The faint dizziness faded, and Luo Yang's consciousness fully returned to reality.
"Click."
As the hatch slid smoothly upward, a rush of cool air poured in, lifting his spirits.
Luo Yang stretched and felt the Soul Power within him had clearly grown. In high spirits, he stepped out of the pod.
"How do you feel? Any discomfort?" Leng Yaozhu came over to him.
The Spirit Ascension Platform was safe, but it placed a considerable mental strain on first-time visitors.
"I feel great, Aunt Leng. I gained even more than I expected."
Luo Yang replied with a smile, then changed the subject and pointed to Yuanen Yehui, who was silently straightening her clothes and seemed ready to slip away.
"Oh, right, Aunt Leng. Let me introduce someone."
Leng Yaozhu followed his gaze and spotted the black-haired girl, whose aloof presence made her seem out of place amid her surroundings.
"This is Yuanen Yehui," Luo Yang said, beckoning her over.
Yuanen Yehui paused, clearly not expecting Luo Yang to introduce her to Leng Yaozhu.
"This is my Aunt Leng. She's also the Vice Pagoda Master of the Spirit Pagoda, the Heavenly Phoenix Douluo," Luo Yang introduced her.
The Spirit Pagoda's Vice Pagoda Master!
The Heavenly Phoenix Douluo?!
Yuanen Yehui's pupils contracted slightly.
At that moment, Leng Yaozhu's gaze settled on her.
Under Leng Yaozhu's appraising gaze, Yuanen Yehui showed no awkwardness or reverence. Instead, she instinctively straightened her back and lifted her chin slightly.
Her cool black eyes met Leng Yaozhu's without flinching.
From the woman before her, dressed in a red gown and possessing peerless grace, she sensed vast, ocean-like Soul Power, along with the intangible pressure of someone long accustomed to being in a position of authority.
But years spent on the fringes had taught her to protect herself with coldness and defiance.
The two women's gazes met.
One was gentle; the other, icy.
A moment later.
Leng Yaozhu suddenly smiled softly.
She paid no mind to Yuanen Yehui's prickly attitude, speaking instead with a trace of emotion in her voice:
"The Fallen Angel Martial Soul... It's rare, and powerful."
Yuanen Yehui's pupils contracted. The air around her turned even colder, and she shot back in an icy voice, "So what? Do you have a problem with that?"
She was most sensitive about anyone exposing this part of her identity.
"Little one, don't be so tense. You're prickly all over." Leng Yaozhu shook her head, her tone still gentle.
She truly held no deep-seated prejudice against Evil Martial Souls themselves.
After all, her own flesh-and-blood younger sister, Leng Yulai, had awakened the Dark Phoenix, which was classified as an Evil Martial Soul!
Just because her younger sister had awakened the Dark Phoenix, was she supposed to put righteousness above family, brand her a menace, and execute her before she could cause harm in the future?
She couldn't do that. She never could.
In her view, a Martial Soul's attributes had no absolute connection to its wielder's character.
Her younger sister, Leng Yulai, hadn't been born evil, either. The two of them had once been sisters who shared everything and were closer than anyone.
The reason her younger sister later joined the Holy Spirit Cult, became an Evil Soul Master, and even became the Dark Phoenix of the Holy Spirit Cult, the Dark Phoenix Douluo...
Certainly, Leng Yulai's own stubbornness played a part. But much of the blame also lay with her, her older sister.
Back then, both sisters had fallen for the same man—a man as dazzling as the sun, who ultimately chose Yun Ming.
Unrequited love and jealousy, the rift between sisters, a failure to communicate, pressure from the outside world... It was the tangle of all these factors that eventually pushed her younger sister into the dark abyss.
Every time she thought of it, Leng Yaozhu was overwhelmed by endless regret and self-reproach.
Now, as she looked at Yuanen Yehui, who had bristled like a little hedgehog, using coldness to disguise her fear and loneliness,
Leng Yaozhu seemed to see her younger sister as a child all those years ago.
She had been just as sensitive and stubborn because of her unusual Martial Soul, longing to be understood yet afraid of being hurt...
Something deep and tender within Leng Yaozhu stirred.
She looked at Yuanen Yehui, her expression turning serious. Then she slowly spoke, making an offer that surprised both Yuanen Yehui and Luo Yang:
"Yuanen Yehui, would you... be willing to become my disciple?"
The Vice Pagoda Master of the Spirit Pagoda, the Heavenly Phoenix Douluo Leng Yaozhu, wanted to take me as her disciple?!
Yuanen Yehui was utterly stunned.
She wondered if she had heard wrong.
A "potential Evil Soul Master" with a Fallen Angel Martial Soul was being personally invited to become the disciple of a major figure in the Spirit Pagoda?
She instinctively looked at Luo Yang and saw him give her an encouraging smile, as if to say, See? I told you I wasn't lying.
"Aunt Leng has very high standards. It's a rare opportunity," Luo Yang added at just the right moment, his tone light.
Overwhelming joy, long-held yearning, buried unease... All kinds of emotions crashed together in Yuanen Yehui's heart.
She looked into Leng Yaozhu's eyes, which seemed able to accept anything. There was no false pity in them, no probing calculation.
Only a sincere invitation, and a trace of... some complicated emotion she couldn't understand, something like "I understand you."
At last, all her doubts and defenses crumbled before the "recognition" and "acceptance" she had yearned for so, so long.
She nodded firmly.
"I... am willing!"
Two simple words, yet they seemed to use up all her strength. At the same time, they eased some of the burden on her heart.
"Good!"
Leng Yaozhu's smile blossomed, bright and dazzling as a rose of flame in full bloom.
"From now on, you're my disciple. Here in the Spirit Pagoda, you don't have to live in constant fear anymore. Your Martial Soul is your talent, not your sin."
She stepped forward and gently embraced Yuanen Yehui. "I'll teach you how to control it, how to make it the foundation of your strength rather than a shackle."
Feeling the warmth of the embrace, something stirred in Yuanen Yehui's heart.
It was a warmth she had never felt before.
Leng Yaozhu, too, felt more than a little emotional.
For some reason, ever since this child Luo Yang had come into her life, Leng Yaozhu had felt that her luck was improving.
First, she had gained such a peerless rough jade; now, she had met a disciple with a steadfast nature and unique talent, someone she couldn't help wanting to lend a hand...
Could Luo Yang really be her little lucky star?
"Aunt Leng, does that mean I've got a junior sister now?" Luo Yang came closer, grinning at Yuanen Yehui.
Yuanen Yehui had calmed down a little from her initial excitement. At his words, she glanced at him. "I'm older than you."
She could tell that Luo Yang was younger.
"Hey, you can't put it like that."
Luo Yang shook his head with utmost seriousness. "We cultivators care about who came first, rank, and seniority. I joined Aunt Leng's tutelage first (though he hadn't officially become her disciple yet, he had already assumed that would happen), so I'm naturally the senior brother. You joined later, so you're the junior sister. Those are the rules. Got it?"
Seeing him deliberately put on airs as her "senior brother," the corner of Yuanen Yehui's mouth lifted almost imperceptibly. She quickly pressed her lips together, turned her head away, and gave a soft huff.
She didn't argue further, which was as good as accepting it.
Watching their easy interaction, the smile in Leng Yaozhu's eyes deepened.
A little rivalry, a little concern, a little bickering—that was how young people should be.
She was glad to see that Yuanen Yehui could lower her guard a little around Luo Yang.
"All right, you two. No need to argue over that yet," Leng Yaozhu said, cutting off the newly minted "senior brother and junior sister" and their "dispute."
"In a few days, the Spirit Pagoda will hold an important event."
Her gaze swept over them both.
"A... friendly exchange match."
"A friendly match?"
Yuanen Yehui blinked, puzzled.
The Spirit Pagoda held all sorts of sparring matches regularly, but the fact that the Vice Pagoda Master had brought this one up specifically suggested it was something on a different scale.
Luo Yang, meanwhile, had a thought. "Is it a selection match held within the Spirit Pagoda?"
"No." Leng Yaozhu shook her head, her tone touched with a hint of complexity. "It's the annual friendly exchange match against Shrek Academy."