Ch.14: Going Out
Qinglong City, the Royal Capital of the Qinglong Kingdom.
Legend has it that a thousand years ago, a genius soul master was born in a small coastal village near the eastern seas.
That genius soul master gradually grew stronger, rose through the ranks of the soul master world, and eventually made a name for himself across the continent.
He forced the world itself to acknowledge his existence.
And in the end, he stepped into the realm of a Rank 99 Limit Douluo.
After reaching the peak, he returned to his homeland, absorbed the nearby villages scattered along the coast, and established what would later become Qinglong City.
As time passed, more and more people gradually gathered there.
Merchants came seeking opportunities.
Soul masters came searching for protection and inheritance.
Blacksmiths, healers, and craftsmen all slowly settled within the growing city.
What was once merely a small coastal settlement gradually expanded into a nation of its own.
The Qinglong Kingdom.
Following that, the city produced many Titled Douluo experts throughout its long history.
Almost every generation possessed at least two Titled Douluo overseeing the kingdom and maintaining its stability.
Naturally, this raised a question in the minds of many outsiders.
If Qinglong Kingdom possessed such strength, why had it never aggressively expanded outward or participated heavily in continental wars?
The presence of Spirit Hall was one reason.
No kingdom truly wished to provoke the continent's strongest organization without sufficient confidence.
But another reason lay within the kingdom's own nature.
The people of Qinglong Kingdom possessed a rather reclusive temperament.
They were highly self-sufficient and rarely interacted deeply with the outside world.
Very few people traveled outward, and outsiders were also not easily accepted within their borders.
Relying on the herbology and blacksmithing inheritances left behind by their founding ancestor, they mainly focused on trade, exporting and importing goods while avoiding unnecessary conflicts with external powers.
Perhaps that was precisely why they had managed to remain standing even after thousands of years of change and turmoil across the continent.
But times were beginning to change now.
For some unknown reason, the once-closed kingdom had gradually begun opening its gates to the outside world over the past few decades.
Perhaps it was an attempt by the royal family to gather more experts and strengthen their position.
After all, rumors had already begun spreading throughout the kingdom that Qinglong City itself was starting to fragment internally.
There were even whispers claiming that the royal family might soon be overthrown altogether.
Still, despite all this underlying chaos, Qinglong Academy remained a prime choice for loose soul master students from across the continent.
It was an autonomous academy within the kingdom that had originally been established so healers, blacksmiths, and soul masters could study together under the same institution.
Furthermore, it was an organization almost completely free of interference from the outside world.
Even the royal family did not possess the qualifications to interfere with its internal operations.
And now, with the emergence of the Sun Moon Continent and the rapid development of soul tools, the academy had even begun opening specialized fields related to soul tool engineering as well.
Its management philosophy could roughly be summarized as: from the students, for the students, limited to the students.
Yeah, it was basically that famous "student council decides everything" system often seen in Western fantasy stories.
Lu Sheng had also been surprised when he first heard about it.
But strangely enough, this was precisely the point that caught his attention the most.
Walking through the forest, Lu Sheng casually picked another 10,000-year-old rare herb along the way as he noticed several carriages moving far off in the distance.
That alone indicated there was likely a road not too far from his current location.
The feeling of having moved another step closer to his destination without getting lost immediately lifted his mood.
A smile could not help but appear on his face.
"Great! The path I took was really a shortcut."
Lu Sheng said confidently as he continued walking forward through the forest.
After walking for almost an hour, he finally slowed his steps and stopped briefly.
Taking out a folded map from his storage soul tool, he opened it while leisurely continuing forward.
The map itself was fairly detailed, containing not only the nearby roads and outer forest regions surrounding Qinglong City, but even markings for rivers, villages, herb gathering points, and several dangerous spirit beast territories.
His gaze quickly landed on one particular location.
"A river should be somewhere nearby…"
He muttered softly while comparing the surrounding terrain to the rough sketches drawn across the parchment.
The forest around him was dense and quiet.
Towering trees stretched high into the sky, their overlapping canopies blocking out large portions of sunlight while casting shifting shadows across the ground below.
Occasional bird cries echoed through the woods, while the distant rustling of leaves drifted gently alongside the breeze.
Lu Sheng slowly closed his eyes.
A faint trace of soul power quietly circulated through his body before flowing upward toward his ears.
The next moment—
The world around him suddenly changed.
Rustling leaves.
Insects crawling beneath tree bark.
Bird wings flapping dozens of meters away.
Even the subtle movement of branches brushing against one another became incomparably clear within his perception.
His hearing expanded outward rapidly like invisible ripples spreading through the forest.
Then—
Grugle… Grugle…
A faint, flowing sound entered his ears.
Lu Sheng's eyes opened instantly.
"There."
Without hesitation, he adjusted his direction and began moving toward the source of the sound.
The deeper he walked, the clearer the noise of flowing water became.
Soon, the dense forest gradually began to thin out.
Soft sunlight poured through the gaps ahead, while the refreshing scent of water drifted gently through the air.
Then the river finally entered his sight.
The stream stretched gracefully through the forest like a flowing ribbon of crystal, its clear waters reflecting countless fragments of sunlight beneath the afternoon sky.
Smooth stones rested beneath the shallow current while clusters of pale blue flowers bloomed naturally along the riverbanks, their petals swaying softly beside the flowing water.
The river itself carried faint traces of spiritual energy, producing tiny shimmering ripples whenever the breeze brushed across its surface.
Several silver fish occasionally leaped from the water before disappearing once more beneath the flowing current.
It was peaceful.
Beautiful.
Yet what truly caught Lu Sheng's attention was not the scenery itself.
But the two small figures are currently playing near the center of the river.
One of them was a fair-skinned little girl with long pale blue hair cascading down her back like flowing silk beneath the sunlight.
Her eyes were an exceptionally clear shade of blue, pure and bright like polished gemstones resting beneath clear water.
What stood out most, however, was the faint crystalline shimmer hidden within her pupils whenever light reflected across them, giving her gaze an almost unreal clarity.
Her appearance was delicate and gentle, carrying a naturally soft aura that made her seem quiet and well-mannered at first glance.
Even her movements while splashing water felt restrained and graceful.
Beside her stood another little girl whose appearance contrasted sharply with the first.
Her skin carried a healthy wheat-colored complexion that glowed beautifully beneath the sunlight, while her long black hair shimmered with a smooth, lustrous sheen whenever she moved.
Compared to the quiet gentleness of the blue-haired girl, this one radiated an entirely different temperament.
Bright, Lively.
And somewhat Mischievous.
A playful grin constantly rested on her face as she splashed water around recklessly, occasionally laughing while trying to drag the other girl deeper into the river.
Her eyes carried a boldness and confidence uncommon for children her age, making her feel far more outspoken and energetic.
Both girls were already exceptionally beautiful.
But what caused him to pause was not that.
It was the fact that both of them appeared to be just around six years old.
"..."
Then a strange thought surfaced silently within his mind.
'Why do I suddenly feel like I've just encountered future heroines of this plot?'