Xie Xie

"Miss, breaking someone's arm in broad daylight, right here on the street, is rather inappropriate, isn't it? Aren't you afraid the media will report it?"

Xie Xie's pupils constricted slightly, and he hurriedly tried to talk her down.

His gaze swept over Gu Yuena and the others' clothing and bearing, and a trace of surprise rose in his heart.

With this kind of imposing dress and style, could they be some wealthy noble family from out of town?

And yet they act so overbearingly.

But Gu Yuena, who was burning with anger, could not take in a single word of his persuasion.

Her palm suddenly exerted force.

There came only a muffled crack of bone slipping out of place, and the bodyguard's entire arm bent and deformed on the spot.

"Young Master, save me! I only accidentally bumped into her little brother..."

The bodyguard's face twisted in pain as he let out a piglike scream.

The onlookers by the roadside witnessed this terrifying scene and all retreated.

"Ah, miss, I know we were in the wrong."

"Look, you've vented your anger too. Could you let go now?"

Xie Xie tugged at the corner of his mouth, unable to say much more.

He had only come here today to sign up, and had never expected something like this to happen.

If it was reported by the media, the Xie Family's reputation would be ruined.

"Mom, I'm fine. Let's go. Aunt Zi Ji is still waiting for us!"

Fang Yuan tugged at the corner of his mother's skirt, lifted his eyes, and murmured softly.

His mother was willing to stand up for him, and he was truly moved.

But they could not keep making trouble. If this stalemate dragged on, the city's law enforcement officers would arrive.

Besides, since the guy before him was Xie Xie, he had a faint guess as to which point in the plotline he was in.

Hearing this, Gu Yuena came back to herself and released her hand.

The moment that force withdrew, the black-clad bodyguard staggered and collapsed to the ground.

She bent down and crouched, asking gently, "Does anywhere feel uncomfortable? Should I have Aunt Bi Ji take a look at you?"

Fang Yuan shook his head, indicating that he was fine.

Seeing this, Gu Yuena's tense heart finally relaxed quite a bit.

She turned back to look at Xie Xie, her tone gradually easing. "On little Fang Yuan's account, I'll let your servant off for now."

"If there's a next time, I won't let even you off, boy!"

"Uh..."

Xie Xie scratched the back of his head, his tone carrying a hint of compromise.

"Got it, got it. How would there still dare to be a next time? I'll definitely discipline my men properly when we get back."

He glanced at the bodyguard lying on the ground and said sternly, "Hurry up and go. Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?"

"Young Master, but..."

The black-clad bodyguard stiffened his neck, still wanting to argue.

But when he met Xie Xie's icy gaze, the words at the tip of his tongue were forcibly swallowed back down.

Xie Xie said nothing more and turned, getting into the soul car under the escort of another bodyguard.

"Young Master, wait for me!"

The bodyguard with the broken arm gritted his teeth and propped himself up, clutching his twisted arm tightly as he limped after them.

Before getting into the car, he still did not forget to glare viciously at Fang Yuan, but the moment his gaze swept over Gu Yuena's cold side profile, he immediately shrank his neck and lowered his head.

A low engine roar sounded.

The black soul car soon drove away from the street corner and disappeared into the depths of the traffic.

The passersby watching the excitement by the street discussed in low voices, then dispersed in twos and threes one after another.

The street that had been noisy just now became deserted in the blink of an eye.

"Let's go."

Gu Yuena raised a hand and gently stroked Fang Yuan's forehead, her voice soft.

"Mm."

Fang Yuan answered and tightened his grip on her hand again.

"My lord, we finally found you."

A woman's voice suddenly rang out. A woman in a black formal suit, with long purple-black hair, quickly stepped forward. It was Zi Ji, who had been waiting for a long time.

Bi Ji lifted a brow and shot her a reproachful sideways glance. "You certainly kept our lord waiting."

Zi Ji smiled bitterly and bowed slightly.

"I beg my lord's forgiveness. I ran into the morning rush hour on the way here, and the roads were heavily congested. I was delayed for quite some time."

Gu Yuena had no intention of pursuing the matter.

After being dragged around for so long, little Fang Yuan was probably already tired.

Now was not the time to fuss over it.

She spoke coolly, urging them on. "No need for more words. Let's go."

"My lord, young master, please follow me."

Zi Ji turned sideways and raised a hand to lead the way. The group followed her to a purple soul-guided car.

The door slid open automatically and silently, and everyone took their seats inside in turn.

Once they had all sat down, the soul-guided engine let out a low, steady rumble.

The wheels folded inward and retracted, and the body of the car slowly lifted off the ground, flying smoothly toward the heart of East Sea City.

An hour later.

The hovering soul-guided car slowly landed and came to a stop before the main entrance of a gigantic tower.

The door slid open silently. Gu Yuena reached out, took Fang Yuan into her arm, and got out with him, arriving before the entrance.

"Mother, is this the Spirit Pagoda?"

Fang Yuan instinctively raised his head, his gaze traveling all the way up along the tower.

The tower was grand and imposing, far more magnificent than he had imagined.

This matched the records in the book: the number of floors in a Spirit Pagoda corresponded to the scale of the city.

A small city had only three floors, a medium-sized city had seven, and a large city like East Sea City had a full thirteen floors. There was even a Spirit Ascension Platform specially built inside the tower.

Seeing it with his own eyes was far more shocking than reading a description in words.

"Mm. I had Zi Ji choose a spirit soul for your first martial soul."

Gu Yuena nodded slightly.

Without slowing her steps, she walked straight into the Spirit Pagoda.

"Hello. May I ask what business you have here?"

The gazes of several spirit masters at the front desk in the hall immediately fell on Gu Yuena's group.

"We have an appointment."

Zi Ji took out an appointment letter stamped with the Spirit Pagoda's seal and handed it over.

"Very well. First, please go to the spiritual testing room to test spiritual power."

After verifying the authenticity of the letter, the spirit master respectfully stepped out from behind the counter.

He raised a hand slightly and led Gu Yuena and the others to the entrance of the spiritual testing room.

"May I ask which soul master will be absorbing the spirit soul? Please sit in the seat and have your spiritual power tested. Everyone else, please wait outside."

"Me!"

Fang Yuan answered and raised his little hand to signal.

"You?"

The spirit master's brows shot up, his face filled with disbelief.

He turned to look at Gu Yuena and the others, then spoke in a deep voice.

"You are this young friend's guardians?"

"It has long been settled in the soul master world that the limit for a first soul ring is only four hundred and twenty-three years.

"If it exceeds that age by even a little, the violent impact of soul power will be enough to completely shatter a newly advanced soul master's meridians and heavily damage the very foundation of their spirit."

The more he spoke, the graver his expression became, and his tone took on a hint of anger. "You know this perfectly well, yet you still insist on taking the risk and letting this child absorb a thousand-year spirit soul. You are simply gambling with this child's life. This is far too irresponsible!"

When Gu Yuena heard this, not the slightest ripple appeared in her eyes.

"How noisy. He is my child. Naturally, I won't let anything happen to him."

Seeing that his warning was useless, the spirit master said no more.

In his heart, he sighed to himself. What kind of parents had this child ended up with? It was truly pitiful!

He gave a soft sigh, stroked his beard, and stepped aside to let them pass.

"Ah, come in, young friend."

"Mm."

Fang Yuan answered, then looked back at his mother before slowly walking inside.

Gu Yuena lowered her eyes with a faint smile and waved at him.

After he entered the testing room, the Spirit Pagoda master handed Fang Yuan a helmet and gestured for him to sit down.

"You may feel slightly dizzy after putting it on. That's a normal reaction, so there's no need to panic."

After giving the explanation, he turned and started up the equipment.

Fang Yuan put on the helmet and looked around.

The instruments around him beeped softly, and indicator lights of every color blinked on and off, casting shifting patches of light and shadow across his small face.

He gripped the hem of his clothes, feeling a little uneasy.

Had Mother made some preparations in advance by forcing him to contract a thousand-year soul spirit?

Although doubts lingered in his heart, he still believed his mother would never harm him.

Soon, a wave of dizziness hit him, and Fang Yuan's vision gradually blurred.

Beside him, the Spirit Pagoda master glanced at the screen with a calm expression.

He wanted to see just how special this wet-behind-the-ears brat really was, Daring to contract a thousand-year soul spirit for his first soul ring.

One hundred.

The Spirit Pagoda master's eyelids lifted slightly.

Breaking one hundred in the Spirit Connection Realm at six years old did indeed count as genius.

But that was all.

The value did not stop. It was still climbing.

Two hundred.

Three hundred.

Four hundred.

The Spirit Pagoda master's pupils tightened bit by bit.

Something was wrong.

Why was it still rising?!

For a brief moment, he lost his composure.

The numbers on the screen showed no sign of stopping at all, continuing to soar, Until they finally locked firmly at five hundred and ten!

The helmet popped open automatically and slowly retracted.

Fang Yuan raised his eyes to look at the screen, innocent and confused, completely unaware of the true weight behind that string of numbers.

The Spirit Pagoda master, on the other hand, went abruptly rigid, his mind shaken to its core.

Early-stage Spirit Sea Realm!

He had been in this line of work for decades. Even if he had not seen a hundred genius children, he had seen at least eighty.

For a six-year-old to have thirty or forty points of spiritual power already made them an outstanding seedling. Those who could break one hundred could be counted across all of East Sea City.

Let alone someone who had broken five hundred!

Yet this child had never even properly cultivated, and his spiritual power was actually this high.

He couldn't be some human form transformed from a ten-thousand-year soul beast, could he?

The Spirit Pagoda master's Adam's apple bobbed.

All the disapproval he had been holding in his stomach earlier vanished at once.

So it turned out the other party wasn't crazy.

They really did have the ability, and simply did not take conventional rules seriously at all.

With this level of spiritual power, forcibly enduring a thousand-year soul spirit really wasn't some delusional fantasy.