Killing Three Birds with One Stone

In front of a bench at Notting Academy, Master was explaining knowledge related to martial souls to Tang San, who had just arrived at the academy (they were poor and could not afford a carriage, and with an elderly person accompanying him, it was perfectly normal for them to travel slowly). He had just reached the subject of innate full soul power:

"...Throughout history, only nineteen people have possessed innate full soul power."

"Nineteen?" Tang San was quite surprised by that number. "Master, in the entire history of Douluo Continent, only nineteen people have had innate full soul power? But two appeared in our Holy Soul Village alone, didn't they?"

Because Mo Lin also possessed innate full soul power, and two such people had emerged from a single small village, Tang San did not have a proper understanding of how rare innate full soul power truly was. Put simply, he thought the odds of someone possessing innate full soul power were about the same as having Conqueror's Haki in One Piece—though Tang San had no idea what One Piece was.

"That's right. Only nineteen people with innate full soul power have appeared in history. Wait, what did you say? Two people with innate full soul power appeared in your village?" Master was rather stunned. Was innate full soul power this common now?!

Tang San nodded.

Driven by shock and curiosity, Master immediately asked:

"Then where is the other child with innate full soul power now?"

Tang San had already come to trust Master quite a bit, so he did not hide anything.

"His martial soul seemed to be some kind of mutated martial soul. As soon as his soul power awakened, people from Spirit Hall took him away."

"Spirit Hall... That means the child will become her disciple."

Master's expression suddenly turned wistful.

"Master, what's wrong?" Tang San asked with concern.

Master adjusted his emotions.

"Nothing. Let me continue explaining!"

Papal Palace, Bibi Dong first furrowed her brows. Ordinary people were overwhelmed with gratitude upon arriving at Spirit Hall and never thought of anything beyond cultivation. Nearly all students at Spirit Hall's soul master academies remained within the academy until graduation. This was the first time she had heard someone make such a request. She sat back down on the Pope's throne and began to think.

Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan and Ghost Douluo Ghost also watched Bibi Dong, awaiting her decision. They had no experience with such a request either and had no advice to offer.

Hu Liena and the other two neither dared to move nor make a sound, yet they were all thinking about Mo Lin's request and the latter half of what he had said.

Mo Lin was someone who knew when he could be frivolous and when he had to be serious. He wanted his unseriousness to serve as a disguise before people he did not wish to grow close to, while also wanting those he was willing to grow close to to know that it was merely a disguise. That was why he had displayed two completely different states within the Papal Palace.

Although Mo Lin had his head lowered at that moment, he had been secretly observing Bibi Dong's expression all along, guessing whether she would agree. From what he had seen so far, Bibi Dong's expression was stern, but she was clearly neither angry nor displeased. She truly was considering his request.

As Bibi Dong thought, she recalled her past:

After Spirit Hall recognized her as a genius, she had remained within Spirit Hall to cultivate her soul power, with almost no contact with the outside world. This had always been Spirit Hall's practice, making it easier to indoctrinate people.

Her first contact with the outside world after joining Spirit Hall had been Master Yu Xiaogang. Like a canary in a cage seeing the sky for the first time, she had been deeply drawn to Yu Xiaogang's talent in martial soul theory. Coupled with the fact that Yu Xiaogang had not been bad-looking in his youth, she began to entertain the thought of being with him.

However, at the time, she had been a canary in a cage. She knew far too little about Spirit Hall's darker side, and almost nothing about the darkness of human nature. Thus, she had easily believed in her idol, the person she respected most—Qian Xunji.

This had ultimately led to her tragedy. If Bibi Dong had encountered this world and this society earlier, perhaps her tragedy would never have happened. Perhaps she and Yu Xiaogang might even have had children.

At that thought, Bibi Dong looked at Mo Lin, who was kneeling on one knee.

"Is he really only six years old? When he entered the hall, he was clearly just a mischievous child, yet when making his request, he was as solemn as an old man. And the things he can think of at six, I never thought of after all these years—or rather, because of my unwillingness and anger, I never intended to think about them."

After her memories and deliberation came to an end, Bibi Dong spoke.

"Mo Lin, I agree."

Mo Lin rose to his feet.

"Thank you, Your Holiness."

"Since you have agreed to become my disciple, there is no need to call me Your Holiness anymore," Bibi Dong said.

"Yes, Master," Mo Lin replied.

"Also," Bibi Dong said as she rose to her feet, seemingly about to announce something significant.

"Yue Guan, Ghost, convey my next words to every member of Spirit Hall, word for word."

Yue Guan and Ghost replied:

"Yes!"

Bibi Dong declared solemnly:

"From this day onward, all students of Spirit Hall's soul master academies, including the students of our Papal Palace, shall have three months each year to allocate as they please. During those three months, they may do anything so long as it does not harm Spirit Hall or violate the laws of the region.

"Furthermore, from this day onward, in any setting, my disciple Mo Lin need not bow to anyone in Spirit Hall, including me, Pope Bibi Dong!"

If gaining time for himself to obtain Tang San's opportunities or cause trouble was Mo Lin's basic goal, then spreading "summer and winter vacations"—of the same total duration—throughout Spirit Hall had been his long-term objective from the start. Now that it had been accomplished ahead of schedule, Bibi Dong's final words were entirely unexpected, and not particularly reasonable either.

Mo Lin truly had not expected that on his very first day, he would have such a tremendous influence on Spirit Hall and receive such exceptional treatment. From a certain perspective, he could be called "below only one person."

"Mo Lin, come. I'll show you around the place where you'll be living in the future."

Bibi Dong's voice was unimaginably gentle. Neither Yue Guan nor Ghost had ever heard Bibi Dong speak like that.

"Alright, Master."

Mo Lin nodded and followed after her.

After watching Bibi Dong walk away, Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan turned to Ghost.

"Old Ghost, after this..."

"What else can we do? Do as Her Holiness the Pope says." Ghost looked at Hu Liena and the other two:

"You three, help spread the word as well."

The three replied, "Yes!"

Bibi Dong brought Mo Lin to a room. Its decor could only be described as luxurious—an unmistakable royal standard. Across both his lives, Mo Lin had never lived in such an extravagant place.

Bibi Dong patted Mo Lin on the head:

"How is it? Are you satisfied?"

Mo Lin nodded vigorously:

"Of course, Master. I'm very satisfied!"

Then Mo Lin excitedly went from piece to piece, touching every bit of furniture and getting himself properly acquainted with his future living environment.

Seeing how happy Mo Lin was, Bibi Dong had originally planned to leave him there. But after thinking it over, she decided to voice a question that had been lingering in her heart:

"Mo Lin, you're so young. How did you come up with so many things?"

Mo Lin stopped in his tracks. One sentence had left an exceptionally deep impression on him, and at this moment, it seemed especially fitting:

"Maybe things just haven't gone that smoothly."

Those casually spoken words struck Bibi Dong hard in the heart. For a moment, she suddenly had no idea what she should do next.

Five seconds later, Bibi Dong walked over to Mo Lin, crouched down, and pulled him into her arms. Gently stroking him, she said in the softest voice:

"Child, your life will definitely go smoothly from now on. I promise you."

Mo Lin nodded and sniffed his nosebleed back in.