"Any girl in your family?" Lin Yu's eyes sparkled upon hearing Zhu Xuanfeng's words in the reception hall, and he asked calmly, a slight grin tugging at his lips.
"Of course!" Zhu Xuanfeng hesitated for a moment at Lin Yu's question but quickly smiled and responded decisively.
"Alright! If you agree to marry Zhu Zhuqing to me, then I'll naturally become part of the Ghostly Spirit Cat Clan," Lin Yu said, his smile growing more sinister.
Zhu Xuanfeng sighed inwardly at Lin Yu's response. He had expected this—he knew about Lin Yu's interest in his younger daughter, Zhu Zhuqing. But there was a problem: Zhu Zhuqing was already engaged to the third prince of the royal family.
"Lin Yu, I know you're fond of Zhuqing, but she's already engaged to the third prince. There's no way she can marry you," Zhu Xuanfeng said with a deep sigh as he looked at Lin Yu. "There are plenty of fine girls in the Ghostly Spirit Cat Clan. Why not reconsider? You could even choose more than one if you'd like!"
"No need! I only want Zhuqing. As for her engagement to Dai Mubai, once the live streams reveal his actions, he's as good as dead. Does that engagement even matter anymore?" Lin Yu shook his head, dismissing Zhu Xuanfeng's suggestion, and laid out his plan. Both Tang San and Dai Mubai were fated to die under his hands, and their agreements meant nothing.
Zhu Xuanfeng could only offer a wry smile. He knew Dai Mubai's days were numbered, but this engagement wasn't just a personal matter; it involved the royal family's reputation. Breaking it now would surely provoke the wrath of the imperial court. But then again, Zhu Xuanfeng had a realization: even if he didn't agree, once Lin Yu had grown strong enough, he could simply take Zhuqing away, and no one—not even him—could stop it.
With that thought, Zhu Xuanfeng found himself at a loss.
"Lin Yu, truth be told, I don't think Dai Mubai is worthy of Zhuqing either. Even the livestream showed that he'd abandon her in the future. The fool has yet to learn his lesson and ran off, leaving Zhuqing behind in Xingluo Imperial City."
"I'm not exactly comfortable giving Zhuqing to him, but handing her to you, well, that's something I'd feel better about. The only issue is her engagement to Dai Mubai. It's tied to the face of our Xingluo Empire's royal family. If I were to openly give Zhuqing to you now, it could cause major problems. How about this: I'll secretly betroth Zhuqing to you, but your relationship will have to remain under wraps until Dai Mubai is dead. What do you say?"
Lin Yu shrugged indifferently. "Fine, but in that case, tell Zhu Zhuyun to stop targeting Zhuqing. They're no longer rivals after all."
"Agreed!" Zhu Xuanfeng smiled, pleased with the arrangement.
After reaching this agreement, Zhu Xuanfeng relayed the news to Zhu Zhuyun, who begrudgingly stopped her harassment of Zhuqing. While she was shocked to learn that her father had secretly dissolved Zhuqing's engagement to Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuyun was pragmatic. As the future princess of the Xingluo Empire, she knew the stronger the Ghostly Spirit Cat Clan grew, the better it would be for her future. And besides, royal reputation wasn't her concern.
After this sixteenth live stream, the following six months saw four more live stream question-and-answer sessions, spaced out by one month each.
These streams focused on hard topics like history, geography, and soul-beast knowledge. This wasn't Lin Yu's forte. Though he had a Taiqing Avatar studying day and night in the Spirit Hall's archives and was absorbing the wealth of knowledge from the Ghostly Spirit Cat Clan's library, time was still too short. He'd only been in the Spirit Hall for a little over a year and in the Ghostly Clan for less than six months.
Thanks to the genetic martial arts system from Swallowed Star, Lin Yu's body and brain were enhanced beyond the norm, giving him a photographic memory. But even so, a year's worth of study wasn't enough to match the top factions, who had scholars on hand to answer questions directly from their libraries during the streams.
Thus, out of the four quizzes, Lin Yu managed to win only once.
In the first quiz, Spirit Hall took first place, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan came second, and the Heaven Dou Royal Family took third. In the second quiz, the Xingluo Royal Family claimed first place, followed by Spirit Hall and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. It was only during the third quiz that Lin Yu secured first place. Spirit Hall took second, and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan came third again. In the fourth quiz, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan took first place, followed by Spirit Hall and the Dragon Serpent Clan.
For winning first place in the third quiz, Lin Yu was awarded a random hundred-thousand-year spirit ring. However, Lin Yu had the option to choose a specific spirit skill. At his current power level of 70, adding the hundred-thousand-year ring to his Chaos Green Lotus martial spirit would propel him to the Soul Saint level.
But Lin Yu wasn't in a hurry. The reward of being able to select a spirit skill was useful for his other martial spirits as well. After all, while the Chaos Green Lotus martial spirit's skills were fixed, his other two spirits—the Golden Dragon Spirit and the Dual Pupils Martial Soul—had no such constraints. For now, Lin Yu decided to hold off on using the reward until he could determine which martial spirit it would best benefit.
And so, the next six months passed by.
The gap between the eleventh and twenty-second livestream was set to be six months, leaving Lin Yu with four months before the next one. However, during this time, Lin Yu received a message from his Taiqing Avatar. Spirit Hall was preparing to send a team, including him and Hu Liena, on a mission to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan for an exchange program.
The news left Lin Yu deep in thought.