After enjoying lunch and taking a pleasant walk around the beautiful campus with the girl, the time had already reached around five or six in the afternoon.
Out of gentlemanly courtesy, Li Chang'an escorted Dugu Yan back to her dormitory. As the only granddaughter of a Titled Douluo, her residence was naturally an independent courtyard. Others stayed in dormitory buildings, each with a single room, but to possess a private courtyard in the aristocratic Heaven Dou Academy required a certain level of status—something ordinary people could never achieve.
After telling her where his own dormitory was located, Li Chang'an turned and left under the girl's reluctant gaze.
After a full day of interaction, their relationship had quickly progressed from strangers who had just met to friends.
Even their forms of address had changed—from "senior" and "junior" to "Yan'er" and "Brother Chang'an~."
To be honest, when Li Chang'an heard Dugu Yan call him that, his feelings were complicated. After all, although he looked mature, he was in truth just a seven-year-old child—seven years younger than the fourteen-year-old Dugu Yan.
He really didn't know what her expression would be like if she ever learned their real age difference.
However, as long as Li Chang'an didn't reveal it himself, Dugu Yan would probably never know his true age in her lifetime. The academy had always deliberately concealed information about his age; apart from a few high-level personnel, even his classmates and ordinary teachers didn't know that he was only seven.
Similarly, very few people knew of his royal son-in-law status. Many knew only that he held the noble title of Marquis.
"The identity of royal son-in-law has both advantages and disadvantages."
"The good part is that it provides royal protection and cultivation resources."
"The downside is that it ties me too closely to the royal family and imposes certain restrictions…"
"Tch, at the end of the day, it all comes down to being too weak."
"If I were a Titled Douluo right now, I wouldn't have to worry about any of that. I wouldn't even need to hide just to flirt with a girl... Strength really is the foundation of everything!"
Li Chang'an clenched his fists, his desire for strength burning even deeper.
Time passed once again.
Li Chang'an turned eight years old.
His soul power had already reached level thirty. All he needed was to obtain another soul ring, and he would become a true three-ring Soul Master!
With the vast amount of soul power shared from his Soul Beast clone, if he really wanted to unleash his full potential, his level wouldn't be limited to thirty at all. But to avoid being too shocking and to stabilize his cultivation quality, he deliberately kept his level at thirty.
Even so, an eight-year-old reaching the level of Soul Master was already far beyond astonishing in the eyes of those who knew.
If his advancement hadn't been so gradual—right under everyone's noses—they might have suspected him of possessing some secret treasure or heaven-defying ability that allowed him to grow so fast.
Despite that, his rate of progress still seemed so unnatural that the three Education Committee members and some others began to harbor suspicions that he possessed a hidden treasure. They summoned him for questioning, trying to subtly probe how his soul power improved so quickly—whether there was any special reason or secret behind it.
At that time, many people were secretly observing him, hoping to catch even the slightest slip in his expression that could betray a lie.
Li Chang'an's response was simple—he played dumb. With an innocent look, he insisted that his current level was purely the result of hard work and perseverance. "There are no shortcuts in cultivation," he told them. "Only diligence and effort!"
He claimed to have no special methods, no treasures—just ordinary meditation and self-discipline.
Even he himself, he said, didn't know why his cultivation improved so fast.
"Maybe… it's just talent."
Talent!
Those two words hit the three committee members and everyone watching like a slap.
If Li Chang'an had claimed to possess some secret treasure or mysterious method, they could have considered seizing it. But talent—raw, innate ability—was something no one could steal.
How could one take someone else's talent?
If someone was just born gifted, cultivated faster, and advanced more smoothly—what could anyone do about it?
Of course, not everyone accepted his explanation so easily. They began to test him openly and secretly, examining his body, and even observing his daily cultivation from the shadows, trying to uncover the true reason for his abnormal speed.
But after a long period of scrutiny, they all had to admit defeat.
They discovered that Li Chang'an's daily routine was no different from any ordinary student's. His meditation was simple, with no special techniques or hidden aids. And yet, his cultivation efficiency was dozens, even hundreds of times higher than others his age.
His soul power just… increased that fast.
After all the monitoring, the only conclusion they could reach was that Li Chang'an was simply born with extraordinary talent.
The world is never fair.
Even with the same innate soul power and martial spirit, cultivation speeds could differ drastically.
Some people are just favored by heaven—cultivating faster, growing stronger, possessing better talent.
What can you do about that?
Soul Beast Forest.
This was Li Chang'an's third visit.
This time, he aimed to obtain a soul ring around 1,800 years old.
In truth, with the physical strength he gained from sharing power with his Soul Beast clone, he didn't need to limit himself to that level at all. He could probably handle a 5,000–6,000-year-old ring without issue.
The problem was that such a powerful ring would be impossible to explain. If anyone learned that he could absorb a soul ring far beyond his level, it would expose secrets he couldn't afford to reveal. His cultivation speed was already abnormally fast; if he also showed that he could surpass normal limits in absorbing rings, he'd no longer be seen as human.
As the saying goes, "Half a step ahead makes you a genius; a full step ahead makes you a madman."
It was fine to be seen as a genius—but not too much of one.
Especially now, since he had likely already drawn the attention of Qian Renxue. Being fast at cultivation was one thing; but if he also demonstrated the ability to absorb rings far beyond his level, she would have no choice but to kill him.
Li Chang'an could afford to appear talented, but he had to make Qian Renxue believe that his talent was still inferior to hers—that he posed no real threat, that he was someone she could control. Otherwise, she truly might kill him.
At present, the only extraordinary trait he showed was his cultivation speed. In terms of martial spirit, however, he had not displayed any overly exaggerated destructive power.
Simply put, his martial spirit didn't give the impression of being as divine or overwhelming as the Six-Winged Angel.
In the original story, Qian Renxue could already challenge Titled Douluo-level opponents while still only a Soul Sage, purely through the might of her divine martial spirit. Even Tang San had been suppressed by her for a time—how terrifying was that?
So even if Li Chang'an's cultivation level seemed high, in Qian Renxue's eyes it wasn't too threatening. After all, level alone wasn't everything. Some people, despite their high rank, had weak martial spirits or poor combat power—there were even Titled Douluo who could be defeated by Soul Douluo.
(End of Chapter)
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