The living room.
After telling a servant to take Zhang Yang to wash up and go to bed, Zhang Lingyue took a sip of tea.
The faint fragrance of tea lingered in his mouth, but Zhang Lingyue's mind kept turning.
Beside him, Zhu Ranqing asked curiously, "Lingyue, what are you thinking about? You're so lost in thought that you've finished your tea and are still clutching the cup."
"I'm wondering whether we should send Yangyang to the West Academy."
The West Academy, whose full name was the Spirit Hall Silves Soul Master Academy, had been established by Spirit Hall in the Silves Kingdom. It was an academy dedicated to training Soul Masters for Spirit Hall.
Soul Masters who graduated from the academy were assigned to the various Spirit Halls throughout the Silves Kingdom, bolstering Spirit Hall's Soul Master ranks in each region.
Zhang Lingyue himself had graduated from Silves Academy.
"Although Yangyang's Innate Soul Power is only rank one, his Martial Soul is extremely powerful, and his attacks are unusual. On top of that, he's family. They should give him a proper education."
Zhu Ranqing thought it over. "Silves Academy is too far from home. I'm worried Yangyang will get homesick. Why don't we send him to Heding City Academy instead?"
"After all, Heding City Academy is the best junior Soul Master academy in Heding City."
"No matter how good it is, its teaching can't compare with the West Academy's." Zhang Lingyue shook his head. "The West Academy has a continuous program from junior to senior levels, and it has a Mimicry Cultivation Environment."
"But I'm still afraid Yangyang won't adjust to academy life. At least Heding City Academy is close to home, so we can keep an eye on him."
"If he can't even bear this little hardship, what kind of Soul Master is he going to be?"
Zhang Lingyue abruptly rose to his feet and rebuked her in a low voice. "When he gets homesick, you can visit him. When he hunts Soul Beasts, you can help him. But what about when he's fighting for his life?"
"Can you stay by his side every moment? Can we protect him from hardship for the rest of his life?"
Zhu Ranqing said nothing. She simply sat there in silence.
The seconds ticked by, and the atmosphere in the living room grew heavy and oppressive.
In the end, Zhang Lingyue relented. "Just one year. Once Yangyang has adjusted to boarding school, I'll transfer him to the West Academy."
The next day.
From then on, Zhang Yang received the kind of training and instruction reserved for elite Soul Masters.
At six in the morning, a level-37 Soul Elder personally woke him, watched him wash up, then escorted him outside.
A level-53 Soul King was already waiting at the door.
Accompanied by the Soul King, Zhang Yang had to set out from home, follow Black Stone Road, Xinkai Road, and Municipal Avenue, make a full circuit around the Heding City Martial Soul Branch Hall, then return the way he came.
The whole route was about five kilometers. For a tiny six-year-old, that was an unreasonable distance to demand.
Fortunately, Zhang Lingyue allowed Zhang Yang to use Soul Power.
That made it a little easier, but not by much.
Twenty-five minutes later, with Zhang Lingyue accompanying him and not even breathing hard, Zhang Yang returned home drenched in sweat and looking utterly spent.
After all, he was only a tiny six-year-old with rank-one Soul Power. Those five kilometers had nearly drained all his strength—and left his Soul Power almost completely depleted.
The final five hundred meters or so, Zhang Yang had managed only through sheer force of will, dragging his emptied body onward by sheer grit.
Back home, Zhang Yang rested for a while, then a servant took him to the bathroom.
First, the servant rinsed the sweat from his body with hot water. Then Zhang Yang climbed into a tub filled with cold water and ice cubes. Shivering uncontrollably, he asked the servant if this was really necessary.
"Young master, this was all arranged by Madam." The servant could only say there was nothing he could do.
Zhang Yang could only accept it, though he grumbled inwardly, Never underestimate the wisdom of the locals.
Ice baths after exercise were a habit for many professional athletes. Zhang Yang hadn't expected to enjoy one here on Douluo Continent.
After ten minutes in the ice bath, Zhang Yang climbed out, dried himself off, got dressed, and returned to his room.
The moment he stepped inside, his legs gave way, and he collapsed onto his little bed.
An exhausting morning run, followed by a ten-minute ice bath, and the thought that it was finally over—all of it made Zhang Yang long desperately for his little bed.
But just then, Zhang Lingyue appeared at his bedroom door, freshly washed and changed.
"Are you tired?" Zhang Lingyue asked, sitting on the edge of Zhang Yang's bed.
"Tired." Zhang Yang lay sprawled across his little bed. The soft mattress cradled him so comfortably that he couldn't be bothered to move even a finger.
"Don't worry. You won't be tired much longer."
Zhang Lingyue chuckled, then clamped his rough hands around Zhang Yang's sore, limp calves.
A sensation more intense than a fascia blade shot from Zhang Yang's calves straight to his brain, drawing a howl from him. "Ow! Ow! That hurts!"
"It's supposed to hurt. That means you're getting stronger." Zhang Lingyue said it, but his hands unconsciously eased up a little.
It still hurt, though.
Zhang Yang was like a fish on a chopping board, flopping around in a futile struggle for its life.
His mouth opened and shut like a dying fish trying desperately to draw oxygen from the air.
But no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't escape Zhang Lingyue's grip.
Again and again, Zhang Lingyue pressed down. Zhang Yang's leg muscles grew hot, then numb beneath his hands.
In the end, Zhang Yang gave up struggling and lay motionless, a strange light gleaming in his eyes.
Once the massage was over, it was time for breakfast.
Breakfast that day consisted of a glass of fresh milk, an egg, a steaming mantou, freshly stewed beef, and stir-fried leafy greens.
Carbohydrates, protein, and fat—the three major nutrients—were all there, along with plenty of dietary fiber and calcium. It was an exceptionally nutritious meal.
Normally, six-year-old Zhang Yang could never have eaten so much.
But the morning run had thoroughly awakened his appetite. He devoured everything on his plate in no time.
After breakfast, Zhang Lingyue got dressed and went to work, while Zhang Yang returned to his room to rest.
An hour later, Zhu Ranqing brought Zhang Yang into the living room and began teaching him how to cultivate Soul Power.
At its core, cultivating Soul Power came down to two things: quality and quantity.
Quality referred to how condensed the Soul Power within the body was—in other words, its energy density.
Quantity referred to how abundant the Soul Power within the body was—in other words, its overall amount.
A Soul Master's cultivation involved increasing the total amount of Soul Power within the body, then increasing its density.
Once both "quality" and "quantity" reached a certain standard, the Soul Master's Martial Soul rank would rise.
And the further one progressed in cultivation, the more important the "quality" of one's Soul Power became.
At noon, Zhang Yang finished cultivating Soul Power and stood up from the soft mat.
After three hours of cultivation, his Soul Power—which had been almost drained by the morning run—was now completely replenished. And from what he could tell, its total amount had grown by a tiny bit as well.
With his Soul Power replenished, even his steps felt much stronger.
When he entered the dining room, a table laden with steaming dishes was already waiting for him.
Once again, it was a feast with all three major nutrients—carbohydrates, protein, and fat—as well as plenty of dietary fiber.
After eating his fill, Zhang Yang waddled back to the living room with his round belly sticking out. He rested for a while, then sat cross-legged on the cushion.
Zhu Ranqing told Zhang Yang to continue cultivating Soul Power that afternoon.
But Zhang Yang didn't do as she said. Instead, he activated the system, quickly put together a set of gear, and entered "Heding City Academy—Normal" to start a loot run.
Only an idiot would cultivate Soul Power like an ordinary Soul Master.
With his innate rank-one Soul Power talent, his cultivation speed would be painfully slow. Compared with looting in an instance, it would be hundreds, even thousands of times slower.
That afternoon, Zhu Ranqing came into the living room more than once to check on Zhang Yang's cultivation.
But each time she saw him diligently cultivating, she didn't interrupt. With a satisfied smile, she quietly slipped away.
Dinner.
At the table, Zhu Ranqing told Zhang Lingyue how hard Zhang Yang had worked at his cultivation that day. Zhang Lingyue was so pleased that his eyes curved into crescent moons.
"Well done, son. Keep it up tomorrow."
Before you continue