Chapter 4. First Meeting
Heaven Dou Empire, Fasinuo Province, Nuoding City.
Nuoding City was one of the three largest cities in the province, and thanks to its proximity to the border with a neighboring empire, it prospered from trade. For the surrounding villages it was like a gateway to the wider world. However, if one were to compare purely in terms of this city's combat strength, the strongest person here was undoubtedly the headmaster of Nuoding City's primary spirit master academy. His rank was 42. His spirit was a staff, and, honestly, I believe my chances of beating him in a fight are very high. As things stand, my physical body is stronger than his, and thanks to my second ring, getting to him from behind through the shadows would be no trouble.
So as I walked along the peaceful streets of this city, I had a strange, yet almost intoxicatingly pleasant sense of confidence in my strength, because as long as the main character's father didn't suddenly decide to show up—and as far as I recall, during this relatively peaceful time he shouldn't be nearby—I could very well be considered the strongest here. Strangely enough, that gave me a sense of safety, and for the first time since becoming aware of myself in this world, I felt that I could allow myself… to relax. Just relax. Stroll around the city, buy something tasty, and not worry that someone would suddenly pull some lethal dirty trick on me. After the first encounter with Dai Mubai that fear had only grown, so the assassination attempts after his escape had felt more like something finally falling into its proper place.
Still, rest is rest, but one shouldn't forget about business either. So, after buying a couple of especially fragrant skewers, I headed straight for the academy gates, the meat in my hands and a slight spring in my step from my good mood, occasionally taking small bites of the genuinely delicious meat.
"Girl, this is a spirit master academy. Ordinary people have no business here, so get lost," a guard stopped me right in front of the main gate, his tone dripping with disdain.
As I listened to him, I pulled another piece of meat off the skewer, and, lowering my gaze to my clothes, decided to take a quick look at myself, just in case — maybe something had torn or gotten dirty. But no matter how I checked, everything was fine. I was still wearing rather expensive clothing; one could even guess, if they tried, that I belonged to the Zhu Clan. Finishing my inspection, I turned my gaze back to the guard, who clearly didn't like my behavior for some reason. The other guard, on the contrary, seemed to realize something and chose to step back a little.
"Are you deaf or what? I told you you don't belong here!"
I slowly finished chewing the piece of meat while listening to him, and only after swallowing did I speak.
"So you're a blind guard, huh?"
He choked on his own breath, and his face began to slowly turn beet‑red. He was used to taking his frustrations out on poor peasants and helpless children who couldn't resist.
"What did you say, brat?!" He moved forward with a clear intent to "teach me a lesson."
I didn't even flinch. I only lazily licked a drop of sauce from my lip and narrowed my eyes slightly.
"I said you're blind." To me, he was moving so slowly it was laughable, but I felt so lazy that I genuinely couldn't decide what would be better: summon my spirit so he'd soil himself from fear? Or just smack him once on his thick skull so his brains would fall back into place?
Unfortunately for me, someone else decided for me. A small stone flew like a bullet and hit the man on the back of the head, knocking him to the ground as he clutched at it in pain.
"Picking on new students again? Want to try this big sister's fists for flavor?" came a lively girl's voice, and I could only let out a disappointed sigh at missing my chance to show off.
As for the speaker, she was an eight‑year‑old girl with a long braid down to her heels, like a scorpion's tail, and an ornament in the shape of rabbit ears on her head. The one who had thrown the stone was, judging by appearances, the boy standing next to her with an unusually calm and focused gaze. He was dressed simply, but his clothes were impeccably clean. He tossed another pebble in his palm, clearly implying he could repeat the throw at any moment.
And as it so happened, I knew both of them. The boy was, in fact, the main protagonist of this era—or, as they sometimes say, the child of fortune of this ten‑thousand‑year cycle—Tang San, also a reincarnator, who in his past life had been part of the assassin Tang Sect. And the girl beside him was his future wife, who was actually a hundred‑thousand‑year‑old Soft‑Bone Rabbit who had become human — Xiao Wu.
This wasn't at all how I'd imagined our meeting, but on the other hand, why not? Ignoring the guards, I walked up to the pair.
"Hi, could you help me a bit? I'm looking for the great master‑theorist Yu Xiaogang."
Tang San and Xiao Wu blinked in unison, clearly not expecting a stranger in expensive clothes to address them so casually.
Xiao Wu, whose rabbit ears twitched adorably, gave me a curious once‑over. There was only genuine interest in her eyes. Looking at her, you would never guess that she had lived longer than everyone else on the academy grounds put together.
"Oh, you're looking for that old teacher too? We just came from him. Well, technically, this 'blue one'—" she poked Tang San in the shoulder, and his clothes did indeed have blue tones, "—is his student."
"I see. Then it's quite possible we'll be seeing each other often in the future. I'm Zhu Zhuqing, Spirit Grandmaster of rank 27."
"Grandmaster?!" came a frightened voice from behind — the guard who had finally realized whom he'd just tried to attack — but I ignored him. I was far more interested in the reaction of the two in front of me, who were truly stunned.
If Tang San had undisguised shock written all over his face at how far ahead of him I was despite looking his age, Xiao Wu was clearly not convinced.
"I don't believe it! Both Tang San and I have innate full spirit power, and even so we're only at rank 21. How can you already be rank 27?"
"Rank 21?" I latched onto the important detail — if I was late and Tang San had already obtained his second ring, that would complicate things.
"I'm rank 20. I haven't had time to obtain my second ring yet," the boy interjected, seeing Xiao Wu about to launch into another tirade.
"Good. That means I'm not too late," I exhaled in relief.
"Not too late for what?" the rabbit girl asked immediately.
"Not here. Please take me to the Grandmaster, I'll explain my goal to him."
"Alright, follow me," Tang San nodded seriously. Watching his back, I couldn't help but feel a faint sense of danger. As if he might turn around at any moment and fill my body with poisoned hidden weapons.
Nodding, I nonetheless put the half‑eaten skewer away into my storage ring. As we walked, I kept catching Xiao Wu's intensely curious gaze on me.
"Do you want to ask something?"
"Uh‑huh," the girl nodded at once, coming closer. "Are you really rank 27?"
"Yes," I confirmed.
"How? I'm sure Third Brother and I are already cultivating really fast."
"I've been very sensitive to spirit energy since birth, and in a sense I'm also a master‑theorist."
"A master‑theorist at eight years old? What kind of theory can you come up with at eight?"
"For example, a theory on how to exceed the maximum age of a spirit ring that can be absorbed. Like obtaining a thousand‑year ring at only rank 20. That way you create a much stronger foundation than other spirit masters, who usually absorb rings in the range of 500–600 years."
"According to Teacher's theory, the maximum age for the second ring is 764 years. Even exceeding that by a single year is equivalent to guaranteed death," Tang San unexpectedly joined the conversation, slowing his pace.
"Correct. I'm familiar with that theory, and it actually helped me a lot with my calculations. But tell me, do you know what really determines how old a ring a spirit master can safely absorb?"
"How strong their body is," came the answer.
"Correct. As well as how developed their meridians are, and how well the spirit master can control their energy. Because of this, even within the framework of the Grandmaster's theory, the real limit of absorbable rings still varies from person to person. And if you develop your body and meridians to a level greatly exceeding your current cultivation rank, and instead of passively absorbing energy you actively direct it, redistributing the load across your meridians, you can significantly increase the upper limit of what you can absorb."
"Strengthening the body beyond one's level isn't that easy, or everyone would be doing it. And strengthening the meridians is all but impossible without natural treasures," the boy pointed out the weak spot in this theory.
"That's true," I smiled.
"Then what's the point, if no one can replicate it anyway? That makes the theory useless," Xiao Wu muttered, looking oddly disappointed, as if I'd ruined her expectations.
"Who knows," I chuckled, and by that time we had finally reached the main teaching building. From there we walked in silence until we climbed to the top floor.
Tang San knocked on the office door.
"Come in," a man's voice sounded, and the boy opened the door.
"Teacher, you have a visitor."
The office where Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang was staying wasn't particularly large, and due to the numerous bookshelves, the bed by the wall, and the writing desk, it seemed even smaller. Its owner himself was rather thin and, judging by appearance, around fifty years old. His posture was straight, and his face looked as if melancholy had been frozen upon it, accompanied by a pair of piercing eyes.
"A visitor?" there was a note of surprise in his voice, and then his gaze fell on me.
"My name is Zhu Zhuqing. I am a Spirit Grandmaster of rank 27, spirit: Hell Civet," I introduced myself and, to set the right tone from the outset, summoned my spirit, allowing my rings to appear.
Yu Xiaogang immediately jumped up from his chair, staring at my thousand‑year ring in utter shock, and alongside it, the obvious dissonance of my first ring being a mere ten‑year ring.
"So that's why you were talking about a theory of raising the upper limit of ring age," Tang San said, having put the pieces together.
"Exactly. My second ring belongs to a three‑thousand‑year‑old Hell Civet, and that ring is also the reason I came to you, Grandmaster," I gave a respectful bow. "Since childhood I've believed that my clan's ring configuration is far too inefficient, so I decided to use myself to recreate a better configuration from scratch. I hope you will guide me on this path. In return I promise you will not be at a loss, and I'm prepared to help your student strengthen his body so that he too can obtain a thousand‑year ring. Naturally, I'm also willing to take part in the hunt and share some information that very few people have access to."
"Three thousand years…" Yu Xiaogang muttered, but quickly pulled himself together. "Of course, if you're willing to learn, this old man is willing to teach. But allow me to ask: how did your first ring end up being a ten‑year ring?"
"My first ring belongs to a Dark‑Gold Dreadclaw Bear cub. Unfortunately, at the time I didn't have the leisure to obtain what I needed for proper self‑strengthening. Besides, a white ring is excellent for getting people to underestimate you."
"And… Teacher, no offense, I assume this boy is your student, but the girl…"
"I'm on my own!" Xiao Wu declared, scrunching her little nose in a funny way.
"In that case, I would prefer to continue our conversation without outside ears."
"Eh?" The rabbit girl clearly hadn't expected anyone to suggest kicking her out.
"A reasonable request," Yu Xiaogang nodded, then looked at the boy beside him. "Tang San, please see your friend out."
Tang San froze for a moment, glancing between me and his teacher. He was used to having Xiao Wu always by his side, but the Grandmaster's authority and the seriousness of the situation outweighed that.
"Let's go, Xiao Wu," he said gently, touching her shoulder. "Teacher really does need to discuss something important. We'll wait outside."
"Fine then!" Xiao Wu huffed, throwing a displeased look at me with her pink eyes. "Didn't really want to listen to your boring ring talk anyway."
When the door closed behind them and silence settled over the small office, Yu Xiaogang sat back down and gestured to the only free chair, inviting me to sit. He waited until the echo of footsteps in the corridor completely died away.
"Now we are alone," he said.
Leaning his elbows on the desk, he fixed me with his piercing gaze.
"You said your clan is 'inefficient.' For a direct descendant of the Zhu family, that's a bold statement. But I still don't quite understand how a ten‑year ring—even from a beast like the Dark‑Gold Dreadclaw Bear—fits into the concept of efficiency."
"It's all about the bear's claws. I may not have obtained any kind of explosive or flashy ability, but I did gain the ability to make my claws just as sharp." I activated my white ring and showed how my claws transformed.
"Hm. May I examine them?" the man asked with obvious interest.
"Only if you don't mind your belongings getting damaged," I said with a shrug, extending my hand.
"Let's see… wait a moment," he muttered, rummaging around for something suitable to test on before finally settling on a table knife.
With a faint smirk, I watched as my claw punched cleanly through the metal with no effort on my part.
"How fascinating. Where did you even manage to get a ten‑year Dark‑Gold Dreadclaw Bear? It must have been a cub, and where there's a cub, there's always an adult mother nearby, anywhere from a thousand to ten thousand years old."
"I don't know," I shrugged. "As you've already guessed, I'm from the main branch of the Zhu Clan, and you may have heard of our tradition for choosing an heir."
"I have some idea," the man nodded.
"Well then. Since I was born with innate full spirit power, that put a lot of pressure on my older sister who, although she had the advantage of age, had more modest talent. I managed to convince her to get me a ten‑year Dark‑Gold Dreadclaw Bear cub, and she was firmly convinced that by doing so she was ruining my future." I answered, then added more to myself, "Come to think of it, I probably should treat her a bit more kindly in the future — she actually did me quite a favor."
"I see. I've spent some time studying spirit masters who managed to obtain a ring from that beast. As a rule, they used it as their fourth ring, and because of the beast's tyrannical energy they rarely dared to go above 1500 years in age; the risk of death was too high otherwise. And none of them gained an enhancement to the sharpness of their spirit's claws. Instead, they received a ranged slashing attack which, due to its tyrannical energy, had a certain armor‑piercing rate, allowing them to bypass the defenses of opponents one or two rings above them, though that ability consumed a lot of energy. Seeing what you obtained from a mere ten‑year ring, everything makes sense now."
"According to my theory, the ability granted by a ring depends primarily on which attributes are dominant in the beast," Yu Xiaogang began lecturing, jotting down notes as he spoke. "As cubs, Dark‑Gold Dreadclaw Bears, although their energy is more tyrannical than that of most other beasts, still have one main, I'd even say the only dominant attribute at that stage — their incredibly sharp claws. Only later do they begin to shift toward an energy‑based attribute, which is why at ten thousand years such a beast can rival hundred‑thousand‑year beasts. So, even if you'd been able to absorb the weakest hundred‑year ring, you would still have kept your current ability, only strengthened. Perhaps the length of your claws would have increased, or there would have been an additional bonus to your stats. It's hard to test now, of course."
"I see," I drawled. Honestly, a ranged energy attack with a slightly lower but still present armor‑piercing effect sounded at least as good, if not better, than my current skill. But the fact remained that killing an adult Dark‑Gold Dreadclaw Bear was, to put it mildly, difficult. Even an ordinary Titled Douluo might not be enough. So really, I'm satisfied.
"In any case, you said you sought me out because of your second ring. I certainly want to hear as soon as possible how you exceeded the age limit, but let's discuss your question first."
"When I was choosing a beast for my second ring, I originally planned to hunt a Soft‑Bone Rabbit around five to six thousand years old. But due to certain circumstances, I was forced to hunt alone, so I had to lower the bar and hunted a Hell Civet instead. I calculated that at a thousand years I would, like other members of the Zhu Clan, obtain a speed‑boosting skill, only with a much higher percentage, but instead I got a more powerful ability that was clearly not what I had expected."
"Hm, I see. Up to a certain age, Hell Civets do indeed rely primarily on their speed, but at around 600 years, their shadow attribute begins to dominate, allowing them to move through shadows. Then, around three thousand years, they begin to create clones. At first the clones are illusory, but by the time they reach ten thousand years, the clones have a certain percentage of the original's physical stats. If I'm not mistaken, at three thousand years your second skill should still be related to shadows."
"You're right," I confirmed, pleasantly surprised.
"Devoting one's life to theory — that is the minimum a man like me must know. Otherwise my life would have been wasted," Yu Xiaogang allowed himself a proud smile.
"Now, as for which beasts could grant you a speed‑oriented ring. Given your spirit, it would have to be either a beast with a shadow attribute in which speed is dominant, or one with a wind attribute."
"Wind?" I repeated.
"Exactly. It just so happens that almost all beasts tied to the wind attribute are also associated with speed. Primarily because at a certain level, abilities from such beasts both increase speed and allow one to ignore wind resistance. In your case, I would recommend a Shadow Cheetah, which has relatively low combat strength but truly astonishing speed and its own way of bypassing wind resistance, or there's another option: the absolute leader in speed across the entire Douluo Continent — the Sharp‑Tailed Swift."
"The famous Speed Clan's spirit is also the Sharp‑Tailed Swift, and they focus entirely on speed‑type rings. Their leader, a Spirit Douluo (ranks 81–90), is so fast that he vastly surpasses rank 95 agility‑type Titled Douluo."
"Thank you for your guidance," I said, and finally began explaining how one could strengthen the body enough to make a thousand‑year second ring possible. At the same time, I handed over a sufficient number of pieces of hundred‑year Whale Glue and one piece of thousand‑year Glue. I hadn't taken all of the glue I'd obtained, but I'd still prepared some in advance as a way to, so to speak, buy off the main character. Naturally, I also warned him just how agonizing the process of absorbing the thousand‑year Glue was. I still had a ten‑thousand‑year piece stored in my ring, which I wasn't going to risk taking yet—at least not until I reached rank 35 or higher. Needless to say, I didn't mention the existence of the ten‑thousand‑year Whale Glue; it was a truly rare treasure on par with immortal herbs. In the canon of the second book, ten thousand years later, the main character used this glue, and at rank 40 his physical body was no worse than that of power‑type Spirit Emperors (ranks 61–70). On the other hand, by then he had twin spirits, with a million‑year Ice Silkworm ring on the first, obtained through sacrifice and limited in power so that his body could withstand it. The second spirit had a four‑hundred‑thousand‑year ring, and it had been obtained in an essentially artificial way, also through something like a sacrifice. As a result, he had the so‑called Absolute Ice attribute helping him absorb the ten‑thousand‑year Whale Glue. I, however, didn't have that, so it was quite possible that I'd have to postpone taking the 10,000‑year Glue until I reached the Spirit King level.
"Ah, it's a pity I never read all the other 'Combat Continent' parts beyond the first," I sighed, sitting on the academy dormitory roof waiting for dawn.
Why was I up here? Well, aside from the obvious—waiting for sunrise to absorb the violet energy. Yesterday I'd finalized arrangements with the Grandmaster and then with the academy headmaster to live here for a while. And since, due to our ages, the students' dorms weren't separated by gender and were more like barracks, I decided it would be better to stay in the same dorm as Tang San and Xiao Wu. I needed to build a relationship with them anyway. And since spirit masters grew so quickly that at twelve they already looked like eighteen‑year‑old teenagers, I'd taken care to have a screen around my corner. I remembered perfectly well that canonically my body would be, to put it mildly, well developed — especially in the chest area.
"Do you always get up this early?" Tang San's voice interrupted my thoughts as he climbed up onto the roof beside me.
"Every day since I was six," I replied.
The conversation that had just begun never really continued, because dawn came, and the two of us, watching the sunrise, cultivated while that brief window in which violet energy was available lasted.
"Funny. When I first discovered this energy and tried absorbing it through my eyes, I saw spots dancing in front of me for half an hour, but now there are no side effects at all," I chuckled, not in a hurry to stand up. Sunrise was still a beautiful sight.
"You learned this on your own?"
"Absorbing violet energy? Yes," I nodded, feeling a twinge of nostalgia.
"I already said I was born very sensitive to spirit energy. And I still remember the day when, at three years old, I tried to copy my elders meditating and drawing in the surrounding energy. Of course, nothing happened," I laughed.
"Nothing?"
"No," I shook my head. "But I'm pretty stubborn, so I repeated it day after day until it finally worked, and then I gradually started noticing myself getting stronger."
Finishing my story, I couldn't help but sigh. "You know, I've trained so hard all these years that I'm not even sure I could force myself to go through it all again instead of slowing down a bit."
"Even a genius won't get far without hard work."
"Eh, you just don't know what my training was like. I just need to rest for a couple of years, and then I'll start tearing myself apart again. Especially since this academy doesn't have any healers who could help me with my training anyway."
"Why do you need healers?" the boy asked with obvious interest.
"Hm, it'll be easier if I just tell you my daily routine from the last two years, if you're interested, that is."
"I am," he blurted out immediately.
"Careful, or Xiao Wu might start getting jealous of that interest," I joked.
"We're not—"
"Yeah, yeah, you're not a couple," I cut him off. "We'll see what the future says."
"Where was I? Oh, right, training. I started before dawn, cultivating on the roof, because the violet spirit energy clearly improves the mind, and if you want to be the fastest, you have to be able to keep up with your own movements. After that I'd just cultivate until breakfast. After breakfast I had sparring matches under the supervision of an elder with healing abilities. Without a healer, with our clan's spirit, there's no way," I summoned my spirit for clarity and showed my sharp claws. "It was painful, bloody. But I have to admit — really effective. Then lunch, and in the afternoon — physical training with added weight and healing once I started to burn out, for greater effect, along with parallel cultivation. By the way, learning to absorb spirit energy and circulate it through my meridians in a specific order while running with a sack on my back was very difficult, but I managed it," I couldn't resist boasting. "Then dinner, a bit more cultivation, and finally sleep. That's how I've lived the last two years."
'Come to think of it, aside from Elder Mu, I didn't even have anyone to talk to,' I suddenly realized.
"…," Tang San seemed at a loss for words at such a training schedule.
We sat in complete silence for almost another minute before I finally decided to do something I hadn't allowed myself in a long time.
"I'm going to sleep," I said, getting to my feet.
"Sleep?"
"That's right," I confirmed simply, then jumped down from the dormitory roof, quietly made my way to my bed so as not to wake anyone, and, without even turning down the covers, just kicked off my shoes and lay down on top of the blanket.
Sleep came quickly. Maybe I was more tired than I thought.