Chapter 59: Heaven Dou

After a fierce free-for-all, the assignment of the class monitor position was finalized without further dispute.

However, Wang Dong did not feel particularly excited about acquiring this title; it was merely a title, nothing worth fighting over.

The daily curriculum of the Spirit Pavilion consisted of cultivation details, continent history, the glory of the ancestors, academy honor, and that somewhat nonsensical core competitiveness.

Thrust into the mix as padding were occasional lessons concerning soul power attributes, spirit quality and classification, along with common knowledge regarding soul skills and soul beasts.

There were neither assignments nor examinations.

The annual advancement assessment was heavily tied only to soul power rank and combat competence. As long as you could crush every combat test and produce stunning battle results, you could still achieve a passing score even if your book knowledge was entirely zero.

—At most, they would offer a passing remark urging you to study more diligently, just so you wouldn't fail to recognize soul beasts in the future and consequently find yourself unable to hunt soul rings.

"A waste of time..."

Xiao Xiao stared blankly at the blackboard, her internal soul power circulating slowly under the guidance of the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

Although her current posture was not ideal for cultivation, the exquisite control she had developed through training her triple spirits allowed her to explore further possibilities.

Right now, even though her technique was revolving slowly—down to a mere fifth of her normal cultivation speed—it was still far more meaningful than sitting idly in the classroom and wasting time.

"This brand-new usage of the Mysterious Heaven Skill should be extremely useful for that cultivation maniac Huo Yuhao, right?"

Xiao Xiao blinked and nodded in coordination with the gaze cast over by Wang Yan, then drifted back into a daze: "So much time has already passed; he should be back by now..."

Although the Far North was a distant journey, they were, after all, being escorted personally by a Soul Sage teacher from the academy. The duration of the round trip might not even exceed the time spent searching for soul beasts.

Turning her head, Wang Dong beside her was still resting his head on his hand, gazing out the window just like before.

"Hey!"

"Ah?"

Wang Dong started violently: "Is… is class over?"

"Not by a long shot~"

Xiao Xiao narrowed her eyes and leaned in closer, staring intently into Wang Dong's eyes: "You're thinking about someone, aren't you? And you're completely lost in thought~ You've been like this for all these days."

Deep within Wang Dong's pupils, a trace of panic flashed in perfect cooperation: "I just think the class is boring!"

"Thinking about Huo Yuhao, aren't you?"

Xiao Xiao pinched her voice, the corners of her lips turning up.

"……Nonsense……"

Wang Dong slumped onto the desk with an aura of utter dejection, wisps of microscopic grievance rising upward from his head: "How could I possibly think of him… It would be better if he died out there."

***

It really was!

Xiao Xiao instantly experienced an indescribable shock.

'Aren't the two of them roommates? Shouldn't they be of the same sex?'

'Has the era become this open-minded?'

Although she felt a vague sense of creeping dread inside, looking at Wang Dong's words and demeanor, she nevertheless felt a bizarre sense of familiarity.

'Something's not quite right here~'

Wang Dong stared out the window with a desolate expression, while Xiao Xiao looked at Wang Dong with eyes full of suspicion. Standing in front of the blackboard, Wang Yan stared at the two of them: "The topic for the next lecture is: How to concentrate soul power to weaken the attack effects of enemy mental attributes."

Swish—

In an instant, the majority of the class, including the two of them, snapped to attention and cast their gazes forward.

***

In the not-too-distant north.

"Teacher, shouldn't we be heading back?"

Huo Yuhao looked at the city gate before him. The three large characters engraved on top, 'Heaven Dou City', were already somewhat mottled. Although the atmosphere within the city was still thriving upwards, it ultimately carried an unshakeable aura of twilight.

After hunting the soul ring, that Soul Sage had not flown all the way back to the academy with him; instead, they had hopped from north to south, stopping from city to city, taking him to see the local customs and practices of different regions.

"Hehe… Almost, almost~"

This slightly gray-haired little old man was still quite spirited. With a nostalgic look in his eyes, he paced leisurely down the main street, scanning the shops and street vendors on both sides: "Haven't we already crossed a good half of the Heaven Soul Empire? We'll reach the academy after heading south for a bit longer."

"No, I mean..."

Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched.

"You mean: Your time is precious right now, and you need to invest more energy into soul power cultivation. Am I right?"

The old man turned around, lowered his head, and smiled from ear to ear: "You brat~ I told you to sleep, but you spend all day meditating in seated cultivation. It was like that when we went, it was like that when we were searching for soul beasts, and it's still like that now on the return trip."

"I'm afraid you used to be like this all along, weren't you? You only know how to cultivate day in and day out, pushing yourself like a machine. I have no idea how long you've kept the strings in your brain taut."

"Take a break~"

The old man patted Huo Yuhao's head: "Get to know the outside world more and let your experience grow."

A giant baby wielding formidable power would only be a disaster for this world, yet at the same time, such a person would be fragile to the extreme.

A fragile inner self was hardly a trait worth boasting about.

***

"I…"

Looking at this old man whom he had met purely by chance, Huo Yuhao felt somewhat moved.

"Let's go. Consider it accompanying an old man for a stroll."

Seeing Huo Yuhao's expression, the old man immediately understood that he had indeed taken his words to heart. He then took his hand and walked with him through Heaven Dou City on foot.

While quietly observing the surging crowds, the old man also quietly recounted the past of this city.

"The history of Heaven Dou City can be traced back more than ten thousand years. It was once the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, and also the starting point where that Sea God of ten thousand years ago embarked on his path to the pinnacle."

"The Tang Sect was established here, Shrek rose to prominence here, the civil strife of the Heaven Dou Empire, the conferral of the title of Grand Preceptor… This place has witnessed far too much."

The old man's eyes held a sense of deep emotion: "Of course, the most important significance of this place lies in the fact that—that ancestor laid the foundation here to overthrow the Spirit Hall and overthrow the Spirit Empire! He pacified a war that was about to sweep across the world."

The very instant those words left his mouth.

Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea suddenly trembled violently.

The long-dormant fragment of divinity flared with several beams of light upon the appearance of a certain phrase, throwing the tenants who had finally settled down into a panic.

"Spirit Hall?"

Feeling the commotion within his mind, Huo Yuhao subconsciously murmured the words in repetition.

"Yes."

The old man gently shook his head: "Spirit Hall."

"Two thousand years ago, it was established by a powerhouse who pacified the entire Douluo Continent and gathered countless faiths to condense a divine spark. For the thousands and tens of thousands of years that followed, it always played the role of the arbiter."

"It mediated the disputes between the two great empires, established branch halls in various kingdoms and cities, and freely awakened spirits for every child. It reached agreements with the upper echelons of the empires to provide subsidies for every grassroots soul master."

"All potential-filled lucky individuals from the grassroots who possessed mutated spirits would receive their all-out cultivation, and even had the opportunity to join the core of the Spirit Hall, becoming the source of a new lineage of soul master families."

This...

Huo Yuhao's eyes gradually widened: "Such a great enterprise—Mmph?"

"Stop talking!"

The old man suddenly dropped his gentle demeanor, his expression tightening as he tightly clamped his hand over Huo Yuhao's mouth, his voice low and serious: "Do you know what you are saying?"