Strike While the Iron Is Hot and Break Them!

"Where had you been?"

The moment Nan Liujing returned to his residence, Leng Yaozhu, who was sitting on the sofa reading, stopped him with a question.

"I went to see my little sister," Nan Liujing replied.

Leng Yaozhu froze for a moment. "You have a younger sister?"

"Yes, she's half a year younger than me." Nan Liujing smiled.

Leng Yaozhu fell silent for a moment. "Get some rest early."

"Yes."

After the brief exchange ended, Nan Liujing quickly returned to his room and shut the door. His expression subtly changed.

His consciousness entered his Sea of Consciousness. Sure enough, the transparent Candy Martial Soul appeared once more. With a thought from him, the Heavenly Tribulation Pearl shot out a wisp of purple-black dim light and injected it into the Candy Martial Soul.

At the same time, another terrifying aura seemed to lock onto him from all directions.

Nan Liujing remained calm. He knew that was the Heavenly Tribulation, but just as Thunder God had said, the Heavenly Tribulation Pearl could block the Heavenly Tribulation Power, take its place in being targeted by the tribulation, and store up this lightning tribulation for later.

The Candy Martial Soul began mutating at incredible speed. It took the form of a gummy candy, with a pair of Angel Wings extending from either side. It was not large, small enough to pop into one's mouth, and purple-black in color, like congealed grape juice.

"What ability can this provide me with?" Nan Liujing studied the newly formed Demon Candy, his eyes full of curiosity.

Leaving his Sea of Consciousness, Nan Liujing immediately activated the room's unique sealed barrier.

Dim light enveloped the room, isolating its interior from the outside world.

The Spirit Pagoda headquarters was enormous and filled with powerful people. Without an isolating barrier, any Titled Douluo advancing in cultivation or doing anything else would create a tremendous disturbance. Its existence effectively prevented unnecessary trouble and leaks of privacy.

Even a Limit Douluo could not sense through the barrier while not in combat.

Deep purple-black dim light gathered in Nan Liujing's left palm. Strangely, it did not absorb any Heaven and Earth Yuan Power from the surroundings this time, and the condensation process was exceptionally brief. In merely three seconds, a Demon Candy was freshly formed.

Nan Liujing frowned. His Soul Power had barely been depleted, yet the candy had not absorbed surrounding Heaven and Earth Yuan Power either. Where had its energy come from?

Looking at the exquisite Demon Candy in his hand, Nan Liujing suppressed his confusion and decisively tossed it into his mouth. It tasted like purple grapes.

Strands of icy liquid swiftly flowed into his body.

A peculiar murmur suddenly sounded beside Nan Liujing's ears. It was not unpleasant. On the contrary, it sounded like subjects offering respectful greetings to an emperor.

As the murmuring ceased, strange purple-black cross-shaped dim light silently emerged in Nan Liujing's dark blue pupils.

A peculiar realization arose, and he caught hold of it.

With a thought, an astonishing scene unfolded. At either side of Nan Liujing's body, two vortices the size of grains of sand slowly expanded, eventually becoming Demon Gates nearly three meters tall.

The two Demon Gates were a deep purple-black. The frames were etched with lifelike patterns of demon wings, while their centers seemed like a Demon Abyss. The moment one looked inside, one's soul seemed to suffer the pain of being sucked away.

Under Nan Liujing's Mental Power perception, the Heaven and Earth Yuan Power in the room began sending out faint ripples, turning violent as if faced with a formidable enemy.

Yet once the Heaven and Earth Yuan Power came into contact with Nan Liujing's Mental Power, it quickly calmed down.

"Whoosh."

Suddenly, two figures emerged from the Demon Gates. One stood to Nan Liujing's left and the other to his right.

When Nan Liujing saw what they looked like, he was visibly stunned.

The two figures were not the demonic forms he had expected. Instead, they looked exactly like him. The only difference was that both were clad in purple-black robes and wore hoods that nearly concealed their faces. Their bodies resembled murky colored glass.

The instant they appeared, the Demon Gates immediately contracted, eventually turning into thin rays of light and vanishing without a trace.

The two Demon Bodies did not move. Nan Liujing stared at them for several seconds, then lightning flickered in his right hand as he summoned the Dragon Subduing Staff Martial Soul out of thin air. Two Soul Rings rose beneath his feet.

The two Demon Bodies moved at the same time, each condensing a purple-black Dragon Subduing Staff in their right hands. However, no Soul Rings rose beneath them, and their attribute was not lightning, but darkness.

"What kind of ability is this? Clones?" Nan Liujing frowned in thought. He could tell that his control over the Demon Bodies was as smooth and natural as moving his own limbs.

He could even clearly sense that the auras emitted by those two Demon Bodies were not at all weaker than his own. They were completely different from the clones Xie Xie formed with Soul Power, which could easily be torn apart.

Unfortunately, he could not conduct an actual combat test here. Nan Liujing could only observe with his eyes and make guesses.

However, there was one thing Nan Liujing could be certain of: the energy these two Demon Bodies relied upon came from the Demon Plane. Otherwise, the Heaven and Earth Yuan Power would not have erupted earlier.

"Interesting."

The only problem was that this ability could easily be mistaken for an Evil Soul Master's skill.

Wait.

The Demon Gates had disappeared, so how was he supposed to put these two things away?

The instant that thought appeared, Nan Liujing witnessed another surprising sight. The two Demon Bodies scattered like fine sand blown away by the wind and fell back into his body.

Nothing unusual happened, but Nan Liujing could clearly feel that he could summon the Demon Bodies at any time. They were like invisible Soul Rings.

That was brutal. It meant he could casually summon two clones with the same strength as himself to fight his enemies.

"Yuan En Yehui, you really gave me an enormous surprise."

Calming himself, Nan Liujing began meditating with great delight. He planned to break through to Rank 30 when he turned ten.

Starting the next day.

Nan Liujing continued making breakfast as usual and sharing it with Leng Yaozhu. During the day, he went to the Law Chamber for insight. In the afternoon, he cultivated Soul Power and Staff Intent under Leng Yaozhu's guidance. At night, he consumed food that replenished Qi and Blood, then refined it.

His different status allowed Nan Liujing to enter the Law Chamber for insight every day.

Volcanoes spewing extremely scorching magma, gorges where hurricanes tore apart all life, vast and boundless plains... Time flew by, and a month passed. Under Leng Yaozhu's guidance, Nan Liujing continuously experienced different kinds of environments.

With help from the Plane Imprint and his own efforts, his understanding of all kinds of elements advanced at tremendous speed. Even Leng Yaozhu herself could not find a single fault with him.

Another day passed.

"The Riot Period Spirit Ascension Platform?" Nan Liujing was about to leave when Leng Yaozhu stopped him and gave him fairly good news.

Leng Yaozhu smiled. "You have been with me for so long, yet I have never given you an assessment task. This Riot Period Spirit Ascension Platform will be your task."

"What do I need to do?" Nan Liujing asked.

A faint, inexplicable smile curled Leng Yaozhu's red lips. "During the Spirit Ascension Platform's riot period, all Soul Masters who enter will no longer be separated according to the Spirit Pagodas of their respective regions. Instead, everyone will be gathered together."

"In other words, you will encounter many geniuses of your age all at once. The task your teacher is giving you is to kill at least two people on the Youth Genius Ranking. If you fail, heh heh."

Nan Liujing's gaze shifted slightly, and he suddenly smiled. "I like this task."

"You're not afraid?" Leng Yaozhu asked with a soft laugh.

Nan Liujing shook his head. "The entry limit for the Beginner Spirit Ascension Platform is the peak of three rings. It may be troublesome, but it does not count as a threat to me."

"The prerequisite to becoming strong is absolute confidence. This satisfies your teacher greatly." Leng Yaozhu nodded. "However, people usually enter the Riot Period Spirit Ascension Platform in teams. Your teacher can allow you to bring one teammate."

As she spoke, she handed Nan Liujing two Riot Period Spirit Ascension Platform entry cards.

Nan Liujing accepted the cards and immediately thought of Ye Xinglan.

She would surely be excited to fight so many talented people her own age.

"Yaozhu."

As he followed his teacher away, Nan Liujing had just taken out his phone to message Ye Xinglan when a gentle voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.

It was a man's voice!

Nan Liujing raised an eyebrow. Within the Spirit Pagoda, no man dared to address his teacher so intimately by her given name.

He looked up. At the end of the corridor stood a tall, handsome Middle-aged Man with slightly narrow eyes, his face full of smiles. His appearance was indeed naturally likable, but Nan Liujing clearly noticed Leng Yaozhu's expression turn cold. She seemed to dislike being addressed that way by him.

Spirit Douluo, Qian Gu Dong Feng.

Nan Liujing immediately recalled the name.

If Leng Yaozhu had been called a bootlicker for unsuccessfully pursuing Yun Ming, then Qian Gu Dong Feng was the reverse: he had failed to pursue Leng Yaozhu, and after failing to win her love, resentment drove him to add another log to the fire of his desire to destroy Shrek Academy.

Yes, Qian Gu Dong Feng wanted to destroy Shrek not only because Shrek's status stood in the Spirit Pagoda's way, but also because of this melodramatic reason.

"What is it?" Leng Yaozhu replied coldly.

Qian Gu Dong Feng approached with an elegant bearing and said smilingly, "The Tianhai Spirit Pagoda sent over a Thousand Moon Silver Fish. I thought such a delicacy would be too wasteful to enjoy alone, so I wanted to invite you to join me. What do you think?"

"I appreciate the thought, but you should keep it for yourself." Leng Yaozhu made her refusal clear. Without waiting for him to continue, she turned to Nan Liujing and said, "Your performance last night did not satisfy your teacher. Extra training today. Move!"

Nan Liujing's mouth twitched.

That sounded far too ambiguous.

What did she mean, my performance last night did not satisfy you? Last night, I had merely been browsing my phone when I happened to see Holy Spirit Douluo attending a Federation-hosted gala, and casually mentioned that she seemed gentle and graceful. Was she still holding that against me?

Sigh, women!

They were hard to deal with.

Although he knew Leng Yaozhu's words were perfectly normal, they still sounded incredibly grating.

The smile on Qian Gu Dong Feng's face stiffened for a moment. He did not try to keep them any longer, but his hawk-like eyes swept over Nan Liujing as he passed. He immediately spotted the two Spirit Ascension Platform entry cards that had not yet been put into a Storage Soul Tool.

Only after the two entered the elevator and disappeared from view did he walk expressionlessly into the Law Chamber area on the fifty-fifth floor.

At the same time, a young man who looked around fourteen saw Qian Gu Dong Feng and hurried forward to bow. "Tower Master."

"How has your insight session gone this time?" Qian Gu Dong Feng asked.

The young man respectfully said, "Thanks to your guidance, my understanding of the Darkness Element has risen to another level. The other Core Disciples are about the same."

"Very good." Although this child's talent was not exceptional, being able to rank twenty-sixth on the Youth Genius Ranking before fifteen was enough to make him worth cultivating.

At present, nearly seventy percent of the Youth Genius Ranking members were in Shrek Academy. Aside from a small number raised internally by Shrek, the overwhelming majority came from the various major Soul Master factions. Qian Gu Dong Feng was already fortunate to retain one as a future direct line for his grandson, Qiangu Zhangting.

Qian Gu Dong Feng's gaze flickered as an idea arose in his heart while he looked at the Core Disciple before him.

He had once planned to have Leng Yaozhu accept his grandson as her disciple, hoping to use that to draw closer to her. Yet she had rejected him on the grounds that his grandson lacked talent. She had clearly done it deliberately to slap him in the face. If his grandson's talent did not qualify, then there would be no geniuses on the Douluo Continent.

Yet unexpectedly, only a few years later, Leng Yaozhu had personally found herself a disciple.

As the Spirit Pagoda Master, he could not find any information about this boy's identity. His Martial Soul and Soul Power cultivation were all unknown. Leng Yaozhu had obviously kept him tightly wrapped up and was utterly unwilling to let him out into the open.

He was curious what sort of genius was worthy of such treatment.

Destroying him was naturally impossible. Otherwise, Leng Yaozhu would definitely fly into a rage. If she became an Evil Soul Master like her younger sister, they would be completely finished. But giving the boy an appropriate warning was still possible.

Qian Gu Dong Feng said in a deep voice, "Since your cultivation has improved, I will give you a task."

Xu Sheng looked at the Tower Master in confusion.

Qian Gu Dong Feng used Soul Power Transmission to convey the task to him word by word.

Xu Sheng's eyes first widened in surprise, then suddenly lit up as though he had received an unexpected gift.

"Rest assured, I guarantee I'll complete the task." A hint of ease appeared on his face. There were quite a few Core Disciples in the tower, and receiving this task counted as good fortune.

When the Tower Master had worries, strike while the iron was hot and break them!

Nan Liujing called Ye Xinglan and asked whether she was willing to enter the Spirit Ascension Platform with him.

Her answer was naturally yes. Ye Xinglan was even quite excited, shouting that she would show those geniuses on the Genius Ranking what they were made of.

"Those who can enter the Genius Ranking are all above Rank 30 without exception. They won't be easy to handle," Nan Liujing said with a laugh.

On the other end of the call, Ye Xinglan was unconcerned. "Genius is the cheapest thing there is. Only those who have climbed to the peak of the Soul Master mountain are qualified to look down on everyone else. My Father often says that the Youth Genius Ranking is just a joke to look at, so don't take it seriously. Many geniuses on the Douluo Continent develop in secret and never give the Spirit Pagoda a chance to add them to the records."

Nan Liujing's gaze shifted slightly. No wonder Ye Xinglan had originally looked down on Wu Sidao and the others. Although some of it had been deliberate, it was clear that the girl was genuinely proud, and she had the capital to be proud.

"Come over early tomorrow."

Ye Xinglan gave an "mm" in response. "By the way, why hasn't Na'er been coming out lately?"

Nan Liujing said irritably, "You have the nerve to ask? Na'er had a task last time, but you tempted her into sneaking out to play. When she got back, Her Holiness Holy Spirit caught her. She said Na'er had skipped too many classes and would have to make up for them several times over. In short, don't expect to see Na'er for quite a while."

"Ah, this..." Ye Xinglan stuck out her tongue awkwardly, trying to shift the blame away from herself. "That's fine too. Maybe Na'er is clever enough to comprehend Spear Intent soon. If she really does, then you, as her brother, will have to thank me."

"Get lost, get lost, get lost." Nan Liujing directly hung up.

At that time, in the various cities of the Douluo Continent that possessed Pillar-level Spirit Pagodas, all the young Soul Masters who had purchased entry into the Beginner Spirit Ascension Platform were rubbing their hands together, preparing to enter and temper both their reputations and strength.

One of the criteria for entering the Youth Genius Ranking included battles in the riot period Spirit Pagoda.

If they could defeat opponents inside, the Spirit Pagoda would announce it publicly. It was also the best place for young people to fight for fame and profit.

Ye Xinglan was right. Many geniuses did not care about the Youth Genius Ranking, but many also did!

The Genius Ranking was a strange thing. It was probably a setting that had been thought up on a whim, since I did not see it again later in the original work. If I did not handle the fanfic setting well, please forgive me. The original work mostly mentioned Wu Sidao and a few others who made the ranking, without giving it much additional description.