Nuoding Academy Could No Longer Hold You

Yu Xiaogang knelt on the training grounds like a weathered stone statue.

The two questions Lin Xi had left him with echoed over and over in his mind.

The feasibility of awakening a second martial soul?

Could the second Soul Ring exceed the first Soul Ring's age by twice as much?

This...

This was no longer mere subversion.

This was creation!

This was challenging the underlying logic of the world!

According to his former theories, this was utter nonsense—the ravings of a madman.

But the one who had said it was Lin Xi.

A godlike being who could personally "customize" Soul Rings and kill a Soul Ancestor with a glance.

Her words were an oracle.

If a god said it was possible—

Then it had to be possible!

It was only that he, a tiny ant, had yet to find the path to the divine hall.

"Possible... It must be possible..."

Yu Xiaogang murmured to himself. The bloodshot veins in his eyes faded, replaced by the near-mad fervor of a researcher.

He abruptly scrambled to his feet. Without even bothering to greet the Dean in the distance, he rushed back to his little wooden cabin like a madman.

He had to research it!

He had to shatter and reconstruct every piece of knowledge he possessed!

Within the framework Teacher Lin Xi had laid out, he had to deduce even the slightest possibility of reaching the divine realm!

Watching Yu Xiaogang's crazed retreating figure, the Dean of Nuoding Academy wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

He walked to where Lin Xi had just stood, as though he could still feel that icy aura.

"Just who... is this little ancestor?"

He turned to his Director of Studies.

"Go investigate! Turn Holy Soul Village upside down! I want to know everything about her!"

"And! Starting today, raise the meal standards for every work-study student in Dorm Seven to those of noble students! No! Make them even better!"

"Student Lin Xi, Student Tang San, and Student Xiao Wu—meet all their needs in the academy unconditionally!"

"Anyone who dares provoke them will be expelled immediately! Do you hear me?!"

"Yes! Yes, Dean!"

The Director of Studies nodded frantically and hurried off to make the arrangements.

In the cafeteria.

Lin Xi, Tang San, and Xiao Wu received treatment unlike anything they had ever known.

The cafeteria chef personally prepared special dishes for them, serving steaming meat porridge, buns, and all kinds of exquisite side dishes.

The surrounding students, commoners and nobles alike, kept far away from their table, watching them with reverence, curiosity, and fear.

"Wow! Lin Xi, look, there are meat buns!"

Xiao Wu's attention was quickly captured by the food.

She picked up a steaming bun and took a huge bite, happily narrowing her eyes.

Tang San silently ate his breakfast as well.

He could sense that the atmosphere throughout the academy had changed.

Before, they had been work-study students from Dorm Seven, at the very bottom of the academy's hierarchy.

Now, they had become people no one dared look directly at.

This change had taken only a single day.

And everything had happened because of Lin Xi.

"Lin Xi, was what you said earlier true?"

Tang San took a sip of porridge and asked quietly.

"What?"

"A second martial soul, and the age of the second Soul Ring."

Light flickered in Tang San's eyes.

Because he had a second martial soul.

That pitch-black little hammer slumbering in his left hand.

"Of course it's true."

Lin Xi tore off a small piece of steamed bun and leisurely put it into her mouth.

"With me, there is no 'impossible.'"

"There is only whether your bodies can withstand it."

Tang San's heart lurched.

He understood the implication behind Lin Xi's words.

She seemed to have a way to make all of that happen.

"After breakfast, go to the back mountain."

Lin Xi suddenly spoke.

"I'll show you just what your First Soul Skill can truly do."

"Alright!"

Tang San's eyes were filled with anticipation.

After breakfast, the three of them arrived at the academy's back mountain.

This was an area specifically opened up by the academy for students to practice their Soul Skills.

"Little San, hurry! Let me see your Divine Grace Parasite!"

Xiao Wu was even more excited than Tang San. She pointed at a waist-high boulder in the distance.

"Try seeing if you can suck it dry!"

Tang San gave a wry smile.

"Xiao Wu, my Soul Skill can only affect living things."

"Oh... I see." Xiao Wu looked a little disappointed.

"Use it on that."

Lin Xi pointed at a withered tree nearby.

That tree had been dead for many years. Its trunk was shriveled, its bark had fallen away, and only bare branches remained.

"But... that's dead too." Xiao Wu was confused.

"Try it," Lin Xi said.

Tang San nodded. Although he did not understand either, he would carry out Lin Xi's words without question.

He took a deep breath and activated the Soul Power within him.

The yellow Thousand-Year Soul Ring suddenly lit up.

"First Soul Skill, Blue Silver: Divine Grace Parasite!"

Several Blue Silver Grass vines, now incomparably thick and streaked with golden patterns, burst from the ground beneath his feet and coiled around the withered tree.

Fine roots extended from the tips of the Blue Silver Grass and pierced into the dried-up trunk.

"Reverse it."

Lin Xi's calm voice rang out.

Tang San's thoughts shifted.

Rather than devouring it, he tried channeling the life energy within his body through the Blue Silver Grass and into the withered tree.

A miracle happened.

The long-dead withered tree began to change at a visible rate upon coming into contact with that pure life energy!

Its shriveled trunk gradually became full once more.

Tiny fresh green buds appeared on the bare branches!

A breeze swept by.

The buds grew in the wind, rapidly unfurling into emerald-green leaves!

In just over ten seconds—

A withered tree had come back to life!

"Wow!!!"

Xiao Wu's mouth fell into an O shape. She rubbed her eyes, hardly daring to believe what she was seeing.

"It... it came alive! Little San! You brought it back to life!"

Tang San himself was stunned.

He could feel that nearly a third of the Soul Power in his body had been consumed.

But looking at the tree before him, now brimming with life again, he felt that it had all been worth it.

Divine Grace.

This was the true meaning of "Divine Grace"!

"How does it feel?" Lin Xi asked.

"Very strange."

Tang San withdrew his Soul Skill and felt the changes in his body.

"I can sense that while healing it, it's also feeding back a kind of... very pure energy to me, energy that belongs to nature."

"This energy seems to accelerate the recovery of my Soul Power."

"Not bad."

Lin Xi nodded.

"Your Blue Silver Emperor is fundamentally a controller of life and nature."

"Devouring is merely its most basic use."

"Creation is its true origin."

"Remember, water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. Power itself has no good or evil."

"Good and evil lie only in the heart of the one who uses it."

Tang San fell into thought.

He felt that his understanding of martial souls and power had deepened once more.

Just then, several people dressed in academy instructor uniforms hurried over.

The one leading them was the academy Dean.

"L-Lin Xi!"

The Dean ran up to the three of them, panting heavily, his face piled with a fawning smile.

"The three of you are... enjoying yourselves!"

He glanced at the tree, now covered in green leaves once more. A flash of shock crossed his eyes, but he quickly concealed it.

Lin Xi merely glanced at him without speaking.

The Dean was not embarrassed. Rubbing his hands together, he said, "Um... Student Lin Xi, I heard from Master Yu Xiaogang that you... are planning to leave Nuoding Academy?"

His tone was filled with reluctance and... panic.

What a joke. A true god had appeared in the academy, and he had not even had the chance to properly worship her, much less use this favorable wind to turn Nuoding Academy into the number one academy on the continent.

How could he let her leave just like that?

"Yes."

Lin Xi's answer was simple and direct.

"Don't go, Student Lin Xi!"

The Dean panicked.

"Has the academy failed to accommodate you in some way? Just say the word! We'll fix it immediately!"

"Are you dissatisfied with the lodging? I'll clear out the academy's finest suite for you at once!"

"Are you dissatisfied with the food? I'll invite the best chef from Suotuo City immediately!"

"No." Lin Xi interrupted him.

"This place is too small."

She raised her head and looked at Nuoding Academy's somewhat old teaching buildings.

"Small?" The Dean was taken aback.

"Nuoding Academy can no longer hold us."

Lin Xi spoke calmly.

"Our next stop is Shrek Academy in Suotuo City."

Shrek Academy?

The Dean and the several instructors behind him were all stunned.

They looked at one another, their eyes full of bewilderment.

What kind of academy was that?

How had they never heard of it?