Chapter 8 The Sky Over the Spirit Hall is Too Dark! Seven Treasures Mall!
After careful consideration, the students in the Gold Class discovered some clues.
Although the dean said the reward was provided by the Hall of Worship, it was clearly arranged by the Pope himself!
Furthermore, the champion's reward of a ten-thousand-year soul bone is only available to members of the Gold Class.
It's estimated that the opponents at that time will also be quite weak.
Therefore, the championship prize for this competition was entirely prepared for Lin Fan!
It's too dark in the Spirit Hall!
It's too dark at the Spirit Hall Academy!
Lin Fan spent the entire morning brainstorming.
I never expected that I would run into such a big problem as soon as I arrived at the academy, and the difficulty of it was beyond my imagination.
This kind of thing is clearly not something Bibi Dong would do.
Even Chrysanthemum Douluo Yueguan doesn't have a single ten-thousand-year soul bone, so there's no reason for him to skip over the two generals and give it directly to his disciple whom he's only known for a month.
But since the worshippers didn't make things difficult for Hu Liena, there was no reason for them to make fun of her!
As soon as school was over, Lin Fan rushed straight to the Papal Palace, determined to get to the bottom of this matter.
Along the way, he kept going through all sorts of possibilities in his mind. Could it be that the fact that he and Bibi Dong had a Martial Soul Fusion Technique had been discovered?
Soon, they arrived at the entrance of the Papal Palace.
Two knights clad in heavy armor held long spears.
Upon seeing Lin Fan, they immediately stepped forward and shouted:
"Halt! This is the Papal Palace, a restricted area. Unauthorized entry is prohibited!"
Lin Fan was already feeling irritable, and upon hearing this, he immediately flew into a rage.
Too lazy to waste words, he simply pulled out the papal token from his pocket, waved it in front of the knight, and coldly said, "Get out of here!"
The two knights stared intently, their faces turning deathly pale.
The papal token is the exclusive symbol of the Pope; seeing this token is equivalent to seeing the Pope himself.
He immediately knelt on one knee, his voice trembling, and said, "I was blind and did not recognize your greatness. Please forgive me, sir!"
They ignored them completely and walked straight into the hall.
Upon entering the hall, Lin Fan immediately spotted Bibi Dong sitting on the papal throne, handling official business.
Seeing Lin Fan's urgency, Bibi Dong chuckled and said, "What's the matter? You're in such a hurry to find your teacher because of the freshman challenge, aren't you?"
"Yes, teacher," Lin Fan said directly, his tone still respectful, "Teacher, why are there senior students among my opponents? This is far too difficult. Why didn't you tell me beforehand? And a 50,000-year-old soul bone..."
"Stop." Bibi Dong was getting impatient and waved her hand, saying, "You all stay outside and wait. No one is allowed to disturb us without my order."
"yes!"
In the vast council hall, spanning over a thousand square meters, only the master and his apprentice were present.
"My good disciple, you don't actually think this was arranged by your teacher, do you?" Bibi Dong's tone revealed a hint of anger. "This morning at the meeting, Golden Crocodile Douluo brought up this matter, and it was approved almost unanimously. This went too smoothly; it was clearly premeditated!"
"ah?"
"Teacher, why did Golden Crocodile Douluo do this?" Lin Fan was completely dumbfounded and didn't understand at all. He thought to himself, "I haven't offended Qian Daoliu, so why would he do this to me?"
Anyone who isn't an idiot can see that this was clearly ordered by the Grand Elder, Qian Daoliu.
"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure either. It's possible that my influence within the Spirit Hall is growing, and they want to suppress me and dampen my spirits..."
"Oh, right, I haven't told you yet. The Spirit Hall isn't actually united. It's currently divided into two factions: one is the Papal Faction, led by myself, and the other is led by Qian Daoliu of the Hall of Offerings..."
Balabala Malzahadili Reba Ukala, Little Fairy Balabala Transformation. Bibi Dong explained the internal situation of the Spirit Hall in a simple and easy-to-understand way, as if she had chewed it up and fed it to her.
Anyone who isn't an idiot can understand it.
Qian Daoliu wanted to use this freshman challenge to give Bibi Dong a hard time, and he himself became the chosen pawn.
To others, this was a clear case of the Pope abusing his power, using the competition as a pretext to bestow soul bones upon his disciples.
If they win, people will privately say that the victory was largely due to manipulation, lamenting the darkness of the Spirit Hall and the selfishness of the Pope.
If they lose, they'll say the Pope's new disciple is useless. He's nothing, the opponent was so weak, how could he lose... The Pope's judgment isn't very good either.
Whether you win or lose, you won't have a good reputation.
From what Bibi Dong said, we can deduce that her influence within the Spirit Hall is still very weak, far from surpassing Qian Daoliu's level more than ten years later.
It's even possible that the only titled Douluo who obeys orders are Huang and Gui, the two henchmen.
Furthermore, based on what Qian Daoliu said to Qian Renxue in the original work: "This is a world where the strong prey on the weak. Whoever is stronger will have more say, and this is especially true in our Spirit Hall. Her strength is already no less than mine."
Bibi Dong's current level 99 cultivation is inflated; it's all due to the upgrades from the second martial soul's additional soul ring.
His actual combat strength is estimated to be around level 97...
All of the above are guesses made by Lin Fan after brainstorming.
"Teacher, what should I do now?" Lin Fan suppressed his frustration and asked calmly, "If I lose this challenge, not only will I embarrass you, but two-thirds of the resources for the Gold Class will also be deducted."
If Lin Fan hadn't made a move, he refused to believe that Bibi Dong, that old fox, hadn't either!
Bibi Dong sneered, "Hmph, they think they can use this to suppress me? Not so easy. Disciple, go and fight with confidence, your teacher will fully support you. We must get this 50,000-year-old soul bone and disgust them to death!"
"What's the solution?"
"It'll be a secret for now. Remember to wash up and come to my room tonight!"
"???"
...
After saying goodbye to Bibi Dong, Lin Fan immediately went to Qibao Mall, the largest shopping mall in Wuhun City.
This giant shopping mall, built by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, has seven floors, each representing a different level of transaction.
The first and second floors are a mixed trading area, where all kinds of vendors rent shops or set up stalls to sell all sorts of items. You can even occasionally see Contra-level powerhouses squatting by the roadside selling some strange and unusual things.
The third floor is the specialty store area, where each store sells only a single type of product, and the quality is relatively stable.
The fourth floor is a high-level trading area directly managed by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School. As long as you can afford the price, you can buy the highest quality goods, with absolutely no counterfeit products.
As for the fifth to seventh floors, they are the auction area. The higher you go, the more precious the treasures are auctioned, and the higher the entry threshold is.
Lin Fan had no interest in wasting time on the lower levels and strode directly towards the fourth level. His goal was clear—to purchase rare metals and materials for crafting soul tools.
Upon entering the fourth floor, one is greeted by a luxurious yet elegant décor. Counters on both sides display a variety of rare materials, each with a detailed price tag.
End of this chapter...