Yu Hengqing was taken aback. Was following people around popular even at Heaven Dou Royal Academy? He hadn't done anything, had he?
"Leiyi, how strong is the person following me?"
"A Two-Ring Soul Master. I haven't sensed any hostility from him so far."
Yu Hengqing raised an eyebrow. No hostility meant the person might have something to ask him. He didn't believe a student at this academy could hide their ill will from Leiyi.
Suddenly, Yu Hengqing seemed to think of something. He quietly picked up his pace, taking a winding route.
The person behind him saw that he was about to lose Yu Hengqing and immediately panicked, breaking into a jog without thinking.
But with Leiyi's help, Yu Hengqing took turn after turn, leaving his pursuer so disoriented that he lost track of him.
"Did I lose him again?"
Zhou Yan searched the area. Once he was sure Yu Hengqing was nowhere to be seen, he stood there looking crestfallen.
"Zhou Yan, it's fine! He'll definitely come back to Thunder-Fire Hall. I just need to be patient, and I'll get to see him."
Thinking of how Yu Hengqing would return to Thunder-Fire Hall, Zhou Yan quickly perked up.
Just as Zhou Yan was about to head back to Thunder-Fire Hall to cultivate, the voice he'd been waiting for came from behind him.
"Senior Zhou Yan, what do you want with your junior here?"
Zhou Yan whipped around. Yu Hengqing was leaning against a Soul Beast statue, peeling an apple with a dagger.
Zhou Yan had already rehearsed what to say, but when he actually faced Yu Hengqing, he still felt nervous.
"I... I want to follow you, Junior!"
"Huh?"
Yu Hengqing stopped what he was doing and looked up at Zhou Yan in confusion.
"Senior, in terms of strength, I'm only a One-Ring Soul Master. As for my background, I'm just someone living off the blessings of my elders. What good would it do you to have me follow you?"
Before deciding to follow Yu Hengqing, Zhou Yan had considered all of that. But he trusted his Martial Soul.
"Because I believe you can help me fix the defect in my Martial Soul!"
When he said this, Zhou Yan sounded utterly confident, as though Yu Hengqing could truly solve his problem.
"Crunch!"
Yu Hengqing felt nothing at all about Zhou Yan's words as he ate his apple. He wasn't the charitable sort; without something in it for him, he wouldn't lift a finger.
The air fell silent.
Zhou Yan wasn't stupid. He understood that Yu Hengqing hadn't answered because he hadn't offered anything in return.
"My family has a Golden Lightning Pattern Fruit. It can improve a Soul Master's control over lightning-attribute Soul Power!"
Only when he heard "Golden Lightning Pattern Fruit" did Yu Hengqing take an interest. He'd read about this rare treasure in his family's library, and its effects were more or less as Zhou Yan had described.
"The Golden Lightning Pattern Fruit is certainly good, but how do I know one fruit is enough for me to solve your problem?"
Yu Hengqing straightened up and casually tossed the apple core into a nearby trash can.
This time, it was Zhou Yan who fell silent.
It was true. Even Zhou Yan himself didn't know what it would take to fix the defect in his Martial Soul. He'd simply been blindly following the guidance of his Martial Soul.
"How about this? Since you seem sincere, tell me what exactly is wrong with your Martial Soul."
Yu Hengqing asked this absolutely not because he wanted the Golden Lightning Pattern Fruit to help him refine Cangming Lightning faster! No, absolutely not!
At his words, the light gradually returned to Zhou Yan's dazed eyes, and his spirits lifted.
"Mm-hmm! My Martial Soul is the Thunder-Roaring Purgatory Vine. They say it was formed from the Thunder God's blood when he fell."
"The Thunder God?"
At the mention of the Thunder God, Yu Hengqing immediately understood why Zhou Yan's Martial Soul had reacted to him.
"Uh, I'm not sure whether it's true. That's just what my family tree says."
"If your Martial Soul was formed from divine blood, it should be incredibly powerful. How could it have a defect?"
The discovery of something connected to the Thunder God here had instantly piqued Yu Hengqing's curiosity.
At that, Zhou Yan let out a long sigh and slumped again.
"Alas, the Thunder-Roaring Purgatory Vine is indeed a top-tier plant-type weapon Martial Soul. But its strength is both its blessing and its curse!"
"Those with this Martial Soul cultivate just like anyone else until they become Soul Saints. But once their Soul Power Level breaks through to Soul Saint, large amounts of lightning energy gradually build up inside them."
"If that lightning energy can't be removed, at best their Martial Soul will be destroyed and they'll lose all their cultivation. At worst, the lightning will annihilate them, leaving nothing but ashes."
After hearing about the defect in Zhou Yan's Martial Soul, Yu Hengqing felt as if he'd just heard a different version of Dugu Bo.
In both cases, energy accumulated inside the body, and without treatment, the person would either die or become a cripple. The only difference was that Dugu Bo had the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to keep him alive.
Tsk, what a miserable fate!
"After all that, your family still hasn't found a way to solve the problem?"
If he could solve the problem facing Zhou Yan's family, he might gain himself a decent fighter.
"My family tried. There's only been one successful case, five hundred years ago. One of my ancestors relied on his wife's even stronger lightning-attribute Martial Soul to draw the lightning energy that had built up inside him out of his body. That made him the first—and only—Titled Douluo in our family!"
As he spoke, Zhou Yan felt both pride and heartache: pride that his family had produced a Titled Douluo, and heartache that there had only ever been one.
"So you're saying my lightning-attribute Martial Soul is stronger than yours?"
Yu Hengqing wasn't surprised by the solution Zhou Yan described. If this sort of problem couldn't be cured, then all they could do was drain the buildup.
"Though I can't say for certain, judging by how you performed at Thunder-Fire Hall, Junior, your Martial Soul is definitely no weaker than mine!"
"In that case, let's find out right now!"
Yu Hengqing smiled and held out his right hand to Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan looked at Yu Hengqing in disbelief, then at the golden lightning coiling around his right hand.
He hadn't even noticed when Yu Hengqing had entered Martial Soul Possession.
Despite his surprise, Zhou Yan understood what Yu Hengqing meant.
It was a contest of technique. Once both parties entered Martial Soul Possession, they could clasp hands and channel their Soul Power into them to grapple.
"Martial Soul Possession!"
A vine covered in deep purple, violent lightning appeared in the palm of Zhou Yan's right hand.
"Come on!"
Purple lightning gathered in Zhou Yan's left hand.
The instant their hands touched, purple and gold lightning tangled together, neither yielding to the other!
But that didn't last long. The purple lightning was gradually overwhelmed by the golden lightning, retreating bit by bit.
First from Zhou Yan's fingers, then from his palm, and finally all the way back to the base of his hand.
Faced with this result, Zhou Yan wasn't disappointed at all. Instead, his face lit up with excitement.
"As I thought! My Martial Soul was right! Your lightning attribute is stronger than the Thunder-Roaring Purgatory Vine!"
"That's wonderful! Dad can be saved! Dad can be saved!"
As he spoke, Zhou Yan began to cry.
"Go ahead and cry. You'll feel better once you let it out."
Watching Zhou Yan sob, Yu Hengqing didn't stop him. He simply patted his shoulder gently.
After a while, the sobbing stopped.
Embarrassed, Zhou Yan turned away and wiped the tears from his face.
"Sorry for the trouble, Junior. I'm just happy for my dad! Ever since he broke through to Soul Saint last year, he's been suffering under the torment of the lightning energy. Of course, I'm not asking you to help him now. I only hope you'll help my dad once you become a Soul Emperor!"
"All right. Meet me at the school gate at eight tomorrow morning. Don't forget my Golden Lightning Pattern Fruit!"
After setting the time and place, Yu Hengqing turned and left.
"Junior, what's your name?"
"Yu Hengqing!"
Before you continue