Master, Have You Figured It Out?

The morning sun streamed through the window into Seventh House.

Tang San had awakened early.

He sat cross-legged on his bed, circulating the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

Internal energy surged through his meridians, and the exhaustion of the night vanished completely.

He could feel that after yesterday's battle and absorption, his Soul Power had faintly improved again.

Though slight, it was undeniably there.

That was the benefit of actual combat.

He opened his eyes and glanced at the bed opposite his.

Xiao Wu was sleeping soundly, a glistening thread of drool hanging from the corner of her mouth. Who knew what delicious food she was dreaming about?

Lin Xi's bed, meanwhile, was already empty.

Her blanket was folded neatly, like a block of tofu.

Tang San had long grown used to it.

Lin Xi's routine was even more disciplined than his had been as a Tang Sect disciple in his previous life.

He quietly dressed, washed up, and left the dormitory.

Quite a few students were already doing morning exercises on the field.

At a glance, he spotted that familiar figure.

Lin Xi stood beneath a large tree in the center of the field, her eyes closed as though she were sensing the morning breeze.

There seemed to be an invisible aura around her.

All the students training nearby consciously or unconsciously avoided that area.

Tang San walked over.

"Morning," he said softly.

Lin Xi opened her eyes and glanced at him.

"Morning."

"Not sleeping a little longer?"

"Sleeping too much makes you stupid," Lin Xi said flatly.

Tang San smiled and said nothing more.

He knew that Lin Xi's cultivation method was completely different from theirs.

It seemed that at every moment, she was engaged in some kind of energy exchange with the world itself.

Just then, a figure staggered toward them from afar.

It was Yu Xiaogang.

He had not returned all night, and he now looked utterly miserable.

His clothes were covered in mud and dew, his hair was a mess, his eyes bloodshot and deeply sunken.

It was as if all the vigor had been drained from him. He looked more than ten years older.

When he saw Lin Xi, it was as though he had seen both a savior and a demon.

Stumbling, he rushed before her.

Then, beneath Tang San's shocked gaze, he dropped to his knees with a thud.

"Teacher!"

That cry of "Teacher" was hoarse and heart-wrenching, filled with despair and... longing.

The students training around them all stopped, staring dumbfoundedly at the scene.

That was Master!

The renowned theory master of Nuoding Academy, even the entire Balak Kingdom!

And he had actually... knelt before a six-year-old girl again?

Had the world gone mad?

Tang San was stunned as well.

He had not expected yesterday's slaughter to have dealt Yu Xiaogang such an immense blow.

This was no longer merely the collapse of his worldview.

It was the complete destruction and... reconstruction of his faith.

Lin Xi looked down at Yu Xiaogang, kneeling before her, without the slightest change in expression.

"Have you figured it out?"

Her voice was calm and unruffled.

"I..."

Yu Xiaogang opened his mouth, a hoarse sound escaping his throat.

"I can't figure it out."

He shook his head painfully, like a lost child.

"I exhausted all my knowledge, all my theories, yet I still can't explain everything that happened yesterday."

"Custom Soul Rings, Attribute Reversal, Divine Punishment Flame... what kind of powers are those?"

"Teacher, you... who exactly are you?"

He raised his head. His bloodshot eyes were filled with fear of the unknown and a morbid thirst for truth.

He had thought about it all night.

He realized that he could not escape it at all.

Lin Xi's existence was like a black hole, sucking in everything he had built over the past forty years and crushing it into dust.

Now, he had nothing.

Except for the only key before him that he could grasp—the key to a "new world."

"Who I am is unimportant," Lin Xi said indifferently.

"What matters is what you want to obtain from me."

"I want to know the truth!" Yu Xiaogang's emotions surged. "I want to know what the laws of this world truly are! I want to know where the end of the Soul Master path lies!"

"I want to know the true essence of that power you possess—the power that surpasses everything!"

His voice drew more and more spectators.

The academy's teachers, the director who had rushed over after hearing the news, and even the Dean appeared in the distance.

As they looked at the kneeling Yu Xiaogang and the indifferent girl, their expressions became incomparably vivid.

"Then is your Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul still useful?"

Lin Xi suddenly asked a seemingly unrelated question.

Yu Xiaogang's body shuddered violently.

Lowering his head in shame, he said bitterly, "That... that was merely worthless paper born of a frog at the bottom of a well."

"Very good."

Lin Xi nodded.

"You can know the truth."

"But I never make transactions without compensation."

"You have only one task."

She looked at Yu Xiaogang and spoke each word distinctly.

"Compile everything I have shown you and every theory I have told you into books, then spread them."

"I want the entire continent to know how shallow and laughable the 'truth' they once believed in truly is."

"I want every Soul Master to understand this world anew according to the rules I set."

"Can you do that?"

Yu Xiaogang's body trembled violently.

He suddenly raised his head, and an unprecedented light burst from his eyes.

He understood.

Lin Xi wanted him to become the spokesperson for her ideas—the disseminator of new theories!

This...

Wasn't this exactly what he had always dreamed of?

Though these theories were not created by him.

To personally spread a sacred truth that would overturn an era to the entire world...

That honor was even greater than becoming the father of theory himself!

"I can! Teacher, I can do it!"

So excited that he could barely speak coherently, he bowed deeply to Lin Xi three times.

"Yu Xiaogang is willing to devote the rest of his life to Teacher!"

Everyone around them was completely petrified.

Spreading theories?

What exactly was this six-year-old girl trying to do?

Did she want to... overturn the entire Soul Master world?

Tang San watched the scene, his heart churning like a raging sea.

At last, he understood Lin Xi's plan.

Kill to establish authority.

Theory to strike at the heart.

Not only would she crush everything offline with absolute strength.

She would also reshape the entire continent's understanding through entirely new theories!

This was the true way of pulling the rug out from under them!

This was the true method of a god!

"Very good."

Lin Xi was fairly satisfied with Yu Xiaogang's attitude.

"Since that is the case, I'll give you your first research assignment."

She raised one finger.

"Go back and spend three days writing a paper for me."

"The topic is..."

She paused, then announced a topic that caused Yu Xiaogang—and everyone present—to completely shut down.

"<A Feasibility Report on Awakening a Second Martial Soul Without Attaching Any Soul Rings>."

"And <How to Attach a Second Soul Ring Whose Age Exceeds Double That of the First Soul Ring>."

"Hand them to me in three days."

After saying that, she ignored the utterly dumbfounded Yu Xiaogang, turned, and headed toward the cafeteria.

"Tang San, Xiao Wu, let's go eat."

"Oh... okay!"

Xiao Wu snapped out of her shock and hurried after her.

Tang San took a deep look at Yu Xiaogang, who remained kneeling there as if struck by lightning.

Then he looked at Lin Xi's retreating back.

A thought suddenly arose in his heart.

Perhaps this world was about to change.

And the one stirring up this storm would not be Spirit Hall, nor the two great empires.

It would be the six-year-old girl beside him, who was now heading to the cafeteria for breakfast.