(First update)
"You're... Yang Ming?"
Everyone from the Four Element Academies was dumbfounded.
Over the past two years, Yang Ming's appearance had changed so much that they could only find a faint sense of familiarity in his general features. His bearing, in particular, was so commanding that it was hard to imagine the young man before them had not yet reached adulthood.
"What, don't recognize me anymore?" Yang Ming asked with a smile.
Huo Wu's eyes dimmed. She did not look up at him, an involuntary sense of inferiority rising within her.
They had clearly all stood at the same starting line back then, yet in just two short years, Yang Ming had already reached a height they could only gaze up at.
He was a Soul Saint!
They were still struggling at the Spirit King stage, with a long way to go before reaching Spirit Emperor.
Huo Wu was not the only one who felt this way. Everyone from the Four Elements was a star student at their respective academy, accustomed to basking in the admiring gazes of others. Yet before Yang Ming, they could only look up at him as though at a towering mountain, filled with shame!
As the leader of this group, Huo Wushuang recovered after a brief daze and suppressed the strange emotions stirring in his heart. Putting on a formal smile, he reached out to shake Yang Ming's hand and said:
"Sorry for the trouble. We from the Four Element Academies have come calling unannounced today."
"Not at all." Yang Ming stepped aside and gestured for them to enter. "Come in and have a seat, everyone."
The group filed inside, occasionally clicking their tongues in wonder at the surrounding scenery, looking like wealthy country bumpkins visiting the city for the first time.
Everyone took