Yan, Xie Yue: I Suspect There's a Ghost in the Dorm!

After living together for a month, the three of them had no conflicts of interest, and their daily lives had been fairly harmonious.

Jiang Bai listened to them without much change in expression, but something stirred faintly in his heart.

He understood what they meant. In this world's common understanding, support Soul Masters were indeed as they described.

He suddenly thought of something amusing to respond to their "kindness."

The corners of his mouth rose slightly despite himself.

Jiang Bai gently brushed aside Yan's arm from his shoulder, turned around, and faced Yan and Xie Yue directly.

His gaze was clear, yet it seemed to carry a certain penetrating force. He spoke slowly, his tone calm but every word distinct.

"Really? What if one day, a lot of people wanted to kill me, and they were all people you couldn't defeat? What would you do?"

"???"

"???"

Jiang Bai's words were like a boulder thrown into still water, instantly stirring up raging waves in Yan and Xie Yue's hearts.

Both of them froze, their expressions congealing into blank disbelief.

What was this guy talking about?!

A lot of people wanted to kill him? And they would be people neither of them could defeat in the future?

Why did that sound like... the kind of vow found in some absurd love story?

But was it appropriate to say something like that between three grown boys?!

Yan and Xie Yue instinctively exchanged a glance. They both saw the same shock in the other's eyes, along with a trace of... horror.

A terrifying thought surfaced uncontrollably.

Could this roommate, who usually seemed refined and quiet and was only exceptionally insane when it came to cultivation, possibly be... one of...

He treated them so well—could he have some ulterior motive?!

The two of them almost simultaneously felt a chill run down their backs. An inexplicable coldness shot up their spines, and a certain part of them instinctively tightened.

Jiang Bai took in every change in their wonderfully varied expressions. He found it somewhat amusing, but his face remained calm, carrying a hint of unfathomable profundity.

He offered no further explanation and paid no attention to his two roommates, who had fallen into an atmosphere of bizarre terror.

He merely dusted off nonexistent grime, turned around, pulled open the dormitory door, and walked straight out toward the back mountain with steady, resolute steps.

The dormitory door closed softly behind Jiang Bai.

The room fell into deathly silence.

Several seconds later, Yan finally swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing as though he had just survived some life-or-death ordeal.

He raised a hand to wipe away nonexistent cold sweat, and after a long while, squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth.

"What a... lunatic!"

Xie Yue said nothing, but his delicate face, which usually showed little expression, had turned slightly pale.

Silently, he gave an extremely slight nod, wholeheartedly agreeing with Yan's assessment.

At the same time, he decided that perhaps he ought to keep a more... safe distance from Jiang Bai in the future.

Jiang Bai walked alone along the shaded path leading to the academy's back mountain.

He did not take the small incident in the dormitory to heart.

Yan and Xie Yue's reactions had been within his expectations, and he even felt a small sense of delight at having successfully played a prank.

What he needed was not their understanding, but uninterrupted time to cultivate.

As he walked, his thoughts returned to more serious matters.

After cultivating for a month, his "experience bar" felt nearly half full.

Jiang Bai looked inward and estimated the progress of his Soul Power accumulation.

At this rate, in just over another month, he would indeed have a chance of reaching the level ten bottleneck.

Level ten... his first Spirit Ring.

A thoughtful glint flashed through Jiang Bai's eyes.

Under normal procedures, the academy would organize a Spirit Ring hunt for students who reached the bottleneck. Usually, a teacher would lead them to some Soul Hunting Forest under Spirit Hall's control.

The standard soul skills of the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda were fixed enhancement-type abilities: strength, speed, Soul Power, defense, attack, attributes, Martial Soul Avatar...

There seemed to be no particular requirement for the type of soul beast.

If the academy handled it, then with better conditions, he might be assigned a three- or four-hundred-year soul beast for his first Spirit Ring. Even under worse conditions, it should still be around two hundred years, right?

Jiang Bai estimated.

That depended on the strength of the teacher leading the group, the resources of the Soul Hunting Forest, and the student's own "value."

With his Innate level nine Soul Power and Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda aptitude, the academy should not be too stingy.

However, the upper limit of a Spirit Ring's age mainly depended on one's physical condition...

Jiang Bai squeezed his arm. It had some strength from years of helping with work, but it was absolutely far from robust.

His body had not undergone any tempering. It had relied purely on natural growth and Soul Power nourishment, so its limit was probably only around three or four hundred years.

Any higher, and there would be a risk of his body exploding to death during absorption.

Speaking of tempering the body...

It was not as though Jiang Bai had never considered Whale Rubber!

In this era, people generally only knew Whale Rubber as a precious aphrodisiac used for bedroom affairs.

Only ten thousand years later would people learn its true value.

As a holy land for Soul Masters, Spirit City had thriving commerce. There should be places selling Whale Rubber... somewhere.

Jiang Bai began calculating in his heart.

He touched the Storage Bracelet around his wrist. Inside lay more than a hundred Gold Soul Coins.

To him, that was a "fortune," but if he wanted to buy high-age, top-quality Whale Rubber, it would probably be far from enough.

After all, Whale Rubber was regarded as a "precious tonic." If he wanted a high-age variety, the price would surely be even higher.

Jiang Bai decided to ask around about the price of Whale Rubber later.

"Come to think of it, not starting with Innate Full Soul Power does have one benefit."

Jiang Bai laughed at himself.

It gave him a relatively ample period of time to temper his body and lay a solid foundation.

If he had Innate Full Soul Power, he would probably have been rushing to obtain a Spirit Ring just days after awakening, leaving him no time for these preparations.

A blessing in disguise.

Just as he strolled along, immersed in plans for the future and calculations over resources—

A crisp, pleasant female voice with a hint of familiarity suddenly came from a fork in the path ahead and to the side.

"Hey, Jiang Bai!"

"Are you going to the back mountain?"

The voice interrupted his thoughts.

Jiang Bai looked up.

Beneath a wisteria trellis covered in small pale-purple blossoms stood a golden-haired girl.

She still wore Spirit Academy's gray uniform, though it seemed to have been altered for a better fit, making her figure appear even taller and more slender.

Her long golden hair shone dazzlingly beneath the sunlight. It was tied behind her head with a simple silver hairband, revealing her smooth forehead and those crystal-clear, amethyst-like eyes.

It was none other than Qian Renxue.

She seemed to have come from another direction as well and had happened to meet Jiang Bai here.

Her complexion looked much better than it had by the lake last time. There was less of that sorrowful fragility and more of the brightness belonging to someone her age.

Yet there still seemed to be a faint, lingering gloom between her brows that could not be dispelled.

Her gaze fell upon Jiang Bai, carrying a hint of scrutiny, as well as something... difficult to describe.