Enrolling at Heaven Dou Royal Academy

The old man seemed to sense something as well. He turned to look in Lan Hong's direction, but Lan Hong had already vanished from sight.

"Strange. Was that just an illusion? I actually sensed a trace of sword intent just now!"

"Elder Jian, what's wrong?"

"N-Nothing! Have you picked one out, Rongrong?"

"Mhm! I've already chosen one. Look, is this hair accessory pretty?"

"Pretty, very pretty. Everything Rongrong picks is pretty!"

The old man and young girl were none other than the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's little princess, Ning Rongrong, and Sword Douluo Chen Xin.

Lan Hong recognized who they were after just one glance, so he hid among the passersby as quickly as possible.

Afterward, he went to the Great Soul Arena in Heaven Dou City. He had no intention of participating in soul fights right away; he had only come to watch.

As the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, Heaven Dou City's Great Soul Arena was also the largest. The entire arena was divided into many fighting stages.

Lan Hong watched a battle between two Soul Ancestors. One possessed the Golden Patterned Staff Tool Spirit, while the other possessed the Colorful Cat Beast Spirit.

Their fight was practically the standard template for soul fights across Douluo Continent, relying entirely on the strength of their spirit skills to determine victory or defeat.

There was no prediction or positioning in battle, much less any more sophisticated combat wisdom such as luring the enemy in deep or showing weakness to bait them.

"They rely too heavily on spirit ring skills, which is why their fighting methods have become so rigid!

It is also because spirit rings can provide skills that their use of Soul Power is equally inflexible. Self-Created Soul Skills are pitifully rare.

Human initiative, intelligence, and innovation have all been severely suppressed by this spirit ring system.

As a result, the development of the entire Douluo Continent has become both slow and distorted. If no one deliberately designed it this way, such a pattern of development simply makes no sense.

And the lost methods of crafting Soul Tools are further proof!"

Lan Hong got lost in his thoughts for a while and did not even notice that the soul fight had ended.

He only came back to himself after everyone around him had left.

"Forget it. There's no use thinking about this now. Without strength, the more I know, the more dangerous it becomes!"

After leaving the Great Soul Arena, Lan Hong did not linger and headed straight for Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

Lan Hong was currently using a face that bore an eighty percent resemblance to that young noble.

That young noble's surname was Xue, and his name was Xue Zhi. He was a distant branch of a distant branch of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family. It was only because he was related to the imperial family that he had managed to obtain this recommendation letter for Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

Otherwise, even the city lord of an ordinary small city would not be able to get one.

When he arrived before Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Lan Hong deliberately changed into a different set of clothes, making himself look like a minor noble from a small city.

There was no condescending treatment either. The teacher on duty took one look at the recommendation letter and allowed Lan Hong to enroll.

Heaven Dou Royal Academy already had many nobles, both great and minor, who merely loafed around waiting to die. These nobles only put their names on the academy's rolls and rarely studied seriously.

To nobles, building connections and forming factions were far more important than cultivation or studying soul master theory.

What made Lan Hong's heart ache was the tuition fee: ten thousand Gold Soul Coins! For nobles, even minor nobles, ten thousand Gold Soul Coins was not all that much.

But Lan Hong had earned all his money through hard work at the Great Soul Arena! He did not have much to begin with, and ten thousand disappeared in one go. How could he not feel the pain?

After paying the tuition, Lan Hong went to the dormitory. It was a two-person room. He had planned to see what kind of person his roommate was and whether they would get along.

But after waiting for quite a while, no one returned. So Lan Hong stopped waiting, went to the library to get a borrowing card, then headed to the cafeteria for a meal.

The cafeteria was not cheap either. After all, it served nobles. Still, the food really did taste good.

Lan Hong also learned that Heaven Dou Royal Academy divided its grades not by age, but by level.

Below level 25 was Heavenly Micro Rank, levels 25 to 30 were Heavenly Supreme Rank, and above level 30 was Heavenly Dou Rank.

The minor noble Lan Hong was impersonating, Xue Zhi, was only level 23, so he could only attend Heavenly Micro Rank classes. The teachers there were Soul Ancestors in their forties.

After eating, Lan Hong took out a borrowed book and read as he familiarized himself with the academy.

This was not only preparation for life at the academy, but also preparation for fleeing at any moment. After all, he was an impostor.

As he walked, Lan Hong arrived at Heaven Dou Royal Academy's Arena. By coincidence, two people happened to be fighting there.

One of them possessed a dragon Martial Soul surrounded by lightning. The other took the form of a snake woman after Martial Soul Possession, so her Martial Soul was clearly a snake. As for what kind of snake, Lan Hong had no idea.

He had never seen such a green snake-type Martial Soul at the Great Soul Arena.

But he could roughly guess who these two were: Yu Tianheng of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and Dugu Yan, granddaughter of Poison Douluo Dugu Bo.

"Were these two already Soul Elders at this point?"

Lan Hong muttered softly, then focused his attention on them.

Dugu Yan was a control-type soul master who used poison. Since her grandfather was Poison Douluo, her poison was naturally formidable.

However, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul surrounded its wielder with lightning, which could ward off the vast majority of toxins.

"Third Spirit Skill, Jade Phosphor Purple Poison!"

After Dugu Yan released her spirit skill, poisonous mist began spreading across the entire Soul Fighting Stage.

Yu Tianheng was quite reckless—or perhaps he simply did not yet know how powerful Dugu Yan's move was.

"Third Spirit Skill, Wrath of Thunder! Second Spirit Skill, Myriad Thunderbolts!"

He unleashed both spirit skills at once. Countless bolts of lightning struck toward the poisonous mist, while Dugu Yan, in her Martial Soul Possession state, moved with the flexibility of a snake.

Weaving through the thunder, she actually evaded every lightning attack.

"The lightning's power is too dispersed. Or rather, he cannot control the precise direction of the thunder attacks he unleashes!"

Lan Hong saw the flaw in Yu Tianheng's move at a glance. In the end, it was because spirit skills came from spirit rings, making it difficult for soul masters to precisely control their effects.

Yet Yu Tianheng was still unwilling to accept it. He used his First Spirit Skill, Thunder Dragon Claw, and charged forward head-on, only to be poisoned and collapse.

Dugu Yan walked over and detoxified Yu Tianheng, then said down to him from above.

"You want me to be your girlfriend? Keep dreaming! Come talk to me once you can defeat me! Before that, stop bothering me! Hmph!"

Dugu Yan left the Soul Fighting Stage, pulling away another veiled girl with her. That girl was probably Ye Lingling.

After watching the entertaining fight, Lan Hong also planned to return to his dormitory. Since they were all at Heaven Dou Royal Academy, they would probably meet often in the future.

As for the immortal herbs within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, he would wait until Lan Hong reached level 40 at the very least.

When he returned to the dormitory, his roommate was still absent. He could roughly conclude that this roommate had not come here to study, so he could simply act as though the person did not exist.

The next day, he went to class. The classroom was practically empty, with few students attending. Even among those who came, hardly anyone listened, and the teacher could not be bothered to manage them.

After listening to one lesson, Lan Hong decided not to come back. Attending class here was less useful than spending time in the library.

Thank you all for your support. Since this is a trial run, please add it to your collections. If you have any suggestions, feel free to discuss them, and please help the author catch any typos as well. Thank you, thank you!