Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
The main hall of Spirit Hall.
Its vaulted ceiling soared dozens of meters overhead, and enormous stone pillars carved with intricate totems stood all around. The entire hall was filled with a solemn, sacred aura that made people want to fall to their knees in worship.
Since Pope Qian Xunji rarely showed himself, this place had become the absolute heart of Spirit Hall, where Holy Maiden Bibi Dong coordinated its affairs across the land and summoned important figures.
At the top of the steps at the far end of the hall stood an ornate seat, a symbol of supreme power.
Bibi Dong wore a purple-gold crown and a magnificent robe inlaid with countless tiny gemstones. She sat upon the throne.
Her breathtakingly beautiful face was marked by the boundless authority of someone long accustomed to power. Her eyes were deep as a frigid pool, gazing down upon everything below.
Slightly behind her stood a young man dressed in a fitted black outfit.
It was Lin Yuan.
He stood tall and straight as a sword, his arms crossed casually over his chest.
He was only fifteen, but his sculpted, peerlessly handsome face and the astonishing pressure that radiated naturally from him meant that even standing beside Bibi Dong, whose presence filled the hall, he lost none of his brilliance.
The two of them quietly watched the entrance to the hall.
The heavy doors were slowly pushed open from the outside.
Leading Tang San, Yu Xiaogang strode into this seat of power, revered by Soul Masters across the continent.
He had made a point of changing into a brand-new, dark-colored robe that day, and his hair was neatly combed.
The moment he entered the hall, his gaze locked directly onto Bibi Dong, seated on the throne.
Completely ignoring the solemn, imposing atmosphere around him, Yu Xiaogang stopped in his tracks with brazen nonchalance. A smile he imagined was tender and intimate spread across his face.
He waved enthusiastically at her and greeted her.
"Bibi Dong, long time no see."
His casual tone made it sound as though he were strolling through his own garden, or perhaps flirting with an old flame.
However,
the only response he received was dead silence.
Even the echoes in the hall seemed to vanish.
Bibi Dong sat upon the throne, her expression utterly cold. She looked at Yu Xiaogang as if he were a puddle of filth on the roadside.
There was no excitement at their reunion, much less the tender gaze Yu Xiaogang had imagined.
"What are you here for?"
Bibi Dong's red lips parted. The five words she uttered fell like chunks of ten-thousand-year-old ice, cold and hard, carrying a loathing that kept people at arm's length.
The smile on Yu Xiaogang's face stiffened.
But he had a practically pathological confidence in his own charm. He assumed Bibi Dong was sulking because he hadn't visited her in all these years.
Yu Xiaogang spread his hands indifferently and continued speaking as if to himself.
"It's been so many years. Naturally, I came to see you."
"And while I'm at it, I'd like to introduce you to my newly accepted direct disciple."
As he spoke, Yu Xiaogang yanked Tang San out from behind him and pulled him to the front. He planted both hands on Tang San's shoulders, his rigid face blazing with fervor.
"Take a good look. His name is Tang San!"
"He's a peerless prodigy, the likes of whom the continent sees only once in a century. Not only does he possess Innate Full Soul Power, he also has the exceedingly rare Twin Martial Souls!"
"Under my personal guidance and my unparalleled Ten Core Competitivenesses theory, his cultivation has already reached an astonishing level."
Yu Xiaogang took a deep breath, deliberately emphasizing the next few words to create a dramatic impact.
"He's only twelve years old, yet he's already reached the level of a thirty-first-rank Soul Elder!"
"Bibi Dong, do you understand what that means?"
"His future is sure to make him a peerless genius who stands above everyone else!"
After saying this, Yu Xiaogang lifted his chin slightly and looked at Bibi Dong on the dais with a proud expression.
He went straight to the ultimate purpose of his visit.
"Training with Twin Martial Souls carries the danger of backlash. You're the only person in the world who's ever overcome it."
"So hand over the method for cultivating Twin Martial Souls."
"With your method combined with my theory, I, Yu Xiaogang, can personally nurture a peerless genius who will reign supreme through the ages!"
Yu Xiaogang delivered his speech with such impassioned conviction that it seemed he considered asking for Spirit Hall's highest secret a great favor to Spirit Hall.
Pushed forward by his teacher, Tang San felt Yu Xiaogang's glowing praise and couldn't help straightening his back, a trace of concealed pride flashing in his eyes.
However,
Bibi Dong, seated on the dais, barely even blinked.
Her beautiful eyes held nothing but indifference and endless mockery.
Thirty-first rank?
Soul Elder?
Peerless genius?
Bibi Dong almost wanted to burst out laughing.
Standing right beside her was a terrifying monster who had reached the sixty-ninth rank at just fifteen, and whose First Soul Ring was an astonishing nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years old!
Having watched an existence as heaven-defying as Lin Yuan day after day, Bibi Dong could only look at the smug Tang San below and compare him to Lin Yuan.
In Bibi Dong's eyes, Tang San's meager cultivation and so-called talent weren't even worth mentioning. He couldn't compare to a single strand of Lin Yuan's hair!
She didn't even feel like replying. Yu Xiaogang's grand boasts meant nothing to her.
Feeling the deathly silence from the dais,
Yu Xiaogang gradually found it difficult to maintain his proud expression.
He frowned. After gazing at Bibi Dong for a moment, he finally shifted his eyes slightly and noticed the black-clad youth standing silently beside her.
At first, Yu Xiaogang had assumed he was merely one of Bibi Dong's attendants.
But the moment he got a good look at Lin Yuan's face,
Yu Xiaogang's body abruptly went rigid.
A shadow so familiar it made his blood run cold surged up from the deepest recesses of his memory.
That face... that profile...
Yu Xiaogang thought Lin Yuan looked familiar. He stared fixedly at his face, and his mind exploded.
That year.
That eerie child who had hunted Soul Beasts all alone.
That demon who had crippled him completely with just a few punches, and trampled both him and the theory he was so proud of beneath his feet!
Just as Yu Xiaogang's mind descended into chaos,
Lin Yuan, who had been silently watching from the dais, suddenly took a step forward.
He looked down at Yu Xiaogang from the steps above.
A half-smile appeared on his handsome face.
His clear voice echoed leisurely through the hall, ringing out with penetrating force.
"Long time no see, Grandmaster."
Lin Yuan's gaze shifted slightly downward, settling on Yu Xiaogang's right arm.
"Is that arm of yours better now?"
Boom!
The words struck Yu Xiaogang's heart like a heavy hammer.
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