Spirit Hall Advanced Soul Master Academy.
Beneath the shade of towering ancient trees, sunlight slanted through the windows, ushering in a beautiful day.
Ever since revealing three Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings and defeating Yan without showing his martial soul, Lin Qian had reached the pinnacle the moment he made his debut.
No one disturbed his residence. Whenever he went out and encountered anyone, they kept their distance, fearing him like a tiger. Lin Qian had anticipated these changes, so he was not disappointed.
For a dignified Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, women and other temptations would only slow the speed at which he drew his sword. Making friends would certainly be good, but if he could not, there was no need to force it. Increasing his soul power mattered most.
Besides, he always had a feeling that Bibi Dong had an ulterior purpose in taking him as her disciple. There was no free lunch in this world, and what came free often cost the most.
Judging by the original story, he did not think this woman was kindhearted enough to nurture him out of goodwill as her future successor.
So if his hunch was right, he would not stay at Spirit Hall Academy for long. Once the time came, he would have to head out on a mission.
When the first ray of morning sunlight shone in, he stretched and rose from the mimicry training ground.
Martial soul mimicry training, as its name suggested, was external support for soul masters: a cultivation environment created through human intervention.
Yan's Flame Lord, for example, was suited to cultivating in a hot climate. In such an environment, cultivation naturally yielded twice the results for half the effort.
As for Lin Qian, well... his body martial soul was the hardest to classify. Any attribute would fit. Spirit Hall had truly faced a challenge when choosing a location for him.
In the end, Pope Bibi Dong made the decision herself. All five elements-metal, wood, water, fire, and earth-were arranged around his villa, letting him go wherever he pleased.
"Little Qian-Qian, I've been lying flat in this sea for so long, I feel like I'm about to devolve!"
Ever since obtaining the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, that gigantic power bank, he had not needed to cultivate at all. He only needed to refine the sealed energy at regular intervals.
Douluo's spiritual energy was thin, let alone that of the Martial Soul Mimicry Training Ground. The extra soul power gained from cultivating was like the meat on a mosquito's leg-better than nothing.
The only reason he still went through the motions was to put on a show for Bibi Dong, his ready-made teacher in the Papal Palace, proving that he had not neglected his studies.
After moving his stiff limbs around, Lin Qian sank into his Sea of Consciousness. "Never mind you. Going to sleep on schedule every day, even I'm about to devolve from all this lying around."
"Then let's go out and have some fun... how about the Far North? I'll make you a martial soul~"
Tian Meng hinted so furiously that the beads of his abacus were practically flying into Lin Qian's face.
"You'll get to see your darling Little Bingbing, but not now. That pope teacher of mine is no pushover. If I'm gone for even a day, she'll suspect I've run away."
That was true. Ever since taking him as her disciple, Bibi Dong had never taught him anything. Only his somewhat better accommodations and treatment, along with the fawning attitudes of the two Douluo, Chrysanthemum and Ghost, would inadvertently remind him of his identity as the pope's disciple.
Although he knew it was not necessarily that Bibi Dong did not want to teach him, but that she truly could not teach someone as talented as him, as a teacher, refusing even to see her disciple was far too perfunctory!
Without realizing it, Lin Qian gradually turned into Qian Renxue. All that was missing was writing Bibi Dong letters to plead his misery.
"What kind of teacher have you taken? You'd be better off roaming the world with me, living free and easy!"
Tian Meng still refused to give up, constantly offering suggestions (temptations). He really was going all out for a chance to see the Ice Empress, the goddess of his dreams.
Annoyed by the harassment, Lin Qian simply shut off his five senses, sat back down, and resumed cultivating.
One semester later.
Buzz!
Light blazed around Lin Qian. His spiritual power spread over a hundred-li radius before drawing back in an instant.
Through constant refining and familiarization, he could now extend and retract it at will, making full use of his first soul ring.
Ever since suggesting they go out for a stroll, Tian Meng had acted as though possessed, bringing it up eight hundred times a day. He simply did not want to stay at the academy.
Utterly fed up, Lin Qian submitted an application to Bibi Dong, saying he wanted to go out to hunt for a soul ring.
Having already made arrangements, Bibi Dong did not want complications sprouting from the branch, and initially refused to let him leave.
Thus, things reached a stalemate: Tian Meng pestered Lin Qian, Lin Qian submitted a request to Bibi Dong, and Bibi Dong rejected it again.
After this cycle repeated N times, Bibi Dong finally gave in first, granting him permission to leave after one semester.
Over those months, Lin Qian still had not seen his teacher even once. He knew this was because his constant desire to leave and refusal to play by the usual rules had provoked Bibi Dong's displeasure.
So, to get back at that rotten bug in his Sea of Consciousness, he changed his mind at the last minute, abandoning the Far North in favor of a nearby "outing."
"You clearly promised we'd go to the Far North, you big liar!"
Discovering that Lin Qian had changed his mind, Tian Meng refused to accept it and started making trouble in the Sea of Consciousness again. This time, Lin Qian did not indulge him. He wandered east, south, and west, going everywhere except north.
Deeply hurt, Tian Meng decided to make them both lose and finally unrolled the map to reveal the dagger. "You keep calling me a simp, but you're quite the veteran simp yourself. Isn't it just that you haven't seen your goddess? Fine, I'll tell you a secret!"
To think he would call him a simp! Lin Qian felt this worm was downright overturning heaven's order. He had to teach him a lesson.
Out of courtesy, he decided to try diplomacy before force. "What secret?"
Closing a nonexistent door, Tian Meng spoke mysteriously. "Life at the academy was too boring. Out of curiosity, I sneaked into the Papal Palace and listened in on your goddess's thoughts~"
Now Lin Qian was wide awake, displaying keen interest. "Oh?"
Tian Meng cleared his throat. "Let me say this first: it took a lot of effort to uncover this, and I nearly got caught. It left an enormous shadow over my tiny heart~"
Lin Qian urged him, "Get on with it!"
"I remember it was a dark, moonless, windy night. Watching you so deeply immersed in sleep... all right, all right, I'll get to the point-after sneaking into the Papal Palace, I heard that woman think, Qian Family, I will destroy you. Don't you place such high hopes on Qian Renxue? Fine, I'll do as you wish and throw her into the Heaven Dou Empire to fend for herself!"
Recalling that day's scene and the crazed expression on that woman's face, Tian Meng shuddered.
"She cursed heaven and earth, saying things about not being able to meet Yu Xiaogang sooner, how Spirit Hall deserved to die, and so on. Then her expression grew even more crazed, and an evil aura coiled around her whole body. I got bounced out."
At this point, Tian Meng spread his hands. His story was over.
"That power should have been Rakshasa Divine Power. Your million years of power may be vast, but it's no match for a god."
After explaining it to his good brother, Lin Qian looked as though he had discovered a new continent.
As everyone knew, what one could not have was always the best. With the added debuff of being lovesick, it was no surprise that Bibi Dong would say such things.
What surprised Lin Qian most was how uninhibited this woman was in private, saying absolutely everything aloud. She was probably lonely and could only comfort herself this way.
After hearing Tian Meng's words, he gazed toward the east-
"I know where we should go."