Chapter 10: The True Use of The Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls
"You two play here by yourselves. I'm going upstairs to flip through that pile of dusty old books."
Golden Crocodile Douluo had pretty much finished showing Fan Chen around, and now that these two little ones knew each other, leaving them here was perfect—it saved him from worrying about the boy running off to cause trouble somewhere else.
Once Golden Crocodile Douluo left, only Fan Chen and Qian Renxue remained in the Library.
This was a place very few people ever came to. The younger generation was mostly busy cultivating—anything they needed to learn, there were specialized teachers to instruct them.
As for the older generation, like Qian Daoliu and Golden Crocodile, their knowledge reserves were already massive. Unless necessary, they rarely came here either, and they also had all sorts of other matters to handle.
With an organization as huge as Spirit Hall, there were always new problems cropping up.
And so, the Library had gradually become more of a symbolic landmark—a decorative building that only people with nothing better to do would visit.
People like Fan Chen and Qian Renxue.
"About what happened yesterday… I'm really sorry. Father usually isn't like that. He just hadn't seen you before, so he was a bit harsh."
Qian Renxue hugged Xiao Bai and apologized softly to Fan Chen.
Her gaze dropped, and her arms tightened unconsciously around Xiao Bai, as if she were the one who had done something wrong.
"Why are you apologizing to me? You didn't do anything wrong. If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me."
Fan Chen felt a pang of inexplicable heartache at her reaction.
A child this young forced into such a state… no wonder her future ended in tragedy.
She hadn't done anything wrong, yet she had become the one who suffered the most. This messed-up world really was infuriating.
"It was Xiao Bai's fault yesterday. Xiao Bai didn't mean to rush around like that. Don't be sad, Big Sis."
Xiao Bai seemed to sense Qian Renxue's emotions. As it apologized, it rubbed its soft furry head against her cheek.
The little creature's actions brought a trace of warmth to her. The faint gloom on Qian Renxue's face slowly eased, replaced by a small, gentle smile.
As the daughter of the Pope of Spirit Hall, she had never really had any friends since the day she was born.
Her father was always busy with official duties and rarely had time to accompany her. Her mother, for reasons she didn't understand, showed obvious disgust every time she saw her.
Her grandfather hardly paid attention to her either. Only her Second Grandpa, Golden Crocodile Douluo, and the others would occasionally spare time to take her around for a walk—and even that was limited to within Spirit City.
Fan Chen was her first friend. And her only friend.
She was terrified of losing this friend, which was why she took the initiative to apologize in hopes of keeping him.
Thankfully, Fan Chen didn't blame her and was still willing to be her friend. That made her truly happy.
"Don't you get sleepy reading these kinds of books?"
Fan Chen picked up the book Qian Renxue had just put down and flipped it open.
The dense lines of text instantly made his head ache.
If he kept reading this, he felt like he'd just drop dead right there.
"No, I don't. I spend most of my time here reading. It's good to learn more before my Martial Soul awakens, so Father and Grandfather won't have to worry about me as much."
Hearing that, Fan Chen fell silent.
Wasn't this a bit too sensible?
She was about the same age as him, right?
When he was her age in his previous life, he was still playing in the fields and making mud pies. (In the literal, physical sense.)
"How old are you this year?"
"A few days away from six. Why?"
Qian Renxue blinked curiously at him, not sure what he was getting at.
In the Douluo Continent, one could only awaken their Martial Soul at the age of six. Since she hadn't awakened hers yet, she was unable to cultivate, so she had to pass the time reading here.
"You're not even six yet? Then that makes me older than you. So I'm your big brother—and little sisters have to listen to their big brother, right?"
"...Mm, that's right."
Children were supposed to listen to adults. If he were older, then he was the gege, and she was the meimei. A younger sister listening to her older brother sounded perfectly normal.
At least, that was how it seemed to Qian Renxue at this age.
"So you'll listen to what I say, right?"
"Mm."
She nodded her small head obediently, though her clear, watery eyes were filled with confusion. She had no idea what Fan Chen was trying to do.
"Then let big brother show you something fun."
A mischievous smile tugged at Fan Chen's lips. He turned around and began fiddling with something behind his back.
His mysterious behavior made both Qian Renxue and Xiao Bai crane their necks curiously to peek.
But before she could see clearly what he was doing, Fan Chen turned back around, holding something oddly shaped in his hand.
"Ta-da—paper airplane. Bet you've never seen one of these before."
Fan Chen smiled brightly at Qian Renxue, his hand holding a freshly folded paper airplane.
This was a toy unique to Blue Star; there was no such thing on the Douluo Continent.
"Brother Fan Chen, you just… ripped a book. You're going to get scolded."
Qian Renxue's attention wasn't on the paper airplane at all. Instead, she was startled by the fact that he'd torn up a book.
The Library's books were all collected from various places by Spirit Hall. Even if this was only the outermost floor filled with ordinary-type texts…
Randomly damaging books still felt wrong, no matter how she looked at it.
"It's fine. This book is useless—just a fake that misleads people. Outside, I use this thing to prop up bed legs. No one's going to blame me for this."
He really wasn't lying.
The bed he'd been using before had indeed been propped up using that book.
And the book he'd torn up was none other than the one from before—Yu Xiaogang's The Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls.
Yes, a book with impeccable structural integrity—but utterly worthless in his eyes.
Although much of its content was technically true, all of that had already been recorded in other books long before.
Yu Xiaogang had simply compiled what others wrote, tweaked a few things, and then published it as his own.
In his previous life, this was called academic plagiarism—the kind that would land you in legal trouble.
The Douluo Continent had no explicit laws for such matters, but people weren't stupid.
Most could clearly see what he'd done. If not for his background and connection to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, he would've been beaten to death with sticks long ago.
"So that's how it is?"
"Of course. How could big brother lie to little sister?"
Qian Renxue had never read this book before, and Fan Chen's confident attitude didn't look like he was lying. So she chose to trust him.
"Forget those unimportant things. Let me teach you how to play with this."
Fan Chen focused his "soul power" on the point of the paper airplane.
Then he pinched the little notch underneath and gave it a strong, smooth throw.
The paper airplane soared through the air, gliding gracefully as Qian Renxue watched in amazement.
"Wow, that's amazing. It really flies!"
"Brother Fan Chen, how did you do that?"
Her genuine surprise and admiration made Fan Chen's heart swell. The corners of his mouth were harder to control than the recoil of an AK.
Who could resist the heartfelt praise of a soft, fragrant little sister?
"This is very simple. I'll teach you."
Fan Chen then taught Qian Renxue how to fold a paper airplane step by step, and showed her a few other origami shapes as well.
The two of them played happily, while Xiao Bai also wanted to join in.
Unfortunately, its furry paws were utterly hopeless for folding anything. All it could do was carry around the finished paper creations and play with those.
And just like that, the three little ones had a blast inside the Library.
The only victim was that book, The Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls—the true use of which, clearly, was origami material.
Time always passed quickly when one was having fun. Before they knew it, the sky outside had turned golden with sunset.
Tired out from playing, the three small figures lay down quietly on the floor and fell asleep.
The evening glow of the setting sun shone down on them, bathing them in warm, gentle light.
Golden Crocodile Douluo came down from the upper level's ancient book section at that moment.
He had spent the whole day searching, but still hadn't found what he'd been looking for.
"Sigh… nothing at all. No records anywhere. How am I supposed to teach him like this?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo sighed deeply.
This was his first time taking on a disciple—he really didn't want to lead the boy astray.
"Huh? Why is it so quiet? Don't tell me the brat ran off again?"
Thinking of the trouble Fan Chen had gotten into previously, he quickly headed to where they had parted ways earlier.
When he arrived, he saw the three little ones lying among a pile of books, sleeping peacefully.
The area around them was a mess—torn, scattered book pages everywhere.
"So they were just asleep. No wonder it was so quiet."
He let out a long breath of relief.
As for the ruined books, he couldn't care less. As long as the kids were unharmed, everything else was trivial.
But just as he stepped closer to Fan Chen—
Something miraculous happened.
"This is…!"
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End of Chapter