"Ah."
Tang Ya nudged Bei Bei with her elbow. "He seemed to be looking at you just now. Do you know each other?"
Bei Bei replied gently, "Even someone as well-informed as Teacher Xiao Ya doesn't know who he is. How could I possibly know him?"
Tang Ya was pleased. She gave a couple of little hums.
"Fair enough~"
She rubbed her smooth chin with a finger, bringing her genius intellect to bear.
After furrowing her brow twice,
she slapped her palm,
and immediately figured it out: "It must be because you and Xu Sanshi are so famous. After beating Xu Sanshi, he wants to beat you too!"
"He was definitely challenging you just now!"
She drew in a sharp breath, sounding utterly certain.
"He's provoking you!"
"No way."
Tang Ya smacked Bei Bei's thigh, stood up, and pulled him along.
"I'm going to put you through special training. You absolutely can't let him beat you!"
Bei Bei let himself be dragged along, wearing a helpless yet affectionate smile.
He was certain Lu Ran meant him no harm. That look had indeed been nothing more than a curious appraisal.
He just couldn't figure out where Lu Ran had come from.
The academy couldn't possibly allow outsiders to enter.
"Slow down, Teacher Xiao Ya..."
"..."
In the distance, Yan Shaozhe was still marveling as he recalled Lu Ran's Purple Soul Ring. Even though he'd known about it for a while, seeing the Rock Crystal Dragon's Hundred-Year Soul Ring upgraded to a Thousand-Year Soul Ring still left him awestruck.
As for why Lu Ran, who wasn't an Outer Academy student, could take the stage, was that really so difficult for the dean to arrange?
After leaving the Soul Fighting Zone,
Lu Ran accompanied Jiang Nannan into the bustling Shrek City. As the largest city on the continent,
it embraced all things,
and nearly every kind of product could be found there.
The two deliberately visited some food streets.
Like ordinary students, they strolled around, ate snacks, and shared interesting discoveries.
From the sun sinking in the west to the moon rising full overhead,
when it grew too late,
Lu Ran escorted Jiang Nannan back to her dorm.
All along the way,
Jiang Nannan held onto his arm.
Downstairs at the dorm,
Jiang Nannan gave him a big hug and held on for a long time.
Amid the fragrance that lingered in his nose and the warmth of her embrace, they felt each other's heartbeats.
After a long while,
Jiang Nannan finally let go, reluctant to part.
Looking into those clear eyes,
she suddenly rose onto her toes, left a kiss on his cheek, then darted upstairs without looking back.
Lu Ran stiffened.
For that brief moment, her rich fragrance had filled his nostrils, and her kiss had left a cool touch on his cheek.
The corners of his mouth lifted.
He instinctively looked up.
Above the fourth floor, a face was poking out of a window, seemingly glaring at him through gritted teeth.
When the person noticed he'd been spotted, they immediately pulled back inside.
Was that Tang Ya?
How did she know I was down here?
Why was she so mad at me?
Night.
Sea God Pavilion.
Lu Ran stood by the window. Outside, a patch of sturdy Blue Silver Grass glimmered faintly beneath the moonlight,
swaying in the breeze.
Ordinary plants could only condense Soul Rings after accumulating enough Soul Power. Blue Silver Grass that had grown for a year or two was little more than weeds. No matter how much you pulled up, there wouldn't be any Soul Rings,
because it contained very little Soul Power.
But the Blue Silver Grass growing around the Golden Ancient Tree could produce a white Soul Ring once it reached that age, even if it was only two years old.
Lu Ran held out his hand and controlled the green energy of the wind attribute to surface in his palm.
He had gained another attribute,
but what use was it?
He considered the question,
then made the yellow earth-attribute energy and blue water-attribute energy appear. The three attributes stood clearly apart.
Hm?
Lu Ran's eyes narrowed.
At the boundary between the water and wind elements, it seemed a minuscule change had taken place!
He immediately controlled the two forces, drawing off a small portion of each,
then compressed and fused them together.
This time, nothing abnormal happened. They smoothly formed an entirely new, denser and heavier blue attribute.
The temperature around him seemed to drop.
Tiny crystalline flecks drifted down from the new attribute, glimmering with moonlight—
Ice Crystals?!
Lu Ran's spirits lifted.
He immediately strengthened the two forces. Sure enough, the temperature around him dropped further, and more Ice Crystals gradually appeared. Some landed on his wrist, leaving a faint chill.
The new attribute had fully settled into an icy blue—
Ice Attribute!
So that was how it worked!
Attribute fusion!
He suddenly understood.
At long last, his two years of confusion had been cleared up.
He let out a long breath,
feeling wonderfully refreshed.
A new ability!
But before he could enjoy it for long, a new question arose:
But...
What use was simply making Ice Crystals?
Would they keep him cool in summer?
Lu Ran pictured himself at noon on a scorching summer day, lounging in a room built entirely of ice.
It would be comfortable,
but he'd already experienced that over at Ling Luochеn's.
Suddenly, inspiration struck. He remembered Soul Skills that could have an extra attribute added to them.
Fuse...
Could it be...
He held down his excitement and entered the Small World.
A gentle breeze wafted by, stirring the grove of fruit-tree Soul Beasts behind him, their leaves rustling.
He turned to look.
The branches were laden with fruit.
Yellow and Purple Soul Rings lit up.
Lu Ran gathered Soul Power in his arm, forming a green vortex, then slashed out a crescent-shaped jade-green blade of light three meters long.
If he wanted, he could release it with a flick of his hand. It didn't need to be charged at all.
It could attack from long or short range,
deal area damage or target a single opponent,
and be released repeatedly.
It perfectly suited his needs for an agility attack-type Soul Skill.
This was one of the Soul Skills granted by the Jade Azure Bird: Jade Slash.
Next,
the Gentle Water Domain appeared,
like a thin mist tinged with pale blue.
As the Golden Hawksbill grew into a Hundred-Year Soul Beast, its corresponding Soul Skills had also grown stronger.
For example, the defensive boost from Gilded Barrier had risen from fifty percent to sixty percent.
The Gentle Water Domain had also become stronger, and its range had expanded,
from a radius of five meters to seven.
He tried adding the wind attribute to a wind blade.
Crack!
The ordinary wind blade suddenly condensed into an ice blade and shot away!
Its power hadn't diminished at all!
Lu Ran stared blankly at the ice blade as it flew off. At last, he understood.
So that was how it worked!
The extra attributes should be added to Soul Skills. That could let different Soul Skills fuse, giving rise to Soul Skills with new attributes!
Fuse wind-attribute and water-attribute Soul Skills, and you could create ice-attribute Soul Skills!
He experimented again.
He slashed out wind blades with both arms. One condensed into ice, while the other remained completely unchanged—
because he hadn't added any extra wind attribute to it!
So the attributes in the Small World could serve as a link, enabling fusion!
Soul Skills without an extra attribute added to them
couldn't fuse.
Everything suddenly clicked!
It was like suddenly figuring out the solution to a puzzle that had been bothering you for ages while walking down the road!
The world seemed to open up before him.
But if wind and water could combine into the Ice Attribute, could wind and earth give rise to a new attribute too?
He tried fusing the wind and earth attributes...
Nothing happened again...
All right, that was what he'd expected.
Before you continue