Qiangu Die Ting Leaves the Pass

On the other side.

Gu Yue and Na'er lay on the soft, large bed, staring at the ceiling with restless minds.

In the end, it was Gu Yue who spoke first, breaking the silence.

"Xiao Qian hasn't changed at all. Even after reincarnation, he still loves children so much."

"Heh, that old thing, the Dragon God, was never honest for a single moment back then, and he gave Xiao Qian no shortage of worries."

Gu Yue turned her head and rolled her eyes at Na'er. "We are, after all, the two halves of the Dragon God. We inherited his wisdom and part of his memories. Isn't cursing him just cursing ourselves?"

"Doesn't that guy, the Dragon God, deserve to be cursed? In the end, he went mad and killed Xi and the others with his own hands. Although he was eventually killed by the humans who arrived, it did pave the way for what you and I are today."

Gu Yue felt dazed, her memory drifting back to the day of the Star Ascension Ceremony.

The memories regarding that part were actually incomplete.

But after his madness, the Dragon God felt immense guilt and self-reproach for killing the Nine Great Dragon Kings—children who had been raised by the Dragon Venerable himself, and who were like younger siblings to him.

This was the reason Gu Yue had never dared to tell Qian Jue about her past experiences.

As the half of the Dragon God, she had to bear this sin alone.

Na'er rested her hands behind her head, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling, and said, "Gu Yue, do you think that guy, the Dragon God, is truly dead?"

"He should have fallen; otherwise, neither I nor the Golden Dragon King would have been born."

All signs indicated that the Dragon God was dead; otherwise, the dragon race would not have declined so thoroughly.

It couldn't be that the Dragon God killed the Nine Great Dragon Kings, failed to ascend in dimensions, lost all hope of resurrecting Qian Jue, and then just gave up, right?

Na'er let out a sigh of relief. A dead Dragon God was a good Dragon God.

Otherwise, there would be another powerful competitor to deal with. Gu Yue could barely handle that, given the gap in their looks.

But if that love-struck guy, who had deeply loved the Dragon Venerable for hundreds of thousands of years and had even twisted his own personality through constant resurrection research, suddenly popped up to fight them for him...

She dared not imagine that scene.

Sleep now; tomorrow will be a new day.

Just as Na'er closed her eyes, she realized that Gu Yue beside her had already fallen asleep at some point.

That peaceful expression was perhaps due to seeing Qian Jue, who remained full of gentleness even after his reincarnation.

Goodnight, my other half.

Early morning, East Sea Academy.

Wu Zhangkong looked at Na'er, who stood beside Qian Jue with her delicate, doll-like features, and asked, "So, this child is joining our class as well?"

"As the class monitor and team leader, please give me a suitable reason."

"Sister Na'er's martial soul is the Silver Dragon Spear, and she also has a martial soul fusion skill with me. Is that enough?"

Wu Zhangkong nodded slightly upon hearing this.

Fine, one more dragon is one more dragon; he was already used to it.

"Remember to come to the testing room before school ends. I need to make a preliminary record of your physical data."

"Understood, Teacher Wu~"

Na'er immediately hooked her arm through Qian Jue's, flashing a sweet smile. "Xiao Qian, we're classmates from now on. Please take care of me."

Gu Yue unobtrusively pulled Na'er away as she tried to cling to him.

Although Qian Jue's words yesterday had largely dispelled her hostility toward Na'er, seeing her husband being approached by someone else still inevitably stirred up a wave of jealousy.

It was strange.

Having inherited the wisdom of the Dragon God, she should be a being full of sagacity and rationality.

But why did she feel like a love-struck fool, even possessing a strong sense of possessiveness?

Gu Yue seriously suspected that when the Dragon God was split in two, he had dumped all his romantic obsession onto her.

Whatever, love-struck or not, as long as the object of her affection was Qian Jue, nothing else mattered.

Na'er's arrival caused quite a stir in Class Five, though the events of the past few days were perhaps something they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

However, Na'er's outstanding beauty and lively, cheerful temperament still attracted the attention of many boys in the class.

When they saw how close Na'er was to Qian Jue, they immediately let it go.

As expected, beauties belong with heroes.

Just like that, a month passed in the blink of an eye.

The highly anticipated East Sea Academy Class Promotion Tournament was about to begin.

Within this month, the roster for Class Five had been finalized.

Captain Qian Jue, Vice-Captain Gu Yue, followed by Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, Na'er, and Wang Jinxi.

A true dragon-race squad, with Qian Jue's Dragon Rising Pillar as the core. Such a team, with an average level of only the second ring, was enough to contend with a fourth-ring Soul Ancestor.

This was even without counting their trump card, the martial soul fusion skill.

Therefore, before the tournament even began, many senior classes automatically forfeited.

Wu Zhangkong was very dissatisfied with this.

He had intended to use these senior students to properly hone the combat experience of Qian Jue and the others, but they had all fled without a fight.

It was truly infuriating.

"There is one more place where you can train your team coordination."

Wu Zhangkong pulled several vouchers from his pocket and placed them on the table.

Tang Wulin picked them up, took a look, and asked, "Teacher Wu, what are these?"

"These are entry tickets for the primary Spirit Ascension Platform that I purchased. It is the most mysterious place in the Spirit Pagoda, where soul masters can return to the era ten thousand years ago when soul beasts thrived."

"At the same time, hunting the soul beasts inside not only serves to train your combat instincts but can also cause your own soul spirits to evolve. This is the biggest reason why soul rings in our era exceed those of soul masters from ten thousand years ago."

After speaking, three purple and three black soul rings circled around Wu Zhangkong, radiating a powerful aura.

Indeed, with Wu Zhangkong's soul ring configuration, if one were to substitute it into the era of Tang San twenty thousand years ago, it seemed that no one could achieve a thousand-year first soul ring unless they had participated in the God Trials.

The master of martial soul theory, the man who broke through to level thirty at fifty years old, the teacher of the God King—Yu Xiaogang—had once said that the limit for a soul master's first soul ring was 423 years.

Although this specific data seemed somewhat dubious when applied to a soul master world where martial souls and physical constitutions varied, it indirectly proved that it was very difficult for a first soul ring to break through the hundred-year threshold.

"Teacher Wu, although I really don't want to say it, it seems we don't actually need to buy tickets if we want to go to the Spirit Ascension Platform."

"My grandfather told me this."

Wu Zhangkong was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously asked, "Can I still get a refund if I return these tickets now?"

"It should be possible, but the staff gets off work at 5:30, Teacher Wu. If you run over there quickly now, you might just make it."

Upon receiving this answer, Wu Zhangkong immediately stood up, turned around, and ran out the door.

After Wu Zhangkong left, the school bell rang leisurely.

Qian Jue and the others strolled toward their villa, discussing on the way who would cook tonight, what they would eat, and going to the Spirit Ascension Platform together tomorrow on Saturday.

Suddenly, two people appeared on the street and blocked their path.

It was an old man and a youth who looked to be about their age, perhaps only two or three years older.

For some reason, Qian Jue felt a sense of closeness from this old man similar to that of his grandfather.

"You are my great-grandson?"

Qiangu Die Ting? Why had this old thing come out of seclusion?

As soon as those words were spoken, Qian Jue immediately realized who the person in front of him was.