"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
Under the late-night moonlight, Hu Liena's eyes widened, her face full of disbelief.
How could there be no way to improve?
Honestly, to find her own shortcomings, she had to start with how her opponent had broken through her charm.
Gu Wuchen said coldly, "Hu Liena, your charm doesn't work on me. My spiritual power isn't weak, and I have my own way of breaking through it. You won't find any way to improve by coming to me."
At her current realm, she was already strong enough. In the future finals of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament, when she faced Heaven Dou Royal Academy and Shrek Academy, her charm would already be outstanding.
Yet after just one loss, she wanted to find the reason in herself.
Couldn't she see that this was just Bibi Dong's way of spurring her on?
"Don't you lie to me!"
Hu Liena planted her hands on her hips and thrust out her impressive chest. "I'm very smart, you know."
Caught between laughter and tears, Gu Wuchen said, "You really are smart when you're smart, but when you're being stupid, I can't tell whether you're really stupid or just pretending."
"What do you mean?" Hu Liena was a little confused.
"Actually, the Pope used your loss to me earlier today to spur you on and make you put your heart into cultivating. Because among those at your realm who use charm, no one's charm is stronger than yours."
Gu Wuchen explained.
"Then why did Teacher do that?" Hu Liena asked, puzzled.
"You'll have to ask your teacher that. Besides, don't bother me when there's nothing going on!"
Gu Wuchen gave Hu Liena no time to react.
With a bang, the door slammed shut.
"Hey! Gu Wuchen, open the door! I've come all this way, and you won't even invite me in for tea?"
Hu Liena pounded on the door and shouted.
Lying on his bed, Gu Wuchen said, "If you're not afraid of people gossiping, go ahead and shout!"
The knocking stopped the instant he finished speaking.
Hu Liena looked around and only then remembered that this was the Elder Hall, not the Pope's Hall. She had no choice but to slink away.
"What a handful."
Gu Wuchen resumed meditating, sensing the changes in his body.
The days passed one by one, and before he knew it, a year and a half had gone by. Gu Wuchen had now spent a year and a half in Spirit Hall.
His Soul Power had reached the Soul Grandmaster level, and his name had spread throughout Spirit Hall.
At the junior academy, everyone knew him, and he had defeated many who wanted to challenge him.
Even Soul Grandmasters had been defeated by a single strike of Gu Wuchen's sword.
"Young master, I made this black rice porridge. Have a taste, it's delicious."
Ye Yuan'er carried the black rice porridge into the room. Gu Wuchen was holding a bar of snow-white soap.
Gu Wuchen glanced at it a few times and set it on the table. Looking at Ye Yuan'er, he said, "Bishop Ye, you really don't need to be so courteous. You're only here to assist me."
The skintight black leather outfit Ye Yuan'er wore had been updated to its second generation, and it was made from silk unique to the Far North.
It was expensive, but Gu Wuchen felt no reluctance in giving it to someone who had assisted him for a year and a half.
"Young master, you're joking. This is my duty. Besides, the gifts you give me every time may be ordinary to you, but they're very expensive to me. Ordinary people couldn't buy them even if they wanted to."
As she spoke, Ye Yuan'er placed the black rice porridge in Gu Wuchen's hands.
Of course, if Gu Wuchen wanted her to feed him, she could do that too.
"All right, I can't refuse either!"
Gu Wuchen took a mouthful of black rice porridge. It was soft and sticky, with distinct grains of rice, and there were also some red beans and lotus seeds in it.
"Well made."
Ye Yuan'er smiled slightly. "I'm glad you like it, young master."
She no longer handled Spirit Hall's affairs, and during the past year and a half of assisting Gu Wuchen, she had experienced a different kind of life.
The young master really did treat his subordinates well.
He was never stingy with gifts.
Basically, whenever there was something good, she got to try it first. In the past, she couldn't have bought those things, but now she could have whatever she wanted.
As she thought about it, her gaze fell on the soap on the table.
"Young master, is this bar of soap your latest invention?"
Gu Wuchen swallowed the black rice in his mouth and explained:
"This is called Wuchen Lotus Soap. It's made from Wuchen Lotus extract and animal fat from the Far North, with different kinds for washing your face, bathing, and doing laundry. It's inexpensive, and one bar lasts a month.
"Its main selling points are that it cleans powerfully, easily removes grease and dust, kills bacteria and inhibits their growth, and doesn't leave your skin tight or cracked after washing. It has a light fragrance of its own and works more than ten times better than traditional soap pods."
Ever since leaving the Far North, he had asked his father to speed up the development of this soap.
Whenever Gu Linchuan encountered a problem he couldn't solve, he would send it to him in a letter. After a year and a half, they had finally managed to develop it.
He believed people would absolutely fight to buy this soap. One bar lasted a month, making it an absolute bargain.
"Young master, is this soap really that good?"
Ye Yuan'er examined it curiously.
Gu Linchuan finished his porridge and said calmly, "Try it and you'll know. This bar hasn't been used. It's the bathing kind, so if you like it, Bishop Ye, just take it and use it."
"Is that all right?" Ye Yuan'er was a little reserved.
Gu Wuchen chuckled. "Bishop Ye, although we haven't known each other for years, the way you act one way at first and another afterward hasn't changed at all."
Ye Yuan'er felt a little uncomfortable, but once he called her out, she stopped being reserved. She picked up the soap and put it in her Storage Soul Tool.
"There's one more thing. I've broken through to Soul Grandmaster!"
"What? Soul Grandmaster!" Ye Yuan'er was startled.
She had never asked Gu Wuchen about his cultivation, and he had secretly reached Soul Grandmaster in just a year and a half?
That talent was monstrous!
"I need to return to the Far North to hunt a Soul Beast. Do you want to come along? You can also see how things are being carried out in my Gu Clan, and help me manage the accounts when the time comes."
Gu Wuchen had noticed that Ye Yuan'er was very effective at getting things done and was well suited to being an assistant.
What woman didn't love beauty?
Give her something nice, and she would be happy for a long time.
During this period, the Snow Empress had helped him try to call upon the extreme cold power in his body for cultivation, and he had only seen the Snow Empress during this time.
He had never mentioned the Ice Empress, nor did he know whether the Ice Empress knew that the Snow Empress often came to see him.
Ye Yuan'er agreed at once without thinking much about it. "I'll go, of course I'll go!"
A trip to the Gu Clan would give her the perfect chance to see how those two powerful Titled Douluo taught Gu Wuchen.
"All right, wait for me at the entrance to Spirit Hall this evening. I'm going to see the Great Enshrined now."
With that, Gu Wuchen immediately left the room, while Ye Yuan'er stayed behind to clean.
In the Elder Hall, Qian Daoliu was discussing something with Golden Crocodile Douluo when he noticed Gu Wuchen's arrival. He immediately interrupted their conversation and looked at Gu Wuchen with a kindly expression:
"Wuchen, what is it?"
Gu Wuchen greeted him and said, "Grandpa Qian, I've cultivated to level twenty. I may need to return to the Far North to hunt a Soul Beast."
"Returning to the Far North..." Qian Daoliu suddenly froze. "Level twenty? That fast!"
It had only been a year and a half, and he was saying he had cultivated to the Soul Grandmaster level?
His talent defied the heavens even more than Xue'er's. Wuchen truly had the makings of a Peerless Douluo.