Nuoding Academy's Top Three Experts?

After passing through the bustling corridor, Lin Ya walked straight into Nuoding Academy's exclusive noble class classroom.

His public identity was that of a viscount of the Heaven Dou Empire, so naturally, he attended the noble class.

One had to know that in the original timeline, even the Shrek Seven Monsters had received no more than such a title after winning the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament. A viscountcy carried considerable weight among the younger generation.

The classroom was elegantly furnished. The carved tables and chairs gleamed like new, luxurious soft carpets covered the floor, and even the air seemed steeped in the innate arrogance and aloofness of noble-born students.

"Teacher, I'm Lin Ya. I'm here to register."

Because obtaining his soul ring in the Soul Hunting Forest had delayed him by a day, Lin Ya was the last student to arrive in the classroom.

When the teacher on the platform looked up and saw him, his attitude immediately became more courteous, even carrying a hint of caution—every student in the noble class had a powerful background, and as an ordinary instructor, he could not afford to offend any of them.

"Viscount Lin Ya, the window seat in the second-to-last row has been reserved for you. Please take your seat."

Lin Ya gave a slight nod, walked to the designated seat, and sat down quietly. His calm bearing was utterly at odds with the restless atmosphere around him.

Only after he had settled in did the teacher clear his throat and continue the lesson:

"Yesterday, we covered soul master ranks, soul ring configurations, and Martial Soul classifications. Today, we will officially begin the core material—the basic cultivation methods of soul masters: how to sense the soul power of heaven and earth, how to guide soul power into the body, and how to slowly nourish the meridians with soul power..."

The lecturer spoke fervently from the platform, explaining everything in great detail. Even the noble students around him sat upright, listening with serious expressions.

Yet after listening for only a moment, Lin Ya gently shook his head inwardly.

This was how soul masters cultivated during the first era of Douluo Continent?

Chaotic, fragmented, completely lacking any systematic structure—and painfully inefficient.

It could not even be considered a complete system. At best, it was merely a crude attempt at exploration.

Take the example before him. As the son of Notting City's lord, Xiao Chenyu's talent could be considered above average within the academy, yet at the start of sixth grade, he was only level eleven. From Martial Soul awakening to breaking through level ten and becoming a soul master, he had spent a full five years. And such progress was actually enough for him to be called a genius at Nuoding Academy.

But by the era of Douluo II, even the child of a servant from the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, so long as they awakened innate soul power, could reliably break through level ten and complete the transition from soul scholar to soul master within three years at most.

This was the gulf between an advanced cultivation system and a backward one.

Body tempering, mimetic cultivation, spiritual power refinement, circulating soul power through the meridians... The cultivation methods of later generations crushed this primitive era in every aspect.

Lin Ya did not care much about this. His Outcast Martial Soul came with the Celestial Master Mansion's orthodox Golden Light Mantra. Its cultivation method was upright and balanced, vast and majestic—the finest of cultivation arts. The stability of its foundation was far beyond that of ordinary people.

But his ambitions did not end with himself.

He was the hidden prince of the Heaven Dou Empire. Spirit Hall and the Star Luo Empire had been his mortal enemies from beginning to end. This was a conflict of positions, unrelated to good or evil.

Though the Heaven Dou Empire appeared immense, it was internally loose and weak. If he wished to stand firm amid the storms of the future, he had to build a force of his own with a solid foundation.

"If I simplify and extract the Golden Light Mantra, discard the miraculous manifestations of golden light, retain only the most essential methods of breathing, body refinement, and meridian nourishment, then adapt them to this world's soul power rules... perhaps I can create a universal foundational cultivation method suitable for all soul masters."

He certainly would not casually pass down the core cultivation method, but a few simple breathing techniques would not affect him much.

With that thought, Lin Ya immersed himself in deducing how to simplify the cultivation method. His mind turned inward, deaf to everything outside.

Before he knew it, the first class had already ended.

"Class dismissed."

The teacher had no desire to stay a moment longer. He gathered his lesson materials and hurried away, as though the classroom were some perilous den.

The moment the instructor left, three figures blocked Lin Ya's desk like boulders in the road.

The leader was tall and straight, dressed in luxurious clothing, his face full of arrogance. One of the two beside him was skinny and the other burly, both likewise clad as nobles. Their haughty gazes made it obvious that they were used to throwing their weight around.

The burly Liu Long was the first to provoke him. His Martial Soul instantly possessed him, and a two-meter-long yellow soul staff appeared in his hand. With a sharp twist of his wrist—

Bang!

The soul staff slammed heavily into the corner of Lin Ya's desk, instantly leaving a dent in the wooden surface.

"New kid! You dare to zone out on your first day of class? Don't you know you're supposed to pay respects and acknowledge the boss first?"

Lin Ya slowly raised his eyes, calmly sweeping his gaze across the three of them. "And you are?"

The slender Ling Feng immediately puffed out his chest, his face full of arrogance.

"You don't even know us? Listen closely. I'm Ling Feng, he's Liu Long, and this man is the son of Notting City's lord, the boss of our first-year class—Xiao Chenyu! Lone Wolf Martial Soul, a level-three soul scholar, unbeatable among the new students!"

Lin Ya...

A level-three soul scholar, and they had the nerve to flaunt it so grandly? Was that really something to be proud of?

He instantly recognized the three of them—the three "experts" of Nuoding Academy from the original timeline, who would only barely reach levels eleven and nine five years later.

Then Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Wang Sheng would wipe them out in one go, after which they would acknowledge Xiao Wu as their boss.

Still, to be fair, these three did keep their word. A loss was a loss; they did not follow the fine tradition of "calling in the elders after beating the young." They accepted defeat and obediently became someone else's lackeys.

But looking at these three smug youths before him, Lin Ya only felt a wave of exhaustion.

Were the young nobles of the Heaven Dou Empire truly only capable of this much? What would they use in the future to contend against the Star Luo Empire and the flourishing Spirit Hall?

Yet to Xiao Chenyu and the other two, his silence looked like fear and timidity.

Xiao Chenyu stepped forward and folded his arms. A smile that he believed to be friendly, but was actually full of pressure, curled across his lips as he spoke down to Lin Ya.

"You're Viscount Lin Ya, right? We mean no harm. Seeing that you're alone and have no one to rely on in the noble class, we came to give you an opportunity."

Liu Long withdrew his soul staff and chimed in in a muffled voice, "Follow Boss Xiao, and no one in Nuoding Academy will dare touch you."

Ling Feng stepped forward, his tone brimming with condescending charity. "It's your good fortune that Brother Chenyu is willing to take you in as his lackey. Don't be ungrateful."

One played the tough guy, one played the good guy, and one had no shame at all. Their coordination was flawless. This combination of carrot and stick had never failed them when recruiting lackeys.

At that moment, three pairs of eyes locked tightly onto Lin Ya, waiting for him to bow his head in submission.

But how could Lin Ya possibly grant their wish? He merely rose helplessly, rolled his wrists, and said, "I'm not in the mood to waste time with you. The three of you—come at me together."