Naturally, the sparring match came to an inconclusive end with Mu En's appearance.
And Mu En's final verdict was rather intriguing. He told Ye Qing and Bei Bei to have a proper rematch at the Soul Fighting Arena next time; this one would count as a draw.
A draw...
Forget it. A draw it is.
There was, however, another matter that caught Ye Qing's attention.
Ye Qing was around ten, while Bei Bei was a little over ten. But since both of them were already Soul Elders, Mu En decided they need not wait until they were twelve. They could enroll directly when the Outer Court began its new term that year.
The Outer Court's term began in June, and it was now February.
In other words, in another four months, Ye Qing would be banished to the Outer Court to fight four hundred people over a single toilet.
...Well, this...
Ye Qing had some idea of what the Outer Court taught. It was nothing more than academic classes-Douluo Continent history, Martial Soul knowledge, Soul Beast knowledge-and physical classes, such as conditioning and Soul Fighting training.
There were probably electives too, such as soul tool studies, herb identification, metal and mineral identification, and Douluo geography.
The original novel had mentioned that the Outer Court was more a product of Shrek Academy's compromise with the three great empires. Four thousand years earlier, the collision between the Douluo and Sun Moon continents had sparked a war.
During that war, Shrek Academy had raised its arm and rallied the masses, playing sixty golden Titled Douluo cards to repel the Sun Moon Empire in one fell swoop.
Only then had the three great empires discovered just how far Shrek Academy's influence reached. The Titled Douluos within their own borders, whom even their imperial families could not summon, had all emerged at a single call from Shrek.
They felt deeply threatened.
The Outer Court had been established at that time as Shrek's compromise with the three great empires, allowing their people to enter Shrek Academy and gild their credentials.
As a result, what students could learn in the Outer Court was naturally nothing particularly useful. Most advanced soul master academies taught the same things.
It was simply that there were more geniuses here, fiercer competition, and a better cultivation atmosphere than at other advanced academies.
The Inner Court is the real Shrek Academy.
Honestly, Ye Qing was not particularly willing to waste his time in the Outer Court. He was not someone going there deliberately to pick up girls. If that had been his aim, he would have had ten thousand ways to sweep Zhang Lexuan away when she first arrived, before she had set her heart on Bei Bei.
Wasn't Zhang Lexuan far more enticing than the likes of Tang Ya or Jiang Nannan? How could that little brother Bei Bei possibly compete with a transmigrator who was a youngster in name but an old hand in truth?
With the sole reason of picking up girls ruled out, and the Outer Court utterly inferior to the Inner Court, what reason did Ye Qing have to go?
Cultivating on a branch of the Golden Tree every day gave him a week's worth of Outer Court progress in a single day.
"Should I just turn it down?" Ye Qing considered simply speaking to Ye Feng and Mu En, skipping the Outer Court, and entering the Inner Court directly once he was old enough.
But on second thought, he shook his head.
"No. I should still go."
His identity as a transmigrator could not be exposed under any circumstances. Although cultivating on Sea God Island was much faster, it was not actually conducive to his growth.
There were too many things he could not reveal on Sea God Island. The numerous Titled Douluos here covered the entire island like radar and searchlights. Honestly, Ye Qing had grown rather tired of spending these past few years trembling with caution, as though treading on thin ice.
Cultivating on Sea God Island really was like being given a cheat, but who ever became a powerhouse through honest cultivation?
Didn't they all rely on cheats and fortuitous encounters?
A slightly slower cultivation speed did not matter. A later trip to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, or even the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave, could quickly make up any lost progress.
But if he remained under the noses of all these old geezers on Sea God Island every day, especially with Mu En, that ultimate old geezer, around, Ye Qing could never cut loose.
Opening his meridians, for instance.
Even that had to be done with utmost caution.
Because he had no way of explaining how he understood any of it. Surely he could not claim to have figured out how to open every meridian in his body after reading a few Meditation Methods?
No one on Douluo Continent has tinkered with this in ten thousand years, but you're such a genius that you know everything?
Besides, his current cultivation speed was hardly that fast anyway. Going to the Outer Court would actually let him work on opening his meridians more discreetly.
And so Ye Qing abandoned the idea of refusing to attend the Outer Court.
"Ah, banishment to the Outer Court it is, then. Being banished means I won't be in prison anymore, so that's a good thing too." Ye Qing sighed and found another quiet place to sit down, outwardly cultivating while actually opening his meridians.
Four months passed quickly.
To Ye Qing's surprise, he had originally assumed that opening his meridians would, at most, increase his total Soul Power capacity, allowing his body to hold more Soul Power without accelerating his cultivation.
Yet over those four months, he finished opening all the hidden meridians in his right arm, where the Light-Breaking Soul Bone had strengthened his meridians.
Only four months had passed, but his Soul Power had risen even faster than before. He gained a level every two months and had now reached level thirty-five.
Bei Bei, who had also been at level thirty-five, had not even broken through to level thirty-six yet and remained at thirty-five.
"Looks like my estimate was wrong again. Opening meridians doesn't just increase the total amount of Soul Power the body can hold; it also improves cultivation speed to some extent."
Naturally, he had to choose an area less likely to suffer serious problems when opening meridians. He could hardly begin with a dangerous region where a single mistake would kill him on the spot. His right arm, already fitted with a Soul Bone and home to his little wife, was naturally the best choice.
With his little wife's help, Ye Qing had opened every hidden meridian throughout his right arm in just four months, constantly nourishing them with Soul Power.
Throughout that process, he had barely cultivated seriously at all, yet his Soul Power Level had naturally risen to thirty-five.
Still, he probably could only gain levels this way while opening his meridians. Once they were all open, he certainly would not improve this quickly anymore.
But Ye Qing was already satisfied.
Two levels from his right arm, two from his left, four from his legs, plus his torso and head-if nothing unexpected happened, by the time he opened every meridian in his body, not only would his physical strength increase dramatically, but his Soul Power Level could also reach Soul King or even Soul Emperor.
Indeed, cultivation was, at its heart, a process of unlocking the human body's potential.
Wasn't Ye Qing's process of opening his meridians precisely a way of unlocking his own potential?
Then why shouldn't it increase his Soul Power?
Before you continue