"Hum, dee dum~!" Chen Ling was humming happily on her way to school, cause she could take Xiaohei to school again.
The past few days he went to school with her sister for the sake of 'discipline' and his 'education' of human society.
Though how that went had to be debated, as he did end up causing another incident. But he didn't kill anyone this time, so it wasn't all bad, right?
Anyway, Chen Ling was getting bored at school by herself, as she didn't exactly have lots of friends.
Though she was popular, she was ostracized, for no reason other than that she was too different. In a school of wealthy children, a poor girl with good grades seems interesting, but not someone to make friends with. It was like a cool bug that kids marveled at, then abandoned as soon as the lunch bell rang.
This didn't bother her though, as she put her focus on her studies. It was only when Xiaohei came that school became enjoyable.
She liked talking to him about what school, and his overflowing curiosity and... tough...? Personality.
"How have your classes been Ling'er? Did more human children provoke you? Did you teach them a lesson? I told you about the acupuncture points I learned about last time, right? If you do it right, you can inflict countless sufferings and not hurt anyone!" He was always looking out for her. She knew it wasn't only because of their contract, but because he had actually become attached to their family.
She could naturally tell this through her soul link. She could feel that his heart of ice, forged from countless years of loneliness, was melting from periodic doses of human affection.
Chen Ling figured that he was tired of being lonely and fighting all the time, but after so long, it became part of his nature. He enjoys company and affection, but acts like he doesn't care under a facade of arrogance.
To sum it all up. He was a tsundere. There's no other way to explain it. It was Xiaohei's misfortune to live in a house with one person who can read minds and another who's literally connected by their souls and can hide absolutely nothing from. What secrets? What facades? They all lie bare before the two sisters.
"Those girls stopped being mean to me after you scared them off, but somehow I caught the attention of some mean boys." She did not hide anything from him either. And spoke of her concerns. They had been challenged her once, but when she refused, they made trouble for her.
As boy's, they were a level above those girls. Especially at their young age, they don't know how to hold back.
Once, they glued her shoes to the rack, so she had to go home in her indoor shoes. Another time, they decimated the sandcastle she made at recess, and threw sand at her, claiming that it was their territory.
They would draw vulgarities on her desk like curse words, weird animals and, god forbid, the classic doodles of poop. It was good that she brought cleansing products, and would clean up her desk every time.
Another time, one of them took a bit out of her food, then put it back. That was a truly horrible thing to do.
"How dare they! To disrespect food! Back in my time, every bite of food was the most precious commodity in the world!" Xiaohei stated, upset of their treatment of food.
Mind you, because they stepped in his food, he killed two people, and ate them instead. Chen Yan still thinks that they buried them in the backyard, but Xiaohei went ahead and snacked on them as he pleased, the bones too! If one were to dig them back up, they would be missing a few. Chen Ling tried not to remember those things, as the thought that her best friend are humans wasn't the pleasant think to think of when you looked at them.
"I'm quite sure you're stronger than all of those runts combined. Did you teach them a lesson? How many limbs did you sever?" He called them runts despite his own meager size.
"I didn't fight them. I'll get in trouble." She never resisted or cried. She was stronger than them, and thanks to Xiaohei's encouragement to her confidence, she felt it was beneath her to react to their clownish actions. Though naturally Xiaohei supported beating them up, but it was against her nature.
"Ling'er if you ignore them, there are two results. They leave you alone. This happens when they pick on you because you're weak, because they expect a reaction. If they do it for other reasons, like a grudge, interest, or to better their own confidence by provoking someone stronger, then they won't stop. It will encourage those actions, and they will try harder to get what they want. Whether it be your downfall, attention, or a faster death." At that last one who narrowed his eyes and snarled. She smiled happily. He was upset about the kids who bullied her, and that put her in a good mood.
"What are you smiling about. You have to teach them a lesson! You had a good chance when they challenged you in the beginning. Why didn't you just beat them up there?" He questioned. Thanks to him, she had almost comprehended the second covenant of her method, the covenant of darkness. This boosted her cultivation speed significantly. Though it wasn't apparent as it hadn't been long. She was in qi refining anyway, and most of the other children in the class hadn't even reached the peak of body refining. Though that was normal for their age. They weren't monsters like Chen Ling and Xiaohei with absurd growth rate thanks to the blessing of the protagonists. None should've been a match for Chen Ling.
"That's because they didn't just challenge me, they challenged us! They want to have a beast battle with you."
"With me?"
"Yeah, they were jealous of the attention you got last time, so they brought their siblings contract beasts to challenge you, and show off their beasts!"