Lei Ying

Lin Beiya curled his lip. He wanted to tell Qian Renxue that how hard she worked at cultivation had absolutely nothing to do with it, but that would undoubtedly dampen her enthusiasm. It was better to let her keep her current passion.

In the days that followed, Lin Beiya went to the academy each morning to check in, then returned to Douluo Hall in the afternoon to work out with Qian Renxue, building their physiques and honing their combat skills.

After some time, Shi Nuo's Soul Power Level reached the bottleneck at level 10.

Whether or not Qian Daoliu had arranged it, the vice dean personally led the team to help him hunt for a Soul Ring. Fatty also got the Black Stone Demon Ox Soul Ring he had set his heart on, gaining the Soul Skill Petrified Skin.

In this state, Shi Nuo's Strength and Defense both increased significantly, much to the little fatty's satisfaction.

With Whale Rubber to aid him and nonstop training every day, Lin Beiya's physique continued to improve steadily.

Time flew by, and before they knew it, a year had passed.

After a full year of cultivation, Lin Beiya's Soul Power had reached level 16, and he wasn't far from level 17. The Sacred Cloth had played no small part in this.

A year of daily training with his eyes closed had brought his hearing, sense of smell, and sense of touch to a terrifying level.

However, these three senses had now become extremely slow to improve, so Lin Beiya turned his attention to honing his vision and sense of taste.

For his vision training, Lin Beiya planned to start by tracking a spinning pencil tip with his eyes, following it until it spun so fast that he could still catch its path.

Once he had mastered that, his eyesight would improve to some extent. Next, he would observe eagles hunting from several kilometers away in the back mountain of Spirit Hall to train his long-distance vision. Finally, at night, he would watch the fluttering path of a "Night Moth's" wings to train his night vision.

As for his sense of taste, he had no choice but to use the simplest method: close his eyes and identify foods and drinks, letting his tongue form memories.

According to the Saint's records, all things possessed a Cosmo. Some had been brought to their utmost potential, while others had yet to reach theirs.

Awakening one's Cosmo required both a powerful physique and Five Senses honed to the utmost. It would be a long process, impossible to rush.

But the training that seemed perfectly ordinary to Lin Beiya looked like something else entirely to everyone around him.

Take Qian Renxue, for example. She was now staring at Lin Beiya with a baffled expression as he fixed his gaze on the pencil spinning between his fingers. She had no idea what he was doing.

"You trained with your eyes covered before to strengthen your senses. So what are you doing now?"

A year older, the childishness was slowly fading from Little Angel's face. In particular, her darling baby cheeks were gradually giving way to a more mature look.

Without taking his eyes off the spinning pencil tip, Lin Beiya explained:

"Vision is a sense too. I'm going to train it to the utmost as well."

"Th-this will help in battle?"

Seeing that Qian Renxue clearly didn't believe him, Lin Beiya offered an example:

"Obviously. How does your second Soul Skill, Holy Light Illumination, attack?"

"Doesn't dodging all of it require both extraordinary stamina and a powerful physique?"

At this, Little Angel froze for a moment, then turned to Lin Beiya with a face full of indignation.

"Oh, so you're training your vision especially to counter me?"

"Huh?"

Now it was Lin Beiya's turn to stand there dumbfounded. He wanted to pry open her head and see what sort of wiring she had in there, and how it had gotten so peculiar.

"I was just giving an example. I can deal with that lousy Soul Skill of yours perfectly well using the Crystal Wall. Why would I go to all that trouble?"

"I'm preparing for the dense attacks I might face in the future that the Crystal Wall can't handle."

Whether he could awaken his Cosmo was still unknown. Until then, Lin Beiya had no intention of revealing too much.

Hearing that, Qian Renxue swallowed the rest of her self-reproach. Her pretty face turned red as she struggled to contain herself.

Even if what you said was true, was it really right to belittle my Soul Skill like that?

"Hmph!"

Watching Qian Renxue stomp off and show him the back of her golden head, Lin Beiya was completely at a loss. He could only sigh inwardly that women were truly impossible to read.

After a long while, she looked back and saw that Lin Beiya was still staring intently at the pencil, showing no sign of trying to placate her. Little Angel grew even angrier, her little tiger teeth grinding together as she thought that she would have to make him give up his combat skills again and fight her in a Soul Fight.

Just as Qian Renxue was silently stewing, a lively female voice drifted over to them.

"Xiao Xue, I'm out of seclusion."

"Sister Yingying!"

The voice also caught Lin Beiya's attention. He stopped what he was doing and looked toward the figure hurrying over.

The newcomer had the same hair color as Qian Renxue, but wore her hair in a short cut that didn't even reach her ears. She wasn't as pretty and adorable as Qian Renxue; instead, she had a hint of masculine toughness.

This must be the older sister from Third Granduncle's family whom Qian Renxue had mentioned.

She was Lei Ying, granddaughter of Mighty Lion Douluo, the Third Offering of Douluo Hall.

Over the past year, Lin Beiya had heard Qian Renxue mention her several times. Her Martial Soul was also the Blazing Lion, and she possessed terrifying destructive power.

What he found a little puzzling was this: shouldn't a girl inheriting a lion-type Martial Soul end up with a Blazing Lioness through mutation? Why did she still have a male lion Martial Soul?

But Martial Souls in Douluo were stranger than one could imagine, so Lin Beiya didn't dwell on it. He stood up and waited for Qian Renxue to introduce them.

But to his utter astonishment, after embracing, the two girls spent nearly half an hour catching up, completely forgetting that Lin Beiya was standing behind them.

With no other choice, he sat down again and started spinning the pencil, waiting for the two women to finish their chatter.

Who knew how much time passed before Lei Ying happened to catch sight of Lin Beiya out of the corner of her eye. A trace of confusion appeared on her face.

"Xiao Xue, who is this?"

"Huh?"

Following Lei Ying's gaze, Qian Renxue finally remembered that Lin Beiya was still there!

She gave an awkward smile, then hurriedly introduced him to her friend:

"Sister Lei Ying, this is Lin Beiya. He joined Douluo Hall last year at Granduncle's invitation, and he's a genius with Innate Full Soul Power."

"Oh?"

The corner of Lei Ying's mouth lifted in a smile. Qian Renxue's brief introduction had already piqued her interest.

"Bei Ya, this is Lei Ying, the granddaughter of the Third Granduncle I told you about. She's five years older than us, and had already reached Soul Elder rank before she went into seclusion."

Putting down the pencil again, Lin Beiya stood and nodded to Lei Ying.

"Lin Beiya. A pleasure to meet you, Miss Lei Ying."

"What a shame. You're still a little young. Otherwise, having another opponent to face in everyday life would be quite nice."

Lei Ying had inherited the Martial Soul's competitive nature. The first thing that came to mind when she met Lin Beiya was finding a worthy rival.

At this, Qian Renxue's big eyes darted around. She hadn't forgotten that Lin Beiya had just made her angry.

"Sister Yingying, don't underestimate Bei Ya. I've never beaten him in a Soul Fight."

"Huh?"

Lei Ying, who had been staring at Lin Beiya, immediately turned her gaze back to Qian Renxue, her eyes full of disbelief. While in seclusion, she had heard her grandfather mention Qian Renxue's strength: a genius with Innate Soul Power at level 20 who had become a Soul Grandmaster at just six years old. Could the little boy standing before her be one too?