Reading by Lamplight (Seeking Follow-ups, Seeking Votes)

Far away in East Sea City, little Princess Xu Xiaoyan was angrily pinching the cheeks of her father, Xu Chengxing. o(´^｀)o

"Daddy, couldn't you have been faster? Prince Charming has already gone to Shrek City, waaaaah!"

The more Xu Xiaoyan thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt, and the harder she cried.

Watching his daughter cry made Xu Chengxing feel terrible, and even as the Deputy Minister of the East Sea City Finance Department, he felt at a loss.

"Don't worry, I will definitely bring him back to you. Once he returns to East Sea City, I absolutely won't let him leave again."

At such a young age, she was already showing signs of being lovesick, which made Xu Chengxing, still considered young among soul masters, worry so much that a few strands of his hair had turned white.

He secretly thought that once he got home, he would give that little brat Xu Xiaoyu a beating to vent his frustration; as for the reason, he'd just say it was because he stepped into the room with his right foot first.

If it weren't for the fact that his daughter was so lovesick over some damn blond-haired boy that she hadn't been eating or sleeping, losing so much weight in just a few days that she looked haggard, he wouldn't have wanted to abuse his power for such a whim.

At first, he thought his daughter had just become obsessed with romance novels and would forget about it after a few days, but who would have thought she was actually serious this time?

To ensure his daughter would eat properly, Xu Chengxing immediately sent people to investigate Yang Fan's whereabouts over the past few days.

Looking at the investigation results made him even angrier. Wasn't this just a suspicious lolicon with an unknown identity?

He appeared in East Sea City at an uncertain time, and because he had no identification, he was suspected of sneaking into a shopping mall to spend the night. Later, he entered the Spirit Pagoda without being noticed by ordinary people to watch a martial soul awakening up close.

That was still normal, but subsequently, this suspicious character picked up a little beggar girl about the same age as Xiaoyan in the park—which happened on the same day Xiaoyan told him about her love at first sight while they were in the car.

He wasn't even that old, yet he wouldn't even spare a little beggar girl; how desperate could he be!

This kid was quite lucky, though; that same night, he and the little beggar girl were adopted by a green-haired wealthy woman and stayed in a luxury suite at a hotel near the park.

A few days later, that woman of special status quickly processed identification documents for this person and the little beggar girl. Only then did Xu Chengxing learn that the brat was named Yang Fan, and then they took a soul guidance train from East Sea City to Shrek City together.

Yang Fan had no idea that in distant East Sea City, a little girl was crying and throwing a tantrum because she couldn't find him, feeling extremely angry.

In the temporary cultivation room on the fifty-first floor of the Spirit Pagoda.

Yang Fan looked at the large stack of books that Leng Yaozhu had sent someone to deliver to him, feeling melancholic.

Soul Spirit Encyclopedia, Spiritual Power and Perception, Contract Array and Soul Guidance Synergy, Guide: Contract Laws...

It had been a long time since he had read so many books.

The last time he read this much was probably during his senior year of high school before he transmigrated.

"For the next few weeks, I will be helping Na'er guide her bloodline to shape her natal soul spirit. You should finish reading the books I selected. After we finish our seclusion, come find me at my exclusive office on the sixty-sixth floor."

Looking at the message sent by Leng Yaozhu, Yang Fan sighed and resigned himself to picking up the Soul Spirit Encyclopedia from the top of the pile.

Opening the first page, dense soul guidance runes and soul beast illustrations rushed toward him, making his head ache.

"This isn't cultivation, this is a postgraduate entrance exam..."

He muttered, his gaze sweeping over the large soul guidance sofa in the corner of the cultivation room. He hesitated for a moment but didn't sit down.

Although Leng Yaozhu wasn't there, the pressure from this Deputy Pagoda Master seemed to linger in the air, making him subconsciously sit up straight.

The soul guidance lighting in the cultivation room was soft and stable, designed specifically for long-term reading; it was neither glaring nor dim.

Yang Fan flipped through the preface of Spiritual Power and Perception and discovered that it actually contained Leng Yaozhu's handwritten annotations.

The elegant yet sharp handwriting marked several key nodes, with "Easy to make mistakes here, remember this" written in the margins.

"...This teacher is truly responsible."

Yang Fan's lips curled slightly, and he suddenly felt that these books weren't as hideous as they seemed.

He took a deep breath, thinking of the soul spirit contract he wanted most from this trip, and curiously opened the first chapter of Contract Array and Soul Guidance Synergy, beginning to chew through it word by word.

The soundproofing in the cultivation room on the fifty-first floor of the Spirit Pagoda was excellent; he couldn't even hear the faint humming of the night wind in Shrek City brushing against the tower.

Yang Fan sat cross-legged at the soul guidance desk with three books spread out in front of him and a cup of tea that had long since gone cold beside him.

"...The core of a contract array lies in the synchronization of spiritual power resonance frequencies. If the soul master's spiritual fluctuations exceed the array's carrying threshold, a soul guidance device must be used to release a soothing wave within three breaths; otherwise, the contract backlash will directly impact the sea of consciousness of both parties..."

He read aloud, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.

Within three breaths.

Back in his senior year of high school, he thought three seconds was too short for physics problems, and now he had to complete spiritual judgments and soul guidance operations within three breaths?

"This is even more perverted than the college entrance exam."

Yang Fan rubbed his temples and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes to rest.

He thought senior year was bitter back then, but now that he thought about it, at least in senior year, he didn't have to decide the life and death of two people within three breaths.

"...Though, I didn't have to memorize any contract laws back then either." He opened his eyes again and gave a wry smile.

His gaze fell back onto the book, and this time, he read more carefully.

Leng Yaozhu's annotations were like the key points marked on an exam paper by an experienced teacher, each one precisely poking at the blind spots he was most likely to overlook.

He could even imagine her slightly furrowed brow as she wrote these words, the tip of her pen pausing on the paper for a moment before leaving behind crisp, decisive handwriting.

"...Fine, since Teacher Leng is so responsible, it wouldn't be right for me to slack off."

He sat up straight again, picked up his pen, and began taking notes in the margins of the pages.

Outside the cultivation room, the corridor on the fifty-first floor of the Spirit Pagoda was so quiet one could hear a pin drop. Occasionally, a patrolling Spirit Master would pass by, and upon sensing the steady spiritual fluctuations inside the room, they would consciously lighten their footsteps and leave.

However, the patrolling Spirit Masters didn't notice, and neither did Yang Fan. A flash of silver light streaked by, and the silver-haired little girl, Na'er, appeared on that wide soul-guided sofa. She curled into a ball, her round, wide eyes staring unblinkingly at Yang Fan before she slowly drifted off to sleep.

It was only under Lan Yin's reminder that Yang Fan discovered Na'er had arrived in his room at some point and fallen asleep.

Looking at Na'er's sleeping face, Yang Fan's eyes curved slightly, his smile faint and soft.

Yang Fan quietly took a thin blanket from his storage bracelet to cover Na'er, then returned to continue gnawing on the knowledge points he hadn't yet grasped.

On the sixty-sixth floor, Leng Yaozhu stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the night view of Shrek City.

She held a cup of warm tea in her hand, but her gaze rested on the evaluation report regarding Na'er's bloodline awakening on the desk. A moment later, she set the teacup down and tapped her fingertips lightly against the tabletop twice.

"That kid on the fifty-first floor... he certainly knows how to keep his cool."

Looking at the evaluation report, Leng Yaozhu realized that Na'er had left her office at some point.

"Wait, where did Na'er go?"

Leng Yaozhu was puzzled that she had been so busy she hadn't noticed when Na'er left. Although she hadn't kept her eyes on Na'er the entire time, her spiritual power had been constantly projected to monitor the door. Had she grown lax? she wondered to herself.

"Forget it, where else could that girl go besides looking for that bastard kid who looks honest but is actually a playboy?"

The commotion over in East Sea City had been significant, and since she had taken on a disciple, she naturally had to investigate their background clearly. Thus, the news of Xu Xiaoyan falling for Yang Fan at first sight had reached her within half an hour of taking her on as a disciple.

If she hadn't used her influence to suppress it, Na'er would likely have been crying and making a scene just like Xu Xiaoyan.

They were all still young; focusing on cultivation was the right path. They couldn't handle the bitterness of love.

She muttered to herself, the corners of her lips curling into a very faint arc, before turning to walk toward her desk to continue processing the mountain of piled-up official business.

The lights on the sixty-sixth floor were on, and the lights on the fifty-first floor were on as well.