The Master Has Arrived? Make Him Wait

The next day, the atmosphere at Nuoding Academy underwent a subtle change.

On the way to the cafeteria, the small group formed by Lin Xi, Tang San, and Xiao Wu seemed to carry an invisible force field around them. Whether they were upperclassmen or freshmen of the same year, students instinctively moved aside whenever they saw them, then watched from afar with gazes mixed with awe, curiosity, and fear.

Whispers never ceased, yet the moment the three drew near, they vanished instantly.

"Lin Xi, look at them. Every one of them looks like they've seen a ghost." Xiao Wu clung to Lin Xi's arm and muttered quietly, her big eyes full of novelty and pride. "I heard that Suo Tuo's family came and took him away overnight. He transferred schools! Serves him right!"

She had seen it clearly yesterday—when Suo Tuo was carried away, his pants had been soaked.

Tang San walked on the other side, his gaze calm but more thoughtful than usual. Looking at the composed Lin Xi beside him, he still could not erase the blood-red Soul Ring from the square last night from his mind.

"Level 2 Soul Power, a Waste Spirit called Silver Needle..." he spoke softly, as though talking to himself, yet also as though asking her a question. "You hid yourself well."

Lin Xi did not stop walking as she answered blandly, "It wasn't really hiding. I just remembered yesterday that I seemed to be... pretty strong."

She said it so casually that the corner of Tang San's eye twitched slightly.

Remembered?

Could one gain power capable of overturning the world simply by "remembering" it?

He increasingly felt that Lin Xi's origins might be even more bizarre than his own as a transmigrator carrying memories from a past life.

Xiao Wu did not care about any of that. She only knew that her friend was the strongest. "Exactly! Our Lin Xi was strong to begin with! She's not some Waste Spirit like they said!"

The three sat down in a corner of the cafeteria, and a large area around them immediately emptied out.

No one dared to approach.

A monster with a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring at the age of six—never mind sharing a table with her, even standing too close made people feel short of breath.

Halfway through their meal, a middle-aged man in an academy teacher's uniform came running over, drenched in sweat. He stopped three meters away from their table and did not dare come any closer. His face was piled with a fawning smile as he spoke cautiously.

"L-Lin Xi."

Lin Xi raised her eyes, her cool gaze falling upon him.

The teacher immediately felt a chill rise from the soles of his feet, and his legs nearly gave out beneath him. He hurriedly bowed, lowering himself as much as possible. "The Dean... the Dean requests your presence. A... a distinguished guest wishes to meet you."

"A distinguished guest?" Xiao Wu asked curiously.

The teacher swallowed, his voice trembling with excitement. "It's... it's Master! Master Yu Xiaogang! He heard about what happened to you and rushed over from another city overnight. He arrived at the academy at daybreak!"

Yu Xiaogang?

Tang San's hand paused slightly around his chopsticks, and a complicated emotion flashed through his eyes.

He had originally held some respect for this Master, who had proposed the theory that there were no useless spirits, only useless Soul Masters. But now, the living counterexample to that theory was sitting right beside him.

Lin Xi wiped the corner of her mouth with a napkin, her movements unhurried. Without even looking at the teacher, she merely said to Tang San and Xiao Wu:

"I'm done eating. Let's go back to the dormitory."

With that, she rose to her feet and walked straight past the teacher as if he did not exist.

"Huh?" Xiao Wu froze for a moment before hurriedly following. "Lin Xi, aren't we going to meet that Master?"

Tang San also set down his bowl and chopsticks, silently following behind them.

The teacher was completely dumbfounded, frozen in place.

What was going on?

That was Master Yu Xiaogang! A figure hailed as the foremost authority in Spirit Theory! Countless Soul Masters could only dream of meeting him once!

And now that Master had personally come to see her, this little girl... simply ignored him?

"Lin Xi! Lin Xi!" He hurriedly chased after them and blocked the three's path, his face flushed red with anxiety. "That's Master! He..."

Lin Xi stopped walking and finally looked at him directly.

There was not the slightest emotion in those eyes. They were as still as a pool of bottomless cold water, and every word the teacher had prepared caught in his throat.

"Make him wait."

Lin Xi said only those four words before walking around him and continuing onward.

Her voice was not loud, yet it carried an unquestionable authority.

Have her go meet Yu Xiaogang?

No.

Now, it was Yu Xiaogang who wanted to meet her.

Who was active and who was passive had to be made clear from the very beginning.

The system's mission was [The Disruptor of Theory], not [Master's Admirer]. What she needed to do was overturn that theoretical monument of the old era, not look up at it.

Watching Lin Xi's retreating figure, the teacher stood there in a daze, his mind completely blank.

Madness.

This world had truly gone mad.

Inside the Dean's office.

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

A middle-aged man of average build and ordinary appearance, with a stiff expression but a stubborn fire burning in his eyes, paced back and forth through the room with his hands behind his back.

He was Yu Xiaogang.

The night before, in a tavern in a small town, he had heard an utterly absurd rumor.

At Nuoding City Junior Soul Master Academy, a six-year-old girl had awakened her Martial Soul with a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring already attached.

His first reaction had been: Utter nonsense!

It completely defied the system of Spirit Theory he had built through a lifetime of painstaking work! Soul Rings had to be obtained by hunting Soul Beasts—this was an ironclad rule of the Douluo Continent!

Yet the rumors had only grown more widespread, and the details had become increasingly clear.

Level-two Innate Soul Power, a Silver Needle Martial Soul, instantly defeating a Wolf Spirit Soul Master with level-six Soul Power, and suppressing everyone present the moment the red ring appeared.

Every detail struck his heart like a heavy hammer.

He could no longer sit still.

He had hired a carriage overnight and rushed to Nuoding City like a madman.

He had to see it with his own eyes! If it was true, then his life's research—his prized "Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul"—would become the greatest joke in the world!

"Master, please don't worry. I've already sent someone to fetch her." The Dean of Nuoding Academy, a somewhat plump-looking Soul King, stood beside him with a forced smile.

His own heart was in turmoil as well. Yu Xiaogang's arrival should have been the academy's highest honor, yet now he felt as though he were accompanying a volcano on the verge of eruption.

Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.

The teacher who had gone to fetch Lin Xi stumbled into the room, his face deathly pale.

"D-Dean..."

"Where is she? Did you bring her?" the Dean hurriedly asked.

With a thud, the teacher dropped to his knees. His voice trembled as if he were about to cry. "She... she said... Master... should wait."

"What?!"

The Dean and Yu Xiaogang spoke at the same time, their faces filled with shock.

The Dean was stunned by Lin Xi's outrageous audacity.

As for Yu Xiaogang, after his brief astonishment, the stubborn fire in his eyes burned even brighter.

Arrogant!

What staggering arrogance!

But she had the right to be arrogant.

A child with a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring—her very existence was a challenge to the rules of the entire world.

"Good. Very good. 'Let him wait.'" Rather than becoming angry, Yu Xiaogang laughed, though his smile looked worse than crying. He abruptly turned to the Dean. "Take me to her dormitory! I'll go see her myself!"

He could not wait any longer.

Every second was agony to him.

The towering structure of theory in his heart was already covered in cracks. He desperately needed to find something to support it—or... watch it collapse completely.