Taking a Disciple

"What should I do?" Zhu Xiyan asked, her eyes pained and her voice full of confusion.

At some point, Hals had moved to stand half a meter in front of Zhu Xiyan. He leaned down, the edge of his hood nearly touching the top of her head.

Hals's voice was hoarse and ethereal, as though it came from the distant horizon. "Become my disciple. I can give you strength."

"Strength?" Zhu Xiyan murmured. A glimmer of hope reignited in her eyes. She abruptly raised her head, her face alight with excitement, like a drowning person grasping at the last straw. "If I become your disciple, you'll give me strength?"

Zhu Xiyan stared at Hals's face, which had always been hidden in shadow. Though his pale face was covered in scars and strange, indecipherable symbols, she didn't feel the slightest bit afraid. She waited, hoping for an answer in the affirmative.

He didn't disappoint her. Hals's lips curled into a smile as he slowly straightened up. He no longer looked at the girl, instead turning his head toward the Simulation Training Ground. Yet he calmly replied, "Of course. Strength."

"Thud, thud-thud-thud!"

As he looked into the distance, his thoughts drifting elsewhere, a muffled thud suddenly sounded behind him, followed by three slightly sharper knocks.

Hals turned around and saw the girl kneeling on the ground, her forehead pressed firmly against it.

A muffled sound came from her, followed by a voice that was slightly excited and stubborn.

"I don't know why you treated me this way the moment we met, but as long as you weren't lying, as long as you can give me strength, then..."

As she spoke, the girl lifted her forehead and slammed it down hard again.

"Teacher!"

A stiff smile appeared on Hals's face beneath his hood. He hadn't expected things to go so smoothly. He'd made plenty of preparations to get Zhu Xiyan to become his disciple, but he hadn't thought it would be this easy.

Along with his delight came a trace of amusement and disgust. Just how much pressure had the Zhu Family put on her for him to take control of the girl's emotions with nothing more than a slight suggestion to her soul? As expected, families and nations like these had no reason to continue existing. He would just wait until the future, then help his master flatten this place.

As he sketched out the future in his mind, a cold smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He leaned down slightly, patted Zhu Xiyan on the shoulder, then turned and headed toward the Simulation Field.

"Get up. It's getting late. We should go see your foolish, self-important classmates..."

Zhu Xiyan trembled slightly, then swiftly scrambled to her feet and followed the broad, imposing figure.

"Yes, Teacher..."

Even the wisest made mistakes, let alone these boys and girls, who were mostly only fifteen or sixteen. At first, they had forced themselves to keep running. But after a few laps, when they saw no sign of Hals, they figured nobody would catch them slacking off. They sneaked away to some secluded spot to rest, joke around, and have fun, completely unaware of how many ways a powerful Soul Douluo had to keep an eye on them...

"Hahaha, that teacher's a real character. He even told us to run laps on our own? Ha! What a joke." Seeing his friend looking a little embarrassed and guilty, a boy winked, put an arm around him, and said with a mischievous grin, "Hey, what's with that look? That weirdo left the other weirdo girl behind. You think he's hooking up with her?"

When he got no response for a long while, he turned to look at his friend. His friend's face was full of terror. The boy froze, his expression turning amused and strange. "What's wrong? Don't tell me you've got a thing for that girl. No way. You're into someone that weird?"

"D-don't say any more." His friend's voice trembled and pitched high. "S-sorry, Teacher. He, he's got something wrong with his head. I'm s-sorry."

The boy stiffened, then slowly and rigidly turned around. Hals had appeared behind him at some point, with Zhu Xiyan standing respectfully at his side.

The atmosphere turned tense. The boy trembled violently from head to toe.

"Tea-tea-tea..."

Ignoring the boy, who was too frightened to speak, Hals turned his head slightly toward Zhu Xiyan, who looked somewhat angry. He felt a little puzzled. Was she angry because he'd insulted me and Teacher?

He pondered this, then said calmly, "Xiyan, this is the first lesson your teacher is going to teach you."

Boom!

Soul Flame blazed in Hals's eye sockets, radiating boundless light and heat. He jerked his head up, and tongues of fire shot more than half a meter from his eyes. Green flames erupted and swept past his hood without so much as scorching it.

The frightened boy stumbled back two steps and fell to the ground. He opened his mouth, wanting to shout, only to discover in horror that every sound he made came out as meaningless barking.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

The boy's face was pale with terror.

Only then did Hals slowly finish what he'd been saying: "With strength, you can do whatever you want."

!!!!

Zhu Xiyan felt as if her worldview, built over more than a decade, had been shattered. Her eyes lit up. She felt as though she had somehow flipped a switch that might very well change her entire life.

But Zhu Xiyan didn't reject the feeling. Instead, she rather liked it. She was thrilled, fascinated by it. This feeling was freaking awesome!!!

The Soul Flame in Hals's eye sockets dimmed slightly. After giving the two terrified boys one last glance, he turned and walked away at an unhurried pace.

"You'll recover in half an hour. Hmph. Consider it punishment for showing no respect for your teacher. I want to see you at the entrance in an hour..."

Zhu Xiyan, her face showing a trace of anger and half-suppressed excitement, glanced at the two boys and turned to follow Hals.

"Teacher, are you just going to let them off like that?" Zhu Xiyan asked, sounding a little eager. Her face beneath her bangs seemed much brighter now.

Hals paused slightly at this. His expression turned odd, but he still did his best to maintain his cold demeanor.

His voice was hoarse, but if you listened carefully, you could hear him struggling to suppress something.

"This is the second lesson I'm teaching you. If you can't be sure that no one will find out, don't leave any survivors. If you're forced to act, first, shift the suspicion onto someone else. Second, come up with another reason for the killing."

This time it was Zhu Xiyan's turn to be dumbfounded. I just wanted to teach them another lesson, but Teacher's already thinking about killing them. He really is... amazing!

Feeling delighted, Zhu Xiyan thought to herself, It looks like becoming his disciple was the right choice.

Over the next half hour, Zhu Xiyan followed Hals around the entire Simulation Field, finding every student who had been slacking off and punishing them.

Quite a few people gave her and her teacher strange looks along the way. Zhu Xiyan shook her head disdainfully. Your minds are full of filth. How could pigs like you ever understand how powerful and great Teacher is?

In just half an hour, Hals had completely won Zhu Xiyan over with his words and actions. She had truly accepted this teacher of hers, though she'd only become his disciple on a whim.

Half an hour later, Zhu Xiyan stood behind Hals with her hands clasped behind her back, her expressionless gaze fixed coldly on the classmates who were arriving one after another. She showed neither sorrow nor joy, but it was plain that she was in a state thousands of times better than when she'd first arrived.

Seeing that her classmates were still somewhat flustered and standing in a complete mess, Zhu Xiyan frowned without waiting for Hals to speak. Her voice was cold and clear. "Stand properly! Line up in rows! Look at the state you're in. You're no different from a bunch of useless trash."

What the heck? Is that Zhu Xiyan?

That was the shared thought of the thirty-four students still present. What had happened to turn a girl who seemed so self-conscious and despondent into this cold, sharp-tongued queen??