The Heartbroken Yu Xiaogang and the Book of Partial Understanding

A dozen or so minutes later, Yu Xiaogang returned to his dorm room with a smile on his face.

"Burp... Why does the food seem so much tastier today? Could something good be about to happen?"

He sat down at the table and spotted the Silver Soul Coin beside it at a glance.

"Oh? Where did this money come from? Looks like my hunch was right. Something good really did happen!"

He happily pocketed the Silver Soul Coin. Although he was still living off Spirit Hall's generosity—the Soul Master stipend—who would ever complain about having too much money?

He couldn't help it. He'd had enough of being poor!

"Good, good. I'm in a fine mood today, so let's do some more reading."

In high spirits, Yu Xiaogang promptly decided to read his own earth-shattering masterpiece again.

"Honestly, my research is so great, so why don't those people believe me? Damn it, sooner or later I'll teach a powerful Soul Master and show you all that only my 'Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul' is the correct research!"

"Huh, wait... Where's my book?"

Muttering to himself, Yu Xiaogang reached for his masterpiece out of habit.

But unexpectedly, the muscle memory he had long since developed failed to bring his hand to the familiar book.

He looked up in surprise, only to find the spot completely empty.

Yu Xiaogang: ???

"Damn it! What little thief dared steal my earth-shattering masterpiece?!"

Yu Xiaogang wailed and hurriedly ransacked the room, but didn't find so much as a hair.

A dozen or so minutes later, Yu Xiaogang sat dejectedly amid the books scattered all over the floor, feeling desolate.

Gone... My earth-shattering masterpiece... It's gone...

Although the book could actually be bought, that was the original he had painstakingly copied-oh, no, written!

That was... That was my lost youth!

At the thought of his painstaking work vanishing just like that, Yu Xiaogang felt as if his heart were being torn apart.

"Who on earth could it have been? I locked the door when I left... Wait..."

Yu Xiaogang seemed to suddenly remember something and took the gleaming Silver Soul Coin out of his pocket.

He had thought his luck had turned, but as it turned out...

What fucking good luck? That little thief obviously stole my book and even left some money behind to humiliate me!

Looking at his face faintly reflected in the Silver Soul Coin, Yu Xiaogang seemed to glimpse a round red ball of a nose on it...

"Ah!!!!!"

"Damn thief, I, Yu Xiaogang, cannot share the same sky with you!"

"Pfft-"

He cried out in grief and indignation, then actually spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed unconscious.

Lin Qingchen naturally had no idea what happened after Yu Xiaogang returned.

In fact, he only learned later from the dean of Nuoding Academy that Yu Xiaogang had been so angry that he spat blood and passed out that day. If the teacher living next door hadn't heard his grief-stricken cries, perhaps no one would have known until he died.

Even so, it took him a full half month to recover, and it cost him a great deal of money, adding frost to the snow for the already impoverished Yu Xiaogang.

Of course, all that came later. At this moment, Lin Qingchen was studying his newly acquired wonder in a small corner of the academy.

[Book of Partial Understanding] (black wonder)

Description: A book of partial understanding transformed from a work compiled from the lifelong learning of a certain knowledge porter. Its accuracy remains open to question.

Effects: (1) Once per day, you may ask it a question and receive its answer, but the answer is not necessarily correct. (2) It can store Soul Rings, up to five in total, but their ages must not exceed the so-called optimal age.

After becoming a wonder, the book's appearance hadn't changed, except that it looked sturdier and no longer seemed as though it would fall apart at a touch.

But that name...

Book of Partial Understanding...

Holy crap, the truth's out! Wonder Maker, so you're the biggest Grandmaster hater of all!

But he had to admit, it was true to the facts.

As for those two effects...

The first effect, answering questions, looked powerful, but what use was it if the answer wasn't guaranteed to be right?

Lin Qingchen looked at the book and suddenly asked, "I think my readers and I are even more handsome than Daniel Wu. Is that right?"

The Book of Partial Understanding moved without a breeze, finally stopping on a blank page.

"Yes!!!" it said.

"Tsk, looks like I got lucky. The first random answer I got was the right one."

Lin Qingchen nodded in satisfaction, then considered the second effect.

Actually, its meaning was easy enough to understand from the wording: it stored Soul Rings.

But that age limit seemed to depend on his own cultivation.

I'm level ten now, so according to the Book of Partial Understanding, that would be 423 years?

"Seriously, what use is storing five 400-year Soul Rings? I can't absorb them anyway."

Lin Qingchen was so angry he nearly laughed. It really was worthy of being called the Book of Partial Understanding. Like its previous owner, it wasn't much use, and to think it was a black wonder.

He scratched his head and thought frantically about what use the thing could have.

"Store Soul Rings... Store Soul Rings..."

"Wait..."

Lin Qingchen suddenly slapped his forehead. He had it.

According to Douluo IV, each of the Five Elements Qilin Martial Soul's first five Soul Skills had to correspond to one of the five elemental attributes. Once it had all five Soul Skills, the five elements would become one, complementing, generating, and overcoming one another, allowing the complete Great Five Elements Divine Light to be cultivated.

Tang Yuge had even acquired five different Soul Spirits for those five Soul Skills before she finally succeeded in cultivating the Great Five Elements Divine Light and bringing about the Five Elements Qilin Martial Soul Second Awakening.

So, could he use the Book of Partial Understanding's Soul Ring storage function to gather Soul Rings of all five attributes, then use the Great Five Elements Escape's innate ability to forcibly fuse them?

If it works, wouldn't I have a chance of cultivating the Great Five Elements Divine Light with just one ring?

After all, the Great Five Elements Divine Light could dissolve all energy, making it exceptionally effective against all Soul Masters.

At that thought, Lin Qingchen's eyes lit up.

The plan checks out. It's worth a try.

"Looks like you're still more useful than your previous owner. I won't curse you out this time."

Lin Qingchen put away the Book of Partial Understanding, got up, and headed for Dorm Seven.

The plan was good, but he still had to find a way to carry it out. Hunting Soul Beasts on his own would be no easy task.

Even though, without a Soul Ring, he was stronger than ordinary Soul Masters with just the Five Elements Qilin possession and the Great Five Elements Escape, he still couldn't afford to let his guard down, could he?

When he returned to Dorm Seven, the others hadn't come back yet, but Lin Qingchen spotted the two beds pushed together at a glance.

"Tsk, tsk. Is the plot moving that fast?"

It looked like Tang San and Xiao Wu had made quite a bit of progress while he was away. They had actually managed to lie down on the same bed again.

(Huh, wait, why did I say again? Never mind.)

In any case, it wasn't any of his business.

He changed into the school uniform he had left on his bed and headed for the cafeteria.

After walking around for so long, he was hungry too.