Nuoding City, Spirit Hall Branch.
Yu Xiaochuan explained why he had come to the gatekeeper and was allowed inside the branch, where he found Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo with considerable familiarity.
After all, his martial soul test had been conducted here, and Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo had also issued his Spirit Hall certificate. This was already his second visit.
To Yu Xiaochuan's slight disappointment, he did not see Su Yuntao.
He was probably still studying at Spirit Hall's Soul Master Academy. Otherwise, getting Su Yuntao to call his martial soul a trash martial soul would have counted as checking that off the list.
"Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo, after a month of careful consideration, I've changed my mind. I've realized that joining Spirit Hall is the better choice for me."
Yu Xiaochuan spoke with righteous conviction.
When Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo had invited him last time, he had refused, mainly because the timing had been wrong. The people from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had been right beside him.
It was not too late to join now. If anything, the timing was perfect.
"Xiaochuan, it's wonderful that you've thought this through. You won't regret the decision you've made today."
A slight smile appeared on Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo's aged face. He was old and knew a great deal, including some of what had happened between Bibi Dong and Yu Xiaogang back then.
Yu Xiaochuan and Yu Xiaogang belonged to the same clan, both came from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and both had external beast martial souls.
Although Pope Qian Xunji had struck Yu Xiaogang from the rolls back then, the current pope was Bibi Dong!
"Since I'm planning to join Spirit Hall, I'll tell you everything about my situation, Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo."
"Although my soul power level is nine now, my innate soul power was actually only half a level."
"Innate half a level?! How long has it even been? Xiaochuan, you awakened your martial soul this year, didn't you? And you're already level nine!"
Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo cried out in astonishment.
Even with his broad experience, he knew how terrifying this rate of soul power advancement was.
Throughout the history of the Douluo Continent, such a rate of soul power advancement was unprecedented. One could even say Yu Xiaochuan was the only case.
This child was truly terrifying indeed.
"Yes, I awakened my martial soul five months ago. But although my soul power level rose very quickly, I've already hit a bottleneck. I'm stuck at level nine."
"I'm seeking a breakthrough, which is why I want to join Spirit Hall. I have only one request: I hope Spirit Hall will open its library to me and let me access its records."
Yu Xiaochuan was very candid.
He paid no heed whatsoever to that supposed innate level nine.
Probably only he knew what he was doing by revealing this information.
That was right. He was stacking buffs.
Yu Xiaochuan, a name only one character different from Yu Xiaogang's; innate half-level soul power; an external beast martial soul; now stuck at level nine, unable to break through; wanting to join Spirit Hall to seek a breakthrough and read its records.
His buffs were already fully stacked.
Yu Xiaochuan did not believe Bibi Dong could see this report and remain unmoved!
Even if she could hold out through the first day of the month, he did not believe she could hold out through the fifteenth.
Of course, if Bibi Dong truly remained completely unmoved, there was nothing Yu Xiaochuan could do. He had already gone this far; he could say he had done everything he could.
He would just think of another way when the time came.
"Well... Xiaochuan, your circumstances are so extraordinary, and your request so great, that this is no longer something I can decide."
"I can only report it to Her Holiness the Pope!"
Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo's heart pounded wildly. He privately felt that he might be moving up a position.
Others might not know, but how could he not?
Yu Xiaochuan was truly cast from the same mold as Yu Xiaogang back then!
Back then, Yu Xiaogang had possessed innate half-level soul power and become stuck at level twenty-nine, unable to break through. He had therefore joined Spirit Hall, read its records, and published numerous martial soul theories, earning the title of Grandmaster.
Wasn't this Yu Xiaochuan a second Yu Xiaogang?!
This was certainly not something he, a deacon of the Spirit Hall Branch in Nuoding City, could decide. He could only report it to Her Holiness the Pope!
"Then I'll leave it to you, Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo."
Yu Xiaochuan thanked Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo before leaving the Spirit Hall Branch.
He felt there was a very good chance this would work, with only a small chance that Bibi Dong would go off the rails.
After all, a madwoman could not be judged by common sense.
If Yu Xiaochuan had not been stuck at level nine, unable to budge, unable to find the waterfall hiding the Blue Silver Emperor and the Blue Silver Emperor soul bone, and unable to obtain immortal herbs, he truly would not have wanted to provoke this madwoman.
After Yu Xiaochuan left, Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo immediately began writing a report to inform Her Holiness the Pope of this important matter.
One could hardly blame Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo for being so eager. He had only been so laid-back before because he had no hope of advancement.
He was already so old, his soul power level had no chance of rising, and he could not earn any great merits. Barring any surprises, he would remain in this position until he died.
Now, hey, an opportunity had arrived!
Ma Xiunuo was certainly going to seize it.
Seventy was precisely the age to strive!
An urgent letter was sent to Spirit City to await Her Holiness the Pope's response.
Spirit City, the Pope's Palace.
Bibi Dong was reviewing and responding to numerous documents requesting instructions and reporting matters.
As the newly installed pope, she had familiarized herself with her duties in just one year and had become very practiced at handling papal affairs.
A single glance at a document told her how to handle it, and she swiftly issued her response.
Yet Bibi Dong's movements suddenly stopped.
A report from the Spirit Hall Branch in Nuoding City caught her attention. Its contents made her expression freeze, and a dazed look appeared on her exquisite face.
Someone resembled you by just three parts, and my heart was thrown into disarray.
And how could Yu Xiaochuan's resemblance to Yu Xiaogang be merely three parts?
It was not a resemblance in appearance, but in experience-a likeness in spirit.
"Yu... Xiaochuan, a child of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, innate half-level soul power, an external beast martial soul, Caterpie-a trash martial soul."
"He reached level nine within a year, his soul power level can no longer rise, and he wants to join Spirit Hall to access its records and seek a way to break through?"
"So alike... far too alike..."
Bibi Dong emerged from those distant memories and issued instructions for that Spirit Hall deacon to send Yu Xiaochuan to Spirit City.
She wanted to meet that child herself.
Had the report not explicitly stated that Yu Xiaochuan was not Yu Xiaogang's child, she would have thought Yu Xiaogang had secretly fathered a child with someone behind her back.
Even so, Bibi Dong remained uneasy and instructed those beside her to activate their covert agents in the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
She wanted all the information on Yu Xiaochuan.
If Yu Xiaochuan was Yu Xiaogang's child, Bibi Dong had no intention of killing him.
After all, he was Xiaogang's child. She could hold the son to command Xiaogang.
And if Yu Xiaochuan had no connection to Yu Xiaogang, that would naturally be best. She could nurture him properly.
Back then, Qian Xunji had struck Yu Xiaogang from Spirit Hall's rolls. Now, a Yu Xiaochuan had appeared.
Even if his soul power level could no longer break through.
Bibi Dong still wanted to nurture him into a grandmaster of theory like Yu Xiaogang and grant him the same status as an honorary elder of Spirit Hall.