Jiang Chen felt a bit awkward. Having him live together with Hu Liena?
He wasn't a real child, after all.
"Teacher, can I live by myself?" he asked cautiously.
Bibi Dong smiled and said, "You're still young. For now, live with your Sister Nana. That way, she can take care of you."
"But..."
Hu Liena saw Jiang Chen's somewhat frightened expression and immediately found it amusing. She pulled him over and hugged him.
"Relax, are you really afraid your senior sister will eat you?" Amid her charming laughter, her intangible allure intensified. Jiang Chen's face reddened, and he hurriedly broke free.
"I'm really afraid this vixen will eat me," he muttered inwardly.
Unfortunately, no matter how much he protested, Bibi Dong and Hu Liena refused to give in, leaving him extremely frustrated.
...
The caravan took two days to reach Notting City. The return trip to Spirit City was slower, and it took three more days before they finally arrived at Spirit City.
Spirit City couldn't compare in size to the capitals of the two great empires, but the scale of its buildings was truly shocking.
The city walls alone were enough to leave Jiang Chen in awe—over eighty meters tall and thirty meters thick, built entirely from solid granite.
Once inside Spirit City, Hu Liena began introducing everything to Jiang Chen.
The entire city was hexagonal in shape, with six gates. Soul Masters patrolled the walls at all times.
The streets inside the city were extremely wide, with very few pedestrians. Even the scarce shops sold only items needed by soul masters.
After entering the city, Jiang Chen stuck his head out the carriage window. He discovered that Spirit City had been built surrounding a hill.
Atop that hill stood two extremely prominent buildings. The one halfway up the slope was extraordinarily majestic.
From Hu Liena's explanation, he learned that this resplendent, gold-and-jade structure was the Pope's Palace, where the Pope normally resided.
And as the Pope's disciples, both he and Hu Liena also lived there.
The other, slightly smaller building stood at the summit, entirely pure white like jade. This was the Douluo Palace, the spiritual home of soul masters. Only the deceased Title Douluo could reside within; in other words, it was the mausoleum of Title Douluo.
Even the Pope had no right to step inside; at most, she could only pay respects at the entrance.
The soul masters on the streets all had extremely devout expressions. Jiang Chen also sensed an unusual aura here, perhaps due to the presence of the Douluo Palace; it was the faith in the hearts of soul masters.
Hu Liena continued, "Little Chen, inside our Pope's Palace, there's also an Elder Hall. That's where the elders live. They are all Title Douluo-level powerhouses. Some of the elders have very strange tempers, so don't wander around in there in the future, got it?"
Jiang Chen nodded. "Got it."
In his heart, though, he thought: "The Grand Elder should be Qian Daoliu. I wonder if he's in the Elder Hall? And Qian Renxue, I wonder if she's still in Spirit Hall. If she is, she should be living in the Elder Hall too."
When they reached the foot of the mountain, Hu Liena and Jiang Chen got out of the carriage. Bibi Dong instructed Hu Liena to buy some daily necessities for Jiang Chen.
The clothes Jiang Chen was wearing were truly too shabby. He was still in his Notting Academy uniform, which had many holes torn by Tang San's Blue Silver Grass.
Even the clothes in his storage ring were very worn out; some even had patches. Those were the ones old Jack had bought for him back then. He couldn't bear to throw them away, after all, being far from home, those clothes were a memento.
When he came out of the changing room, he looked like a completely different person.
Though still young, his appearance was already exceptionally outstanding. The ragged clothes had hidden it before, but now, dressed in luxurious robes, even Hu Liena, who had very high standards, couldn't help but brighten up.
"Not bad, not bad!" She kept nodding in approval and unsparingly bought more than a dozen sets of clothes for Jiang Chen all at once.
After leaving the clothing store, Hu Liena looked him over, shook her head, and dragged him to a hair salon.
Jiang Chen was helpless. He felt like a marionette, letting Hu Liena arrange him however she pleased.
Two hours later, Hu Liena finally nodded in satisfaction. She looked at Jiang Chen as if admiring her own creation.
Jiang Chen gave a wry smile. With such a perfectionist senior sister, his days ahead weren't going to be easy.
Now, from head to toe, he had been completely transformed.
His tousled black short hair, eyes as bright and dark as black gems, a face that already showed some sharp angles despite his youth, and noble attire, in just two hours, he looked like an entirely different person.
Hu Liena kept nodding, her eyes shining. She took Jiang Chen's hand and said, "From now on, dress like this, okay?"
Jiang Chen helplessly nodded. Fortunately, Hu Liena hadn't dressed him in women's clothing; otherwise, that would have been disastrous.
"Let's go." Hu Liena took Jiang Chen's hand and headed up the mountain.
A staircase fully thirty meters wide stretched down from the Pope's Palace halfway up the slope. Looking up from the base of the mountain, it resembled a ladder to the heavens.
Security here was extremely tight. Every guard exuded a powerful aura, giving Jiang Chen the feeling that they were unfathomably deep.
These people all recognized Hu Liena and did not stop them.
Walking up the stone steps, both were soul masters, so they felt no fatigue.
"Senior Sister, does our Spirit Hall have an academy?" Jiang Chen asked.
"Yes, the Spirit Hall Academy is the strongest academy on the entire continent. Every edition of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament has been won by our Spirit Hall Academy. Your senior sister here will probably go there to study in a little while."
"What about me? How will the teacher arrange things for me?" Jiang Chen asked.
Hu Liena thought for a moment and said, "After I leave, you should follow the teacher in your studies. After all, you haven't yet met the Spirit Hall Academy's enrollment requirements."
"What are the requirements?" Jiang Chen asked curiously.
After all, this academy that claimed to be the strongest surely had extremely strict entry conditions.
"Before the age of thirteen, your rank must reach level twenty or above."
Jiang Chen was somewhat surprised. This enrollment condition was actually the same as Shrek Academy's.
"That's not a low requirement. Can they even recruit students?"
"Of course they can." Hu Liena smiled. "As the strongest academy, the Spirit Hall Academy recruits large numbers of genius students every year. Even your senior sister, when I go there later, wouldn't dare claim to be the most talented."
"I believe in you. After cultivating with the teacher for a few years, you'll definitely be able to enter the Spirit Hall Academy too."
More than ten minutes later, they finally finished climbing the steps and entered the majestic and spectacular Pope's Palace.
The Pope's Palace had multiple areas: the grand assembly hall, the Pope's sleeping chambers, and, deeper inside, the Elder Hall, as well as many cultivation grounds.
"Senior Sister, where do we live?" Jiang Chen asked in confusion, noticing that Hu Liena hadn't mentioned their residence.
"As the Teacher's disciples, of course, we live in the Pope's sleeping chambers," Hu Liena said with a smile.
A moment later, when Jiang Chen saw the pink, dreamlike room, he was completely stunned.