Ning Rongrong

Lin Tianyi had originally thought he would be unable to attend school because he could not afford the tuition.

But to his surprise, when the registration staff heard that he was Lin Tianyi, their attitude immediately became extremely warm and friendly.

They stated that for a top genius like Lin Tianyi, not only would the academy waive his tuition, it would even provide him with a subsidy of ten Gold Soul Coins every semester.

This rule was pretty nice... Lin Tianyi's eyes lit up, and he immediately registered together with Lin Xianxian.

They each received three sets of white Class 1 Grade 1 uniforms. Their dormitories were luxurious single rooms, and they could either stay at the academy or choose to live at home.

After all, the students of Heaven Dou Royal Junior Soul Master Academy were mostly children of nobles or major powers, and they all had property in Heaven Dou City.

Commoner children like Lin Tianyi made up only a tiny minority of the academy.

After registering, Lin Tianyi and Lin Xianxian were assigned to Class 1 Grade 1, the best class in the first grade.

Generally speaking, students who could enter Class 1 Grade 1 had to be the children of great nobles like Marquis, or of major powers.

Only top geniuses like Lin Tianyi and Lin Xianxian could enter Class 1 Grade 1 without having a powerful background.

After arriving outside the classroom, Lin Tu and Qin Hui gave Lin Tianyi and Lin Xianxian a few reminders before turning and leaving.

Watching his plainly dressed parents walk away, their figures utterly out of place amid the academy's lavish surroundings and in stark contrast to the gorgeously dressed people passing by,

Lin Tianyi thought to himself, Should I ask Sister Qian Renxue to get my parents a viscount title? With her status as the crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, it shouldn't be difficult.

But after reconsidering, he decided against it. Without strength to support them, even if his parents became nobles, they would only be ridiculed and mocked. Once he became strong enough, he would get them noble titles.

With that thought, Lin Tianyi took Lin Xianxian's hand and entered Class 1 Grade 1.

Meanwhile, Lin Tu and Qin Hui walked out of the academy, both letting out sighs of relief.

Fortunately, no one had recognized them.

They looked down at their patched, plain clothes and smiled. It seemed these clothes had done their job.

Besides, they had not shown themselves for years. It was perfectly normal for those minor nobles below the rank of Marquis not to recognize them.

Just then, a somewhat incredulous voice suddenly rang out ahead of them.

"Duke Lin, is that you?"

The moment Lin Tu and Qin Hui heard this, they took off running without even looking back, tossing out the words, "You have the wrong people," before vanishing in the blink of an eye.

The Marquis who had spoken stared in the direction where Lin Tu and Qin Hui had disappeared and fell into deep thought.

After a long while, he shook his head and laughed.

"I must have mistaken them. How could Duke Lin, the most powerful duke in the Heaven Dou Empire, possibly dress so shabbily?

Still, that commoner really did resemble Duke Lin. His skin was just far too dark and rough."

He then turned and headed toward his family's luxurious carriage, driving away.

Lin Tu's real name was Lin Hongtu, while Qin Hui's real name was Qin Shuhui. They felt their real names did not sound much like the names of farmers, so they removed the middle characters and became Lin Tu and Qin Hui.

To disguise themselves as commoners and raise their son, they had truly gone to great lengths.

Upon entering the classroom, Lin Tianyi found that quite a few people had already arrived. He led Lin Xianxian to an empty two-person seat and sat down.

Sitting there, Lin Tianyi observed his classmates. They were all children of six or seven.

However, every one of them was dressed extravagantly, and their immature little faces carried their own pride, likely inherited from their high-born parents.

Lin Tianyi estimated that a single set of their clothes and accessories was worth at least a hundred gold coins. They were ridiculously rich.

Lin Tianyi sighed inwardly, Sure enough, the greatest dividing line between people is the amniotic fluid. Being born into the right family is a skill too.

How enviable!

After a while longer, everyone had more or less arrived. Lin Tianyi counted them, and including themselves, there were only around fifteen students in the whole class.

At that moment, a tall, young, beautiful woman walked in through the door. She wore a light-blue long dress that outlined her graceful, lovely curves, and she appeared to be around twenty-six or twenty-seven.

Walking up to the podium, the young woman clapped her hands to signal for silence and ask them to listen.

A gentle smile rested on her beautiful, fair face.

"My name is Liu Fangfang, and I will be your homeroom teacher for the coming year. You may call me Teacher Fangfang..."

After a brief self-introduction, Liu Fangfang smiled and said,

"To help everyone get to know one another, please introduce yourselves. We'll start with the student on the far left of the first row."

As she spoke, Liu Fangfang's beautiful eyes turned toward the little boy in blue seated at the far left of the first row.

The little boy in blue was not nervous in the slightest. He stood up openly to introduce himself, a confident smile on his little face.

"My name is Zhao Xuan. I'm six years old. My martial soul is the Shadow Black Panther, and my Soul Power is rank seven. I'm from the Zhao family. My father is the Zhao family head and a Marquis."

After speaking, the little boy in blue proudly raised his chin, waiting for the people around him to flatter him.

However, he might not have realized that the Marquis father he was so proud of stood at the very bottom of this class. It was nothing special, merely the most ordinary status here.

After waiting for quite some time and hearing no flattering remarks, the little boy in blue looked around in confusion. Everyone's expressions were calm, as though there was nothing surprising about his introduction.

The little boy in blue felt somewhat dejected and unhappy. Why was this completely different from what he had imagined?

Where was the flattery? The currying favor? The applause?

At Teacher Fangfang's signal, the little boy in blue sat down glumly, unable to understand.

Not until he heard the student beside him stand and introduce himself, saying his father was also a Marquis, then the next student after that saying the same thing,

and then the student after that introducing himself by saying his father was a duke...

The little boy in blue gradually understood something, and the light in his eyes slowly dimmed.

"So I'm the most ordinary one!"

Watching his classmates stand one after another to introduce themselves, Lin Tianyi felt his teeth ache.

Damn it, the smallest background here is a Marquis? Did I come to the wrong place?

Is this place really just for competing over whose father is stronger?!

"My name is Wang Han. I'm seven years old. My martial soul is the Earth Splitting Bear, and my Soul Power is rank eight. I'm from the Wang family. My father is the Wang family head, an utterly ordinary duke."

"My name is Zhang Yuanli. I'm six years old. My martial soul is the Purple Scale Saber, and my Soul Power is rank six. I'm from the Zhang family. My father is the Zhang family head, also an utterly ordinary duke."

"..."

Damn it! So many sons of dukes in one place—they were obscenely rich!

But this was still nothing. Then, a little girl wearing a goose-yellow long dress slowly stood up. She had chin-length short hair and a delicate, adorable face, and she introduced herself in a crisp voice like the song of a lark.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Ning Rongrong. I'm six years old. My martial soul is the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda, and my Soul Power is rank nine. I'm from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect..."