At night, as Ye Tian lay in bed, sleepiness quickly swept over him, followed by the familiar dizziness.
When he came to, he had already arrived in the familiar Mental Space.
Time flowed differently for Dong'er. It was daytime where she was.
The moment Ye Tian appeared, Dong'er, who had been cultivating, paused. She made an excuse and hurried back to her dormitory to lie down. The next second, her spiritual body appeared before Ye Tian.
"Brother Ye Tian!"
Ye Tian caught the girl as she threw herself at him, then smiled and looked Dong'er over.
Dong'er had grown quite a bit. Her head was almost at his shoulder, and from the fine clothes she wore and the smile on her face, it looked like she was doing well within Spirit Hall.
"Brother Ye Tian, why did you disappear for three years before coming back?"
Once she had eased the ache of missing him, Dong'er stood before Ye Tian, staring at him without blinking. Her meaning was clear: he had to give her an explanation today.
Ye Tian gave a bitter smile inwardly. He hadn't wanted this either. Who knew the system would go silent for three months, while three whole years passed on Dong'er's side?
He took Dong'er's hand and sat down with her, then briefly let her in on his secret. He didn't come to her in his dreams whenever he wanted.
Perhaps because Dong'er had been so young before, he had been able to visit every week. But now, he had no idea how long it would be before he could come again.
Fortunately, the time he had this visit was fairly generous: a full month.
A month seemed like a lot to Ye Tian, but Dong'er still wasn't satisfied. There was nothing she could do, though. If she angered that hidden presence, she might never see Brother Ye Tian again—and that would be a terrible loss.
Dong'er was like a lark that was always happy, chirping away as she told him about the past three years.
"Brother Ye Tian, guess what level I am now?"
In three years, with Spirit Hall's resources and Yue Guan as her teacher, Ye Tian thought it over and gave his guess. "Level twenty-three?"
"Brother Ye Tian, you really underestimate me."
Dong'er smiled at Ye Tian and softly announced a number that left him astonished.
"I'm already level twenty-nine, and in at most three months, I'll become a Soul Elder!"
Ye Tian was truly shocked. A ten-year-old Soul Elder—her talent could crush even the protagonist Tang San into the dirt.
"Dong'er, how did you cultivate over the past three years?"
"Hehe, not long after you left, Master Yue Guan had me acknowledge another teacher: Master Gui Mei."
"With both masters supporting me, I got a great price for the Foundation Strengthening Pills you left me. The two masters only took a token amount. They exchanged the other ninety-nine percent for rare treasures that would help me cultivate."
As she spoke, Dong'er suddenly remembered something. "Brother Ye Tian, wait here a moment." Her spiritual body vanished.
Dong'er took the Storage Ring from a hidden compartment and dumped everything inside onto the bed. There were more than thirty treasures, including a five-thousand-year Soul Bone.
"Brother Ye Tian, take a look and see if there's anything you need. Just take it."
Dong'er's words brimmed with confidence. She was now among the highest-ranking people in Spirit Hall below the Soul Saints.
There was only one reason: she was the only one who could provide a treasure pill like the Foundation Strengthening Pill, which worked wonders on the next generation.
These days, who didn't have younger relatives or friends? Eat a few dozen Foundation Strengthening Pills, and when it came time to awaken their Martial Souls, a child with level-five Soul Power could reach level seven, while one at level seven could push to level nine—or even higher. They might even attain Innate Full Soul Power.
Anyone with Soul Power above level seven at birth was sure to become a Titled Douluo in the future!
They had even given one of these pills to a frail little boy who had been born deficient. When his Martial Soul awakened, he became a genius with full Soul Power. With such a powerful example to advertise the pills, families from all over Spirit City, including those with Soul Douluos and above, had flocked there to buy them.
With Yue Guan and Gui Mei around, even families with Titled Douluos had no intention of snatching the pills by force. Naturally, Dong'er, who could provide them, had risen steadily in standing within Spirit Hall.
"Brother Ye Tian, I heard from my two masters that even the Pope wants to take me as a disciple!"
"But the Pope has a condition: I have to break through to level thirty before I turn ten."
"Dong'er, do you want to become the Pope's disciple?"
Ye Tian hadn't expected that, even after changing Dong'er's fate beyond recognition, the story would circle back around.
"My two masters say the Pope has even more good things."
Dong'er rolled her eyes, a sly glint flashing in them.
There was something she hadn't said.
If she became the Pope's disciple, she'd be Spirit Hall's future Saintess. Then she could send people to search for Brother Ye Tian in her world.
Three years had passed. Under the unreserved tutelage of Yue Guan and Gui Mei, Bibi Dong was no longer as innocent as she'd been when she first met Ye Tian. She had become quite shrewd.
Ye Tian didn't deliberately hide anything while talking with her, so Bibi Dong had subtly pressed him and learned a great deal about his secrets.
For example, Brother Ye Tian's world was clearly far behind hers. Perhaps Ye Tian hadn't even been born yet in her world.
But that wouldn't stop her from making use of everything she could from now on to build up her power.
In the future, she would become the only Pope from outside the Qian family. Then, when she met the young Brother Ye Tian, she could repay his kindness.
Ye Tian had wanted to refuse, but when he saw Dong'er's determined gaze, he knew she'd be upset if he didn't take anything. So he picked out a few medicinal herbs and asked Dong'er for the recipe for something called Body Forging Liquid.
"Dong'er, let me see the Soul Bone in your collection."
Bibi Dong handed over control of her body. Ye Tian picked up the Soul Bone and examined it, discerning its age.
It was five thousand three hundred years old—a pretty good Soul Bone, but still not quite good enough for Dong'er.
"System, can you increase a Soul Bone's age?"
"Yes. For a certain number of Fate Points, a Soul Bone can be raised to any age."
"Then check how many Fate Points it would take to raise this Soul Bone to ten thousand years."
A few seconds later, the system's voice rang out again.
"Raising the Soul Bone to ten thousand years requires 6,000 Fate Points. Raising it to thirty thousand years requires 20,000 Fate Points. Raising it to fifty thousand years requires 500,000 Fate Points..."
"Stop, stop, stop!"
When Ye Tian heard those prices, he hurriedly cut the system off. He glanced at the Mall. The Soul Bones sold there, at the same age, cost at most a third more than the ones upgraded by the system.
He couldn't shake the feeling that upgrading a Soul Bone's age himself would be a losing deal.
"System, tell me, how much are you making off the middle?"
"Host, please don't slander me. I am a system that follows the management regulations to the letter. I would never embezzle a single Fate Point!"
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