One Year

"Teacher Yue Guan, I want to learn!"

Gu Ziyi quickly said.

"Good, good! As long as the little one wants to learn, I'll definitely teach you about even more flowers and plants in the future!"

Chrysanthemum Douluo was delighted to hear Gu Ziyi's words. It was rare for him to encounter someone else interested in flowers and plants.

And since the other party was the Pope's disciple, Chrysanthemum Douluo did not mind growing closer to Gu Ziyi.

"Thank you, Teacher Yue Guan. But you still haven't answered my question from earlier!"

Gu Ziyi nodded happily before continuing.

"Those legends in the storybooks are basically all fake!"

"Martial Soul Hall's records do mention soul masters whose martial souls or soul rings evolved due to certain fortuitous encounters. However, there are no clear records of exactly what caused those evolutions!"

"So I don't really know about what you mentioned either. My martial soul can only tell me the characteristics, habits, and uses of those flowers and plants. Whether they can enhance soul rings or evolve martial souls is beyond my martial soul's abilities!"

Only then did Chrysanthemum Douluo answer Gu Ziyi's question.

Gu Ziyi was now certain that Chrysanthemum Douluo did not know that those Immortal Herbs had the ability to evolve martial souls.

Even Tang San had not known at first. Everyone had only learned after consuming them.

And so, Gu Ziyi began his life in Martial Soul Hall.

Or rather, his life as the crown prince's study companion.

His main task was to accompany Bibi Dong and help maintain the Purifying Heart Mantra's effect on her while she cultivated and studied.

This was especially true during Martial Soul Knowledge classes. Gu Ziyi had already learned much of the material, but he could only accompany Bibi Dong in studying it again.

Gu Ziyi was not impatient, however. What Martial Soul Hall taught was more comprehensive than what he had learned before, and he often drew inferences from what he had learned to ask further questions, deepening his own understanding.

Every teacher who had taught Gu Ziyi privately praised his intelligence to Qian Xunji.

Many questions Gu Ziyi raised in return turned out to be viable after discussion, and the teachers themselves gained something from them as well.

Bibi Dong's attitude toward Gu Ziyi also gradually changed. At first, she had looked down on him and regarded him merely as a learning tool.

She began to realize that Gu Ziyi was genuinely smart and capable. And with him accompanying her, studying no longer felt quite so dull and tedious.

Soon, a year passed.

Gu Ziyi was fourteen years old, while Bibi Dong was ten.

Over the course of that year, Gu Ziyi's Soul Power Level rose by two ranks, reaching level sixteen.

Compared to before, his progress seemed to have slowed, but that was intentional on Gu Ziyi's part.

He had gradually discovered that maintaining saturated cultivation year-round was not necessarily a good thing. It could harm the body, so he had deliberately slowed his pace.

Otherwise, with Gu Ziyi's previous frenzied cultivation style, along with Martial Soul Hall's resources and the more advanced Advanced Meditation Technique, his cultivation speed could have reached three levels per year.

Ten-year-old Bibi Dong, however, had long since surpassed Gu Ziyi in Soul Power Level.

At ten years old, Bibi Dong was already a level twenty-four Soul Grandmaster.

In other words, ever since Awakening Martial Soul, Bibi Dong had maintained a rate of roughly three to four levels per year. That was already very fast, and it was the normal cultivation speed of a genius with Innate Full Soul Power.

Gu Ziyi's assistance had merely reduced the amount of time Bibi Dong needed to spend cultivating soul power each day. It had not made her level up faster.

His assistance mainly allowed Bibi Dong to learn faster in other areas.

If the original ten-year-old Bibi Dong were compared to the current one, the current Bibi Dong would be more than capable of utterly crushing her original counterpart in battle.

Because they had mastered different things.

During the year Gu Ziyi turned fourteen, this year's Soul Master Competition also began.

Gu Ziyi did not pay much attention to it. The Finals were not held in Spirit City either, so everything he knew had come from Bibi Dong.

The Star Luo Team of the Star Luo Empire ultimately won this year's championship.

The captain of the champion Star Luo Team was a prince of the Star Luo royal family. It was said that after this Soul Master Competition ended, the prince would be named the crown prince of the Star Luo Empire upon returning home.

Gu Ziyi thought to himself, So that's Dai Mubai's father—the future emperor of the Star Luo Empire.

Dai Mubai's father would also become a powerful Titled Douluo in the future. No wonder he could lead his team to victory.

What surprised Gu Ziyi was that Tang Hao had not participated in this Soul Master Competition. Tang Hao was already eighteen at this point, so his strength could not have been weak! Still, even if he had competed, he probably would not have been a match for Dai Mubai's father. After all, Dai Mubai's father was already a Soul King.

Unless he used Ring Explosion!

"A Soul Master Competition... I want to participate too!"

"Junior Brother, do you think I can take part in the next Soul Master Competition?"

After telling Gu Ziyi about the competition, Bibi Dong spoke with longing in her eyes.

"Of course you can. Why wouldn't you be able to?"

"In five years, you'll probably have just broken through to Soul Ancestor. You'll have no problem participating in the Soul Master Competition!"

"It just depends on whether Teacher will let you go. Even if you break through to Soul Ancestor by then, you'll only have just broken through, so your Soul Power Level will still be relatively low. It'll be quite difficult for you to lead the Martial Soul Hall Team to the championship!"

"And didn't you say Tang Hao of the Clear Sky Sect didn't participate in this Soul Master Competition? He'll be twenty-three in the next one, which will be the last competition he can enter. He'll definitely participate then, and by that time, he'll surely be a Soul King!"

"So if you're not certain you can win, Teacher definitely won't let you go."

Gu Ziyi immediately gave Bibi Dong his analysis.

Of course, she could participate if she wanted to. The key was whether Qian Xunji would allow it.

Gu Ziyi couldn't understand why Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent were all so keen on participating in this Soul Master Competition.

In the original story, Tang San and Xiao Wu had insisted on entering even at the risk of exposing their identities! Xiao Wu being lovestruck was one thing, but Tang San was the same.

Before going to Spirit City for the Finals, Tang San had already known that his parents had a grudge against Spirit Hall.

Well, Tang San was actually lovestruck too.

Whenever something happened to Xiao Wu, he immediately went berserk and entered a state where he wanted to kill someone.

"Ah..."

"If that's the case, Teacher definitely won't let me go..."

After hearing Gu Ziyi's answer, Bibi Dong's face immediately fell.

"Alright, I'm going back to researching my Spirit Bone and Talismans. Go play by yourself!"

Now that he knew the outcome of the Soul Master Competition, Gu Ziyi waved his hand, ready to send Bibi Dong away.

Gu Ziyi had already made some progress in his research on combining Spirit Bone skills with his own martial soul.

So he was preparing to continue his research and didn't particularly want to deal with Bibi Dong.

"No, I want to watch from the side!"

Naturally, Bibi Dong refused.

"You can watch, but then I'll stick a Purifying Heart Mantra on you!"

As he spoke, Gu Ziyi summoned a Purifying Heart Mantra Talisman.

"No! I don't want that!"

Seeing this, Bibi Dong hurriedly backed away.