Innate? Acquired?

"Just a temporary stay. Tell the public that the Pope is personally preparing to teach the bearer of the Golden Sacred Dragon martial soul."

"I can't guarantee anywhere else, but in Spirit City, no one can hurt you."

"You only need to stay here and cultivate in peace."

After Bibi Dong finished speaking, she took out a storage ring and handed it to Yu Xiaogang. "Xiao Gang, take these resources."

Seeing that Bibi Dong insisted, Yu Xiaogang said no more.

It was only a place to stay.

He accepted the storage ring and inspected it, raising his brows. "This amount is not treatment a Spirit Hall Academy student should receive."

His Divine Sense swept over the supplies inside the ring, and he immediately spotted what was wrong.

There were two portions of cultivation resources in total.

One was the allocation for Spirit Hall Academy students selected for key training.

There was nothing to say about that portion; it was within the academy's rules.

But the other, much larger portion was clearly not cultivation resources a student should have.

It was more than the cultivation resources an ordinary Titled Douluo received in a month.

Yu Xiaogang looked at Bibi Dong, waiting for her explanation.

Bibi Dong understood what puzzled him. "These were not resources withheld from others or from other branch halls."

"They are my share."

"I divided it into two portions. One went to my disciple, Hu Liena. Her talent is fairly good. I'll bring you to meet her in a few days, and you can help me see what path she should take afterward."

"The other portion is what you have in your hands. I prepared it for you."

The Pope still needed to cultivate. As the Pope, she naturally had her own monthly allocation of cultivation resources.

"What about you?"

"It's fine. I have no use for these now."

She truly did not have much use for such resources anymore. Better if she had them, but it did not matter if she did not.

Yu Xiaogang nodded lightly. "Thanks."

"Get some rest early. Whether you want to attend classes at the academy is up to you."

Bibi Dong left after saying that.

She needed time to think about how she should interact with Yu Xiaogang from now on.

Yu Xiaogang returned to his room and stared at the storage ring in his hand for a long time. "Fine. I'll accept it."

He had agreed to Yue Guan's invitation to Spirit Hall—or rather, responded to Bibi Dong's invitation—for another, more crucial reason.

His martial soul in this life had undergone an unexpected change.

Martial souls with ultimate attributes cultivated more slowly than other martial souls from rank thirty to rank seventy, only surpassing them in cultivation speed after rank seventy.

In this life, he did not possess merely a single ultimate attribute, but two.

If he relied solely on the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, he would drain more than half the clan's resources.

That would force the already impoverished clan to tighten its belt even further.

The original Golden Sacred Dragon did not possess innate dual ultimate attributes.

In cases of beneficial mutation—or evolution, a reversion of bloodline ancestry—someone in his situation should at most have an ultimate light attribute, with a few secondary attributes such as fire, lightning, strength, and so on.

But it should not have been like this life, where he had gained an additional ultimate strength attribute.

At least, according to the information he had learned from the Icefire Dragon Kings in his previous life, the Golden Sacred Dragon should not have possessed the ultimate strength attribute.

An innate ultimate strength attribute could only appear in the Golden Dragon—or, according to the two Dragon Kings, only in the lineage of the Gold Dragon King.

He was a scholar by nature, and years of habit made Yu Xiaogang unable to stop himself from pondering why this was so.

"Wait... so does this count as innate or not?" Yu Xiaogang suddenly discovered a blind spot.

If it was innate, then it was not only his memories that had been preserved. His Divine Sense and even a portion of his Divine Power had been preserved as well.

It could be said that aside from his cultivation, Soul Rings, Soul Bones, and domain being gone, none of his other foundations were lacking.

If it was acquired, that did not add up either, because he had only learned that he possessed an extra ultimate attribute when he awakened in this life.

In his previous life, he had only cultivated the ultimate light attribute. He had not possessed the ultimate strength attribute.

His curiosity was truly unbearable.

"I wonder how the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King are doing, now that I've been reborn."

He had been on quite good terms with the two Dragon Kings in his previous life, and he had learned much information from them.

"I hope the two of you are alright. Once I reach rank fifty, I'll come find you." This was something he had planned long ago.

He simply did not know whether the two of them still had the memories of spending time with him.

If they did, then all the better.

If they did not, it did not matter.

He had earned the recognition of the two Dragon Kings in his previous life. How could this life be any different?

After finding the two Dragon Kings, he could ask them what exactly was going on with him.

With that thought, he left it at that.

Yu Xiaogang suppressed these thoughts and entered a state of cultivation.

His most urgent task was still to increase his strength as quickly as possible.

Only once he was strong enough would he be qualified to uncover the mysteries that plagued him.

Meanwhile, at the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

Yu Yuanzhen was receiving an old acquaintance.

There was undisguised delight on his face. "What brings the Ye Family Head to visit me today?"

"I believe Clan Head Yu was right. More interaction between our two families would not be a bad thing."

"Don't you agree?"

Ye Qingcheng smiled faintly and pulled her daughter to her side. "Come, Lingling. Say hello to Uncle Yu."

The little girl looked somewhat timid, though she was indeed rosy-cheeked and adorable. "Hello, Uncle Yu..."

"Ha ha~" How could Yu Yuanzhen not know what Ye Qingcheng was planning? "The little one is quite cute. Here, this is a gift from Uncle."

Yu Yuanzhen took out an exquisitely wrapped small box and handed it to Ye Lingling.

Ye Lingling seemed somewhat at a loss, and she looked to her mother.

Only after Ye Qingcheng nodded did she accept it and hold it carefully. "Thank you, Uncle Yu~"

After that brief interaction, Ye Lingling felt that the leader of a great clan was not as frightening as others had said.

At least, the leader of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan seemed quite kind to her.

Seeing Yu Yuanzhen's reaction, Ye Qingcheng knew that the old fox had surely seen through her intentions.

But she agreed, and Yu Yuanzhen agreed as well. What remained depended on the thoughts of the two children themselves.

The two old foxes exchanged smiles. The first step had been a success.

They had gotten to know each other's elders.

Yu Yuanzhen could not help but marvel at Ye Qingcheng's shrewdness and decisiveness.

When Yu Xiaogang had awakened the Golden Sacred Dragon martial soul, Ye Qingcheng had decisively contacted him.

But Ye Qingcheng had rejected an alliance with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

Instead, she had proposed an alliance with the Yu Family.

That changed the nature of things entirely.

The former was between a clan and a family, while the latter was a marriage alliance between two families.

In Yu Yuanzhen's view, the latter was undoubtedly better.

A union between the number one beast martial soul family in the world and the number one healing martial soul in the world was undoubtedly like adding wings to a tiger—strength upon strength, a perfect match.