"Brother Chen!?"
"How's my matter going?"
The middle-aged man sitting in the office saw You Chen and immediately showed a look of surprise and delight, while You Chen greeted him from a distance.
This guy is Ye Han, You Chen's former classmate.
However, compared to You Chen, who can barely be considered a figure of importance, Ye Han's achievements are rather mediocre. At 35 years old, he is only a level 35 Soul Master, and it is estimated that he will reach the Soul Sect level at most in his life.
The yellow-robed deacons have moved beyond the white-robed patrol deacons, who required frequent travel, and now belong to the core of the entire Spirit Hall organization.
In the case of a shortage of manpower, he might even be assigned to serve as the head of a sub-branch of the Spirit Hall.
Soul Masters are already considered important figures to ordinary people, while the Yellow-Clad Deacon's rank is close to that of a modern town manager, and ordinary people rarely see him.
However, in the sacred place in the hearts of all soul masters across the continent, the Spirit City, which gathers the world's highest combat power, he is just an insignificant errand boy named Karami.
Although Ye Han was initially jealous when he saw You Chen, whose talent was weaker than his own, become a Soul Master several steps faster than him, he was still resentful even after being severely beaten. He cursed You Chen's cultivation speed to slow down and continued to verbally provoke and cause trouble in the future.
But as You Chen repeatedly displayed his extraordinary abilities and eventually rose to prominence, reaching a height that Ye Han could only dream of, Ye Han's jealousy turned into admiration.
Watching You Chen, whose talent was similar to his own, rise to prominence through extraordinary wisdom and hard work, Ye Han felt as if he were seeing himself on a different path.
Despite having only level 2 innate soul power, he became a Soul Master at age 9, a Great Soul Master at age 15, and a Soul Venerable at age 21!
In comparison, Ye Han himself, also with innate soul power level 2, became a Soul Master at 12, a Great Soul Master at 21, and only became a Soul Venerable at 29. Such a cultivation speed already indicates that his upper limit in his lifetime is probably limited.
Fans idolize their idols and project their own emotions onto them; Ye Han was probably like that. He perhaps saw You Chen as a continuation of his dream of becoming a powerful Soul Master.
When an ordinary person breaks free from constraints and rises to prominence, they will inevitably attract gazes that are either admiring, disgusted, or rejected.
On one occasion when You Chen was mocked and provoked, Ye Han, who usually didn't get along with You Chen, stood up and said some words of defense, which became a turning point in easing the tension between the two.
About five years ago, You Chen attended Ye Han's wedding with his colleagues.
Such a long time has passed, and the conflicts of our youth have long since turned into memories that we can laugh off.
You Chen trusted Ye Han, and this trust allowed him to confidently tell Ye Han about his needs and ask him to help him get a position in a city around Nottingham.
"Absolutely."
Ye Han made a gesture of approval and said, "Brother Chen, your transfer procedures are all done. The only thing left is the acceptance issue in Notting City. It should be at least three days before you can prepare to go to Notting City to take up your post... uh, steward."
Even Ye Han himself felt a little embarrassed and awkward saying it.
After all, You Chen is a Soul Master who is about to break through to Soul King, and he is also a famous professor and theoretical master of the Spirit Hall!
Within the Spirit Hall Research Institute, the ranks begin as low, mid, and senior researchers, and only then do you progress to the professorship!
The level of researcher corresponds to that of a white-robed and yellow-robed deacon and a purple-robed bishop. Professors do not have specific ranks; their rank is determined by their position, but at the very least... they must be a black-robed bishop, right?
The Black Cardinal is a big shot in the Spirit Hall, so it's one thing for him to be assigned to a rural post, but why is he just a Yellow-Clad Deacon?!
Even though he had handled these procedures, Ye Han still didn't quite understand.
They couldn't understand why the bigwigs at the Spirit Hall would give him such a humiliating position, nor could they understand why You Chen would choose to leave his research post and become a lowly steward.
"Brother Chen, I wouldn't bother asking anyone else, but why did you go to a small place like Notting City? I really don't understand. Isn't it good enough to stay in this palace? I even heard that the Pope seems to favor you and is planning to promote you to the position of Dean of the Research Institute."
Ye Han's voice was full of sighs, and even a little resentful.
Just like a die-hard fan seeing their idol accept a commercial deal that is completely out of line with their status, they will wonder if something is wrong.
"The Pope's favor?"
Upon hearing Ye Han's question, You Chen, unusually, decided to stay in Bengbu.
"Uh, Brother Chen, is... something wrong?"
Seeing You Chen's amused expression, Ye Han realized he had probably said something wrong. Lacking information that someone of his level couldn't possibly know, he had uttered something that made You Chen both laugh and cry.
Seeing Ye Han's embarrassed expression, You Chen didn't intend to criticize him.
After all, there are some things that are tacitly understood by the upper echelons of the Spirit Hall, but the lower and middle-level people have no idea about the conflicts at the top. They still think that everyone is a loving family and that the upper echelons are united in purpose.
In any organization, this kind of situation wouldn't be considered rare news.
You Chen's current achievements and cultivation level are certainly not solely due to "hard work".
When has there ever been a shortage of hardworking but mediocre people in this world? In the end, they all become one crop of (leeks, a metaphor for being exploited and exploited).
You Chen was able to cultivate to level 10 at the age of 9, which is about the same speed as some lazy geniuses with innate soul power level 5.
However, a large part of the reason is that soul power is relatively easy to increase before level 10.
Furthermore, You Chen inherited the scientific training philosophy from his previous life and the self-discipline of an adult. While his classmates were only 6 years old and unable to concentrate on their cultivation and study, or to practice systematically and scientifically, he managed to overtake them.
However, if You Chen continues to cultivate in this methodical way, he might not be much better than Ye Han. Perhaps You Chen is destined to be a low-level staff member working for the Spirit Hall and handling complicated affairs.
As one's level increases, and one gets closer to the limits of their own talent, the cultivation speed will become slower and slower.
The odd-numbered major realms of a Soul Master all involve significant qualitative changes.
A one-ring Soul Master represents a Soul Master possessing their first Soul Skill. The third ring of a three-ring Soul Master is often the first thousand-year Soul Ring in the conventional sense. The fifth ring of a five-ring Soul King is their first ten-thousand-year Soul Ring. The seventh ring of a seven-ring Soul Saint is a domineering and powerful Martial Soul True Body. The strength of a nine-ring Title Douluo is self-evident.
But along with this qualitative change came even more stubborn constraints.
The seventh and ninth rings, in particular, are twice as strong as those of other odd-numbered realms.
You Chen had read quite a few Douluo Continent fanfics, and in many of them, the protagonist easily broke through the shackles of his talent, absorbed suitable spirit rings beyond his age limit to evolve his martial spirit, and from then on, the path to becoming a Title Douluo became smooth.
Therefore, at the beginning of his martial soul awakening, You Chen was not discouraged by his low innate soul power and low martial soul quality.
He certainly wouldn't give up or slack off just because he's not qualified enough.
If one wants to absorb a spirit ring beyond the time limit, whale glue is undoubtedly the first resource that most transmigrators will think of.
Even in the early days of Douyi, before the effects of whale glue on improving physical constitution were discovered, this stuff was by no means cheap; at least it was something that a child like You Chen, who had no foundation, could afford to buy.
The best way is to present the effects of whale glue to the Spirit Hall and thereby request this reward.
Of course, there is also a choice of how to make this "offering".
It is clearly unwise to brazenly tell people about the benefits of whale glue.
Ideally, You Chen himself would take over the task of "discovering" the effects of whale glue, that is, under the guise of researching materials, he would use the Spirit Hall's money to purchase whale glue that is thousands or even tens of thousands of years old as a researcher.
This naturally leads to a host of other problems.
How can I ensure I gain people's trust? How can I prevent myself from being dismissed with a paltry reward because of my young age, allowing others to reap the benefits of my research? How can I maximize my interests while ensuring my own safety?
You Chen's choice was to first conceal the effects of the whale glue, establish his persona as a theoretical genius, and then...
In the same year that Yu Xiaogang released "The Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul" when he was 12 years old, he released "Refutation of the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul".
This attracted Qian Xunji's attention and favor.
Similarly, that love-struck woman harbored resentment towards him ever since.