Clearly, just moments ago, he had said something akin to "You walk your own path, and I'll walk mine," yet now he was adopting the demeanor of a master.
However... You Chen was indeed somewhat exasperated, unable to control his impulse to vent his emotions towards Qian Renxue.
In hindsight, demanding the seventh ring to be a hundred thousand years was not absolutely necessary for someone like Qian Renxue, who was born bound to the divine test and whose Martial Soul's origin had reached its limit from the very beginning.
But this represented You Chen's pursuit of completeness, extremity, and perfection.
At 11 years old, he obtained the fourth ring with a breakthrough of twenty thousand years to reach level 45; at 13, the fifth ring with a breakthrough of fifty thousand years to reach level 55; at 15, the sixth ring with a breakthrough of eighty thousand years to reach level 63; and at 18, the seventh ring with a breakthrough of a hundred thousand years to reach level 75!
This was You Chen's initial expectation for Qian Renxue!
At 18 years old and level 75, she had a real chance of breaking through to Titled Douluo before the age of 25!
And if Qian Daoliu had been perceptive enough to initiate the divine test right after Qian Renxue became a Soul Saint, this timeline could have been significantly shortened!
Looking at the original work, Qian Renxue took five years to complete the divine test and inherit a divine position from Soul Saint level!
Qian Renxue had every hope of becoming a god at 25, just like the original Tang San!
This year, Qian Renxue happened to be 25, which meant that, under You Chen's planned route, she should have already become a god by now! (PS: Qian Renxue's age has some discrepancies with the original work; please consider it a butterfly effect.)
The Soul Master competition hadn't even started, and an unrestricted final boss had already fully grown. What was Tang San supposed to do then?
And what was the result? A perfectly good start had inexplicably collapsed.
One can only imagine You Chen's inner turmoil at that moment.
He once thought he had moved on, but it wasn't until he met Qian Renxue again that he realized he had never truly let go.
Not just because Qian Renxue had inadvertently disrupted his plans against Bibidong, but also because the disciple before him was a spiritual projection of his past self, the one without talent, the one who walked the path of perfection, the perfect work he had poured all his efforts into during that time.
And this perfect work had been destroyed by the work itself.
At 13 years old and level 28, considering that the higher one goes as a Soul Master, the slower the level increases, averaging two levels a year was not too slow.
But the problem was... according to You Chen's plan, Qian Renxue's years for each ring far exceeded those of an ordinary Soul Master, and the cultivation she could gain from absorbing Spirit Rings was not something others could compare to.
In the old era, an ordinary Soul Master at the third, fourth, and fifth rings would only gain about three additional levels of soul power, while the new era Soul Masters were much stronger, gaining about six to seven additional levels of soul power.
And what about Qian Renxue? She had at least an additional ten levels of soul power!
Even if we take the minimum into account, that would mean she was at level 18 after 13 years, averaging less than 1.4 levels of soul power per year... Who could she complain to about that?
Of course, even so, it was still much faster than the Qian Renxue in the original work. That version reached level 75 only at 29 or 30 years old.
Older and with a lower soul power level! This made the gap even larger.
Qian Renxue lowered her head, left speechless by You Chen's reprimand.
To reach the optimal limit that You Chen required when adding each Spirit Ring, there were high demands for the level of soul power refinement, physical training, and Divine Power tempering.
Busy with political affairs and neglecting her training, Qian Renxue could not meet the extreme standards You Chen had initially set.
She had only recently left the Martial Soul Hall after obtaining the fifth ring, and her various qualities had not fallen behind, allowing her to smoothly add a fifty-thousand-year Spirit Ring.
The sixth ring was much worse, as she only added a Spirit Ring of over sixty thousand years. Considering her average cultivation speed of 1.4 levels per year, it meant she would need to train for an additional year to catch up.
One misstep leads to another.
With such a significant gap in the sixth ring's enhancement, she would need to spend more time training to make up for it.
By the time Qian Renxue normally cultivated to level 70, the calculated optimal Spirit Ring age would be around seventy-five thousand years.
The higher the soul power level, the greater the speed difference in refining soul power.
Yet Qian Renxue lacked the patience to train for another five or six years at this level 70 bottleneck; with that time, she could have broken through to Soul Douluo five years earlier.
Due to occasional sparring and battle rehabilitation with Serpent Spear Douluo and Spiny Seahorse Douluo, Qian Renxue felt her strength had far surpassed that of any Soul Master in this world, making it unnecessary to deliberately pursue extremes.
After all, even if she casually absorbed a Spirit Ring of several tens of thousands of years for her seventh ring, no one could defeat her at the same level, and as long as she trained step by step, she could become a Titled Douluo. Why bother with such trivial details?
Thus, Qian Renxue chose to break through directly.
And now, this once inconsequential detail had become a boomerang that struck her on the head.
She realized she couldn't even defeat her teacher, who had originally been talentless, and was completely crushed and overwhelmed at the same level.
Her teacher had effectively proven that he was still her teacher.
Seeing Qian Renxue's expression of distress, pain, guilt, and regret, You Chen finally calmed down.
The simple emotional outburst could end here.
What remained, naturally, was... precise calculation.
"However, it doesn't matter."
You Chen suddenly smiled.
He reached out and summoned You Xing, who had unknowingly approached and had been watching the show for a long time.
You Chen patted You Xing's shoulder and gave Qian Renxue a radiant, fatherly smile: "Because I have already found someone to replace you, someone who will truly carry forward my ideals! Little Xue, you just need to strive towards your goals! I and your junior brother will also work hard towards our goals!"
You Xing stepped forward at the right moment and slightly bowed to Qian Renxue: "Sorry, Senior Sister. My earlier words were a bit harsh; please don't take them to heart."
Qian Renxue's heart jolted; she then realized that You Xing had been standing there, fully aware of her earlier disgrace in front of her teacher.
Some expressions could be shown to the teacher, but Qian Renxue could not accept being seen by others.
Even if this person was her nominal junior brother, the child of her teacher.
She wanted to turn this around and question her teacher, but the earlier direct criticism that struck at her sore spot made it impossible for her to say such unreasonable things; the "pressure from the teacher" made it hard for her to breathe.
"N-no, it's fine... I didn't take it to heart."
Qian Renxue forced a smile.
She felt as if her heart had suddenly become riddled with holes.
Clearly smiling on her face, yet she couldn't suppress the surging hatred towards this "adorable" junior brother, who resembled her teacher in appearance and conformed to her aesthetic.
'Have I been replaced? I am no longer needed by the teacher? I... have been abandoned by the teacher?'
The unembodied Angel Spirit, its sacred feathers quietly stained with a hint of black in a place unseen by Qian Renxue.
Qian Renxue's soul power faintly surged with the impulse to explode, but she ultimately suppressed this impulse.
Because she understood a principle...
'It is not the teacher who has abandoned me, but rather... I have abandoned the teacher. Therefore, I have no reason to be angry with the teacher or this child.'
Rationality, morality, and emotion clashed.
Qian Renxue could only silently grip her own arms, using pain to suppress her unwillingness and resentment.
"Alright. Xue'er, you wanted to 'have a good talk'... I have satisfied you."
You Chen put on a facade of having done something very magnanimous and said solemnly: "So, I hope such things do not happen again in the future. You have important tasks to complete, right? You have sacrificed your youth and talent to accomplish them. Therefore, you should not engage in activities like tracking me."
Qian Renxue's pupils constricted; to protect her heart from further injury and fragmentation, she reflexively argued: "Teacher, you, you are the one who is entangled with that SkyNet Organization, right? It is reasonable for me to track down the members of such a dark and dangerous organization appearing in the Heaven Dou Imperial City, isn't it? No, wait..."
Her eyes regained their divine light as she spoke sharply: "There is no masked killer at all, Teacher... you are the heavenly-level assassin of the SkyNet Organization, the one who orchestrated last year's turmoil behind the scenes, aren't you!?"
This conclusion was not difficult to reach.
Initially, Qian Renxue had doubts about the sudden emergence of a character called "You Chen's father."
And after personally experiencing You Chen's power, such doubts naturally resolved themselves.
"Yes, so what?" You Chen unhesitatingly admitted.
In response, Qian Renxue was somewhat shocked and confused, unable to accept it, and blurted out: "Teacher, have you really betrayed the Martial Soul Hall!? Why would you do something that damages the reputation of the Martial Soul Hall!?"
You Chen looked at Qian Renxue with a gaze filled with disappointment and questioned her in return: "After so many years immersed in the political circles of Heaven Dou, can't you realize that what I am doing is actually beneficial to you in every way? Otherwise, do you think your grandfather has never intervened except for that one time Bibidong went berserk? Qian Renxue!"
You Chen deliberately emphasized Qian Renxue's name and said in a deep voice: "Do you truly not understand, or are you pretending not to understand? If you truly have the awareness to step onto this thorny path, as your teacher, though I do not approve, I can only wish you well. But to abandon so many things and still be so naive and childish, doing things that make no sense... You are merely a half-hearted person, whether in cultivation or in usurpation, aren't you?"
Faced with this soul-searching question, Qian Renxue could not make any rebuttal, standing there like a colorless painting, dazed for a long time before coming back to her senses.
But by the time she regained her composure, You Chen had already taken You Xing and flown off to who knows where.
"Half-hearted? Me? Am I just a half-hearted person?"
Qian Renxue's face twisted, and she let out a beast-like roar in emotional collapse: "Doesn't that mean that my more than twenty years of life have been nothing but a pure joke!?"
Fortunately, the power of words alone was not enough to shatter Qian Renxue.
Instead, it strengthened her resolve.
Or rather... it forced her to walk even more resolutely down her path.
She raised her head and firmly spoke to herself: "Teacher, I will prove it to you. I will show you that I am definitely not a half-hearted person; my path... is absolutely correct!"
Qian Renxue finally recalled her two loyal subordinates and quickly flew along the previous route to search for them.
Soon, she discovered Serpent Spear Douluo and Spiny Seahorse Douluo one after the other.
What relieved Qian Renxue was that both of them, just as You Chen had said, though seriously injured, were not in any danger of losing their lives.
Under her Angel Domain and the healing of her third soul skill, Holy Light, they quickly regained their senses.
"Young Master... are you alright?"
"That's great!"
The two Titled Douluo exclaimed with joy.
Qian Renxue looked at them, revealing a guilty expression: "I'm sorry, Ci Xue, She Long, it was my recklessness that led you to this situation."
Serpent Spear Douluo shook his head firmly, glaring as he said: "It is our failure to protect you! How dare You Chen treat the Young Master so roughly! Next time, next time, I and Old Ci will definitely fight back and make that guy You Chen pay for it!"
"That's not necessary."
Qian Renxue smiled gently and explained: "It was right for the teacher to reprimand me. While you were unconscious, I had a good heart-to-heart with him. He actually didn't do anything to me; the reason he was so harsh with you was to warn us about tracking them, and also because you exposed your murderous intent towards You Xing... my junior brother, so he lightly punished you."
Serpent Spear Douluo's eyes widened: "This, this is called a light punishment?"
"Old She!"
Spiny Seahorse Douluo shouted, stopping Serpent Spear Douluo from continuing, and approvingly said to Qian Renxue: "Just as the Young Master said, Grandmaster You Chen indeed held back against us. Otherwise, do you think Grandmaster You Chen would need to use such troublesome techniques to defeat me? Just look at how many soul skills Grandmaster You Chen has used from start to finish?"
"This..."
Serpent Spear Douluo scratched his head in confusion: "It does seem to be the case?"
Spiny Seahorse Douluo silently breathed a sigh of relief.
This was none of our business; the matters between the master and disciple were not for us two subordinates to interfere with.
Usually, looking at the Young Master with the perspective of an elder, one wouldn't really consider oneself an elder, thinking that if one's granddaughter was beaten, one would want to retaliate?
That would be somewhat unclear about one's own position.
The smooth and slick Spiny Seahorse Douluo thought to himself.
Seeing that both of them had mostly recovered, Qian Renxue said: "From now on, do not concern yourselves with the SkyNet Organization. Let us focus all our thoughts on our original matters. Also..."
Qian Renxue emphasized her tone and said sternly: "Do not report today's events, as well as the situation regarding the teacher's strength, to my grandfather!"
"Huh?"
Serpent Spear Douluo's gaze wandered: "What report? Young Master, we have always been your people."
Qian Renxue: "..."
Faced with Qian Renxue's death glare, Spiny Seahorse Douluo coughed and forcefully slapped Serpent Spear Douluo on the head, responding: "Young Master, we understand."
"You bastard, Old She, why did you hit my head? This old injury hasn't healed, and now I've got a new one!"
"I hit you because you deserved it."
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