"You absorbed a Hundred-Year Soul Ring as your First Soul Ring! Honestly... should I say you're lucky or unlucky?" A Hundred-Year Soul Beast was no opponent for a Soul Scholar with no rings. Thankfully, it had been badly wounded, so you could say he'd stumbled into a real windfall.
"Hm? This Martial Soul of yours..." Fule had never seen anything like it: a blue-and-white sphere. What could a tool-type Martial Soul like that do? Hit people with itself?
"Xiao Chen, what's your Martial Soul?" Fule asked.
"Uncle, my Martial Soul is called the Gulu Ball. It can form contracts with Soul Beasts."
Form contracts with Soul Beasts?
Everyone looked puzzled. Fule asked again, "A contract-type Martial Soul?"
Luo Chen tossed out the transformed Junior Gulu Ball. A flash of light later, a strange, eyeball-shaped creature about half a meter tall appeared, its body covered in tentacles and gleaming silver-purple.
Luo Dashan and his wife jumped in fright, but Fule looked thoughtful.
"What kind of Soul Beast is that?" Fule asked. Back then, the Evil Eye Clan had only appeared on the Sun Moon Continent. Even if there were any on the Douluo Continent, they were exceedingly rare, so it was only natural that Fule, a Soul Ancestor, didn't know about them.
"He's called Evil Eye. He's around six hundred years old, and his ability is a mental shock."
"A mental-type Soul Beast!" Fule shot to his feet, slapping the table. "That makes sense. Contract-type Martial Souls usually mean their Soul Masters have powerful mental strength, and mental-type Soul Masters are incredibly rare!"
After a moment's thought, Fule said, "Xiao Chen, would you like to study at Heaven Dou Junior Soul Master Academy?"
"Heaven Dou Junior Soul Master Academy?" Luo Dashan and his wife exclaimed. That was in Heaven Dou City, the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire. Ordinary folk like them could hardly even make the trip there, let alone dream of sending their child to school.
Seeing how troubled Luo Dashan and his wife looked, Fule quickly added, "I used to teach at Heaven Dou Junior Soul Master Academy, so I still have a little influence there. I can get Xiao Chen a work-study place. With his talent, staying in this little town would be burying a gifted child."
A glimmer of hope lit Luo Chen's eyes. Ever since awakening the Gulu Ball Martial Soul, he'd wanted to go out and see the world. At last, the opportunity had come!
"Uncle Fule, I want to go. I want to see what's out there!" Luo Chen said firmly.
A month later, Luo Chen arrived in Heaven Dou City with Luo Dashan. Luo Dashan had another merchant caravan job, and its destination happened to be Heaven Dou City.
Once they reached the city, Luo Dashan asked the caravan manager for leave, then took Luo Chen to Heaven Dou Junior Soul Master Academy.
New Student Registration.
The teacher in charge of welcoming new students was nearly asleep. It was the afternoon of the final day for registration, and most students who were coming had already arrived. He was just sitting there to keep up appearances.
"Hello, is this the registration office for Heaven Dou Junior Soul Master Academy?"
The teacher immediately opened his eyes at the question, but when he saw Luo Chen and his father, he looked a little confused.
Heaven Dou Junior Soul Master Academy was the junior division of Heaven Dou Royal Academy. Only nobles could attend, unless someone had been granted special admission. But Luo Dashan and his son certainly didn't look like nobles.
"Hello. Are you sure you're here to register at Heaven Dou Junior Soul Master Academy?" The teacher was quite polite, not at all the arrogant bully they might have expected.
"Yes, teacher. Uncle Fule sent me!" Luo Chen pulled a letter of introduction from his clothes and handed it over.
The teacher saw the words "To Chief Meng Shenji" written on the letter and didn't know what to do for a moment.
But he quickly recovered and said, "Please wait a moment. I'll go report this!"
With that, he summoned his Martial Soul and flew off into the distance. He was a flying Soul Master with four rings. Heaven Dou City really was full of experts—even an ordinary teacher had four rings.
"Dad, let's wait here for a little while. I think he'll be back soon."
Other people might not know who Meng Shenji was, but Luo Chen certainly did. As a transmigrator, he knew all about this chief of Heaven Dou Royal Academy, a Soul Douluo-level powerhouse whose Black Demon Martial Soul could corrode mental strength. He could practically be considered half a mental-type Soul Master.
As he was thinking, another group arrived in the distance. Three people got out of a carriage: one grown man and two small boys, all of them burly.
The man in front walked over to Luo Dashan and his son and asked, "Brother, do you know where the teacher handling new admissions went?"
"Oh, that teacher will be back in a moment."
The two boys also looked like they were here to register. They were identical, so they were probably twins.
One of the boys looked at Luo Chen and stepped forward. "Are you here to register too?"
There was no hostility in his eyes, but he looked thoroughly disdainful. He was probably wondering how an ordinary person like this could be allowed to attend school here.
Luo Chen didn't feel like answering. He could sense the boy's contempt, but having lived two lives, he wasn't about to argue with a child. He simply nodded.
"Hey, I'm talking to you. Why are you ignoring me? Let me tell you, my Innate Soul Power was level eight, and now I'm already level nine. What level are you?"
Luo Chen was a little surprised to hear that the boy's Innate Soul Power had been level eight. He was a little prodigy, then. With hard work, he might reach the Soul Douluo level one day—but he still wasn't much compared to Luo Chen.
After contracting with the Evil Emperor and absorbing the tiny trace of Soul Power it had left behind, Luo Chen's Soul Power Level had reached a steady level sixteen. His First Soul Ring also had two Soul Skills, and he could summon an incomplete Evil Emperor. Even if the two boys teamed up against him, they still wouldn't stand a chance.
"Kid, that boy's clearly looking down on you. Why don't you beat him up?" The Evil Emperor's voice rang out at an inopportune moment.
Luo Chen teased him, "What's gotten into you, mighty Evil Emperor? Picking a fight with a child? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"
Luo Chen wasn't going to indulge him. The old Evil Eye was egging him on, constantly plotting to possess him, but it had never succeeded.
Luo Chen was playing with fire, too. For now, the two of them had reached a delicate balance: the Evil Emperor had to slowly recover its strength to find an opportunity to possess Luo Chen, while Luo Chen had to grow stronger to keep the Evil Emperor suppressed. So they were both steadily growing stronger in tandem.
If one day Luo Chen couldn't suppress the Evil Emperor, he'd be possessed, without a doubt. If the opposite happened, the Evil Emperor would be entirely under Luo Chen's control.
Just then, an elderly voice called out, "So Master Shi has brought his two young masters to register! Welcome, welcome!"
The middle-aged man from before said, "Shi Mo, Shi Mo, hurry up and greet Chief Meng Shenji."
The two boys obediently stood straight and bowed to Meng Shenji. "Greetings, Chief!"
"Good, good. I hear you two have very high compatibility with your Martial Souls and excellent talent. Welcome to Heaven Dou Royal Academy." Meng Shenji was rather stiff on the surface, but he was a fairly kind man.
Luo Chen looked at the two from earlier. So they were the Shi Brothers—the two Black Tortoise Soul Masters from the Imperial Fighting Team.
Before you continue