Chapter 21:
After enjoying lunch and taking his girl on a stroll through the beautiful campus, the sun was already low in the sky. By the time Li Chang'an escorted Dugu Yan back to her dormitory, it was around five or six in the afternoon.
Out of basic courtesy, he had personally walked her back. As the only granddaughter of a Titled Douluo, her accommodations were far superior to those of ordinary students—an independent courtyard, nestled quietly apart from the standard dormitory blocks where most students resided in single rooms. At Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, a campus full of noble heirs, possessing a private courtyard was a symbol of real power and influence.
After giving her directions to his own dorm, Li Chang'an turned and walked away under the girl's reluctant gaze.
They'd spent the entire day together. What began as a mere acquaintanceship had now warmed into something more—friendship. Even the way they addressed each other had changed. No longer "Senior" and "Junior," they now casually called each other "Yan'zi" and "Brother Chang'an."
To be honest, hearing her call him "Brother Chang'an" gave him complicated feelings. On the outside, he looked like a mature young man, but in truth, he was just a seven-year-old child in this life. That meant he was a full seven years younger than Dugu Yan, who was fourteen.
He could only imagine how stunned she'd be if she ever discovered the real age gap between them.
But as long as Li Chang'an didn't reveal it himself, she would never know. The academy had been deliberately helping him conceal his true age. Except for a few top administrators, no student or regular teacher knew he was just seven.
The same went for his identity as the prince consort. That secret was tightly guarded, while his public status as a marquis was more widely known.
"The identity of prince consort comes with both advantages and disadvantages."
"The advantage is protection and cultivation resources from the royal family."
"The disadvantage is being shackled to them, forced to play by their rules…"
"Tch. All because I'm still too weak."
If he were a Titled Douluo already, none of this would matter. He wouldn't need to sneak around just to pursue a girl. Strength was everything.
He clenched his fists.
His desire for power had never been stronger.
Time passed again.
Li Chang'an was now eight years old. His soul power had reached level 30—one step away from becoming a true three-ring Soul Grandmaster.
With the immense soul power granted by the clone of a soul beast, he could've easily surpassed level 30 by now. But Li Chang'an had chosen to hold himself back, both to avoid attracting attention and to consolidate his foundation. Even so, the speed at which he advanced was still jaw-dropping to certain insiders.
If his cultivation hadn't progressed step by step, with witnesses along the way, people might have suspected he possessed some secret treasure or cheat-level artifact.
But despite this transparency, the three Education Committee members—and other high-ranking figures keeping tabs on him—couldn't help but grow suspicious. They called him in privately, asking how his soul power had grown so rapidly. Was there some unknown factor or hidden secret behind it?
Naturally, Li Chang'an feigned ignorance.
With a blank, innocent expression, he claimed it was all thanks to hard work and perseverance. No secret manuals. No rare soul bones. No fortuitous encounters. Just diligent meditation.
He didn't even know why his soul power improved so quickly.
"Maybe it's just… talent?"
That single word broke down their mental defenses.
If he had a treasure or secret method, they might've found a way to obtain it for themselves. But talent? That couldn't be stolen. Couldn't be replicated. If someone was simply born with it—what could you do?
Naturally, they didn't believe him outright.
They launched both overt and covert investigations, examined his body, and even spied on his daily routine to search for any abnormalities.
Yet after weeks of surveillance, they were forced to accept a bitter truth: Li Chang'an really might just be naturally gifted.
His daily life was no different from that of any other student. His training sessions were pure, basic meditation. No secret techniques. But his cultivation efficiency was on an entirely different level—dozens or even hundreds of times greater than others his age.
In the end, unable to find any concrete evidence, the only conclusion they could reach was that he was an inexplicable prodigy.
The world was never fair. Even with identical soul power and martial souls, cultivation results could vary wildly. Some people were simply favored by the heavens.
Soul Beast Forest.
This was Li Chang'an's third trip.
This time, he aimed to hunt a soul beast that had cultivated for approximately 1,800 years.
Realistically, with the enhancements granted by the soul beast clone, he could handle a soul ring as old as 5,000 or even 6,000 years. But that kind of leap was impossible to explain away. If he dared to absorb such an advanced soul ring at level 30, he'd expose himself completely.
His cultivation speed was already considered abnormal.
If he then revealed that he could absorb soul rings well beyond the standard age limit, he'd become a monster in the eyes of others—someone who simply couldn't exist within the normal rules of the world.
"Lead by half a step, and you're a genius. Lead by a full step… and you're a threat."
Being seen as a genius was fine. But being too miraculous would only invite fear and elimination.
Especially now that he had undoubtedly caught the attention of Qian Renxue.
It was acceptable to appear extraordinarily talented—as long as she believed he could be controlled. The moment he began to seem like a variable beyond her grasp, she would start considering ways to remove him.
So far, Li Chang'an had only revealed his fast cultivation speed, while keeping the true nature and destructive potential of his martial soul hidden.
By all appearances, his martial soul didn't seem anywhere near the level of a god-tier ability like Qian Renxue's Six-Winged Angel.
In the original story, she had reached the Soul Saint level and was still capable of fighting a Titled Douluo thanks to the divine power of her martial soul. Even Tang San, that freak, had been suppressed by her.
Compared to that kind of terrifying divine inheritance, Li Chang'an's advantages didn't seem threatening yet.
So even if his cultivation was high, Qian Renxue wouldn't feel truly alarmed—at least, not as long as he stayed within the bounds of what was "plausible."
And that was exactly how he intended to survive.
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