Victory Rewards

Dorm Seven fell utterly silent.

Tang San stood where he was, his expression shifting. He could feel that if that finger strike had landed, he would have lost the ability to fight in an instant. Not only was his opponent's movement technique far superior to his, but his grasp of timing was terrifying. And... he had held back at the end, sparing Tang San's dignity.

"I lost." Tang San took a deep breath, suppressing the stormy waves in his heart as he maintained his composure. "From now on, you're the boss of Dorm Seven."

[Ding! First victory over a son of the plane (embryonic form). Special rewards triggered!]

[Congratulations, host! You have obtained: Illusion-Breaking Spirit Eyes!]

[Congratulations, host! You have obtained: Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record!]

[Congratulations, host! Your access to the Martial Soul Mimicry Training Ground has been upgraded!]

Whoa! As expected of the protagonist of Douluo Continent. What a huge drop! Yan Zu rejoiced inwardly.

Feeling the newfound power in his eyes, Yan Zu looked at a sparrow resting on a treetop outside the window. In his eyes, the path of its flapping wings became a clear stream of Soul Power, and not a single tremor of its feathers escaped his notice.

"Wow! Little Brother A-Zu, you're amazing!" Xiao Wu was the first to cheer. She bounded over to Yan Zu and grabbed his arm, her eyes sparkling with admiration.

That radiant smile and unreserved closeness pierced Tang San's eyes like a thorn. Watching Xiao Wu cheer for Yan Zu, he felt a mixture of frustration, unwillingness to accept defeat, and some inexplicable emotion quietly take root in his heart. This girl... if she were mine...

He shook his head and suppressed the absurd thought, then turned and walked toward his bed, his back looking somewhat stiff.

The children of Dorm Seven exchanged glances. In the end, Wang Sheng was the first to speak, addressing Yan Zu in a muffled voice. "Boss."

The others followed suit, calling him boss one after another.

Yan Zu nodded. Neither smug nor modest, he simply said calmly, "Let's look out for one another from now on. The rules of Dorm Seven remain the same: strength is respected. But remember, we work-study students should stick together all the more."

His voice was not loud, but he carried a natural air of authority that inspired trust. The atmosphere, which had grown somewhat uneasy after the change in leadership, gradually settled.

That night, after the lights went out in Dorm Seven.

Tang San lay on his hard wooden bed, staring with open eyes at the pitch-black ceiling. The scene of that day's fight replayed in his mind again and again, every detail frighteningly clear.

"His footwork... it's no ordinary Soul Skill. And his control over the rhythm of the fight..." Tang San clenched his fist, his nails digging into his palm. "Father said there's always someone better. But I never expected to meet an opponent like that at Nuoding Academy... and that girl..."

The image of Xiao Wu's charming smile surfaced again, and the sight of her standing shoulder to shoulder with Yan Zu made his chest tighten.

He quietly got up, threw on his outer clothes, and slipped out of Dorm Seven without a sound, heading toward the teachers' dormitory. He needed to tell his teacher what had happened that day.

A light was still burning in Yu Xiaogang's dormitory. After listening to Tang San's account, the theoretical grandmaster knitted his brows tightly.

"Six years old, rank seven, a Qilin Martial Soul?" Yu Xiaogang paced around the cramped room. "An External Beast Martial Soul... could it share the same origin as my Luo Sanpao, but be a more advanced existence? And that girl, the Phantom Jade Rabbit-it sounds like a mutated evolution..."

He spun around and grabbed Tang San by the shoulders, his eyes flashing with excitement and obsession. "Little San, this Yan Zu is very important! His Martial Soul may confirm some of my hypotheses! You need to spend more time with him. Ideally... become friends, so I'll have a chance to observe and study him up close!"

Tang San lowered his head and answered, "Yes, teacher."

Friends? He repeated the word in his heart. Thinking of the way Xiao Wu looked at Yan Zu and the humiliation of his crushing defeat that day, he felt a trace of cold hostility quietly take root.

Meanwhile, in Dorm Seven.

Yan Zu sat leaning against the head of his bed. Xiao Wu had squeezed in beside him and fallen asleep, still clutching the unfinished packet of spicy strips in her arms. Moonlight streamed through the window lattice, falling on the girl's peaceful sleeping face.

Yan Zu began examining the rewards he had obtained for defeating Tang San.

The cultivation techniques, Hidden Weapon crafting methods, and other contents of the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record were not much help, but its pharmacology and illustrated guide to herbs were just what Yan Zu needed.

Next, he looked at the functions available after the upgrade to his access to the Martial Soul Mimicry Training Ground.

1. Increased daily duration: usage time increased from 4 hours to 6 hours (only 2 hours pass in reality)

2. Scene simulation function: combat environments can be preset (Star Dou Great Forest, marshes and wetlands, icy and snowy mountains, etc.) to improve adaptability in actual combat

3. Number of people who can be invited: +1

The Illusion-Breaking Spirit Eyes focused on "analysis" and "prediction." They were more suited to combat support and countering techniques than direct mental attacks.

"Very good..." he murmured. "From now on, Tang San's Hidden Weapons will have nowhere to hide before me."

On the morning of the first day of classes, while the children of Dorm Seven were still sleepily washing up, Tang San was already dressed and sitting silently on the edge of his bed, organizing his textbooks.

His gaze occasionally swept across the room. Yan Zu was gently wiping the ends of Xiao Wu's hair, which had become somewhat tousled in her sleep, with a damp cloth. His movements were practiced and natural. Xiao Wu's eyes were half-closed, and like a lazy cat, she let Yan Zu tidy her scorpion-tail braid.

The scene was so warm it was glaring.

Tang San lowered his eyes, stuffed the last book into his cloth bag, and got up to leave. The wooden door closed behind him with a faint creak.

The theory classroom was on the second floor of the teaching building. About seventy percent of the seats in the tiered classroom, which could hold a hundred people, were occupied. Most of the work-study students crowded into the back rows. Only Yan Zu and Xiao Wu chose seats in the middle section by the window-the light was good, the view was open, and they would not stand out as much.

The theory teacher, Chen Qing, was a middle-aged Soul Master in his forties. His Martial Soul was a "scroll," and he was a rank twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster. He cleared his throat and opened his lesson plan. "Today, we'll discuss one of the fundamental theories of Soul Master cultivation: the age limit for Soul Rings."

The soft rustle of turning pages sounded through the classroom.

Teacher Chen wrote several numbers on the blackboard. "As everyone knows, there is an upper age limit to the Soul Rings a Soul Master can absorb. According to the research of Mr. Yu Xiaogang, the 'theoretical grandmaster,' the limit for the First Soul Ring is four hundred and twenty-three years."

He drew a heavy line beneath the number "four hundred and twenty-three."

"This conclusion is based on statistics from a large number of Soul Master cases," Teacher Chen continued. "Beyond this age, a Soul Master's body will struggle to withstand the impact of the Soul Ring's energy. In milder cases, the meridians are damaged; in severe cases, the body bursts apart and the Soul Master dies. Therefore, when obtaining your First Soul Ring, you must choose carefully..."

His explanation was clear and well organized, citing considerable data and a number of cases from Yu Xiaogang's papers. He was evidently quite convinced by this body of theory. Most of the students in the classroom took notes diligently. Nuoding Academy was in a remote location, and it was already difficult enough to find Soul Masters to teach there. No one questioned these "authoritative conclusions."

Except Yan Zu.

He listened quietly, his fingers unconsciously tapping the edge of his textbook. The extraordinary perception granted by the Nine Yin Manual allowed him to catch a barely perceptible note of "recitation" in Teacher Chen's voice. The teacher was merely repeating another person's theory and had never given its internal logic any deep thought of his own.

When Teacher Chen once again stressed that "the limit of four hundred and twenty-three years cannot be crossed," Yan Zu raised his hand.

The movement was slight, but in a classroom where almost no one asked questions, it was conspicuous enough.

Teacher Chen was taken aback. As he recalled, work-study students mostly kept their heads down and took notes, rarely speaking up of their own accord. He looked at the child with his hand raised-it was Yan Zu, the student with the very unusual Martial Soul.