Today was the day enrollment began at Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy. Xiang Yang had started cultivating early in the morning, and after refining several more portions of sunlight energy, he felt that his Soul Power had increased considerably. At this rate, he would reach level two in three or four months. That speed was comparable to Innate Full Soul Power, provided someone with Innate Full Soul Power could start cultivating from level one.
He went to the flower shop and helped with the work. After things quieted down and they finished lunch, Xiang Huo once again carried Lin Ping's luggage on his back and took both of them to the academy.
They walked and chatted, and just as they were about to pass the corner ahead, words like "impostor" and "forged" suddenly reached them. Xiang Yang had a strange sense of déjà vu and hurried forward. Sure enough, the gatekeeper was trying to extort an old man and a boy a little shorter than Xiang Yang.
So this was... Tang San's first step on the path to death? It certainly looked like it. "What's wrong? What happened, mister gatekeeper?" Xiang Yang asked as he walked over, despite knowing full well what was happening. He caught the attention of all three, and they turned to look at him. Xiang Yang also got a look at "Tang San" from the front: black hair, delicate features, and rather worn clothes. Together with this scene, there was probably no mistake.
Come to think of it, Xiang Yang had considered asking about him in advance, but the risks and rewards were clearly disproportionate. He only had to wait to meet him anyway, so a little sooner or later made no difference.
In Tang San's eyes, he had already noticed the curly-haired boy's footsteps, but he had sensed no threat and paid them no mind. Could he be a student here? He didn't look very strong, though his appearance gave him the upright air of the great wandering heroes from his previous life.
"Ah, it's you. Uh, these two say he has Blue Silver Grass with Innate Full Soul Power. How could that be possible? It must be forged!" the gatekeeper insisted. "But this is a certificate from the Spirit Hall. It can't be wrong. If you don't believe me, I'll take you to see Su Grandmaster at the Spirit Hall Branch," said the old man, Jack, in great agitation.
Xiang Yang had no intention of judging the matter. Instead, he said, "May I take a look?"
Tang San asked in puzzlement, "Who are you?"
"I'm a new student this year too. I just registered early, so this mister knows me."
"You can have a look. Help me make it clear to him that this is a certificate from the Spirit Hall. It can't be wrong." Hearing that Xiang Yang was also an academy student, Jack handed it over. But Xiang Yang didn't even look at it. He turned around, took out Lin Ping's Martial Soul certificate, and handed both to the gatekeeper. "Here, make sure you look carefully this time."
What? Jack had no idea what he was doing, but Tang San missed none of it. He clearly saw Xiang Yang slip two Copper Soul Coins between the certificates.
Tang San felt somewhat disdainful. Of course he knew that the King of Hell was easy to deal with, while his little demons were hard to handle, but he placed greater faith in the Tang Sect's Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record: if others did not offend him, he would not offend them; if they did, he would repay them with thunder. Though he did not know what powerful people existed in this world, he was confident he could take the gatekeeper's life with Hidden Weapons without anyone noticing.
Sure enough, the gatekeeper took the certificates and felt them, then stepped aside. "Oh, I didn't see clearly just now. See? With another one to compare it to, I can see it clearly. I'm terribly sorry. Come, come, please go in." In truth, he didn't think much of two Copper Soul Coins, but he couldn't very well let the old man go to the Spirit Hall to find a Lord Soul Master. If he actually brought someone back, the gatekeeper was just an ordinary man and absolutely couldn't bear the consequences. Given a way to save face, he quickly took it. Even without the money, he had been preparing to let them in.
Xiang Yang was also curious about what the man was thinking. An ordinary person wanted to make trouble for students who could cultivate into Soul Masters—wasn't he afraid they would get revenge later? Besides, in the original story, if not for Yu Xiaogang, he would have met his end right there.
"Little San, you must cultivate hard..." After a few parting words, Village Chief Jack headed back to Holy Soul Village. If he walked quickly now, he could get back before noon. He couldn't afford the things sold in the city.
And so Tang San followed Xiang Yang and the others to register, then headed for the dormitory. "All work-study students live in Dorm Seven. The teacher there will arrange work for you."
When they came out, Xiang Yang, who had been waiting outside, said, "Come on, I'll take you to the dormitory."
Xiang Yang's intervention had clearly changed some things about what had just happened. Still, as he saw it, there was no way Yu Xiaogang could fail to notice a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul with Innate Full Soul Power, so the outcome wouldn't change.
Tang San, meanwhile, had reached the first layer of the Mysterious Heaven Skill and had sharp eyes and ears. He heard the teachers inside saying, "There are actually two with Blue Silver Grass this time, and one of them even has Innate Full Soul Power. What a pity."
"Yeah, but no matter what, he can obtain a Soul Ring right away. He shouldn't have any trouble cultivating to level twenty or thirty." "A Blue Silver Grass Soul Skill? Hahaha." There were other remarks along those lines.
A pity? Is a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul really that bad? Why does everyone keep saying that? I'll cultivate and show you all. Tang San disagreed. He had the Mysterious Heaven Skill, so it didn't matter how poor his Martial Soul was. Besides, he also had a hammer Martial Soul.
"Dorm Seven is just ahead." Xiang Yang's voice brought Tang San back to his senses. "Dorm Seven has no restrictions on age or gender. All the work-study students live here."
No restrictions on gender? This... well, everyone's a child. The oldest is only twelve, so it's no big deal. Tang San made no comment.
"By the way, your name is Tang San, right? I'm Xiang Yang, and this is my cousin Lin Ping. Her Martial Soul is similar to yours—ordinary Blue Silver Grass." Xiang Huo hadn't come in with them this time, and Xiang Yang could carry Lin Ping's luggage himself.
"Hello, and thank you for what you did just now. But what do you mean by similar?" Tang San narrowed his eyes slightly, keenly detecting the implication in his words. Could it be?
"Because of your Innate Full Soul Power, of course. Generally speaking, you only have Soul Power if your Martial Soul is strong enough. Conversely, if your Innate Soul Power is high enough, your Martial Soul can't be too bad."
Xiang Yang casually revealed knowledge that most people didn't know and wouldn't bother to learn. "A real Trash Martial Soul should be... uh, never mind. As long as you understand what I mean. A lot of people don't pay much attention to theoretical knowledge."
How did this world develop, anyway? The Spirit Hall has existed for over two thousand years, not to mention the tens of thousands of years before that. Could a supernatural power system really have such a huge effect on the development of civilization?
Lin Ping: What's wrong? What happened? Why is this boy looking at me?
Hearing these claims, which were completely different from what everyone else said, Tang San was surprised but even more puzzled. "Then how do you know all this?"
"I told him. I'd like to talk to you. May I?" Yu Xiaogang walked over from the direction of the academic affairs office, his gaze fixed on Tang San with a certain intensity.
Whoa! He had expected the outcome to remain unchanged, but he hadn't expected him to come so quickly. "Hello, Grandmaster. You two talk. I'll take her to the dormitory first." Naturally, Xiang Yang wasn't going to be a third wheel here. He might as well help the little girl get her things put away first.
"Grandmaster?" With a title like that, he must be someone people admire and respect, Tang San thought.
"Yes. I merely published a few articles, and everyone was kind enough to give me that title." He paused, then continued, "Little Yang didn't fully see through your situation just now, but I know..."
The moment Xiang Yang entered, he saw Xiao Wu beating a tiger—er, no, she was beating Wang Sheng. "Boss, someone else is here! Go get them!" Seeing the newcomers, Wang Sheng, who had bruises all over his face and body, knew he couldn't hold out. He immediately called her boss and tried to divert the trouble elsewhere.
"Hm?" The little girl in pink, with two rabbit-ear ornaments on her head, turned around. Her eyes lit up when she saw Xiang Yang and Lin Ping, and she charged over. "Wait!"
Seeing that Xiao Wu had already raised her hand, he hurriedly stopped her. With the body he had trained over the past few years, he could only show off in the village. He absolutely couldn't take on Xiao Wu, who had level-ten Soul Power and possibly even more. "I'm not a work-study student. I'm here to bring my little sister over. She only has half a level of Soul Power, so she's definitely no match for you."
Xiang Yang retreated with the little girl as he told Xiao Wu about her. "Oh, I see, but...?" Xiao Wu hesitated and turned to glance at Wang Sheng. Did she have to fight someone with half a level of Soul Power too?
"Uh, all right, then. She just has to acknowledge Xiao Wu as the boss of Dorm Seven." Wang Sheng didn't care about any of that as long as he didn't have to get beaten. But the little girl looked so weak that he decided to forget it. He didn't want anything to happen to her.
"Mm, no problem." Xiang Yang patted Lin Ping to prompt her. "H-hello, Boss Xiao Wu." She was a little nervous; she hadn't expected to run into something like this as soon as she arrived.
Wang Sheng could tell the girls had misunderstood, so he hurriedly lifted his shirt, revealing quite a few bruises on his body and arms. He said with a wry smile, "Being boss isn't a good job. I got these when I arrived at the academy yesterday. All of us work-study students come from poor backgrounds, and the students in the other dorms often bully us. The dorm boss has to stand up for the brothers, so naturally, the stronger the better."
"Oh, so that's how it is." That was what Xiao Wu and Lin Ping said, but they clearly hadn't understood. Xiang Yang didn't have much to say about it. It was bullying, and it was common everywhere. He didn't have a good solution either. In any case, with Xiao Wu and Tang San's strength, those students were nothing. The two of them would protect Dorm Seven.
Xiang Yang and Lin Ping found an empty bed and put down her luggage. They began unpacking and were finished in no time. Xiao Wu sat idly on the edge of a bed, watching him lay out Lin Ping's clean, neat bedding. Then she looked at her own little bundle and fell somewhat silent.
Wang Sheng and a few others watched, then stepped forward. "Boss, use mine for now." "Give mine to the boss. I can share with Xiao Ming." "Right, right, right."
"Stop, stop, stop! You're so noisy! Don't call me boss. All of you, call me Sister Xiao Wu." Their chattering gave her a headache, and when she saw their tattered, patched-up quilts, she felt a little disdainful but also a little touched.
"How about this?" Xiang Yang stepped forward with an idea. "Push that bed over and put it next to Lin Ping's. You two can share one quilt for now. Once you have money later, you can buy a set."
Lin Ping's bedding had been made large from the start because she would be living here for six years. It hadn't cost much more anyway, and it was more than enough for two six-year-old girls to share. Besides, judging by Xiao Wu's expression and the original story, she probably had the same idea, so he might as well suggest it himself.
"Ah, really?" Xiao Wu was pleasantly surprised. She had indeed been thinking the same thing, but hadn't figured out how to say it.
"Mm, mm, that's fine." Lin Ping didn't know why her cousin was doing this, but her mother had told her before they left to listen to him in everything. Besides, her cousin was a "child prodigy" in the village, so listening to him couldn't be wrong.
"Yay!" Xiao Wu jumped excitedly a few times, then pushed the bed beside her over. "Wait, we're not ready on this side yet." Xiang Yang felt a little helpless. This Xiao Wu really was... sigh...
"Hehe."
After a flurry of work, they had just finished when they heard the door open. They turned to see Tang San carrying a set of bedding. It seemed there had been no surprises after all.
Xiang Yang walked over and whispered a few words in Tang San's ear. Tang San hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "All right." One less problem was better than one more, and he had no desire to be boss anyway.
What happened after that was out of Xiang Yang's hands. When he returned to his room, he saw that quite a few people had arrived, but nearly half the beds were still empty. Although it was only noon, from what Xiang Yang knew, there probably wouldn't be many more arrivals. Soul Masters were just that scarce. He had heard that Nuoding Academy's student dormitories were almost never full, and each year group had consistently had around forty students.
Everyone exchanged brief greetings and gave their names, Martial Souls, and Soul Power. This was more or less standard etiquette on Douluo Continent. The one with the highest Innate Soul Power was Chen Zexi, who was at level three and had a lizard Martial Soul with no elemental attributes.
Soon it was lunchtime. Several of Xiang Yang's dormmates had heard that he had arrived at the academy some time before them, so they all wanted to go with him.
On the way, they happened to run into Tang San, Xiao Wu, Wang Sheng, and the others. Xiao Wu walked at the front holding Lin Ping's hand and glanced back from time to time. It seemed they were getting along quite well.