Su Yan suddenly smiled and shook his head.
The chances of a civilian surviving in the hands of a Soul Beast were practically nonexistent. He decided he must have seen things.
Another day had passed, full of excitement and thrills.
Night fell, and Su Yan went to bed early.
Tonight wasn't suitable for cultivation. He had something more important to do.
Inside the Spirit Hall's director's office.
"Holy Maiden, that man surnamed Mo has confessed." The Square-Faced Enforcer hurried to report as soon as he received the news.
"Go on." Bibi Dong sat in the seat of honor, her eyes dark and unreadable, as if she were thinking about something.
The Square-Faced Enforcer opened the interrogation records and began to speak slowly.
"He said the soul materials—in other words, the children—were all being sent to Heaven Dou City."
"He was responsible for capturing the children and taking them to Heaven Dou City. He wasn't involved in what happened afterward."
"That's the first thing. Second, he was also responsible for testing the effects of the Strength Pill, while earning himself a little extra money."
Bibi Dong furrowed her brow and lightly tapped the table with her jade-like fingers. "Heaven Dou City? Who was his superior, and how did they make contact?"
"He said he was only responsible for bringing the children to Heaven Dou City. He got the Strength Pills there, too. He knows nothing about the rest. He would drop them off and come back, and someone else would come collect the children."
"The trail ends at Heaven Dou City." Bibi Dong leaned back in her chair and thought for a moment before speaking. "Send word to the Spirit Hall in Heaven Dou City and have them investigate. Also, have the Main Martial Soul Hall send people to infiltrate Heaven Dou City. No one can know—not even the Spirit Hall there."
"Yes." The Square-Faced Enforcer bowed. "Holy Maiden, do you have any other instructions?"
"That's all. You may go." Bibi Dong waved her hand.
After the Square-Faced Enforcer left, Ma Xiunuo stroked his beard and said, "Heaven Dou City is a complicated tangle of competing powers. If we really want to find the source of this organization, we'll probably have to start with the Evil Soul Masters and look into their movements."
"Evil Soul Masters have been hiding more and more deeply over the years. That approach probably won't work." Bibi Dong took a deep breath. "Have them investigate Heaven Dou City first."
"Indeed," Ma Xiunuo replied.
The two of them also left the office.
Bibi Dong headed toward the dormitories. As she passed the training ground, she spotted a wooden wheelchair standing in the middle. The strained voice of a little girl could be heard nearby.
"Xue Ke, why are you still here so late?" Bibi Dong came up behind her just as Xue Ke released her Martial Soul.
A pair of small gray wings sprouted from her back, near her shoulder blades, and short gray feathers covered her body.
"Ah!" Xue Ke jumped, then turned around and saw Bibi Dong. A smile appeared at the corners of her mouth. "Teacher, I wanted to see if I could stand up."
"Can you?"
"No. I tried using the Nine-Heart Begonia, too, but it didn't work." Xue Ke pressed her lips together, her brows full of dejection.
Bibi Dong crouched down and placed both hands on Xue Ke's thighs. Looking into her eyes, she said, "Xue Ke, don't worry. I've already asked people from the Main Martial Soul Hall to look for a solution. Until then, you can tell me if you run into any problems."
"Teacher, back in the Soul Hunting Forest, they were all rushing to the front, while I couldn't do anything." Xue Ke's tears fell like pearls from a broken string. "I thought that if I could stand up, maybe I could help them. At least they wouldn't have to worry about protecting me."
"Xue Ke, I understand." Bibi Dong raised a hand to wipe away her tears and drew her into her arms. "You don't have to stand up and fight alongside them to help. You can study theory well. That way, you can still help them cultivate and become stronger."
"Teacher, can I really do that?" Xue Ke clutched her clothes tightly.
Bibi Dong gently rubbed her head. "You absolutely can!"
Inside his room, Su Yan looked around to make sure no one was there, then took the Shell Core he'd picked up from his belt and immediately tossed it into the Inner World of Martial Souls.
Then he jumped onto the bed, sat cross-legged, composed himself, and entered a meditative state.
Egglet happily pounced on Su Yan, rubbing against his trouser leg and begging to be petted, hugged, and lifted up high!
Su Yan indulged it in every way. He rubbed it all over; it was so smooth, and its texture felt wonderful.
A little while later, he placed the Shell Core on the floor and removed the cloth strips. The crystal-red Shell Core continued to pulse, flashing like a beating heart.
Only when he saw the Shell Core up close did he realize how beautiful it was.
Su Yan extended a finger, but hesitated to touch it. He was worried the Shell Core might fuse with his body.
If that happened, he would no longer be "human." He would become a ghoul, and all human food would seem as disgusting as filth.
Su Yan didn't want to turn into that.
No matter how strong the Kagune's allure was, he resisted the urge to touch it.
"Egglet, I'm leaving this thing here with you. Keep it safe, understand?"
Egglet trembled.
Su Yan rose to his feet and gazed up at the sky, full of anticipation for that Martial Soul to appear.
There were many more gray orbs in the sky now. Su Yan searched through them one by one. Even Xue Ke's Ugly Duckling was there, but the Zanpakuto in Yin Fang's hand—Icicle—was nowhere to be found.
Instead, there was a dragon-shaped Martial Soul, which was probably Yin Fang's original one.
So that meant he couldn't obtain Martial Souls added later on.
Su Yan felt a little disappointed.
But only for a moment.
The gray orbs were like stars filling the sky, and there were more and more of them. Su Yan wished he could unlock them all.
He returned to his room and began circulating the Yi Jin Jing.
When he'd heard the name from his master, he'd been utterly stunned.
A Dragon-Slaying Blade for a Martial Soul and the Yi Jin Jing as an internal cultivation technique—how fitting.
The night passed, and the next morning arrived.
The group gathered on the training ground bright and early.
Bibi Dong had never imagined she would one day be teaching so many people at once.
She couldn't help admiring the luck of the little fellow Su Yan. Su Yuntao had borrowed him to handle the fraud ring, and he'd even managed to bring back a teammate along the way.
With Pikachu, they now had a six-person team. They were still two members short of entering the Martial Soul Hall Junior Soul Master Competition.
After all, Xue Ke would be part of the cheer squad and assist with training, not compete herself.
Bibi Dong had already put Bi's Training Method into practice, so she wouldn't repeat it. The new members would go straight into the next training program.
"Our next training program is the Endurance Training Method," Bibi Dong said. "The old method involved throwing people into an ant nest and using the ants' behavior to train their endurance. It lasted half a month."
The four who had already experienced the training method all swallowed hard.
She definitely wasn't joking. Bibi Dong really could do something like that.
"But we recently discovered that fighting inside the ant nest better tested overall ability, making it more suitable as an assessment. As for the Endurance Training Method..." Bibi Dong suddenly smiled. "I've changed it up. We're going surfing."
Su Yan felt uneasy. Why did his master's smile always seem so terrifying whenever she talked about training methods?
Before long, the group was riding in a carriage out of Notting City, heading to the place where they would go surfing.
Would it be the seaside?
Su Yan thought of one of the trials on Sea God Island. Surfing cultivation involved letting the waves crash against you over and over, which really could train endurance.
The carriage rocked along the road, its wheels leaving two ruts behind.
Forest stretched out on both sides, especially lush and green in the sunlight.
Su Yan felt the carriage climbing uphill. The sound of water grew louder by the moment.
"We're here." Bibi Dong jumped down from the carriage and pointed toward the source of the roaring water. "That's where we'll be surfing!"
Su Yan and the others followed her gaze and were stunned.
That wasn't a sea for surfing. It was a magnificent waterfall!
The waterfall was about a hundred meters wide. The spray on the left was the heaviest, rising into a thick mist, while the spray on the right was the lightest—but it was still powerful enough to pierce solid rock.
Su Yan looked up, but could barely see the top of the waterfall.
"Master, we're not actually supposed to stand beneath the waterfall, are we?"
"Congratulations, you got it right!"
Su Yan swallowed hard. His master really was something else; this terrifying training was exactly what he'd expected.
Tang Chi's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.
Zhu Zhuqing stared at the waterfall with cool eyes, the corner of one eye twitching slightly.
Yin Fang was completely flustered. He shuddered all over. No one had ever trained like this before. They were only children!
Even Pikachu was trembling a little.
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