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Chapter 62: Jing Ziyan
To be honest, Xuan Ziwen was feeling rarely discouraged.
He had always been easygoing, but deep down he carried his own pride. He had always believed that even among the entire Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy, he was undoubtedly a top-tier genius.
But now…
Seeing his slightly dejected expression, Bai Chen narrowed his eyes and reminded him:
"Teacher Xuan, I was only able to achieve this because I used forged metals. If you were the one using them, you could definitely make soul tools beyond your normal level as well."
Bai Chen knew his own situation better than anyone.
The reason he could produce such astonishing results came from three main factors.
First, as a transmigrator, he possessed the mentality of an adult from the start. While other children were still clinging to their parents, he had already begun self-studying soul tools.
Second, his martial soul gave him an advantage. A powerful martial soul definitely helped when crafting soul tools. His Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff wasn't the strongest type for this, but it still provided a clear boost.
Third, Thousand-Refined metals allowed him to attempt extremely bold designs, forcibly raising the upper limit of what he could create.
Without those three advantages, his talent in soul engineering would actually be inferior to Xuan Ziwen's—only the level of a conventional genius.
However, Xuan Ziwen simply shook his head with a bitter smile.
"No need to comfort me. It seems I was just too arrogant before. I still have a lot of room to improve."
Then he suddenly slapped his own cheeks lightly and regained his energy.
"In that case, since your level is already this high, we can skip the basic lessons. Come on—let's begin the class."
Thus began Xuan Ziwen's secret lessons.
Each time Xuan Ziwen finished teaching Bai Chen new soul tool knowledge, Bai Chen would then teach him forging techniques in return.
Through these sessions, Bai Chen truly experienced what it meant to meet a real genius.
Xuan Ziwen's teaching was filled with wild imagination and creativity.
His inspiration seemed endless. Many of his ideas were even ahead of the current era.
Occasionally, Bai Chen would introduce concepts from the future era of Douluo technology, and Xuan Ziwen would absorb them at an astonishing speed.
Bai Chen couldn't help but admire him sincerely.
At the same time, Xuan Ziwen was becoming more and more impressed with Bai Chen.
In his eyes, this child named Bai Chen possessed talent equal to his own.
Not only could he follow Xuan Ziwen's train of thought, he often proposed ideas that Xuan Ziwen had never considered before.
To Xuan Ziwen, many of those ideas held epoch-making potential. If realized, they could bring tremendous change to society.
At times, he even felt that exchanging his lessons for Bai Chen's forging techniques was too unfair.
To be honest, even if Bai Chen hadn't taught him forging at all, he would still have been happy to teach him.
Because during these lessons, Xuan Ziwen constantly gained rare flashes of inspiration.
However, unlike Bai Chen, Xuan Ziwen suffered quite a bit when learning forging.
Forging was a craft that heavily depended on basic physical foundations.
And Xuan Ziwen's cultivation had been raised through medication, leaving his fundamentals almost nonexistent.
The result was tragic.
He couldn't even properly enter the beginner stage.
Fortunately, these setbacks didn't affect the relationship between the two.
After several lessons, Bai Chen and Xuan Ziwen became increasingly close.
So around the fifth session, Bai Chen brought someone else along.
"Is she the young lady you mentioned occasionally?"
Seeing Bai Chen walk into the laboratory holding the hand of a young girl, Xuan Ziwen immediately guessed the answer.
"Correct."
Bai Chen smiled and gently pushed the girl forward.
"Come, Ning Tian. This is the teacher I told you about."
"Mm."
The girl stepped forward with a slightly nervous expression.
"Hello. My name is Ning Tian, the young sect master of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. I've encountered some problems while learning soul tools recently… may I ask for your guidance?"
"…Pfft."
To Ning Tian's surprise, Xuan Ziwen stared at her for a moment—then suddenly burst into laughter.
Her face immediately turned red.
"W-what are you laughing at?!"
Girls tended to have thinner skin, and even though Ning Tian had received elite upbringing, being laughed at like this still made it hard to stay calm.
Luckily, there was no malice in Xuan Ziwen's laughter.
He waved his hand.
"No, no. I just suddenly remembered—this is what a normal six-year-old looks like. Bai Chen is the abnormal one."
After spending so much time with Bai Chen, he had almost forgotten that fact.
Seeing Ning Tian's shy and nervous demeanor reminded him:
Ah… this is what children are normally like.
"You're right!"
Unexpectedly, Ning Tian immediately looked like she had found a kindred spirit.
"Bai Chen isn't normal at all! He cannot represent people our age!"
"Oh?"
Xuan Ziwen glanced at Bai Chen with amusement.
It seemed this girl had also suffered quite a few blows to her confidence from Bai Chen.
Unlike adults, children couldn't easily ignore such differences.
If that was the case…
Xuan Ziwen spread his hands dramatically.
"You have no idea how frustrating it is dealing with him. I rack my brain for an answer, and he solves it effortlessly."
Ning Tian nodded rapidly.
"Exactly!"
"And his talent in soul master cultivation is ridiculous too! What kind of strength is that? Is he even human?"
"Right?!"
"The worst part is he's still not satisfied. Even after all that, he still wants to become even stronger. He's an insatiable monster."
"You're absolutely right!"
"Hey… did you two forget that I'm still standing here?"
Bai Chen complained helplessly as the two "victims" became more and more enthusiastic.
He could tell Xuan Ziwen was intentionally using this to build rapport with Ning Tian.
But somehow… the tone of Xuan Ziwen's complaints sounded a little too genuine.
Before either of them could respond—
Beep.
The laboratory door suddenly opened.
A purple-haired woman walked inside.
"Senior, teacher asked me to come find—"
Her voice abruptly stopped.
Seeing Xuan Ziwen—normally calm and composed—looking more excited than ever before, she blinked in confusion.
Her gaze moved between Xuan Ziwen, Ning Tian, and Bai Chen.
Then she tilted her head.
"…An illegitimate child?"
"HOW DID YOU EVEN COME TO THAT CONCLUSION?!"
Xuan Ziwen's furious roar echoed through the entire laboratory.
The woman who had just entered was none other than Jing Ziyan.