"Yanyan, what should we do?"
Standing by the window, Ye Lingling watched Yu Yan and his companion walk away. She looked at Dugu Yan, feeling a bit lost, hoping her friend could give her some advice.
Ye Lingling had always been solitary and cold, disliking communication with others. She didn't know how to make Yu Yan willing to help her.
Whether he could help was a matter for later consideration; the biggest problem now was that the other party was simply unwilling to help her.
"I don't know either."
Ye Lingling didn't like communicating with people, and Dugu Yan similarly disliked interacting with outsiders. If she knew how to build a good relationship with Yu Yan, they wouldn't be in this state of being only half-acquainted.
Wanting to help one of her few good friends, Dugu Yan thought for a moment and quickly came up with an idea: "My grandfather has a very good relationship with Yu Yan. When he finishes discussing things with the leadership of the Exotic Beast Academy, I'll ask him what we should do."
"I'm really troubling you, Yanyan."
After Ye Lingling expressed her gratitude, she fell back into silence.
Before long, Dugu Bo, having finished explaining a few things to Jiang Jing, returned to the reception hall, intending to give his granddaughter some further instructions.
"Grandpa, Lingling has something she wants me to ask you for help with."
Seeing her grandfather Dugu Bo enter, Dugu Yan hurried forward, eager to solve her friend's problem.
In the past, Dugu Yan certainly wouldn't have been so bold.
However, after spending nearly half a year with Dugu Bo in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Dugu Yan had come to understand her grandfather's character and had grown much closer to him.
"What does Lingling want to know?"
The Spirits of both the Dugu family and the Ye family had flaws. For the sake of that shared plight, and for Yanyan's sake, Dugu Bo was willing to answer Ye Lingling's doubts.
"Didn't Yu Yan help my Spirit evolve? You also know that Lingling's family's Nine Heart Begonia also has a flaw. She came along this time just to see if she could solve the defect in her Spirit. We just chatted with Yu Yan, and..."
"But Yu Yan didn't agree, right?"
Before Dugu Yan could finish, Dugu Bo already knew the outcome. With his understanding of that kid Yu Yan, it would be strange if he had agreed.
"Yes, yes, yes, Grandpa, he didn't agree. Do you have any ideas?"
When Dugu Bo guessed the outcome, Dugu Yan looked at him with great admiration, hoping he could provide a reasonable and feasible solution.
Ye Lingling also looked at Senior Dugu Bo, the Poison Douluo who had guessed the result, with an expectant face, hoping he could offer a workable plan.
"First, let me ask you: was that kid Yu Yan's reason for refusing because he can't do it, or because he doesn't want to help?"
Dugu Bo didn't immediately offer an idea; instead, he asked a very crucial question, as the answer would dictate his next response.
"He said he isn't familiar with Ye Lingling, so he's unwilling to help her," Dugu Yan answered Dugu Bo's inquiry on behalf of Ye Lingling.
"Unwilling to help, but didn't say he couldn't. That means the kid has some confidence in solving the problem with Ye Lingling's Spirit. Hmm... based on my understanding of him, it's likely that the chips you offered weren't enough."
Although Dugu Bo wasn't very fond of communicating with others either, he had lived long enough and seen enough people to understand why Yu Yan wouldn't help.
Moreover, if the roles were reversed and the two parties were neither relatives nor friends, Dugu Bo wouldn't help solve a Spirit problem for a mere promise of healing injuries either.
"If you really want Yu Yan's help, I do have an idea."
Under the expectant gazes of Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling, Dugu Bo stated the solution he had thought of.
This was a method that, if he were in Yu Yan's position, would absolutely make him help Ye Lingling.
After hearing Dugu Bo's idea, Dugu Yan looked at her grandfather and then at Lingling, not knowing what to say.
"Thank you for your suggestion, Your Excellency Dugu. I will seriously consider the method you've provided."
Regardless of whether Dugu Bo's method would eventually be used, since a Titled Douluo had given her advice, she had to express her gratitude.
Moreover, upon careful reflection, His Excellency's method actually had a high degree of feasibility.
The day after taking Dugu Yan to meet the nobles in Ice Soul City, Dugu Bo, who still had matters to attend to, gave Yu Yan a few more instructions before leaving the city to handle his own business.
The accommodations the Exotic Beast Academy arranged for Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling were right next door to the two-story building where Yu Yan and the others lived.
As neighbors, they would greet each other when they met daily, but there was indeed no substantial progress in their relationship.
Dugu Yan didn't know how to befriend others, and Yu Yan was very busy, with things to do and many things to think about and research every day; he simply had no mind for such matters.
Originally, Xiao Wu hadn't been very happy about the arrival of Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling.
After two weeks, seeing that Yu Yan's relationship with them hadn't progressed, she let down her guard and gradually became good friends with Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling.
Xiao Wu's nature wasn't bad, and her desire to make friends was much stronger than Yu Yan's. Combined with Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling's slight but deliberate efforts to be friendly, it wasn't strange for their relationship to improve.
Honestly, if Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling had shown a very strong desire to befriend them from the start, Xiao Wu might have remained wary. It was precisely their deliberate yet restrained friendliness that allowed the relationship to slowly blossom.
Seeing Xiao Wu's relationship with Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling improve, Yu Yan took a few glances and then continued to immerse himself in the vast sea of books at the Exotic Beast Academy, continuing his research into spirit power issues.
The issue of spirit power was the primary problem Yu Yan currently wanted to solve.
Issues like Cultivation speed, Spirits, and combat power were not problems for Yu Yan.
His only current problem was that the Spirit Abilities of the Ice and Fire Twin Fish, as well as the Martial Soul Fusion Skill, consumed a huge amount of spirit power.
Based on this issue, he wanted to make his spirit power—which was already of higher quality than others—even higher. Ideally, it would be enough to support him in using multiple Martial Soul Fusion Skills in continuous combat.
The moment he wanted to solve this, Yu Yan thought of a clear direction: the Soul Core that appeared in Douluo Continent 2. More specifically, it was about developing gaseous spirit power toward a solid-state energy like a Soul Core.
The place where spirit power was stored was like a large bucket. The upper limit of spirit power in the bucket increased as one's Rank rose, but no one stipulated what form the spirit power in the bucket had to take.
Gaseous spirit power, liquid spirit power, and solid spirit power—these were the three development directions Yu Yan had set. His current spirit power was slightly higher in quality than gaseous spirit power, but it hadn't reached the level of liquid spirit power.
Dugu Bo's personal experience of condensing a Core when he became a Titled Douluo, and the countless records of research and attempts regarding spirit power by Senior Spirit Masters within the Exotic Beast Academy, were all his reference materials.