Advancing to Higher School

After Na'er left, Tang Wulin's forging rank astonishingly broke through to the Thousand Forging level.

The rampage of the Golden Dragon King's divine core also scoured her meridians, greatly improving both her strength and soul power.

But breakthroughs were bought with sweat. Every night, the couple would look at their daughter's hands, which had become somewhat battered and scarred from forging.

As parents, how could they not feel heartbroken?

Precisely because of this, Tang Ziran and his wife decided to return to work.

The two of them had originally been renowned mecha designers.

They could design black-grade mechas, second only to red-grade ones.

They had long grown weary of their previous lives, but Na'er's departure and Tang Wulin's reaction seemed to have stirred something in them as well.

They decided to return to the industry and earn a generous sum for their daughter's tuition.

It was also because of this that Tang Wulin was able to get rid of her pitiful defective soul spirit.

She bought a plant-type soul spirit—Thousand-Tree Vine.

As a century-old plant-type soul spirit, its only two strengths were its exceptionally tenacious vitality and extreme toughness.

In terms of attributes, it was highly compatible with Tang Wulin's mutated Blue Silver Grass.

And with one plus one becoming greater than two, Tang Wulin's Blue Silver Grass underwent another transformation.

The current Blue Silver Grass could no longer be called a blade of grass. It was more like a deep-blue vine interspersed with golden scales.

Luo Qing was genuinely happy for her in this regard. The martial soul Tang Buddha had left his daughter was simply far too troublesome.

Most importantly, the Clear Sky Hammer, which would have been useful in the early stages, had not been inherited. Even the Blue Silver Emperor had not been fully passed down.

This was also why the original Tang Wulin had suffered so much in the early stages, though only before her bloodline awakened.

But this beneficial change also pointed to one thing: the world's trajectory was deviating from the Douluo world Luo Qing knew.

So what?

Luo Qing himself feared no challenge. He already possessed a top-tier martial soul like the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, along with assistance from a soul spirit that had come from beyond the heavens.

Judging by their caliber, his martial soul and soul spirit were things on par with gods.

He could have played it safe and forced everything back onto its original track, but—that was the mindset of a coward.

He intended to face difficulties head-on. He intended to knock Tang San, who had used his astonishing wisdom to plan a grand scheme spanning ten thousand years, flat onto the ground.

He intended to teach Tang San's daughter proper values, making her utterly incompatible with that man.

He intended to save this usurped world.

He intended to push every story toward a perfect ending!

There was no other reason—because he could do it!

For this goal, he could only continue growing stronger.

In the training room, the two stood facing each other.

Luo Qing swung the wooden sword in his hand. The coach instinctively raised his guard, only to discover that the wooden staff he had used to block was cut in half by the wooden sword.

The wooden sword stopped steadily at the coach's throat. Luo Qing withdrew it and bowed to the coach.

"Thank you for letting me win, and thank you for your guidance."

The coach naturally waved his hand.

"What are you saying, Little Luo? I was merely invited by an old friend to teach some swordsmanship."

"A mere ordinary person like me can only stop at the Soul Elder level in this life. I can only strengthen myself as much as possible through methods like drawing parallels from other disciplines."

"I hope the techniques I taught you for using a sword can be of help to you."

The coach gave him an encouraging look, then packed up his things and left.

At that moment, Madam Mary came over carrying a hot towel and wiped the sweat from her grandson's face.

"This is already the fifth coach you've defeated, Little Luo. It seems I won't be able to find you a better swordsmanship teacher for the time being."

"It's all right, Grandma Mary. The ultimate goal of a soul master's cultivation is still to strengthen their soul power and soul skills."

"Swordsmanship is merely a specialized skill for combat. Once I get to a higher-level academy, there should be teachers who teach it too..."

Luo Qing replied with a smile.

"Oh, right. That little girl Tang Wulin came looking for you just now. She said she had something good to show you."

Madam Mary looked toward the living room, and Luo Qing hurried over as well.

"This child, is she really in such a hurry?"

Madam Mary wore a teasing smile as she watched Luo Qing rush off to find Tang Wulin.

"Wulin, were you looking for me?"

Tang Wulin hugged something awkwardly. Seeing Luo Qing arrive, she handed him the object in her arms.

"Big Brother, you've always taken such good care of me, and I've accepted quite a lot of things from you too."

"This is the first thing I made after reaching Thousand Forging. It's a greatsword like the one you described to me before."

Luo Qing reached out and accepted the cloth-wrapped object.

He tore away the oilcloth, revealing the sharp blade within.

The sword was six chi long, with a broad guard and double-sided fullers, forged entirely from tungsten steel.

It felt satisfyingly heavy in his hand, and judging by the workmanship, the forger had poured a great deal of care into it.

He lifted it lightly and gave it a few swings, discovering that it handled exceptionally well.

"Wulin, you little thing really know how to make me happy."

Luo Qing was extremely satisfied with this transitional sword.

Although he could form a light sword, he could also coat an actual blade in light.

Moreover, the latter was more powerful and consumed less energy.

"Really? As long as Big Brother likes it!"

Perhaps because Luo Qing had approved of her work, Tang Wulin was practically jumping with joy.

Excitedly, she told Luo Qing about her breakthrough to Thousand Forging. The sensation of surpassing her limits had nearly made her addicted.

"Mm, it seems you've improved greatly during this time."

Luo Qing looked at Tang Wulin before him approvingly.

"But remember not to become addicted to power. Your relationship with power is like that between a king and his mount."

"One of the two will inevitably hold the upper hand. What you need to do is become your own king and control the mount known as power."

"Rather than becoming engrossed in power and letting it turn you into its mount."

Tang Wulin nodded in strong agreement.

"Big Brother always says such profound things. It would be great if I could be like that too."

Luo Qing poked her cheek. Her little face was soft and bouncy.

"You don't need to deliberately imitate me. Everyone has their own talents and personality."

"Even a silly little fool like you is someone I like!"

Tang Wulin's face immediately reddened. She lowered her head, somewhat afraid to look at Luo Qing.

"Really? Would Big Brother like a glutton like me too?"

Luo Qing flicked her forehead instead.

"Ow!"

"Don't say such nonsense. You are you, a one-of-a-kind existence. No one is saying you're worse than anyone else, and no one is saying you don't deserve to be loved."

"It'll soon be time to move up to the next school. We'll be heading to Eastsea City, and I believe you should be able to end up in the same class as me."

"Don't forget your original aspiration. Big Brother will always wait for you."

Tang Wulin's heart was ignited as well.

Big Brother believes in me so much. How could I possibly let him down?

She immediately patted her chest and said to Luo Qing.

"Then I'll definitely work hard to catch up to Big Brother and be assigned to the same class as you!"

"Then I'll wait for your good news—"

After saying that, Tang Wulin quickly ran home.

She seemed to have thought of a new cultivation method and was likely anxious to test it out.

Luo Qing watched her departing figure, a faint smile appearing on his lips.

"What do you think of that little girl?"

"She's pretty good. Quite cute."

Luo Qing suddenly came back to his senses, only to see Madam Mary standing behind him, looking at him with an appraising gaze.

"I never expected my precious grandson to start charming other little girls at such a young age."

"I was worried about whether I'd ever have a granddaughter-in-law in the future, but it seems I was worrying for nothing."

"You mean I like her? Not at all!"

"This is clearly nothing but pure sibling affection, all right!"

Madam Mary merely smiled. Perhaps her grandson saw it that way, but that girl certainly did not...