Tang San Was Judged Before the Hearing Even Began

Early the next morning, Nuoding Academy's auditorium.

The moment Xu Zhou entered, he saw three banners hanging on the wall.

The one on the left read: Protect Soul Beasts, Starting with Tang San.

The one on the right read: Respect the Original Work, the Snake Must Not Escape.

The one in the middle was the most normal.

Choose the First Soul Ring Scientifically.

Though there was another line in smaller print below it.

The result of this hearing shall not serve as a basis for soul hunting. No refunds on bets.

Xu Zhou stopped in his tracks.

"Who added that last line?"

"The bookmakers sponsored the auditorium."

The teacher in charge of reception lowered his voice.

"They paid for the tables, chairs, tea, and banners. The dean couldn't bring himself to refuse."

"So the academy allowed them to take bets?"

"No."

"Then what does 'no refunds on bets' mean?"

"That's their unilateral reminder."

Wonderful.

The principles had been upheld.

And the money had been accepted.

The auditorium was already packed.

The original-work fans sat on the left, the animation fans on the right, while the game fans occupied the front rows with abacuses in hand. The Soul Beast Protection Faction sat by the windows, with several pots of Blue Silver Grass at their feet.

The moment Tang San entered, everyone's eyes landed on him.

"That's him!"

"Blue Silver Grass, Innate Full Soul Power."

"He doesn't look much like he does in the animation."

"Of course not. He's only six now."

"His first Soul Ring has to be a Mandrake Snake, or even his second soul skill could be affected."

"Try figuring out the difference between a first and second soul skill before you talk."

Before any faction had officially spoken, the crowd below had already begun arguing.

Tang San walked toward the front row expressionlessly.

He finally understood why his first Soul Ring was being subjected to a public hearing.

It was not because the academy valued him.

It was mainly because too many people wanted to watch, and the auditorium tickets were selling well.

"Xu Zhou, sit here."

The reception teacher pointed at a small table in the very center.

Paper, ink, and a wooden plaque sat on the table.

Hearing Recorder.

The back of the plaque even had a black book drawn on it, presumably in case anyone mistook him for someone else.

"I'm only responsible for taking notes?"

"That's right."

"Do I have speaking rights?"

"No."

"Can an auditor with Innate Zero Soul Power like you even understand Soul Ring theory?"

After saying that, the reception teacher laughed first.

Clearly, he had arranged Xu Zhou here only because Xu Zhou possessed a book Martial Soul and therefore looked suitable for writing.

As for whether he could understand any of it, that was unimportant.

A recorder only needed quick hands.

The Black Ancient Book trembled lightly within Xu Zhou.

[The other party believes the host cannot understand Soul Ring theory.]

[Judgment incorrect.]

[Cognitive Bias collected.]

Soul Power flowed into his body.

Xu Zhou pulled out the chair and sat down, in a fairly good mood.

Not understanding was great.

It would be best if everyone in the auditorium thought so.

"Quiet!"

Yu Xiaogang stood at the front of the stage and slapped the tabletop.

Luo Sanpao, now with wings, lay on his shoulder with a thin wooden stick in its mouth, responsible for pointing at the map.

"This hearing will only discuss the direction of Tang San's first Soul Ring selection. We will not designate a specific Soul Beast."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone from the animation fans stood up.

"I object!"

"The Mandrake Snake already escaped. What exactly are you objecting to?" Xiao Wu asked.

"We can find it again."

"What for?"

"To restore the plot."

"And then kill it?"

The man was immediately left speechless.

Xiao Wu had not brought her wooden stick today.

But she had left it at the auditorium entrance, and everyone had seen it when they came in.

The deterrent effect was even better than if she had held it in her hand.

"Let's discuss the theory first."

Yu Xiaogang pointed at the Blue Silver Grass Tang San had summoned.

"Blue Silver Grass is fragile by nature, and Tang San plans to follow the control route. Therefore, his first Soul Ring must prioritize strengthening toughness, binding, and growth speed."

The game faction's advisor immediately raised his hand.

"That's wrong. Poison attributes should be prioritized."

"Why?"

"The damage over time is high."

"How high?"

"Eight percent per second for five seconds."

Yu Xiaogang fell silent for a moment.

"Who gave you those figures?"

The advisor patted the metal disc on the table.

"It calculated them."

"Was this also the thing that measured Xu Zhou at level ninety-nine yesterday?"

"That one broke. This is newly made."

Xu Zhou glanced up at it.

Smoke was still rising from the side of the disc.

It looked very new.

And very easy to break.

"Poison can be an additional direction, but you cannot sacrifice the Martial Soul's inherent strength just for damage."

This time, Yu Xiaogang did not rigidly force the original-work route. He explained it seriously instead.

"If Blue Silver Grass itself is not tough enough, then no matter how potent the poison is, it cannot achieve control."

The game faction's advisor thought for a moment, then actually sat back down.

Xu Zhou wrote down a sentence on the paper.

Poison was not the first priority. It only gained additional value after control was established.

At least that judgment conformed to real-world logic.

It was far more reliable than eight percent per second.

"We have evidence!"

Someone from the Soul Beast Protection Faction stood up, clutching a thick stack of records.

"Over the past three months, there have been fifty-seven cases of Soul Beasts actively attacking people in Soul Hunting Forest. Of those, snake-type Soul Beasts accounted for only three cases, while Ghost Vine-type Soul Beasts accounted for twenty-one."

"Therefore, we suggest that if Tang San must obtain a Soul Ring, he should prioritize a Ghost Vine that has repeatedly taken the initiative to attack Soul Masters."

The auditorium fell briefly silent.

Even Xiao Wu did not immediately object.

Not wantonly slaughtering Soul Beasts did not mean she would protect Soul Beasts that actively preyed on humans.

Soul Beasts had the right to survive.

Humans did too.

Yu Xiaogang took the records and flipped through them for a moment, his brows gradually furrowing.

"Twenty-one attacks. What about the victims' conditions?"

"They're all in the back."

"Where are the patrol officers' signatures?"

"Those are there too."

"Why are all the locations near the same area?"

The other party had clearly come prepared.

"That area has the most Ghost Vines."

It sounded reasonable.

But the more Xu Zhou recorded, the more something felt wrong.

The twenty-one attack reports differed in time, location, and victim, yet their descriptions of the events were astonishingly identical.

Every one said the left leg was bound first, then the right shoulder was pierced, and finally the attacker was driven back by a torch.

Even the misspelled character in one of them was misspelled in exactly the same way.

This was no longer a matter of Ghost Vines having uniform attack habits.

Unless those twenty-one Ghost Vines had attended the same class.

"Hold on."

Xu Zhou suddenly spoke.

Everyone in the auditorium turned to look at him.

The reception teacher hurriedly reminded him.

"The recorder is not allowed to speak."

"I'm not giving an opinion. There's just a problem with the records."

Xu Zhou raised the paper in his hand.

"The twenty-one reports all use the same set of descriptions."

The person from the Soul Beast Protection Faction frowned.

"Ghost Vines naturally attack in very similar ways."

"The victims had different heights, different Martial Souls, and different methods of resistance. Why were their injury processes identical word for word?"

Xu Zhou flipped through several more pages.

"Also, among the twenty-one victims, nine have no scar on their right shoulder, while four never even entered Soul Hunting Forest."

"How do you know that?"

"The treatment records and forest-entry registrations are attached at the back."

The man's expression changed slightly.

He clearly had not expected Xu Zhou to actually understand the documents.

In his original judgment, Xu Zhou was merely a child without even a trace of Soul Power. He was sitting here only to copy words and would never seriously verify dozens of pages of records.

The Black Ancient Book appeared on its own beside Xu Zhou's hand.

[Multiple people believe the host is only responsible for copying and cannot discover contradictions in the records.]

[Judgment incorrect.]

[Cognitive Bias collected.]

This time, the Soul Power flooding into his body was far more noticeable than before.

Xu Zhou suppressed the strange feeling in his heart and continued, "These materials cannot prove that Ghost Vines launched twenty-one attacks. They can only prove that someone wants everyone to believe they launched twenty-one attacks."

The auditorium immediately erupted into chaos.

"Who forged them?"

"Were they trying to lure Tang San into killing Ghost Vines?"

"The odds on Ghost Vines just went up!"

"Where's the bookmaker?"

That last line was the most useful.

The people who had been selling betting slips at the back of the hall moments ago had already vanished.

Wang Sheng rushed to the entrance clutching the ledger, only to see a carriage speeding away in the distance.

"They ran!"

Yu Xiaogang, however, stared at the documents and suddenly flipped to the last page.

A Soul Hunting Forest purchase order was tucked inside.

Four-hundred-year-old Juvenile Ghost Vine.

Captured.

Price: fifty Gold Soul Coins.

Tang San looked at that line, and his expression completely darkened.

First, they fabricated records of an attack.

Then, they pushed him toward choosing the Ghost Vine.

Finally, they sold the Soul Beast they had captured in advance to the academy at an inflated price.

From beginning to end, the real discussion had never been about which Soul Beast suited Tang San.

It was about who could profit from Tang San's first Soul Ring.

Just then, the Black Ancient Book at Xu Zhou's side suddenly flipped to a new page.

The handwriting from those twenty-one false records appeared on the page at the same time, eventually overlapping into a single line of ink-black words.

[Same-source erroneous text recorded.]

[Black Ancient Book has gained a basic ability: Proofreading.]

[Can compare obvious contradictions in text that has been read; unable to determine authenticity.]

Before Xu Zhou could examine it closely, Luo Sanpao suddenly flapped his wings and flew to the window, letting out a series of urgent cries toward the academy gate.

A patrolling teacher burst into the hall.

"Something happened in the Soul Hunting Forest!"

"That four-hundred-year-old Ghost Vine that was captured escaped from its cage last night."

"It followed the scent left by the freight cart all the way to Notting City!"