[Douluo II Period]
On the plaza of Shrek Academy, students' discussions rose and fell.
"Teacher Wang Yan's knowledge of Martial Souls is truly unparalleled. He guided me on how to add Soul Rings to my Martial Soul."
"Exactly. He can always pinpoint our problems."
In their eyes, Teacher Wang Yan was a true scholar, a respected mentor.
On the Sky Screen, Wang Yan's monologue continued.
[Later, I fell in love with a girl.]
The scene abruptly changed.
The library door opened, and a beautiful figure walked in.
The girl wore white as pure as snow. Her features were delicate, and her bearing was as pure as an ice lotus.
[Her name was Han Ruoruo, the most dazzling genius in the outer courtyard.]
[Her Martial Soul was the top-tier weapon-type Martial Soul, the "Shaking Gold Rope," and her Innate Soul Power was rank eight.]
[She was like moonlight in the sky, so beautiful she seemed untouched by the mortal world.]
[And I was just a poor country boy. I felt I wasn't worthy of her.]
[Douluo II Period]
At that point in the monologue, a beautiful, cool-looking woman in the crowd on the plaza suddenly stiffened.
It was Han Ruoruo, a disciple of the inner courtyard.
She raised her head in disbelief and looked at the Sky Screen.
Everyone around her turned their gaze toward her in an instant. Some were surprised, some curious, and a few were teasing.
Two crimson blushes bloomed on Han Ruoruo's cheeks, and her heart was thrown into turmoil.
She... How had she never known about this?
Teacher Wang Yan, he...
The monologue continued, tinged with bitterness and yearning.
[She was heaven's favored daughter, while I was only dust.]
[I could only hide in the most inconspicuous corner and secretly watch her.]
Wang Yan's monologue was filled with inferiority and longing, making countless people ache for him.
On the screen, Wang Yan hid in the shadows between the shelves, his eyes following Han Ruoruo.
She took down a book on advanced Soul Skills, sat in the reading area, and quietly leafed through it.
Sunlight streamed through the window and fell upon her, making her look like a painting.
And Wang Yan could only remain in the shadows, greedily etching her beauty into his heart.
[I knew the gap between us was farther than the distance from Shrek City to Ming Capital.]
[But that couldn't stop me from longing to catch up with her, longing for the day when... I could stand by her side.]
[For that, I had to become stronger!]
The young man's monologue was filled with indignation.
But soon, a new scene appeared.
Late at night in the library, Han Ruoruo sat alone, her brows furrowed as several books on weapon-type Martial Souls lay open before her.
Her Martial Soul, the Shaking Gold Rope, floated quietly beside her. Golden light flowed along it, but its movement seemed sluggish.
[The Shaking Gold Rope was a top-tier control-type weapon Martial Soul, with enormous potential.]
[But for that very reason, its development was also extremely complex.]
[During that time, I happened to overhear her troubles.]
[She had hit a bottleneck. She couldn't decide how to develop her Martial Soul, and her Soul Power had become muddled and impure, hindering her breakthrough.]
On the screen, Wang Yan hid behind a bookshelf, listening as Han Ruoruo spoke with a teacher.
A flash of heartache crossed his eyes, along with a glimmer that few would notice.
[At that moment, I suddenly realized... Perhaps there was something I could do for her.]
[I had neither great strength nor an illustrious family, but I did have... theoretical knowledge.]
Over the next few days, the scenes on the Sky Screen changed rapidly.
[During the day, I worked part-time at the library to support my studies.]
[At night, I became the most dedicated researcher.]
[I searched through every record in the library concerning control-type, rope-type, and metal-type weapon Martial Souls.]
[From ancient fragments to papers written by modern Grandmasters, I left nothing unread.]
On the screen, Wang Yan's eyes were bloodshot, yet shone with astonishing brightness.
[I mapped out three development paths for her Shaking Gold Rope Martial Soul.]
[First, an extreme control path. Second...]
[I worked through several sleepless nights and finally completed a thick set of notes.]
[But I didn't put my name on them.]
[Early the next morning, I secretly slipped the notes into a copy of Detailed Applications of Advanced Weapon Martial Souls, a book she often read.]
[When I had finished, my heart pounded. I fled the library before anyone else arrived.]
[Douluo II Period]
When Han Ruoruo saw that familiar notebook appear on the screen, she froze.
"So... So it was you..."
She murmured to herself, and for the first time, her cool eyes showed a powerful surge of emotion.
She had always thought the advice came from a senior who wished to remain anonymous.
She never imagined it had come from Wang Yan, who was always so quiet in the corner.
The scene changed.
Han Ruoruo found the notebook in the library.
She flipped through it in surprise, her delicate face filled with astonishment.
Wang Yan hid behind a bookshelf, so nervous that his palms were slick with sweat.
He watched as Han Ruoruo carefully put the notebook into her Storage Soul Tool, a fond smile on her face.
[She smiled... She kept it...]
[At that moment, I felt all my hard work had been worth it.]
[But the gap between us was still too great.]
[She easily passed the inner courtyard selection, while I could only graduate from the outer courtyard.]
[To become worthy of her, and for the ideals in my heart, I gave up the path of becoming a battle Soul Master and chose to stay on as a teacher.]
The scene changed, and Wang Yan was now a young teacher.
He put on a pair of glasses, making him look even more refined.
When he first stepped up to the lectern, his palms sweated with nerves.
But when he began explaining the mysteries of Martial Souls, confidence shone in his eyes.
[I loved this work. I treated every student as my own child.]
[I wanted to help them uncover their Martial Souls' potential and never give up on any Martial Soul deemed "useless."]
Scenes began to appear on the screen.
[There was a student named Xu Sanshi, whose Martial Soul was the Black Tortoise of Profound Darkness.]
[His defense was astonishing, but because his Soul Power circulated sluggishly and he lacked offensive techniques, he was once considered nothing more than a pure meat shield, ranked near the bottom of the Power Attack System.]
[I discovered that Xu Sanshi's Black Tortoise of Profound Darkness Martial Soul was not purely defensive. A faint trace of bloodline power lay hidden deep within it.]
[I searched through every record concerning ancient turtle-type Soul Beasts, and finally found the answer in a damaged old book.]
On the screen, Wang Yan was in the library late at night, his eyes bloodshot. At last, he found several blurred ancient characters on a dusty scroll of animal hide.
Overjoyed, he worked through the night to devise a training regimen to stimulate the bloodline.
[I taught him how to use Soul Power to strike the patterns on his shell from within, drawing on his own vitality to awaken his bloodline power.]
[The process was painful, but he persevered.]
On the screen, Xu Sanshi stood beneath a waterfall, circulating his Soul Power as Wang Yan had instructed and letting the water crash down on him. His skin cracked all over from the collision of Soul Power.
But in the end, he succeeded.
A layer of black light appeared over Xu Sanshi's Black Tortoise of Profound Darkness Martial Soul.
On the plaza, Xu Sanshi, now a disciple of the inner courtyard, watched the scene with tears in his tiger-like eyes, his fists clenched tight.
Without Teacher Wang Yan, he would never have made it this far!
"Teacher Wang Yan could never be a hypocrite!"
Xu Sanshi shouted, punching the air.
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