Xie Yue and Yan, the Thousand-Year Sacred Light Earth Dragon

Inside Pope's Palace.

Bibi Dong had never expected Gu Han to be so thirsty for knowledge. The gaze in her beautiful eyes softened even more on her mature, gorgeous, dignified face.

In her heart, she admired Gu Han even more.

After all, her former beloved, Yu Xiaogang, had been just as eager for knowledge.

From Martial Souls to this thirst for knowledge,

she found Gu Han growing more and more like Yu Xiaogang, the man she had loved.

As Yu Xiaogang's replacement, the more Gu Han resembled Yu Xiaogang, the more satisfied and delighted Bibi Dong became.

"Xiao Han, I never expected you to be so ambitious. That is a good thing. How could your teacher possibly refuse you?"

Speaking gently, Bibi Dong took a Pope's Token directly from her Storage Soul Tool and lightly tossed it into Gu Han's hands.

"Pope's Token!"

Seeing that Bibi Dong had actually given Gu Han the Pope's Token that represented the Pope's identity, Hu Liena's eyes widened in disbelief.

Why had Teacher even given Xiao Han the Pope's Token?

This was the Pope's Token, representing the Pope's identity!

To see the token was to see the Pope!

Was Teacher really this satisfied with Xiao Han?

For a moment, Hu Liena could not help feeling jealous of Gu Han, her heart turning sour.

However, being someone who cared about looks and genuinely regarding Gu Han as a beloved younger brother, Hu Liena quickly adjusted her state of mind.

"Nana, Xiao Han is still young. He only knows that Spirit City has the Central Library, but there are actually other places as well. Pope's Palace, for instance, has Archives that are not open to the public."

"Once Xiao Han has finished reading at the Central Library, remember to take him to those Archives as well."

After handing the Pope's Token to Gu Han, Bibi Dong looked toward Hu Liena again. Her red lips parted on her peerlessly beautiful, dignified face as she spoke in a deep voice.

"Understood, Teacher!"

Hu Liena obeyed respectfully as well.

After leaving Pope's Palace, Hu Liena took Gu Han to the Central Library, intending to first let him take a good look around the third floor, which only Spirit Hall's upper echelons could enter.

After arriving on the third floor of the Central Library,

they saw that although the enormous third floor had fewer bookshelves than the first and second floors,

it was divided into exceptionally orderly sections.

The books on every shelf had been meticulously arranged and labeled.

Some shelves contained books about the distribution and introduction of the continent's various factions.

Other shelves held books about Soul Beasts, such as the Spirit Beast Compendium, the relationship between Soul Beast traits and their cultivation age, Soul Beast habits and habitat distribution, and so on.

But Gu Han ultimately stopped in the Martial Soul Theory Section.

This was one of the areas on the third floor with comparatively the most books.

Inside were books on common knowledge regarding Soul Master cultivation—for example, books introducing the human body's meridians and acupoints, the relationship between Martial Souls and Meditation Methods, and the selection of Soul Rings and Soul Skills.

These were all data the Heavenly Transformation System needed to derive a Soul Power Cultivation Technique and a Body Refining Method.

After arriving here, Gu Han eagerly flipped through book after book, scanning all their contents into the Heavenly Transformation System's database.

However, one day was clearly not enough for Gu Han to collect all the books on the third floor.

That night,

having noticed that Hu Liena had been acting strangely these past two days, disappearing the moment she got up and remaining nowhere to be seen in the morning, at noon, or in the afternoon,

only returning late at night,

her older brother Xie Yue was puzzled and curious. He brought along the sycophantic Yan to find Hu Liena.

When they found her, Hu Liena was in a restaurant. While waiting for the food to be served, she wore a doting, coquettish smile on her stunning face as she fed Gu Han spoonful after spoonful.

"Ah! Xiao Han, open your mouth!"

Seeing his beloved goddess tenderly feeding another male, Yan felt as though his whole world had gone wrong.

If that male had not merely been a five- or six-year-old brat, Yan's heart would probably have shattered completely.

Even so,

when he saw Gu Han's extraordinary handsome little face, whose features, refinement, and harmony were all practically flawless, Yan still felt an overwhelming sense of crisis.

"Nana!"

After finding Hu Liena, Xie Yue immediately walked over. Calling her by her pet name, he asked with a trace of jealousy on his cool, handsome face.

"Nana, who is he? Don't tell me you've been accompanying him these past two days?"

"Brother!"

Hu Liena had not expected her brother Xie Yue to come looking for her. Feeling a little awkward, she hurriedly stood and introduced Gu Han to Xie Yue and Yan.

"Brother, his name is Gu Han. You should have heard of him. He is Teacher's newly accepted disciple and also my junior brother. These past two days, I was taking Xiao Han to see Teacher."

"Then Teacher asked me to accompany Xiao Han while he handled some matters."

"Gu Han?"

Upon learning Gu Han's name, both Xie Yue and Yan could not help looking at him strangely.

Over the past few days, Gu Han had already become a widely discussed "celebrity" in Spirit City.

After all, a piece of trash with only 0.25 levels of Innate Soul Power had actually been chosen as a disciple by the esteemed Pope Bibi Dong. Naturally, this made countless people curious and jealous.

But after learning Gu Han's identity, Yan could not help breathing a sigh of relief, feeling rather pleased with himself.

So he was just that lucky little piece of trash!

Although this little piece of trash was good-looking and would definitely grow into an incredibly handsome man, Nana probably only saw him as a younger brother.

Such trash would likely struggle to even become a Soul Master in the future.

He and Nana were not people from the same world at all, and he could never protect Nana.

Only I, Yan, am worthy of Nana!

After learning Gu Han's identity, both Xie Yue and Yan treated him quite well for Hu Liena's sake.

However, Gu Han could still sense the difference in their attitudes.

Xie Yue was treating him as a younger brother out of consideration for Hu Liena.

Although he was still somewhat unaccustomed to it for the moment,

for some reason, despite Yan's friendly manner,

Gu Han could always sense a faint air of condescension and disdain beneath that seemingly friendly attitude, as though Yan did not think much of him.

This made Gu Han somewhat uncomfortable.

Still, Gu Han acted as though he knew nothing. Whether facing Xie Yue or Yan, he sincerely called them Brother Xie Yue and Brother Yan with a smile on his handsome little face.

The next morning,

after getting to know Xie Yue and Yan, breakfast was no longer just Gu Han and Hu Liena; it became a meal for all four of them.

After breakfast, Gu Han had originally planned to continue reading at the Central Library.

But Bibi Dong suddenly sent someone to summon Gu Han back.

Upon receiving the news, Gu Han hurried home.

Soon, Bibi Dong entered the courtyard accompanied by a Black-robed Bishop carrying a golden earth dragon Soul Beast more than ten meters long, covered in gleaming golden scales and resembling a lizard, with a savage dragon head.

Having read the Spirit Beast Compendium just yesterday, Gu Han recognized it at a glance.

It was a thousand-year Light Attribute Sacred Light Earth Dragon.

At Bibi Dong's signal,

the Black-robed Bishop flung the Sacred Light Earth Dragon down, smashing it heavily onto the ground.

The ground immediately trembled.