Library

Heaven Dou Royal Academy, at the foot of the mountain.

A carriage bearing the Swan emblem approached from afar and stopped before the academy gates.

After steadying the carriage, the guard lifted the curtain, and two six-year-old children stepped out and arrived at the gates.

The Heaven Dou Royal Academy gatekeepers naturally recognized the carriage reserved for the royal family. They hurriedly bowed, opened the gates, and let the two little ancestors inside.

On the mountain path, Su Yu surveyed the surrounding buildings, his eyes filled with amazement.

Even in his previous life, Su Yu had only seen such majestic, grand architecture online.

By now, Xue Ke had already fallen half a step behind Su Yu.

She tugged at Su Yu's sleeve and asked breathlessly, "Brother Su Yu, what are you doing here? What's fun about Heaven Dou Royal Academy?"

Su Yu slowed his pace and said casually, "Aornia will break through to rank ten in three months and obtain her first soul ring. Before then, I need to find a suitable soul beast for her."

"Huh?"

Hearing Su Yu's answer, Xue Ke was clearly a little angry. She hurried up two steps, stood on a higher stair, looked up at Su Yu, and said indignantly, "I'm the one by your side right now, yet you're thinking about someone else?"

???

Several question marks instantly popped up over Su Yu's head, and his expression turned a little strange. "Didn't you insist on coming along?"

"Hmph~ I don't care! Anyway, when you're with me, you can't look for soul beasts for her..."

Su Yu's eyes darted, then he said, "No problem. Then I'll help you look instead, all right?"

"Ah?" Xue Ke looked bewildered. "But I still have a few days before my martial soul awakens?"

"That's fine. Anyway, your martial soul will definitely be... a beautiful swan."

Xue Ke nodded. "Mm-hmm, Brother Su Yu is the best~"

Seeing Xue Ke's innocent smile, Su Yu suddenly felt a sharp pang of guilt.

"Ahem, let's go. We'll check out the library first."

"Okay—"

Before long, the two arrived before the Heaven Dou Royal Academy library.

All Su Yu could say was that it truly deserved to be called a Royal Academy.

Hardly anyone came here to read, yet they had still spent an enormous amount of money to build such a luxurious library.

Su Yu turned to Xue Ke and instructed, "Once we're inside, no loud talking, understand?"

Xue Ke lifted her chin. "Hmph~ Brother Su Yu is underestimating me. I'm an outstanding student at Moonlight Pavilion. When it comes to etiquette, I know much more than Brother Su Yu."

Seeing Xue Ke's proud expression, Su Yu reached out and patted her head. "Good girl~"

Then, before Xue Ke could react, Su Yu walked into the library.

Xue Ke had wanted to say something, but seeing that Su Yu had already entered the library, she closed her mouth and silently followed him in.

Su Yu went to the bookshelves, casually pulled out several copies of the Soul Beast Illustrated Handbook, found a window seat, and began flipping through them.

As he read, Su Yu focused on soul beasts with tenacious vitality or traits such as darkness and strangeness, as well as various powerful avian soul beasts.

The former suited Aornia, while the latter suited Xue Ke.

However, compared to finding suitable soul beasts, the real problem was how to persuade Aornia to cooperate with him and how to gain her family's approval for this plan!

After all, from Aornia's perspective, Su Yu was planning her first soul ring with no theoretical support at all, relying solely on guesses. It was practically treating her as a laboratory guinea pig!

But Su Yu already had a preliminary plan in mind—he would use his overflowing "sincerity" to win Aornia over and make it up to her!

Su Yu shook his head, temporarily setting aside all kinds of compensation plans before plunging headfirst into the ocean of knowledge.

Just as Su Yu was about to drown in that ocean, a soul beast that met his requirements entered his sight.

Blood Crown Flower, a parasitic plant soul beast.

Its blossom resembled a crown, crimson as blood, hence the name Blood Crown Flower.

It only bloomed on nights of the full moon, and its petals often condensed varying numbers of "dewdrops" that gave off a strange fragrance.

Besides releasing an enticing scent, those "dewdrops" could heal injuries and dispel abnormal conditions.

At first glance, the Blood Crown Flower seemed as noble and selfless as the Emerald Swan, healing soul beasts of all kinds without asking for anything in return.

In truth, that was precisely where the Blood Crown Flower's viciousness lay.

Few soul beasts knew that the true nature of those "dewdrops" was actually the Blood Crown Flower's seeds.

Once a soul beast swallowed them to heal injuries, purge poison, or simply because it could not resist the temptation, it would become a breeding ground for the Blood Crown Flower's offspring.

Afterward, the soul beast parasitized by the seeds would grow weaker and weaker until it died completely. Once its corpse returned to the earth, the Blood Crown Flower would take root where it stood, bloom anew from the host's remains, and begin its next cycle.

According to the book, aside from naturally possessing attack methods such as binding and whipping like other plant-type soul beasts, the Blood Crown Flower would also gain an additional ability depending on the soul beast it had parasitized before taking root.

Because of this, during hunts for Blood Crown Flowers, soul masters were often caught off guard by that unknown ability, resulting in casualties and even failed hunts.

According to Su Yu's idea, if Aornia could hunt this soul beast and obtain its soul ring, the resulting soul skill should be able to condense a fragrant liquid.

Aside from helping teammates heal injuries and remove abnormal conditions, that liquid might also possess an additional hidden effect.

In Su Yu's impression, "apothecaries" really could do that.

Thinking of this, Su Yu secretly grumbled to himself—except the hidden effects of those potions usually only showed up after they expired.

After finishing his inward complaint, Su Yu took out paper and pen and recorded all kinds of information about the Blood Crown Flower.

Of course, all of this was merely Su Yu's personal speculation, without any theoretical research to support it.

After all, according to the book's records, most soul masters who had targeted this soul beast possessed plant martial souls, and the soul skills they gained were mostly parasitic ones.

Su Yu thought about it and recorded it anyway.

No matter what, writing it down first couldn't hurt!

After finishing his notes, Su Yu did not stop reading.

When entering a soul beast forest to hunt soul rings, if one fixated on only a single type of soul beast, the time required would be greatly extended.

Therefore, most soul masters would prepare several desirable targets in advance and choose based on fate when the time came.

Unfortunately, even by sunset, Su Yu had failed to find a second soul beast that met the requirements.

After completing the borrowing process, Su Yu took Xue Ke's hand and left the library, heading toward the academy gates.

When the two reached the gates and were preparing to leave, two distinctive women approached them and entered Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

The woman on the left had short dark-purple hair and looked exceptionally heroic.

Her appearance was not breathtakingly beautiful, yet her rare green eyes gave off a sense of danger that made people unable to resist drawing closer.

The woman on the right wore a black veil over her face, revealing only a pair of clear blue eyes free of any impurity.

Her long blue hair cascaded down like a waterfall, concealing her slender figure.

Dugu Yan!

Ye Lingling!