Shock Across All Sides

The East Palace study was brightly lit.

Xue Qinghe sat behind his desk, a secret report spread out before him.

After reading the final page, he did not set it down immediately. His fingers lightly tapped the paper twice.

"He defeated the combined teams of Godwind Academy and Blazing Fire Academy by himself?"

Xue Qinghe asked.

"Yes."

The shadow guard standing before the desk lowered his head.

"It was a seven-man team, and he only had Ye Lingling on his side."

Xue Qinghe folded the report and placed it in a drawer.

He said nothing.

The study remained quiet for quite a while.

Two years.

During Bai Yi's two years at Heaven Dou Royal Academy, he had always had people watching him.

The child attended classes, ate meals, returned to his dormitory, and occasionally went with Ye Lingling to the small woods behind the academy. His routine was extremely regular, without a single anomaly.

Yet when Bai Yi had left Heaven Dou City alone for the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt a ten-thousand-year soul beast, the people Xue Qinghe had sent to follow him had known nothing at all.

Only after Bai Yi returned did his people spot him at the academy again.

Xue Qinghe's fingers stopped on the desk.

That meant Bai Yi had long known someone was monitoring him, and he had been capable of leaving without alerting his watchers in the slightest.

A ten-year-old child could detect shadow guards at the Soul Ancestor level following him, then silently shake them off.

That was not something talent alone could accomplish.

Xue Qinghe recalled the few times he had interacted with Bai Yi over the past two years.

Every time they met, Bai Yi had acted completely normal.

Just as a ten-year-old child should.

He did not speak much, smiled occasionally, and accepted every gift Xue Qinghe gave him without hesitation.

Whatever Xue Qinghe asked, Bai Yi answered. He neither took the initiative nor avoided anything, appearing to be nothing more than an ordinary student with exceptional talent.

But what if all of that had been an act?

Xue Qinghe leaned back in his chair, his gaze settling on the night beyond the window.

If Bai Yi had truly guessed long ago that someone was watching him, yet pretended for two whole years that he had noticed nothing, then this child was far more calculating than Xue Qinghe had previously estimated.

He had seen many talented people, but someone who could hide his true thoughts so thoroughly at the age of ten was apparently the same kind of person as him.

Making someone like that work for him would not be easy.

A sharp glint flashed in Xue Qinghe's eyes as he ordered,

"Keep watching him."

"But do not get too close. Since he discovered you once, he can discover you a second time."

"Understood."

The shadow guard withdrew.

The study fell silent again.

Xue Qinghe took the secret report back out of the drawer, read it once more, then put it down.

What occupied his mind was not Bai Yi's talent, but something else.

When exactly had Bai Yi learned to conceal himself?

From Heaven Dou Royal Academy to the Star Dou Great Forest, the distance was not short. To make a round trip without being discovered required planning the route in advance, calculating the time, and avoiding possible surveillance points.

Those were not things a ten-year-old child could accomplish by instinct.

Someone must have taught him.

Or perhaps... he had always known how to do it.

Xue Qinghe folded the report again and returned it to the drawer.

Over at the training grounds, the teams from the various academies were leaving one after another.

The students from Godwind Academy and Blazing Fire Academy left the fastest.

Feng Xiaotian walked at the front of the group. His left shoulder had already been bandaged, but he still kept his body slightly turned as he walked, careful not to jostle it too much.

Huo Wu followed behind him without saying a word.

The nearby students quietly discussed the match they had just watched. Huo Wu caught a few snippets, but said nothing.

She walked with her head lowered, dark red hair hanging down to cover most of her face.

She felt awful.

Ever since childhood, she had been regarded as a genius—the daughter of Blazing Fire Academy's dean, the inheritor of the Fire Shadow martial soul.

She had never felt such a gap between herself and someone her age.

The difference between her and that child called Bai Yi was not something a difference in ranks could explain.

His use of soul skills, control over the rhythm of battle, and judgment of timing.

Those were not things a ten-year-old should possess.

"Next time, I'll definitely win."

Huo Wu spoke quietly.

She secretly swore to herself that no matter the price, she would win at least once.

Feng Xiaotian heard her. After hesitating for a moment, he comforted her.

"Don't worry. I'll help you next time too. We'll work hard together."

Huo Wu gave him a cold look.

"You'll help me? We were both beaten badly today. Next time, it'll be good enough if you don't hold me back."

Thunder Academy's team walked at the very end.

Their captain was a tall boy, talking to the team members beside him as they walked.

"Did you all get a clear look at Bai Yi's ten-thousand-year soul skill?"

"We did. If our lightning ran into his, it would feel like eggs smashing against stone."

"He wasn't using his full strength, was he?"

"...Hard to say. But I think he wasn't."

Elephant Armor Academy's team walked on the other side. Several broad, muscular students were discussing the same thing.

"When he slammed that staff into the ground, I felt like even my turtle shell shook twice."

"Captain, do you think we can block that monster's attacks?"

No one could answer that question.

Skywater Academy's team was the last group to leave the training grounds.

Their uniforms were ice blue. With all seven of them walking together, they stood out amid the dark blue and earthy yellow teams.

At the front was their captain, Shui Bing'er. She was around one meter sixty-five tall, with long water-blue hair cascading down her back and delicate features on a fair face.

Her expression was calm, revealing no emotion.

Behind her followed her younger sister Shui Yue'er, then Yu Hairou, Shui Yue'er, Shen Liuyu, Gu Qingbo, and Qiu Ruoshui.

Qiu Ruoshui, walking in the middle, was speaking to Shui Yue'er ahead of her.

"Yue'er, you saw that Bai Yi just now, right?"

Shui Yue'er nodded, her eyes shining.

"Mm-hmm, that guy was so handsome."

"Handsome? How old is he?"

Qiu Ruoshui smiled.

"But he really is powerful. The attack Feng Xiaotian and Huo Wu launched together would be difficult even for your sister's Ice Phoenix to handle, yet he broke it in an instant."

"Well, that was a ten-thousand-year soul skill, and those huge golden wings were so cool too. Wow, I really wish he could take me flying through the sky once."

Qiu Ruoshui sighed helplessly.

"That's not the point, you little lovestruck fool. Tomorrow, we'll be fighting him. Aren't you afraid he'll flatten you with that giant club?"

Shui Yue'er giggled and glanced at Shui Bing'er, who was walking ahead.

"Isn't my sister here? My sister won't lose."

Shui Bing'er walked at the front of the team at an unhurried pace, her water-blue hair swaying lightly behind her.

Hearing her sister's conversation, she spoke gently.

"That genius called Bai Yi is very powerful. His third Soul Ring was most likely obtained by hunting a ten-thousand-year Golden-Winged Thunder Roc, a soul beast that would not be at a disadvantage even against my Ice Phoenix."

"Ah, even you aren't confident, Sister?"

Shui Yue'er frowned slightly, then smiled again.

"It's fine, I'm here too! With us sisters together, there's no enemy we can't defeat."

Qiu Ruoshui chuckled.

"Yue'er, didn't you say he was handsome? Why not have your sister talk to him? Maybe she can even poach him into Skywater Academy."

Shui Yue'er's eyes lit up as she hugged Shui Bing'er's arm.

"That's right, Sister, you're so pretty. As soon as you make a move, that kid definitely won't be able to resist your charm."

Shui Bing'er merely shook her head helplessly, her voice soft. "Stop fooling around. Let's go back first."

Shui Yue'er stuck out her tongue and said nothing more.

Skywater Academy's team continued onward, their ice-blue uniforms glowing softly in the lingering light of the setting sun.

In a small tavern on West Street in Heaven Dou City, Zhu Zhuqing sat in a corner by the window.

A bowl of noodles sat before her, already cold.

She did not touch her chopsticks, only listened to the conversation at the neighboring table.

"Did you hear? There was a match at Heaven Dou Royal Academy today. A ten-year-old kid defeated the combined teams of Godwind Academy and Blazing Fire Academy all by himself."

"Ten years old? You're joking, right?"

"It's true. I heard he has two thousand-year Soul Rings and one ten-thousand-year Soul Ring. Even Feng Xiaotian and Huo Wu couldn't beat him together."

"Ten years old... a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring?"

"Yeah. What was that kid's name... Bai Yi? I think that was it."

Zhu Zhuqing's fingers froze on the tabletop.

Bai Yi.

She remembered the encounter in the Star Dou Great Forest a few days ago.

That figure, half a head shorter than her, had stood in front of her, his arm plated in golden light as he took Luo Li's attack head-on.

Zhu Zhuqing lowered her head and looked at the bowl of cold noodles before her.

An indescribable feeling welled up in her heart.

There was shock, admiration, and something else.

Sour and stifling, lodged in her chest.

She was ten years old too.

But she had only just broken through Rank Twenty and could not even be considered a Soul Grandmaster.

Bai Yi was already a Soul Elder, and he even had a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring.

The gap between her and him was too great, so great that she was not even qualified to stand beside him.

After saving her in the Star Dou Great Forest that day, Bai Yi had been equally indifferent.

He cleansed her poison, treated her injuries, brought her to Heaven Dou City, then left without looking back.

Throughout the entire process, he had shown no unnecessary emotion, as if he were doing something utterly ordinary.

Zhu Zhuqing stirred the noodles in her bowl with her chopsticks but did not eat.

She knew that vague feeling in her heart was something she should not have.

She and Bai Yi were not people from the same world.

He was a genius, a student Heaven Dou Royal Academy was nurturing with great care, a powerful figure who could defeat the joint forces of two academies alone on the training grounds.

She was merely a fallen noble who had escaped from the Star Luo Empire, with nothing worth a second glance from him.

She pressed that newly sprouted feeling into the deepest part of her heart.

The noodles had gone completely cold.

Zhu Zhuqing put down her chopsticks, paid the bill, and walked out of the tavern.

Heaven Dou City was brightly lit beneath the night sky.

Inside a large residence beside Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Bai Yi lay flat on the ground, gasping for breath.

He had just used the lightning from his third soul skill to temper his body for one hour.

Golden arcs of electricity continuously danced across his body. Every leap sent intense stabbing pain from his skin deep into his bones.

He gritted his teeth and endured wave after wave until his body was completely drained of strength.

Now, he was soaked in sweat, his clothes drenched and clinging to his skin. His limbs were so weak that he could not lift them.

Ye Lingling walked over from the stone steps nearby and crouched beside him.

She lowered her head and watched him for a moment, then reached out, lifted his head, and gently placed it on her lap.

Bai Yi did not move.

He was too exhausted to even speak.

Ye Lingling raised her hand, and the Nine Heart Begonia slowly blossomed in her palm.

Soft white light drifted down from the petals, covering Bai Yi's body.

The skin scorched by lightning slowly regained its normal color, while his aching muscles gradually relaxed beneath the white glow.

Bai Yi closed his eyes.

Ye Lingling placed her hand on his forehead, her fingertips slightly cool. She watched him for a long while before speaking:

"Why do you work so hard?"

Bai Yi did not open his eyes. "Hm?"

"Your talent is already exceptional. A Soul Elder at ten, with a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring."

An indescribable emotion stirred in Ye Lingling's eyes.

"The Heaven Dou Class students combined are no match for you alone. Why do you still... put yourself through such grueling training every day?"

Bai Yi fell silent for a moment.

His breathing had not yet completely settled, and his chest still rose and fell faintly.

Ye Lingling lowered her head to look at him.

She thought of every night over the past two years.

Bai Yi used flames to scorch his own body, stopping only after exhausting every last bit of Soul Power.

He always made it sound easy, treating it like a joke, but she had seen every bit of effort he put into his training.

Sometimes, she felt as though something was chasing him from behind, as though he would be caught if he slowed down even a single step.

"To me, there are too many uncertain things in this world, yet some things are destined to happen."

Bai Yi finally spoke.

His voice was very soft.

"If someone wants to make decisions for me, then I need the strength to make them shut up."

Ye Lingling's hand paused.

To control his own fate.

Was that his goal?

For the past two years, Bai Yi had been working to change and evolve her martial soul.

And she could indeed feel that the rule which had always bound her fate was slowly unraveling, even fading away.

Allowing her to reclaim her own destiny.

So her mother would no longer have to sacrifice herself for the future of the Nine Heart Begonia.

To her,

Bai Yi was the benefactor who had saved her family.

So, if Bai Yi ever needed her in the future, she would always be there.

The night wind passed through the courtyard, stirring Ye Lingling's blue hair.

Bai Yi lay on her lap, his breathing gradually settling.

Ye Lingling lowered her head to look at him. After a long time, she finally said softly:

"Rest. I'm here."

Bai Yi did not speak again.

His eyes were already closed, and his breathing had become even and unhurried.

Ye Lingling did not lay him down. She simply sat there, one hand resting on his shoulder, the white glow of the Nine Heart Begonia still faintly shining like a little lamp that would never go out.

Ye Lingling's hand remained on Bai Yi's shoulder.

He had fallen asleep.

His breathing was shallow and steady, and his brow had relaxed somewhat. He no longer looked as tense as when he had gritted his teeth and endured the lightning.

Ye Lingling lowered her head and looked at his face.

Over the past two years, she had rarely seen him asleep.

Whenever Bai Yi was awake, he always carried a sense of vigilance, as if he were ready to deal with some sudden situation at any moment.

Yet asleep, he looked more like a ten-year-old child.

It was reassuring.