gift," Ning Chen said, but then noticed Xue Beng acting strangely weird.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked confusedly.

Xue Beng pondered for a moment before finally deciding to say it toward Ning Chen.

It was at the time when Ning Chen was currently away from the imperial academy.

The Shrek Academy came to enroll at the academy after Qin Ming persuade them.

Xue Beng at first decided to insult them to keep his usual cocky and useless prince facade, but he soon changed his mind after seeing Ning Rongrong..

He quickly ran away from the scene even though it might risk him.

However, he couldn't just afford to make Ning Chen angry.

It was also because Ning Chen helped him a lot on building his confidence and slowly stop having nightmares as he started to see hope.

The Shrek Academy smoothly entered the imperial academy and stayed for a few days to wait for the Board Of Education.

Things went smooth for them, but that was until this news reached the ears of Xue Xing, who was unfortunately at the academy.

Xue Xing was the supervisor of the imperial academy. He was also an arrogant, haughty and disrespectful person. He didn't cared much about human beings, especially lower classes, even buying them as slaves.

The Shrek Academy was able to make the Board Of Education feel interest and wanted to recruit them, but Xue Xing soon arrived.

After hearing the news of a backward rotting academy filled with commoners wanting to join their noble academy, there was no way he was gonna let that happen.

The Imperial Academy was know for accepting only nobles, if commoners joined it would bring many displeasure from the nobles.

Xue Xing and with the help of the Poison Douluo, managed to kick the Shrek Academy out of the academy.

Ning Chen was infuriated upon learning that, especially when his sister was a member of shrek.

However, he wasn't able to do anything.

He was talking about a titled douluo here and he knew this Poison Douluo was also Dugu Yan's grandfather.

Ning Chen didn't decided to blame it all toward Dugu Yan because it wasn't the correct choice.

In the end, it was all Xue Xing's fault.

However, Ning Chen wasn't powerful enough to change anything when the Shrek had already decided to leave.

He had also learned about the fact that Qin Ming also left the imperial academy.

This saddened him, but he knew there was still chance for them to meet.

Ning Chen was also feeling slightly sorry for acting quite mean toward shrek because he didn't trusted them much.

He even got the thought about leaving the academy, but then remembered everyone here wasn't entirely that bad.

The principal wasn't necessarily bad. There was also his friends here and the Emperor Team who all have changed.

Ning Chen contemplated deeply before deciding to stay for year and will only leave after the end of the continental tournament.

It wasn't an easy choice to make, but he couldn't just suddenly leave his friends behind.

He cared for his sister, but it was also the same for his friends.

And even if Ning Chen asked them to come along with him, there would be many issues since the continental tournament was nearing.

The continental tournament was also where all the students from many elite academy scattered around the world will compete with each other.

In the end, the Imperial academy wasn't entirely the one at fault, but the corrupt supervisor, Xue Xing.

"There's nothing for you to worry about," Ning Chen patted Xue Beng's shoulder.

He then gave him a silver earring much to Xue Beng's astonisment.

Xue Beng was happy receiving the earring and quickly decided to wear it. The white earring looked good on him.

Ning Chen had also said that he met with Xue Qinghe earlier, but told Xue Beng to not worry much since he didn't mentioned him once.

After having a short conversation with Xue Beng, Ning Chen visited Xie Lingling next.

She was also the last person he was gonna give a gift.

Ning Chen managed to give her the bracelet and Xie Lingling thanked him for it, albeit lacking any emotions to it.

He didn't know why Xie Lingling always appeared to be expressionless.

However, he thought that prying further sounded like a bad idea, so he decided to stop thinking over it.

Ning Chen decided to also invite Bai Chenxiang to a date. It was his way of apologizing toward her.

As a result, Bai Chenxiang grew closer toward him, but not in the clingy way. She learned how to control herself to be good.

And because Qin Ming left the imperial academy, there was no one currently supervising the Emperor Team.

Ning Chen thus decided to use this chance to act as a substitute teacher for the Emperor Team.

He wanted to train all of the Emperor Team together and gave them their own personal training regime.

This regime was all about throughly training their entire foundation — from their physical conditioning, abilities, and spirit power usages.

They had talent, but no firm determination in the past, but it was different now.

Ning Chen was sure they would now be willing to do the training..

The training which came straight from the Emperor Team's worst nightmare soon began.

Everyday were filled with high-pitched howls and painful cry, but it all resounded beautifully toward Ning Chen.

When it came to teaching others, Ning Chen would always transform into different version of himself to make things more efficient.

And after one month of training them, Ning Chen decided it was time to train and fight himself.

Thus, he decided to head toward the Sunset Forest which was located near the imperial city.

He didn't know what was waiting for him there, but he felt something amazing was about to happen...

---

Just like I promised many chapters ago, all the chapters I'm reaching are above 2k words.

I will add Ning Chen's status later...

Also, did the way Shrek got kicked out sounded reasonable?

And thanks 😊

Pls give me power stones as gift XD