Inspection Corps

"Interesting."

She withdrew her finger. "It has such strong self-awareness just after awakening. It seems your martial soul is even higher-tier than I imagined.

Lu Mingfei, I am Huang Fei, deputy commander of the Spirit Hall Inspection Corps. By direct order of His Holiness the Pope, I have come to bring you into Spirit Hall. From today onward, I will be fully responsible for your cultivation."

Lu Mingfei blinked and asked tentatively,

"Um... Lady Huang Fei, may I ask how His Holiness the Pope knew about me?"

Huang Fei rose to her feet and said calmly,

"After Su Yuntao's report reached Spirit Hall, His Holiness the Pope happened to be in the council chamber.

Your awakening records...

Black Dragon King martial soul, innate level twenty soul power...

After they were read aloud before everyone, everyone present fell silent. His Holiness the Pope said only four words: Bring him to me."

Everyone had fallen silent.

Lu Mingfei did not know exactly what sort of people sat in Spirit Hall's council chamber, but he could roughly guess they were all figures important enough that a stomp of their feet would make the entire Douluo Continent tremble.

The fact that they had all fallen silent showed that his starting point was indeed a little absurd.

"Then..." Lu Mingfei asked again, "Do I have to leave with you right now?"

"Do you have anything to pack?"

Huang Fei glanced over Old Jack's shabby mud-brick house, her gaze as though she were inspecting a beggar's den.

Lu Mingfei shook his head. "Nothing to pack."

He turned and walked over to Old Jack.

The wrinkled old man looked at him with reddened eyes. His lips moved several times, yet he could not say a single word.

Lu Mingfei was silent for several seconds before opening his arms and giving Old Jack a firm hug.

"Uncle Jack."

His voice was soft, as though he were speaking of something insignificant. "When I make something of myself, I'll come back and build you a big house."

Old Jack finally could not hold it in any longer, tears streaming down his aged face. He patted Lu Mingfei hard on the back and said through a choked voice,

"Good child, good child... Take good care of yourself out there. Don't bring shame to our Holy Soul Village..."

Huang Fei did not urge them on. She simply waited quietly to the side.

Her gaze lingered between Lu Mingfei and Old Jack for a moment, and a trace of barely noticeable softness flashed through her eyes.

But that trace of softness vanished in an instant, and she returned to her icy demeanor.

"Let's go," Huang Fei said.

Lu Mingfei released Old Jack and took one last look at the little village where he had lived for six years. Then he turned and followed behind Huang Fei, setting out on the road away from Holy Soul Village.

He left decisively without looking back.

Because he knew that from this day onward, his life would turn to a brand-new page.

Everything in Holy Soul Village would become the past.

And the road ahead lay in Spirit Hall, in the vast world he was about to enter.

As they left the village, Lu Mingfei saw Tang San standing at the entrance of his family's blacksmith shop, a hammer in hand, watching him with a thoughtful expression.

Their gazes met in midair for an instant.

Lu Mingfei smiled at Tang San.

Tang San gave a slight nod, and then both of them looked away as though nothing had happened.

What Lu Mingfei did not know was that after he and Huang Fei left Holy Soul Village, Tang San sat alone beneath the eaves of the blacksmith shop for a long time in silence.

He looked at the Blue Silver Grass in his hand.

Its emerald vines stretched their leaves beneath the sunlight, looking utterly harmless.

Tang San gently brushed the leaves of the Blue Silver Grass with his fingertips and muttered, "Black Dragon King... I never expected a martial soul of that level to awaken in such a small village.

Still, the power of that dragon gives me a very strange feeling..."

He frowned, then finally shook his head and buried those doubts deep in his heart before returning to his smithing.

Traveling by carriage from Holy Soul Village to Spirit Hall's outpost took several days.

Huang Fei acquired a rather imposing black carriage.

The cabin was spacious and comfortable, furnished with soft beast-hide cushions and a small incense burner burning some unknown spice. Its sweet, refreshing fragrance soothed the mind.

Since crossing over to the Douluo Continent, Lu Mingfei had never enjoyed treatment like this.

The moment he got in, he curled up in the beast-hide cushions and refused to move, like a kitten that had found its nest.

Huang Fei sat across from him with her eyes closed, resting.

Lu Mingfei secretly glanced at her a few times.

This woman was indeed beautiful.

Her features were exquisitely sculpted, and her skin was fair and delicate.

Her long purple hair draped over her shoulders, giving her an air of mature, icy beauty.

But he noticed a deep scar on her right hand, stretching from the web between her thumb and forefinger all the way to her wrist, as though it had been cut by a sharp blade.

That scar told him this woman was no decorative vase, but a powerhouse who had fought her way through mountains of blades and seas of blood.

"Have you looked enough?"

Huang Fei suddenly spoke, though her eyes remained closed.

Lu Mingfei jolted in fright and nearly rolled off the cushion. He quickly looked away and said awkwardly,

"I was just... curious."

"Curious about what?"

"Curious how strong you are."

Huang Fei opened her eyes and looked at him. Her gaze carried a hint of scrutiny, as well as the air of someone looking at a person who did not know the immensity of heaven and earth.

"There's no point telling you. At your age, you might not even understand the concept of soul power levels."

She took a thin booklet from her robes and tossed it before Lu Mingfei. "This is Basic Knowledge of Soul Masters, compiled by Spirit Hall. Finish it before you arrive at Spirit Hall. Someone will test you once you get there.

Fail the test, and your benefits will be cut in half."

Lu Mingfei picked up the booklet and opened to the first page. The densely packed words gave him the illusion of being back in a high school classroom.

He had never liked reading. He had thought crossing over would free him from the fate of studying, but Spirit Hall had this routine too.

Still, he knew Huang Fei was not joking. This was his entrance exam, and if he failed, his benefits really would be docked.

So he obediently opened the booklet and began reading from the first page.

Basic Knowledge of Soul Masters was not a particularly long booklet, but it was packed with useful information.

It gave a detailed introduction to the rank divisions of soul masters...

Soul Scholar, Soul Master, Grand Soul Master, Soul Elder, Soul Ancestor, Soul King, Soul Emperor, Soul Sage, Soul Douluo, Title Douluo.

Ten major realms, each further divided into ten levels.

It also introduced the classifications of martial souls.

Beast martial souls and tool martial souls.

As well as the years represented by the colors of soul rings.

White ten-year soul rings.

Yellow hundred-year soul rings.

Purple thousand-year soul rings.

Black ten-thousand-year soul rings.

Red hundred-thousand-year soul rings.

Lu Mingfei read with great interest.

He had seen all of this in the novel, but knowledge on paper always felt shallow.

After truly crossing over into this world, this knowledge was no longer mere entertainment to him, but the foundation of his survival.

The carriage swayed along for two days.