Xie Yue and Yan

Duanyu Fan's room was next to Hu Liena's and across from Bibi Dong's. It was large, over a hundred square meters.

Their residence was behind the Pope Palace, with Douluo Palace farther beyond.

Early the next morning, Hu Liena came to call Duanyu Fan.

"Little Junior Brother! Wake up! It's time to report to the Academy." Hu Liena pushed open the door and woke the groggy Duanyu Fan.

Duanyu Fan drowsily looked outside. The sky was only just beginning to brighten; by his estimate, it was not even six o'clock yet.

"My Senior Sister, why are you up so early? It isn't even light out yet!" Duanyu Fan was speechless.

But how could Duanyu Fan know that Hu Liena had been unable to sleep all night because of him? His talent had dealt her quite a blow.

"It's the first day of registration, so of course we have to get up early. I also need to introduce you to two companions," Hu Liena called loudly, though she did not enter the bedroom.

"Alright, alright! I'm getting dressed." Duanyu Fan had no choice but to get up, dress, and leave the bedroom.

"Come on, come on! I'll take you to breakfast." Hu Liena stepped forward and grabbed Duanyu Fan. They were both children, so she paid no heed to such things.

Although Duanyu Fan was only six years old, his soul had lived for over twenty years. Naturally, he could not possibly have any thoughts about the ten-year-old Hu Liena.

After breakfast, they met Bibi Dong. Bibi Dong had Duanyu Fan use his First Soul Skill, Healing Prayer, on her once more.

Yes, this is the feeling. The Rakshasa God said her power was meant to control evil thoughts, not be controlled by them. With Duanyu Fan's help, I can master the Rakshasa God's power faster without losing myself, Bibi Dong thought to herself.

Duanyu Fan had also guessed Bibi Dong's intentions. She wanted to use Purification to eliminate the negative emotional side effects of the Rakshasa God. Duanyu Fan noticed the subtle change in Bibi Dong's expression as well.

"Teacher, then we'll head to the Academy first."

"Mm."

Spirit Hall Academy was enormous. Everyone in Spirit City attended Spirit Hall Academy.

Spirit City Academy was divided into three levels: Junior Soul Master Academy, intermediate Academy, and Advanced Soul Master Academy.

The junior level was for Soul Masters from level 1 to 15, the intermediate level was for levels 16 to 30, and the advanced level was for levels 31 to 49.

It was also related to Innate Soul Power. Thus, although Duanyu Fan and Hu Liena only had Soul Power in the twenties, their talent allowed them to enter the Advanced Soul Master Academy early.

Classes in Spirit City began immediately after the Awakening Ceremony. However, Duanyu Fan had been delayed by a day because he needed to obtain a Soul Ring.

When they arrived at the Dean's office, they found a man with gray-white hair and a pale beard. He looked to be in his fifties, though on Douluo Continent, it was impossible to tell someone's exact age by appearance alone.

"Saintess! Holy Son, you've arrived!" The Dean had received notice long ago.

The titles Saintess and Holy Son had been designated by Spirit City, but they had not yet been announced to the continent. Only Spirit Hall's upper ranks and certain elite Soul Masters knew of them.

"Junior Brother Xiao Fan! Ah, I'll call you Xiao Fan from now on. This is Si Wenda, the Dean in charge of the Advanced Soul Master Academy. He is an eighty-eighth-level Soul Douluo," Hu Liena introduced the Dean to Duanyu Fan.

"Hello, Dean Si! My name is Duanyu Fan. Please look after me while I'm at the Academy," Duanyu Fan greeted him politely.

"You honor me, Holy Son. If anything comes up at the Academy, just tell me directly," Dean Si replied.

"Holy Son, I've assigned you to the same class as the Saintess. I've already informed your head teacher, so you may begin attending classes at any time," Dean Si continued.

"Then let's go, Xiao Fan! I'll introduce you to two older brothers in the classroom!" Hu Liena immediately pulled Duanyu Fan out of the Dean's office.

They soon arrived at a classroom, where the teacher was explaining the classifications and ages of soul beasts.

Hu Liena and Duanyu Fan's arrival interrupted the lesson for a minute. There were at least forty students in the classroom, most of them over twelve years old.

Everyone in the classroom knew Hu Liena, but they did not know Duanyu Fan, who looked only six. They found it very strange that someone so young had come here. This was an Advanced Academy classroom.

"Welcome! The final student in our classroom has arrived. Little one, please introduce yourself!" The teacher was a middle-aged man wearing glasses.

"My name is Duanyu Fan. I'm six years old, a support-type weapon soul master, and a level twenty-five Soul Grandmaster. If any of you get injured in the future, you can come to me for treatment!" Duanyu Fan said casually.

The students seated below began whispering among themselves. They had never expected that a six-year-old would surpass some of them in rank, and they recalled what had happened in the plaza a few days earlier.

"Alright, quiet down. Duanyu Fan, I'm Yang Daoqi, your head teacher as well. You can call me Director Yang or Teacher Yang."

"Go find a seat," Director Yang said after introducing himself.

Duanyu Fan scanned the room. There were mostly boys, with only a little over ten girls. The seats were arranged individually in six rows of seven, and there happened to be two adjacent seats remaining.

Behind Duanyu Fan sat someone with black-gray hair who looked rather cold and somewhat resembled Hu Liena. Behind Hu Liena sat someone dressed in fiery colors. Both appeared to be around eleven years old, just like the characters from the animation.

"Xiao Fan, the two behind us are my biological brother Xie Yue and our companion Yan. We'll get to know each other properly after school," Hu Liena whispered.

"Hello," Duanyu Fan said, since Hu Liena had introduced them.

"Greetings, Holy Son!" Xie Yue and Yan were both deeply loyal to Spirit Hall. They were orphans raised by Spirit Hall, and since Hu Liena had introduced Duanyu Fan to them earlier, they addressed him directly as the Holy Son.

At first, Duanyu Fan found the teacher's lessons quite novel. The various soul beasts opened his eyes, but the longer he listened, the less he could follow. Soon, he felt like dozing off.

At last, one class ended. Duanyu Fan, Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan formally introduced themselves to one another.

"Holy Son! My name is Xie Yue, Hu Liena's biological brother. I'm eleven years old, level twenty-nine, and my Power Attack System Weapon Spirit is the Moon Blade." Xie Yue was the first to introduce himself to Duanyu Fan. He had taken their father's surname, while Hu Liena had taken their mother's. Perhaps it was fate that they had each inherited one of their parents' Martial Souls.

"Holy Son! My name is Yan. I'm eleven years old, level twenty-nine, and my Power Attack System Beast Spirit is the Flame Lord." Yan introduced himself as well.

Before long, the group became familiar with one another. Xie Yue and Yan often sparred, while Duanyu Fan treated them until he had exhausted all uses of his First Soul Skill.

Duanyu Fan discovered that effectively treating injuries could feed back into the growth of his Soul Power. Though the increase was small, it was still better than meditating to cultivate on his own.

Thus, wherever there was sparring at the Academy, Duanyu Fan could be found. The students who sparred could not get enough of it, fighting more and more. Whenever either side was injured or ran out of Soul Power, Duanyu Fan immediately healed them, restoring them to full condition.

In this way, Duanyu Fan spent half a year at the Academy and reached level twenty-eight. Hu Liena was only level twenty-nine, while Xie Yue and Yan had already gone to the Soul Hunting Forest to obtain Soul Rings.

The higher the rank, the more time advancement required, especially when breaking through a major rank bottleneck. Thus, another half year passed before Duanyu Fan reached level thirty. Hu Liena likewise reached level thirty.

This left Hu Liena upset for quite some time. She had only advanced two levels in a year, while Duanyu Fan had advanced five.

Chrysanthemum Douluo still led the group in search of Soul Rings.

The contract was sent. Sigh, it was so hard to make things up without a plot!