"Then is that deity stronger than you, or weaker?"
Inside the Rakshasa Secret Realm, Bibi Dong questioned the Rakshasa God.
The Rakshasa God immediately fell silent. That was the God of Life, one of the Five Great God Kings of the Divine Realm! Even if her strength fell slightly short of the Asura God and the God of Destruction, she could still brutally trounce the Sea God, the strongest beneath the God Kings.
Bibi Dong raised her brows, a smile curling her lips. When the Rakshasa God remained silent for a long while, she already had her answer.
"It seems the deity who chose Lu Yuan isn't merely stronger than you, but far stronger. Am I right?"
Seeing that Bibi Dong had guessed the truth, the Rakshasa God simply stopped concealing it.
"If what Lu Yuan said is true, you can't go wrong by building a good relationship with him."
As soon as those words fell, the Rakshasa God forcibly sent Bibi Dong's consciousness out of the Rakshasa Secret Realm.
Seated in the Conference Room, Bibi Dong suddenly opened her eyes, her mind filled with thoughts of how to handle this "chosen one," Lu Yuan.
Take him directly as my disciple?
Quite apart from anything else, Lu Yuan's martial soul, Meowmeow, had plant and life attributes, which did not align with her two Spider Emperor martial souls.
If Bibi Dong really insisted on taking Lu Yuan as her disciple, how would outsiders view Hu Liena?
Which of the Pontiff's two disciples would become Spirit Hall's next Pontiff? Would factional strife break out within Spirit Hall?
Naturally, Bibi Dong did not care who became Spirit Hall's next Pontiff. In her plans, once she became a god, Spirit Hall was destined to be destroyed along with the Qian Family.
But although Bibi Dong had taken Hu Liena as her disciple, she was effectively her adopted daughter, so Bibi Dong did care somewhat about her feelings.
Besides, to carry out Bibi Dong's plan to destroy the continent, the less internal conflict Spirit Hall had at this stage, the better.
Suddenly, a good idea came to Bibi Dong.
That boy doesn't seem like some spoiled wastrel. If I could match him with little Na, wouldn't that...
Bibi Dong thought that Hu Liena would then have both a divine master and a divine partner. Surely no one would dare hurt her again.
Put Lu Yuan in little Na's class. That will do for now.
At Spirit Hall Academy, today was the first day of classes in the new academic year.
Lu Yuan obediently followed a teacher, each sizing the other up.
This child is a genius who became a Soul Grandmaster at just eight. I'll have to pay him special attention.
Thinking of the astonishing information the academic director had passed along when bringing Lu Yuan over, the teacher led him into a classroom clearly meant for senior students.
The students inside were five or six years older than Lu Yuan. Among them were Xie Yue, the future captain of the Spirit Hall Academy Team; his younger sister, Spirit Hall's Holy Maiden Hu Liena, who had received an exceptional promotion to a higher grade; and her little redheaded lapdog, Yan.
They all stared at Lu Yuan as the teacher brought him in. Beside his classmates, he looked like a tiny little sprout.
The girls' eyes widened. Young as Lu Yuan was, the handsome features of his sword-like brows and star-bright eyes had already begun to take shape, naturally winning their affection.
"Teacher, who's this little kid? Why did you bring him to our class?"
A disgruntled male student spoke up.
"Lu Yuan, introduce yourself to your new classmates."
"Okay." Lu Yuan took his cue from the teacher.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Lu Yuan, and I'm eight years old. My martial soul is the external martial soul Meowmeow, and I'm a rank twenty-eight Soul Grandmaster. I'm very happy to meet you all and join our class."
"What!"
The students wore all kinds of expressions upon hearing Lu Yuan's introduction.
Some were astonished that Lu Yuan was actually five or six years younger than them, while others focused on whether the "external martial soul" he mentioned was a special new type distinct from beast martial souls and tool martial souls.
But even more of them had their jaws drop when they heard Lu Yuan say that, at eight years old, his soul power had already reached that of a rank twenty-eight Soul Grandmaster.
After all, theirs was already Spirit Hall Academy's core class. Wasn't Spirit Hall's Holy Maiden sitting right here?
Most of them were outstanding Soul Masters among Spirit Hall's thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds, the future pillars of Spirit Hall. Quite a few had a chance of reaching the legendary, supreme realm of Titled Douluo.
Especially Hu Liena, disciple of the current Pontiff, Bibi Dong. Barring any surprises, she would be Spirit Hall's future Pontiff, a central figure in Spirit Hall just like Bibi Dong.
Yet even among such a group, most were only Soul Grandmasters in soul power level. Only a rare few prodigies, such as Xie Yue and Yan, had broken past rank thirty into the Soul Elder realm.
Because Hu Liena was a year younger than them and had had much less time to cultivate, her soul power was only rank twenty-nine, just one rank above Lu Yuan.
Watching them, Lu Yuan had long since anticipated their reactions. After all, his cultivation speed had no equal in the past and would have none in the future.
He had even needed to lie to Bibi Dong that he had become some deity's inheritor to explain it away and pull the wool over everyone's eyes.
"Ahem... everyone, quiet down."
Seeing the classroom turn as noisy as a marketplace, the teacher could not help speaking up to quiet them.
Of course, he did not dare go too far. These gifted Soul Masters were not only proud young prodigies; many also had powerful backgrounds and belonged to Soul Master families with distinctive martial souls.
Or rather, it was precisely because they had been born into such Soul Master families, with both superior martial souls and ample resources, that they could display such monstrous talent among their peers.
Orphans like Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan were the exceptions here. Still, their ancestors had once prospered too, and had largely devoted themselves heart and soul to Spirit Hall.
"Everyone, Lu Yuan's external martial soul is rather special. Not only does it give him a cultivation speed far beyond that of ordinary Soul Masters, but the martial soul itself can also meditate and cultivate independently."
Lazy Meowmeow: Me... you mean me?
"On top of that, Lu Yuan himself works hard at cultivation, so his cultivation speed is more than three times yours. Progress like this is only to be expected. You should all learn from him in the future."
The teacher explained as he wiped a handful of sweat from his brow. Although he had never seen a martial soul that could boost cultivation speed like this, today had certainly broadened his horizons.
But that was what Lu Yuan's records said, and they also listed him as having innate full soul power. Presumably, there was no mistake.
"So that's how it works?"
The students below the podium whispered among themselves about the oddities of Lu Yuan's cultivation. If he also had innate full soul power, then an ordinary genius with innate full soul power who cultivated as though their life depended on it should be able to reach rank eighteen or nineteen by age eight.
With more than three times that cultivation speed, Lu Yuan should indeed have been able to become a rank twenty-eight Soul Grandmaster at eight.
"Lu Yuan, your seat is over there. Go sit down. We'll begin class shortly."
The teacher pointed to an empty seat in the first row, in front of Hu Liena, and Lu Yuan sat down as instructed.
"Hello. My name is Hu Liena."
Hu Liena smiled gently at Lu Yuan, treating this classmate five years her junior like a little brother.
Beside her, the two lava-like markings on the face of her little redheaded lapdog, Yan, instantly drooped. As he watched Hu Liena grow friendly with Lu Yuan, displeasure was written all over his face.
That damned brat actually dared get close to Nana. Let's see how you handle this afternoon's practical combat class. I'll make sure you embarrass yourself in front of Nana!