Lu Chen's Appetite Soars

After his clothes fit properly, Lu Chen's whole air changed in an instant.

He was still only six years old, yet the effects of his Martial Soul Awakening made him seem steadier than an ordinary child.

The clean, fine clothes framed his features, making him look like a young master from a noble family.

Hu Liena stared again when Lu Chen came out.

She was a devoted admirer of good looks.

Lu Chen in girls' clothes had seemed unbearably cute to her. Now, dressed normally, her junior brother looked so refined that it was almost too much.

Hu Liena couldn't help nodding.

"You look good like this, too."

Lu Chen straightened his sleeves and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now this is normal."

Hu Liena smiled. "Yes, yes, normal. You're the best-looking, junior brother."

Hearing her coax him like a child, Lu Chen couldn't be bothered to argue any further.

They had lunch at Saintess Hall.

Lu Chen had expected an ordinary meal, but when he sat down at the table, he realized that the food he'd eaten at the orphanage was on a completely different level from this.

There wasn't an extravagant variety of dishes, but each one had clearly been prepared with care.

There was a rich broth stewed with century-old Iron-Armor Ox, its meat firm and hearty. There was roasted Wind-Spirit Chicken, lightly charred on the outside and wonderfully fragrant.

There were also thin slices of Green-Patterned Deer meat served with a specially made sauce. Beside them sat a plate of ribs roasted from Fire-Cloud Pig, their fatty aroma especially pronounced.

Besides that, there was clear soup simmered from Soul Beast bones, as well as staple foods made with Soul Beast meat and grains.

To Hu Liena, the food was good, but it was the sort of thing she could eat every day.

To Lu Chen, it was an entirely new world.

He hadn't had much of an appetite before, and the orphanage couldn't possibly serve him Soul Beast meat every day.

Even though Spirit Hall treated the orphanage well, it couldn't provide high-level Soul Beast meat as everyday food. At most, they might have some on holidays.

So this bumpkin Lu Chen was tasting dishes made from all kinds of Soul Beast meat for the very first time.

At first, he tried to hold himself back a little.

But after a few bites, he realized that his body craved this food far more than he'd imagined.

Perhaps it was because he'd awakened the Leugocyte Martial Soul that day. Perhaps it was because Martial Soul Possession testing had consumed a great deal of his strength. Whatever the reason, Lu Chen's appetite was even more outrageous than usual.

He ate one bite after another. He wasn't messy about it, but he barely stopped.

At first, Hu Liena cheerfully explained which Soul Beast each dish came from. But gradually, she fell silent.

The food on the table was disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Lu Chen had eaten nearly half of it all by himself.

And this wasn't ordinary food. It was made from Soul Beast meat.

Soul Beast meat held more energy than ordinary meat. A child could easily feel full after eating a little, and might even have trouble digesting too much.

But Lu Chen had no such problem.

He could not only eat it—he could keep going.

Hu Liena stared at him, dumbfounded.

To eat this much high-level Soul Beast meat and digest it, too—was this what you'd expect from a god-level Martial Soul?

Only when every last bit of food on the table had been eaten did Hu Liena finally come to her senses.

She looked at Lu Chen and asked tentatively, "Junior brother, are you full?"

Lu Chen put down his utensils and carefully assessed how he felt.

After a moment, he answered seriously, "I'm eighty percent full."

Hu Liena fell silent.

She looked at the empty table, then at Lu Chen's still-childish face, and couldn't think of what to say.

After eating all that, he was only eighty percent full?

Hu Liena suddenly felt that Saintess Hall might have to rethink its meal planning from now on.

In the afternoon, seeing that her teacher hadn't assigned her any other tasks, Hu Liena took the initiative to care for her junior brother.

Lu Chen had just come from the orphanage to Pope Hall and had been taken in as her teacher's disciple. There were clearly many things he wasn't familiar with yet.

Although he'd awakened a god-level Martial Soul, he still needed a thorough understanding of the basics of the Soul Master world.

So Hu Liena took Lu Chen to a quiet spot in Saintess Hall and began teaching him the fundamentals of the Douluo Continent.

She kept it simple.

She began with Soul Master levels, then covered Soul Rings, Soul Beasts, Martial Soul types, Soul Master Academies, and the basic situation of the continent's major powers.

Lu Chen listened attentively.

He'd read the original novel in his previous life and was familiar with the general plot and setting of the Douluo Continent. But he knew this was a real world.

A real world was nothing like the words in a novel.

In the original, plenty of things could be glossed over in a few strokes, and some strange plot holes and inconsistencies remained.

But in the real Douluo Continent, those so-called plot holes didn't actually exist as holes in the world.

For example, the power structure among Spirit Hall's different positions, and the basic details about its various elders—these were things the original wouldn't explain in depth, but they still existed in reality.

So Lu Chen didn't dismiss Hu Liena's explanations just because he knew the plot.

On the contrary, he listened with complete focus.

When Hu Liena spoke about Soul Master levels, he nodded and committed them to memory.

When she discussed Soul Beast ages, he asked questions about the details.

When she brought up Soul Master Academies, he asked even more.

Seeing how seriously he took it, Hu Liena explained more and more.

She'd only meant to give her junior brother a simple grounding in the basics, but by the end of the afternoon, she'd practically given Lu Chen a full introductory lesson.

After an afternoon of studying, Lu Chen had gained a basic understanding of much of what was common knowledge on the Douluo Continent.

Of course, it was all just the basics.

Hu Liena concluded, "You'll learn more advanced things gradually once you get to a Soul Master Academy."

Lu Chen nodded.

"Thank you, senior sister."

Hu Liena smiled and ruffled his hair.

"No need to thank me. You're my junior brother, after all."

Lu Chen didn't dodge. He only sighed silently to himself.

He realized that Hu Liena really did seem to enjoy looking after him like a child.

But considering he was only six years old, he didn't have much grounds to object.

Night fell.

After dinner, Bibi Dong returned to Saintess Hall.

As soon as she walked in, she saw Hu Liena and Lu Chen getting along very well.

Hu Liena was sitting beside Lu Chen and seemed to be telling him something.

Lu Chen wasn't much of a talker, but he listened attentively and occasionally replied.

Seeing the two of them, Bibi Dong gave a slight nod.

She'd been a little worried that Lu Chen wouldn't adjust to his new surroundings after arriving at Saintess Hall.

It seemed Hu Liena had taken good care of him.

But then, Bibi Dong suddenly felt that something was off.

Why was Lu Chen here?

She'd only told Gui Mei to take Xiao Chen to his lodgings, get him settled, and change his clothes.

Had Gui Mei brought him straight to Saintess Hall?

Bibi Dong quickly figured it out.

Gui Mei must have misunderstood what she meant.