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**
But unfortunately, according to the original trajectory, such peaceful days would not last much longer.
Spirit Hall would be annihilated, and the Soul Masters of the Spirit Hall Branches near Gengxin City and Xilu City would suffer the worst luck in eight lifetimes—they were destined to be assassinated by Tang San.
Whenever this assassination was mentioned, Ling Xiao felt a surge of rage. Were the Soul Masters of the Gengxin City branch hall all truly people who deserved to die? Not only were they slaughtered to the last man, but the place was burned until not a blade of grass remained.
The situation in Xilu City was even more pathetic; Tang San was already a Soul Douluo at that time and possessed the Sea God Trident, yet he still resorted to a full-scale assassination. What did those low-level Soul Masters even know?
During the Continental Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, although Spirit Hall had issued an order to intercept and kill Tang San, the leaders of that mission, the two Titled Douluos Yue Guan and Gui Mei, acted openly.
Otherwise, with Ghost Douluo's methods, assassinating the Tang San of that time would have been far too simple. Ling Xiao truly didn't know where Tang San got the nerve to describe himself as "pure and noble."
Of course, while the low-level Soul Masters assassinated by Tang San were pitiable, they weren't the most tragic. The most tragic were the Soul Masters and ordinary soldiers who died in the Great War between the Spirit Empire and the two great empires.
Setting aside the personal grudge between Tang San and Spirit Hall, and ignoring Bibi Dong's strange, morbid madness in the later stages that made her seem like a completely different person—at least on the surface, that war was fought to unify the continent.
But the result? Spirit Hall failed, and the Spirit Empire did not complete the unification.
After the two great empires won, a single sentence from Tang San severed the path to unification. At that time, the national strength of Star Luo was far superior to Heaven Dou, and Spirit Hall had been destroyed; it was the perfect opportunity to unite the continent.
Yet, with a few light words from Tang San, Star Luo was forbidden from making a move against Heaven Dou. A war sparked by the goal of unification ended without it being achieved, even when the Star Luo Empire—one of the victors—had both the will and the opportunity to do so.
It was laughable.
The Soul Masters and ordinary people who died in that war died for nothing; the only thing accomplished was the glorification of Tang San's prestige as the Sea God.
Furthermore, ten thousand years later, when the Sun Moon Empire possessed the ability to unify the two continents, Tang San intervened once again, causing countless more to die in vain. It was truly speechless.
How could such a person be fit to be a God?
In Ling Xiao's heart, unification was naturally a good thing.
Although the process was cruel and involved bloodshed and sacrifice, as someone currently part of Spirit Hall, he had to face a realistic problem: with Spirit Hall's current massive scale, it would not be tolerated by any unified, massive empire.
Therefore, his current desire was only to prevent the crisis of Spirit Hall's destruction, but he didn't necessarily wish for the establishment of the Spirit Empire either.
In his view, it was best for Spirit Hall to remain purely as the overlord of the Soul Master world. Unifying the continent was a task better suited for a nation; the nature of Spirit Hall was not fit for such a role.
Moreover, he felt that while unification was good, the current situation—where the two great empires stood opposed in the north and south, while Spirit Hall and the Seven Great Sects jointly governed the Soul Master world—was a rather stable and decent state of affairs.
Seeing Ling Xiao lost in thought and silent, Xu Yu assumed he was missing his family. He couldn't help but comfort him: "Ling Xiao, I know you are an orphan and have no relatives, but we are friends."
Hearing Xu Yu's words, Ling Xiao gave a faint smile.
"Thank you. Of course we are friends. Although you're going home and I'll be the only one in the dorm for the next month, I won't be lonely. Cultivating and studying every day keeps me quite occupied."
"Mhm." Xu Yu nodded.
The night passed in silence.
The two of them rested after finishing their evening cultivation.
The next morning, Ling Xiao opened his eyes groggily.
This was the day Spirit Academy's holiday break began.
Students from all over would be returning to their homes. Xu Yu had left very early, and since Ling Xiao had no home to return to, he took the rare opportunity to sleep in. However, in his daze, Ling Xiao saw someone sitting on Xu Yu's bed opposite him.
It looked like Yan.
He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but after rubbing them and looking closely, it was actually him. Yan was dressed in a luxurious crimson brocade robe. His short red hair looked like flickering flames.
Although he was young, he carried a hint of budding majesty. Seeing Ling Xiao wake up, Yan glanced at him and spoke flatly, "The sun is high in the sky, Ling Xiao. You sure can sleep."
Ling Xiao sat up and rubbed his nose, feeling a bit awkward.
"Ahem, Yan, what are you doing here?"
"The thing you wanted. What? Did you forget?" Yan pointed with his finger.
Ling Xiao followed his gaze and saw a square box sitting on the table, wrapped tightly in a layer of red cloth. Ling Xiao's eyes lit up, and his mind instantly cleared as he remembered an important matter.
He hurriedly got out of bed and walked over while still in his pajamas. He touched the outside of the box with the back of his hand. Even through the lid and the red cloth, it was very warm, and he could smell a faint fragrance as he drew closer.
A smile played on the corner of Ling Xiao's mouth. "Many thanks."
"It's delivered, so I'm leaving." Yan nodded and prepared to depart.
Ling Xiao suddenly asked, "Yan, are you planning to go home for the break?"
"Yeah, I have to go back once. My father returned from the Judgment Hall a few days ago and wants to check my cultivation during this time. I won't stay long, though. At the academy, I at least have an opponent like Xie Yue to spar with."
He started walking out, but just as he stepped out the door, Yan seemed to remember something. He turned back and said intentionally, "Right, Ling Xiao, don't forget to pay me back!"
"..."
This guy actually had to add that reminder... As the son of Spirit Hall's Presiding Judge, to be so stingy, he's doing it on purpose!
But, as long as it succeeds, it's worth it, Ling Xiao thought silently while looking at the brocade box on the table.
After Yan left, Ling Xiao freshened up and changed into a simple set of white clothes.
It wasn't that he didn't want to buy better clothes, but in order to buy the item inside that box, he had spent all the money he had and even incurred quite a bit of debt. If it weren't for the fact that food and lodging at the academy were completely free, he might have starved to death.
A short while later, as noon approached, Ling Xiao brought the box to the first floor of the Spirit Academy cafeteria and sat down at a random table.
In less than fifteen minutes, Hu Liena arrived at the cafeteria alone.
Since she was returning to the Supreme Pontiff's Pavilion today, she wasn't wearing her school uniform. Instead, she wore a pale yellow dress made of exquisite material—one of the outfits Bibi Dong had given her in the past.
Hu Liena sat down across from Ling Xiao and asked somewhat curiously, "Ling Xiao, why did you ask me to meet you here?"
"Are you returning to the Pope's Hall this afternoon?"
"Yes."
Ahem. Ling Xiao coughed, stood up, and said formally, "Hu Liena, we can be considered friends. Now that we are about to part for a while, I've brought a gift for you!"
**
Enjoying the story? Support the translation and get early access to future chapters here: www.patr eon.com/c/FanficTranslator
Thanks for reading!
I have 60 advanced chapter now on Patreon. I will post 5 advanced chapter on Patreon everyday except Sunday