[Inner World]
Outside Suotuo City, Balak Kingdom, before a shabby village whose signboard was barely hanging on.
"Monsters only admit monsters... This academy certainly has some unusual tastes."
Qian San looked up at the crooked wooden sign at the village entrance, which read Kelaishi Academy. Beside him stood Xiao Qing, still dressed in a blue-green dress.
After his father, Qian Xunji, had left Dugu Bo behind to secretly watch over them and then mysteriously disappeared, Qian San and Xiao Qing had followed their original plan and come to this Soul Master Academy of legend.
As soon as they entered the village, a little boy who looked only seven or eight, with rosy lips and an adorable face, came pushing a small cart toward them.
"Would you like a sausage? My name is Ao Shushun. This Recovery Sausage was made by my own hands!" The boy blinked his big, watery eyes, looking utterly harmless.
Qian San paused. His Purple Demon Eye turned slightly, and he immediately saw through the oddity: the boy before him seemed to be older than he was, but his body's growth had completely stopped at the stage of a young child.
"Thanks, but no." Qian San politely waved a hand.
They continued farther in. Before they reached the registration area, they heard a heated argument up ahead.
Or rather, one-sided scolding.
"Get away! Don't touch me with those hands of yours, after they've touched countless filthy women!"
In the open space, a black-clad girl stood glaring frostily at the boy before her. She was tall—half a head taller than boys her age.
The girl had a sturdy build, but her face was coldly beautiful, a striking contrast to her physique. A fierce aura shone in her mismatched eyes, and faint black tiger stripes appeared on her skin. Though still young, she was already a Soul Ancestor.
Her name was Dai Zhuqing. Her Martial Soul was the Evil-Eyed Black Tiger, the Star Luo Empire's unquestioned hereditary Martial Soul!
Across from her stood a handsome boy whose eyes, however, betrayed the hollow look of someone who had overindulged. He wore a rueful, ingratiating smile. His name was Zhu Muhei, and his Martial Soul was the agility-type Azure Spirit Cat.
In this topsy-turvy Star Luo Empire, the royal rules were still ruthless, yet even more lenient: man or woman, whoever had the greatest strength and the hardest fist could sit on the throne!
As the inheritor of the Evil-Eyed Black Tiger, Dai Zhuqing had Innate Soul Power at Rank 9 and trained exceptionally hard. She had been the most promising candidate to compete for the position of crown princess.
Yet Zhu Muhei, the cat who couldn't keep his lower body in check and had been bound to her as her fiancé since childhood, had gone to underground casinos and brothels to hire prostitutes when he was seven. He'd been caught red-handed by political rivals, and the scandal had rocked the entire city!
The Star Luo Imperial Family had been enraged. Dai Zhuqing, as his fiancée, had suffered the punishment by association and been banished to the frontier.
Proud and unyielding, Dai Zhuqing couldn't stomach such humiliation. She fought her way out, apparently as a fugitive, but had secretly received help from her older sister, Dai Zhuyun.
She had fled to this remote Kelaishi Academy, while Zhu Muhei had received a death order from his family: if he couldn't bring Dai Zhuqing back and quell the royal family's fury, he needn't return alive.
"Zhuqing, hear me out. That time was really an accident. I was drugged and framed!" Zhu Muhei pleaded in a humble voice.
"Shut up, you good-for-nothing." Dai Zhuqing folded her arms across her chest. The aura of the Evil-Eyed Black Tiger erupted, knocking Zhu Muhei back three steps. "Come within three zhang of me again, and I'll castrate you."
Watching this, Qian San thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle, though the Star Luo Empire's bizarre royal rules left him speechless.
Just then, a calm sigh came from a large blue-gray stone nearby, like one from an old monk deep in meditation.
"Amitabha... Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. Both of you, worldly troubles are all illusions. Why not sit down, drink a cup of tea, and contemplate the heavens and the earth?"
The speaker was a slightly chubby, blue-haired boy with a crew cut. His name was Niu Lanjun.
What felt out of place was that his plump face held none of the youthful energy or impulsiveness of a boy. Instead, it carried the peace of someone who had weathered the vicissitudes of life and seen through all worldly things.
His Martial Soul was a mutated top-tier Martial Soul: the Benevolent Water Phoenix.
Entirely unlike the legendary Evil Fire Phoenix, whose bearer was consumed by lustful flames, the Benevolent Water Phoenix had the pure attribute of healing water. Its effect on its host was even stranger: it forcibly washed away a Soul Master's worldly desires. As a result, Niu Lanjun seemed to have been shaved and ordained at a very young age. He wanted nothing, and even meat no longer tasted good to him.
"You fatso, what kind of sutra are you chanting over there? You're so annoying!"
Not far from Niu Lanjun stood a girl in a luxurious long dress, her chin practically raised to the sky. She snorted. Her name was Yu Rongrong, and she came from the number-one sect in the world: the Seven Treasure Overlord Pagoda Sect.
In her palm rested a delicate little pagoda gleaming with seven-colored light. Unlike ordinary support-type Martial Souls, her pagoda could release the Soul Beasts within its Spirit Rings to fight. Add in the doting she'd received from her family since childhood, and it was no wonder she'd grown so arrogant.
"Amitabha. Lady Yu, your anger is too great. Take care not to harm your liver." Niu Lanjun pressed his palms together, still as calm as ever, making Yu Rongrong grit her teeth in fury.
Looking at this bunch of oddballs, each with their own strange temperament, Qian San and Xiao Qing exchanged glances and saw the same helplessness in each other's eyes. If his father hadn't agreed to him coming here, he wouldn't have stayed at this Kelaishi Academy for even one more second.
That afternoon, in an open space behind Kelaishi Academy.
The four new students who had passed the preliminary test—Qian San, Xiao Qing, Yu Rongrong, and Zhu Muhei—stood in a row.
Before them stood a burly, middle-aged man whose muscles bulged like granite. A teasing smile played on his rugged face, and his body gave off a faint, icy silver metallic sheen.
He was Zhao Youji, vice dean of Kelaishi Academy and a Rank 76 Soul Sage. His Martial Soul was the Giant Strength Silver Iron Bear!
"My name is Zhao Youji. I'll be your examiner for the fourth test." Zhao Youji lit a stick of incense and casually planted it in the dirt beside him. He rolled his thick neck, and his bones cracked loudly.
"The rules are simple. The few of you work together, and if you can last one stick of incense against me, you all pass. Of course, if you manage to hurt me, even if it's just a scratch, that counts as a win."
Zhao Youji's bear-like eyes swept across them, confidence in his voice. "I'll give you one stick of incense to learn about one another's Martial Souls and Soul Power, and discuss your tactics."
"Niu Lanjun, you join them too. I've heard enough of your chanting lately. Let's see whether your recent training is as impressive as your mouth!"
At his words, Zhu Muhei and Yu Rongrong both looked grave. Facing a Soul Sage, even in a spar, was like confronting an insurmountable mountain. Their only consolation was that their senior, who seemed to have joined the clergy, would be fighting alongside them.
Niu Lanjun, by contrast, didn't seem to mind. His heart was as calm as water.
They hurriedly gathered to introduce themselves. The stick of incense burned away quickly.
Qian San stepped forward.
"I'll lead. I'm Qian San, my Martial Soul is the Blue Silver Spider, and I'm a Rank 46 Battle Soul Ancestor."
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