The beast's filth had a sharp, stubborn stench; Li Qingshan could only lather on shower gel again and again.
Outside the shower stall it gradually grew lively as the other students came back to the locker room to change.
After a while, the voices faded.
"Bro Shan, I'll wait for you outside." Zhao Hongzhou's voice came from beyond the stall.
Li Qingshan answered, sniffed left and right to confirm the smell was gone, then turned and lifted the blade leaning against the door, holding it under the showerhead to rinse.
Under the running water the filth quickly washed away, and the full one-meter-twenty blade gleamed with a metallic sheen once more.
Li Qingshan ran a hand over the blade and smiled in satisfaction.
Earlier Wan Keshan had shattered an alloy cage with it in a single stroke, yet now there wasn't a scratch on it.
"What a fine blade!"
Perhaps because of the material, after a thorough rinse no smell lingered on it at all.
Li Qingshan quickly changed and walked out of the locker room.
Zhao Hongzhou stood at the door, a scabbard cradled in his arms, and tossed it straight over the moment he saw him.
"Bro Shan, Teacher told me to bring you this."
"Thanks. Let's go eat at the cafeteria."
The long blade slid home into its sheath, and the two headed for the cafeteria.
It was lunchtime, and all of First High's students had gathered in the cafeteria, abuzz with noise.
Li Qingshan and Zhao Hongzhou got their food and casually found an empty corner table to sit at.
"Li Qingshan? Li Qingshan's in the cafeteria too."
Fifty meters off, more than twenty Class 7 students had claimed several tables, Jia Jiang among them.
Hearing that someone had spotted Li Qingshan, every gaze but Jia Jiang's converged on him.
"Why are Li Qingshan and Zhao Hongzhou sitting off in the corner?"
"Yeah, why don't they go sit over on the Martial Dao Class side?"
Someone wondered aloud, turning to look at the other side of the cafeteria, where a dozen or so tables stood.
Apart from local students like Jia Jiang, the Martial Dao students from other schools mostly sat there.
Most conspicuous was a small table at the center of the group, a boy and a girl seated across from each other, as if cradled by stars around the moon.
"Those must be the elites of this year's Martial Dao Class, right?"
A few students who'd given up on applying earlier showed envy in their eyes and muttered deliberately in Jia Jiang's ear.
But Jia Jiang ignored them and simply went on eating.
Unable to press him, the few of them swept their eyes toward the corner again.
"I mean, what's the point with this Li Qingshan? Forcing his way into the Martial Dao Class!"
"Everywhere you go it's about cliques, and now it looks like he couldn't even squeeze into the Martial Dao Class's clique."
"Heh, what do you know? He's destined to soar to the heavens — our little Class 7 can't possibly contain him."
"We're all classmates, don't put it that way. After all, Li Qingshan won't last long in the Martial Dao Class; he'll have to come back in the end."
"Heh heh, when he slinks out of the Martial Dao Class in disgrace, he'll learn that honest words grate on the ear and good medicine tastes bitter."
Sneering laughter rose and fell, the mocking words coming one after another.
BANG!
An empty tray slammed down hard on the table, cutting short this "grand gathering."
Everyone froze and looked at Jia Jiang.
"I'm done eating."
Jia Jiang wiped his mouth, his gaze settling on the few who'd kept running their mouths.
They were all ones who'd given up on the Martial Dao Class application at the last moment.
Two years as classmates — Jia Jiang knew them well enough.
But now, these people felt utterly unfamiliar.
He couldn't understand it.
There wasn't the slightest conflict of interest, and Li Qingshan was only acting on his own wishes — how could these bystanders breed such enormous malice?
Jia Jiang turned to look at the Martial Dao Class "clique" and spoke up:
"The two sitting in the middle — the girl's Yu Lei, the boy's Hong Qian, both Body Forging Layer 1."
Yu Lei's punch force fell a little short, but there was no need to spell that out to these people.
"Body Forging Layer 1? They're Layer 1 already, right after entering the Martial Dao Class?" Everyone around went wide-eyed.
But Jia Jiang wasn't finished.
"Li Qingshan is Body Forging Layer 1 too — and his scores are even higher than theirs. He's the number one of this year's Martial Dao students."
The words sent up a tidal wave of shock.
The Class 7 students' first reaction was disbelief.
"What? Impossible!"
"Li Qingshan, a Public Rearing kid — what makes him special?"
"Absolutely impossible. Jia Jiang, don't joke around!"
Joke?
Jia Jiang shook his head, picked up his empty tray, and turned to leave.
At least one thing these people had said was right.
No matter where you went, there were "cliques."
And Class 7's "clique" — he didn't want to stay in it any longer.
Watching Jia Jiang's back recede, someone spoke up hesitantly.
"Jia Jiang... he was just joking, right?"
"Obviously. You actually believed him?" The speaker, full of scorn, pointed at the corner.
"If it were true, would he and Zhao Hongzhou be sitting off in the corner?"
"Right, right!"
Those around nodded in agreement and looked toward the Martial Dao Class "clique."
"Those Martial Dao students aren't blind. There's no way they'd just ignore the class number one, is there?"
The words had barely fallen when—
they suddenly noticed every Martial Dao student who'd been eating stop and look toward one spot.
Hm?
Puzzled, the crowd turned to follow their gazes.
In the corner, Li Qingshan was holding a bowl, drinking soup.
The Martial Dao students were all watching Li Qingshan? How could that be?
The thought flashed past, and the Class 7 students, incredulous, quickly turned their heads.
Only to find that the Martial Dao students who'd been looking over all gave a start, lowered their heads, and sped up their eating.
Were they... afraid?
The Class 7 students stared wide-eyed, faces full of bewilderment.
Just then,
the boy and girl at the center of the Martial Dao Class "clique" — Yu Lei and Hong Qian, the ones Jia Jiang had named—
the two of them stood with their trays and walked toward the corner where Li Qingshan sat.
"What Jia Jiang said was true."
A heavy gloom settled over Class 7's tables.
They looked at one another and at last rose, slinking off, and hurried out of the cafeteria.
In the corner, Yu Lei and Hong Qian had reached Li Qingshan and Zhao Hongzhou's side.
"You don't mind if we sit here?"
"Be my guest."
Li Qingshan set down his soup bowl with a smile and gestured for the two to take a seat.
Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt!
All four paused and looked at their wrists.
Their comm-bands buzzed without stop, the frames flashing red.
And not just them—
the whole cafeteria fell silent in an instant, everyone lowering their heads at once to look at the comm-bands on their wrists.
"An Inspection Bureau bulletin!"
Li Qingshan and the others exchanged a glance, not much surprised, and quickly opened the message.
"Last night, an evil-god cultist appeared in Luoying City and completed a sacrifice on the city's outskirts. Two citizens lost their lives."
"Based on the corpses' genes, the Inspection Bureau has confirmed the two victims' identities and is now releasing their photographs. If you have any leads, please contact the Bureau."
"The culprit is still at large. Citizens are urged to be careful."
After a few brief lines of text, two photographs popped up.
Two faces he'd seen just last night appeared on the light-screen.
"The yellow-hairs?"
Li Qingshan's pupils contracted; he swiped a finger and read back over the text bulletin.
"Only two victims!"
Having confirmed the number of victims, Li Qingshan's eyes flickered.
"Three of them were together, yet only the two 'yellow-hairs' died?"
"Tsss!"
A head of wavy magenta hair flashed through his mind, and Li Qingshan sucked in a cold breath.
Thank goodness he'd held his line last night.