Tang San's hidden weapon improvement project came to a temporary halt under the Gatling Gun's merciless crushing.
But Tang San did not grow dejected. Instead, he shut himself in the dormitory for three whole days, forgetting sleep and meals as he studied the Gatling Gun's internal structure.
Three days later, he emerged.
With two enormous dark circles under his eyes, hair as messy as a bird's nest, and rumpled clothes, he looked exactly like a beggar who had just crawled out of a garbage heap.
But he had something new in his hands: a brand-new Soul Power Repeating Crossbow.
"Brother Yun, take a look at this!" Tang San ran up to Yi Yun and raised the crossbow in his hands, his eyes bloodshot but his spirits so high he looked as though he had been injected with chicken blood.
Yi Yun took the crossbow and examined it.
This crossbow was indeed considerably better than the previous one. Its material had been replaced with refined steel, its internal structure had been optimized, and its Soul Power conversion efficiency had increased at least threefold.
"Not bad." Yi Yun nodded. "You've made great progress."
Tang San's eyes brightened further. "Then how does it compare to your Gatling Gun?"
"Nowhere close."
Tang San: "..."
He had known it.
"But at least you're heading in the right direction." Yi Yun patted Tang San's shoulder. "Keep working hard. Maybe in ten years, you'll be able to make a hidden weapon stronger than my Gatling Gun."
"Ten years?"
"I said maybe."
Tang San took a deep breath and put the crossbow away.
Ten years it was, then. He had patience to spare.
"Oh, right, Brother Yun." Tang San suddenly remembered something. "The academy is holding its anniversary celebration today. The dean has invited you to give a speech."
"Me?" Yi Yun raised an eyebrow. "I'm not even part of the academy."
"The dean said you're powerful and wants you to give the students some encouragement."
Yi Yun thought for a moment, then nodded.
"All right. I've got nothing to do anyway."
Nuoding Academy held its anniversary celebration once a year. Although the academy was small, it still put plenty of effort into the ceremony.
A simple platform had been erected on the sports field, with a red banner bearing white lettering stretched across it: Nuoding Academy's thirty-eighth anniversary celebration.
The seats below were filled with students, a dense mass of roughly two or three hundred people.
Yi Yun stood beside the platform, looking at the students below with a touch of emotion.
In his previous life, he had been the one sitting below and listening to leaders give speeches. Now, somehow, it was his turn to take the stage.
"Please welcome our special guest, Mr. Yi Yun, to give a speech!" the host announced enthusiastically.
Yi Yun walked onto the platform.
Scattered applause sounded below.
Most of the students did not know Yi Yun and had no idea who this handsome, young-looking fellow was.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Yi Yun," Yi Yun said into the microphone.
His voice was not loud, but it carried clearly across the entire sports field.
The audience fell silent.
"Standing here today, I don't actually have much to say. Your teachers know more about cultivation than I do, and your parents know more about life's lessons than I do. The only thing I might know more about than you is how to make myself happy."
Some people in the audience laughed.
"So I'll talk about just one thing: happiness."
"Cultivation isn't about becoming stronger. It's about being happy. Only by becoming stronger can you do what you want, protect the people you want to protect, eat what you want, and go where you want."
"So don't cultivate for cultivation's sake. Cultivate for happiness."
The audience fell silent again.
Some pondered Yi Yun's words, some thought he was speaking too casually, and others simply had not understood.
Just then, a discordant voice rang out.
"Tch. What qualifies some greenhorn kid to stand here telling people what to do?"
The voice was loud and unmistakably mocking.
Everyone turned to look. The speaker was a middle-aged man seated in the front row, dressed in lavish brocade robes, with a Soul Master badge pinned to his chest: level forty-one, Soul Ancestor.
He was the patriarch of a major family in Nuoding City, invited to attend today's anniversary celebration, and he was very displeased that the academy had invited a young man to give a speech.
Yi Yun glanced at him and smiled.
"Uncle, do you have a problem?"
"Of course I do." The middle-aged man stood with his arms folded. "An anniversary celebration is a solemn occasion. Inviting someone powerful and distinguished to give a lecture is only proper. What qualifies a teenage brat like you to stand up there spouting nonsense?"
Whispers rose from the audience.
Some thought the middle-aged man had a point, some thought he was deliberately picking a fight, and others were simply enjoying the show.
Tang San sat in the audience, looking grim.
He wanted to stand and argue, but Xiao Wu held him back.
"Stay put. Brother Yun can handle this himself," Xiao Wu whispered.
Yi Yun looked at the middle-aged man, his smile unchanged.
"Then what sort of person would you consider powerful, uncle?"
"At least a Soul Saint or higher," the middle-aged man said. "Look at the anniversary celebrations at the continent's prestigious academies. They invite experts at the Soul Douluo or Titled Douluo level. Isn't your Nuoding Academy ashamed to invite a little brat?"
Yi Yun nodded, seemingly in full agreement.
"Fair point. Then what level are you, uncle?"
"Level forty-one. Soul Ancestor." The middle-aged man puffed out his chest, his tone brimming with pride.
Level forty-one was indeed quite respectable in a small place like Nuoding City.
"Level forty-one, huh? Not bad, not bad." Yi Yun clapped.
The middle-aged man lifted his chin even higher.
Then Yi Yun smiled.
"Then, uncle, why don't you guess my level?"
The middle-aged man sized Yi Yun up and sneered. "Judging by your appearance, twenty-something at most. You probably got up there to speak through connections with some teacher at the academy."
Some people in the audience laughed, while others frowned.
Yi Yun's smile remained unchanged.
"Twenty-something?"
He raised his right hand and pointed his index finger toward the sky.
A golden beam shot from his fingertip, soaring into the heavens and instantly piercing the clouds.
Boom!
With a tremendous roar, a ball of golden light burst open in the sky, its radiance more dazzling than the sun.
All of Nuoding City was illuminated.
Everyone raised their heads and stared at the spectacle in the sky, dumbfounded.
Then Yi Yun released his Soul Power.
It was not an attack, nor a technique, but a simple release.
The Soul Power of a level ninety-nine Peerless Douluo surged from his body like a tsunami, sweeping across the entire sports field.
That pressure weighed on everyone like a mountain.
Every single student below the platform dropped flat to the ground.
It was not that they wanted to drop; their bodies simply refused to obey, instinctively falling to their knees.
Even Soul Douluo experts had to bow before a level ninety-nine Peerless Douluo, let alone these students who were only level ten or twenty-something.
One after another, like dominoes, everyone fell to their knees.
The level forty-one middle-aged man's legs buckled, and he dropped to his knees with a thud.
His expression shifted from contempt to shock, then from shock to terror.
"Th-this is... a Titled Douluo?" His voice trembled.
Not a Soul Saint, not a Soul Douluo, but a Titled Douluo!
And one who far surpassed ordinary Titled Douluos!
Yi Yun withdrew his Soul Power, and the pressure dissipated.
The sports field was so quiet that a falling pin could have been heard.
Everyone remained kneeling. No one dared stand.
The middle-aged man knelt at the very front, trembling all over, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
Yi Yun looked down at him, his smile still gentle.
"Uncle, what was that you said? Twenty-something?"
The middle-aged man's lips quivered, but he could not utter a word.
Right now, he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
A moment ago, he had been mocking Yi Yun as a greenhorn kid. Only now did he realize that this greenhorn kid was stronger than anyone he had ever seen.
Absurdly strong.
"Get up," Yi Yun said. "Stop kneeling. It's rather embarrassing."
No one moved.
Everyone was still trembling.
Yi Yun sighed and turned toward the host.
"What's wrong with them?"
The host was also kneeling, his voice shaking. "M-Mr. Yi Yun, y-you're a Titled Douluo?"
"Yes. What's wrong?"
"Wh-why didn't you say so sooner?"
"You never asked."
The host: "..."
There did not seem to be anything wrong with that answer.
But the problem was, who could have imagined that a Titled Douluo would come to a little place like Nuoding Academy and stay for so many days?
Weren't Titled Douluos supposed to live in mansions in big cities, take disciples, and be revered?
"All right, all right, get up." Yi Yun waved a hand, his tone as casual as though he were chatting with friends. "I'm just an ordinary handsome young fellow. There's no need for such ceremony."
An ordinary handsome young fellow?
Everyone roared inwardly, What part of you is ordinary? What part of you is ordinary?
If a level ninety-nine Peerless Douluo called himself ordinary, what did that make people like them, who were not even Soul Ancestors? Ants?
Still, no one on the sports field dared stand.
Yi Yun shook his head helplessly, jumped down from the platform, and walked up to the middle-aged man.
"Uncle, get up. I really don't blame you."
The middle-aged man raised his head and looked at Yi Yun's face, nearly in tears.
"Senior, I... I had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai. I... I..."
"All right, enough calling me senior. Just call me Yi Yun."
"I... I wouldn't dare..."
"Then keep kneeling. I'm leaving."
Yi Yun turned and walked away.
The middle-aged man panicked, hastily scrambling to his feet and chasing after him.
"Sen... Mr. Yi Yun! I... let me treat you to a meal! To apologize!"
"No need. I'm not short of meals."
"Then... then let me give you a gift!"
"I'm not short of gifts either."
"Then I..."
Yi Yun stopped and glanced back at him.
"Uncle, if you really want to apologize, take today's incident as a lesson. Don't look down on young people anymore. Everyone was young once."
The middle-aged man nodded repeatedly, even his eyes reddening.
"Yes, yes, yes. I'll remember. I'll definitely remember."
Yi Yun nodded, then turned and walked toward Tang San and Xiao Wu.
Tang San was still kneeling on the ground.
It was not that he did not want to get up. His legs were weak.
He knew Yi Yun was powerful, but this was the first time he had truly experienced how terrifying Yi Yun was.
That pressure, that power that made him tremble from the depths of his soul-he would never forget it for as long as he lived.
Xiao Wu was somewhat calmer than Tang San. After all, she had personally seen Yi Yun send the Titan Giant Ape flying with a single slap and was already mentally prepared.
But this was also her first time experiencing Yi Yun releasing his Soul Power at full strength.
It felt like an ant standing before an elephant.
No, before a dinosaur.
"Brother Yun!" Xiao Wu stood and walked up to Yi Yun, her eyes full of little stars. "You're amazing!"
"Keep it low-key, keep it low-key," Yi Yun said modestly. "I'm just an ordinary handsome young fellow."
Xiao Wu burst out laughing.
"You're ordinary? If you're ordinary, then there's nobody extraordinary in the whole world."
"But I'm a handsome young fellow, at least, right?"
"Handsome, yes, but as for young fellow..." Xiao Wu tilted her head and sized Yi Yun up. "You look even younger than me."
"I told you I was eighteen. You were the one who didn't believe me."
"You really don't look eighteen."
"That's because I take good care of myself."
The two chatted and joked, completely ignoring the people kneeling all around them.
Tang San finally climbed to his feet and walked up to Yi Yun, his expression complicated.
"Yi Yun."
"Call me Brother Yun."
"...Brother Yun," Tang San managed with difficulty. "Just what's your background?"
"Me? I'm an ordinary person."
"Could you please stop saying 'ordinary'?"
"All right, an extraordinary ordinary person."
Tang San took a deep breath and decided to stop asking.
He wouldn't get anything out of him anyway.
News of the academy anniversary celebration spread throughout Nuoding City.
In less than half a day, everyone knew one thing.
A Titled Douluo had come to Nuoding Academy.
A Titled Douluo who looked barely in his teens.
The news seemed to sprout wings, flying to Heaven Dou City, to Spirit Hall, and to every corner of the continent.
Countless people began asking about Yi Yun, and countless factions began wanting to win him over.
Meanwhile, Yi Yun himself lay sunning himself on the grass on the Back Hill behind Nuoding Academy, munching on a carrot Xiao Wu had handed him.
"Brother Yun, you're famous now." Xiao Wu sat beside him, swinging her legs.
"What's so great about being famous? It's a nuisance." Yi Yun's words were muffled as he chewed his carrot.
"You don't like being famous?"
"No. I just like peace and quiet."
"Then why did you reveal your strength?"
"Because that middle-aged guy was too annoying. If I didn't show him a little color, he'd never learn how high the heavens were or how deep the earth was."
Xiao Wu thought it over and felt Yi Yun had a point.
"Oh, right, Brother Yun, what are you planning to do next?"
"Next, huh?" Yi Yun thought for a moment. "Head to Heaven Dou City, I guess. It should be more fun than Nuoding City."
"Heaven Dou City? I'm coming too!"
"Sure, I'll take you along."
"What about Tang San?"
"Him?" Yi Yun glanced at Tang San, who was hard at work practicing pole vaulting on the training grounds. "If he wants to come, he can come along. We need someone to carry the luggage anyway."
In the distance, Tang San sneezed and nearly fell off his pole.
"Achoo! Who's talking about me?"
He rubbed his nose and kept practicing.
One hundred times. Not one repetition less.
The dean sat in his chair, holding a letter in trembling hands.
The letter had come from Heaven Dou City and bore the signature of the Heaven Dou Empire's imperial family.
Its contents were simple: keep Yi Yun at Nuoding Academy at all costs, or at least ensure that he remained favorably disposed toward the Heaven Dou Empire.
After reading the letter, the dean gave a bitter chuckle.
Keep him here?
With what?
He was a Titled Douluo. Nuoding Academy didn't even have a Soul Douluo. What could they possibly use to make him stay?
The dean sighed, put the letter away, and left his office.
He was going to find Yi Yun on the Back Hill, if only to become a familiar face.
When he reached the Back Hill, he saw Yi Yun sleeping on the grass, with Xiao Wu fanning him beside him.
The dean hesitated for a long time, but ultimately didn't dare step forward and disturb him.
Forget it. Another day.
He turned and left, treading lightly for fear of making a sound and waking Yi Yun.
Yi Yun slept all afternoon. By the time he woke, it was almost dark.
Xiao Wu was still sitting beside him, her hand sore from fanning him.
"Why didn't you wake me?" Yi Yun sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"You were sleeping so soundly, I couldn't bring myself to." Xiao Wu shook out her aching arm.
Watching Xiao Wu shake out her arm, Yi Yun felt warmth in his heart.
"Come on, let's get something to eat."
"What are we eating?"
"Whatever you want."
"Then I want red-braised carrots!"
"...What the heck is that?"
"You make them the same way as red-braised pork, but replace the meat with carrots."
Yi Yun pictured it and thought it was a little absurd.
"All right, you get the final say."
The two headed toward the dining hall together.
Tang San was still practicing pole vaulting on the training grounds. Seeing the two approaching side by side, he felt another pang of jealousy.
But he was already used to it.
He really was used to it.
That was a lie. He wasn't used to it at all.
Before you continue