Brother Tao's Chance at a Promotion

"Innate Full Soul Power? That's wonderful! Report it straight away. You might even get promoted to a junior bishop later."

"Wait."

Su Yuntao glanced around, shut the door behind him, and leaned close to Sisi's ear, lowering his voice. "Listen, the problem is his Martial Soul!"

Su Yuntao slumped back into his chair and pointed at Cai Kun's paper, his face full of frustration.

"That kid Cai Kun's Martial Soul is a hunk of metal nobody has ever seen before. It has no blade, nor any sign of life. It's hard and heavy, but it's also ridiculously fast."

"The strangest thing is, the Soul Power ball showed zero Soul Power the first two times he was tested, but on the third try, he suddenly burst out with full Soul Power at rank ten!"

"His Martial Soul is too strange. It's the first time I've ever seen one, and even if I wrote it down, I doubt anyone would believe me. They might think I made it up to claim credit and turn around and punish me!"

"But I can't make his Martial Soul sound too ordinary, either. Nobody would believe a hunk of metal that runs fast. And there's also a Blue Silver Grass with Innate Full Soul Power here. Two geniuses at once. If the people above saw that and came down to investigate, they'd probably steal the credit."

"So I need to write a report that won't let the people above steal the credit, but will still make sure the Pope finds out."

Sisi blinked at the sight of Su Yuntao so anxious he was practically jumping up and down, then couldn't help bursting into laughter.

She reached out a fair finger and poked him on the forehead, saying irritably:

"You usually seem pretty shrewd, so why do you turn into a block of wood when something important comes up? What are you afraid of? What's real can't be made fake, and what's fake can't be made real."

Su Yuntao rubbed his forehead, looking puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"If words can't describe it accurately, can't you draw it?"

Sisi pulled over a sheet of scrap paper and spoke unhurriedly.

"Words can distort things, but its appearance can't be faked."

"Draw exactly what it looks like, its shape and size, on an extra sheet. Note beside it how fast it moves and how hard the material is."

"Once the file is put together and sent off, those people above will certainly think the Martial Soul is strange. They won't take it seriously, but they won't think it's fake, either. There are countless Martial Souls in the world, in every shape and form. They won't dare take responsibility for a decision, so they can only keep passing it up. They won't come down to investigate, either. After all, they're 'busy.'"

"If it's real, they can share in the glory and claim credit for recognizing talent. If it's fake, they'll just push the blame onto our branch hall. I can even guess their excuse: their eyes played tricks on them, and they were careless for a moment. At most, His Holiness the Pope will scold them, and the responsibility will be ours."

"But His Holiness the Pope is knowledgeable and experienced and has read Spirit Hall's secret records spanning thousands of years. There isn't a Martial Soul under heaven that His Holiness the Pope wouldn't recognize."

"As long as the drawing is accurate, His Holiness will understand everything at a glance. Why would you need to dress up your words?"

Su Yuntao's whole body jolted as he listened, and his eyes lit up.

In any case, the people above were all the same, every one of them a superior looking down on others, every one an old fox. When they saw such a strange and unusual Martial Soul, one they had never seen before, with Innate Full Soul Power revealed only on the third test, they were too arrogant to come down and certainly wouldn't reject it, for fear it was real. With something unconfirmed like this, they would be even less likely to come down and steal the credit.

Then he could use those two accomplishments to request a promotion and transfer, and take his girlfriend Sisi to Heaven Dou City to buy a house, get married, and live well.

He slapped his thigh, excitedly swept Sisi into his arms, and squeezed her tight.

"Brilliant! Sisi, you're my lucky star!"

Sisi let out a soft grunt as he squeezed her. Her cheeks reddened as she pushed him away and chided him.

"All right, all right, keep your hands to yourself. Why aren't you getting a pen and drawing?"

Su Yuntao's face stiffened. He picked up a quill and cleared his throat twice.

"Ahem... Sisi, you know my hands. Aside from tearing prey apart, when it comes to holding a pen and drawing... my work really isn't fit to be seen."

He casually drew a couple of lines on a scrap of paper. They were crooked and twisted like two dead loaches.

Sisi rolled her eyes prettily, then pulled over a chair and sat down with a helpless sigh.

"Move, I'll draw it! Tell me everything exactly as it was. If you miss the tiniest detail, I'll skin you."

"You got it!"

Su Yuntao hurriedly brought her some warm water, then stood behind her, gesturing animatedly.

"It's long overall, with tapered ends and very smooth lines. The whole thing is covered in cold, matte white-gold metal!"

"The front slopes slightly downward, like a falcon's beak. There are two recessed grooves on the sides, glowing white..."

Holding a fine charcoal pencil, Sisi carefully sketched on the paper as Su Yuntao described it.

Half an hour passed.

On the paper, a miniature High-Speed Train cab appeared, its sharp angles giving it a cold, industrial look.

Su Yuntao leaned in and studied it for a long while, nodding repeatedly. "Yes! That's the weird metal box! Exactly right, down to the smallest detail!"

After finishing the drawing, Su Yuntao opened his inner pocket and took out the stiff paper card Cai Kun had slipped him.

It showed Cai Kun grinning broadly, with Su Yuntao looking completely bewildered beside him.

Looking at the exquisitely crafted image, Su Yuntao gritted his teeth and pasted the photograph in the bottom corner of the extra sheet. Beside it, he wrote a line in heavy strokes:

[Respected bishops and His Holiness the Pope, the child beside me in this picture is Cai Kun. I am Su Yuntao, the Soul Master who guided him. The drawing above is his Martial Soul. My knowledge is limited, and I truly cannot tell whether it is a Mutated Martial Soul or some new Martial Soul. If any of you know, please inform me, and I will bring him over at once.]

"Done!"

Su Yuntao let out a long breath, and his gaze returned to Tang San's file. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to send it along too.

Perhaps the people above would notice something special about it?

Su Yuntao swiftly put the two files together, sealed them with melted red wax, and stamped them with his personal deacon's seal.

"Come on, let's get the old hall master Ma Xiunuo to put the official seal on them, then send someone to deliver them to Spirit City at once!"

At the same moment, behind the main teaching building at Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy.

Cai Kun strolled along the flagstones with his backpack on.

Tang San followed half a step behind, carrying the two sets of coarse-cloth bedding Yu Xiaogang had given him.

After passing through a dim, damp corridor, the two stopped in front of an old wooden door.

The wooden sign above the doorframe was mottled and peeling, but the words "Dorm Seven" could just be made out in black.

Before Cai Kun could reach out to push the door open, a chaotic burst of angry curses and the sounds of bodies colliding erupted from within!

Bang!!

The entire door flew wide open!

Two boys in short coarse-cloth outfits were sent flying backward out of the room. They slid four or five meters across the floor tiles, clutching their stomachs and howling in pain.

Right on their heels, a petite figure in pink spun down into the doorway.

A long scorpion-tail braid whipped through the air with a sharp whistle.

She was a little girl of about six or seven (actual age: 100,000+), with a pretty face as fair and soft as jade and large, bright eyes full of slyness. On her feet was a pair of clean little leather boots.

That was right. It was Xiao Wu, known as the perverted hooligan rabbit.

As soon as the two entered, they saw Xiao Wu beating people up.

At that moment, her slender leg was planted on the chest of a sturdily built boy.

The tall boy on the floor had a bruised and swollen face and bloody froth spilling from his mouth. He was Wang Sheng, the former boss of Dorm Seven.

"Do you submit? If you don't, get up and keep fighting!"

Xiao Wu planted her hands on her slender waist, her rosy cheeks puffing out slightly. Her voice was full of unreasonable domineeringness.

"From now on, I, Sister Xiao Wu, have the final say in Dorm Seven!"

Wang Sheng sucked in a breath of cold air from the pain and hurriedly begged for mercy. "I submit, I submit! Sister Xiao Wu, please show mercy!"

Having finished beating them up, Xiao Wu dusted off her hands and was about to turn around when her nose suddenly twitched.

She turned her head, and her gaze instantly locked onto Cai Kun and Tang San at the door.

"Huh? Two more newcomers?"

Xiao Wu folded her arms across her chest and lifted her chin slightly, the corners of her mouth curling up eagerly.

"According to Dorm Seven's rules, newcomers have to exchange a few moves."

"Which of you two wants to come up first and let me beat you up?"