Qian San's gaze was calm. He didn't even release his Martial Soul. He stepped forward, his figure swaying slightly like a ghost as he easily dodged Wang Duo's straight punch. Then, using Wang Duo's momentum against him, Qian San lightly placed his right hand on Wang Duo's wrist and guided it aside, while his left foot swept behind Wang Duo's ankle.
"Thud!"
Wang Duo hadn't even touched the hem of Qian San's clothes, yet he had already lost his balance and landed face-first on the ground. He couldn't get back up for a long while.
The entire Dorm Seven fell utterly silent.
Wang Duo got to his feet, covered in dust, and held his aching arm. Awe filled his eyes as he looked at Qian San. "I lost. You're impressive. From now on, you're the new boss of Dorm Seven!"
Qian San wasn't interested in this childish game of fighting over who got to be boss. He was about to refuse when the dormitory door, already ajar, swung open again.
Everyone turned to look at once, then froze.
A little girl stood in the doorway. She wore a blue-green outfit that was clean and practical, without a single unnecessary decoration. Her long black hair was simply tied back with a green ribbon, falling to her waist.
Unlike the lively, adorable look of an ordinary little girl, she had an unusually cool, detached air about her. Her eyes seemed like a deep, unfathomable spring—calm and profound, with a maturity and indifference far beyond her years. She was quiet and exceptionally well-behaved.
She stood there silently, like a green lotus growing in a secluded valley, apart from the world.
"Is this Dorm Seven?" the girl asked. Her voice was clear, yet carried a faint sense of distance.
"Y-yes." Wang Duo swallowed and hurried forward, forcing himself to reclaim some of the dignity he'd lost as the former boss.
"You're a new Work-Study Student, right? I'm Wang Duo. Let me explain the rules of Dorm Seven: newcomers have to fight the boss. If they win, they become the boss. This is Qian San. He just beat me, so he's the new boss of Dorm Seven. Do you want to challenge him?"
The girl's name was Xiao Qing.
She tilted her head slightly, her cool gaze passing over Qian San without a trace of fighting spirit or any other unnecessary emotion.
"Not interested."
Xiao Qing left it at that, walked straight past Wang Duo, and went to an empty bed in the corner. She set down the pitifully small amount of luggage she carried, then quietly sat by the bed and began arranging it, as if all the noise around her had nothing to do with her.
"Let him be the boss. Just don't bother me."
Not long after Dorm Seven had fallen quiet, the half-open wooden door was pushed open again.
An upper-year student walked in carrying a roll of brand-new bedding that wasn't very thick. He scanned the dormitory and called out loudly,
"Who's Qian San? Teacher Ning Dagang asked me to bring you this bedding."
At that, Qian San stepped forward and took the rough bedding, which even felt stiff to the touch. He hefted it, privately grumbling that the academy's food and accommodations were probably both pretty awful.
Before leaving, his father, Qian Xunji, had stuffed more than a dozen Gold Soul Coins into his hands. In this little Nuoding City, that was undoubtedly a fortune, and he could easily buy a fine silk quilt for himself. Still, in keeping with the principle that you might as well take what was free, he nodded his thanks and set the bedding on the bed he'd chosen.
Xiao Qing, who had been sitting silently in the corner, looked at Qian San's bedding.
She turned to glance at her own bare wooden bed frame. A flicker of thought passed through her calm eyes. She sat there quietly, pondering for a full three seconds.
Then she stood up and walked soundlessly over to Qian San.
"I've changed my mind." Xiao Qing's voice was still cool and unruffled, as if she were simply stating a fact.
"I want to fight you. If I win, the bedding is mine."
Qian San raised an eyebrow. He studied the girl before him, who looked delicate but had an unusually composed air about her. She hadn't even bothered to look over when Wang Duo and the others were making a fuss, yet now she was challenging him over an ordinary set of bedding. What's more, his instincts told him there was something unusual about her. There was a faint, dangerous aura about her that even he could sense.
It was just right. He wanted to test her strength, too.
"Fine. I accept." Qian San took two steps back and assumed a fighting stance, his expression turning serious. "Qian San. Martial Soul: Blue Silver Spider. Rank ten."
His words set the entire dormitory buzzing.
"Rank ten? Innate Full Soul Power?" Wang Duo's eyes widened as he blurted out in shock. "But... what the heck is a Blue Silver Spider? Aren't those Trash Martial Souls you find all over the woods? How could one have Innate Full Soul Power?" The other Work-Study Students looked just as incredulous.
The commotion around her didn't change Xiao Qing's expression in the slightest. She raised her hand slightly, imitating Qian San, and her cool, childish voice rang through the dormitory.
"Xiao Qing. Martial Soul: Sky Azure Bull Python. Rank ten."
This time, the dormitory fell even quieter. Sky Azure Bull Python? What kind of Martial Soul was that? The Work-Study Students looked at one another. They'd never even heard of it, but Qian San had a strange feeling that this Martial Soul was extraordinary, definitely no ordinary Beast Martial Soul.
"Martial Soul Possession!"
Qian San gave a low shout. A flash of deep blue light spread from his palm across his body. The phantom of a Blue Silver Spider flickered into view behind him, and then a layer of fine, deep-blue Spider Armor covered his arms and chest.
The moment his Martial Soul possessed him, a pair of sharp Spider Spears abruptly emerged from the outer sides of his forearms. But they appeared for only an instant before he forcibly suppressed them with his will and drew them back into his body. This was only a spar between classmates, not a fight to the death.
Normally, when the Blue Silver Spider possessed him, his lower body would transform into a giant spider's abdomen and eight legs.
But that would make him far too large and completely ruin the balance of his footwork when using the Tang Sect Secret Arts, Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. So, before leaving Soul Saint Village, he had specifically asked his father for advice and managed to learn a method of partial possession that covered only his upper body, leaving his human legs intact.
Facing Qian San's guarded stance, Xiao Qing also stirred her Soul Power.
An aura that was ancient and heavy, threaded with the might of thunder, suddenly burst from her petite body. As a blue-green glow flowed over her, fine green scales appeared on her arms and long neck, and her eyes turned into cold, vertical pupils.
Even with only the most basic Martial Soul Possession, the pressure of the Sky Azure Bull Python's supreme bloodline made the Work-Study Students nearby retreat again and again. Some even struggled to breathe.
"I'm going to attack," Xiao Qing said in a cool, quiet voice.
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