A Favorable Beginning

After hearing Ye Lingling's words, Xiao Yu finally understood. This shy little girl clearly had the makings of a top student—she wanted to quickly catch up with the current coursework.

"Here. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me."

Xiao Yu immediately handed his notebook to Ye Lingling. It was only a small favor, nothing worth hiding. Besides, Ye Lingling would later represent Heaven Dou Royal Academy's first team in the Spirit Master Competition, which showed that her family held some influence in the Heaven Dou Empire. Building a good relationship with her would be a wise choice.

"Thank you!"

Perhaps because she was happy, Ye Lingling spoke noticeably louder this time. She took Xiao Yu's notebook and eagerly began flipping through it.

Looking at the girl before him, who clearly had the potential to become a top student, Xiao Yu smiled faintly. He did not disturb her any further and left the classroom, returning to his dormitory to prepare for that day's meditation.

Ye Lingling remained in the classroom, rapidly leafing through Xiao Yu's notes.

Having gone through compulsory education and the college entrance examinations in his previous life, Xiao Yu's note-taking skills were truly unmatched on Douluo Continent. The important points were detailed and meticulous, and he had practiced calligraphy for a time in his spare moments in his previous life, so his handwriting was dignified, elegant, and pleasing to the eye. Ye Lingling could not help developing a favorable impression of Xiao Yu.

Grrr~~~

Who knew how much time had passed? Ye Lingling had become immersed in studying amidst the sea of books, only realizing that lunchtime had already passed when her stomach began protesting.

"Oh no, this is bad. The cafeteria hasn't closed already, has it?"

Ye Lingling shook her head in annoyance, quickly closed the notebook, and got up to rush toward the cafeteria.

She had barely jogged two steps when someone pushed open the door and entered. Ye Lingling could not stop herself in time and crashed straight into the newcomer's arms.

Xiao Yu reacted quickly and immediately reached out to catch Ye Lingling, preventing her from falling to the floor.

"Thank you!"

Ye Lingling saw who it was and hurriedly thanked him. Then she suddenly realized how awkward their posture was, and her little face could not help turning red.

Xiao Yu reacted just as quickly. After steadying Ye Lingling, he withdrew the hand that had been supporting her and asked softly, "Are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine!"

Out of embarrassment, Ye Lingling spoke even less smoothly. After pausing, as though trying to ease the awkwardness, she asked again, "Why did you come to the classroom at this time?"

Xiao Yu smiled slightly and raised the lunchbox in his other hand. "When I passed by the classroom earlier, I saw you seriously reading through the notes and copying them down. You didn't notice at all that the other students outside were all heading to the cafeteria. I guessed you might forget to eat, so I packed you a simple meal from the cafeteria."

As he spoke, Xiao Yu held the lunchbox out before Ye Lingling. "This is the most common set meal at the academy. I don't know whether there's anything you won't eat, and the cafeteria closes rather early. For now, fill your stomach."

"Thank you. I-I'm not a picky eater!"

Ye Lingling hurriedly accepted the lunchbox. She lowered her head to look at it, thanked Xiao Yu again, then turned around and returned to her seat, where she began eating in large mouthfuls.

Seeing Ye Lingling, who was clearly hungry, devouring her food, Xiao Yu smiled faintly and turned to leave.

On one hand, Xiao Yu truly had guessed that Ye Lingling would forget to eat, and he did not want this shy yet rather adorable little girl to go hungry all afternoon. More importantly, however, he wanted to build a good relationship with this girl who possessed the Nine Hearted Begonia, laying the groundwork for future ties with the family behind her.

Xiao Yu had considered many things on his way back earlier. As he recalled, if not for the curse on the Nine Hearted Begonia martial soul, it could even have become a force capable of challenging the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's status among support-type martial souls. He would inevitably build his own faction in the future. If he could win the Nine Hearted Begonia over to his side, he could quickly establish his sect's reputation.

Furthermore, Xiao Yu guessed that since Immortal Herbs could resolve the flaws of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, there had to be an Immortal Herb capable of resolving the Nine Hearted Begonia's curse as well. It was even highly possible that it was the Aromatic Silk Beauty, the herb that allowed Ning Rongrong's martial soul to evolve into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.

Thus, Xiao Yu formed a rough plan almost instantly. First, he would build a good relationship with Ye Lingling, the new-generation inheritor of the Nine Hearted Begonia. When the time was right, he would use an Immortal Herb to evolve Ye Lingling's martial soul and resolve her family's martial soul flaw. Once that happened, bringing the Nine Hearted Begonia Family under his command would be a natural outcome.

Time flew by. During the studies that followed, Xiao Yu cultivated and studied while occasionally chatting with Ye Lingling and discussing problems from class.

Having navigated the workplace in his previous life, Xiao Yu was like an old fox. How could an introverted little girl like Ye Lingling, who had barely seen the world, withstand this old fox's deliberate attempts to befriend her? Before long, the two had grown familiar with one another. Ye Lingling's speech became smooth when talking to Xiao Yu, no longer stumbling over her words the moment she opened her mouth.

Xiao Yu spent another half year in this sort of academic life. Three months after Ye Lingling broke through Level 10 and obtained her first soul ring, Xiao Yu also broke through the bottleneck at Level 20.

Just as when his Innate Full Soul Power had brought him to the Level 10 bottleneck during his martial soul awakening, the system immediately issued the corresponding task:

"Ding, since the host's Soul Power has reached Level 20, the following tasks are now issued:"

"1. Red-level Task: Without borrowing external aid, independently obtain a thousand-year soul ring."

"2. Black-level Task: With the help of others permitted, absorb a thousand-year soul ring."

"3. Purple-level Task: Without borrowing external aid, independently obtain a hundred-year soul ring."

"4. Yellow-level Task: With the help of others permitted, absorb a hundred-year soul ring."

Unlike last time, the system had directly removed the reward for a ten-year soul ring. It presumably believed that if someone at Level 20 still went after a ten-year soul ring, then that host was beyond saving.

At the same time, the reward levels for all the tasks had dropped by one tier. The Gold-level reward from before did not appear this time.

Looking at the four reward tiers before him, Xiao Yu fell into hesitation for a moment.

Deep down, Xiao Yu wanted to attempt a thousand-year soul ring for his second soul ring. However, thousand-year soul rings were not so easily absorbed. Furthermore, by Xiao Yu's estimation, a soul beast that was one or two thousand years old likely possessed combat strength equivalent to a Soul Elder. With Xiao Yu's cultivation as a quasi-Soul Grandmaster, independently killing a thousand-year soul beast without outside help would be no easy task.

Although Xiao Yu's Netherworld Emissary martial soul was of high quality, and he might not necessarily lack the strength to fight an ordinary Soul Elder, high-quality martial souls also required high-quality soul rings to match. In other words, Xiao Yu absolutely could not casually choose some common soul beast. The thousand-year soul beast he selected would inevitably be far stronger than others of the same rank.

Therefore, after hesitating for a moment, Xiao Yu ultimately set his sights on the Black-level Task. With Hui Huo and Miao helping him, obtaining a thousand-year soul ring would be as easy as taking something from his pocket. But that did not mean everything would be without issue.