Xia Yan, Yu Xiaogang

Notting Academy.

Academic Affairs Office, Admissions Office.

Xia Yan handed over his Martial Soul Hall certification and enrollment application: "My name is Xia Yan, six years old, Martial Soul Black Tower, from the Xiling Forest in the west."

The male teacher behind the black desk reached out to take them.

He subconsciously sized the boy up: lean, clear eyes with a limpid gaze, and long black hair of the same color draping over his shoulders, outlining the clean contours of his face.

Anyone could see that he was definitely a boy with potential.

"Black Tower? A rare Martial Soul..."

After confirming the documents in his hand were correct, he said, "Work-study students are all in Dorm Seven."

After Xia Yan received his school uniform and walked out of the Academic Affairs Office, he marveled at how good the fabric felt.

However, In truth, the fabric wasn't actually that great, and it certainly couldn't be considered expensive.

But since he had transmigrated here six years ago, he hadn't touched anything of quality; compared to the hempen clothes he had been wearing, the school uniform could be considered top-tier.

Yes, Xia Yan was originally just an ordinary person who died suddenly after staying up too late. When he woke up, he discovered he had transmigrated to the Douluo Continent.

He was found and adopted by foster parents who happened to be passing by at the time.

After living peacefully for five and a half years, his foster parents passed away in successive accidents. When a Soul Master came to their remote village to awaken spirits, he had already prepared himself to awaken a trash Martial Soul.

Unexpectedly, he became the first person in the village in one hundred and twenty-seven years to possess Soul Power.

And it was Innate Full Soul Power at that.

His awakened Martial Soul was the Demon Suppressing Pagoda, consisting of nine levels and nine spaces. Each time he contracted a Soul Beast, he could open up a space, and the Soul Beast could reside within it.

Yes, a contract.

Although it was called the Demon Suppressing Pagoda, he didn't need to hunt Soul Beasts. The contract limit, like Soul Rings, was restricted by his physique and Soul Power.

He couldn't contract a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast with his first ring; even a thousand-year one was impossible.

Once contracted, the Soul Beast would possess a complete physical form and could continue to cultivate its age. In other words, he could eventually have nine Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts by his side, making him invincible under the heavens.

This ability was simply terrifying.

It was a peerless Martial Soul that hadn't been seen in the last hundred thousand years.

However, precisely because the Demon Suppressing Pagoda was heaven-defyingly powerful, to prevent those who might harbor the "if I can't have it, I'll destroy it" mentality from harming him, and to guard against Tang Hao, he claimed to the outside world that his Martial Soul was a Black Tower with no special abilities.

Soon, Xia Yan arrived outside the work-study dormitory. The noise became clear as he approached. Through the wide-open, ancient-looking brown wooden door, he could see figures running about and the cluttered layout inside.

He walked into the dormitory.

He scanned the room; in the three-hundred-square-meter space, over fifty beds were placed in a disorderly fashion, with an average of six square meters of space per bed.

Less than half of the beds had bedding.

The windows were all open, and the dormitory was a bit old, though it was relatively clean.

There were only a dozen or so students present, but he didn't see any familiar faces.

No Tang San, no Xiao Wu.

Could the timeline be wrong?

Xia Yan's heart sank. Had an accident really occurred?

Just as he was thinking, a boy two heads taller than him with a rather sturdy build walked over and looked him up and down.

"New guy?"

"My name is Wang Sheng, the boss of Dorm Seven. According to the rules, you either acknowledge me as your boss, or you beat me to become the new boss. Choose one."

With that, he raised his fist, took a breath, and puffed out his chest to make himself look stronger.

Xia Yan immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, fortunately, Wang Sheng was here, so it wasn't too late. Tang San must not have arrived yet.

He waved his hand: "No, I can't beat you."

He couldn't waste time on such meaningless competition; he had more important things to do.

Afterward, Xia Yan chose a bed by the window and set down his pack.

He had three goals in coming to Notting Academy.

First, the Datura Snake; it was the Soul Beast with the best growth potential that Xia Yan could currently access.

Second, the Blue Silver Emperor; the current Blue Silver Emperor had been planted for only ten years. Regardless of it being a top-tier Soul Beast, its age was within a hundred years, and he could fully absorb it.

Third, the Eight Spider Lances; this thing was more helpful to Tang San than even Yu Xiaogang.

The Man Faced Demon Spider family was more qualified than Yu Xiaogang to say, "I cultivated a god."

The Eight Spider Lances are not in Notting City, but if he does not contract a Datura Snake early on, he might not be able to defeat a Man Faced Demon Spider when the time comes.

Xia Yan had studied it; martial souls generally have attributes, such as gem, wood, water, or earth, but the Demon Suppressing Pagoda has no attributes, which allows it to contract any type.

He only needs to consider the synergy of the contracted soul beasts: support and assault, aerial and aquatic, spatial and mental, buffs and debuffs...

The most pressing matter right now, is that he needs to go to the Soul Hunting Forest as soon as possible to subdue a Datura Snake.

The Datura Snake is his best choice at the moment, bar none.

As for the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff, Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, or Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, they are certainly powerful and very suitable for contracting, but if he were to actually go to the Star Dou Great Forest, he would definitely be eaten on the spot by some hundred-year-old fierce beast that popped out from the roadside...

Besides, the Datura Snake is also a rare soul beast, and its innate talent is quite good to begin with.

In the future, if he feeds it some top-tier immortal herbs, he won't have to worry about it failing to evolve.

The only problem now is, how is he supposed to get to the Soul Hunting Forest?

He certainly cannot go alone.

It is four hundred miles from Notting City, and he needs a permit to enter; the place is fraught with danger, and a ten-year soul beast jumping out from the side of the road could kill him...

Just as he was thinking this, suddenly, the entire dormitory fell silent. The group of work-study students froze in place, craning their necks toward the door like a pack of sentry meerkats.

"Is Xia Yan here?"

A hoarse, low, middle-aged man's voice broke the silence, sounding extremely abrupt.

Xia Yan, who was deep in thought, was startled.

He turned around instinctively to look.

Blocking the doorway stood a middle-aged man in plain clothing.

This man was of medium build with scruffy stubble, looking somewhat unkempt. His hair was only slightly longer than his beard, styled in a short black buzz cut. His face showed no emotion, though his eyes revealed a sense of decadence...

Yu Xiaogang?

Xia Yan pretended not to know him:

"Is there something you need, teacher?"

Yu Xiaogang looked him up and down.

His hoarse voice was unhurried: "Come with me."

After saying this, he turned and left without any further explanation.

Xia Yan glanced around; the students had already distanced themselves from him and were now staring, wanting to know why a teacher would personally come looking for this newcomer.

Xia Yan followed him to the academic affairs office and arrived at Yu Xiaogang's office.

The office was not large, with bookshelves piled high with books lining all four walls.

As soon as Xia Yan entered, he smelled the faint scent of old books and saw Yu Xiaogang standing with his back to him, hands behind his back, silently looking out the window.

He carried the air of an expert; if Xia Yan didn't know about Yu Xiaogang's actual deeds, he might have already been bluffed.

"Teacher, is there something you need?"

"..."

After a moment of silence, Yu Xiaogang slowly turned around, doing his best to hide the gleam of joy flickering in his eyes. A work-study student, a poor kid, an once-in-a-century Innate Full Soul Power, a special martial soul—this was exactly the ideal candidate for a disciple he had been waiting for so long.

All his years of hard waiting had not been in vain!