Martial Souls

After a long silence, Tang Wulin unconsciously picked at the hardened paint stains on his pant leg with his fingertips. He turned to Huang Feng'er beside him and broke the silence that had lingered between the three of them.

"Big sis, which class were you assigned to?"

He had asked his parents while he was in the hospital. He only knew that she had completed her enrollment procedures yesterday; he still did not know which class she had been assigned to.

Huang Feng'er turned her face slightly. A few loose strands of red hair were blown against her cheeks by the wind, and her golden eyes glimmered faintly beneath the shade of the trees.

Her voice remained calm and flat, without much fluctuation.

"Class Three. What about you?"

"I was assigned to Class Five."

Tang Wulin scratched the back of his head, sounding perfectly frank. He did not think there was anything shameful about dropping from an elite class to the lowest-ranked one.

"Huh?"

Xie Xie had been staring hopelessly at his paint-smeared palm. When he heard Tang Wulin call her "big sis," he abruptly turned around, his dark green eyes widening in disbelief.

His gaze swept over Huang Feng'er twice—neat short red hair, loose dark sportswear, sharp shoulders, a slender build, and even a voice that was cool and fine. Unless one listened closely, it was difficult to tell whether she was male or female.

When he had approached them from afar, he had assumed at first glance that she was a delicate-looking boy. The possibility that she was a girl had never crossed his mind.

"You... you're a girl?"

He pointed at Huang Feng'er, his tone full of uncertainty. Even his finger paused slightly, while the tips of his ears quietly reddened.

After all, mistaking someone's gender for no reason was rather awkward and embarrassing, especially in front of the person herself.

"Yes."

Huang Feng'er lifted her eyes. Her golden pupils swept over him calmly, her voice as even as ever, carrying the faintest hint of a question.

"Is there a problem?"

She had long grown used to people getting it wrong. Ever since childhood, with her short hair, cold personality, and the naturally sharp aura she carried, eight out of ten people mistook her for a boy, while another one thought she was intersex. She had long since become too lazy to explain.

"No, no!"

Xie Xie hurriedly waved his hands. His paint-smeared hand swung twice in the air and nearly brushed against his clothes.

He quickly pulled his hand back and let his gaze drift toward the nearby grass, pretending to watch ants moving house in order to hide his embarrassment.

Yet inwardly, he muttered, She looks way too much like a boy. If she didn't say anything, who could tell?

Tang Wulin found his slightly flustered appearance rather amusing. He thought that they had been sitting together for nearly ten minutes without even knowing one another's names, which was a little unreasonable. He looked at Xie Xie and asked.

"By the way, what's your name?"

The boy's tone was bright and easygoing, carrying the natural friendliness of someone who quickly made friends, without the slightest hostility.

"Xie Xie."

Xie Xie withdrew his gaze, lifted his chin slightly, and gave his name.

His tone was concise, carrying an arrogance ingrained in his bones. Even with paint on his backside and sticky palms, he still maintained the refined bearing of a young master from a prominent family.

"Hello, I'm Tang Wulin." Tang Wulin smiled and nodded at him, introducing himself briskly.

"Huang Feng'er."

Huang Feng'er beside them also quietly gave her name. Sparing with words, her gaze remained fixed on the distant sports field, as though the conversation beside her had little to do with her.

Xie Xie unconsciously rubbed his fingertips along the seam of his pants. The paint-stained fabric rubbed together with a faint sticky sound, but he did not notice at all.

He frowned as he recalled the Class Five introductions from earlier that morning. He went over every name carefully, from the first to the last. There truly had been no one named Tang Wulin.

Unable to resist, he turned toward Tang Wulin, curiosity in his eyes.

"Didn't you say you were in Class Five too? Then why didn't I see you during the class meeting this morning? There aren't many people in Class Five. I remember clearly."

That morning, their homeroom teacher, Wu Changkong, had presided over the class meeting, and the more than twenty students had introduced themselves one by one. Xie Xie had always had an excellent memory; there was no way he would have forgotten someone.

"Something happened to me earlier, which delayed my registration. I only arrived at school at noon today to complete the paperwork."

Tang Wulin spoke lightly, brushing over the train attack, killing an Evil Soul Master, and being hospitalized for observation without any intention of explaining further.

He did not like boasting about acts of courage. In his view, he had merely happened to be there and done what needed to be done. There was nothing worth showing off.

Xie Xie raised an eyebrow but did not ask further.

Everyone had their own private matters, and he was not that nosy.

He changed the subject, his gaze circling between the two of them with the particular curiosity of a young boy.

"So, what are your martial souls?"

When new students met, martial souls were the most common topic of conversation. He had already been intensely curious about these two—Tang Wulin looked thin, yet possessed absurdly great strength. When Tang Wulin had pinned down his arm earlier, he had not even been able to break free. Huang Feng'er looked cold, but her aura was especially unusual. At a glance, it was clear that her martial soul was no ordinary one.

Moreover, he had never heard either of their names before. The curiosity in his heart had long become impossible to suppress.

"Sacred Flame Phoenix."

Huang Feng'er spoke first. Her voice was soft, yet it landed clearly in both their ears.

She still did not turn around. Her fingers gently rolled a plane tree leaf that had fallen into her palm, her tone as calm as if she were discussing something utterly trivial.

"My martial souls are Blue Silver Grass and the Golden Sacred Dragon Spear."

Tang Wulin did not hide it either.

Jin Qiu had told him long ago that there was no need to conceal his Twin Martial Souls from people his own age, as long as he did not deliberately reveal them before the Spirit Pagoda or the Federation's higher-ups.

Xie Xie looked like a student from a prominent family, so there was no harm in telling him.

"Sacred Flame Phoenix... Golden Sacred Dragon Spear..."

Xie Xie quietly repeated the two martial soul names, his brows furrowing slightly as he pressed a finger to his chin and sank into thought.

He had practically grown up in his family's martial soul library. As for the rare martial souls known throughout the continent, he did not dare claim to know them all, but he knew at least eighty or ninety percent of them.

Phoenix-type martial souls were already among the continent's most powerful beast martial souls, and they were extraordinarily rare. He ran through them in his mind—Ice Phoenix, Blazing Flame Phoenix, Netherworld Phoenix, Evil Fire Phoenix, and even the legendary Seven-Colored Phoenix, which he had heard of before. Yet after searching through all his memories, he could not find any record of the Sacred Flame Phoenix.

As for the Golden Sacred Dragon Spear, he could tell from the name alone that it was a dragon-type tool martial soul.

Dragon-type martial souls were even rarer than phoenix martial souls, and dragon-type ones in the form of tool martial souls were rarer still. He had looked through all of his family's martial soul illustrations and had never seen this name.

Blue Silver Grass, on the other hand, was something he knew all too well. It was publicly recognized across the continent as a useless martial soul. Three or four out of every ten awakened people possessed it; it was everywhere.

Yet a useless martial soul paired with a top-tier dragon-type tool martial soul to form Twin Martial Souls—the contrast was far too great. It was simply ridiculous.

He thought about it for a long time, but not only did he find no answers, the more he thought, the more confused he became.

"Forget it. I'm done thinking about it."

Xie Xie shrugged, abandoning his pointless recollection. He leaned back against the chair, producing a faint sticky sound.

Martial souls were strange and varied to begin with. Entirely new mutated martial souls appeared every year, so it was perfectly normal for him not to have heard of them.

Still, he knew perfectly well that martial souls carrying prefixes like "Sacred Dragon" and "Sacred Flame" could not possibly be ordinary.

These two—one with Twin Martial Souls, the other with a rare phoenix martial soul—probably both possessed exceptionally top-tier martial souls.

He had originally thought that with Twin Martial Souls and eighteenth-level soul power, he ranked among the best of the new students. Now, two people whose martial soul names he had never even heard of had suddenly appeared, stirring an inexplicable competitive spirit within him.

"By the way, Xie Xie, what are your martial souls?"

Seeing that he had recovered from his thoughts, Tang Wulin followed up with a question.

He was curious as well. This boy seemed exceptionally proud and dressed like someone from a wealthy family. Although martial souls had nothing to do with family circumstances, Tang Wulin still felt that Xie Xie's martial souls should not be bad.

"Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger."

Xie Xie did not hide the fact that he had Twin Martial Souls. Since Tang Wulin had already revealed his own Twin Martial Souls, there was no need for Xie Xie to conceal his either.

After a while, Xie Xie looked at the gradually setting sun and asked.

"When can we get out of here?"

After thinking for a moment, Tang Wulin said.

"I have an idea. Want to try it?"