Dorm Room 304

Just as Lu Yuan was about to say something else, the scatterbrained Tang Ya seemed to think of another topic and said to Jiang Nannan, "Oh, right, Nannan. A new jewelry shop recently opened on the street outside the Outer Court gates. Want to go take a look with me?"

"Um... I'd better not." Although Jiang Nannan had not suffered the fate she did in the original story, some core aspects of her personality remained the same. For instance, she was frugal—put another way, she was a little stingy and somewhat obsessed with money.

"Come on, come on." As her best friend, how could Tang Ya not know what Jiang Nannan was thinking? "We're just looking around, not buying anything!"

"Besides, Xiao Yuan is already so grown up, and his cultivation is about to surpass ours. Why would he need you around for something as minor as moving into a dorm? Maybe if you, his big sister, don't go, he'll be more at ease getting along with his new roommate!"

"That's right, Sister Nannan. It's fine. I can handle it on my own." Seeing Jiang Nannan's hesitant expression, Lu Yuan smiled as well.

At the end of the day, Jiang Nannan was only a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl. What young girl in the bloom of youth did not care about looking beautiful?

"Alright, Xiao Yuan. Then Xiaoya and I will go look around. If anything comes up, come find us anytime." Hearing Lu Yuan's words, Jiang Nannan ultimately failed to resist the temptation of new jewelry and chose to go shopping with Tang Ya.

After watching Jiang Nannan and the others leave, Lu Yuan dragged his luggage toward the dormitory area.

It could only be said that, during this period of The Ultimate Douluo, joining the Tang Sect was undoubtedly an exceptionally poor value-for-money choice.

The Tang Sect of today had had its cultivation methods castrated by Tang Buddha, while its sect influence had thoroughly withered away. Its once-renowned hidden weapons had also completely faded from history after Tang Buddha secretly removed the hidden weapon and poison sections from the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, compounded by the impact of Soul Tools.

Even more mind-numbing was the fact that Tang San's success ten thousand years ago had driven Tang Sect disciples to crazily pursue the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, as well as Man Faced Demon Spiders and Mandala Snakes for Soul Rings. They had even established a rule that only those with the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul could inherit the sect.

This was undoubtedly Buddha's fault as well. Tang San's success ten thousand years ago had depended on the protagonist's string of opportunities, as well as his Twin Martial Souls—the Blue Silver Emperor and the Clear Sky Hammer. Yet by the time his legacy had been passed down to the present, many of his deeds had been concealed, while the tale of someone awakening the useless Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and ultimately becoming a god had instead become an unquestionable creed across the continent.

Under the curse of this Nine-Turn Glory Gu, every generation of Tang Sect inheritors had sought to replicate Tang San's Soul Ring configuration. As a result, over ten thousand years, their Martial Souls had not even undergone stable evolution through inheritance. One had to know that if they had merely evolved Blue Silver Grass into Blue Silver King, the Tang Sect would not have ended up in such a miserable state.

At the same time, this fanatical worship of Blue Silver Grass and their ancestor Tang San caused the Tang Sect's four great affiliated clans—Strength, Agility, Break, and Defense—to grow increasingly estranged from the main sect. This eventually led to the Tang Sect's current collapse, ending with even its sect grounds being forcibly seized.

Tang Ya in the original timeline appeared carefree and generous, but she was actually sensitive and delicate. It was precisely under the pressure of the sect, and as the gap between herself and those around her grew ever wider, that she eventually turned dark.

Hopefully, this spirited girl would have a good ending in this life.

After silently offering Tang Ya his blessing, Lu Yuan had already arrived at the freshmen dormitory area of the Outer Court.

"Old sir, could you tell me how to get to freshmen dorm room 304?"

At the dormitory entrance, an old man in gray lay leisurely in a rocking chair, basking in the sun. His entire body was stooped, and the wrinkles on his face looked deep enough to crush flies. He exuded the air of an old man at death's door.

He was Mu En, the Dragon God Douluo, one of humanity's current three Limit Douluo.

Because his spine had been broken in a fight with Du Bisou, the former leader of the Body Sect, during his youth, and because he had later been continuously eroded by the vicious aura of a Dragon Pill, Mu En, the Dragon God Douluo who had once shaken the world, had become the frail old man he was now, unable to straighten his back even in a wheelchair.

The injuries to his body had also made him the weakest of the current three Limit Douluo.

Yet as a hardcore powerhouse who had broken free from the influences of the Ten-Turn Love Gu and Nine-Turn Glory Gu on Douluo Continent in his twilight years, Lu Yuan believed that with Mu En's current strength, so long as he was willing, he could completely pull off a stunt like a late-life Great Sage wielding an Emperor Weapon to show up at a doorstep and force a siege, trading death to heavily injure or even swap out a Limit Douluo from the Holy Spirit Cult.

It was also because he had reached his twilight years that Mu En especially enjoyed staying beneath the freshmen dormitories to bask in the sun, using the unique vitality of young people to wash away the old-man smell of this decrepit old fellow.

And today, a young man had arrived at Shrek Outer Court. His vitality seemed especially exuberant.

Mu En opened his clouded eyes and examined the young man before him.

In Mu En's vision, Lu Yuan seemed to be a darling of the light element. Countless light elements, difficult for ordinary people to perceive, danced and sang around him, as if he himself were a little sun.

Such pure light energy. Though it is still rather weak, in terms of purity alone, it has already surpassed both my Radiant Saint Dragon and Shaozhe's Radiant Phoenix.

Could it be—Ultimate Light?

Although he was curious, Mu En was in no hurry to investigate Lu Yuan's specific Martial Soul. More than two hundred years of life had given him enough patience to await the surprises Lu Yuan would bring during his time at the academy, while further observing his character.

"Go up to the third floor. It's the fourth room on the right. Starting from the fourth floor are the girls' dorms. Boys aren't allowed in. If you get caught, you'll be severely punished."

"Thanks, old sir."

After thanking Mu En, Lu Yuan headed to his dorm room.

Shrek's dormitories looked just like the old dorm buildings of those long-established universities from Lu Yuan's previous life: aging dormitory blocks, shared bathrooms, and an outdated arrangement where male and female dorms were housed in the same building.

When he pushed open the dorm door, a heavy smell of dust hit him in the face. The room was very simple, containing two beds and a Soul Tool lamp.

Honestly, it wasn't too bad. He could barely accept it.

In his previous life, Lu Yuan, a seasoned forum lurker, had occasionally browsed the research posts of lore-focused and historical-fact-focused users on Douluo Continent forums. Through their rigorous research, they had reconstructed Shrek Outer Court's wonderful academy life, where several hundred people fought over the toilets and students had to stand while eating because there were no seats in the cafeteria.

Therefore, Lu Yuan, who had long set his expectations extremely low, even felt a small surge of pleasant surprise when he saw a Soul Tool lamp in the dorm.

Sure enough, as long as you lowered your standards a little, there was nothing you could not accept. Life might even be full of surprises.

After quickly cleaning the room, Lu Yuan found that his luck was quite good. Apparently, because the number of boys in his class was odd, he could have a double room all to himself.

Sitting on the bed, Lu Yuan sorted through the information he currently had and began planning his path forward.