The Fallen Genius?

"Brother, what's wrong?" Na'er asked worriedly as she looked at Luo Ze, who was on the verge of tears.

"See for yourself." Luo Ze lowered his head. He no longer wanted to say anything.

Na'er took the notebook in confusion and carefully flipped through it.

Indeed, it was no wonder Luo Ze had broken down like that. With both his bloodline and cultivation speed restricted, an ordinary Soul Master would find it difficult to advance to the next level without consuming large amounts of supplements.

Ordinary Soul Master schools added plenty of nutrients to their students' meals to help them increase their Soul Power faster.

But for Luo Ze, supplements had instead become lethal poison. Consuming too much would not only cause the bloodline within him to go berserk again, but might even cause the seal to break prematurely.

The only way to break through the seal was to increase his body's endurance.

When she saw this, Na'er's brows could not help but knit together. These conditions really were far too harsh for Luo Ze.

The Douluo World had now entered the era of Soul Spirits. Differences in physical constitution could be completely made up for with Battle Armor or mechas. As for endurance, it had long been treated as an additional condition and cast aside.

Simply improving one's physique without taking Heavenly Treasures was fundamentally impossible!

"Brother, Grandfather's advice for you is way too harsh. And if you can't take Heavenly Treasures, it's impossible to improve your physique through training alone!" Na'er said.

"Na'er, it's not that I'm not allowed to take them. It's that I simply can't handle them. Even eating tuna makes me feel awful, let alone those higher-grade supplements." Luo Ze let out a helpless sigh.

"Oh~ no wonder. You really are such a good brother. You didn't even tell me something as important as you getting hurt. Am I even your sister?!"

If Luo Ze had not mentioned it, Na'er would have nearly forgotten about it. If not for the life energy in her body resonating with Luo Ze's bloodline—

—she would never have been able to reach him in time when he was injured.

"Well, um, I wasn't trying to hide it from you. I just didn't want you to worry!"

Luo Ze practically hated his damned mouth. Why had he spoken so quickly?!

Great. Now Na'er was angry, and there was no way to coax her out of it.

He closed his eyes and lowered his head, already bracing himself to be hit.

Unexpectedly, Na'er did not slap him on the forehead as she usually did. Instead, she pressed herself tightly into his arms.

"Brother, am I a burden to you?" Na'er asked.

"No!" Luo Ze replied seriously.

"Then why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you. You said I'm your family. Shouldn't family share each other's burdens?" Na'er raised her head, and the burning look in her eyes sent ripples through Luo Ze's heart.

That one word—family—made Luo Ze swallow back the words of rebuttal that had been about to leave his mouth.

Yeah, how had he forgotten?

Na'er was his family...

"I'm sorry. I won't do it again," Luo Ze said guiltily as he held Na'er.

"Hmph! If there's a next time, I'll break your legs!" Na'er said sternly.

The moment those words came out, Luo Ze felt a chill run down his spine. "No, absolutely not!"

Outside Red Mountain Academy, there were still twenty minutes until seven thirty. The bun shop by the entrance remained packed with customers, and getting freshly steamed buns was harder than ever.

However, as a veteran foodie, Luo Ze had already contacted the owner and asked him to set aside ten steamers of buns in advance.

"Boss, your buns are getting tastier and tastier!"

The skin was thin, the filling generous, and with one light bite, even the meat broth flowed out. Paired with freshly made soy milk, life could not get any better!

"Hahaha, little Luo Ze, it's only been a few days, but your mouth has gotten sweeter and sweeter. Come, come, try the shop's new item—fish-filled buns!"

The owner was immensely proud from the praise and immediately became generous, directly sharing the shop's new product with Luo Ze.

"Thank you, Boss!" Luo Ze said with a smile.

He then pushed the freshly released buns toward Na'er.

"Try them. If they're good, I'll get you a steamer of fish-filled buns every day."

"Okay! Thank you, Brother!" Na'er smiled happily and picked up a fish-filled bun to eat.

The fish was fresh and sweet. It retained the food's proper texture through steaming without ruining its original flavor. Such precise control required at least twenty years of skill.

"Wow, that smells so good! Boss, is this a new item?!" Tang Wulin rushed into the bun shop. His sense of smell was exceptionally sharp, and he noticed the new item the moment he entered.

"Little Wulin is here too. Come sit down. You're all here together today, just in time!" the owner greeted Tang Wulin happily, motioning for him to sit with Luo Ze.

"All of us?" Tang Wulin froze for a moment, then noticed Na'er in the corner enjoying her food, as well as Luo Ze leisurely drinking soy milk.

The moment he saw them, Tang Wulin excitedly jumped up and threw himself into Luo Ze's arms.

"Brother Luo, you're finally back!" Tang Wulin looked at Luo Ze with a wronged expression.

"Um, let's talk things out properly. Let go first!"

Feeling a cold gaze from behind him, Luo Ze shuddered instinctively and immediately pulled Tang Wulin off himself, setting him aside.

"I mean, now that you're back, our class is guaranteed to win!" Tang Wulin said confidently.

Luo Ze looked completely confused. "Guaranteed to win what? Why are we guaranteed to win just because I'm here?"

"It's like this: in the next few days, the academy is preparing to organize a competition among our five Soul Master Classes. The championship class will receive preferential resource allocation for an entire semester!"

"Students who perform well may even receive a recommendation letter from the academy, which they can use when applying to Intermediate Academies with better resources in the future!"

"But the most important part isn't any of that. The academy has decided that the champion class will be rewarded with a purple Thousand Year Soul Spirit!"

At the mention of a Thousand Year Soul Spirit, Tang Wulin's eyes instantly lit up with unusual brilliance. Even an ordinary Hundred Year Soul Spirit cost over a hundred thousand, while a Thousand Year Soul Spirit was even more exorbitantly priced!

In all of Aolai City, the only academy capable of being so generous was Red Mountain Academy, with its deep historical foundations.

"Whoa, a Thousand Year Soul Spirit? Our academy must be bleeding itself dry!" Upon hearing about the Thousand Year Soul Spirit, Luo Ze was also deeply impressed by the academy's generosity.

"That's why, with you as our backbone, our class will be firmly in first place once you're back! You're the only one in the academy with Innate Full Soul Power, and you're also a Soul Master with a top-tier Beast Martial Soul!" Tang Wulin said.

"Don't flatter me. Though what you said is true, Grandfather told me that one must remain humble," Luo Ze said righteously.

"Yes, yes. So, you agree to participate?"

Tang Wulin looked at Luo Ze expectantly. The highest Soul Power in Class Five was only level six. If they really had to fight students from the other classes, they probably wouldn't even have a ten percent chance of winning.

But with Luo Ze joining them, things would be different. He possessed two tremendous advantages unique among Soul Masters, and he even had a first Soul Ring—something the other students could never match no matter how desperately they trained!

"Sure. It'll be a good chance to train myself too. To be honest, I've never fought anyone my own age before."