Two Things at Once

Halfway through Martial Soul Theory class, Zhou Yi's gaze drifted toward the back row again.

Xue Lingyun sat upright, his textbook open before him, his right hand writing and sketching in his notebook as though he were taking notes.

But Zhou Yi noticed that his left hand was not idle either—beside his textbook lay Basic Variations of Soul Tool Core Arrays, and the fingers of his left hand occasionally tapped the pages, as if confirming a particular spot.

What concerned her most were his eyes. He stared at the blackboard, occasionally lowering his head to glance at the textbook, but each glance was brief. Whenever he looked back up, his eyes were clear, proving that he had taken in what she had just taught.

As for the book beside him, he had barely looked at it directly. Yet every time his left hand tapped it, it landed precisely on the place he had just been reading.

Zhou Yi had been a teacher for so many years. What kind of student had she not seen?

She had seen plenty of students sneaking looks at leisure reading during class, and plenty making little movements under their desks.

But someone who could listen to class and read a book at the same time without falling behind in either—she had truly never seen one before.

She continued teaching, but the corner of her eye remained on him.

By the end of the lesson, his right hand had filled three pages of notes, while his left had turned through two chapters. Zhou Yi had asked five questions, and he had answered all five correctly.

When the dismissal bell rang, she walked to his desk.

"Xue Lingyun, come to my office."

The office was quiet.

Zhou Yi sat in her chair, with Xue Lingyun standing before her.

"What were you doing during class?"

"Listening and taking notes," Xue Lingyun answered calmly.

"And the book beside you?"

"Reading it on the side."

Zhou Yi stared at him for several seconds, then suddenly took three books from a drawer—Advanced Martial Soul Theory, Outline of Continental History, and Fundamentals of Soul Tool Arrays.

She opened all three books at once and placed them before him.

"If I flip through these three books at the same time, how much can you remember?"

Xue Lingyun gave them a glance and nodded.

Zhou Yi began turning the pages.

She flipped quickly, lingering on each page for no more than three seconds.

The three books alternated, their subjects entirely unrelated. Here was Martial Soul Evolution theory, there was a wartime timeline, and elsewhere was a Structure Diagram for an array.

After turning the final page, she stopped.

Xue Lingyun picked up a pen and began writing on paper.

For the Martial Soul Theory section, he wrote down three key arguments.

For the history section, he listed timelines for five important events.

For the Soul Tool Array section, he drew a simplified structural diagram and marked several key nodes.

Zhou Yi read the sheet twice before looking up at him.

"You can process so much information at once?"

"On the battlefield, it is never one against one," Xue Lingyun said. "Enemy attacks, the positions of allies, Soul Power consumption, threats in the environment—I have to process all of it at the same time. If I can only keep my eyes on one target, then death is not far away."

Zhou Yi fell silent for a while, then picked up Basic Variations of Soul Tool Core Arrays and flipped through it. There were quite a few pencil annotations in the page margins. The handwriting was neat, and the train of thought was clear.

Though she was not from the Soul Guidance Department, she could still understand the basics. The material in this book had already far surpassed what a First Year freshman should know.

"You understand all this?"

"Most of it," Xue Lingyun said. "Some parts take some thought. Once I figure them out, I understand them."

Zhou Yi did not ask further. She returned the book to him.

"You may read other books during class, provided it does not affect your listening." She paused. "If I ask you a question next time and you cannot answer it, this book will be confiscated."

Xue Lingyun nodded. "Understood."

Before the afternoon class began, Zhou Yi arrived at the classroom early.

She sat behind the lectern for a while, watching the students file in one after another, still thinking about what had happened that morning.

Just how far had that kid's understanding of Soul Tools reached?

Judging from the books he read alone, he was already far beyond the level a First Year student should possess.

But talking theory on paper was one thing. If he were actually asked to write something, what could he produce?

She needed to test him.

After finishing the final point of the afternoon lesson, Zhou Yi glanced out the window. It was still early.

"There is still some time left." She picked up a stack of paper. "Write something. The topic is on the blackboard. There is no word limit—just write down your genuine thoughts."

She wrote on the blackboard: The Present and Future of Soul Tools.

The students began writing. Zhou Yi made a circuit of the classroom, and as she passed Xue Lingyun, she glanced at his draft paper.

He had already written half a page. His handwriting was tidy, and his pen moved quickly with barely any pauses, as though he had considered these questions long ago.

When the dismissal bell rang, Zhou Yi said, "Class Monitor, collect them and bring them to my office before school ends."

Xue Lingyun stood and began collecting the essays.

When Xue Lingyun brought the collected essays to the office, Zhou Yi was grading assignments.

"Just put them there." Without looking up, she pointed at the corner of the desk.

Xue Lingyun set down the stack of papers and was about to leave when Zhou Yi suddenly called out to him.

"Wait."

She looked up at him, then took out a sheet of paper from the drawer—the one he had written on during that morning's test, containing summaries from all three books.

"Keep this for yourself." She handed it to him. "Go back and think it over. See if you can train yourself to do even better."

Xue Lingyun accepted it, thanked her, and turned to leave.

After he was gone, Zhou Yi picked up the stack of essays and turned to his.

Title: The Present and Future of Soul Tools

She began reading.

As she read, her brows gradually furrowed, then slowly relaxed.

After finishing the last word, she leaned against the backrest and stared at the ceiling in silence for a long while.

She was not an expert from the Soul Guidance Department, but she could tell that some of the ideas in this piece were things even her husband, Fan Yu, might never have considered.

That evening, after returning home, she handed the piece to Fan Yu.

"Take a look," she said. "One of my students wrote it."

Fan Yu accepted it and began reading.

As he read, his expression became serious.

When he finished, he looked up at Zhou Yi.

"Your student wrote this?"

"Yes. Eleven years old, a freshman."

Fan Yu was silent for several seconds, then lowered his head and read it again. After finishing, he asked, "Can you have him come to the Soul Guidance Department tomorrow?"

Zhou Yi nodded. "I'll ask him for you."