Yu Tianjun the Idler, Heaven Dou's Recruitment Pitch, and the First Battle in the Far North

The raging cold wind howled as the Heavenly Soul Royal Family's soul-hunting party headed toward the Far North in high spirits. The joy of discovering a half-wild genius had washed away their frustration over the local city lord's greater loyalty to Shrek than to his own homeland.

At that moment, the two beautiful young ladies, Miss Mu Xue and Princess Vina, personally stepped forward with generous offers, hoping to recruit the Qilin Prodigy who was destined to be unable to inherit his family's estate.

Heaven Dou had it rough. Even its Princess had to recruit students.

"A Soul Douluo teacher will personally guide my cultivation if I enroll in Heaven Dou Imperial Academy? I get that at home already."

After hearing Vina's offer, Yu Tianjun shook his head and declined.

The Heavenly Dragon Sect no longer possessed the prestige of one of the three great clans from ten thousand years ago, but supporting him was hardly difficult.

It had two Titled Douluos and no shortage of secret sect techniques.

Not discouraged in the slightest, Vina explained that those were merely the benefits for ordinary geniuses. She could find him a Soul Douluo of each of the five elemental attributes.

"Well? Will you consider it?"

Yu Tianjun thought for a moment, then said with a complicated expression, "The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon is prone to mutations. Our elders have martial souls with all sorts of different attributes, so I have quite a wealth of teaching resources."

Vina and Mu Xue's expressions froze. Was that even something a human would say? Your sect can assemble Soul Douluos with all five elemental attributes?

Mo Feiyun silently reflected that the Heavenly Dragon Sect was no fool. Even if the Five-Element Qilin could not inherit the sect, he could still become its most dependable supreme elder. The Heavenly Soul Royal Family's recruitment efforts faced a heavy burden and a long road ahead.

Given that Yu Tianjun was about the same age as Her Highness and the young lady, he had an excellent chance of becoming a Soul Emperor at twenty, a Titled Douluo at forty, and a Super Douluo before a hundred.

Mo Feiyun had never seen a beast martial soul capable of suppressing the Five-Element Qilin, including those of the Titled Douluos in their empire and at Shrek.

Hiss... this is a genius who could one day stand alongside Shrek's Dean, Bright Phoenix Douluo Yan Shaozhe. His Majesty should spare no expense to win him over.

The Five-Element Qilin could improve the genes of future generations. If they could persuade him to marry into the family, why worry about the royal family's prosperity?

Unfortunately, His Majesty seemed to have plans for Princess Vina's marriage already, and he had no other daughters. They would have to adopt a princess from a collateral branch.

"By the way, young friend, how old are you?"

Mo Feiyun turned to ask Yu Tianjun his age so he could report back to His Majesty and find a suitably aged girl.

"Ten."

Yu Tianjun answered casually. It was no secret; everyone in Dragon City's upper circles knew when he had awakened his martial soul.

"Ten... how old did you say?"

Mo Feiyun whipped his head around. The entire party stopped in its tracks, Vina's little mouth formed an oval, and Mu Xue's icy beauty lost her composure.

Every pair of eyes turned toward Yu Tianjun, who had dropped that startling revelation.

Yu Tianjun blinked. "Ten. Plenty of people in Dragon City know I awakened my martial soul four years ago."

"What's so surprising? I have innate full soul power, after all. Gaining twenty-five levels in four years is perfectly reasonable, right?"

Vina silently moved thirty feet away from Yu Tianjun. Her little face, which had been all smiles not long ago, now looked forlorn, as though she were about to cry.

She also had innate full soul power, and she was even a rare twin martial souls genius. She felt she could not withstand this blow.

She was twelve, and only level thirty...

Mo Feiyun fell silent for a moment, then spoke in a somewhat dry voice. "As far as I know, the two most outstanding stars of Shrek Academy's Outer Court have soul power comparable to yours, but they're much older."

"Thunderbolt Bei Bei has the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul, so he's a distant relative of yours. The other comes from the Xuanming Sect and is also a citizen of the Heaven Dou Empire."

Yu Tianjun nodded. "I've heard of them, but our Heavenly Dragon Sect stopped having dealings with Bei Bei's branch long ago."

Thunderbolt Bei Bei and Xuanming's Xu Sanshi—one could activate the Radiant Sacred Dragon, the other the divine beast Xuanwu. Both had top-tier talent.

Now one was playing out a teacher-student romance with the Tang Sect's orphaned heir, while the other was groveling after Jiang Nannan. Both would remain Soul Elders for more than another year.

The verdict: they deserved it. They had eagerly sought out Dragon-Locking Grass and a Turtle-Suppressing Rabbit, only to be crushed under the God of Love and have their cultivation slowed.

At this point, someone would ask, "Teacher, teacher! Does groveling and falling in love always affect cultivation?"

Answer: of course! Look at last season's lovesick lapdog, Feng Xiaotian. Innate full soul power, yet he spent his golden years researching self-created soul skills and groveling, reaching only level forty-four at twenty-four.

Once he won her over, he cultivated desperately, surging to level sixty-one in five years and catching up with the protagonist's party without any immortal herbs.

Mo Feiyun looked at Yu Tianjun, who clearly had not allowed outside distractions to influence him, his eyes brimming with admiration.

"The Heavenly Dragon Sect truly shelters hidden dragons and crouching tigers. This old man has seen it firsthand. I hope we can always maintain friendly relations."

With talent surpassing Shrek Outer Court's twin stars, he was more than an ordinary prospective Super Douluo. Even the legendary rank of Limit Douluo was within his reach.

"We swear on our martial souls to keep your personal information confidential from everyone outside the royal family. Please seriously consider enrolling in Heaven Dou Imperial Academy. The empire is willing to pay any price for talent like yours."

Mo Feiyun heavily emphasized "any," his eyes glittering as his gaze settled on Yu Tianjun and the two beautiful girls.

Yu Tianjun shrugged. "I'm an idler. I don't much like getting mixed up in disputes. For now, how about I just do the job I'm paid for?"

"Of course."

Mo Feiyun nodded. He liked Yu Tianjun's straightforward attitude.

Although he had yet to report to His Majesty, he believed His Majesty would have said the same thing had he been present. The Heavenly Soul Royal Family would give everything to cultivate a supreme powerhouse who could awe the continent for three hundred years, even if it was only a possibility!

Shrek had poached so many of the Heaven Dou Empire's geniuses that they were terrified of losing another. They dared not give up on anyone with the potential to reach the ultimate rank.

Vina's eyes flickered as she looked suspiciously at Mo Feiyun. Did I just get sold off?

I was thinking of recruiting a genius to serve the royal family. I wasn't planning to offer myself in marriage.

As these thoughts passed through her mind, her gaze fell on Yu Tianjun, who had spread out a map nearby and was discussing directions with Mo Feiyun. Suddenly, she grew curious about the face beneath that mask.

He isn't ugly, is he? History books say some Qilin soul masters born from mutations had hideous scales on their faces.

The image appeared in her mind, sending a chill through her. No matter how talented a scaly monster was, she could not accept him at all. Perhaps she should recommend him to Mu Xue instead.

"Xue, why don't you two get to know each other better?"

"Stop it..."

Two and a half days passed.

"This is the last known snow lotus habitat in the outer region. If we still can't find one, I'm afraid there's nothing more I can do. I don't recommend going deeper into the Far North."

Yu Tianjun spread out the map and addressed the party.

Not far away lay a naturally formed icy pool, shaded by verdant pines.

Vina stated, "It's fine. We've already found a thousand-year snow lotus, anyway. I won't make everyone venture deeper and risk their lives for me."

Mo Feiyun said, "I can sense quite a few soul beasts. Stay alert, everyone."

"Yes!"

Over those two and a half days, they had visited three recorded locations where snow lotuses commonly grew. The first had a snow lotus over six hundred years old, which did not meet Vina's standards.

Among its guardians was a fifteen-hundred-year Flying Snow Griffin, which became Mu Xue's third soul ring.

The second location yielded nothing.

The third had a twelve-hundred-year Snow Lotus, which Vina kept as a fallback.

This final location had abundant natural energy and was the most dangerous.

The party concealed their soul power fluctuations and slipped in, while Mo Feiyun extended his perception to investigate the soul beasts.

"Water-Congealing Frost Luans. They possess a thin but pure phoenix bloodline."

"The largest one has ten thousand years of cultivation. That's a little troublesome."

Mo Feiyun frowned. No soul beast connected to dragons or phoenixes was easy to handle. Historically, descendants of soul masters with Water-Congealing Frost Luan martial souls had mutated to possess ice phoenix martial souls.

The soul master world had ranked soul beasts by strength. Water-Congealing Frost Luans stood at least at the peak of the second tier, approaching famous fanfiction victims of the first tier such as Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears and Titan Giant Apes.

With the advantage of its environment, it could hold its own against Mo Feiyun.

"The snow lotus is nearly two thousand years old. Can you absorb it, Your Highness?"

Yu Tianjun observed the pool's sole Snow Lotus through a homemade telescope as he asked.

Vina answered without hesitation, "As long as it's no older than two thousand years, I can absorb it."

As the ages progressed, people had discovered and developed many treasures that strengthened soul masters' bodies. As an imperial Princess, Vina had no trouble exceeding the limit by two or three hundred years.

"While I'm fighting the Frost Luan King, I won't be able to protect Her Highness. Young Yu, Mu Xue, try not to stray far from Qiu Xiangdong."

Mo Feiyun turned and gave these instructions. Qiu Xiangdong was a Soul Emperor whose cultivation ranked second only to his own in the party.

Vina murmured her assent.

Yu Tianjun smiled calmly. "I can protect myself."

Mu Xue said, "I'll do my best to protect Vina."

"Then let's fight."

Mo Feiyun made a few simple arrangements and led four Soul Kings and one Soul Emperor into battle, leaving one agility-attack Soul King to steal the Snow Lotus.

Mu Xue released soul skills to support the battle. Glancing sideways, she noticed that Vina and Yu Tianjun were both watching with interest, showing no intention of joining in.

You two really are alike...

The thought flashed through Mu Xue's mind, leaving her utterly speechless.

"I've got it! Retreat!"

The agility-attack Soul King succeeded and called for his companions to withdraw.

The frost luan soul beasts, their feathers white as snow, instantly went berserk, unleashing fierce attacks that kept the soul-hunting party pinned down.

Several thousand-year frost luans bore down on the thief, gnashing their teeth, determined to tear their target apart and turn him into fertilizer!

One four-thousand-year frost luan, having received the Luan King's command to "bring indiscriminate Destruction upon humanity," charged toward the three human youngsters at the rear. To catch the thieves, catch their young first.

Qiu Xiangdong immediately rushed back to help.

Splash!

In an instant, a huge wave surged from the pool, and an enormous white figure burst out. It spread wings spanning five meters, nearly matching the Luan King's, and beat them to block Qiu Xiangdong.

So one mountain could not hold two kings—unless one was male and the other female. There were two ten-thousand-year frost luans!

The four-thousand-year frost luan launched a deadly dive at the three youngsters. Mu Xue's third soul skill barely held it off for a few breaths.

The frost luan spat a freezing torrent, sweeping it toward Vina first and then Yu Tianjun, while still sparing Mu Xue a mocking glance.

You can't protect anything.

"No!"

Caught off guard, Mo Feiyun, Qiu Xiangdong, and Mu Xue were frightened nearly out of their souls. What would they do if something happened to Vina?

Vina retreated swiftly. Suddenly, she sensed a powerful surge of soul power erupting beside her like a volcano. She could not help turning her head, her beautiful eyes widening in shock.

One yellow soul ring and two purple ones?

"Fire Release, Lava Burst."

As the boy's clear voice rang out, the oppressive might of a supreme beast martial soul erupted from the ground. Flying snow sprayed into the sky, and swirling, five-colored light condensed into a Qilin phantom outside his body.

The Qilin raised its head skyward. Extremely dense fire-element soul power compressed and burst forth, spewing a dark-purple pillar of molten fire.

Ice and fire collided in a brilliant explosion, followed by a rampaging ring-shaped shock wave.

The diving four-thousand-year Water-Congealing Frost Luan was hurled backward. It flipped twice before steadying its wings, its offensive shattered.

The towering luminous figure of the Five-Element Qilin sheltered the imperial Princess, who had no fighting strength, behind it. Yu Tianjun stood on the Qilin's back with his hands behind him. Five long strands of hair on his left side had taken on the colors of the five elements, his height had shot up to one meter eighty, and colorful scales had emerged on his wrists and neck. His eyes were sharp as blades.

Ultimate martial souls were born with ultimate innate abilities. Huo Gua's Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion possessed an innate cold ability, while Three-Eyed Cat Lady's golden dragon possessed three great innate abilities. Yu Tianjun's second ultimate innate ability was Myriad Forms, and his first was the Darkness Escape Technique.

With the Darkness Escape Technique, he could slip into any darkness in the world. Unless he encountered a darkness soul master more than two ranks above him, Yu Tianjun could ignore their attacks, move through darkness, and manipulate dark power to fight.

His two ultimate innate abilities combined, transforming darkness into the five elements and turning the Darkness Escape Technique into the Five-Element Escape Technique.

The next instant, the Qilin stamped the ground and leaped into the air.

"Water Release."

The five-element Water Release derived from the Darkness Escape Technique activated. Boy and qilin transformed into water, moving swiftly through the water-element-rich air of the Far North and rapidly approaching the four-thousand-year Water-Congealing Frost Luan.

When the water element condensed into their forms again, Yu Tianjun's right arm had swollen to more than twice its size. Five-colored scales covered its surface, making it resemble a miniature Martial Soul Avatar.

The Heavenly Dragon Sect passed down its secret Dragon Transformation technique, which stimulated the dragon bloodline to transform parts of the body and enhance combat power. After his family's elders explained its principles, Yu Tianjun had stimulated his Qilin bloodline and successfully achieved Qilin Transformation.

The Dark Qilin's bloodline far surpassed that of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. It could greatly enhance Yu Tianjun's combat strength and help him fight opponents of higher ranks. Even the weakened Five-Element Qilin still possessed terrifying combat power.

Five-Element Qilin Arm effects: doubled the right arm's strength, attack, defense, and affinity for the five elements; immunity to abnormal statuses.

In midair, Yu Tianjun fixed his gaze on the soul beast right in front of him, which had yet to grasp what was happening. He raised his right arm, and his thousand-year second soul ring shone.

"Second soul skill, Five-Element Space-Splitting Slash."

Five curved blades of differently colored light sprang from the Qilin Arm's fingers and merged into one. With the special effects of cutting through space and ignoring twenty percent of defense, it slashed forward and upward like a long saber.

With a bang, the four-thousand-year Water-Congealing Frost Luan was brutally decapitated and fell from the sky, streaming blood.

From beginning to end, the entire battle had lasted no more than ten seconds.

A purple soul ring floated up from the corpse. The two beautiful girls nearby watched with their mouths hanging open.

"Problem solved. Don't forget the extra pay."

The Five-Element Qilin descended from the sky. Yu Tianjun clapped his hands clean and looked down at the two wealthy young ladies. Composure returned to his clear eyes, and an easy smile lifted the corners of his mouth.

"Um..."

Vina steadied her pounding heart and pointed into the distance with a delicate finger, saying timidly, "Another soul beast is coming. Should we retreat first?"

Yu Tianjun turned his head and saw the female Luan King force her way past Qiu Xiangdong at the cost of an injury, then charge toward him.

She panted like an ox, her eyes scarlet, looking as though her son had just died!

"Kill the little one and the old one comes running? Is there an even older one?"

After that helpless complaint, Yu Tianjun narrowed his eyes.

An injured ten-thousand-year soul beast with a Phoenix Bloodline. Maybe I could kill her.

He glanced at the people around him and suppressed the thought.

"But that would draw too much attention. I'd at least need a different battlefield... let's retreat."

The Five-Element Qilin turned and scooped up the two beautiful girls. Using Water Release, it rammed past the water luans surrounding the agility-attack Soul King, caught the Snow Lotus in its mouth, and forced its way out.

"Screee!"

The frost luans went wild, abandoning their head-on struggle with the old fellows and beating their wings in pursuit of the Five-Element Qilin!

"Hurry! Save young Yu and Her Highness the Princess!"

Mo Feiyun's heart-rending shout echoed across the world of ice and snow.