A fish-belly white spread across the horizon, lifting the thin curtain of night bit by bit.
A red sun rose from the eastern sea, shining down on the cities of the continent's east.
Morning set the course for the day, and Xu Zi left his villa early.
Although he was only an ordinary member of the imperial family, his elite education had instilled a sense of territory in him from childhood. Whenever he settled somewhere unfamiliar, he would head out early after daybreak to familiarize himself with his surroundings.
Spirit Hall Academy differed little from Sun Moon Royal Academy in size.
Although Douluo Continent was more expansive than Sun Moon Continent, Spirit Hall had yet to unify it, so there was little difference in the scale of their educational facilities.
What surprised Xu Zi, however, was that Spirit Hall Academy actually had a large Soul Fighting plaza.
Yes, a Soul Fighting plaza on the scale used for the continental Soul Master Tournament finals.
A single Great Soul Arena already formed the heart of every major city on Douluo Continent, yet Spirit Hall Academy, just one academy, surpassed all those cities in its lavish extravagance.
Standing in this vast expanse of white, he could almost feel the solidity of the plaza's specially cast flooring rushing into his nostrils.
"So this is where we assemble tomorrow?"
Xu Zi surveyed the plaza beneath his feet, countless memories stirring within him...
Spirit Hall Academy's Soul Fighting plaza was far larger than Sun Moon Royal Academy's.
It was not that the Sun Moon Empire's martial spirit was inferior to Spirit Hall's, but that Sun Moon Royal Academy was currently undergoing a transition between its Martial Soul Department and Soul Tool Department.
Much of its educational resources were being diverted toward the Soul Tool Department, leaving the Martial Soul Department strapped for funds. Even the Soul Fighting plaza had to surrender nearly half its grounds for the Soul Tool Department to test new weapons.
By late morning, the sun in the eastern sky had turned golden.
Xu Zi had finally familiarized himself with Spirit Hall Academy's general layout and successfully found its food street.
Compared with the other students on campus, his clothing was distinctly different in its details.
It was not that his clothes looked particularly conspicuous. Rather, they had a modern, linear style and a technological feel. Compared with the flashy color schemes Douluo Continent's Soul Masters favored to "match their own attributes," his clothes possessed a little more of the minimalist beauty of the future.
A closer look would also reveal that Xu Zi's facial lines and contours were considerably more pronounced than those of the Douluo people.
As a result, he turned quite a few heads along the way.
Fortunately, he had lived in Heaven Dou Imperial City long enough that his command of the Douluo language was no longer awkward, so breakfast passed peacefully.
Of course, what he had told the cardinal in the admissions office yesterday morning-that he had lived in Heaven Dou Imperial City-was the truth, a fact.
Before a colossus like Spirit Hall, the greatest power under heaven, no shallow lie could survive three days of investigation.
As for why his first action upon landing on Douluo Continent had been to settle in Heaven Dou Imperial City?
It was because the Heaven Dou Royal Auction House was located there.
More than twenty thousand years later, during the Douluo III era, Dragon Scale Fruit had first appeared at the Heaven Dou Royal Auction House.
Thus, any normal member of the Sun Moon Imperial Family would head straight to Heaven Dou Imperial City after crossing the ocean to Douluo Continent, seeking Dragon Scale Fruit to trigger a mutation in their Sun Martial Soul.
Thanks to the tempering provided by the Dragon Scale Fruit's intense heat and Power of Destruction, Xu Zi had possessed the confidence to slaughter a nine-hundred-year Fear Demon Dragon and a two-thousand-year Devouring Dragon in succession, turning them into his new Martial Soul's first and second rings.
Of course, this was also the main reason he was stuck at rank 30. That two-thousand-year Devouring Dragon had been the dragon beast he prepared as his third Soul Ring before setting out across the sea.
He had no regrets about that. After all, in a place like Heaven Dou Imperial City, where nobles stood as thick as trees, treasures such as ten-thousand-year whale glue were often sold to strengthen the body, bolster virility, and raise the limit of Soul Rings one could withstand. Failing to make proper use of them would practically defy his good fortune.
Still, being stuck at rank 30, unable to advance his cultivation even an inch... felt awful. This was another important reason he had hurried to Spirit Hall, sought an audience with the Pope, and voluntarily offered up a treasure.
Having savored the local flavors, he finished breakfast.
He found his way back to his residential area. An entire night had passed, and he reckoned the Golden Crocodile's transformation after consuming the Dragon Scale Fruit should be over.
"Finally, it's time to break through to a three-ring Soul Elder."
Yet just as he reached the entrance to the special-grade residential area, he encountered someone familiar-Huang Ying.
She was the Spirit Hall Team's dual control-and-support member, the Golden Bird Soul Master who had suffered reflected damage from his single move yesterday.
At that moment, she stood beside a tall young man, craning her neck to look into the residential area. "Young Master Yu, are you sure that overseas guest lives here?"
"But your guards have been inside for quite some time. Why haven't they sent word back yet?"
The tall young man, dressed in luxurious gold clothing, snorted unpleasantly. "Relax. Our Jin Family has its channels. There's no mistake."
"I want to see what this overseas fellow looks like. He came to Spirit Hall and immediately threw himself at Bibi Dong's feet, and he even dared openly intercept one of our Jin Family's core resources-a Golden Crocodile."
"If this weren't a Soul Master academy, my father would have come to meet him himself."
Having undergone the baptism of the Will of Destruction, Xu Zi possessed keen hearing and sharp vision, so he naturally heard their conversation clearly.
"The Golden Crocodile Family's young master?" Xu Zi's eyes abruptly turned purple as he looked at the young man in front of Huang Ying, whom she respectfully addressed as "Young Master Yu."
The man's stance exuded domineering swagger without the slightest restraint. With his exceptional spiritual power, Xu Zi could roughly judge from the strength of the Soul Power fluctuations on Young Master Yu's body alone that his cultivation was around that of an advanced four-ring Soul Ancestor.
"Quite the entourage. From the sound of it, he even brought several attendants into the academy."
But Xu Zi was not afraid in the slightest. He had dared intercept even a top-tier Soul Douluo's Dragon Scale Fruit; why would he fear a junior of the Golden Crocodile Family?
Thus, adhering to the principle of settling today's matters on the spot, he simply changed direction and walked straight toward the pair outside the entrance.
Just then, Huang Ying, whose hearing was particularly sensitive, turned and spotted Xu Zi approaching her.
"Junior?" Huang Ying seemed somewhat surprised, a smile appearing at the corners of her lips. "How did you know your senior was here?"
Xu Zi raised an eyebrow. From Huang Ying's words, it seemed that even after an entire night, she still did not know he was that visitor from across the sea.
Recalling Bibi Dong's final instructions, he could not help reflecting, Pope Hall really does a fine job of keeping secrets.
Indeed, if its secrecy were inadequate, the fact that Bibi Dong had devoured the previous Pope alive would probably have long since spread across the continent.
Hearing the movement behind him, the Jin Family's young master merely glanced back.
At first glance, he assumed Xu Zi was a member of the Spirit Hall Team like Huang Ying, so he paid little attention and turned back toward the residential area.
Xu Zi returned her greeting with a smile and asked, "Senior, are you still feeling any discomfort?"
Huang Ying smiled and shook her head. "No. Last night, a healing Soul Saint from the Hall, dispatched by Her Holiness, examined and treated me. It really was bleeding caused by excessive sensory stimulation."
"That's good." Xu Zi nodded while raising his left wrist, displaying the golden Soul Tool bracelet within the Jin Family young master's peripheral vision.
"By the way, are you staying in..." Huang Ying had only just spoken when a deep voice rang out behind her. "Is that our Jin Family's golden bracelet?"
The Jin Family's young master did indeed turn around. He looked Xu Zi up and down, then demanded with a piercing gaze, "You're the one Yue Guan spoke of-the man from the continent across the sea?"
"Wh-what?" Huang Ying failed to react at first, but within half a second, realization dawned on her. No wonder there's no top-tier Martial Soul called the "Sun" on the continent today. So that was why...
Facing his questioning, the purple light in Xu Zi's eyes intensified as he said:
"I change neither my name on the road nor my surname at home."
"Xu Zi, of the Sun Clan on Sun Moon Continent."
"Good!" The Jin Family's young master clapped. "Finding you took no effort at all. You've got guts."
He had initially doubted how someone so young-someone who could even be called a boy-could have the ability to cross the sea.
But after examining the appearance and clothing of the person before him and witnessing his courage, the Jin Family's young master immediately changed his mind.
He began introducing himself. "My surname is Jin, my given name Yu. My father ordered me to invite you personally to visit our Golden Crocodile Family and discuss the cultivation methods of our two continents."
"This way, please-"
The commotion at the residential entrance was considerable. The Jin Family's attendants, who had slipped in among the villas, all had keen senses and were drawn out by the noise.
There were six attendants in total, each wearing some amount of gold. They gathered on either side of Jin Yu and shouted at Xu Zi in unison:
"Honored guest from across the sea, the Jin Family invites you!"
"The Jin Family invites you!"
As a member of the imperial family, Xu Zi had naturally witnessed plenty of grand displays, so he remained unmoved by this spectacle.
He cut straight to the point. "You want the Soul Core Method, don't you?"
Surprised by Xu Zi's bluntness, Jin Yu simply stopped pretending to be courteous and spoke plainly. "Since our overseas friend puts it that way, you must already understand the situation. Then, please come along."
"The Pope decreed yesterday that the Soul Core Method is henceforth confidential, and its transmission to outsiders is strictly forbidden. If you sincerely wish to learn it, you can have the Second Worship ask Her Holiness directly for a copy." As expected, Xu Zi invoked the Pope's verbal decree and firmly refused.
"Ask? Hah. What if I insist on taking it from you?" Jin Yu pressed the four fingers of his left hand until they cracked.
The six attendants took the opportunity to surround him, each emitting Soul Power fluctuations no weaker than Huang Ying's during yesterday's Soul Fighting match.
"Then think about the consequences." Xu Zi remained entirely composed. Facing the Jin Family master and servants closing in to forcibly "invite" him, a faint Soul Tool glow lit up between his fingers...
"Haha! Consequences?" Jin Yu laughed disdainfully. "Even if I tore down this academy's gates, Bibi Dong wouldn't dare do anything to our Jin Family."
But the very next moment, Jin Yu could no longer laugh.
Even the Jin Family attendants approaching him halted their steps and movements.
The Soul Tool glow in Xu Zi's hand faded, revealing a token in his grasp.
"The Pope Token represents the Pope's presence. To see the token is to see the Pope!"
Xu Zi held up the Pope Token. "I don't care how formidable your Jin Family is, but do you, Jin Yu, dare publicly offend the Pope's authority?"
"The Heaven Prison Pope Token?" Jin Yu looked stunned. "That Bibi Dong... she actually gave you the one and only Pope Token?"
Now he dared not move.
The Heaven Prison Pope Token represented not only the current Pope's authority but also the dignity of the Elder Hall's Great Enshrined, because this token, along with the other five, had been personally issued by Qian Daoliu years ago.
The situation had reached a stalemate.
The air instantly fell silent, and Jin Yu's expression turned ugly.
With the Pope Token barring his way, his trip was destined to accomplish nothing. But accustomed as he was to a life of privilege, how could he willingly return empty-handed?
Looking again at the golden bracelet around Xu Zi's left wrist, Jin Yu abruptly asked, "You haven't absorbed that two-thousand-one-hundred-year Golden Crocodile's Soul Ring yet, have you?"
"That's right. What of it?" Xu Zi asked in return.
Believing he had found an opening, Jin Yu grew confident. "Nothing much. If you come with this young master, you'll still be our Jin Family's honored guest. I'll take it upon myself to exchange your Golden Crocodile for another fifteen-hundred-year one on the spot."
"How about it?"
Without hesitation, Xu Zi countered again, "And if I refuse?"
"Hmph!" Jin Yu sneered. "Rather than leave a heavenly treasure in your hands to be squandered, I, Jin Yu, might as well reclaim what our Jin Family gave away!"
As he spoke, the imposing presence of an advanced Soul Ancestor surged forth. Jin Yu immediately thrust out his right hand, reaching to seize the golden bracelet and the Golden Crocodile inside its Soul Tool space.
Forcibly taking the Soul Core Method lacked a rightful pretext, but reclaiming the Golden Crocodile his Jin Family had given away involved far fewer concerns.
"Hmph!" Fierce purple light blazed in Xu Zi's eyes, which were even shifting toward the vertical pupils of a dragon. Clearly, he was already prepared for a fierce battle.
With the Power of Destruction, the Will of Destruction, and a brief Martial Soul Possession, remaining undefeated against a top-tier Soul Ancestor... would not be difficult.
Just as the situation was about to spiral out of control, Huang Ying realized things were going badly and hurried to intervene. "Young master, you can't! This is the academy, and he's only a rank-30 Soul Grandmaster. You'll seriously injure him!"
Seeing Jin Yu remain unmoved, just as he was about to clash physically with Xu Zi...
Huang Ying cried shrilly, "Cousin!"
She stepped between the two and spoke rapidly to Jin Yu. "He just said his home continent is called Sun Moon, and his family's inherited Martial Soul is the Sun. I already confirmed that when I fought him yesterday."
"And think about it-what single character is the shortened form of the word 'sun'?"
"Could the family behind him also have Titled Douluos, Super Douluos, Peak Douluos, or even Peerless Douluos?"
At those words, Jin Yu immediately calmed down:
Indeed, could a power capable of exploring overseas and successfully landing on a new continent be ordinary?
At the very least, before Spirit Hall unified the continent, it was nowhere near having the spare capacity to accomplish that.
In other words, the immense power behind him might already have completed the historic task of unifying its continent and could now be expanding outward!
At that thought, Jin Yu reconsidered Huang Ying's earlier question: "What single character is the shortened form of the word 'sun'?"
A flash of alarm immediately crossed his eyes, and he thought, Could the power behind this brat be an imperial family that rules an entire continent?
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Next chapter preview: Dragon transformation-Golden Crocodile, the second Soul Skill revealed!