"But what?"
Xiao Nai gave Zheng Li a wistful look before saying with concern, "Don't do anything so dangerous next time. Did you think I'd never seen one before, so I wouldn't know how powerful a Spirit Emperor is? I felt so helpless in front of that figure just now."
"What if something had really gone wrong? What would we have done?"
"Xiao Nai..." Zheng Li was touched and reached out to hug her.
Elsewhere, in the Sea of Consciousness, Huo Yuhao was getting an earful from Tian Meng.
"Be more careful next time, you hear me? Get out there. Someone's come."
Without waiting for Huo Yuhao to say anything, Tian Meng kicked him out of the Sea of Consciousness, then fell back into a deep sleep.
Huo Yuhao: "..."
Outside.
Zheng Li was the first to wake. Xiao Nai told him someone was waiting for them outside, kissed him on the forehead, then let him leave.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the white-robed teacher who had treated them.
When the teacher saw Zheng Li wake, she simply said a few words—the same thing Zheng Li remembered her telling Huo Yuhao to forget.
Then she tossed Zheng Li four green objects and said, "This is compensation. One for each of you. I trust you're smart enough to know what to do. Once the others wake up, go to class."
After speaking, the white-robed teacher rose into the air and flew toward the middle of the lake.
Only when Zheng Li caught the four walnut-sized green pills did he come to his senses.
"Are these Soul Ascension Pills? They smell nice, and they look pretty good too. They're just a little big."
Zheng Li muttered to himself, then woke Ling Nan. Huo Yuhao woke up right after, and he woke Wang Dong.
As soon as Ling Nan remembered what had happened, he blurted, "What the hell was that just now? I felt like I was about to die!"
Wang Dong was furious too.
Zheng Li stepped forward to explain. "An inner-court senior must have had a problem while cultivating. The white-robed teacher with the Tree of Life Martial Soul—the one we saw yesterday—healed our injuries. She also gave us four pills and told us to forget about this, or we'd be expelled. That senior must have had quite a high status."
As he spoke, Zheng Li tossed each of them a Soul Ascension Pill. "One each."
Wang Dong's eyes lit up. "They're Soul Ascension Pills!"
Ling Nan froze too, then exclaimed in delight, "Soul Ascension Pills! Those are good stuff!"
Clearly, Ling Nan knew what they were as well.
Only Huo Yuhao looked confused. "What's a Soul Ascension Pill?"
"I'll explain later," Wang Dong said. "It's almost time for class. Let's go first."
"Oh, okay." Huo Yuhao nodded. "See you next time, Zheng Li."
"Sure. Remember to keep this to yourselves."
Zheng Li nodded and reminded them.
After the two of them left, Zheng Li turned to see Ling Nan sniffing his Soul Ascension Pill. His mouth twitched. "Gluttonous Cat, come on. Let's get to class. You can examine it after class."
Ling Nan suppressed his excitement at Zheng Li's words, and he and Zheng Li hurried toward the New Student Teaching Building.
After they left, an old man in white appeared out of thin air, as if he had crossed through space. His narrowed eyes settled on Zheng Li. "So that's the child Wei Lun mentioned—the one with Twin Martial Souls? Not bad..."
Ling Nan and the Sharp-Tailed Swift
Class Five.
Just as Zheng Li and Ling Nan stepped into the classroom, the bell rang.
As soon as Ling Nan sat down, he patted his chest and said, "That was close! I almost arrived late."
But a closer look revealed the delight in his eyes.
Zheng Li, on the other hand, looked calm. He had already put the Soul Ascension Pill away in the System Space.
He had no idea that Yan Shaozhe had just tested him.
He'd had every opportunity to keep all four Soul Ascension Pills for himself.
A person could only take one Soul Ascension Pill in their lifetime, but Yan Shaozhe didn't think an "orphan" like Zheng Li would know the pill's name, effects, or limitations.
He thought Zheng Li must have recognized the four pills as valuable and wanted to see if he would keep them for himself.
Yan Shaozhe had mistaken Zheng Li's calm expression when he took the pills for composure. Then, when Zheng Li handed the pills out to the other three, he took it as a sign of upright character.
If Zheng Li had known what Yan Shaozhe was thinking, he would have been speechless.
Zheng Li knew exactly what Soul Ascension Pills did, so taking extra ones would have been pointless. Even if they could be stacked, he wouldn't have done it.
Aside from the risk of getting caught afterward, there was Huo Yuhao to consider.
Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eyes could record everything when he was unconscious or confused, provided his eyes were open.
Huo Yuhao's eyes hadn't been open then, but Tian Meng and Electrolux were in his Sea of Consciousness. Either one could observe the outside world while Huo Yuhao was unconscious.
Then there was Wang Dong.
She was Tang San's beloved daughter. Gods could have things to keep them busy, but what if Tang San was watching his daughter at that very moment?
Just then, Shen Lan walked in, but she didn't even step up to the podium. Instead, she said coolly, "Everyone, go to the Soul Fighting District and line up. I want to see you all there within ten minutes."
"Teacher, why are we going to the Soul Fighting District?"
A boy raised his hand and asked.
"To make up for the practical training we missed yesterday afternoon!" Shen Lan explained, then left the classroom.
Everyone in class looked at one another. Hadn't they already chosen a class monitor?
But most of them were excited.
At their age, they were full of youthful passion and competitive spirit. Of course they wanted to spar instead of sitting through boring theory lessons or dull physical training.
Everyone rushed out of the classroom and headed for the Soul Fighting District.
Zheng Li shook his head at the sight.
It reminded him of middle school, when they were about to have PE.
The kind of PE class where they ran a few laps, then were dismissed to do whatever they wanted.
Zheng Li, Ling Nan, and Su Yunqing walked together.
Su Yunqing was just as excited as a little girl, while Ling Nan looked listless.
"What's wrong?" Zheng Li asked, patting Ling Nan on the shoulder.
"Sigh... I don't want to do practical training. What else?" Ling Nan replied weakly.
"Hm? Why not?"
Ling Nan spread his hands. "I don't have any offensive Soul Skills, and I'm an agility-type Soul Master. I'm not strong, just a little fast. Am I supposed to dodge until I lose?"
"I see. You could dodge until your opponent runs out of Soul Power," Zheng Li suggested with a shake of his head.
"Uh... never mind. My opponent might have more Soul Power than me, and even if they don't, doing that would be exhausting," Ling Nan said, turning him down.
Su Yunqing glanced at Ling Nan disdainfully. "Are you even a man? You can't even stick out one fight!"
Ling Nan didn't mind. He pointed at his cute face. "Do I look like a man to you?"
"..." Su Yunqing was speechless. "What happened to your pride as a man?"
"Can you eat that sort of thing?" Ling Nan asked, spreading his hands.
"...Then why are you even alive?"
Su Yunqing rolled her eyes at him.
"To eat, of course!" Ling Nan replied matter-of-factly.
Su Yunqing fell silent, at a loss for words.
"Practical training..." Zheng Li muttered. He knew what he was like. There was no way he had any combat awareness or fighting skills.
Should he be a mage?
His Martial Soul could probably manage that.
Speaking of Martial Souls...
Zheng Li looked at Ling Nan. "Gluttonous Cat, I haven't asked you yet—what's the deal with those wings?"
Had a cat grown wings?
Or had a cat grown beneath the wings?
Either way, it seemed perfectly normal. After all, this wasn't the world he'd originally known.
"You mean my wings? They've always been part of my Martial Soul."
"A Li, you might not know, but my Martial Soul is a Mutated Martial Soul called the Black and White Winged Cat. You could say it's already a high-level Martial Soul, since it could carry me through the air as soon as I awakened it," Ling Nan explained with a smile.
"But it hasn't given me an especially strong talent for cultivation. My cultivation talent isn't that great. Don't let how I look fool you—I spend plenty of time cultivating my Soul Power."
"My family's inherited Martial Soul is the Black and White Raccoon Panda..."
"Wait," Su Yunqing interrupted Ling Nan. "Are you from the Black and White Sect?"
"You know about it?" Ling Nan asked, surprised. He hadn't thought his sect was all that famous.
"I do. I'm from the Heaven Dou Empire too, and my family lives in Yudou City," Su Yunqing replied coolly.
"Yudou City? Gluttonous Cat, where's that?"
"It's a city next to Mingdou City, to the east. My sect has property in Yudou City too."
Zheng Li nodded. "Okay, keep going."
"A Li, do you know what type of Martial Soul the Black and White Raccoon Panda is?" Ling Nan asked Zheng Li instead.
"Isn't it agility-type?"
Su Yunqing shook her head and explained, "Yes and no. The Black and White Raccoon Panda has a very strong body and tremendous strength. It can develop toward either the assault or agility type."
Zheng Li nodded. He didn't know much about Martial Souls or Spirit Beasts. After all, he'd only been learning about the Douluo World for a few days.
"Su Yunqing is right. My father developed his Martial Soul toward the agility type. After my Martial Soul mutated, it could only develop in that direction. It isn't strong in terms of strength or physique..."
"Have you heard of the Tang Sect?"
As he spoke, Ling Nan suddenly asked them a question.
"Yes," Zheng Li and Su Yunqing answered together.
"Then do you know about Min Hall, one of the Tang Sect's five halls?" Ling Nan asked.
A complicated look appeared in his eyes as he mentioned the Tang Sect.
"I don't," said Su Yunqing. "I do," said Zheng Li.
Zheng Li did remember the Tang Sect's five halls. They had been the five halls Tang San founded.
Ling Nan looked at Zheng Li in surprise, since very few people knew about that now.
"The Sharp-Tailed Swift is the signature Martial Soul of the Tang Sect's Min Hall. When the Tang Sect declined, Min Hall declined with it. My grandmother had a Sharp-Tailed Swift Martial Soul."
"My father said the wings my Martial Soul grew after mutating were probably due to the Sharp-Tailed Swift bloodline."
"When I was very young, our sect and the Tang Sect still had some ties," Ling Nan said, his voice tinged with melancholy.
His family had never forbidden its members from marrying outsiders.
"So it's the Black and White Raccoon Panda plus the Sharp-Tailed Swift."
Zheng Li rubbed his chin. The Sharp-Tailed Swift... Bai Chenxiang, Ma Hongjun's wife, had that Martial Soul. He remembered it well.
Now that he thought about it, the wings did look a bit like a wild goose's.
Before you continue