Come on!

Disappointed or not, training still had to go on.

When Ghost Douluo arrived at the training grounds, Qin Chao was already there waiting for him.

"Good afternoon, Teachuh Ghost..."

The gap in his teeth did nothing to slow Qin Chao's greeting, though it did make his pronunciation rather comical...

Looking at Qin Chao's badly swollen left cheek, then at the gap in his little teeth, Ghost Douluo secretly clenched his fists.

Damn it, what suicidal fool had beaten his disciple into this state?!

Even when training him, he controlled his strength with meticulous precision, unable to bear striking too hard. But now...

"Who hurt you?!"

Ghost Douluo's voice was already hoarse and cold, but now it carried an added viciousness that made it downright chilling...

Seeing Ghost Douluo grow angry, Qin Chao hurried forward and tugged at his sleeve, wheedling in a soft voice.

"It'sh fine, Teachuh. I did shomething wrong, sho His Holiness the Pope gave me a little punishment... A soak in the healing medicine tonight will fix it. Don't be angry, Teachuh..."

"His Holiness the Pope, huh..." Ghost Douluo awkwardly unclenched the fists hidden inside his sleeves.

In a fit of anger, he had accomplished exactly one fit of anger.

What a joke-that was the Pope! Never mind her hitting Qin Chao; even if she had hit him, he would have had to take it...

"Ahem. Since you're all right, let's start training..."

Ghost Douluo once again circulated the soul power within his body. His formerly solid figure became ethereal and mysterious, like a visitor from another world.

"Are you ready?" Ghost Douluo's voice remained hoarse and cold.

Qin Chao nodded vigorously, his soul power surging wildly as he used that brief dip of his head to summon his Golden Eyes.

His midday break was precious, and Qin Chao certainly wasn't about to waste it. He had looked at himself in the mirror, passersby, living things, inanimate objects-anything and everything. In the end, he could only reluctantly accept that the scene he had seen was nothing more than his imagination.

Fortunately, it hadn't been entirely fruitless. At the very least, he had become much more proficient at using his Golden Eyes.

Back when he drew the prize, Qin Chao had noticed an I following the Golden Eyes skill, which presumably indicated its level.

After repeated experiments, Qin Chao finally understood what these level-one Golden Eyes could do.

-Microscopic Vision.

Whenever he activated his Golden Eyes, Qin Chao only needed to concentrate to observe countless details he normally couldn't see. That very feature had given him an idea for dealing with Ghost Douluo's training.

At their core, Soul Masters were still human. Any human had to use their muscles to exert force; those muscles were the foundation of that force and the starting point of every movement. Qin Chao only needed to catch the changes in Ghost Douluo's muscles at the instant he exerted force to deduce the path of his movement.

With his Golden Eyes ready, Qin Chao's confidence swelled to unprecedented heights. "Ready, Teachuh. We can shtart now..."

The instant he finished speaking, Ghost Douluo's figure flickered, leaving only an afterimage where he had stood...

Thud!

The sound of flesh striking flesh echoed through the training grounds once again.

The theory was sound, but putting it into practice proved exceptionally difficult.

Backed by his formidable soul power, every movement Ghost Douluo made was blindingly fast. How could catching the changes in his muscles at the instant he exerted force possibly be easy?

Fortunately, Qin Chao had already anticipated this outcome.

Even Tang San's Purple Demon Eye couldn't guarantee that he could see every movement Ghost Douluo made, let alone someone like him, who had only just acquired his Golden Eyes.

Qin Chao wasn't afraid of failure, because it was an unavoidable stretch of the road to success.

The black figure attacked again, and the familiar sounds of flesh colliding rang out without pause.

As thud after thud echoed across the training grounds, Ghost Douluo's figure grew increasingly clear in Qin Chao's eyes.

At first, Qin Chao could only make out the trails of afterimages Ghost Douluo left behind. As his gaze kept shifting, the distance between those afterimages and Ghost Douluo's actual figure steadily shrank...

That elusive figure, once as insubstantial and unfathomable as a ghost, gradually grew solid. Little by little, Qin Chao could make out the trajectory of Ghost Douluo's movements.

To an ordinary observer, Ghost Douluo was like a streak of black light circling Qin Chao without pause. Every time he drew close, a loud impact followed.

But through Qin Chao's Golden Eyes, cracks finally appeared in that unbroken streak of light. As though someone had suddenly hit pause, Qin Chao could catch individual snapshots of Ghost Douluo's movements each time...

His right foot steps diagonally, his left arm reaches forward-this attack is coming from the right!

Qin Chao silently worked through the movements in his mind.

The thought had barely formed when Ghost Douluo's attack was already upon him. His left fist shot out, striking Qin Chao squarely on the right arm.

"I guessed right!" Despite taking a heavy blow, Qin Chao was still excited. The method really worked; his reflexes and processing ability were simply a little too weak for him to react immediately...

"Again!"

With enough effort, even an iron pestle could be ground into a needle. One day, he would be able to predict Ghost Douluo's movements well before he moved!

Whether it was the Purple Demon Eye or the Golden Eyes, both required lengthy practice and adjustment. Ghost Douluo's training just happened to provide the perfect whetstone.

If he could predict Ghost Douluo's movements before he struck, then Spirit Hall's assessment would be nothing to fear...

Qin Chao's dreams were plump with promise, but reality was all skin and bones. Some things might work in theory, yet prove troublesome to put into practice.

In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed. Qin Chao's physical fitness and agility had improved considerably, but his Taijutsu, of all things, still seemed to fall short no matter how he trained.

After another brutal beating from Ghost Douluo, Qin Chao's frustration had reached its limit.

Once Yue Guan had left, he quietly slipped out of his room and knocked on the door next door...

It was already late at night. Yan opened the door, rubbing at hair that sleep had turned into a bird's nest. The sight of Qin Chao's bruised face startled him so badly that he nearly cried out, but Qin Chao swiftly clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Keep it down, Yan!" He lifted the wine jar and snacks he had prepared. "Come on, let's go have a drink!"

No man could resist that temptation, especially a man with something weighing on his mind.

Yan grabbed a shirt at random and was about to follow Qin Chao when another man blocked their way...

"Where do you two think you're going..." Xie Yue's rather cold voice sounded behind them.

Their three rooms were next to one another, and Xie Yue had been tossing and turning over his cultivation troubles. Naturally, Qin Chao's knocking hadn't escaped his ears.

"Coming, bro?" Still sporting that pig's head of a face, Qin Chao pitifully held up the things in his hands...

Looking at the pleading eyes of Yan and Qin Chao, Xie Yue finally sighed softly. "Fine. I'll indulge myself with you two just this once!"

The Golden Generation should have had four members present, but only three had shown up. That clearly wouldn't do.

Fortunately, Xie Yue knew where Hu Liena's room was. The three climbed onto one another's shoulders and gently knocked on her window.

Hu Liena's cultivation hadn't been going smoothly lately either. She was brooding when she heard Qin Chao knocking at her window.

Seeing the wine jar Qin Chao held up, Hu Liena's lips curved into a smile. They hit it off at once and sneaked into the training grounds, completely unaware of the three shadows following behind them...