How to Activate the Pillar of Goodness

"Slurp—"

On the beach of an island in the Sea of Spirit, the Luo Sea God Dragon had comfortably set up a lounge chair, lazily basking in the spiritual glow reflected within the Sea of Spirit. He held a cup of juice from who knew where, savoring it in contentment.

"Ah, this is the life."

"Is it?"

Just as the Luo Sea God Dragon was muttering to himself, the sudden voice instantly shattered his comfort. He pulled off his sunglasses and sat up on instinct.

"What are you doing here, kid?" Seeing the arriving Ouyang Ling, the Luo Sea God Dragon could not help looking surprised.

"This is my Sea of Spirit. Of course I can come here." Ouyang Ling curiously sized up the Luo Sea God Dragon.

More precisely, he was looking at the juice in his hand, the sunglasses, the lounge chair, and the sunshade propped up nearby.

Where had all this stuff come from?

Could his Sea of Spirit even have things like these?

"Cough, cough—"

Noticing Ouyang Ling's gaze, the Luo Sea God Dragon awkwardly pretended to cough a few times. Then... snap—with a flick of his fingers, everything on the beach instantly vanished, as if it had never existed.

"Those are all manifested from spiritual power. There's no need to care about them. All right, let's talk business!" Not wanting to continue this topic, the Luo Sea God Dragon immediately stood with his hands behind his back, putting on a solemn act.

"You've already obtained your second soul ring, right?"

"That's right." Ouyang Ling nodded.

He really wanted to know what gift the Pillar of Goodness would give him this time.

"Then come with me."

Snap—

With another snap, the Luo Sea God Dragon brought Ouyang Ling before the Pillar of Goodness. This time, however, Ouyang Ling keenly noticed that it was different from before.

It was still azure blue, but two tiny white dots had appeared around the pillar.

The light spots were small, and their glow was even obscured by the azure light. Yet for some reason, Ouyang Ling found them incredibly conspicuous, as though it were instinct.

"Senior Luo Hai, what are those light spots?" Without any hesitation, Ouyang Ling asked directly.

"Which ones? Oh, those..." A question mark had just appeared over the Luo Sea God Dragon's head when he quickly realized what Ouyang Ling meant and put on an expression of understanding.

Yet under Ouyang Ling's expectant gaze, he ultimately frowned, shook his head, and gave an utterly staggering reply: "I don't know either."

Ouyang Ling's eyes instantly widened!

You old dragon king, are you fucking playing with me?! You don't know, yet you acted like you did! I'd believe a ghost before I believed you!

Before Ouyang Ling could speak again, the Luo Sea God Dragon, having caught the look in his eyes, immediately opened his mouth. Whether intentional or not, his timing was simply perfect.

"Although I don't know what those two light spots are, my senses are very sharp. For example, I just noticed that with them here, the power of the Pillar of Goodness has improved by the tiniest bit."

As he spoke, the Luo Sea God Dragon narrowed his eyes and quickly brought his thumb and index finger close together, leaving an almost imperceptible gap between them as he held them before Ouyang Ling.

The gap was so small that, without looking closely, one would think his thumb and index finger were already touching.

Suppressing the urge to curse at the dragon and the faint helplessness rising within him, Ouyang Ling could guess that this old dragon king intended to play riddles and make him figure it out himself.

So, he turned his gaze back to the two clusters of white light.

If he wanted to stop the Pillar of Goodness from being corrupted and make it shine again, the key lay in how and when those two clusters of white light had formed.

Having grasped the crucial point, Ouyang Ling immediately asked about the timing. The Luo Sea God Dragon decisively gave him the answer:

Nearly three months ago, and the night before yesterday.

While these two points in time left Ouyang Ling somewhat stunned, after a bout of intense thought, they also allowed him to guess how he should activate the Pillar of Goodness.

—Do good deeds without regard for one's intentions.

In other words, as long as he did more good deeds, he could gain more clusters of white light. Moreover, as the number of good deeds he performed increased, the Pillar of Goodness's corruption could gradually be removed, and it could be activated once more.

But in this process, goodness did not depend on one's original intentions.

He reached this conclusion because, the night before yesterday, he had originally intended to win over Shrek Academy's talents. That was why he gave Ma Hongjun a well-meaning suggestion: to gain a favor and leave a good impression.

If they were talking about his original intention, it had been driven by profit.

Yet it had been judged as a good deed.

The same applied to nearly three months ago.

The only person he could think of from that time was Qian Renxue.

After all, Ouyang Ling had not gone out much back then. Aside from his daily studying, training, and cultivation over the past two years, his time with Qian Renxue was the only thing particularly noteworthy. During those days, he had also clearly sensed Qian Renxue's change.

That change was affection!

A girl who could hold you like that, let you mess around with her, even take the initiative to change your clothes afterward, and still not trouble you later but continue taking care of you—would you dare say she had no feelings for you?

Ouyang Ling considered himself no fool.

Perhaps his series of actions had made Qian Renxue, who had lacked affection throughout her childhood, open her heart to him. For Qian Renxue, that should have counted as a good deed.

But what had Ouyang Ling's initial intention been?

Aside from repaying her kindness, he had wanted to latch onto her and tie himself to a rich older sister... That could hardly be called good intentions.

After sorting it all out, Ouyang Ling immediately knew which direction he needed to work toward next.

In the end, both of those were minor acts of goodness.

Trying to remove the corruption and activate the pillar with such acts would be as difficult as reaching the heavens. First of all, time was an issue. To truly make a difference, he needed major acts of goodness.

As for what counted as major goodness...

Wouldn't making people's lives better count?

"Do you understand now?"

Seeing Ouyang Ling nod to himself, the Luo Sea God Dragon leaned close to his ear. Beneath that curious gaze, however, appreciation was hidden in his eyes.

But when Ouyang Ling raised his head and met his eyes, that appreciation vanished completely, replaced by confusion.

As for Ouyang Ling...

Ouyang Ling: "..."

This old dragon king is definitely putting on an act for me. Whatever! If he wants to act, let him act. Let's see if he can keep it up for the rest of his life.

Keeping the matter of doing "major good" in his heart, Ouyang Ling no longer bothered to investigate the Luo Sea God Dragon's situation. Instead, he returned to the true purpose of entering his Sea of Spirit.

Ouyang Ling reached out, and with a hum, the Pillar of Goodness immediately emitted a beam of light that enveloped him.

The next moment, fragmented lights and shadows swept past Ouyang Ling's eyes. When he woke again and opened his eyes, the sight of the Star Dou Great Forest and the Flying Tiger Soul Sage beside him came into view.

The Flying Tiger Soul Sage noticed and said,

"Young Master, you're awake."

"Mm."

Ouyang Ling collected himself and slowly rose to his feet. He did not say much, only, "Senior, now that we have obtained the soul ring, it's time for us to return." The Star Dou Great Forest was dangerous, not a place to linger for long.

However, after leaving the Star Dou Great Forest, Ouyang Ling showed consideration so that the Flying Tiger Soul Sage could complete Xue'er's task. He did not hurry back. Instead, he stayed in a nearby city, experienced its local customs, and, after concealing his identity, fought in the Great Spirit Arena.

Unfortunately, not a single opponent was a match for Ouyang Ling. Whenever he stepped onto the stage, no one could last more than three moves against him.

Until seven days later,

News spread from that city's Great Spirit Arena: the great demon king called "Hainas" had left.