Poor! But Full of Ambition!

Zhou Qing and Tang San found the shops within the Junior Soul Master Academy.

Just like in his previous life, the Junior Soul Master Academy had shops selling goods. They mainly sold daily necessities, snacks, and wooden weapons such as sabers, spears, swords, and halberds.

Those wooden weapons were for students with corresponding martial souls to practice with.

Since releasing a martial soul consumed Soul Power, students with cold-weapon-type martial souls practiced with wooden weapons before becoming Soul Masters.

As for iron weapons...

Most were classified as restricted weapons. Neither Nuoding City's lord nor the Hall Master of the Spirit Hall Branch permitted such weapons to be sold on the market.

Aside from essential household tools, the only ironware that could be sold in the city was short sabers, short swords, daggers, and the like.

The two each bought two sets of bedding for changing, along with washing supplies, then headed to Dormitory Seven.

Perhaps they had been delayed for a while.

By the time Zhou Qing and Tang San arrived at Dormitory Seven, Xiao Wu, with her long braid, had already gotten there ahead of them and beaten Wang Sheng until his face was bruised and swollen.

"Two more new students?"

Xiao Wu rolled her neck and rubbed her fists, smiling as she said, "Come at me together."

"We came here to study, not to fight." Tang San was momentarily stunned by Xiao Wu's delicate face, but quickly came back to his senses and replied.

"Fine, then call me Sister Xiao Wu, and I'll let you off." Xiao Wu lowered her fists as well, skipping up to the two of them and looking up at them.

Perhaps because they had eaten better, six-year-old Zhou Qing and Tang San had both grown to around 1.56 meters tall, already about the same height as Wang Sheng, who was nearly twelve.

Their faces were simply still rather immature.

"Alright, Sister Xiao Wu."

"Understood, Sister Xiao Wu."

Zhou Qing and Tang San exchanged a glance and immediately called out.

Tang San, in particular, did not know the specifics of why this girl wanted to fight them, but calling her "Sister Xiao Wu" to avoid unnecessary trouble did not seem like a bad thing.

"What's with you two? You're so tall, yet your courage is so small." Xiao Wu pouted, then added, "Still, since you two look about the same as my two little brothers back home, you can be Sister Xiao Wu's followers from now on. Sister Xiao Wu will protect you!"

No!

How do Tang San and I resemble the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape?

Zhou Qing complained inwardly.

"No problem, Sister Xiao Wu. We'll leave looking after us to you from now on." While saying flattering words, Zhou Qing found empty beds with Tang San and began tidying them up.

Seeing this, Xiao Wu suddenly remembered that she seemed not to have any bedding.

Wang Sheng, his face bruised and swollen, immediately tried to curry favor with her, saying that he could give his bedding to Xiao Wu.

The other Work-Study Students also hurriedly carried over their own bedding.

But compared to Zhou Qing and Tang San's two new sets of bedding, the Work-Study Students' bedding looked as though it had been dug out of a garbage heap. Though clean, it was yellowed, blackened, and wrinkled.

Naturally, Xiao Wu did not think much of it.

So she walked over to Zhou Qing and Tang San and asked, "You two seem to know each other. How about lending me one set of bedding, then pushing your beds together and sharing one set?"

"Hm?"

Zhou Qing asked, "You don't have any money?"

"Uh... no." Only then did Xiao Wu realize that in the human world, everything had to be bought with things like soul coins. She shook her head and said sweetly, "That's why I'm borrowing from you."

"If you don't have any money at all, you probably won't even be able to buy food from the cafeteria before the academy assigns you work as a Work-Study Student. You'll have to go hungry." Zhou Qing put on a pitiful expression, took out two Copper Soul Coins from his pocket, and handed them to her. "Here. Go buy a set of bedding from the academy shop. Just pay me back later."

"Don't worry! With Sister Xiao Wu's skills, paying it back later will be easy!" Xiao Wu patted her flat, runway-like chest, happily took the two Copper Soul Coins, and skipped out of Dormitory Seven.

After Zhou Qing and Tang San had made their beds, Wang Sheng walked over and asked them, "You aren't Work-Study Students, are you?"

"How could you tell?" Tang San asked in surprise.

"We Work-Study Students can't afford new bedding. We all bring it from home, and we also can't just lend out two Copper Soul Coins at once." Wang Sheng wore a smug little expression.

The purchasing power of Copper Soul Coins was negligible to Soul Masters, but to commoners, one coin could buy half a jin of rice. Even with Nuoding City's relatively high prices, if spent carefully, one Copper Soul Coin could feed a Work-Study Student for three meals.

"We paid tuition, so we're regular students, though we really did come from the countryside." Zhou Qing explained, "Since we came here to study, we felt we shouldn't waste too much time on the cleaning tasks assigned by the academy."

"I see." Wang Sheng's gaze became much friendlier. "Then your village must be pretty wealthy, right?"

"We're from Holy Soul Village," Tang San said.

"Holy Soul Village? I've heard my grandfather mention it. It's a village known for producing grain, and it even produced a Soul Saint. No wonder you two are so well-built." Wang Sheng and the other Work-Study Students understood, envy appearing in their eyes.

But only they knew the truth of their own circumstances.

Although every household in Holy Soul Village had surplus grain, they still could not afford to support Zhou Qing and Tang San as regular students. The two of them had merely been fortunate enough to receive the "protection" of that Soul Saint from Holy Soul Village...

"Who are Tang San and Zhou Qing?"

At that moment, a somewhat hoarse voice sounded from the doorway.

A middle-aged man with a rather dejected complexion stood there, holding two sets of bedding in his arms.

"We are."

Tang San raised his hand, looking somewhat puzzled. "Are you the teacher assigning tasks to Work-Study Students? I've already paid my tuition, so I'm not a Work-Study Student. But there was a little girl who should have been a newly arrived Work-Study Student too. She went out to buy bedding."

"No." The middle-aged man shook his head and walked up to Zhou Qing and Tang San. "I looked over your information with Mo Hen. You came from the countryside, so I prepared bedding for you."

"Thank you, but we already have bedding." Zhou Qing realized who this unshaven middle-aged man was.

Yu Xiaogang!

Because of what he had done earlier, the gatekeeper had not deliberately made things difficult for them, so they had not run into him. Yet he had still come looking for them.

Of course! This guy had always wanted to prove himself, but he could not do it on his own. He could only seek out a child with exceptional talent—and it would be even better if that child came from a commoner background.

That was why Yu Xiaogang had "retired into seclusion" at Nuoding Academy. He probably reviewed the information on newly admitted students every year.

But why Nuoding Academy?

Zhou Qing immediately thought of the answer as well: Yu Xiaogang knew Nuoding Academy's dean, and they were old acquaintances...

"It's all right. You can use them as spares." Yu Xiaogang had no idea what Zhou Qing was thinking. Smiling, he handed over the two sets of bedding in his arms.

But how could Zhou Qing let him have his way?

He immediately said with righteous indignation, "Teacher, you're insulting us!"

Yu Xiaogang froze. "How am I insulting you?"

Zhou Qing said, "We come from the countryside, and yes, we're poor. But we have ambition. Our Village Chief grandfather often taught us that we must have dignity and cannot casually accept other people's charity!"