Su Yuntao clearly did not want to talk to Bai Shu about what had happened before, so he changed the subject and asked, "Why did you come here? Have you thought it over and decided to join Spirit Hall directly?"
Bai Shu felt a little awkward. He was not someone like Tang San, who accepted Spirit Hall's subsidy while planning to destroy it, but he also did not want to tie himself to Spirit Hall just yet.
"Uh, I plan to finish my elementary Spirit Master studies before considering my future path. I came for an advanced appraisal today."
Su Yuntao froze, looking Bai Shu over from head to toe. "Advanced appraisal? You've obtained your first soul ring? On the first day of school?"
Bai Shu nodded without offering any explanation.
Su Yuntao was a straightforward man. Seeing Bai Shu nod, he immediately took him to Ma Xiunuo's office on the second floor.
"Wait here for a while. Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo will be here soon, and he'll handle your advanced appraisal."
Just as Su Yuntao had said, only a few minutes passed before an elderly man entered the office, grumbling and cursing.
"Su Yuntao, you brat! You took him away without telling anyone else, making this old man search the first floor for ages."
Su Yuntao was clearly a little bewildered by the scolding as well. He pointed at himself innocently. "I kindly brought him to your office, and you're still blaming me? Where's your conscience?"
Seeing this, Bai Shu hurriedly interrupted the two. After explaining what had happened to Ma Xiunuo, the three of them finally headed to the appraisal room.
The advanced appraisal was simple: release the soul ring, then test the Soul Power Level.
Displaying the soul ring was no problem. Bai Shu stood in the center of the room atop the formation, then willed it into being. A bright yellow hundred-year soul ring rose from beneath his feet and pulsed up and down.
A trace of envy flashed through Su Yuntao and Ma Xiunuo's eyes, but they managed to remain calm.
After all, as a promising talent with Innate Full Soul Power, Notting Academy would certainly have given him some help.
But when Bai Shu pressed his palm against the yellow crystal ball used to test Soul Power, the two of them could no longer remain composed.
The instant Bai Shu placed his hand on the yellow crystal ball, which could measure up to level twenty, it immediately lit up with a brilliant glow.
"Th-this is... level fourteen Soul Power? How is that possible?!"
Ma Xiunuo had never seen anyone reach level fourteen immediately after breaking through. By normal reasoning, even an extreme-limit soul ring of over four hundred years could at most push one's Soul Power to level twelve. Level fourteen? That completely defied common sense.
Su Yuntao cried out even more loudly, "Did you take the wrong medicine, kid? Using forbidden drugs that exhaust your potential to raise your Soul Power is destroying your own future!"
Bai Shu rolled his eyes, too lazy to humor Su Yuntao's wild speculation. He calmly dropped a bombshell. "Brother Tao, I'm not stupid. Right after awakening my martial soul, I went to hunt for a soul ring. I was already level twelve after absorbing it. Over these three months, I just practiced casually and gained two levels, that's all."
Naturally, Bai Shu would not reveal the real reason, so he could only make up another explanation.
Besides, while what he said was still rather outrageous, it was not entirely impossible.
In the original story, Tang San and Xiao Wu could still rise one level in three months even when they were already in their twenties. One of them did not train seriously, while the other had a corrupted martial soul, so neither had fully realized the potential of Innate Full Soul Power.
"Three months? Two levels? And you call that 'all'?" Su Yuntao felt as though he had been struck in the chest by a heavy hammer. Comparing people really was infuriating. So what if someone had talent?
Ma Xiunuo took a deep breath beside him, suppressing the turmoil in his heart. Having lived most of his life, he had finally witnessed what a true monster was like.
A genius like this would surely become a major figure standing at the peak of the continent in the future.
After the minor incident during the Soul Power test, Bai Shu successfully completed his registration and received the one Gold Soul Coin subsidy issued by Spirit Hall.
Tucking the gold coin into his pocket, Bai Shu walked out of Spirit Hall in a good mood. At least he had money for meals now.
Just as he was about to buy a couple of changes of clothes on the street, the ground beneath his feet suddenly began to shake violently.
Rumble—!!
A thunderous boom that seemed capable of tearing apart the heavens erupted several miles outside the city. The violent shockwave even stirred up a visible gale above Notting City, frightening pedestrians into crouching down and covering their heads.
Bai Shu stopped in his tracks and looked toward the outskirts of the city. With that kind of commotion, Tang Hao must have been pushed into a corner and used the Great Sumeru Hammer.
Since he had even used his ultimate move, the battle was probably nearing its end. Bai Shu simply gave up on shopping, found a bench in the small plaza before Spirit Hall, and sat down to wait calmly for the outcome.
At the same time, on a barren mountain three miles outside Notting City.
The once-rolling hills had been flattened. The ground was covered in giant pits several meters deep and crisscrossing ravines.
Pfft!
A burly man clad in a black robe suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood mixed with fragments of internal organs. His body slid backward like a torn sack for dozens of meters, his feet plowing two deep trenches through the earth.
It was none other than the Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao, whose name shook the continent.
At this moment, Tang Hao had none of his usual dominance left. He gasped for breath, the web between his thumb and forefinger split open as black blood dripped down his arm.
Just moments ago, he had risked aggravating his old injuries to use Ring Detonation and the Great Sumeru Hammer, believing he could severely wound the man who had ambushed him in one blow.
Yet not only had his opponent taken the attack head-on, he had even triggered the poison inside Tang Hao's body, causing an immense backlash.
"Who exactly are you?!" Tang Hao gritted his teeth.
When had the continent gained such a peak expert with a Poison Attribute?
In midair, Xie Biyan stood with his hands behind his back, his robes snapping in the wind. Though several cuts from forceful energy marked his body, his aura remained steady.
Xie Biyan looked down at Tang Hao, a cold smile curling across his lips.
He had to admit that the man before him possessed astonishing explosive power.
If it had been an ordinary Titled Douluo, even one or two levels stronger, they would have suffered greatly if caught off guard.
Although he was only one level higher than Tang Hao, he had his own advantage: the Soul Core.
When his internal cultivation had been converted into this world's cultivation system, the Poison Attribute Dou Zong crystal in his dantian had automatically transformed into a Soul Core. From the knowledge that had appeared in his mind, the other Titled Douluo of this world did not possess Soul Cores.
That was also why he was so confident in taking down Tang Hao.
"Interesting. This world is even more interesting than this old man imagined. Little fellow, this old man admits that you are indeed quite remarkable." Xie Biyan's aged voice echoed through the air like the cry of a night owl.
"However, you should never have offended the Young Master. Today, this old man can only grant you a dignified death."
Before his words had faded, Xie Biyan's seventh soul ring suddenly blazed brightly.
Seventh Soul Skill, Martial Soul Avatar.
Amid blinding blood-red light, Xie Biyan's body instantly grew taller and stretched out. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a massive crimson scorpion more than ten meters long.
The giant scorpion was covered from head to tail in dark-red demonic markings, its compound eyes locked firmly onto Tang Hao.
This was the Dou Zong-level magical beast he had once sealed within his body, now his martial soul: the Blood Demon Scorpion Emperor!
Not only that, but the eighth black soul ring also erupted with a suffocating fluctuation.
Eighth Soul Skill, Blood Demon Heart Devourer.
The giant scorpion's savage mouthparts opened wide. Energy between heaven and earth gathered wildly, forming a viscous, blood-red beam as thick as a water vat. Carrying a foul wind that corroded everything in its path, it tore through the air and blasted straight toward Tang Hao's face!
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