Martial Soul, Bright Silver Spear

"Besides, although Xiong Rige had a violent temper, he never lied. While there was no evidence that Zi Qingyang did it, it still revealed some issues from the side."

Lu Leng nodded as well. "Xiong Rige said Zi Qingyang went to the Star Dou Forest alone, and Teacher Mimis was alone too. Yet Teacher was injured while Zi Qingyang was completely unharmed—and he even successfully obtained a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring!"

"If there wasn't something fishy going on, I wouldn't believe it at all."

Hu Liena agreed with Lu Leng. "That's right. No matter how strong he is, he's only Rank 70. Killing a ten-thousand-year soul beast would still cost him something. So it can almost be confirmed that he was behind it!"

"Then what was his purpose?"

"Do you even need to ask? Of course it was the position of Sacred Class homeroom teacher. That position is highly sought-after in Spirit Hall; countless people want it. You should know that once someone becomes the Sacred Class homeroom teacher, barring any accidents, they will become a Spirit Hall elder in the future."

"No wonder." Lu Leng lowered his head and thought for a moment before suddenly recalling something. "Aren't you close with Chrysanthemum Douluo? Have him investigate it."

"That could work." Hu Liena agreed.

"Right, who exactly is Jin Zhengyang?" Lu Leng recalled what had happened in the infirmary. That guy was terrifyingly strong, and he was also first on the strength rankings.

"He's Golden Crocodile Douluo's grandson, as well as Zi Qingyang's most prized student. His talent is exceptionally high, and he has held first place on the strength rankings for five years. In another year, he'll be able to become the Holy Son." At the mention of Jin Zhengyang, Hu Liena's expression became solemn.

"If his talent is so high, why isn't he in the Sacred Class? Can someone who isn't a Sacred Class student still become the Holy Son?" Lu Leng asked in confusion.

"Who told you that you can't become the Holy Son without being in the Sacred Class?" Hu Liena rolled her eyes at him. "The Sacred Class merely gathers highly talented people together for focused training. Becoming the Holy Son only requires meeting two conditions, and those conditions have no absolute connection to what class you're in. Whoever meets them qualifies."

"As for why Jin Zhengyang isn't in the Sacred Class, naturally, it was Zi Qingyang's doing. Zi Qingyang is Golden Crocodile Douluo's nephew, so he and Jin Zhengyang are related. With Jin Zhengyang's incredible talent, how could he bear to hand him over to someone else? After all, once Jin Zhengyang becomes the Holy Son, Zi Qingyang's status will naturally rise as well!"

"So that's how it was." Lu Leng finally understood. No wonder Jin Zhengyang had slapped Xiong Rige when the latter was cursing earlier.

"Actually, we don't need to worry too much. Once Teacher Mimis wakes up, the truth behind everything will be known. All we need to do next is cultivate diligently."

"Mm."

The next day, Mimis had already awakened, though her severed arm still needed time to recover. Naturally, the Sacred Class lessons fell to Zi Qingyang. However, compared with Mimis's teaching, the Sacred Class students were quite resistant to him. Classroom discipline was chaotic, and everyone was listless.

At first, Zi Qingyang did not care and put on an act of being tolerant and magnanimous. But after several consecutive days, his true nature was exposed.

His desire for power was too strong, and he wanted to control everything.

But the Sacred Class students were proud and arrogant; not just anyone could command them. The more he acted this way, the more it backfired. Before long, the Sacred Class students had actually begun skipping class.

Yet it was precisely then that Mimis came to the classroom. She had mostly recovered, though her arm still needed some time to heal. She told everyone that learning came first and that they should respect Teacher Zi, since he was also acting for the sake of their cultivation.

Naturally, they were willing to listen to her. Order was quickly restored in the classroom. But because of this, Zi Qingyang became even more jealous.

Another half month passed, and Teacher Mimis had fully recovered and returned to the classroom.

Over that half month, Lu Leng climbed to sixth place on the academy strength rankings with a record of sixty-four consecutive victories.

He only needed two more wins for his ranking points to reach first place!...

In the Advanced Mimicry Training Room, Lu Leng had arrived early and was waiting. Today was the first day Mimis would begin training him again after her recovery.

Over the past half month, he had learned from Teacher Mimis what had happened back then. However, there had been no substantive progress, more or less as they had guessed. There was only one piece of bad news: she had failed to obtain her soul ring.

She only remembered that she had clearly been about to kill that soul beast when she was suddenly and inexplicably attacked by a group of soul beasts.

This additional information raised Zi Qingyang's suspicion directly to ninety-nine percent!

Soon, the door to the training room opened.

"Huh, why did she come too?" Lu Leng saw that Teacher Mimis had actually brought someone with her.

"What, I'm not allowed to come?" Hu Liena said unhappily. "You're Teacher's disciple, and so am I. You can get special training, but I can't? What if I become the Holy Maiden?"

Hearing that, Lu Leng did not laugh at her. Instead, he felt somewhat awkward. She was right—if he had not come to Douluo Continent, she truly would have been the Holy Maiden.

But he could not say that.

"Alright, you two will train together from now on, using the same training methods." Mimis appeared to be in excellent condition as she spoke with a smile.

"The same methods?!" Lu Leng stared at Mimis in surprise and asked uncertainly, "Are you sure? She'll use the same training methods as me?"

"Who are you looking down on?" Feeling slighted, Hu Liena could not help kicking Lu Leng in the rear.

"I'm not looking down on you. I'm just afraid you'll start crying." Lu Leng immediately retorted.

"Hmph, who ends up crying is still uncertain. You little brat."

"Am I little? I'm already very big!"

"You're obviously tiny."

"..."

As the two bickered, Mimis smiled.

"Alright, stop arguing. Time is tight, so let's begin."

Only then did the two quiet down.

Today, Mimis was not carrying her usual thick stack of training materials. Instead, she said directly, "Today's training will still be about drawing out your physical potential, but we'll be changing the method."

"What method?" Lu Leng asked in surprise.

"Martial Soul, Bright Silver Spear!"

Mimis gave a light shout. Soul rings appeared beneath her feet one after another, while a snow-white, gleaming silver spear appeared in her hand. The spear was long and straight, entirely snow-white—even the tassel beneath its spearhead was pure white.

The spear shaft stood like jade, engraved with unknown patterns.

The spearhead was sharp, cold, and merciless, radiating an aura of killing intent.

So this is Mimis's martial soul? It's so beautiful, so dashing, so imposing!

"Teacher, you didn't summon your martial soul to fight us, did you?" Hu Liena could not help asking.