Ye Yang sneered inwardly, but his face remained utterly respectful. He bowed deeply to Emperor Xue Ye. "Your son... thanks Father for seeing through the matter! Your son's way of disciplining them was also improper. I hereby ask to have three months' salary docked as a lesson to myself."
[ Ding! You turned retreat into advance. Acting +1, Spirit Power +1 ]
"Mm." Emperor Xue Ye nodded, seemingly quite pleased with the Crown Prince's "understanding." "Let this matter end here."
"Does anyone else have anything to report?"
Meanwhile, in Nuoding City.
With a simple pack on her back and the "vast fortune" of fifty Gold Soul Coins in hand, Qian Renxue stood before the timeworn gates of Nuoding Junior Spirit Master Academy.
The academy gates were not especially busy. Every so often, students in matching uniforms came and went.
"Brother Ye Yang?"
Qian Renxue's body stiffened almost imperceptibly.
That form of address, that voice... She turned toward the sound.
A boy in the academy's blue uniform was looking at her.
He was well-proportioned, with delicate features and gentle eyes that held a steadiness beyond his years. Most striking of all was his neat, short black hair.
A girl in the same uniform stood beside him. She was a little taller than he was, with a long scorpion braid and a pair of bright, lively eyes. Now she was looking Qian Renxue up and down with curiosity.
"So it really is you, Brother Ye Yang!" Tang San broke into a genuine smile and hurried over. "What brings you to Nuoding City? Did Grandpa Jack bring you here?"
Qian Renxue furrowed her brow slightly. It seemed this Tang San knew Ye Yang?
"Mm. Grandpa... he's doing well."
Qian Renxue nodded, trying to make her voice sound natural, while subtly avoiding Tang San's gentle gaze, which seemed capable of seeing right through people.
"Brother Ye Yang, did you come to the academy to..." Tang San asked, puzzled. He knew Ye Yang had no Martial Soul. By rights, he shouldn't be standing outside a Soul Master Academy.
"Oh, I... I was just passing through. I heard you were studying here, so I came to have a look," Qian Renxue explained at once.
"Pfft." Xiao Wu couldn't help laughing beside them, her big eyes curving into crescents. "So you're the Brother Ye Yang from the same village that Xiao San's always talking about! You don't look like anything special."
She spoke bluntly, with a girl's innocent, impish charm. "Have a look? What's there to see? It's just classes, cultivation, and fighting every day."
She waved a small fist, full of energy.
"Xiao Wu!" Tang San shot her a mildly reproachful look, signaling her to watch what she said.
He turned to Qian Renxue, his tone still gentle. "Brother Ye Yang, you've come all this way to the city. Would you like to come in and sit for a while? There's a little garden on campus. It's quite nice."
Tang San extended the invitation out of a sense of kinship.
At his words, Qian Renxue hesitated, then nodded. It would be good to have a look. Besides, she had never seen what a school was like.
Tang San led Qian Renxue and Xiao Wu through Nuoding Academy's somewhat run-down courtyard and toward the little garden he had mentioned.
Sunlight filtered through the sparse leaves, and the atmosphere was fairly peaceful.
"Brother Ye Yang, you..." Tang San weighed his words, wanting to ask how the older boy from his village was doing. After all, an ordinary person without a Martial Soul leaving Holy Soul Village and coming alone to Nuoding City was unusual in itself.
But before he could finish, a steady voice with a faintly affected tone cut him off.
"Xiao San."
The three of them turned toward the sound. At the far end of the garden path stood a middle-aged man in a gray robe. His expression was stern, and his hair was combed to perfection. With his hands behind his back, he first looked at Tang San, a trace of satisfaction barely discernible in his gaze, then glanced over Xiao Wu, before his eyes settled on Qian Renxue, dressed in coarse cloth with a shabby bundle on her back.
It was Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang.
"Teacher!" Tang San bowed respectfully.
"Hello, Grandmaster." Xiao Wu greeted him casually. She had always been rather indifferent toward this master of theory.
Yu Xiaogang nodded slightly and looked at Qian Renxue. "And this is?"
Tang San quickly introduced her. "Teacher, this is Brother Ye Yang, someone from my village in Holy Soul Village. He happened to pass through Nuoding City today, so I brought him in to have a look."
"Oh? Someone from Holy Soul Village?" Yu Xiaogang's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, as though the information had brought something to mind.
He looked Qian Renxue up and down. Her shabby clothes, so out of place at the academy, and her taciturn expression instinctively led him to a certain judgment.
"Ye Yang?" Yu Xiaogang repeated the name, his tone carrying the air of someone questioning a subordinate. "Are you... a Soul Master?"
He was highly sensitive to fluctuations in Soul Power, but he couldn't sense any distinct aura of Soul Power from the young man before him—which was naturally because Qian Renxue had deliberately concealed it.
Qian Renxue calmly shook her head, her tone utterly unruffled. "No. I don't have a Martial Soul."
Those five words were like cold water dropped into boiling oil.
The interest in Yu Xiaogang's eyes vanished at once, replaced by undisguised contempt.
"No Martial Soul..." Yu Xiaogang drawled.
He stopped looking at Qian Renxue, as though the person standing before him were no more than an irrelevant backdrop, and turned his attention back to Tang San.
"Xiao San," Yu Xiaogang said, deliberately slowing his pace and speaking with grave concern.
"You're exceptionally gifted, with Innate Full Soul Power. Your future is boundless. You must always remember who you are and what responsibilities you bear, and spend every second cultivating and improving yourself."
"Don't let some... irrelevant people or matters distract you from your precious time and energy."
He paused, his gaze seeming to sweep over Qian Renxue once more. "Nuoding Academy may be small, but it is still a cradle for Soul Masters, gathering promising young talents with futures ahead of them."
"The world outside, especially the world of Soul Masters, is filled with opportunity and challenge. But those opportunities belong only to people with the strength and talent to seize them."
His words grew increasingly pointed, and he no longer bothered to hide his mockery.
"As for ordinary people who can't even awaken a Martial Soul... from the moment their six-year-old awakening ceremony ends, fate has already set the limits of their lives."
Yu Xiaogang's tone was inexplicable. "The wisest choice for them is to stay peaceably where they were born and raised, learn a trade, marry, have children, and live out an ordinary life."
"To barge into the world of Soul Masters—or to dream of 'making a name for themselves' on the continent—is no different from a moth flying into a flame. They'll not only come away battered and bruised, but will also be acting irresponsibly toward themselves and others."
"Some people spend their entire lives without even reaching the threshold of the Soul Master world. How could they possibly understand its vastness and dangers?" Yu Xiaogang's final words were almost an outright callout.
He looked at Tang San, his eyes full of admonition. "Take this as a warning, Xiao San. Your path is entirely different from theirs."
"Don't waste your talent, and don't let those 'old acquaintances' who are doomed to struggle at the bottom hold you back. Focus on yourself and pursue the pinnacle of power. That is what you should be doing."
Before you continue