Bibi Dong Comes to Nording Academy

After tidying up, the two set off back to Nording Academy.

Along the way, Su Yang felt his stomach growling louder than a spirit beast's roar. After absorbing a Thousand-Year Spirit Ring, his body had expended an enormous amount of energy, and his appetite had surged along with it. By the time they returned to the academy, night had fully fallen, and the cafeteria was brightly lit.

"Teacher, I'm going to eat first." After saying hello, Su Yang rushed into the cafeteria impatiently.

Nording Academy's cafeteria was not particularly luxurious, but its portions were generous and filling. Su Yang grabbed a tray and piled it high with roasted meat, rice, and vegetables, forming a small mountain before finding a corner and digging in.

He had barely taken two bites when someone else entered through the cafeteria doors.

"Boss!"

At the booming shout, Su Yang looked up to see Xiao Wu walking in with a tray larger than his face. The meat piled on it was enough to terrify anyone—five whole roasted chicken legs, three large bowls of rice, and a heap of side dishes.

Su Yang nearly sprayed out his mouthful of rice. "You eat that much?"

"Hehe." Xiao Wu scratched the back of his head, making his scorpion braid sway. "I don't know what happened either. After breaking through Rank 10 this afternoon and getting my first spirit ring, I suddenly became really hungry. It feels like there's a bottomless pit in my stomach."

Su Yang's eyes lit up. "You broke through Rank 10 too? What spirit beast did you get for your first spirit ring?"

"A mutated Jumping Rabbit." Xiao Wu plopped down opposite Su Yang and began shoveling food into his mouth. "It's speed-type. My first spirit ring gave me an acceleration spirit skill. It's pretty useful."

Su Yang nodded, thinking to himself, As expected. As a protagonist-level character, Xiao Wu's opportunities won't be bad.

The two ate ravenously across from each other, the food on their trays vanishing at a visible rate. The surrounding work-study students stared at these two "bottomless pits" in stunned disbelief.

Halfway through the meal, Xiao Wu suddenly looked up, his eyes sparkling as he watched Su Yang. "Boss, I heard you went hunting for a spirit ring today too? How did it go?"

"A Thousand-Year Spirit Ring," Su Yang said casually.

"Pfft—" Xiao Wu spat out a mouthful of soup. "A... a thousand-year?!"

"Yeah, 999 years. It was just short of a true thousand years." Su Yang bit into a chicken leg. "But with Lovesick Heartbreak Red's help, the spirit ring's quality evolved. It's now a Purple Thousand-Year Soul Ring."

Xiao Wu's eyes widened as large as bells.

A Thousand-Year Spirit Ring!

As a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, he knew what a thousand-year spirit ring meant for a first spirit ring. It was something legendary! Throughout the entire continent's history, there had only been a handful of soul masters whose first spirit ring was thousand-year!

"Boss, you're insane!" Xiao Wu gave him a thumbs-up. "How about we fight? I want to test the power of a thousand-year spirit ring!"

Su Yang had been thinking the same thing. He needed actual combat to familiarize himself with the spirit skill Lone Fragrance Admiration.

"Sure, after we finish eating—"

"Su Yang."

A cool female voice suddenly came from the cafeteria entrance.

Su Yang and Xiao Wu turned at the same time. Yu Xiaorou stood in the doorway. She had changed back into her elegant, intellectual dark dress, black stockings and high heels, and gold-rimmed glasses, but her expression was unusually complicated. Her brows were faintly furrowed, and there was a trace of gravity in her eyes.

"Teacher?" Su Yang put down his chopsticks. "What is it?"

Yu Xiaorou drew a deep breath, stared directly at him, and slowly spoke:

"The Pope of Spirit Hall... Bibi Dong, has personally come to Nording Academy."

"What?!"

Su Yang shot to his feet, his chair scraping across the floor with a harsh screech.

Bibi Dong?

That male-version Pope?

He had personally come to Nording Academy?!

Su Yang's mind spun wildly. In the original story, Bibi Dong had indeed come to Nording Academy, but that had been to investigate Tang San's Innate Full Soul Power Blue Silver Grass.

But Tang San had not become Yu Xiaorou's disciple at all, and... wait, could this be because of him?

Twin Martial Souls, a thousand-year first spirit ring, Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, and Lovesick Heartbreak Red...

If this information had reached Spirit Hall, how could that ambitious male-version Pope possibly remain seated?

Seeing Su Yang's shocked expression, Yu Xiaorou slowly said, "He specifically asked to see you by name. It seems... he came for you."

The air in the cafeteria seemed to freeze in that instant.

Xiao Wu also put down his chopsticks. A trace of barely perceptible solemnity flashed through his ever-smiling eyes.

Su Yang took a deep breath and slowly sat back down.

"Teacher," he said in a voice far too calm for a six-year-old child, "where is he now?"

"The principal's office." Yu Xiaorou adjusted her glasses. "I've stalled him for a while, but I can't delay him much longer. His... attitude is very forceful."

After leaving the cafeteria, the night wind cleared Su Yang's mind somewhat, but his heartbeat only grew faster.

Yu Xiaorou walked ahead of him, her high heels striking the stone path in hurried clicks. The rhythm was more than twice as fast as her usual composed pace.

Su Yang followed behind her, watching her back. He held himself back again and again, but finally asked, "Teacher, why did Bibi Dong suddenly come here?"

Yu Xiaorou's footsteps paused. She turned her face slightly toward him. "I had someone deliver a letter to Spirit Hall. I only wanted a method for cultivating Twin Martial Souls.

But after he received the letter, he insisted that this involved Spirit Hall's secrets and could not be entrusted to someone else, so he said he would deliver it personally."

Her tone was flat, but Su Yang could hear what lay suppressed beneath that calmness. He could not help asking, "Then did he need to bring Titled Douluo with him?"

"He said he was conducting an inspection along the way." Yu Xiaorou gave a cold laugh.

"When the Pope inspects somewhere, the entourage naturally cannot be lacking. But what is there to inspect in a tiny place like Notting City?"

Su Yang's scalp tingled. Titled Douluo—and two had come at once? He was only a newly advanced Rank 12 soul master with just one spirit ring. Was he now about to come face-to-face with the most powerful combatants on Douluo Continent?

He had originally thought that, following the normal pace, he would need to cultivate for at least several years before having a chance to meet someone of that level. Yet before he had even left the beginner village, the final boss had come personally to his doorstep.

"Teacher," Su Yang asked after a moment of silence, "did he say what exactly he wants from seeing me?"

Yu Xiaorou stopped walking and looked back at him. Moonlight spilled through gaps beneath the eaves, falling over her lenses and concealing the emotion in her eyes.

"He said he wanted to see you with his own eyes."

Five light, casual words. Yet the instant Su Yang heard them, every hair on his back stood on end.

A Pope of Spirit Hall had traveled hundreds of miles just to personally look at a six-year-old child? No matter how he thought about it, something was wrong.

Was Bibi Dong assessing whether Su Yang had value to exploit because of his Twin Martial Souls? Or had he sensed something?

"I'll go in first and probe his intentions." After a brief silence, Yu Xiaorou's voice softened.

"You wait nearby first. When I call for you, then come in. Remember, no matter what he asks after you enter, don't rush to answer. Watch my signals first."

Su Yang nodded. "All right."

Yu Xiaorou said no more and turned to stride quickly toward the teaching building. Su Yang remained where he was, watching her leave. Only after her slender figure was swallowed by the lights at the end of the corridor did he let out a long breath.