"Hey, friend, keep your guy in line."
Lu Xuan pointed at Yan, who lay unconscious on the ground, and spoke mildly to Hu Liena beside him.
"Attacking passersby on the streets of Spirit City for no reason-he really thinks he's above the law."
Only then did Hu Liena recover from her utter shock.
Her naturally alluring eyes were now wide as saucers, fixed on the boy whose head only reached her neck.
She had seen everything that had just happened.
Yan had indeed thrown his weight around and attacked without cause.
But she had never imagined that Lu Xuan, a boy who looked no more than seven or eight years old,
would take Yan out with a single punch through sheer physical strength, without even using Soul Power!
After all, Yan was an acknowledged genius at Spirit Hall Academy. He had already surpassed rank 20 and become a Soul Grandmaster!
Even the upper-year students with three rings could never have beaten him into utter helplessness with a single blow.
This is Spirit City. Most people walking around here are probably children of Soul Master families with some standing.
At his age, he should be in the lower years at Spirit Hall Academy. Why have I never seen him before? Hu Liena silently wondered in bewilderment.
Still, this was clearly no time to investigate his identity.
Yan was still lying on the ground like a dead dog.
Although she was usually sick to death of his relentless pestering, they were friends, after all.
She could hardly leave him sprawled in the street like a corpse.
"I'm sorry! This really was Yan's fault."
Hu Liena took a deep breath, put aside her pride, and lowered her head in a sincere apology before asking,
"I'll have Yan apologize to you in person. By the way, do you study at Spirit Hall Academy? Could you tell me your dormitory building number, or where your home is?"
"I don't attend Spirit Hall Academy."
Lu Xuan gave a mild reply.
"As for where I'm staying right now..."
Then he raised a hand and pointed at the magnificent building at the very center of Spirit City, perched atop its highest hill and radiating sacred golden light.
"I live right there!"
Hu Liena followed his finger, and her pupils abruptly contracted.
That building stood at the pinnacle of power in all of Spirit City, and indeed the entire continent-the heart of Spirit Hall!
Yet as Pope Bibi Dong's personal disciple, she frequently visited the Papal Palace, and she had never seen this boy on the hill.
Where on earth had this monster come from?
"Worship Hall. Lu Xuan. Remember to have him apologize."
Lu Xuan paid no attention to Hu Liena's shock.
After leaving those words behind, he tucked his hands into his pockets and turned away without looking back, soon disappearing into the bustling crowd.
"Worship Hall... Lu Xuan!"
Hu Liena turned the name over and over on her tongue, engraving it firmly in her mind.
A breeze swept past, and Hu Liena suddenly felt as though her foot had caught on something.
Yan: I think I really need emergency treatment right now...
Looking at Yan, who was foaming at the mouth with his jaw swollen high, Hu Liena finally slapped her forehead.
She hurriedly hoisted the heavy fellow onto her back.
She casually tossed a few Gold Soul Coins to the owner of the smashed fruit stall nearby as compensation.
Then she hurried toward Spirit Hall Academy's infirmary.
After emergency treatment from a healing Soul Master, Yan finally opened his eyes slowly.
He stared blankly at the infirmary's snow-white ceiling, mumbling indistinctly, "What... happened to me?"
"You attacked a random passerby and got knocked out with one punch, and you're asking what happened?"
Hu Liena stood beside the bed with her arms folded and gave an irritated snort.
Provoked by her words, Yan instantly felt the memories from before he lost consciousness surge into his mind like a tide.
Right!
He had only meant to teach a lesson to a brat who looked young and too weak to withstand a gust of wind.
Then everything had gone black, and somehow he had ended up lying here.
This was too strange. Someone had taken a cheap shot at him!
Yan abruptly sat up in bed, his eyes blazing. The fiery temper of a fire-type Soul Master flared to life in an instant.
If his earlier attack had been meant to display his so-called "will of a conqueror,"
then what burned in his heart now was purely a man's competitive drive and sense of humiliation.
"No, I'm going to settle the score with him!"
Yan threw back the covers and started to get out of bed.
"Forget it. Save your strength." Hu Liena grabbed his shoulder and looked at him as though he were an idiot.
"He's much younger than you, and he knocked you out with one punch using nothing but physical strength, without even using Soul Power. His strength is clearly unfathomable. You'd only be inviting humiliation."
"Says who?!"
Yan stiffened his neck, defiance written all over his face.
"What if he was just born with incredible strength and happens to be stronger?"
"If we really squared off and competed with Martial Souls and Soul Power, I wouldn't necessarily lose to him!"
As a much-admired genius at Spirit Hall Academy, Yan had absolute pride.
Back when he had only one ring, he had defeated two-ring Soul Masters at the academy despite the difference in rank.
Now that he had reached the level of a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster, he was absolutely confident that he could face any opponent below the three-ring Soul Elder level head-on!
Seeing his blind confidence, Hu Liena helplessly pressed a hand to her forehead.
How could this guy be so ordinary yet so confident?
He was practically Douluo's version of Jiahao.
"I don't care how confident you are. You're going to apologize to him right now! Come with me!"
Hu Liena's tone was stern and brooked no argument.
"Nana, I..."
Yan still wanted to argue.
But he met Hu Liena's icy eyes, full of warning, and was so frightened that he immediately swallowed the rest of his words.
He could only follow obediently behind Hu Liena like a wronged little wife.
Thanks to her status as Pope Bibi Dong's personal disciple,
Hu Liena led Yan through Spirit City unhindered, passing through layer after layer of guards.
However, as the two kept climbing the long white jade staircase,
and finally stopped before an enormous hall exuding boundless sanctity and majesty, Hu Liena's steps became unbearably heavy.
The great hall towered into the clouds, with a gigantic Six-Winged Angel statue standing atop its dome, looking down upon all living beings.
A terrifying, suffocating pressure permeated the air.
Merely standing there made one feel an irresistible urge to bow down in worship.
Cold sweat had already seeped into Hu Liena's palms. Although she was the Pope's disciple,
this was the first time in her life she had set foot here.
"Nana, where are we?"
Yan scratched his head and looked around blankly.
Usually, apart from cultivating at Spirit Hall Academy, he spent his time trailing after Hu Liena.
The only time he had ever visited Spirit Hall's core district was when he had been taken to the Papal Palace to awaken his Martial Soul.
The building before him, even more solemn and imposing than the Papal Palace, felt completely unfamiliar.
Hu Liena took a deep breath, lowered her voice, and said quietly,
"This is the Worship Hall. The people who live here... hold a position no lower than my teacher's!"
Before you continue