Driven by curiosity, Qian Xunji pressed Bibi Dong for answers. Unfortunately, Bibi Dong was just as curious about what Yu Xiaogang and the others had actually encountered during their journey.
The only thing she had personally experienced—the Spirit Bone treasure map—could not be mentioned because of the Spirit Vow.
As a result, Bibi Dong claimed that she knew nothing about what had happened.
This infuriated Qian Xunji so much that he nearly lost his temper.
"You've been traveling with them for so long, and you're telling me you don't know anything?"
"You truly are my good disciple."
Qian Xunji's expression turned cold.
"I couldn't help it. I only followed them because I was curious about Yu Xiaogang's ten-thousand-year Third Spirit Ring."
"Besides, even if I wanted to go with them, they wouldn't have taken me along."
Bibi Dong spread her hands helplessly.
"Fine. I won't hold this against you this time. Since you weren't injured, going out for a walk can be considered a good thing."
Qian Xunji nodded, but his thoughts had already shifted toward how he could uncover the secrets of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect.
Bibi Dong clearly realized what her teacher was planning, so she immediately spoke up.
"Teacher, let's make this clear first. If you want to investigate the secrets of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, that's fine. But you cannot use me as your excuse."
After all, she had voluntarily followed Yu Xiaogang and the others on this journey.
If her teacher used that as an excuse to punish her, then in the future, whenever she wanted to travel with Yu Xiaogang or accompany someone else, they could use the same reason to stop her.
"Very well."
Qian Xunji remained silent for a moment before finally nodding.
As the Supreme Pontiff of Spirit Hall, he had plenty of reasons and methods at his disposal. He truly did not need to use his own disciple as an excuse.
Unfortunately, after being beaten by Yu Yuanzhen and hearing the words of his own father, Qian Xunji realized that his options had suddenly become very limited.
He could not use any darker methods, while Yu Xiaogang had already proven that neither coercion nor inducement would work on him.
Therefore, the only legitimate reason Qian Xunji could currently use was this matter.
In the end, he directly broke his agreement with his disciple and used the very excuse he had promised not to use to make things difficult for Yu Xiaogang.
"Go stand aside. Right now, I am the Supreme Pontiff, not your teacher."
Qian Xunji merely glanced at Bibi Dong as he spoke.
Bibi Dong clenched her fists after being ordered away. Her eyes were filled with dissatisfaction toward her teacher.
Unfortunately, she was currently only a Spirit Elder and had no ability to interfere.
In the end, she could only step aside.
Yu Xiaogang, who was standing below, noticed the dissatisfaction in Bibi Dong's eyes.
He immediately began considering whether he should turn Bibi Dong against Qian Xunji when he eventually sought revenge on the Supreme Pontiff.
Although Yu Xiaogang had never personally experienced the consequences of a rebellious disciple turning against their teacher, he had heard plenty of stories about such things.
It was time to plant the seeds for a future betrayal of his Supreme Pontiff teacher.
Of course, that was something for the future.
For now, he still needed to deal with the problem in front of him—Qian Xunji.
"So, His Holiness the Pope is planning to lock me up directly?"
Qian Xunji sat upright on the throne and calmly adjusted his clothes.
"Heh. You can also have your father take you away. I won't stop you. But as long as you still want to learn the knowledge of Spirit Hall, you must abide by the rules here."
"Fine. Then I won't learn for now."
Yu Xiaogang shrugged indifferently.
"Hmm?"
Yu Xiaogang's answer was completely beyond Qian Xunji's expectations.
His hands paused for a moment.
He had never expected Yu Xiaogang to actually choose the first option.
Yu Xiaogang had come to Spirit City specifically to learn the knowledge preserved by Spirit Hall.
Yet now, he was saying that he would simply stop learning.
What did this mean?
"Are you sure?"
"Of course. Otherwise, do you expect me to stop cultivating for five years?"
Yu Xiaogang replied calmly.
Five years.
That was a golden period for a Spirit Master.
Even Yu Xiaogang could not predict how powerful he would become after five years of cultivation.
As for losing the opportunity to learn everything about the Light Attribute from Spirit Hall...
Yu Xiaogang smiled.
He had already obtained his Fourth Spirit Ring, and with it came the Spirit Ability—Light-Dark Conversion.
This ability had introduced him to the Dark Attribute.
On the journey back to Spirit City, Yu Xiaogang had experimented with his new Spirit Ability and reached an important conclusion.
His Light-Dark Conversion was not an ordinary ability that simply switched his attribute during battle before automatically returning him to his original state afterward.
Instead, the Spirit Ability consumed a certain amount of spirit power and completely transformed his attribute into the Dark Attribute.
Once the conversion was complete, he would remain in the Dark Attribute state unless he actively converted himself back.
In other words, if Yu Xiaogang wanted to, he could abandon his study of the Light Attribute from now on and completely devote himself to researching the Dark Attribute.
Although he had not decided to do that yet, Yu Xiaogang knew that he would eventually have to take this path.
Because he had thought of a terrifying possibility.
With the Spirit Ability Light-Dark Conversion, which could completely transform his attribute, what would happen when he obtained new Spirit Rings in the future?
Would he still be restricted to choosing Spirit Rings from Light Attribute Spirit Beasts?
Or could he also choose Spirit Rings from Dark Attribute Spirit Beasts?
This question was worth serious consideration.
If his theory was correct and he could obtain Spirit Rings from Dark Attribute Spirit Beasts, then the impact on his future Spirit Ring choices would be enormous.
His selection pool would expand by an unimaginable amount.
More importantly, Light and Dark were opposing attributes.
Their characteristics were fundamentally different.
What the Light Attribute possessed, the Dark Attribute might completely lack.
Likewise, the Dark Attribute possessed abilities that the Light Attribute could not replicate.
For example, many Light Attribute Spirit Beasts possessed abilities such as purification, healing, and amplification.
Dark Attribute Spirit Beasts, on the other hand, often possessed abilities related to curses, erosion, weakening, and similar effects.
Suppose Yu Xiaogang obtained a Dark Attribute Spirit Ring whose Spirit Ability was a curse.
If he then converted himself into the Light Attribute, would that same Spirit Ability also undergo an attribute transformation?
If so, the result would be a Light Attribute curse.
Yu Xiaogang could not help but imagine the scene.
Who would have thought that the words "Light Attribute" and "curse" could be placed together?
The possibilities were simply too frightening.
Of course, such power would naturally come with a price.
The Dark Attribute was completely opposite to the Light Attribute, and its characteristics were fundamentally different.
Therefore, once Yu Xiaogang began studying the Dark Attribute seriously, much of the knowledge he had accumulated in the past would no longer be directly applicable.
That was a troublesome problem.
It meant that he would have to spend an enormous amount of time in the future learning and researching everything related to the Dark Attribute.
But right now, Yu Xiaogang already had far too many things to deal with.
He had to continue researching Self-Created Spirit Abilities.
He needed to study Spirit Bones.
He had to research the Light of Spirit and the Light of Matter.
He even needed to complete the final synthesis of the two.
If he added Dark Attribute research to all of that, many of his previous projects would have to be repeated from the beginning.
Just thinking about it made Yu Xiaogang feel like he was going bald.
And that wasn't all.
His daily spirit power cultivation and combat training could not be neglected either.
To put it bluntly, Yu Xiaogang could already foresee what his future would look like.
He was destined to spend his days working endlessly.
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