The Great Net of the Human World

After saying goodbye to Old Master Jin and his senior brothers at the blacksmith shop, Ling Yi strolled through the streets of Mu Zhi City as usual, heading all the way toward the academy.

When he returned to Green Leaf Elementary Soul Master Academy, Ling Yi smiled and answered each friendly greeting one by one, accurately calling out everyone's name and class, and chatting with them for a few moments about some recent matters concerning them.

From the academy gates to Room 304 in Building No. 3, it was only a little over two thousand meters, yet Ling Yi somehow spent half as much time as he had taken to travel from Jin Geng Blacksmith Shop back to Green Leaf Elementary Soul Master Academy.

To be honest, if cultivation did not require a balance of work and rest, and if both body and mind did not need a truly leisurely state to relax, Ling Yi actually did not want to spend time on interpersonal dealings.

Just like in his previous life, unless they were brothers with an especially close bond, Ling Yi avoided social engagements whenever he could. If he truly could not get out of them, he would show up and deal with it, hiding in a corner to eat and drink while comfortably watching those social butterflies hold forth on everything from ancient times to the present, chatting about heaven and earth.

Compared with that, wouldn't it be more meaningful to find some young ladies and learn from them about the various specialized knowledge they had studied in school, enriching his own memory and broadening his horizons?

In his previous life, whether through personal experience or through the internet, Ling Yi, who had seen plenty of the ways of the world, clearly understood that many social interactions in life were actually meaningless. It was very difficult for people to learn anything from fair-weather friends or gain any positive feedback from them. When real trouble came, fewer than one in a hundred of those people would lend a hand.

Of course, this was only human nature, and Ling Yi did not despise it. After all, when those fair-weather friends ran into trouble and came to Ling Yi for help, Ling Yi would also weigh things carefully. Everyone was just an ordinary person, with people and concerns behind them, and no one could throw everything aside to help an outsider. In an indifferent society, let alone between friends, even between blood brothers, parents, and children, many things were no longer selfless offerings without limits. Because of that, when people saw sincere feelings appear, they praised and yearned for them so much, telling themselves that there was still beauty in the world.

In this life, on the Douluo Continent, where extraordinary power existed, if his own talent had been high enough, not to mention Innate Full Soul Power or Twin Spirits, even if he had only possessed innate fifth-level soul power, Ling Yi would not have engaged in too much social interaction with others. At most, he would have smiled and greeted them when they met, maintaining a good image, and that would have been enough.

There was a saying that was quite true: when you were outstanding and powerful enough, everyone around you was a good person.

If Ling Yi had possessed innate fifth-level soul power, then within Green Leaf Elementary Soul Master Academy, he would have been the prized pupil in the teachers' eyes and an excellent role model in the students' eyes. He would only have needed to outwardly show a modest attitude and avoid acting arrogantly toward others, and his interpersonal relationships would still have been very good, while the outside world's evaluation of him would also have been very high.

Unfortunately, Ling Yi was merely a country boy with Innate Soul Power Half Level, plus the true Waste Martial Soul, Blue Silver Grass.

The positive feedback that those geniuses could obtain with casual effort was something Ling Yi had to strive for with all his might and carefully maintain before he could barely receive it.

Perhaps in the eyes of many people with high talent, strength was supreme on the Douluo Continent, and interpersonal relationships and the like were all empty and useless. Only strength was real and reliable.

That statement was not wrong, but it did not apply to people at the bottom.

Uniting all forces that could be united was the best choice for those whose individual strength could not influence the whole.

Humans were social creatures.

Even Titled Douluo lived within this Real World. They had parents and clans who gave birth to and raised them. During their growth, they had friends and comrades who accompanied them along the way. In the end, they would also have children and descendants to care about.

Living in this world, unless one severed all worldly ties, there would always be a few people who could stir one's heart.

Just like Dugu Bo and Qian Daoliu in the original Timeline, who were both very typical examples.

As arrogant as Dugu Bo was, when facing his granddaughter Dugu Yan, he was merely an ordinary little old man.

Qian Daoliu had lived in seclusion for decades, but once his son Qian Xunji died, he was enraged and emerged from seclusion, hunting Tang Hao across the continent to vent his anger. Yet because of his granddaughter Qian Renxue, he also could not bring himself to strike Bibi Dong, who had personally killed Qian Xunji.

As for the evil deed Qian Xunji had done to Bibi Dong, did Qian Daoliu feel guilt over it?

Perhaps he did, but when Qian Xunji died and Qian Daoliu was consumed by rage, would he have considered that?

In the original Timeline, among the three great Limit Douluo, Qian Daoliu's attachments were Qian Renxue and Spirit Hall, Tang Chen's attachments were Bo Saixi and Clear Sky Sect, while Bo Saixi's attachments were Tang Chen and Seagod Island's inheritance of the Sea God.

The vast majority of worlds were a sea of suffering. When people were in that sea of suffering, they would be entangled by a web of countless relationships. Those with great strength could have it easier, while those with weak strength could only bitterly endure the pain of being bound within it, struggling even to breathe.

As for Ling Yi, knowing that his own strength was weak, he could only turn passivity into initiative, proactively reaching out to those countless threads and, through his own methods, weaving those originally chaotic strands into an orderly net that could cover him and protect him.

Most of the teachers and students in the academy might not be able to provide any substantial help in the future, but they were also individual beings living within this great net of the world. Through each of these individuals, the excellent image Ling Yi had painstakingly built could spread further outward.

Having been tempered by the massive amount of information from his previous life, Ling Yi knew that when one was weak, having a good reputation and image was extremely advantageous.

In Room 304, Ling Yi pushed open the door and entered.

"Brother Yi—"

"Brother Yi's back—"...

Inside the dormitory, his classmates and roommates, who had been sitting cross-legged on their respective beds and meditating to cultivate their soul power, opened their eyes and saw Ling Yi. At once, they began greeting him one after another.

Ling Yi waved his hand and said, "Keep cultivating. I just came back to pack up a few things, then I'll be leaving—"

After saying that, he walked straight toward the area of his own bed.

In the large Room 304, in the innermost right-hand corner, a "tent" about two meters high and two meters wide, and nearly two meters twenty in length, stood there rather abruptly.

The Blue Silver Little Nest was built from flourishing stalks of Blue Silver Grass. Like a tent, it covered Ling Yi's bed within, separating the inside and outside into a small private space.

Ling Yi bent down and ducked into the Blue Silver Little Nest, took out a bundle he had prepared long ago, slung it over his shoulder, then turned to Mo Yuan and the others, who had not continued meditating but had instead gotten down from their beds and come closer. He said, "I asked the academy for leave two days ago. I'll be going out for about ten days. While I'm gone, remember to study properly, and don't slack off in cultivation either—"

Hearing Ling Yi's words, Mo Yuan and the others each wore complicated expressions of envy, admiration, and reluctance. They all understood that Brother Yi's leave this time was definitely to hunt for his First Soul Ring. When Brother Yi returned here again, he would be a Soul Master with his first soul ring!

"Brother Yi, don't worry! We'll definitely study properly and work hard at cultivating!" Mo Yuan nodded hard and answered loudly. "We definitely won't slack off, and we won't let you leave us too far behind, Brother Yi! You said it before—we'll still fight side by side in the future—!"

"That's right~ Brother Yi, after I become a Soul Master in the future, I'll definitely protect you—!"

"And me! Although I don't know if I can become a Soul Master like you, Brother Yi, I'll definitely cultivate with all my strength too. I won't be left too far behind by you all—!"...

One passionate declaration after another rang out. Ling Yi patted each of them on the shoulder in turn, leaving behind words like "Keep it up," "Work hard," "I'll be waiting," and "You can do it"... Under their gazes, he walked out of Room 304.

After leaving the academy, Ling Yi headed straight for Mu Zhi City's East City Gate.

There, a carriage he had rented in advance was waiting for him.