In the days that followed, life returned to that monotonous daily cycle.
Endurance, strength, sparring, meditation—the same endless loop every day.
The more Zhang Fei trained, the more he felt that the "996" schedule was truly a blessing compared to his current life.
Although Xue Qinghe usually pampered him greatly, her attitude toward cultivation was astonishingly firm.
Whenever he could no longer endure it and went to find her, she would only let him rest briefly before sending him back to continue getting beaten up.
Over time, Zhang Fei resigned himself to his fate.
Nor did Zhang Fei truly run to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect at every opportunity. He only occasionally accompanied Xue Qinghe on visits, and those occasions were few and far between.
And ever since being tricked last time, he had maintained a clear-headed distance from Ning Rongrong.
That little girl was full of schemes to the bone. She looked adorable and innocent, but no one knew what rotten idea she might come up with to set him up next.
A little devil like that was not someone he could afford to provoke. Truly, absolutely not.
The more Zhang Fei thought about it, the more he felt his own little angel was better. A little loli could never compare to a mature beauty.
Two years passed—not especially long, yet not especially short—quietly slipping away amid his unchanging daily training.
That night, the moon hung high overhead.
Zhang Fei sat cross-legged on the bed in his room, his hands resting on his knees, his eyes gently closed, his breathing long and even.
Soul Power circulated ceaselessly through the meridians in his body. With every cycle, it moved slightly faster than before, becoming a little more condensed.
He had maintained this state for a full two hours. A layer of fine sweat had formed on his brow, and his eyebrows were tightly furrowed. Clearly, he had reached an extremely critical juncture.
The Soul Power in his meridians had filled to a certain threshold, spinning faster and faster.
Finally, at a certain instant, the invisible shackle within his body exploded with a boom.
Zhang Fei's entire body jolted, and a wave of air spread outward from him.
He slowly opened his eyes and let out a long breath of stale air.
Zhang Fei clenched his fist, the corners of his mouth rising unconsciously as he muttered to himself.
"Level twenty... I finally broke through."
It had been nearly two and a half years since his martial soul awakening, and he was now eight and a half years old.
Over the past two years, perhaps due to the nourishment from Ice-Fire Body Tempering and medicinal baths, he had shot up like bamboo after rain.
Now, when Zhang Fei stood up, he was already a full 1.7 meters tall. Most ordinary children of eight or nine were only around 1.4 or 1.5 meters.
Standing there, he looked every bit like a young man.
As his height increased, his physique had also undergone earth-shaking changes.
Years of devilish training had stripped away the porcelain-white softness of his skin, replacing it with a healthy wheat-colored glow steeped in sunlight and sweat, brimming with masculine charm.
His shoulders were a full size broader than they had been two years ago. The muscle lines of his arms, waist, and abdomen were smooth and firm—not the exaggerated bulk of iron blocks, but the lean, tightly coiled strength of a trained fighter.
His features had matured further over the past two years. His brow bones were prominent, his nose straight, and his jawline sharp and distinct. His features were rugged without losing their refinement, carrying both resolve and a young man's clean-cut elegance.
Most striking of all were his eyes. His black pupils were sharp yet clear, and when he looked at someone, they carried an edge that made people unwilling to underestimate him.
The once handsome youth had, after two years of tempering, fully grown into a strikingly heroic young man.
No matter where he went, people could not help but look at him twice.
Even the maids in the Crown Prince's Residence, accustomed to seeing nobles and dignitaries, would unconsciously lower their eyes whenever they encountered Zhang Fei in the corridors, a faint blush quietly rising on their faces.
Zhang Fei rose from the bed and casually adjusted his collar.
He pushed open the door and headed toward the crown prince's study.
It was already late at night.
Zhang Fei arrived outside the study.
He raised his hand and knocked twice. Hearing a gentle "Come in" from inside, he pushed the door open and entered.
The study was brightly lit. Xue Qinghe was bent over the documents before her, reviewing them.
When she heard the door open, she looked up. The moment her gaze fell upon Zhang Fei's face, the movement of her hand paused involuntarily.
Zhang Fei stood at the doorway, bathed in a pale golden halo cast by the lamplight.
The increasingly heroic contours of his face were sharply outlined by the light. His brow bones cast faint shadows, making his eyes seem especially bright.
He stood there tall and straight, his shoulders relaxed and open. He was like a treasured sword freshly drawn from its sheath—young, sharp, dazzling—and impossible to look away from.
Xue Qinghe's gaze lingered on his face for a moment, and the fingers holding her brush tightened slightly.
She felt her heartbeat quicken by a beat, light shifting in her eyes.
"It's so late. What is it?" she asked, her voice exceptionally soft, nothing like the tone a man she was currently pretending to be should have had.
Zhang Fei grinned and strode inside, his movements natural. "Your Highness, I've reached level twenty. I can go obtain my second Soul Ring."
As he said this, his bright black eyes looked at Xue Qinghe, the corners of his mouth raised, his entire being radiant with excitement.
Xue Qinghe raised her head and looked at him again, then quickly shifted her gaze away and lowered her eyes to the official documents before her.
Yet all her attention was occupied by the figure of that young man.
Xue Qinghe steadied her breathing, keeping her tone as calm and composed as possible. "Mm. Tomorrow, I'll have Uncle She take you to Sunset Forest to select a suitable soul beast. Go back and rest first."
Zhang Fei took two steps forward and glanced at the thick stack of documents in her hands, still far from finished. He sighed inwardly.
Ah, how much cultivation had she delayed just to deal with all this government business?
In the original story, Qian Renxue's talent had been so exceptional, yet she had remained trapped in these whirlpools of political intrigue for years, forcibly wasting so much of her youth.
He walked over, picked up the teapot from the desk, poured Xue Qinghe a cup of hot tea, and gently placed it by her hand.
"Okay. Then Your Highness should rest early too. Don't stay up late."
There was an unusual intimacy in his tone. Then he turned and left the study, casually closing the door behind him.
The instant the door shut, Xue Qinghe finally set down the brush in her hand.
She leaned back in her chair, raised a hand to rub her brow, and let out a long breath. In a low murmur, she said to herself, "That brat is... far too eye-catching. What's wrong with me? I don't even dare look at him for too long."
Xue Qinghe straightened up again, drank the hot tea Zhang Fei had poured for her, then picked up the documents and continued reading. Yet she found herself staring at the same line for a long while without understanding a single word.
In the end, she simply put the documents down and rose to head toward her bedroom.
Meanwhile, Zhang Fei had also returned to his room, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
His mind was filled with thoughts of his second Soul Ring.
For his second soul skill, Zhang Fei still planned to choose an enhancement type.
But the question was, what soul beast should he choose? And what age should the Soul Ring be?
My Golden Python has already evolved into a Golden Dragon. The trace of dragon aura in a draconic soul ring would probably be barely worth anything to me now.
Then do I still need to insist on finding an exceedingly rare draconic Soul Ring?
A string of questions tangled into a mess in Zhang Fei's mind. He thought for a long time but could not come up with an answer.
"Forget it. I'll ask Grandpa first tomorrow."
Zhang Fei buried his face in his pillow and did not finally fall into a deep sleep until much later.
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