A Temporary Farewell to Notting Academy

At the training grounds behind the academy, Tang San and Xiao Wu were resting beneath a large tree.

The two chatted idly when Xiao Wu suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure approaching from the direction of the back mountain.

"Hey, Uncle's back!"

"Teacher's back!"

Hearing news of Xu Linjiu, Tang San instantly perked up. He rose to his feet and turned to look.

Seeing that it really was his teacher, Tang San immediately jogged over to greet him.

"Hmph, stupid Little San!"

Xiao Wu curled her lips behind Tang San and muttered unhappily before following after him.

"Teacher, you're back!"

"Mm. That thunder just now was pretty loud. You two all right?"

"We're fine."

Tang San shook his head. "It's just that the thunderclouds felt a little strange. They came quickly and vanished quickly. There were only a few lightning strikes, and not even a drop of rain fell."

Xiao Wu walked over at that moment, though the way she looked at Xu Linjiu was somewhat strange.

Those thunderclouds over the back mountain had looked unusual, but to her, they were all too familiar. They were the lightning tribulation that descended when a soul beast made a breakthrough.

Xu Linjiu had barely been gone for any time at all before the thunderclouds appeared. Could Xu Linjiu be...?

Xiao Wu secretly pondered this, but she did not dare be certain.

After all, the lightning tribulation had not even properly begun before the clouds dispersed. Besides, Xu Linjiu looked human, and she had never heard that soul beasts who took human form still needed to undergo lightning tribulation.

Xiao Wu shook her head and cast aside her wild thoughts. "Uncle, we finished all our training today. So where's our reward?"

"Xiao Wu! We train here to become stronger, not for rewards!"

Hearing Xiao Wu's words, Tang San immediately spoke to her with a stern expression.

"Hmph!"

Xiao Wu gave an indignant snort and angrily turned her head away.

"All right, you two."

Seeing this, Xu Linjiu shook his head and smiled helplessly. "Little San, you don't need to be so serious. Rewards are part of training too."

As he spoke, the melting furnace appeared before them once again.

Xu Linjiu placed two pieces of whale gelatin into the melting furnace, then looked up at the two of them. "By the way, I have something to tell you. In a couple of days, I'll need to take a trip somewhere far away."

"A long trip?"

Tang San froze for a moment. "Teacher, where are you going?"

"The exact destination hasn't been decided yet. Mainly, I accidentally broke through to Soul King just now, so it's time to prepare to obtain a new soul ring."

"Soul King!"

Tang San's eyes flew wide open.

He remembered that Xu Linjiu had still been a Soul Ancestor before leaving just now. In the blink of an eye, he had directly broken through to level fifty, becoming a Soul King!

"Congratulations, Teacher!"

Tang San's voice was filled with unconcealed excitement.

"Congratulations, Uncle!"

Xiao Wu chimed in from the side.

"Mm, just good luck. Nothing more."

Xu Linjiu made it sound casual, as if he had merely done some insignificant thing on a whim.

A moment later, the excitement in Tang San's eyes faded, replaced by a trace of reluctance and disappointment.

He opened his mouth, but in the end, he only softly said, "Then... Teacher, be careful on the road."

Xu Linjiu patted Tang San's shoulder and handed the finished whale gelatin to the two of them.

"Don't worry. It's not like I'm never coming back. While I'm gone, don't slack off on your training with Xiao Wu. I'll be checking when I return."

Tang San nodded and answered with a forceful, "Mm!"

Skydream Iceworm clicked its tongue in Xu Linjiu's spiritual sea. "Tsk, that kid looks pretty mature, but turns out he really can't bear to see you leave."

Xu Linjiu replied inwardly, "Shut up."

After bidding farewell to Tang San and Xiao Wu, Xu Linjiu went straight back to Notting Academy and knocked on the dean's office door.

"Come in."

The moment he pushed open the door, Xu Linjiu saw a gray-haired old man seated behind his desk, reading through a file in his hands.

This man was the dean of Notting Academy, as well as the person who had taken Xu Linjiu in all those years ago.

"You brat never comes looking for me with anything good." The dean did not even raise his head as he spoke.

"Dean, this time it really is good news."

Xu Linjiu walked to the desk and got straight to the point. "I want to take leave."

"Taking leave can count as good news?"

Only then did the dean look up and glance at him. "How long?"

"I'm not sure. At least one or two months. If it takes longer... maybe half a year."

"Half a year?"

The dean set down the file in his hand, frowning. "You're a teacher. If you take half a year off, what are the students supposed to do?"

"That's why I came to ask for your approval."

The dean snorted and was about to say more when his gaze suddenly fixed on Xu Linjiu.

He had sensed an incomparably powerful fluctuation of soul power from Xu Linjiu.

As one of only two Soul Ancestors at Notting Academy, he knew very well what that represented.

"You... you...!"

The dean abruptly rose from his chair and rushed over to Xu Linjiu. He looked him over from head to toe, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"You broke through to level fifty?!"

Xu Linjiu smiled and did not deny it.

"Good lad!"

The dean slapped Xu Linjiu on the shoulder. "I looked away for only a few days, and you secretly charged straight into Soul King?"

"Just good luck."

"Bullshit! Soul masters rely on genuine talent and hard work to cultivate. What does luck have to do with it?"

Though the dean cursed, he could not hide the smile on his face. "I said it back then—you were never meant to stay trapped in a pond. A tiny place like Notting Academy could never hold you!"

He paced back and forth through the office twice, growing more pleased with Xu Linjiu the more he looked at him, as though admiring a work of art he had painstakingly polished himself.

"Fine! Your leave is approved. You're going to obtain a soul ring, right? Go ahead. I'll cover things at the academy. Stay away as long as you like!"

"Then thank you, Dean."

Xu Linjiu cupped his hands and was about to turn and leave when the dean called him back.

"Wait."

Xu Linjiu turned around and found that the smile on the dean's face had faded somewhat, replaced by a hesitant expression.

"There's one more thing..."

The dean hesitated before finally speaking. "I know you don't like hearing this, but I still have to say it."

"Go ahead."

"That Yu Xiaogang... don't provoke him again in the future."

Xu Linjiu frowned but did not respond.

The dean sighed. "I know you look down on him. I also know there's plenty of nonsense in his theories, but the people behind him aren't someone we can afford to offend."

"I'm not worried about the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. After all, Yu Xiaogang is an abandoned son of the clan, and they won't make a huge fuss over him. But he used to stay at Martial Soul Hall, and he has some unclear ties to certain important figures there."

The dean's tone grew more solemn. "You should know better than I do what kind of place Martial Soul Hall is. If people over there set their sights on you, forget a Soul King—even a Titled Douluo might not be able to handle it."

Xu Linjiu remained silent for a few seconds, then nodded.

"I understand."

He did not say anything else and turned to walk out of the dean's office.

Two and a half months later, Coldstone City, Heaven Dou Empire.

As a small city on the northern border of the Heaven Dou Empire, Coldstone City was not large, but it stood right at the boundary between Heaven Dou territory and the Far North Ice Plains, serving as a small hub for travel through the northern frontier.

Because it bordered the ice plains, ice-type soul beasts often wandered through the area. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, one of the upper three sects, maintained an outpost here.

It was responsible for guarding the border and monitoring the movements of soul beasts from the ice plains, while also allowing clan members to conveniently hunt ice-type soul rings and obtain cultivation resources nearby.

At that moment, inside a private room on the second floor of an inn in Coldstone City, a young man sat by the window, his gaze fixed thoughtfully on the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan outpost across the street.

"Skydream, are you sure this is the place?"

"Of course! As long as I make a move, there's absolutely no way I can be wrong!"