Just then, the classroom door was thrown open.
Tang San stood at the entrance, his face ashen.
He had clearly been listening outside for a while, and the look he directed at Yan Zu was cold to the extreme.
“Yan Zu!” Tang San’s voice was thick with suppressed fury.
“The Grandmaster is a teacher of this academy and a recognized theoretical master in the world of Soul Masters! You are a mere six-year-old child—what right do you have to speak so arrogantly here and question the Grandmaster’s research? To show such disregard for teachers and their teachings—is this how you were raised?”
He strode quickly to Yu Xiaogang’s side, supporting his teacher’s slightly trembling arm, his sharp gaze piercing toward Yan Zu.
Yan Zu looked at Tang San, then at the pale-faced Yu Xiaogang, and suddenly smiled.
The smile was faint, yet it possessed a clarity that transcended his age.
“Questioning isn’t meant to belittle; it’s meant to explore the possibility of getting closer to the truth,” Yan Zu said slowly.
“The path of a Soul Master is long. If we don’t even dare to raise a doubt, if we don’t even dare to examine existing theories, then are we truly practicing, or are we just following blindly?”
He picked up his bag from the desk, slung it over his shoulder, and walked toward the door.
As he passed Tang San, Yan Zu paused for a moment and whispered, “True respect isn’t unconditional agreement. It’s taking every one of the other person’s viewpoints seriously—including raising reasonable doubts.”
With that, he walked out of the classroom, leaving a heavy silence behind him.
Yu Xiaogang slumped into his chair, his eyes vacant.
Tang San clenched his fists so hard his nails nearly dug into his palms.
The students who had been eavesdropping outside the window looked at each other before scattering in a hubbub, but every face wore a pensive expression.
Meanwhile, as Yan Zu walked away, he grumbled to himself: No reward even after dealing such a blow to Yu Xiaogang?
It seems even the system considers him a waste…
Yan Zu’s refutation of Yu Xiaogang’s theory in class hadn’t been an attempt to show off; he had simply wanted to see if he could trigger a reward.
The result was disappointing.
After that day, the halo surrounding the “theoretical master” Yu Xiaogang at Nuoding Academy developed its first genuine crack.
And the name “Yan Zu” began to spread quietly among the lower-year students—not because of his spirit, but because he had used a few questions in a theory class to shake a certain “authority.”
Evening, Dorm Seven.
Xiao Wu was munching on a meat bun Yan Zu had brought back from the cafeteria while chirping about the gossip she’d heard.
“Brother A’zu, so many people are talking about you now! They say you left that Grandmaster speechless! You’re amazing!”
Yan Zu smiled but didn’t respond.
He sat by the window, watching the last rays of the setting sun dye the horizon red.
In his mental world, the Xuanyuan Sword Phantom trembled slightly, and the golden patterns on the blade seemed to brighten by an imperceptible sliver.
This was a tiny amount of Faith Power brought about by “civilized questioning” and “seeking the truth”—though thin, it was real.
Yu Xiaogang would not let this go, and Tang San’s hostility would only deepen.
But since he had chosen this path, he would walk it firmly.
The storm in the theory class was like a stone thrown into a lake; the ripples lasted for a long time.
Yu Xiaogang claimed to be ill and did not appear for three consecutive days, while the tale of Yan Zu “questioning authority” continued to circulate among the lower-year students.
Whenever he walked through the academy corridors holding Xiao Wu’s hand, he could feel gazes coming from all directions—some curious, some probing, and some cold with suppressed resentment, like Tang San’s.
But Yan Zu didn’t take these to heart.
To him, Nuoding Academy was merely a temporary stop in the long river of civilization, not the destination.
As Nuoding City became submerged in the night, the consciousnesses of Yan Zu and Xiao Wu entered the cultivation space that belonged only to them.
“Let’s begin.”
With a thought from Yan Zu, the scene within the Martial Soul Mimetic Training Ground shifted instantly.
The originally empty stone floor transformed into a dense forest.
The damp air was thick with the scent of rotting leaves and blood—a simulated environment of the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Xiao Wu gave a soft cry as she possessed her Phantom Jade Rabbit martial soul, pink soul power swirling around her.
The Muscle-Tendon Changing and Bone-Forging Chapter of the Nine Yin Manual had already made her physical fitness far exceed that of Soul Masters of the same level, and the footwork of the Wind God Leg Technique made her movements as elusive as a ghost.
“Wind Passes Without Trace. Watch the angle of your steps,” Yan Zu stood to the side, Qilin Little Jade perched on his shoulder emitting a gentle jade light.
“Don’t just chase speed; feel the flow of the wind.”
Xiao Wu’s figure blurred, leaving three afterimages in the woods.
But Yan Zu’s Truth-Seeing Spirit Eyes had already seen through her trajectory.
With a flick of his index finger, a gust of energy formed from soul power struck precisely at her next landing point.
“Aiyah!” Xiao Wu’s figure faltered, and she immediately pouted indignantly.
“Brother A’zu, you’re cheating! Using those spirit eyes or whatever!”
“In a real fight, your enemies won’t refrain from using their eyes,” Yan Zu laughed.
“Again.”
This kind of sparring had continued for countless nights.
From an initial three hundred-year-old spirit beasts, to a coordinated pack of five hundred-year-old beasts, and then adding various terrain restrictions, Xiao Wu’s combat awareness grew rapidly under the nourishment of blood and sweat.
And Yan Zu’s soul power, nurtured by the Nine Yin Manual and his twin spirits, had already quietly broken through to Rank 15, though he still maintained a disguise of Rank 8 or 9 to the outside world.
The glory and controversy of the day quietly faded when night fell.
True growth happened in the unknown void.
Martial Soul Mimetic Training Ground.
The time flow was 3:1—two hours in reality equaled six hours inside.
This was the root of how Yan Zu and Xiao Wu truly pulled ahead of their peers.
During the first few days, Yan Zu focused on solidifying their foundation.
He took the parts of the Nine Yin Manual suitable for Xiao Wu—especially the “Muscle-Tendon Changing and Bone-Forging Chapter,” the “Healing Chapter,” and the light-body techniques—and broke them down, re-explaining them in the context of the Douluo soul power system, teaching her step-by-step.
Though Xiao Wu was lively and playful, she showed incredible talent and resilience when it came to cultivation.
Her body as a Soul Beast Human Form was already superior to ordinary people, and with the constant nourishment of Qilin Vitality, her progress was nothing short of miraculous.
“Sink your breath into the Dantian, let the soul power flow through the Foot Lesser Yang Meridian, and erupt at the Bubbling Spring Acupoint… yes, just like that!”
Yan Zu watched as Xiao Wu performed three consecutive mid-air shifts like a pink phantom, nodding in satisfaction.
Xiao Wu landed lightly, a slight sheen of sweat on her forehead, her eyes bright.
“Brother A’zu, I feel like my speed is twice as fast as before! If I run into a Wind Wolf again, I can definitely circle behind it easily!”
“Speed is an advantage, but combat is about more than just being fast.”
With a thought from Yan Zu, the environment of the Mimetic Training Ground shifted from a flat stone platform to a dense simulated forest.
“Tonight, let’s try some combat coordination.”
“Roar—!”
Six pairs of eerie green eyes lit up in the darkness.
Five hundred-year-old Gale Demon Wolves slowly approached in a pincer formation.
Behind them, a massive, silver-gray wolf with a single horn on its forehead watched coldly—it was a Gale Demon Wolf King with a cultivation of about one thousand two hundred years.
“Xiao Wu, formation!” Yan Zu shouted low.
Xiao Wu’s figure flashed as she stood back-to-back with him.
They needed no words; their chemistry had become second nature.
The battle erupted in an instant!
The five hundred-year-old Magic Wolves lunged simultaneously.
Xiao Wu’s body spun like a top as she unleashed the Wind God Leg Technique: Catching Wind and Shadows.
Leg shadows overlapped, forcing back the three Magic Wolves in front.
Yan Zu, meanwhile, stepped through the Nine Palaces Step, and his Qilin first soul skill, “Corridor of Vitality,” was silently released.
A pale green aura spread out from him as the center, enveloping a fifteen-meter radius.
Within this domain, Xiao Wu felt her entire body become light.
Her soul power recovery speed surged, and every strike she delivered contained an even more powerful explosive force.