Four Years Later

Four years later.

Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy, Mimicry Cultivation Ground.

Shen Nanxun stood in the center of the arena. At fourteen, the boy had already grown to just over 1.8 meters tall, broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted, with a slender, well-proportioned build.

Over the course of four years, his Soul Power had risen naturally to level forty-nine. That was not particularly fast, considering his cultivation speed. After breaking through level forty, he had spent part of his time stabilizing his bloodline.

With the complete revival of the other half of the Dragon Prince Bloodline, the Dragon Prince Bloodline in his body had become remarkably complete. But even as a Soul Spirit, that bloodline still had to adapt to his body.

Although it had cost him some cultivation time, the extraordinary combat strength brought by the Dragon Prince Bloodline more than made up for it.

To put it this way, if Shen Nanxun unleashed his full power and activated his bloodline, his combat strength could rival a Soul Douluo.

Was that an exaggeration?

Not in the slightest.

Lan Xuanyu had this level of strength despite possessing a hybrid Dragon God Bloodline. With his pure Dragon Prince Bloodline, Shen Nanxun could only be stronger.

However, as things stood, there was still a drawback. He did not know whether it was because the Dragon Prince Soul Spirit had never truly awakened, but if he pushed his bloodline to its limit, he might have to lie in bed for a month to recover.

It also took a heavy toll on his body and hindered his future cultivation, so he would never go that far except in extraordinary circumstances.

A familiar set of footsteps came from the edge of the arena, light and hurried, with a bouncing rhythm. Shen Nanxun knew who it was without turning around. He had heard those footsteps for eight whole years, from North Sea City all the way to Ming Capital.

"Shen Nanxun! I've finished drawing your Battle Armor design!" Na'er waved the scroll in her hand, her ahoge bobbing a beat faster than usual.

At fourteen, the girl had grown to just over 1.7 meters tall. Her silver-white hair fell to her waist, loosely tied with a pale blue ribbon. The childish innocence had faded from her features, leaving delicate, graceful lines, but her bright silver eyes were just as they had been eight years ago.

He and Qian Renxue had finished sketching out the general framework of his One-Word Battle Armor design the year before. Then the Shen Family had invited many of the continent's famous Battle Armor designers to fill in the details.

Na'er's part was not particularly substantial. It was mostly a description of the armor's appearance.

"What version is this?"

"The seventeenth! This one's definitely right!" Na'er slapped the design into his arms and tilted her face up, entirely unapologetic. "You're treating me."

"But I haven't even looked at the design yet."

"You're treating me whether you look at it or not. Na'er spent three months drawing it. Even if I didn't earn merit, I still worked hard." Her ahoge bobbed as if making a perfectly reasoned argument. Shen Nanxun looked down at the seventeenth version of the Battle Armor design in his arms. Her name was signed in the lower-right corner, with the usual crooked little ahoge drawn beside it.

Three months. No wonder she had been spending her evenings in the library, looking up references on Soul Guidance circuit compatibility. He put the design away, took his jacket from the weapon rack, and draped it over his shoulders.

"Let's go. What do you want to eat?"

"Spicy rabbit heads." Na'er answered without hesitation, falling into step half a pace behind him. After two steps, she added, "Extra numbing and extra spicy. You're paying."

Shen Nanxun was a little surprised. "I thought you'd want something else."

"Really? I can?" The girl's eyes lit up.

"...Don't push your luck!"

As the two walked side by side across the academy's central plaza, people's gazes naturally gathered on them. After all, scenes like this had played out almost every day for the past four years.

"That's Senior Shen Nanxun, the academy's top student!"

"Who else could it be? The one beside him is his younger sister, Na'er—the Dragon Spear Goddess, the one who swept five opponents in last year's academy exchange tournament."

"Wasn't she named the academy's number one beauty last year, or the year before? She's a hundred times prettier in person than in the photos!"

"The Dragon Spear Goddess and the strongest male student are siblings? What kind of immortal family is this?"

"They're not blood-related. I heard the Shen Family adopted her. But they're really close and are together all the time."

Walking beside Shen Nanxun, Na'er paid no attention to the chatter around them.

Ever since she had enrolled, she had heard titles like Sun Moon's Number One Beauty and Dragon Spear Goddess so often that they were coming out of her ears. At first, her ahoge would bristle, but when she realized that only drew more attention, she eventually learned to tune it all out.

But at that moment, her attention clearly had nothing to do with the gazes around her. She did not care that the younger students were whispering in low voices that could not contain their excitement. She was simply clutching a meal card with no spending limit and calculating how many rabbit heads to order.

Beside her, Shen Nanxun had a very different reputation among the students of Sun Moon. Nobody called him a genius, because the word was cheap at Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy—so cheap that every student with full Innate Soul Power upon enrollment had been called one.

They called him "the strongest student in the history of Sun Moon." The title had first come from Dean Kong Jieming. Later, Zhang Hanlin, director of the senior division, had quoted it publicly at an all-academy assembly, and from then on it had become Shen Nanxun's unique label at Sun Moon.

He had enrolled at nine as a three-ring Soul Master. Four years later, he was a level-forty-nine Soul Ancestor at his peak, had crushed Shrek Outer Court's elite two against seven in the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition, and had gone from victory to victory in the academy exchange tournament. A few years earlier, he had even led a team to defeat the six-person group led by Long Chen, the academy's original great hope.

Long Chen's Light Sacred Dragon Martial Soul gave him tremendous strength in one-on-one combat, and paired with You Dingqi, he could attack and defend. Weng Daimin and Xue Liushuang had the powerful Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Ice and Snow Goddess. Kuang Zhantian and Jian Mochen also had the Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Heavenly Tiger Summoning.

Six people. Two Martial Soul Fusion Skills.

And he had dismantled that terrifying lineup all by himself.

"Shen Nanxun, don't you think people are starting to look at you like you're some rare Soul Beast?" Na'er leaned closer and lowered her voice.

"You're not doing much better, Dragon Spear Goddess." Shen Nanxun kept his eyes straight ahead. Na'er's ahoge bobbed proudly.

The two crossed the plaza and stepped onto the tree-lined path leading to the academy gates. The setting sun cast their shadows side by side behind them, one tall and one short, close together. It was no different from eight years ago.

At the academy gates, a blue-haired girl with twin ponytails and a cool, moon-bright girl with black hair were waiting for them.

The new four-person group had already made plans to go out for dinner together.

Over the past few years, Ye Xi and Dong Yi'an had gradually settled into their studies and academy life. They still fell a little short in terms of talent, so they spent much less time together in their day-to-day lives. Still, they sometimes arranged to go out and have fun.

Gu Yue and Na'er's strength went without saying. As for Heroine Xu, she had visited Tianding Starry Sky Soul Master Academy the year before last for an academy exchange event. There, her Martial Soul had awakened, and she was now an indispensable control-type Soul Master with powerful offensive capabilities.

Her title, the strongest controller beneath the stars, had resounded throughout Sun Moon.

The four went to a restaurant they often visited. Once they had ordered, they naturally began chatting.

"Should we go somewhere together during the break?" Xu Xiaoyan asked eagerly, clearly excited about the upcoming vacation.

"I want to!" Ahoge King was the first to answer her good friend, but then her expression fell. "But I don't want to take the final exams."

"You're a level-forty Soul Ancestor. What are you afraid of in the finals?" Shen Nanxun said expressionlessly. He moved her tableware from her left to her right, then took the chopsticks off her bowl and neatly set them down.

"I'm not afraid of the exams. It's the theory. I can never find a seat in the library." Na'er rested her chin on the table, her ahoge drooping dejectedly. Xu Xiaoyan nodded in deep agreement and rested her chin there too. The two ahoge lay side by side on the same table.

Gu Yue sat across from Shen Nanxun, quietly flipping through the menu. She neither joined in complaining about the final exams nor showed much interest in their vacation plans.

When she turned to the desserts, her fingertips paused ever so slightly. Then she discreetly nudged the menu toward Shen Nanxun.

She had been like this for years: cool and reserved on the outside, yet always saving the best things for Shen Nanxun.

Xu Xiaoyan suddenly sprang up from the table, as if she had just remembered some earth-shattering gossip. "By the way! Have you heard? Shrek Academy's been taking its final exams lately, kicking the crap out of academies in city after city. People online say they're almost at Ming Capital. Do you think they'll come to Sun Moon?"

"Really?" Na'er looked up too.

"People online are already tearing into them." Gu Yue set down the menu, her tone even. "Every year, Shrek's new students pull this stunt. Basically, they use other academies to pad their records. They've been kicking their way from the Federation's west to its east, then posting the names of the academies they beat on their official website like medals. They've been doing this for over a hundred years. People from all walks of life have long been up in arms, but Shrek doesn't care. They think it's the privilege of being 'the continent's number one academy.'"

Xu Xiaoyan angrily pounded the table. "What gives them the right? If they dare come to Sun Moon, we'll show them what a real number one academy looks like!"

Heroine Xu was chivalrous and righteous, never afraid to stand up to the powerful—she was the ultimate firebrand!