The gods gradually realized that the actions of the Douluo God Realm could not affect the Douluo Continent for the time being.
Chen An, who was in seclusion, knew little about what was happening outside.
"Senior Sister, why do I feel like the spiritual energy in the academy has gotten much denser?"
That day, Ning Rongrong chatted as she practiced basic techniques with Zhu Zhuqing.
"Maybe Master did something."
Zhu Zhuqing had no idea what was going on, either.
Before Ning Rongrong asked, she had already gone around asking, but everyone had been just as clueless.
So when in doubt, whether it was good or bad, it was always safe to say Master had done it.
"Also, don't get distracted while you're practicing."
It might have been a common failing among those who practiced martial arts, but they always found themselves correcting others without thinking.
"Oh."
Ning Rongrong pouted and murmured softly after letting out an "oh."
"Senior Sister is so strict."
She didn't dare say it aloud. After seeing some thickheaded kid challenge Zhu Zhuqing in class, she'd abandoned any thought of defying her senior sister.
That day, Zhu Zhuqing hadn't used a Soul Skill. She'd simply beaten the other girl senseless with her physical strength.
Luo Xiaoshi had said at the time,
"Senior Sister's more and more like Master. Looks like I'll have to work even harder, too."
Now, some people at the academy also joined Zhu Zhuqing and Luo Xiaoshi for early-morning training.
Usually, Luo Xiaoshi and Zhu Zhuqing led separate groups. Luo Xiaoshi was in charge of the boys, while Zhu Zhuqing took the girls.
But, unfortunately, Ning Rongrong was the only one who trained with Zhu Zhuqing.
Luo Xiaoshi's group, on the other hand, was livelier. It had students with staff-type Martial Souls as well as those with defensive Martial Souls.
Zhu Zhuqing was a little annoyed by this. Did she really look so unapproachable?
Of course, none of them considered that it might have been because the boys and girls were split into separate groups.
Morning training shouldn't go on too long. Moderation was best.
By the time they finished and made it to the cafeteria, it was already packed.
After struggling to find seats and settling down to eat, Luo Xiaoshi sidled up to them and asked,
"Senior Sister, when do you think we'll officially start teaching classes?"
They were still young, after all, so the plan to have them lead classes had been postponed. For now, they were only trying it out.
Following the rule in the residential area of not talking during meals, Zhu Zhuqing swallowed her food and stopped eating before answering.
"Once you're ready, you can start whenever you like."
As Chen An's eldest disciple, she held quite a high position while he was in seclusion.
The trio and Lin Ran both took her opinions into consideration.
But Zhu Zhuqing didn't want to get involved in too much or inflate her own standing. Instead, she followed Chen An's usual example and took things easy.
Luo Xiaoshi's eyes lit up at her words, and he perked up.
"Senior Sister, if I can start whenever I like, then I'm ready."
Zhu Zhuqing glanced at him and asked coolly, "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely!" Luo Xiaoshi thumped his chest. "I spent all last night thinking about how to teach the Five-Tiger Eight-Trigram Staff properly."
Ning Rongrong was eating in small bites beside them. Hearing that, she couldn't help interjecting,
"Senior Brother, you're being so enthusiastic. It's strange."
At that, Luo Xiaoshi replied,
"What's strange about it? I'm helping our teacher out. Besides, the academy is my home."
Zhu Zhuqing choked a little when she heard that.
At first, she'd wanted to give him a skeptical look that said, Do you even believe what you're saying? But then she thought about it, and it did kind of make sense.
Still, knowing Luo Xiaoshi, that probably wasn't his only reason.
He'd probably also been badly bullied in the past.
"You can start, but I'm going to break through to level 30 in the next couple of days, and Master should be coming out of seclusion soon."
Zhu Zhuqing didn't object to Luo Xiaoshi wanting to teach. She wanted to try teaching martial arts, too.
But the timing just wasn't right. Once she broke through, Master would probably be out of seclusion as well.
According to Master, he was going to get her a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring for her level 30 breakthrough, which would take a few days.
So teaching martial arts now would just waste everyone's time. She couldn't bring herself to do that.
"What? Senior Sister, you're about to break through to level 30? Then I can wait, too."
Once he learned that Zhu Zhuqing couldn't start just yet, he wasn't in a hurry anymore.
This was something the three of them had to do together. If he did it alone, he'd just end up taking on too much.
As they were talking, he suddenly remembered what Zhu Zhuqing had said earlier. His eyes widened in shock.
"How do you know Master's coming out of seclusion? Did he tell you?"
He'd known Zhu Zhuqing was close to level 30, so that didn't surprise him. But he had no idea Chen An was about to come out of seclusion.
"Yeah, Senior Sister, how did you know?"
Ning Rongrong was curious now, too. She'd been glued to Zhu Zhuqing lately, as usual, but hadn't noticed anything unusual.
At their questions, Zhu Zhuqing looked bewildered, like a top student being handed a simple algebra problem by a struggling classmate who claimed they couldn't solve it.
"Didn't you notice that the changes in the academy have stabilized today?"
In truth, she hadn't communicated with Chen An. She'd worked it out herself.
"You mean the spiritual energy?"
Zhu Zhuqing nodded, feeling a little reassured. It seemed her junior brother wasn't completely stupid.
Seeing that Ning Rongrong was still confused, she remembered how recently she'd joined and explained,
"Rongrong, Master worked out that a Soul Master's Soul Power grows through absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Have you noticed that your cultivation has been progressing faster over the last few days?"
Ning Rongrong nodded. The idea was easy to understand.
And she really had noticed that.
"The only person who can change the spiritual energy in our academy is Master. Last night, it rose to its peak, then dropped again at the second watch. It's stayed stable ever since. That's how I figured Master would be coming out of seclusion soon."
After hearing Zhu Zhuqing's explanation, Luo Xiaoshi felt ashamed. He hadn't thought of it that way at all, nor would he have considered that possibility.
So he turned into a boy who did nothing but praise her.
"As expected of Senior Sister. Impressive."
Zhu Zhuqing waved her hand, indicating that it was nothing special.
Then she glanced at Ning Rongrong, who was nearly done eating, and said,
"It's nothing. You have class later."
After that, Luo Xiaoshi didn't say anything else and started eating his breakfast.
Boys were usually faster eaters than girls. Luo Xiaoshi, going at half throttle, soon caught up, and he was still the first to finish.
"Senior Sister, I'm heading out. Good luck with your breakthrough."
"Thanks. I'll take that good wish."
With that, Luo Xiaoshi left. Zhu Zhuqing quickly finished her own meal, then accompanied Ning Rongrong to the classroom before leaving on her own.
During the year after Chen An took in his disciples, he hadn't given many structured lessons. Most of their time had gone toward improving their cultivation.
Now that conditions were better, of course they needed to make arrangements.
As for the instructors, the trio would divide up the subjects between them, each teaching two.
There were a lot of subjects, and they only had a basic understanding of them. But Chen An had taught them in detail, so now they just had to repeat what he'd taught.
"I should go to the Cultivation Room."
After dropping Ning Rongrong off, Zhu Zhuqing walked back to the dormitory. She'd instinctively wanted to break through there, since she'd spent the past year cultivating in her room.
Then she remembered that more people were staying in the dormitory now, and that she shared it with someone else, so she stopped herself.
"Alright, this one."
Chen An hadn't come out yet to make any adjustments, so all the rooms in the Cultivation Building were still the same.
Zhu Zhuqing picked a Cultivation Room she liked. It was the same one Ning Rongrong had tried the Dream Realm in earlier.
As soon as she stepped inside, she couldn't help exclaiming,
"The spiritual energy is so dense."
After her exclamation, she began to tidy up a little.
Once everything was ready, she prepared to get started and break through to level 30.
Before you continue