????
Bibi Dong saw that Lin Chuan had actually taken the initiative to serve their teacher a bowl of rice!
Her pupils shook on the spot.
He could do that?
Unlike Bibi Dong, however,
Qian Xunji froze at the sight of the steaming white rice.
As the Pope of Spirit Hall, she was no stranger to being waited on.
But having the precious disciple she had just accepted personally serve her rice was definitely a first.
A wonderfully pleasant feeling welled up in her heart.
She did not know what positive feedback or emotional value meant,
but her gaze softened as she looked at Lin Chuan, and she was even more moved.
"Good, good, good! How thoughtful of you, Chuan'er!"
Qian Xunji then turned to look at Bibi Dong, who was sitting there without a care.
"Dong'er, look how considerate your junior brother is."
"As his senior sister, you should learn more from Chuan'er in the future."
Although Qian Xunji's tone was very gentle,
her words grated harshly on Bibi Dong's ears.
Bibi Dong's mood had just settled down, but she instantly bristled again.
Her big, beautiful purple eyes glared fiercely at Lin Chuan.
In her eyes, her junior brother was nothing but a scheming suck-up!
All he did was suck up to their teacher!
He kept finding new ways to make a good impression and draw attention to himself in front of her!
Damn it, if only I'd served teacher her rice just now!
Why didn't I think of that?!
Bibi Dong despised Lin Chuan for being a suck-up.
But she also wanted to win their teacher's favor like he did.
The moment that thought arose, however, she pushed it down.
Hmph!
I'm a peerless genius of Spirit Hall! I can't copy a suck-up!
She snorted heavily and turned her head away in a huff, refusing to look at Lin Chuan.
Bibi Dong had given him a look full of murderous intent, only to turn her head away again.
Lin Chuan was completely baffled.
He could not make sense of the way Bibi Dong's mind worked.
But he could clearly sense her agitated emotions.
Because what Qian Xunji had said was all too familiar, and it hit far too hard!
It was a classic thing for an elder to say.
Learn more from someone else's child.
No child could hear those words without breaking down!
Except someone else's child.
This time, Lin Chuan secretly enjoyed it too.
I never thought I'd become someone else's child myself.
This feels pretty good!
He understood perfectly well:
Being accepted into Spirit Hall meant he had reached the heavens in a single bound!
So shouldn't he hold on tight to Teacher Qian Xunji's thigh?
Besides, what was there to be embarrassed about when a disciple showed filial devotion to his teacher?
His teacher, Qian Xunji, was also a peerless beauty!
He was making a killing by clinging to her thigh!
As for whether Bibi Dong was angry?
He was not worried in the slightest!
He had plenty of ways to handle her.
Just as Bibi Dong was puffing out her cheeks and sulking,
Lin Chuan silently walked over to her with the other bowl of rice in his hand.
"Senior sister, your rice is here!"
A little hand held the bowl of rice out in front of Bibi Dong.
Bibi Dong froze at the sight of the bowl that had suddenly appeared.
She had thought Lin Chuan had served the rice in his hand for himself!
That it had nothing to do with her whatsoever!
After all, she had just given Lin Chuan the cold shoulder. How could he turn around and serve her rice right afterward?
When she thought of how she had just cursed her junior brother as a suck-up in her heart,
Bibi Dong's little face grew a little hot, and a hint of guilt began to surface.
But proud as she was, she naturally could not lower her head and admit she was wrong.
She immediately pushed that trace of guilt down.
She awkwardly pulled the bowl over in front of her.
"Mm..."
"Thank you for this..."
Seeing that Bibi Dong had clearly softened inside but was still putting on a proud front,
Lin Chuan could not help laughing to himself.
Tsundere is out of the meta now!
Of course, he would only think such things to himself and would never say them aloud.
Qian Xunji, seated at the head of the table, took it all in.
A gratified smile appeared on her face, and she nodded repeatedly.
She felt as though she was going to turn into a nodding machine today!
She was immensely satisfied with Lin Chuan's behavior.
This was how a senior sister and junior brother under the same teacher should get along!
Originally, she had imagined that Dong'er, as the senior sister, should be the one acting like Chuan'er.
She had not expected it to be the other way around.
Although Dong'er was a year older, she truly was not as perceptive as Chuan'er when it came to dealing with people.
At that moment, Qian Xunji could not help making an assessment in her heart.
If one of them were to be groomed as a leader, Chuan'er's tactful yet shrewd personality would undoubtedly be better suited.
But she shook her head immediately afterward.
The two children were still too young; it was too early to talk about such things.
"All right, don't just sit there. Let's eat."
Qian Xunji smiled and instructed a maid to prepare Lin Chuan's rice, then dismissed all the maids.
Only the teacher and her two disciples remained in the spacious dining room.
At first, they continued making small talk that was both rather awkward and warm.
They just forced the conversation along.
For the most part, Qian Xunji asked Lin Chuan about his daily habits.
After the small talk ended,
Lin Chuan began displaying an astonishing capacity for shoveling down food.
He did not do anything like putting food on Qian Xunji's plate.
In many things, going too far was as bad as not going far enough.
Only getting it just right would win people over.
Any more would just seem greasy.
He devoured the rice in his bowl and the dishes on the table in great mouthfuls.
These were all tributes offered to Spirit Hall by its various subordinate factions, and many of the ingredients were simply unavailable outside.
Take this seemingly ordinary rice, for example!
It was all snow spirit rice brought from the Far North!
Many Soul Masters, let alone eating it,
had never even seen it!
For Lin Chuan, who was still growing, these ingredients were a very important source of nourishment.
Seeing Lin Chuan eating like a whirlwind sweeping away clouds,
Bibi Dong felt her competitive spirit ignite.
Oh, so you even have to win at eating, junior brother?
I won't lose to you.
As if competing with him, she frantically piled food onto her plate and shovelled down mouthfuls of rice.
Watching her two disciples wolf down their food,
Qian Xunji did not reproach them for their table manners. Instead, she felt deeply gratified.
It's good for them to eat more!
She became even more certain that taking Lin Chuan as her disciple was the best decision she had made recently.
Her arrival had also begun to bring about a change in Dong'er.
In an excellent mood, Qian Xunji could not help picking up the serving chopsticks and repeatedly placing food on her two disciples' plates.
She also took great care to be evenhanded, giving food not only to Lin Chuan but frequently to Bibi Dong as well.
Seeing the meat their teacher had placed in her bowl,
Bibi Dong puffed out one cheek,
like a little hamster guarding its food.
She glanced smugly at Lin Chuan.
See? Teacher really does care about me most.
Faced with her childish, tsundere provocation, Lin Chuan merely gave her an indifferent glance.
He paid her no attention at all!
If I pay her any attention, I lose!
Then he lowered his head and focused on eating.
Was she kidding?
With such a delicious, top-quality feast in front of him, who had time to compete with her?
As the saying went, if you weren't eager to eat, there was something wrong with your thinking.
Seeing that Lin Chuan was ignoring her completely and focusing solely on sweeping up the delicious food on the table, Bibi Dong could not help going a little mad inside.
Damn it! In this guy's eyes, am I, his genius senior sister with Innate Full Soul Power, less appealing than this meal?
After they had eaten and drunk their fill,
the maids brought in tea to cleanse their palates.
Qian Xunji elegantly took a sip of tea and said softly,
"Chuan'er, you learned the meditation method this afternoon."
"Tonight, we'll take it easy and study some theory."
???
Studying theory was taking it easy?
Hearing this, Bibi Dong's eyes darted about, and she quietly lifted her little bottom from her chair, preparing to sneak away.
As if anticipating Bibi Dong's move, Qian Xunji said in a tone that brooked no argument:
"Dong'er, you're coming too."
Bibi Dong froze, then sat back down obediently, her head drooping in dejection.
Lin Chuan, on the other hand, showed an entirely different attitude!
"Teacher, please teach me theory."
He wanted to make progress so badly!
Although his talent was good, he still knew far too little about the two rare Martial Souls, the Wishing Angel and the Fallen Angel.
How should he plan his path of development?
What attributes should the Soul Rings he added have?
As a faction with a long history, Spirit Hall naturally had more experience left by its predecessors to draw upon.
As a transmigrator, Lin Chuan knew full well how important knowledge was.
Although he had read the original work and had a broader perspective than the natives of the Douluo Continent,
he knew that a transmigrator must never look down on everyone else.
Otherwise, it would be easy for things to go off the rails!
What he needed most right now was a solid foundation.
The real world wasn't so simple.
In the original novel, Spirit Hall seemed to be easily overthrown by God King Tang.
But during his six years in Blazing Soul Village,
Lin Chuan had learned just how strong Spirit Hall was now!
As long as Spirit Hall didn't make any reckless moves,
with a hand as strong as a pair of jokers, there was no way Spirit Hall could lose.
And now he was also the Pope's disciple.
If he didn't study theory properly, was he supposed to be illiterate and get taken in like Bibi Dong?
Seeing Lin Chuan catch on so quickly, his eyes even shining with excitement,
Bibi Dong couldn't help but despair.
She hadn't expected Lin Chuan to pull this move!
As expected of my naturally evil junior brother, he's actually showing such enthusiasm for the theoretical knowledge I hate most.
Damn it, now Teacher will see him in a new light.
Sure enough,
seeing how thirsty Lin Chuan was for knowledge, Qian Xunji couldn't help but be overjoyed.
After all, her cultivation talent could only be considered average among the Popes throughout history.
So she had put a great deal of effort into Martial Soul Theory and governing Spirit Hall.
But unfortunately, her eldest disciple, Bibi Dong, was a poor student whose head ached at the sight of a book.
That gave her quite a headache.
Now that Lin Chuan was willing to learn, she was naturally all the more willing to teach, eager to pass on everything she knew.
So after dinner,
they came to the courtyard and began a private theory lesson.