Coaxing Children, Guiding Step by Step

Helping Xiao Wu attend the Balak Junior Soul Master Academy was actually not difficult.

All they needed to do was have Xiao Wu undergo her awakening at Spirit Hall and obtain a Soul Master Awakening Certificate.

Then they just needed to find a village near Fish Village that had a work-study student quota but no candidate to fill it, and secure that village's work-study student slot.

A work-study student quota exempted the recipient from miscellaneous fees at a junior academy for six years, making it a very decent welfare benefit for children from impoverished family backgrounds.

Yu Yan's entire net worth was only 1 gold soul coin, 20 silver soul coins, and 600 copper soul coins. This money was not much, and since it was his living expenses for a long time to come, he naturally had to save wherever he could.

Having figured out what to do next, Yu Yan shared this flawless plan with Xiao Wu.

"Can we not go to Spirit Hall?"

Upon hearing that she had to go to Spirit Hall, Xiao Wu's first reaction was to refuse. She was terrified of running into a Title Douluo there and having her identity exposed.

"Do you have a grudge against Spirit Hall?"

Understanding why Xiao Wu did not want to go, Yu Yan tossed the pre-conceived topic her way. Coaxing a child meant guiding them step by step and taking it slow.

"Yes, yes, yes, exactly like that."

Xiao Wu, who was currently fretting over how to refuse the trip to Spirit Hall, immediately nodded in agreement upon hearing Yu Yan's words, claiming that she indeed did not want to go because she held a grudge against the organization.

Of course, she genuinely did have a grudge against Spirit Hall.

Seeing that Xiao Wu's response matched his expectations almost perfectly, Yu Yan followed up with a question: "Which branch of Spirit Hall's soul masters do you have a grudge against? Or rather, which specific soul masters are you enemies with?"

"Huh?"

Xiao Wu's brain had not quite caught up yet, and she did not understand what Yu Yan meant by that.

"Let me put it this way. Spirit Hall is a massive organization that spans almost every city across this continent. There are many people inside this organization, ranging from Title Douluo to ordinary soul masters. You surely can't be enemies with everyone in Spirit Hall, can you?"

Yu Yan spread his hands, explaining his meaning in detail.

"No, no, how could I possibly have a grudge against everyone in Spirit Hall?"

It was impossible—and she would never—treat every soul master in Spirit Hall as her enemy; her foes were just a few specific individuals within it.

"The Soul Master Awakening Ceremony is held every year and is a very mundane, trivial matter. The most we'll run into is a Soul Grandmaster, which won't cause any waves at all. You don't need to be afraid of running into your enemies."

"Unless your talent is exceptionally good, no one will pay us any attention on this trip."

At this point, Yu Yan couldn't help but think of Xiao Wu having Innate Full Soul Power in the original story.

It was utterly absurd that two geniuses with Innate Full Soul Power stayed in Nuoding City, yet not a single major faction came to recruit them, nor did it even cause much of a stir.

One had to know that the highest soul power among the Martial Soul Hall Golden Generation was only level nine and a half, yet nobody came to recruit or inspect Xiao Wu and Tang San, whose soul power surpassed even the Martial Soul Hall Golden Generation.

Regarding this, Yu Yan remarked that the native factions of Douluo Continent were far too honorable and restrained in this regard.

Hearing that going to awaken her martial soul would at most lead to encountering a Soul Grandmaster, Xiao Wu let out a breath of relief, straightened her slumped posture, and leaned back against the chair.

"Then there's no problem. When are we going to Spirit Hall for the awakening ceremony? Oh right, Yu Yan, what is your innate soul power?"

Leaning against the chair, Xiao Wu prepared to slightly control her innate soul power rank so it matched Yu Yan's.

"My innate soul power is rank seven and a half, considered a minor genius."

Xiao Wu's thoughts were truly easy to guess; she practically had her intention to blindly copy Yu Yan's innate soul power written plain as day across her face.

Yu Yan didn't expose her little scheme either, and instead stated his own innate soul power rank.

"Okay, okay, I get it." Knowing what her innate soul power ought to be, Xiao Wu shifted her thoughts to another matter: "Yu Yan, when are we going to Balaque City for the martial soul awakening? I've never been inside a city before."

Having resolved her biggest worry, Xiao Wu desperately wanted to see the bustling human metropolis she had never set foot in—the one she had only ever heard about in her mother's stories.

Yu Yan had already thought of the answer to this question, and the moment Xiao Wu asked, he replied immediately:

"We'll go ask the village chief this afternoon about when the villagers are heading to Balaque City, and catch a ride on the village carriage. That way we'll get there faster and with less effort."

"Can't we go in the morning?"

Eager to hurry and see the city, Xiao Wu wished she could simply fly straight there right now.

"Grandpa Yu isn't home in the morning, so we won't find him even if we go. Going around two o'clock in the afternoon should be just right. Let's clean up the room you'll be staying in first thing in the morning."

As a man living alone, you couldn't expect the place where he lived to be particularly clean, let alone the room where he didn't live.

Now that Xiao Wu was coming to stay, and it was impossible for her to share a room with him directly, he naturally had to clean the place up.

"Oh."

Hearing that it involved cleaning, Xiao Wu lost much of her enthusiasm, though she didn't refuse.

The room Yu Yan prepared for Xiao Wu was the one belonging to his late parents, which was slightly larger than the space where he lived, a detail that left Xiao Wu quite satisfied.

At noon, to welcome Xiao Wu's arrival, Yu Yan deliberately prepared a meal consisting of one meat dish, two vegetable dishes, and a radish soup, which could be considered pulling out all the stops.

One could tell just how satisfied Xiao Wu was with the meal from the fact that she ate until her belly swelled up.

After the meal, Yu Yan, sitting with Xiao Wu in the chairs, reminded her that this meal was a celebration welcoming her arrival, and future meals would not be nearly this luxurious.

Patting her stuffed, bulging belly, Xiao Wu indicated that she didn't mind; as long as future meals reached the standard of that morning's, she would be very content.

Seeing how easily satisfied Xiao Wu was, Yu Yan couldn't help sighing inwardly that little rabbits really were easy to raise.

Meanwhile, Xiao Wu sat there thinking that human society was truly wonderful, offering excellent cultivation methods, delicious food, and very, very nice people.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Yu Yan and Xiao Wu walked hand in hand to the home of Old Man Yu, the village chief.

Yu Yan explained the tragic background of his distant cousin, Xiao Wu—a tragic backstory fabricated entirely out of absurd tropes from his past life, mm-hm...

It roughly went that when Xiao Wu's parents went into the mountains to gather herbs, they tragically died in the mouths of wild beasts, and her detestable relatives stripped Xiao Wu of her family's property while forcing her to become a child bride to their foolish son.

To escape those fellows, Xiao Wu had no choice but to come and throw herself upon the mercy of her aunt's family, who had always treated her very well.

Yu Yan stated that his parents were indeed dead, but he couldn't just ignore this pitiful cousin.

Xiao Wu had arrived in a hurry and had not yet awakened her martial soul, so he wanted to take his cousin Xiao Wu to awaken her martial soul at Spirit Hall the next time the villagers headed into the city.

Yu Yan's mother had indeed married in from elsewhere; she was not a native of Fish Village, and Old Man Yu had no idea where his mother had married in from.

This story, three parts truth and seven parts falsehood, left Old Man Yu stunned, though judging by the chief's indignant expression, he bought the tale completely.

The only flaw was that the story seemed to have been fabricated with a bit too much force.