At first, Qian Renxue listened with rapt attention. Gradually, though, her gaze was drawn helplessly to Chen Xuan's handsome profile.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves, dappling his figure and bathing him in a faint golden glow.
He hadn't released a trace of his aura, yet Qian Renxue could sense that he was like a Blue Silver Emperor rooted between heaven and earth—calm, ancient, and brimming with boundless vitality.
She gazed at him, entranced.
Her thoughts began to wander.
Teacher... who exactly are you? Why are you so powerful?
What kind of woman would you like?
Someone as domineering and forceful as my mother?
Or someone as alluring and enchanting as Hu Liena?
Or... someone like me?
At the thought, her heart began to race again, and a captivating blush rose to her cheeks.
"Did you understand?"
Chen Xuan finished explaining and turned to look at her.
"Huh? I... I understand!"
Qian Renxue came to her senses as if waking from a dream and hurriedly nodded, though her eyes darted away.
Chen Xuan glanced at her. "Focus."
"Y-yes! This disciple was wrong!"
Qian Renxue's face turned even redder, like a ripe apple. She wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
One year later.
Amid the city's jeers, Blue Silver Academy officially opened its doors.
Thanks to the Crown Prince's reputation and the generous offer to waive all fees, the academy still managed to enroll over a hundred commoner students.
The enormous classroom was packed for the first theory lesson.
Ye Lingling sat by the window, distractedly gazing outside.
As the heir to the Nine Heart Begonia, she shouldn't have been here at all.
The Crown Prince had personally ordered her to come to this academy to "study."
Ye Lingling was deeply unwilling to obey.
Blue Silver Academy?
Even its name sounded unreliable.
What could she possibly learn here?
How to water and fertilize Blue Silver Grass?
Just then, the classroom door opened, and someone walked in.
Ye Lingling looked up, and her disappointment deepened.
The young man who stepped up to the lectern looked barely twenty. He wore a simple blue robe and had a calm, unassuming air.
This was Blue Silver Academy's dean and teacher?
He was far too young!
What could he know about being a Soul Master?
She wasn't the only one. The other students began murmuring, and one skeptical gaze after another settled on Chen Xuan.
Chen Xuan ignored the chatter and the stares.
He stood at the lectern, swept his gaze across the room, and spoke calmly.
"I know many of you have deeply ingrained beliefs about Martial Souls."
"For example, that Innate Soul Power determines the level of one's talent."
"For example, that the strength of a Martial Soul is decided at birth."
"And that Soul Rings have absolute age limits."
"What I'm going to tell you today is..."
Chen Xuan paused. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly throughout the classroom.
"All of that is wrong."
The words sent the room into an uproar.
"What? Did I hear that right? He said all of that was wrong?"
"Has he lost his mind? Those are ironclad rules certified by Spirit Hall!"
"That teacher sure knows how to brag!"
The students were stunned. They thought the young teacher was spouting utter nonsense.
Chen Xuan paid no attention to their reactions and continued on his own.
"Innate Soul Power only represents your starting point, not your destination."
"The weaker a Martial Soul is, the more ordinary it seems, the greater its potential for limitless evolution. That's because it isn't bound by its innate form."
"The age of a Soul Ring depends only on your soul and will, not your body."
One astonishing claim after another left Chen Xuan's lips.
Most of the students were lost, and thought it was pure fantasy.
Only Ye Lingling gradually grew serious, her initial disappointment and disdain giving way to fascination.
Others might not understand, but as the wielder of the Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul, she had a vague feeling that what this teacher was saying... might be true!
The Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul was passed down through a single line. There could only ever be one heir.
Wasn't that an innate shackle?
"The weaker a Martial Soul is, the greater its potential for limitless evolution..."
"Will... conviction..."
Ye Lingling murmured to herself as countless flashes of insight seemed to streak through her mind.
Suddenly, she understood!
Why could the Nine Heart Begonia only heal and not attack?
Was it a limitation of the Martial Soul?
No!
It was they who had limited themselves!
Their ancestors, generation after generation, had all believed the Nine Heart Begonia could only be used for healing!
Once the thought came, it could no longer be contained!
For some reason, as Ye Lingling listened to the lesson and felt the life force unique to the Blue Silver Emperor emanating from Chen Xuan, she gradually began to understand under its guidance.
Hum—!
A powerful surge of Soul Power burst uncontrollably from Ye Lingling's body!
A brilliant begonia flower quietly appeared behind her.
It had nine petals, each so vivid they seemed to drip with color. It was none other than the Nine Heart Begonia.
But in the next instant, a sudden transformation began!
The nine petals started to glow with a sacred white light, becoming as clear and lustrous as fine white jade!
A healing aura more than ten times purer and more powerful than before spread from the flower's heart, instantly enveloping the entire classroom!
Under its influence, all the students felt their spirits lift. Some of their old injuries even seemed to be slowly healing!
Then, at the center of those nine jade-like petals, a thread of golden light quietly blossomed.
The light grew brighter and brighter, until it transformed into a tiny, delicate golden leaf!
A celestial bloom with nine petals, and a golden leaf like the Buddha's hand!
An otherworldly aura, as if from an immortal treasure, burst outward!
During a single theory lesson with Chen Xuan, Ye Lingling's Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul evolved before everyone's eyes!
It evolved into—the Nine-Heart Immortal Begonia!
The entire room fell deathly silent.
Not even a pin dropped.
Every student stared at the Nine Heart Begonia behind Ye Lingling, fixed on the Martial Soul as it underwent its dramatic transformation.
That sacred radiance, that otherworldly aura, that newly born golden leaf...
Each sight struck their fragile hearts like a heavy hammer.
A Martial Soul... had evolved?
Just by listening to a single theory lesson, a Martial Soul famed for its supreme healing ability—and its equally supreme limitations—had evolved right before everyone's eyes?!
"Good heavens... I'm not dreaming, am I?"
Someone's dreamlike whisper broke the silence in the classroom.
Whoosh—!
The room boiled over like water in a pot!
"It's true! Martial Souls really can evolve!"
"Everything this teacher said... it's all true! Innate Soul Power doesn't decide your destination, and even a Trash Martial Soul can have its day in the sun!"
"A miracle! This is nothing short of a miracle!"
Before you continue