Return to the Academy

There was hesitation in the middle-aged man's voice.

As one of Spirit Hall's guards, he was himself a Soul Grandmaster with four spirit rings.

But when facing peak thousand-year spirit beasts, he naturally knew he was no match for them.

Moreover, he could not even be sure whether either of those two spirit beasts had reached the ten-thousand-year level.

So he was equally flustered at this moment.

Chen Ye, on the other hand, paid no attention to any of this.

He had already crossed beyond Spirit Hall's guarded perimeter.

After teleporting through space once more, he sat down and gasped for breath.

Cold sweat covered Chen Ye's face.

His spirit power had been completely drained, and the feeling was far from pleasant.

After repeated hunts and a desperate escape, he was truly exhausted.

Looking at the carriage station ahead, he carried the still-dripping tiger paw and walked inside with a calm expression.

The boy's face was indifferent and composed.

As he appeared, several coachmen sitting there looked at him in surprise.

They had also heard those terrifying roars earlier, but the sounds had come from too far away for them to hear clearly.

Before they could speak, they saw the boy calmly walk over.

After sweeping his cold gaze over them, he raised a hand and casually pointed at the coachman who looked the most honest.

"Prepare a carriage for me. I'm leaving now for Notting City."

"If you take me back now, the payment is still seven copper soul coins."

After speaking, Chen Ye casually waved his hand.

Hearing Chen Ye's words, the coachman hurriedly rose to his feet, dusted himself off, and looked at him with a broad smile.

"Young master, please, get in. We can leave right away."

"Though it's already late, there's no problem traveling through the night."

The coachman spoke in a rather fawning tone.

There were not many opportunities for them to find passengers here.

The distance was quite far for ordinary soul masters, but powerful soul masters could return without needing a coachman at all.

In the past, even a one-way trip would cost more than ten copper soul coins.

But as the number of coachmen here had increased recently, he had to accept even a few copper soul coins.

What the coachman did not know was that this price had been agreed to by the previous coachman.

Chen Ye did not understand market prices. Since he had named a price and the other party had agreed, he had not thought much about it.

After Chen Ye got into the carriage, he held the tiger paw and sat there in silence.

The coachman drove the carriage swiftly toward the city.

The night passed quickly.

The journey was fairly peaceful, and no spirit beasts appeared.

In the latter half of the night, the two did not continue traveling.

The coachman rested lightly outside, while Chen Ye lay atop the tiger paw, using it as a pillow as he silently slept through the night.

They returned the following afternoon.

After Chen Ye paid, the coachman quickly drove away in his carriage.

Chen Ye carried the tiger paw and calmly walked inside.

He did not look at anyone else.

Though his act of carrying a tiger paw drew the attention of some people, he did not care.

When he reached his dormitory, opened the door, and stepped inside—

He saw several students sitting there, staring in shock at him, his entire body stained with blood and his expression calm.

Chen Yue hurriedly ran over, panic filling her eyes.

She carefully examined her brother. Only after confirming that Chen Ye had no fatal injuries did she finally let out a long breath.

"Brother, are you alright? How did you get hurt so badly?"

"Are you... are you okay?"

Tears had already welled up in the little girl's eyes.

Chen Ye said nothing. He merely reached out and rubbed his sister's head, then swept his gaze over the others.

Sensing the savage edge beneath Chen Ye's calm gaze, the male students hurriedly shook their heads.

They were signaling that they would not dare do anything, and that they had never bullied Chen Yue.

Only after Chen Ye looked at his sister and saw her nod did he calmly sit down.

On the other side, Xiao Wu sat calmly on her bed, cross-legged as she cultivated.

But from the instant Chen Ye entered, she had opened her eyes and stared fixedly at the enormous tiger paw.

The gleaming claws showed that the paw had been freshly severed within the past few days.

Yet Xiao Wu's eyes held a very strange expression.

Others might not be able to tell what kind of spirit beast it had come from, but Xiao Wu could roughly judge a spirit beast's age.

This was a thousand-year spirit beast.

She looked at Chen Ye with a strange expression, unable to understand how he had managed to kill a thousand-year spirit beast.

After all, under normal circumstances, even soul masters with three or four spirit rings might not be able to defeat a thousand-year spirit beast.

But when she saw Chen Ye turn his gaze toward her as well, Xiao Wu decisively closed her eyes.

She would pretend she knew nothing.

Yet after Chen Ye calmly found an iron pot and began quietly scraping the tiger's fur, plucking all the tiger hair away—

Xiao Wu's gaze still remained on the tiger paw lying there.

Her eyes instinctively carried a trace of longing as well.

If she could eat the flesh and blood of such a thousand-year spirit beast, it would be nourishing to her too.

Especially since she had only just broken through to one spirit ring. If she had spirit beast meat to nourish herself with, her cultivation and physical strength would surely improve to some extent.

The other students watched the scene as well, but since Chen Ye had brought it back, none of them dared ask.

Only Chen Yue sat quietly nearby, curiously looking at the completely cleaned tiger paw, her eyes full of curiosity.

Chen Ye did not care about the others' gazes.

He had not eaten for an entire day, and the little dry rations he had eaten yesterday had not been enough to begin with.

He had originally prepared only four or five days' worth of rations, yet he had finished them all yesterday.

Even his clothes had been torn, and he had used that garment to wrap up what he brought back.

He was starving to the limit now. He could not be bothered with what the others thought, much less did he intend to prepare any grand meal.

So as the tiger paw began to boil, he did not add many seasonings.

He merely borrowed some salt from the academy cafeteria and quietly sprinkled it in.

But even with only a little salt, the stewed tiger paw smelled exceptionally fragrant.

A faint aroma began drifting through the room.

The other male students swallowed softly, their eyes full of greed.

Not longing—greed.

Like lower creatures facing a higher creature, they too wanted to consume such fine flesh.

Chen Ye noticed their gazes, and his brow furrowed slightly.

This was no longer a suitable place for them to live. Or rather, the dormitory area had never been particularly safe.

Chen Ye had already decided to rent a house outside.

After all, he still had some copper soul coins on him. A round trip had only cost him a little over twenty, leaving him with around seventy copper soul coins.

That should be enough to rent a place outside.

Just as Chen Ye was thinking this, a figure walked up before him.

When Chen Ye raised his head, he saw Xiao Wu standing there.

The girl stared at the tiger meat cooking in the pot, swallowing faintly as well, her eyes filled with longing.