Taking Tang San to Spirit City?

The young man spoke as his gaze fell on the boy before him.

With the power of a single soul ring, he had actually severely injured him, a two-ring Soul Master. The talent displayed by this six-year-old boy was nothing short of shocking.

With such talent and such strength, he actually held two different recruitment offers in his hands.

The first followed the usual practice: allow him to bring his younger sister to Spirit City and grant him an appropriate subsidy. The second came with similar terms, but a far more generous subsidy.

The choice rested entirely on his decision.

They belonged to the Spirit Hall Knight Division. Talents who graduated from Spirit Academy generally ended up joining their ranks.

He was merely a squad captain. This time, he had been assigned to escort Chen Ye, Chen Yue, and several others back to the main unit before returning with them to Spirit City.

Hearing the young man's words, Chen Ye raised his eyes toward him, a trace of hesitation flashing through them.

But that hesitation lasted only an instant.

"Give me a straight answer. There's no point in thinking about all this. Since you came here, you should have already made your choice."

This era was nothing like the one ten thousand years later, much less the era twenty thousand years later.

The circumstances of those two eras were ultimately far more tolerant.

But in this era, conflicts had already intensified to the extreme. Even Chen Ye could not remain untouched, much less stay aloof and protect only himself.

There was only one thing he could do: choose a place for himself to belong.

Compared to the Seven Great Clans or other deeply entangled organizations, Spirit Hall better suited his current needs.

It was not because he valued Spirit Hall's reputation, nor because of its attitude toward commoners. It was purely because of what he himself needed.

At this moment, he was not thinking about anyone else at all. He was only weighing whether this choice suited his own path.

A better cultivation environment and more abundant resources were what truly matched the standards of his growth.

So Chen Ye did not waste any more words. He walked forward, calmly pressed down his handprint, and signed his name.

The young man smiled faintly at him, then raised a hand and tossed over a token.

"This is the token of an ordinary guard. Within the Spirit Hall system, it counts as the lowest rank.

"But with this token, your monthly subsidy will increase from one gold soul coin to five gold soul coins.

"You should already understand what five gold soul coins mean. This treatment is only available during your apprenticeship."

"Once your apprenticeship ends, the standard subsidy will return to one gold soul coin."

As the man spoke, he tilted his head slightly and glanced at the time before looking back at Chen Ye.

"You're currently at Nuoding Junior Academy, right? I'll give you half a day to return and pack your belongings. We'll come for you tonight. Then we'll set off together for Spirit City."

After the man finished speaking, Chen Ye did not linger.

He nodded at the man, then turned and raised his hand.

In an instant, his figure vanished. When he appeared again, he was already outside.

Time-Space Grip consumed relatively little soul power for him. After several rapid flashes and shifts, he returned to the academy at remarkable speed.

He had returned just as class ended.

Seeing him arrive, Chen Yue looked at her brother in confusion. Tang San and Xiao Wu beside her also studied him curiously.

They knew that Spirit Hall had sent someone to summon him. There had to be some hidden reason for it; otherwise, given Spirit Hall's usual conduct, they would never have called him over so directly.

Chen Ye paid no attention to the others. He merely looked calmly at his younger sister.

"Pack your things. We're leaving tonight for Spirit City, for a new academy."

Chen Ye spoke very calmly.

Hearing him, Chen Yue's eyes first lit up. Then she looked back reluctantly at her surroundings.

Though she had only been here for a few days, she had still made a few friends, a few girls she could get along with.

Faced with such a sudden departure, a trace of reluctance surfaced in the girl's eyes.

But Chen Yue did not argue with her brother.

She understood that her brother had been willing to attend this kind of academy not because he lacked ability, but entirely so that he could look after her nearby.

Now that her brother had displayed greater talent and caught Spirit Hall's attention, gaining the chance to go to Spirit City, she had no reason—and could never bring herself—to hold him back.

Likewise, she was not foolish.

The girl understood perfectly well how much a better environment would benefit her future.

Thinking of this, she let out a soft breath, rose to her feet, and quickly began packing her things.

Xiao Wu, however, frowned tightly.

She had gotten along fairly well with Chen Yue lately, and she had always been somewhat curious about Chen Ye as well.

Now that the siblings were about to leave, she felt inexplicably upset.

Even Xiao Wu herself did not understand where this feeling came from.

But she still stepped forward.

"You two are leaving tonight? Why didn't you say anything to us before leaving? At the very least, you should say goodbye."

Xiao Wu spoke in a low voice.

Yet Chen Ye merely glanced calmly at her.

The boy's gaze was far too calm, so calm that it was nearly without ripples.

Looking into his eyes, Xiao Wu pursed her lips, irritation and resentment lingering in her gaze.

But she did not understand the source of those emotions, nor did she dare say more.

Tang San, meanwhile, looked at Chen Ye. His eyes flickered slightly, and a strange emotion passed through them.

He always felt that what he had encountered lately was somehow connected to the boy before him.

But whether there truly was any connection between them, he had no idea.

Still, afterward, he had indeed asked Yu Xiaogang about it.

Yu Xiaogang had said that there was absolutely no way he would simply leave a ten-year Solitary Bamboo out in the open. No matter how careless he was, he would never do something that could ruin his disciple's future.

Tang San believed that.

After all, Yu Xiaogang had left an excellent impression on him. He was, in every sense, a model teacher.

Tang San found it unlikely that his own teacher would deliberately harm him.

That meant there had to be something suspicious about it.

But no matter how much he thought about it over the past few days, he could not figure out where that suspicion lay.

Thinking of this, Tang San sighed softly.

The boy before him had gained a thousand-year soul ring as his first soul ring. He had clearly caught Spirit Hall's eye and was about to leave for a better place to study.

And what about himself?

He could only remain trapped in this run-down academy, living a life with no future in sight.

At that thought, Tang San secretly clenched his fists, his eyes filled with unwillingness.

On the other side, from an angle Tang San did not notice, Chen Ye's gaze also fell quietly upon him.

His eyes held a trace of contemplation—or perhaps scrutiny.

At this stage, Tang San still did not know how miserably Spirit Hall had harmed his father. He did not even know that his biological father was a Titled Douluo.

Therefore, Tang San currently held little hatred for Spirit Hall. It had not yet developed into the bone-deep resentment he would possess in the future.

And most importantly, Tang Hao was not around at this moment.

Then, if he could recruit Tang San and directly pull both him and Xiao Wu into Spirit Hall, what earth-shaking changes might result?

At that thought, Chen Ye's eyes flickered slightly, and a deeper look of contemplation appeared within them.