Nuoding City, Entrance Examination

The carriage traveled for three days before finally arriving in Nuoding City.

The city gates were shorter than I had imagined, and the guards' armor was so old its paint had peeled away. They leaned on their spears and yawned. Yu Xiaolou poked his head out of the carriage, took one look, then pulled back. "Brother Tian Lin, why does this city look smaller than our clan's territory?"

"Because the clan territory has been built for over a thousand years, while this city is less than two hundred years old." I pushed his head back inside. "Pack your things. We're going into the city."

Before leaving, the coachman stuffed a money pouch into my hand, saying it was at Yu Yuanzhen's instruction. It contained around a hundred Gold Soul Coins. Yu Xiaolou's eyes nearly popped out at the sight, and the two of us headed for an inn.

The innkeeper was a plump woman in her fifties. When she saw me take out a Gold Soul Coin, she personally led us to the best room on the second floor. Yu Xiaolou tossed the luggage onto the bed and clamored about going to see what Notting Academy's gates looked like.

The academy stood in the eastern part of the city and occupied half a street. Ivy covered its drab gray walls, and a stone monument stood at the entrance, engraved with eight large characters: Notting Junior Spirit Master Academy. An admissions testing notice was posted on the bulletin board beside it. The test would take place the morning after tomorrow.

"The test isn't until the day after tomorrow, so we can rest for another day." Yu Xiaolou counted on his fingers, then suddenly tugged at my sleeve. "Brother Tian Lin, look! Isn't that person the one we ran into at Soul Hunting Forest last time?"

Across the street, two people sat by the window on the second floor of a teahouse. One was a young man in his thirties flipping through a thick book. Beside him sat a plainly dressed boy holding a cup of plain water.

Yu Xiaogang and Tang San.

Tang San seemed to sense something and turned to look outside. Across the street, our gazes met. A flicker of purple light flashed through his eyes before quickly fading. I nodded at him, put an arm around Yu Xiaolou's shoulders, and turned away. After taking a few steps, I sensed with my spiritual power that his gaze still rested on my back. It lingered for a full three or four breaths before withdrawing.

"Brother Tian Lin, why didn't you go over and say hello?"

"There'll be plenty of chances later."

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the day of the entrance examination, Notting Academy's Martial Arts Arena was packed. There were at least a hundred children taking the test, and with the parents accompanying them, half the arena was filled. The test had two parts: martial soul appraisal in the rear courtyard, and Soul Power testing openly conducted on the arena platform in front.

Yu Xiaolou and I stood in the middle of the line. A chubby boy in blue ahead of us turned back and glanced at us before facing forward again. Several parents nearby whispered that a wealthy merchant's child was participating this year, and that his martial soul was a Blazing Lion with Innate Soul Power at rank seven.

"Rank seven is nothing," Yu Xiaolou muttered in my ear.

"Brother Tian Lin, you have Innate Full Soul Power, a thousand-year first soul ring, and once you show your martial soul, you'll scare them to death."

"Shh." I lowered my voice. "What did the clan leader say before we left? Don't draw too much attention."

That was only half true. Yu Yuanzhen had indeed told me to keep a low profile, but the bigger reason was that a six-year-old with Innate Full Soul Power, a thousand-year first soul ring, and a mutated true dragon martial soul would be walking around with three labels plastered all over him. It would be like writing four huge words across his forehead: Come study me.

Spirit Hall, the great sects, and even the royal family would all send people to investigate. My strength truly crushed those of my age, but before the powerful figures of the entire continent, I was no more than an ant.

After spending hundreds of years in the cultivation world, one of the truths I understood best was that a genius who had not yet grown up was no genius at all.

"Then you're not going to show your thousand-year soul ring?" Yu Xiaolou asked quietly.

"We'll see. Suppressing my Soul Power to rank twelve is enough. There's no need to expose my soul ring."

Yu Xiaolou nodded, seeming to understand only part of it.

My gaze swept across the other side of the crowd. Tang San and Xiao Wu stood together. Xiao Wu tugged on Tang San's sleeve and chattered nonstop. Tang San's expression remained blank, but he did not shake off her hand.

My spiritual sense caught the circulation path of Soul Power within Tang San's body. He was around rank eleven, a little stronger than when we met in Soul Hunting Forest. His Mysterious Heaven Skill truly had its merits; his Soul Power grew far faster than that of ordinary spirit masters.

However, compared to the cultivation speed produced by a mind tempered through the Visualization Method combined with the Azure Dragon martial soul, he was still a step behind.

"All students participating in the entrance examination, gather at the center of the Martial Arts Arena!" A booming voice interrupted my thoughts.

The speaker was a middle-aged man with a square face and thick brows, dressed in a teacher's robe. A white-haired old man stood beside him. The middle-aged man introduced himself as Su Lin, Notting Academy's dean of studies, while the white-haired elder was Elder Qian, who would oversee the martial soul appraisal.

"The test has two parts. Elder Qian will conduct the martial soul appraisals, while I will publicly oversee the Soul Power tests. Those who fail will be eliminated immediately." Su Lin swept his gaze across the crowd, emphasizing the last sentence.

The moment those words came out, several children went pale. Yu Xiaolou was nervous beyond measure.

"We'll begin with martial soul appraisal. Those whose names are called, enter Spirit Hall in order. Yu Tianlin, you're first."

All eyes around us instantly converged on me. The child from the wealthy merchant's family with the Blazing Lion martial soul snorted through his nose.

I ignored him and walked straight toward the rear courtyard.

An awakening stone stood in the center of the courtyard. Three people sat behind the stone platform. Elder Qian was in the middle. To his left sat a middle-aged female teacher wearing glasses, with a registration book spread before her. To his right was a male teacher in his early thirties, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, looking as though he had not woken up yet.

"Stand on it and release your martial soul." Elder Qian's tone was calm.

I placed my right hand on it and activated my Soul Power. At the same time, I tightened my spiritual power and suppressed the aura of the Azure Dragon martial soul to a reasonable level. The Azure Dragon phantom appeared behind me, but its size was reduced by half, and seventy percent of its dragon might was restrained, leaving only the most basic sense of bloodline suppression.

The roster in Elder Qian's hand trembled. "Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon... no, it has mutation traits. What martial soul is this?"

"Prison-Suppressing Azure Dragon, a mutated Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon." I kept my answer brief.

Elder Qian pushed up his reading glasses and leaned closer to inspect the Azure Dragon phantom. His brow remained furrowed for quite some time before he finally wrote several words in the roster. "Mutated dragon-type martial soul. Grade unknown, provisionally classified as superior. Further appraisal required. Innate Soul Power..."

The female teacher handed over a testing crystal ball. I placed my hand on it and controlled my Soul Power output, keeping the crystal ball's glow steady at the rank-twelve mark.

"Rank twelve Soul Power!" The female teacher's pen pierced through the registration book again.

The sleepy male teacher finally opened his eyes and sat upright. He looked me over several times. "Rank twelve Soul Power and a superior mutated dragon martial soul. This child's talent is truly terrifying."

"Release your soul ring," Elder Qian said.

I released my first soul ring. My originally purple thousand-year soul ring had now become a yellow hundred-year soul ring.

I had worked out this trick from the Visualization Method. The essence of a soul ring was crystallized Soul Power. As long as spiritual power suppressed the energy leaking from the soul ring, a thousand-year soul ring could disguise itself as a hundred-year soul ring. Of course, this disguise could not fool a Soul King or above, or spirit masters with particularly powerful spiritual power. But Elder Qian was only a Soul Ancestor, and his eyesight was insufficient to see through such concealment.

"A first soul ring of around four hundred years." Elder Qian nodded and made another note in the roster. Then he looked up at me, his eyes filled with undisguised approval. "Innate Full Soul Power, a superior mutated dragon martial soul, and a four-hundred-year first soul ring. Yu Tianlin, among the new students of Notting Academy over the past decade, none can compare to your talent. Cultivate well. Your future is limitless."

"Thank you, Elder Qian."

I turned and walked out of the courtyard. The moment I stepped outside, Yu Xiaolou hurried over. "Brother Tian Lin, how did it go?"

"Easy."

Yu Xiaolou froze for a moment, then caught on and chuckled quietly. "You really know how to show off."

"Shut up."

Next came the public Soul Power test on the arena platform. Su Lin stood beside the platform, holding the appraisal results Elder Qian had just sent over. He announced, "First, Yu Tianlin. Martial soul: Prison-Suppressing Azure Dragon, a mutated dragon martial soul provisionally classified as superior. Current Soul Power: rank twelve. First soul ring: four hundred years."

A wave of astonishment rose from the Martial Arts Arena. Rank twelve at six years old, along with a four-hundred-year first ring—within this small city, he deserved to be called a genius.

Several parents exchanged murmured remarks, their eyes filled with admiration and the look one gave a monster.

That was exactly the effect I wanted.

The child from the wealthy merchant's family with the Blazing Lion martial soul looked much better afterward. The steward beside him whispered, "Young master, his martial soul may be mutated, but it is only classified as superior. Your Blazing Lion is also a superior martial soul. The gap is not that great."

The child snorted. "He's only rank twelve. I'll catch up sooner or later."

As I stepped down from the arena platform, I deliberately passed Tang San and Xiao Wu. Tang San's gaze fell on me. I nodded once at him without slowing down.

After taking two steps, my spiritual sense caught Tang San lowering his voice to say something to Xiao Wu.

"His Soul Power is more than rank ten."

I was surprised, but my steps did not pause in the slightest. Though Tang San's Purple Demon Eye had only just begun, it was still a top-tier eye technique capable of seeing through ordinary spiritual concealment.

Tang San could see through my Soul Power disguise, but there was no way he could see through my soul ring disguise.

"Brother Tian Lin, that Tang San kept staring at you just now," Yu Xiaolou said as he leaned close.

"Let him look."

"The little girl beside him was looking at you too. She even asked Tang San whether they should come over and talk to you."

"And then?"

"Tang San shook his head."

Just as expected. Tang San had always been cautious. Before figuring out my true background, he would not approach me on his own initiative.

After Su Lin announced the Soul Power test results of all the students, he cleared his throat. "The martial soul appraisals and Soul Power tests are complete. This year's top freshman..." He lowered his head to glance at the list in his hand, then looked up. His gaze passed over the crowd and landed precisely on me.

"Yu Tianlin."

Applause broke out across the Martial Arts Arena. The wealthy merchant's child clapped perfunctorily. Tang San did not applaud, merely watching me quietly. Xiao Wu, on the other hand, looked utterly curious as she stood on tiptoe and craned her neck toward me.

Yu Xiaolou was so excited that his face turned red. He grabbed my arm and shook it hard. "Brother Tian Lin, top freshman! That means you're number one among all the new students!"

"I know." I pulled my arm out of his grip. "Go back and pack up. Classes officially start tomorrow."

As we left the Martial Arts Arena, an unfamiliar boy caught up from behind and handed me a note. Only one line was written on it.

"You hid your strength. In the next practical combat class, I want to see your true strength with my own eyes."

There was no signature, but I recognized the handwriting. The writing in the thick book Tang San had held in Soul Hunting Forest was exactly the same as the writing on this note.

I folded the note, slipped it into my pocket, and headed toward the inn.

You want to see my true soul skill? That depends on whether you have what it takes to force me to act.