Chapter 21: Lei Ying
Lin Beiya curled his lips. He wanted to tell Qian Renxue that her cultivation efforts had little to do with her results — but saying that would crush her motivation. Better to let her keep her current enthusiasm.
In the days that followed, Lin Beiya would report to the academy early in the morning and return to the Spirit Hall in the afternoon to train his body and combat skills with Qian Renxue.
After some time, Shi Nuo's soul power finally reached the bottleneck of Rank 10.
Perhaps it was under Qian Daoliu's secret instruction, but Shi Nuo's soul ring hunt was personally led by the vice dean. Fatty also got his wish — he obtained the Blackstone Demon Bull's soul ring, granting him the skill Petrified Skin.
In this state, both his strength and defense increased dramatically, leaving the chubby boy more than satisfied.
Meanwhile, with the aid of whale rubber and his relentless daily training, Lin Beiya's physique continued to grow stronger and sturdier.
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, a full year passed quietly.
After a year of rigorous cultivation, Lin Beiya's soul power reached Rank 16 — just a step away from Rank 17. The contribution of his Gold Cloth was undeniable.
A full year of blindfolded sensory training had pushed his hearing, smell, and touch to terrifying new heights.
However, these three senses had now reached their current limits. So Lin Beiya shifted focus to honing his sight and taste.
For his visual training, he planned to start with a tracking exercise — following the tip of a spinning pencil with his gaze until even at maximum speed, his eyes could still trace its movement.
Once that step was complete, he would observe hawks hunting several kilometers away from the rear mountain of the Spirit Hall to train his distance vision. Finally, he would watch the subtle fluttering of a "night moth's" wings under moonlight to strengthen his night vision.
As for taste, the only option was the simplest one — blindfolded food and drink recognition training, allowing his tongue to form sensory memory.
According to the records of the Saints, everything in existence possessed a Cosmo — some fully awakened, some yet to be.
To awaken one's Cosmo, a powerful body and refined senses were both indispensable. It was a long and arduous path, not something that could be achieved overnight.
But what seemed like ordinary training to Lin Beiya looked utterly bizarre to others.
Take Qian Renxue, for example. At this moment, she was staring at him in utter confusion as he fixated on the spinning pencil in his hand. She had no idea what he was trying to accomplish.
"Before, you trained blindfolded to enhance your senses. Now, what on earth is this supposed to be?"
A year older, the little angel's childish softness had begun to fade. Her adorable baby fat was slowly receding, revealing faint traces of the stunning beauty she would one day become.
Without looking away, Lin Beiya continued staring intently at the rotating pencil as he replied calmly:
"Sight is also a sense. I plan to hone it to the extreme."
"This... does that even help in combat?"
Seeing the disbelief on her face, Lin Beiya offered an example.
"Of course. Think about your second soul skill — Holy Light Radiance. How does it attack?"
"To dodge it completely, you'd need both tremendous stamina and a strong physique, right?"
Qian Renxue blinked, then her expression darkened in an instant.
"So that's it! You're training your vision specifically to counter me, aren't you!?"
"Huh?"
Now it was Lin Beiya's turn to be dumbfounded. He really wanted to pry open her head and see what kind of logic circuits were running inside.
"I was just giving an example! Your so-called 'divine light' — I can block it perfectly fine with my Crystal Wall. Why would I waste time training for that?"
"I'm preparing for future situations where even my Crystal Wall might not be enough."
Whether or not his Cosmo would awaken was still uncertain, so he didn't plan to reveal too much just yet.
Hearing that, Qian Renxue bit back her retort, her pretty face flushing bright red.
What he said made sense — but did he really have to insult her soul skill so bluntly?
"Hmph!"
Qian Renxue stomped her foot and turned away, showing Lin Beiya the back of her golden head. Lin Beiya was completely lost. He could only sigh inwardly — women were truly unfathomable creatures.
After a long while, when she noticed that Lin Beiya was still staring intently at the spinning pencil instead of coaxing her, the little angel grew even angrier. Her small tiger teeth ground together audibly as she silently vowed to drag him into another duel and make him abandon his so-called training.
Just as Qian Renxue was stewing in her thoughts, a lively female voice floated over.
"Xue'er, I've finished my seclusion."
"Yingying-jie!"
That voice immediately drew Lin Beiya's attention. He paused his exercise and turned toward the approaching figure.
The newcomer had the same golden hair as Qian Renxue, though hers was short, barely reaching her ears. Her features weren't as delicate or cute as Qian Renxue's; instead, she carried a sharp, boyish handsomeness.
This must be the "elder sister from Fourth Grandpa's family" that Qian Renxue had mentioned before — Lei Ying, granddaughter of the Spirit Hall's Fourth Worship, the Mighty Lion Douluo.
{T/N: Previously author made a mistake. Mighty Lion Douluo is Fourth Worship, not Third Worship.}
Lin Beiya had heard her name several times over the past year. Her Martial Soul, the Flame Lion, was renowned for its terrifying, destructive power.
Still, something puzzled him. Shouldn't a girl inheriting a lion-type martial soul have experienced a variation — like a Flame Lioness instead? Why was hers still a male lion martial soul?
Then again, martial souls in the Douluo World were unpredictable. He quickly let the thought go and stood up, waiting for an introduction.
But to his surprise, the two girls immediately embraced and began catching up — chatting non-stop for what felt like half an hour, completely forgetting his existence.
With a helpless sigh, Lin Beiya sat back down and resumed spinning his pencil, silently waiting for them to finish.
After who knows how long, Lei Ying's gaze happened to drift toward him. Her eyes filled with curiosity.
"Xue'er, who's this?"
"Huh?"
Following Lei Ying's line of sight, Qian Renxue suddenly remembered Lin Beiya was still there.
She gave a sheepish smile and quickly made introductions.
"Yingying-jie, this is Lin Beiya. Grandpa invited him to join the Douluo Hall last year — he's a genius with innate full soul power."
"Oh?"
Lei Ying's lips curved into an intrigued smile. That short introduction was enough to pique her interest.
"Beiya, this is the person I mentioned before — Lei Ying, granddaughter of Fourth Grandpa. She's five years older than us and already reached the Soul Elder level before entering seclusion."
Pausing his training, Lin Beiya rose and nodded politely.
"Lin Beiya. It's an honor to meet you, Miss Lei Ying."
"Mm, what a pity — you're still too young. Otherwise, having another rival to challenge in daily life would be quite interesting."
Lei Ying's competitive spirit clearly ran deep; it was part of her bloodline. Upon meeting Lin Beiya, her first thought was a worthy opponent.
Before Lin Beiya could respond, Qian Renxue's eyes gleamed mischievously. She hadn't forgotten how he'd angered her earlier.
"Yingying-jie, don't underestimate Beiya. When it comes to duels, I've never beaten him — not even once."
"What!?"
Lei Ying, who had been watching Lin Beiya with casual interest, suddenly widened her eyes in disbelief.
She had heard from her grandfather that Qian Renxue possessed innate rank-20 soul power — a prodigy who became a Soul Grandmaster at the age of six.
Could it be that this boy before her… was also such a monster-level genius?
—
End of Chapter