Tian Yue sat happily on the Pope's lap, enjoying breakfast. Qian Xunqian had simply tied her hair into twin ponytails, then grabbed a piece of toast and began wolfing it down.
Dugu Yan, Xie Yue, and the others had arrived at Pope's Palace early to begin their day's training. They had already completed half of their theory classes for the semester, so they had asked the teachers at Spirit Hall High-Level Academy for two months off to train at Pope's Palace.
Watching their disheveled teacher emerge from the bedroom carrying a little girl, barefoot, the four of them couldn't help glancing at Qian Xunqian's smooth, fair feet.
Sure enough, the research was right: ninety percent of people had some degree of fondness for feet, regardless of gender.
The two boys, Xie Yue and Yan, felt desire stir but kept their manners. After one glance, they immediately turned their heads away, pretending they hadn't seen a thing.
Hu Liena and Dugu Yan stared for a few seconds, then felt embarrassed too. They quickly turned away as well, pretending they hadn't seen anything.
"I'll take this child to school first. You four keep training, and we'll talk about any problems when I get back. I won't be long!"
At the entrance to Spirit Hall Junior Soul Master Academy, Tian Yue reluctantly said goodbye to Qian Xunqian.
"Will we see each other again tonight?"
Qian Xunqian laughed in exasperation. "Last night was a fluke. I was training late and hadn't eaten. From now on, there might not be anyone to cook for you in the middle of the night! Just ask your dad to prepare some snacks for you!"
Tian Yue tapped her two index fingers together and complained, "My dad's such an old-fashioned fossil. He thinks snacks are all junk food and won't let me touch them! He says I'm at the age when I'm growing, and if I eat fried food, I won't grow tall!"
"Don't worry! I'll talk to your dad. If that doesn't work, I'll have your grandpa deal with him! Just wait!"
Qian Xunqian vanished in a flash before Tian Yue's eyes. A little over two minutes later, she flashed back, carrying a large bag stuffed with snacks: potato chips, french fries, dried fruit, chicken drumsticks...
"Here, take these. Eat what you can at school, and share whatever you can't finish with your friends and classmates. Don't let your dad find out when you get home!"
Qian Xunqian handed Tian Yue the snacks, patted her on the head, and said with concern,
"All right, all right, go on into school. Don't eat them in front of your teachers!"
After dropping the child off at school, Qian Xunqian ambled back to Pope's Palace, where she ran straight into her beloved niece, Qian Renxue.
Qian Renxue awkwardly scratched her head and looked at her aunt. "Auntie, goo... good morning..."
Qian Xunqian glanced at the bright sun and shrugged. "Yeah! It's pretty early! You're the senior sister, and you got here later than all four of your junior siblings!"
Qian Renxue lowered her head in silence and slipped into Pope's Palace.
"Today, I'm going to teach you your first lesson: the meaning of a Soul Master's existence! Same as before. The four of you, why do you want to become Soul Masters?"
Xie Yue and Dugu Yan answered honestly. "I want to become stronger." "I want to improve my strength."
Hu Liena, meanwhile, was brimming with confidence. At Spirit Hall Junior Soul Master Academy, she had come in first in every weekly test, monthly test, midterm and final, and every Soul Master Tournament held within the academy. After entering the high-level academy, she had still ranked first in the freshman assessment.
So Hu Liena confidently declared, "I want to become strong, and be number one in Spirit Hall—if not the entire Douluo Continent!"
"What about you, Yan?"
Yan looked just like a student who'd been caught daydreaming and called on by the teacher, only to have no idea what to say. He gave a bashful grin. "Because I awakened a Martial Soul and have Soul Power, I have to train, so I became a Soul Master..."
This clever answer made Qian Xunqian laugh. But it was perfectly true, so she gave Yan a thumbs-up.
Qian Renxue had a somewhat higher sense of purpose. "I became a Soul Master so I'd have the strength to protect my family and keep them from being hurt!"
Qian Xunqian nodded at that and continued, "Everyone has their own understanding of what it means to be a Soul Master. There's no right or wrong. Now, I'll take you outside Spirit City to see what other people think being a Soul Master means."
Qian Xunqian took the five of them outside Spirit City. The area had once been covered with fields and villages, but thanks to Spirit City's rapid development, it was now being completely renovated almost every year.
The villagers had built three-story houses. Every day, they went with the head of their production team to work the communal fields. In their spare time, they sat down right where they were and began cultivating, following an exceptionally regular routine.
The relevant departments had reorganized the farmland, combining the scattered plots that had been cultivated into several large tracts. They had also organized the scattered farming households, letting them form rural production cooperatives of their own or join existing ones.
With the land consolidated and the countryside collectivized, agricultural productivity had soared. Previously, each scattered household had clung to its own tiny patch of land, unwilling to spend a fortune on large equipment like plows and harvesters. Even if they bought the machines, using them on their own little plot felt wasteful.
But once the land had been consolidated and the farmers had joined collectives, large agricultural machines like seeders, plows, and harvesters could finally be put to proper use. Every day, a dozen or so people took the collective's machines out to the fields and drove around a few times. It didn't take long to finish a whole day's agricultural work—a great deal faster than painstakingly tilling the land by hand with a hoe.
Nearly ninety-nine percent of the farmers had chosen to collectivize locally. Spirit Hall then provided them with various agricultural machines and taught them how to use them. Their work had become ten times easier, and their harvests were stable as well.
Thanks to the Innate Spirit Power Cultivation Device invented by Qian Xunqian, even farmers who previously had no Soul Power could now begin cultivating. They put the time they had saved to good use, training their Soul Power.
Nowadays, everywhere you looked, the people driving tractors through the fields were all Soul Grandmasters and Soul Elders.
Yu Xiaogang: Am I worth less than a farmer?
But there were exceptions to everything. While nearly all the farmers had embraced advanced production relations, one person stood out like a sore thumb: Tang Yuehua, former daughter of the Clear Sky Sect's sect master.
After Elder Gui Mei had delivered Tang Yuehua to Qian Xunqian's secret chamber, Qian Xunqian cackled, "Heh heh heh," and undid the buttons at her collar, licking her lips greedily.
"Ah, so you're Miss Tang Yuehua, the treasured daughter of the Clear Sky Sect's sect master, an honored guest of Heaven Dou's nobility, and the so-called 'teacher of the nobility'? We haven't seen each other in days. What brings you to this Pope's secret chamber?"
Qian Xunqian brazenly pinched the older woman's cheek. Tsk, tsk, tsk. She'd taken such good care of herself. I'm almost tempted!
"Villain! Lecher! Traitor! Scoundrel!!! Why are you keeping me locked up here? Don't you know that nobles must never be insulted?!" Tang Yuehua protested bitterly. She'd been teaching a class at Moonlight Pavilion when a group of people had suddenly rushed in and demanded to arrest her by name!