Golden Generation

After a whole morning of classes, Jin Yan, who had not attended proper lessons in a long time, still felt somewhat unaccustomed to it. Besides, everything they taught was far too basic for him, leaving him deeply bored. Fortunately, he sat by the window in the back row and would occasionally sit cross-legged on his chair to cultivate.

After stretching comfortably, Jin Yan got up and walked out of the classroom.

After lunch in the cafeteria, Jin Yan headed to the dormitory the school had assigned him.

Naturally, the school dormitories were ranked into different tiers. The better the dormitory, the more points one had to pay each year.

Although Jin Yan had no points, Hella had still arranged the best dormitory on the elementary Soul Master Academy side for him.

It was located in a villa district by the edge of the school's artificial lake. All told, there were only around ten houses there.

Just as Jin Yan took out the key Hella had given him and prepared to unlock the door, a sweet female voice came from behind him.

"Do you live here too?"

Jin Yan's expression shifted slightly as he turned around without giving anything away.

A young girl with short pink hair, narrow cheeks, and a delicate, beautiful face was staring at him with glistening eyes. Her fox-like eyes seemed capable of stealing one's soul. Though she was still young, her figure was already exquisitely developed. It was obvious she would grow into a great beauty.

Two boys stood beside her. One wore a white robe, his sharp face seeming carved by a blade as he watched Jin Yan with interest.

The other wore a red robe and had a square face. His short red hair was messily tied behind his head, but his eyes remained fixed on the girl in front of him without blinking.

This was... the Golden Generation.

The three names surfaced in Jin Yan's mind.

Across the entire continent, the three of them ranked among the very best in talent. Unfortunately, they had run into the protagonist's group.

Qin Ming had broken through to Soul Emperor at around thirty years old and was called the continent's second-youngest Soul Emperor.

Yet the three of them had all become Spirit Saints in their thirties. It could be said that as long as they developed normally, they might not necessarily enter the Worship Hall, but becoming Titled Douluo was practically guaranteed!

Even so, Jin Yan could not bring himself to like them at all.

The most normal among the three was Xie Yue. As for the other two...

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Yan's Martial Soul was actually quite good—arguably the strongest of the three—but he was a simp, and a hopeless one at that.

Hu Liena was even more outrageous. She had fallen for Tang San just because of his looks, despite him being the child of her enemy. Worse, while her teacher was hunting a soul beast, she had pointed Tang San toward its location, nearly causing the death of Bibi Dong, who had treated her like a daughter.

Jin Yan truly could not like such a trio. Still, he did not hate them either. They were currently by Bibi Dong's side, so no matter what they did, they could not harm his side's interests.

"Hey, I'm talking to you. Didn't you hear me?" Hu Liena shouted at Jin Yan indignantly, hands on her hips.

Jin Yan merely gave a grunt and ignored her, directly opening the door and walking inside.

"You...

You're absolutely infuriating!!"

She was the Pope's disciple! If not for the fact that he was handsome and she had wanted to greet him, she would never have expected to be ignored so completely. It was simply...

The more Hu Liena thought about it, the angrier she became. She stamped her little foot and rushed toward Jin Yan's villa.

"That's right, Nana. I'll avenge you."

At that moment, Yan, ever the qualified simp, chimed in as well and rushed after Hu Liena.

Fortunately, Xie Yue stopped both of them at the last moment. "Enough. Why lower yourselves to his level? School rules forbid fighting whenever you please. If you want to fight, the two of you can only have a fair duel under a teacher's supervision!"

"Hmph, Brother, with our status, do we still need to follow the school rules?"

"Don't disgrace His Holiness the Pope," Xie Yue warned sternly.

"Hmph! He got lucky this time! If I see him again, I'll make him pay!" Hu Liena said.

"By the way, Brother, what did Teacher mean when she told us to find a chance to test Jin Yan's true ability?"

"What's so hard about that? Just find a chance to beat him up," Yan interjected from the side.

"Don't talk. Listen to my brother!" Hu Liena shouted arrogantly at Yan.

Xie Yue helplessly shrugged at Yan. "Yan has a point, but we do not necessarily have to act ourselves. Didn't His Holiness the Pope say that he only awakened his Martial Soul recently? We can find someone to test his strength first."

That afternoon was Martial Soul practical combat class. Jin Yan also wanted to see what the geniuses Spirit Hall Academy had spent so much effort cultivating were really like, so he followed everyone out to the training field.

Spirit Hall Academy's training field was enormous. Jin Yan estimated it was several football fields in size.

The teacher in charge of practical combat class was Han Tianhu, a level sixty-four assault-type battle Soul Emperor. He brought Class One of the fourth year to a corner of the field and had them line up.

"Alright, same old rules. Pair up and practice real combat.

I'll start calling names now."

Teacher Han had a straightforward personality and got right to the point.

"Gao Shuai and Fu Qiang, you're a pair."

"Dong Tianle and Du Youming, second pair."

"Gao Xuan and Jin Yan, last pair.

Begin practice. I'll be watching from here. Let's see who dares slack off!" After Han Tianhu spoke, he stepped aside.

"Brother, look. Isn't that the handsome boy we saw at noon?"

Not far from Jin Yan's class, Hu Liena and the others from the sixth year were also having practical combat class. Upon hearing the familiar name, Hu Liena turned to look in Jin Yan's direction.

"So he's that Jin Yan. Why is he in the fourth year? Didn't they say he had only awakened his Martial Soul recently?" Hu Liena asked in confusion.

Xie Yue's gaze flickered, as though he had thought of something, but he did not say it. He only replied, "Let's watch first."

"Could he be someone with Innate Full Soul Power? Did he obtain a soul ring and skip straight into the fourth year?"

Unlike the steady Xie Yue, Yan was far more blunt and spoke his thoughts directly.

Gao Xuan lived up to his name. He was indeed quite tall; though only around ten years old, he was already one meter seventy tall.

Being able to enter Class One meant his talent was quite high. At ten years old, his Soul Power Level was the same as Jin Yan's: he was already a level seventeen Soul Master. His Martial Soul was the Golden Silk Gibbon, an agility-attack-type beast Martial Soul belonging to an exceptionally nimble species of ape.

Though this was called the assault-type fourth-year Class One, the academy had not actually divided the classes so finely, for the sake of easier teaching.

After Gao Xuan used Martial Soul Possession, he became extremely fast. At first, he had intended to rely on his speed advantage to wear Jin Yan down.

However, Jin Yan was far stronger than him. Before Gao Xuan could even force Jin Yan to summon his Martial Soul, he was kicked to the ground.

Sitting on the ground, Gao Xuan looked up at Jin Yan with utter disbelief, still unable to react.

How... had he lost so quickly? It seemed he had not even... lasted a single move...

Hu Liena, standing in the distance, was just as incredulous.

"Brother, Gao Xuan may be somewhat weaker, but he should not have been defeated by a child who only recently awakened his Martial Soul, right? And Jin Yan did not even release his Martial Soul!"

Xie Yue stood to the side without speaking for a long time. He was thinking exactly the same thing as his sister.

Yan, on the other hand, looked disdainful.

"Tch, I could do that too when I had one soul ring!"

Jin Yan's group was the first to finish their fight, which naturally caught Han Tianhu's attention.

At this moment, he too stared at Jin Yan in disbelief. Unlike Hu Liena and the other two, whose strength was still relatively low,

as a Soul Emperor, he could tell at a glance that Jin Yan had not only refrained from using his Martial Soul—he had not even used Soul Power!