Although the flaw in his Martial Soul was somewhat troublesome, it might not be impossible to resolve. With talent like his, barring any accidents, he would surely become a Titled Douluo.
The eldest prince, Xue Qinghe, would most likely be named crown prince now. If he had a Titled Douluo supporting him in the future as well, the empire would grow even stronger.
"Can you stop the Berserk Transformation?"
After discussing a few more things and settling his enrollment, Xue Qinghe left the Education Committee with Xuan Ming and the others.
But at the sight of Xuan Ming's fierce expression and the savage presence radiating from his entire body, Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling both instinctively moved a little farther away.
He really was terrifying!
"I can only wait for it to calm down on its own," Xuan Ming said.
"Besides, Berserk Transformation consumes a lot. I'm..."
"Hungry."
"..."
The cafeteria.
Less than two hours after leaving the cafeteria, Xuan Ming began eating again, drawing the attention of all the cafeteria's cooks. They all stood at a distance, watching him in astonishment.
Hadn't this child eaten his fill less than two hours ago?
He was hungry already?
"Eldest Prince, didn't you say you had something to take care of? How did you get to the Education Committee before us?" Dugu Yan asked.
"It was just a small matter involving the Education Committee. After I spoke to Committee Member Meng Shenji, I went along with him to the Education Committee," Xue Qinghe said.
With Xuan Ming newly enrolling in Heaven Dou Royal Academy, he naturally had to be there in person to show how seriously he took it.
Earlier, he had simply been provoked a little too much and had gone outside to catch his breath.
"Don't you... cultivate?" Xuan Ming asked in confusion.
The students he had seen at Spirit Hall Academy were all very busy. Hu Liena spent most of her time training too, and only came to see him when she had some free time.
"We do," Dugu Yan said.
"Don't tell me you think... we have too much time on our hands?"
"A little," Xuan Ming said.
The corner of Dugu Yan's eye twitched. "Don't tell me you think Soul Masters cultivate day and night?"
"Come on, for the vast majority of Soul Masters, spending half of every day cultivating is already quite diligent."
"Half the day is the limit an ordinary Soul Master can manage, and it gives the best return."
Chapter 64: Know your limits
"The best return? What do you mean?" Xuan Ming asked.
"Because cultivating tires you out," Dugu Yan said.
"Even when you cultivate through meditation, your spiritual power is being consumed, unless you have specialized assistance, like the various facilities at the academy that help Soul Masters recover quickly, or the mimicry training grounds that let Soul Masters remain in 'peak condition' for long periods."
"Otherwise, cultivating for half the day is already the limit."
"As for going beyond half the day, even if outside assistance helps you recover, it can't eliminate the mental fatigue."
"A Soul Master's cultivation is very monotonous. When you first begin meditating, your mind is more excited and focused. But as time passes, repeating the same thing over and over for so long makes you feel bored, or even miserable. Then your mind starts to weaken, your attention scatters, and your cultivation efficiency drops sharply."
"Some people cultivate for an entire day without making much more progress than someone who only cultivates for half a day. That's because their efficiency changes."
"Although it looks like they cultivate for half a day longer, the actual difference really isn't that great."
"Besides, the longer you cultivate, the greater the psychological pressure becomes. If you remain under high pressure for a long time without receiving any tangible feedback, your mindset will become distorted, and your efficiency will keep dropping."
"So cultivation has to be done in moderation. Being excessively diligent will only have the opposite effect."
A Soul Master's mindset was extremely important. Once it became distorted, they could easily go to extremes. Giving up on themselves was one of the better outcomes. If they went a little further-if I can't have it good, neither can you-they would simply ambush and harm others. There were plenty of people like that.
"Of course, Yanzi is only talking about the general situation. That doesn't rule out cultivation maniacs who make every second count, training their Martial Souls and bodies in various ways during the day, then meditating instead of sleeping at night, truly cultivating day and night," Xue Qinghe said.
"But Soul Masters who can sustain that kind of cultivation routine are vanishingly rare, almost nonexistent."
"Because being able to do that is itself a powerful talent."
Concentrating on a single repetitive task for a long time without growing bored, while keeping one's mind highly active throughout, was no simple matter. Ordinary people could not do it.
Without that talent, excessively high-pressure cultivation would only cause psychological pressure to keep accumulating and cultivation efficiency to plummet!
Anything taken to an extreme would turn into its opposite. Cultivation, too, required knowing one's limits.
Stubbornly persisting with the wrong method without considering one's own circumstances was not hard work. It was brainlessness.
Spirit City, the Pope's Palace.
"Teacher, where's Xuan Ming? Why haven't I seen him lately?" Hu Liena asked.
"He left," Bibi Dong said.
"Left?" Hu Liena froze.
"Where did he go?"
"Heaven Dou City," Bibi Dong said.
"The circumstances are rather complicated. Don't ask about it."
"Oh..." Hu Liena nodded. "Then... will he come back?"
Bibi Dong paused. "Perhaps."
Qian Renxue had a very strong desire for control, while Xuan Ming had a deeply rebellious streak. There would certainly be no shortage of friction between them.
At some point, Qian Renxue might fly into a rage out of humiliation, or feel that Xuan Ming had slipped beyond her control, and kill him.
During his days at the Pope's Palace, she had found all sorts of ways to torment Xuan Ming. Besides amusing herself, she had also wanted to temper his disposition, lest his rebellious streak erupt again sometime.
Qian Renxue did have a strong desire to subdue Xuan Ming, but once she felt that doing so was impossible, she would destroy him without hesitation!
"Teacher, you..." Hu Liena hesitated.
"You want to ask why I helped him so much?" Bibi Dong said.
"Yes." Hu Liena nodded.
She knew perfectly well that her teacher would never expend effort for no reason. She had always assumed Xuan Ming would become her teacher's disciple just like her, but now he had left Spirit City for Heaven Dou City.
Although she did not know why, recalling Elder Golden Crocodile's earlier attempt to snatch him away, she could vaguely guess that this might be some secret scheme of the Elder Hall.
But her teacher was at odds with those enshrined elders, especially Elder Golden Crocodile. It was simply that everyone considered the repercussions, so no obvious conflict had ever occurred.
With Xuan Ming leaving for Heaven Dou City so abruptly, and her teacher seeming to be in a rather poor mood, this clearly had not been her teacher's plan.
In that case, hadn't all her teacher's previous efforts amounted to sewing a wedding dress for Elder Golden Crocodile?
"Why do you think I helped him?" Bibi Dong asked.
"Pity?" Hu Liena guessed.
"Am I the sort of person overflowing with sympathy?" Bibi Dong said.
Hu Liena lowered her head and thought. "Is Xuan Ming your undercover agent?"
Bibi Dong laughed. "Do you think that's possible?"
"Then why?" Hu Liena asked in confusion.
"Don't be impatient, and don't focus only on the benefits right in front of you," Bibi Dong said.
"When one road is blocked, think about taking another."
Qian Daoliu's stance on this matter was firm. He would not leave Xuan Ming to him, so she had never expected to bring Xuan Ming entirely over to her side in the first place.
Whether it was tormenting Xuan Ming, beating him before he left, or saying those things to him, she had only one purpose: to suppress his rebellious streak. At least for now, he was not yet qualified to let it erupt.
And once Xuan Ming began enduring Qian Renxue, the resentment in his heart would only grow heavier.
That way, even if Xuan Ming did not stand entirely on her side in the future, it would be enough as long as he stood against this Six-Winged Angel family.
Of course, if Xuan Ming failed to endure and Qian Renxue disposed of him, that would only mean she had misjudged him.
"Your Holiness." Yue Guan strode into the great hall.
"Old Ghost spotted someone who appeared to be Dugu Bo outside Spirit City this morning. Someone in the city has also been asking whether anyone has seen a child with a peculiar black dragon growing from his back appear in Spirit City."
"Also, the Spirit Hall branch in Aolai City sent word a couple of days ago that a terrifyingly powerful Soul Master had gone looking for the patrol deacon Old Ghost brought back earlier."
"Dugu Bo?" Bibi Dong raised her eyebrows.
"Wasn't he supposed to have no real friendship with Xuan Ming?"
Xuan Ming had only just gone back. Dugu Bo must have missed him.
But why had that Old Poison come all the way to Spirit City to look for him?
"That Old Poison has an eccentric temperament. Although he has little in the way of scruples, he takes keeping debts and grudges clear very seriously," Yue Guan said.
"Xuan Ming probably helped him before, and he feels uncomfortable leaving that debt unpaid."
"Your Holiness, should I drive him away?"
After Xuan Ming entered Spirit Hall Academy, his peculiar appearance had made him the subject of considerable discussion. Although the academy had ordered an information blackout and forbidden any further mention of him after he entered the Pope's Palace over a month ago, problems could still arise in the short term. With Dugu Bo asking around at a time like this, if he really discovered anything, unexpected trouble could easily follow.
"Drive him away? Do you know where he is now?" Bibi Dong was rather speechless.
"What if he's already entered the city? Would you dare use force against him?"
"Well..." Yue Guan's expression stiffened.
This was Spirit City! If that Old Poison had already entered the city, he would be an ancestor they had to cater to!
"Then... should we report it to Elder Golden Crocodile, or the Great Enshrined?" Yue Guan suggested.
"Those two old things have gone into seclusion. I doubt they'll come out for the next few years," Bibi Dong said.
Ever since Xuan Ming had been sent away, the Worship Hall's doors had remained tightly shut. It seemed those few remarks of hers had angered them.
But she really had been unable to help herself. Ever since Xuan Ming entered the Pope's Palace, he would blurt out a couple of infuriating remarks every so often. She had originally wanted to wear down that brat's disposition. In the end, she was not sure whether his disposition had been worn down, but hers certainly had!
Not only had she been worn down, even his infuriating way of speaking had rubbed off on her.
"Then what should we do?" Yue Guan asked worriedly.
"If that Old Poison really discovers something..."
"Have our agents in Heaven Dou City leak the information to him. Tell him Xuan Ming has already returned," Bibi Dong said.
"As for everything else, let certain people worry about it themselves."
"Understood."
Chapter 65: Do you want the truth or a load of nonsense?
After all that upheaval, Xuan Ming's life settled down again. As for how long this peaceful academy life would last, he was not certain either.
His days at Heaven Dou Royal Academy were much like those at Spirit Hall Academy. With Xue Qinghe having put in a word, no idiots deliberately came looking for trouble with him.
Because in these nobles' eyes, he was one of Xue Qinghe's people, just as the students at Spirit Hall Academy had first seen him as someone by Hu Liena's side, one of the Pope's people.
It was not that these students were particularly well-mannered. They simply knew he was not someone they could bully.
Without that background and status, the way these people looked at him would not have been much better than that prince from Barak.
When classes ended that afternoon, Xuan Ming returned to the Ye residence.
Heaven Dou Royal Academy offered student accommodation, and the conditions were excellent, even considerably better than those at Spirit Hall Academy. Nor was there any differential treatment in accommodation here. Whether to stay in an individual dormitory or a shared dormitory was entirely up to the students.