Yu Xiaogang's predicament

However, Lu Yang naturally had no idea how many soul beasts on the continent had chosen to take human form and integrate into human society after reaching a hundred thousand years. The only soul beasts he knew had taken human form during Douluo I were Xiao Wu and Ah Yin, but Xiao Wu was under Tang Hao's watch, while Ah Yin was currently still a blade of grass no more than a hundred years old. Neither could answer this question for him.

Of course, if someone could find Di Tian sleeping beneath the Lake of Life in the Star Dou Great Forest, or the snowy lands of the Far North and the Evil Emperor in the Evil Demon Forest on the Sun Moon Continent, perhaps they could learn about soul cores from them.

But speaking with them as equals was impossible without absolute strength or a background that reached the heavens. Not to mention that, in this era, it was uncertain how many records of these three even existed.

By Lu Yang's reckoning, perhaps no one knew about them at all. After all, the entire Heaven Dou Empire's knowledge of the northern regions currently extended only as far as the Frost Forest. Perhaps very few people had ever set foot in the true Far North.

But right now, Lu Yang urgently needed evidence that could verify the soul core theory. He needed an example or sufficient documentary evidence; otherwise, he had no way to convince a Titled Douluo like Dugu Bo.

So Lu Yang turned his attention to Qian Renxue.

As the longest-standing power on the continent, Spirit Hall surely had records concerning Humanoid Soul Beasts among its stored texts. If he could find something useful in them to serve as evidence before proposing the soul core theory, more people would surely accept it.

Because of the earlier matter with the Immortal Herb Compendium, Lu Yang was unsure whether Qian Renxue could help him obtain these things. He could not be certain about that.

Still, for the sake of the immortal herbs, Lu Yang could only give it a try. Otherwise, he might have to choose another method: woo that beautiful snake Dugu Yan and then openly live off her.

But he was only eight years old now. Although he had an adult's soul, that was not how others saw him. If an eight-year-old child was already thinking about such things, would Dugu Bo really not slap him dead? Lu Yang could not be certain of that either.

After returning to the Crown Prince's Residence, Lu Yang kept thinking about these things. He did not even leave his room when mealtime came, which puzzled Qian Renxue somewhat.

She sent someone to call Lu Yang out of his room. Seeing his distracted appearance, Qian Renxue asked directly, "Did something happen? You seem a little different today."

"Nothing. I was just thinking about a few things. I simply don't have enough evidence to prove my conjecture yet," Lu Yang said.

"Oh?" Hearing Lu Yang say this immediately piqued Qian Renxue's interest.

The earlier pharmacological knowledge and whale rubber were both things Lu Yang had worked out himself. Together with the medicinal baths he had been using lately, they made Qian Renxue take considerable interest in this as-yet-unproven idea he had mentioned.

"Tell me about it. Perhaps I can help?" Qian Renxue offered.

"Then, Snow Sis, could you help me get records concerning Humanoid Soul Beasts?" Lu Yang asked.

"Humanoid Soul Beasts?" Qian Renxue stopped what she was doing in surprise. She looked at Lu Yang and asked, "Why have you suddenly become interested in them?"

"I was just thinking that, aside from the quality of their martial souls, the biggest factor in human soul masters' cultivation talent is their innate soul power. Yet after hundred-thousand-year soul beasts take human form, they all possess the talent of innate full soul power. Why is that?" Lu Yang asked.

"That is because hundred-thousand-year soul beasts retain their soul beast origin power after taking human form. That gives them aptitude equivalent to humans with innate full soul power, or even beyond it." Yu Long's voice suddenly rang out. He and Ci Xue had been guarding Qian Renxue from nearby all along, so they could naturally hear their conversation.

"That's exactly what interests me, so I wanted to study it. It's just that Humanoid Soul Beasts are no different from humans. Finding one won't be easy," Lu Yang remarked with a soft sigh.

Seeing him like this, the corners of Qian Renxue's mouth lifted slightly. Spirit Hall naturally had some records concerning Humanoid Soul Beasts. Getting them for Lu Yang to study would not be difficult for her.

However, Qian Renxue was not certain whether letting Lu Yang research this would be of any use. In her view, studying Humanoid Soul Beasts held little meaning for Lu Yang's cultivation. Yet another thought arose in her heart: what if Lu Yang really did discover something?

Elsewhere, in Nuoding City.

With Spirit Hall's intervention, the trouble Yu Xiaogang had caused at Nuoding Academy had long since died down. But life for him and Tang San was still far from easy.

Yu Xiaogang in particular had barely dared to leave the academy over the past few months. Because of the earlier incident, someone had ambushed him with a club while he was out and broken one of his legs. Having lost his geoduck, Yu Xiaogang's temperament had gradually grown gloomy and manic, and this sent him into a towering rage. He went to Spirit Hall's branch in Nuoding City and demanded that they arrest the people who had hurt him.

However, the Douluo Continent had no surveillance cameras, and Nuoding City had few people patrolling at night. There was simply no way to find whoever had broken Yu Xiaogang's leg, and the matter ultimately came to nothing.

Yet this incident also made Yu Xiaogang clearly understand that someone had very likely set their sights on him. Thus, he had been hiding in the academy lately, scarcely daring to go out.

Tang San, meanwhile, had been dragged down entirely by Yu Xiaogang. A promising youngster with innate full soul power like him would originally have been a priority for the academy to nurture. But he had become Yu Xiaogang's disciple after enrolling, and Yu Xiaogang considered his theories unrivaled, barely allowing Tang San to attend classes. This left him with few opportunities to interact with the academy's students.

On top of that, Yu Xiaogang's previous outrageous antics had driven away Lu Yang, a student with innate full soul power, provoking resentment toward Yu Xiaogang among Wang Sheng and the others in Dorm Seven. As a result, Tang San had clashed with them several times as well, leaving him rather unwelcome at the academy now.

In fact, the master-disciple pair of Yu Xiaogang and Tang San had stirred considerable dissatisfaction in the Nuoding Dean as well.

Because of Yu Xiaogang, Lu Yang had withdrawn from Nuoding Academy, costing it a student with innate full soul power. Meanwhile, Tang San obeyed Yu Xiaogang's every command and felt almost no sense of belonging to the academy, while Xiao Wu, the other student with innate full soul power, stuck to Tang San every day and likewise cared little about the academy. This filled the Nuoding Dean with regret.

But there was nowhere in this world to buy medicine for regret, so he could only lay all the dissatisfaction accumulated over these years at Yu Xiaogang's door.

Yet because Yu Xiaogang came from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, he could do nothing about him. He could only grit his teeth and swallow all his dissatisfaction back into his belly. If he had the chance, he would even have liked to return to the past and slap his former self awake. Why had he brought a nuisance like Yu Xiaogang into his academy?

In all his years at the academy, Yu Xiaogang had contributed little, yet had eaten and drunk at his expense for over a decade. Even the Nuoding Dean himself could not understand it. How had he been so blind back then?