Heaven Dou Academy

Early morning, on the streets of Heaven Dou City.

Inside the carriage.

Qian Renxue transformed into Xue Qinghe.

He had changed into a neat Crown Prince's python robe and held a list in his hand.

"The Heaven Dou Royal Academy is divided into three grades: Heavenly Subtlety, Heavenly Reach, and Heaven Dou."

"Everyone in the Heaven Dou Grade is a Soul Elder above level thirty. Most of them are direct descendants of major clans. Prince Xue Xing has controlled the academy for years, turning it into a private garden for building cliques and pursuing personal gain. The board of education is nominally under the royal family's control, but in reality, it only follows Xue Xing's orders. Whether the academy's resources are redirected depends entirely on a single word from Xue Xing."

Su Chen leaned against the cushions, idly turning a token over in his hand.

"You don't need to read me the list. I won't remember it, and there's no need to. I'm not going there to make friends."

Xue Qinghe put down the list.

"Are you really planning to take on the entire academy by yourself? They may be arrogant, but they have the strength to back it up. Several are Battle Soul Elders above level thirty-five. You can't underestimate their Soul Power reserves."

"Does having high cultivation make them any good? Pile a heap of scrap metal together, and it's still a heap of scrap metal."

Su Chen raised his eyes.

"Today, we're not just going to fight. We're going to make sure the whole city hears about it. If we don't beat these people into submission, how will that old fox, Prince Xue Xing, feel the pain? Words won't cut it if we want to strip away the prince's influence in the academy for Qian Renxue."

Xue Qinghe nodded.

"Whatever you do later, the Crown Prince's Residence will cover for you. Even if you cripple the entire Heaven Dou Grade, we can find a way to smooth things over."

The carriage came to a stop.

The curtain was lifted.

A group of extravagantly dressed noble youths stood outside the gates of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

Several young men at the front wore arrogant expressions, their chests bearing the badges of Heaven Dou Grade students.

When they saw the Crown Prince step down, they merely gave him a perfunctory salute.

Their manners were casual.

"Greetings, Your Highness."

Xue Qinghe stepped out of the carriage, his expression calm.

"You may dispense with the formalities. I've come to inspect the academy today, and I've also brought a newly recruited adviser to look around. Why isn't the board of education here?"

"The three members of the board went into seclusion to cultivate last night. They left instructions that no one was to disturb them, so the student council is temporarily handling the academy's affairs."

The noble youth leading them was named Bali. His Martial Soul was a Blazing Hound, and he was a level-thirty-six Battle Soul Elder.

Bali looked Su Chen up and down as he followed Xue Qinghe out of the carriage, then curled his lips in mockery.

"Your Highness, the Heaven Dou Royal Academy is the Empire's highest institution. No riffraff are allowed inside. You've brought an unweaned brat to inspect the place. Has the Crown Prince's Residence really run out of people?"

Scattered snickers rose from the crowd.

Several noble girls even covered their mouths with handkerchiefs, their eyes full of contempt.

"An adviser to the Crown Prince's Residence? Is he here to be a study companion, or to play house?"

Facing the provocations and disdain of the royal and noble students inside the academy, Xue Qinghe's expression turned cold.

"Impudent! Does the Crown Prince's Residence need to report to the academy whom it employs?"

Bali's smile faded, and he bowed slightly.

"I wouldn't dare. But the academy has its rules, and sparring can get rough. If this delicate little adviser of yours gets hurt, and Prince Xue Xing holds us responsible, we couldn't possibly bear the consequences."

Every word was meant to use Prince Xue Xing to intimidate them.

They didn't take the Crown Prince seriously at all.

Su Chen stood where he was, ignoring their lowbrow provocations.

His gaze passed over the crowd and fixed on the training grounds deeper inside the academy.

"Enough nonsense. Where's the training ground?"

The boy's clear voice rang out through the crowd.

Bali's expression darkened.

"Where did this brat come from? When adults are talking, who said you could butt in?"

Su Chen strode forward.

Ignoring Bali entirely, he headed down the stone path into the academy.

"Show me the way, or get out of the way."

Bali stepped forward and blocked his path.

Soul Power surged through him, radiating scorching heat.

"Are you looking to die?"

Xue Qinghe did not intervene.

Su Chen didn't even raise an eyelid. His shoulder shifted slightly.

Not a trace of Soul Power stirred.

Yet he passed Bali in an instant, like a breeze slipping by his side.

Bali's vision blurred, and a faint tingling sensation spread across his chest.

When he came to his senses, Su Chen was already ten paces away.

Bali stared in disbelief. Looking down, he saw a neat sword slash across his clothes.

"Let's go. Weren't you here to inspect the place? Stop wasting time at the entrance."

Su Chen didn't look back.

Xue Qinghe glanced at the sword mark on Bali's clothes, then followed Su Chen.

A group of noble youths were left staring at one another.

Bali gritted his teeth.

"Trying to play tricks. Come on, to the training ground! Today, we'll make this madman learn the rules of the Royal Academy!"

They headed farther in along a tree-lined path.

The grounds were certainly impressive.

Rock gardens, flowing streams, and abundant spiritual energy.

One simulated cultivation environment after another stretched out before them.

Su Chen glanced around.

"It's a fine place, but what a shame it's raising a pack of young masters who don't know their place. These simulated environments would be better used to grow vegetables than to train useless trash."

Xue Qinghe lowered his voice.

"Every year, Xue Xing gives this place more gold coins than the military budget for the front lines. And all it produces are wastrels who know nothing but fighting for power and profit."

"Then burn it all to the ground."

Su Chen's voice held no emotion.

"Spirit Hall doesn't need hothouse flowers like these, and the future of the Heaven Dou Empire shouldn't be put in their hands, either."

Inside the training ground.

More than a hundred students had gathered.

All sorts of flashy Soul Skills were on display across the platforms.

Su Chen and "Xue Qinghe" made a high-profile inspection of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, drawing plenty of attention.

They stopped at the edge of the grounds and watched for a while.

Su Chen shook his head.

"That kid on the left, the one training in offense, puts all his power into his shoulders. His stance is as flimsy as paper."

"The control-type one on the right has vines that move slower than a tortoise. You call that control?"

"Flashy movements, shaky foundations. They're relying entirely on their Soul Power Level to prop them up. When he uses his first Soul Skill, his chest is wide open. When he chains into his second, there's a pause of half a breath. In a real fight, he'd have died a hundred times over."

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly to everyone nearby.

Bali, who had just caught up, heard him and burned with rage.

"Big words! A brat who hasn't even shown his Soul Rings—what does he know about fighting? These are original combo techniques created by the academy!"

"Techniques?"

Su Chen turned his head, pity in his eyes.

"Stringing together moves full of openings and calling them techniques?"

The students around them stopped what they were doing and gathered closer.

They surrounded Su Chen and Xue Qinghe.

"Your Highness, this madman insulted the Royal Academy. If we don't get an explanation today, he may have a hard time leaving these grounds."

"Exactly! The Royal Academy's dignity must not be trampled! We're the future of the Heaven Dou Empire!"

Xue Qinghe looked around at them.

"An explanation? What kind of explanation do you want?"

Bali pointed toward the platform.

"Get up there and accept some instruction. If you can last one incense stick, we'll pretend we never heard what you said."

It was obviously an attempt to seize the chance to humiliate the Crown Prince's Residence.

Xue Qinghe looked at Su Chen.

Su Chen didn't refuse. He walked up the steps and onto the platform.

He went straight to the center of the training ground.

Mocking gazes came at him from every direction.

Su Chen surveyed the crowd.

His eyes passed one by one over the noble youths who took such pride in themselves.

"Instruction?"

"The one who used a fire-attribute Soul Skill just now didn't have the heat under control. Your own meridians are already rebelling against you. They'll be stabbing with pain tonight, won't they?"

The student he had singled out went deathly pale and instinctively stepped back.

"And the one using wind-attribute abilities is too slow. Wind is for slicing, not for blowing away sweat."

"And the one with the weapon Martial Soul—the hand holding your sword is shaking. What can a sword like that cut? Tree branches?"

"What could a bunch of weaklings who can't even stand straight possibly teach me?"

His critiques struck every target.

The entire training ground fell silent.

Bali was furious.

"Being all talk won't save your life. Who's going to teach this arrogant brat a lesson?"

A tall young man jumped onto the platform.

He activated Martial Soul Possession, and thick hair sprouted across his arms.

Two yellow Soul Rings and one purple Soul Ring lit up beneath his feet.

A level-thirty-one Battle Soul Elder.

"I'll end this in one move. Let's not waste everyone's cultivation time."

The young man clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking.

Su Chen stood where he was, his hands behind his back.

He made no move to summon his Martial Soul.

He didn't even release any Soul Power.

"One move?"

"You think far too highly of yourself."

Su Chen raised his right hand and extended his index finger.

He swept it across the hundreds of students below.

At last, it stopped on Bali.

"If we're fighting, don't come at me one by one. That's a waste of time."

The training ground fell quiet.

Everyone stared at the boy who had just made such an outrageous claim.

Su Chen lowered his finger.

"Every last one of you is trash."

The training ground erupted.

"Arrogant!"

"Rip that mouth of his open!"

"Your Highness, don't blame me if I get rough!"

Soul Rings lit up in succession across the crowd below.

Soul Power of every color bathed the entire training ground in brilliant light.

These noble youths had always stood above everyone else. They had never suffered such a humiliating insult.

To be called trash to their faces by a six-year-old boy.

Bali leaped onto the platform.

Then seven or eight more elite students from the Heaven Dou Grade jumped up after him.

They surrounded Su Chen.

"Even if His Highness the Crown Prince protects you, you'll still crawl out of the academy today!"

Xue Qinghe stood below the platform.

He didn't intervene.

Instead, he stepped back, leaving plenty of room.

He watched the boy on the platform.

On the platform.

More than ten Battle Soul Elders released their pressure at the same time.

His imposing auras merged into one and bore down on the boy in blue robes at the center.

Su Chen acted as though he hadn't heard.

His gaze passed over the crowd and landed on a two-story building behind the training grounds.

"Still not enough."

"The Royal Academy claims to be the best on the continent. Surely it has more than this lot."

Su Chen took half a step forward.

Pure physical strength erupted from him.

The stone slabs beneath the arena instantly split with cracks.

He had set up the arena and challenged the academy's elite to fight him one-on-one.

"I've set up this arena today."

"No limit on numbers or cultivation level."

"If anyone can force me back half a step, I'll admit defeat."

That declaration set the students' eyes ablaze.

Bali couldn't hold back any longer.

His First Soul Ring lit up.

The Blazing Hound possessed him. Flames burst around his claws as he lunged straight for Su Chen's face.

"Die!"

More than a dozen students followed close behind.

Soul Skills of every color rained down on the center of the arena.

Su Chen still had his hands clasped behind his back.

He didn't dodge.

He didn't even use the Purple Thunder Spirit Sword.

He simply lifted his right leg.

Then he stepped forward.