When Lin Yuan heard his name, he slowly gathered his thoughts and rose from the wide chair.
His expression remained as calm as still water, without the slightest hint of panic at being caught.
Seeing how composed he was, Bibi Dong decided to give her exceptionally talented son a little nudge and make him understand the importance of theoretical knowledge.
"Since you haven't been paying attention in class, I assume you've already formed your own views on Martial Soul Theory."
"Then let me ask you: for a Beast Martial Soul, which matters more—seeking the increase in power granted by higher-year Soul Rings, or uncovering the Martial Soul's innate mimicry?"
It was an exceptionally tricky and classic theoretical question.
Even among Spirit Hall's senior elders, there had long been fierce disagreement and debate over it.
Xie Yue and Yan exchanged glances, both secretly sneering as they waited for Lin Yuan to embarrass himself.
How could a six-year-old who had only just awakened his Martial Soul, and didn't even have a Soul Ring, possibly answer such a profound question?
Hu Liena nervously clenched her little hands, worried for Lin Yuan.
Yet Lin Yuan simply stood where he was and swept his gaze over everyone, utterly unruffled.
He spoke:
"Both views are laughable cases of mistaking branch for root."
As soon as he said it, the Guidance Room fell deathly silent.
Bibi Dong's slender brows knitted at once.
But Lin Yuan gave her no chance to retort and continued.
"Soul Rings are merely the outward manifestation of the laws of heaven and earth. Mimicry is nothing more than a clumsy imitation of the surface of one's bloodline."
"A true powerhouse should never cater to the skills granted by Soul Rings. They should use their own flesh to crush and refine the power of heaven and earth within them."
"When the body and Martial Soul have completely become one, and the bloodline breaks through its limits to return to its ancient origins, there is no need for any flashy skills."
"One punch, and the Great Dao."
"One breath, and all things are suppressed."
"Those who place their hopes in the enhancements granted by external objects will never reach the true realm of the gods."
Lin Yuan spoke at an unhurried pace, enunciating every word with perfect clarity. His words carried the domineering force of an undeniable truth.
He possessed the supreme bloodline of the Nine Nether Beast. His understanding of power had long since surpassed the rigid conventions of Douluo Continent.
When his words fell,
a deathly silence settled over the Guidance Room.
Bibi Dong stood frozen on the lectern, her beautiful eyes widening in shock.
Lin Yuan's answer completely overturned the common wisdom passed down through the Soul Master World for ten thousand years.
And yet, within those seemingly arrogant words lay a terrifying logic that pointed straight to the essence of the Great Dao.
Even Bibi Dong's own Rakshasa God Trial, which had remained stalled for so long, seemed to yield a faint glimmer of understanding after she heard him.
She stared at Lin Yuan in shock.
Bibi Dong was dressed in a close-fitting purple-black papal gown.
The powerful emotions made her chest rise and fall slightly, accentuating her breathtakingly perfect figure.
The high slit in her skirt revealed a pair of long, straight, snow-white legs, crossed slightly as she stood.
The intoxicating allure of a mature woman blended with her lofty, imposing bearing, radiating a fatal temptation capable of driving any man mad.
But at that moment, Bibi Dong had no thought for her appearance.
Lin Yuan's words kept echoing in her mind: "One punch, and the Great Dao."
This child's understanding of Martial Souls was even deeper than hers, the Pope's!
Hu Liena, standing to the side, was even more dumbstruck.
An unprecedented brilliance blazed in her golden eyes.
Was this the child His Holiness the Pope had adopted?
Was this the prodigy said to have stirred up celestial phenomena?
He could casually speak the supreme truth that even the Pope couldn't refute.
He was a genius among geniuses, a genius at the very pinnacle!
Bibi Dong stood there in a daze for a long while. In the end, all she could do was let out a long sigh.
Faced with an answer so flawless it seemed to transcend its age, she couldn't find a single reason to reprimand Lin Yuan.
"Good... very good."
"Your insights are quite unique."
"..."
Bibi Dong's voice brimmed with helplessness as she waved a hand.
"Sit down. As long as you don't disturb the others, you may cultivate in your own way."
Lin Yuan returned to the seat of honor without changing expression and continued resting with his eyes closed.
After that class, Hu Liena clung to Lin Yuan as though she'd discovered a priceless treasure.
Whenever she got the chance, the little Demon Fox followed close behind him like a tail she couldn't shake.
In the corridors in the morning, in the cafeteria at noon, even beside the Martial Arts Arena at dusk,
Hu Liena could always be seen chattering away beside Lin Yuan.
"Lin Yuan, Lin Yuan, what did you mean by Bloodline Ancestry the other day?"
"Lin Yuan, my Demon Fox Martial Soul has an innate charm attribute, but I feel like using it takes too much mental strength. Is there a way to fix that?"
"Lin Yuan, will you teach me how to compress Soul Power?"
Hu Liena was always blinking her wide, eager eyes as she sweetly asked Lin Yuan about all kinds of cultivation problems.
Lin Yuan was aloof and spoke very little.
But he showed no particular distaste for this junior fellow disciple in name.
Whenever Hu Liena asked, he gave her an answer.
"Don't rely on sight alone for charm. Turn your mental strength into a needle and drive it straight into your opponent's subconscious."
"You're using too much Soul Power because your meridians aren't strong enough. Go beneath a waterfall and endure the current. Use the force to widen your meridians."
His answers were always only a few brief words, never dragging things out.
Yet every sentence struck precisely at the heart of the matter.
Whenever she heard Lin Yuan explain something, Hu Liena would suddenly see the light and beam with excitement.
When she smiled, her eyes curved into lovely crescents, her pretty face brimming with admiration and joy.
She never imagined that Lin Yuan, who was the same age as her, could have such an astonishingly profound understanding of cultivation.
Following Lin Yuan's guidance, Hu Liena found that her progress was advancing by leaps and bounds.
That made her admiration for Lin Yuan even more fervent, until she practically obeyed his every word.
However,
Hu Liena's habit of circling Lin Yuan all day like a lovestruck fangirl thoroughly enraged two other people.
They were Yan and Xie Yue, who had once been regarded as the leading figures of Spirit Hall's younger generation.
Watching Hu Liena fawn over Lin Yuan with such admiration, the flames in their hearts burned hotter and hotter.
In Yan and Xie Yue's eyes, the reason Lin Yuan had stolen the show in class and voiced such astonishing theories
was entirely that he had been adopted by Pope Bibi Dong earlier than they had, and had therefore been exposed to profound theoretical knowledge sooner.
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