"The Pope?!"
Lord Xiao was dumbstruck when he heard Ma Xiunuo's words.
"What, you don't believe me?"
"Old man, stop screwing with me. As far as I know, Lu Yuan's innate soul power was only rank 0.5. How could he possibly attract the attention of Spirit Hall, especially that Pope? Does he have some connection to you?"
"If he does, I can leave his martial soul and torso unharmed. I'll just put him in bed for ten days or a fortnight. It won't affect his future martial soul cultivation."
Seeing how serious Ma Xiunuo was, even Lord Xiao began to reconsider, deciding not to take things too far.
"Lord Xiao, listen to yourself. If that boy really were one of mine, how could his rank 0.5 innate soul power possibly warrant me coming all this way and making such a fuss to protect him?"
"As for our Spirit Hall Branch keeping an eye on the boy, that really was an order in a secret letter from the Martial Soul Hall Headquarters. I still have it. As for the Pope taking an interest in Lu Yuan, naturally, I learned that through my connections at headquarters," Ma Xiunuo patiently explained.
"Well..."
Looking at Ma Xiunuo's utterly serious expression, Lord Xiao knew this could not be a lie.
Was it because the boy had awakened an external martial soul, one of only two on the entire continent, that Spirit Hall considered him precious and wanted to study him?
Wouldn't that mean he had to let the boy go today, in front of so many people from Nuoding City?
"Alas."
Lord Xiao sighed. Bibi Dong, the Pope of Spirit Hall, was rumored to be a Titled Douluo. She could kill him with a mere lift of her hand.
If she truly cared about this Lu Yuan boy and became angry, even a hundred Lord Xiaos would not be enough for her to kill.
Even setting aside the exalted Pope Bibi Dong, Lu Yuan was someone being watched by Spirit Hall, one of the three great powers of the Douluo Continent. If word got out that he had taught Lu Yuan a lesson,
the cowardly Heaven Dou Empire would undoubtedly back down, leaving him to face Spirit Hall alone.
Let it end here.
Lord Xiao closed his eyes. Having thought it all through, he opened them with a sigh, turned toward the people from the Nuoding City Lord's manor, and called out:
"Let's go."
The soldiers from the city lord's manor behind him looked at one another in confusion. Naturally, the most bewildered of all was Xiao Chenyu, who wore a completely stupefied expression.
Dad, didn't you promise to help me get revenge on that country boy? How come a few words from the Spirit Hall Branch were enough to make you back down?
Am I not your precious son? Have you found some other beloved child outside the family, so you've given up on a useless son like me?
Naturally, Xiao Chenyu did not dare say any of that to his father's face. With an earnest expression, he caught Lord Xiao by the arm.
"Dad, then my..."
"Enough!"
Xiao Chenyu still wanted to persuade his father to change his mind, but Lord Xiao stopped him with a furious shout.
"Xiao Chenyu, haven't you caused enough trouble? Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?"
Xiao Chenyu froze. A few words from those weaker people at the Spirit Hall Branch, and you let off a six-year-old who isn't even a soul master, after coming here so aggressively to teach him a lesson.
If anyone's lost face, Dad, you've lost more.
Still, Xiao Chenyu's eyes grew wet. He lowered his head, released Lord Xiao's hand, and followed his father's troops away.
The other Nuoding City residents watching, denied the sight of blood flowing in rivers, also left in disappointment.
As the crowd gradually dispersed, Ma Xiunuo walked up to Lu Yuan, introduced himself, and exchanged greetings before preparing to leave with Su Yuntao and Sisi.
"Brother Yuntao, Sister Sisi, Grandpa Ma Xiunuo, thank you for coming to save me."
"If you really want to thank us, work hard on your cultivation. Spirit Hall will always welcome you."
Ma Xiunuo spoke with a cheerful smile, but in truth, he was not especially solicitous toward Lu Yuan. Like Lord Xiao, he believed that the Martial Soul Hall Headquarters, and even Pope Bibi Dong, were only interested in Lu Yuan because of his rare external martial soul.
After all, by conventional standards, Lu Yuan's exceedingly low innate soul power would make even reaching the soul master level difficult. Only Meowmeow held some value for research.
The three from the Spirit Hall Branch also said goodbye to Lu Yuan. This sudden storm had finally subsided.
Of everyone present, aside from the Xiao Family father and son, Yu Xiaogang was the only one truly wounded.
He stared venomously at Lu Yuan as he spoke with the three from the Spirit Hall Branch, grinding his teeth, his lips trembling incessantly.
Spirit Hall, you again! Was driving me out of Spirit City in disgrace years ago not enough? To think you'd stop me from taking a disciple today, too! I, Yu Xiaogang, cannot live under the same sky as your Spirit Hall!
Yu Xiaogang had originally planned to use Xiao Chenyu's complaint to his father and Lord Xiao's fury to coerce Lu Yuan into becoming his disciple. Now that plan had failed.
I really don't know how Lu Yuan got involved with the Spirit Hall Branch, or what excuse they used to persuade Lord Xiao to let him go.
Now that Lu Yuan has the Spirit Hall Branch backing him, even Lord Xiao doesn't dare touch him. And that boy so openly looks down on me, the Grandmaster. It seems I won't be able to take him as my disciple.
Damn it! Damn it!
Yu Xiaogang's face flushed slightly. Clenching both fists, he stamped his right foot in anger.
"Ow!"
That stomp hurt his frail body again. In pain, Yu Xiaogang hugged a beggar and screamed inwardly.
Damn you, Lu Yuan! You're the reason I, the Grandmaster, have had such rotten luck! Just you wait! I'll find a devoted disciple better than you-a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times better!
Dorm Seven, Nuoding City Junior Soul Master Academy.
Lu Yuan sat cross-legged on his bed, cultivating in meditation with his eyes closed.
More than half a year had passed since the disturbance when Lord Xiao came to Nuoding Academy, and nothing major had happened since.
A few days afterward, Xiao Chenyu had returned to the academy, utterly dispirited.
Whenever he saw Lu Yuan, he scurried away with his hands over his head like a mouse encountering a cat. Everyone laughed at him, but he did not dare retaliate.
Once the academy's students learned that the work-study students had a great Buddha like Lu Yuan among them, someone connected to the Spirit Hall Branch, they no longer dared act recklessly or openly attack the work-study students.
The work-study students' circumstances had improved considerably thanks to Lu Yuan's arrival.
From then on, all the work-study students held Lu Yuan up as their guiding standard, and no one dared challenge his title as Nuoding Academy's number one.
Of course, Lu Yuan, who was diligently cultivating and striving to reach the soul master realm, paid no attention to any of this.
Bang!
Suddenly, a ripple of spiritual energy burst outward from Lu Yuan, lifting his clothes and hair.
"Phew..."
Lu Yuan opened his eyes and let out a long breath.
"I've finally broken through to rank ten. Once I've spent a few days stabilizing my cultivation, I'll go find Director Su or Su Yuntao and ask them to help me hunt for my first soul ring."
Thanks to his cheat, the Soul Beast Compendium, which had transformed when he came from Locke Rian to the Douluo World, Lu Yuan had obtained hundreds upon thousands of Coco Fruits to feed Meowmeow. His own soul power had skyrocketed along with it, already catching up with the young talents whose innate soul power had been rank seven or eight.
Lu Yuan only had a couple of things to say about that: "Using cheats feels so damn good!" "Does forgetting to turn it off count as turning it on?"
Just then, the door to Dorm Seven opened, and a somewhat thin six-year-old boy walked in. He wore blue clothes, his hair was blue-black, and his expression was cold.
"Another new work-study student this year. Wait, could you be... Tang San?"