Tempering the Five Senses

"Never mind, though. I love nothing more than teaching geniuses a lesson."

"Feng De, a Level 17, First-Ring Battle Soul Master. Martial Soul: White-Footed Jumping Spider."

Seeing the mockery on the other man's face, Lin Beiya had no intention of exchanging pleasantries. The Divine Statue appeared in his hand in an instant, and his First Soul Ring lit up.

As a golden pillar of light shot into the sky, everyone present—including Shi Nuo—saw such a strange Soul Skill for the first time.

The appearance of the Golden Ram left Feng De rooted to the spot.

"Kid, what are you—"

Before he could finish, the Aries Gold Cloth appeared over Lin Beiya's body.

Against an opponent who wouldn't attack first, Lin Beiya had no intention of releasing Crystal Wall and making a fool of himself. He pressed his palms against his waist, gathering flecks of starlight between them.

"Starlight Extinction!"

Aries's finishing move could target either a single point or a wide area. Against a lumbering enemy, concentrating the power of the stars into a single strike was the best choice.

But against an evasive opponent like Feng De, spreading the attacks out was the better option.

As Lin Beiya raised his hands, golden starlight rained down from the sky.

Feng De's pupils contracted. He hadn't expected the kid before him to act so decisively and figure out how to counter him right away.

With Martial Soul Possession active, he began dodging swiftly, relying on his Spider Sense.

Lin Beiya took it all in and gave a cold smile. Having heightened senses didn't mean your body could keep up. In other words, even if you sensed an attack, you might not be able to dodge it.

And that was exactly what happened. After three seconds of darting back and forth, Feng De was struck in the shoulder by the first beam of light. A barrage of attacks followed.

Screams rang out across the Soul Fighting Platform. When the shower of light finally stopped, Feng De lay unconscious on the ground. He looked utterly miserable: the standard-issue school uniform handed out by the academy was in tatters, and bruises covered his body.

It was only a Soul Fighting match, and Lin Beiya hadn't gone for the kill. He'd kept Starlight Extinction's power within a perfectly reasonable range.

It was enough to teach Feng De a lesson for trying to bully someone younger, without taking his life.

"Hey."

At Lin Beiya's call, Feng De's companions turned to look at him, their faces filled with fear.

"W-what is it? This guy did it himself... It's not—"

"Get him to the infirmary already. You're making a racket!"

Lin Beiya scratched his ear, jumped off the Soul Fighting Platform, and left the Training Ground with Shi Nuo, who gazed at him in admiration.

The onlookers remained frozen in place. This was the fiercest first-year student any of them had ever seen.

The few people on the platform exchanged glances. After swallowing nervously, they picked Feng De up by his limbs and carried him toward the infirmary.

"That was incredible, Bei Ya!"

"Nothing special. You'll be able to do it too, one day."

"Not a chance. I've got my First Soul Ring, and that guy still ran circles around me. You're the one who's amazing."

Even Lin Beiya felt a little embarrassed after Shi Nuo had praised him for a while, so he hurried to change the subject.

"Has the academy said when it'll organize a group Soul Hunt?"

"Yeah. I think it's after the break. The academy organizes two Soul Hunts a year. Teachers take the students who've reached a bottleneck to hunt for Soul Rings. Of course, if you have an elder at home who's a high-ranked Soul Master, you can go on your own."

Lin Beiya nodded. Organizing two Soul Hunts a year was sensible. It ensured that no child would have to wait too long after reaching a bottleneck, especially since many of the academy's students had grown up in orphanages.

When they reached the dormitory entrance, Lin Beiya waved goodbye to Shi Nuo. He'd already told him while unpacking that he wouldn't be living at the academy. Shi Nuo understood that Lin Beiya had joined Douluo Hall, so it made sense for him to live there. He was already satisfied just being able to attend school with his good friend.

In fact, if Lin Beiya wanted to, he could ask Qian Daoliu for permission to stay at the academy. But the only company there would be the chubby little Shi Nuo. Wasn't it much nicer to have the adorable Little Angel around?

Days went by, and Lin Beiya settled into a routine of going back and forth between two places. Every morning, he set out for classes at Martial Soul Primary Academy. After lunch with Shi Nuo, he returned to Douluo Hall to cultivate his Soul Power.

Since he had school, Lin Beiya arranged to meet Qian Renxue after dinner. By then, Little Angel would have finished her day's Sword Art lessons and have time to spare.

That day, as usual, Qian Renxue arranged to meet Lin Beiya at the garden pavilion.

She waited a long time before she saw him stumbling toward her.

That was right—stumbling toward her.

Lin Beiya's eyes were now covered by bandages, and he felt his way toward the pavilion, relying on his memory.

Qian Renxue's heart lurched when she saw him. She hurried over and asked,

"Bei Ya, what happened? Did you hurt your eyes?"

Her anxious tone warmed Lin Beiya's heart. He waved a hand and explained,

"I'm training myself to move around as usual even without my eyesight."

Qian Renxue relaxed a little, but asked in confusion,

"Huh? Why would you pretend to be blind when you're perfectly fine?"

"What do you know? Sometimes your eyes can deceive you, but your heart can't. Only someone whose five senses are fully attuned can remain undefeated in any situation."

Little Angel pursed her lips. He made it sound convincing enough, but couldn't he put down those flailing, zombie-like hands before launching into philosophy? It was hard to believe he wasn't just trying to fool her.

After successfully finding one of the pavilion's pillars, Lin Beiya smiled with satisfaction. It seemed that training his inner awareness this way really was working.

He pulled the bandage from his eyes. Qian Renxue's disdainful face appeared before him. He knew his movements had looked clumsy, but he'd only just started. Doing this well was already pretty good.

"Stop staring. Hand over the Sacred Cloth first. I still need to master those combat techniques!"

"All right. Here you go!"

Once she had put on the Gold Cloth, Little Angel beamed and immediately began releasing Crystal Wall. She was extremely interested in a move that had allowed someone to defeat her so easily despite the difference in their levels.

Meanwhile, Lin Beiya sat cross-legged in the pavilion and continued training his hearing. With his eyes closed, he listened for the faintest sounds around him, aiming to identify every living thing in the garden.

Lin Beiya knew very well that only by training his five senses to their limits could he hope to awaken his Cosmo.

The sight of the two little ones training side by side was a harmonious one. Watching from a short distance away, Qian Daoliu nodded to himself. His granddaughter's lack of friends her own age had always troubled him, but Lin Beiya's arrival had solved the problem.

And now that she had a playmate, Qian Daoliu had begun to worry about Qian Renxue's training progress, afraid she might waste her talent.

But now it seemed that being with Lin Beiya not only made his granddaughter more lively, but also brought out a healthy rivalry between them. Qian Daoliu was quite pleased with that.

He watched Lin Beiya's movements for a while. He didn't know what this so-called training of the five senses was supposed to do, but he didn't intend to interfere. What if it was a direction indicated by that boy's strange Martial Soul?