Asking About Yue Guan's Childhood

Lu Fan was quite curious about Yue Guan's background as well.

In his previous life, he had only watched the first Douluo anime and had never read the manga. He vaguely remembered something about Yue Guan having an older sister.

Lu Fan asked curiously, "Village Chief, could you tell me about my teacher's childhood?"

Seeing Lu Fan's expectant expression, the village chief smiled and shook his head. "No."

"Why?"

Lu Fan was puzzled. Could there be some secret involved?

But the village chief's explanation that followed made Lu Fan regard him in a new light.

Seeing Lu Fan's confusion, the village chief explained, "If you want to know someone's past in order to harm them, then there's nothing wrong with hearing it from others. But if you're merely curious, or want to understand them better, then you should ask them personally."

"Although I know about his past, what I say might not necessarily be correct."

"Confused? I clearly said that I knew, so why would I say that what I tell you might not be right?"

Lu Fan nodded. Those words truly left him confused.

The village chief beckoned Lu Fan over to sit and chat with him.

After they sat down, the village chief explained, "There's a saying: those involved are confused, while onlookers see clearly."

"Everyone has different life experiences and paths of growth. Because of those differences, people will give different answers when they try to understand the same thing."

"So if you ask me, I can only tell you about the person I understand him to be. But is he truly the person I understand him to be?"

"Obviously, the chances of that are not high. It's even more likely that he is completely different from the person I believe him to be."

"He is your teacher. You surely don't want to know these things to harm him, but to understand him. Yet if you hear information from me that might not be true, you could very well do harm despite your good intentions."

"So, if you are curious about someone's past, you should ask that person yourself rather than asking me or anyone else."

"But if my teacher doesn't want to tell me, does that mean there's nothing I can do?"

Lu Fan asked somewhat unwillingly.

The village chief smiled and shook his head. "If he is unwilling to tell you, that means you are not yet qualified to know."

Lu Fan curled his lips. He was his teacher's cherished disciple. Hearing the village chief say that, he believed that if he asked, Yue Guan would certainly tell him.

"I'll be going now, Village Chief. I promised to help Xiao Mei awaken her Martial Soul."

Lu Fan rose, preparing to leave.

Before leaving, he took several gift boxes from his storage ring.

"These are some local specialties I brought back from Spirit City. Please accept them, Village Chief. I also bought some more to hand out to everyone else later."

The village chief did not refuse. After accepting the gifts, he called out to Lu Fan as he walked away, "Xiao Fan, your talent may be high, but your experience is too shallow. Remember, in the adult world, things are never so smooth sailing. Too much confidence will only become arrogance."

Lu Fan paused at those words.

He raised a hand and waved.

"I understand, Village Chief. I'll remember it."

"This child..."

Watching Lu Fan walk away, the village chief shook his head.

Seeing how decisively Lu Fan had left, he felt that Lu Fan had not taken his words to heart at all.

"If he acts willfully and without restraint just because others dote on him, then sooner or later, people will grow tired of him."

However, after saying that, a faint smile appeared on the village chief's face again.

"But there is another old saying: failure is the mother of success. People often grow only after experiencing failure, especially youngsters like them."

Elsewhere.

Lu Fan arrived at the Spirit Hall built within the village.

Of course, this Spirit Hall was worlds apart from the Spirit Hall in Spirit City. Even compared with the one in Nuoding City, it was like heaven and earth.

Placed side by side, no one would associate them with each other at all.

But that was perfectly normal.

After all, what spare money did a small mountain village have? Why would they be willing to waste money on something like this?

A little thatched hut was enough to make do.

From far away, Lu Fan saw a little girl squatting at the entrance of the Spirit Hall, hugging her knees.

He quickened his pace and hurried forward.

Thud, thud, thud.

His hurried footsteps made a great deal of noise, disturbing the girl who had been lost in thought.

The girl looked up. When she saw who had come, her previously calm expression immediately turned to delight.

"Big Brother Xiao Fan, you're here!"

The girl hurriedly got up and tried to run toward Lu Fan.

Perhaps because she had squatted for too long and her legs had gone numb, she lost her footing in her excitement and fell forward.

"Careful."

Lu Fan flashed forward and caught her.

Held in Lu Fan's arms, the girl saw his exceptionally handsome face so close before her. Her little face unconsciously flushed red.

Lu Fan helped her stand steadily. "Be careful. You might not be so lucky next time and have someone catch you."

"Come on. I'll take you to awaken your Martial Soul."

Lu Fan took Xiao Mei's slender little hand and led her into the Spirit Hall.

Xiao Mei merely blushed the entire way, allowing Lu Fan to hold her hand and lead her into an empty little room.

Once inside, Lu Fan released Xiao Mei's hand and took out six Awakening Stones, arranging them into a hexagram formation on the ground.

This was not his first time helping the children in the village awaken their Martial Souls.

He was very familiar with the process.

Moreover, in this era, Martial Soul Awakening Stones had not yet been monopolized by major powers and nobles. A set of Awakening Stones could probably be bought for just one Silver Soul Coin.

"Stand in the middle of the Awakening Stones."

Lu Fan spoke softly to Xiao Mei.

When she did not respond, Lu Fan called again, "Xiao Mei?"

"Ah? Oh, okay."

Only then did Xiao Mei come back to her senses and hurriedly step into the Awakening Stones.

Lu Fan summoned his Martial Soul.

A beautiful large chrysanthemum appeared in Lu Fan's hand, with purple petals and golden stamens.

At the same time, three Spirit Rings—yellow, purple, and purple—lit up beneath Lu Fan's feet.

This was not Xiao Mei's first time seeing Lu Fan's Martial Soul.

She did not find it strange.

Besides, Lu Fan's Martial Soul was not a Beast Martial Soul and looked completely harmless.

"Big Brother Xiao Fan's Martial Soul is so pretty."

Xiao Mei praised him.

Lu Fan smiled at her words. "Thank you."

Then Lu Fan did not waste any more time.

He infused Soul Power into the Awakening Stones and began awakening Xiao Mei's Soul Power.

A moment later, a small branch bearing two or three Plum Blossoms appeared in Xiao Mei's right hand.

Suddenly, that small branch detached from Xiao Mei's hand, turning into motes of light that fell behind her.

"Hm?"

Lu Fan raised an eyebrow.

"Could it be a Martial Soul Mutation?"

Lu Fan became interested, but at the same time, he felt a trace of worry and nervousness.

Martial Soul Mutations were more likely to end in failure, like Gangzi's, making the Martial Soul worse.

Although such things had nothing to do with the person awakening it, if Xiao Mei's Martial Soul was a harmful mutation, Lu Fan would probably feel somewhat guilty.