Elder Jiang, Are You Testing Me?

The news spread through Nording City in just half a day.

By the afternoon, three versions were already circulating in the taverns.

The first claimed that a child had awakened ten Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bears and stomped Spirit Hall's training ground into collapse.

The second claimed that the child was the reincarnation of a divine beast, and nine bolts of lightning had struck from the heavens, shattering even the crystal ball used for the awakening.

The third version was the most outrageous—it said Su Chen was a beast king from the Star Dou Great Forest who had taken human form to come to Nording City and take revenge on humanity.

But no matter which version it was, they all ended the same way.

A monster had appeared in Nording City.

Notting Academy's reaction was the most direct.

The headmaster personally led people to move Su Chen from a six-man dormitory with shared bunks into the private courtyard on the academy's eastern side, originally reserved for noble students.

The courtyard was enormous, with a front hall, inner rooms, and even a delicate little garden.

This was not respect.

It was pure fear.

Because the headmaster had seen with his own eyes that when Su Chen returned to the dormitory, although the ten Fearclaw Bears had already been recalled, ten rows of terrifying claw marks half an inch deep had been left in the hard stone floor of the corridor.

Of the other five children in the six-man dormitory, three had been so frightened that they immediately demanded to withdraw from the academy.

"Student Su Chen, this courtyard is quiet. It suits you... ah, it suits you for resting."

The headmaster kept a smile on his face, bent at the waist, and backed away. Throughout the entire time, he did not dare turn his back on this six-year-old child.

The instant the door closed, the courtyard fell completely silent.

Su Chen sat by the table for a moment, then raised his right hand.

A dark golden glow appeared in his palm, and the phantom of the Void Throne flashed past.

He could clearly sense the black Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring within his body.

It was a peculiar connection.

It was as though ten invisible threads extended from the Soul Ring into the depths of some unknown space.

At the other end of those threads, ten massive life auras lay quietly dormant.

Su Chen tried tugging at only one of the threads.

"Bang."

A dark golden crack burst through the courtyard's bluestone ground, and an enormous head emerged from it.

Iron Wall.

The leading Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear did not fully emerge. It only extended its head and front claws into the real world.

Its dark golden vertical pupils swept over the area. Only after confirming there was no threat did it lower its head and gently nudge Su Chen's palm with its nose.

That head was larger than Su Chen's entire body.

Its breath surged forth, making the hem of his clothes flap wildly.

Su Chen reached out and pressed his hand against Iron Wall's cold bridge of its nose. Beneath the fur was scorching body heat.

"Can you understand what I'm saying?"

Iron Wall let out a low whimper and rubbed its head harder into his palm.

It understood.

Su Chen nodded and continued testing it.

He gave a mental command—take three steps back.

Iron Wall immediately withdrew three steps into the crack. Precise, swift, without the slightest delay.

"Turn left."

It turned.

"Strike the ground with your right claw."

Boom!

A massive pit half a meter deep appeared in the corner of the courtyard.

Su Chen withdrew his mental command, and Iron Wall immediately stopped all movement, lay down again, and watched him quietly.

Perfect obedience.

Its response speed was nearly instantaneous.

Su Chen was just about to send Iron Wall back when a faint rustling sound came from behind him.

He turned around.

In another corner of the courtyard, the ground split open with another, much smaller dark golden crack.

A Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear that was clearly a size smaller than Iron Wall was struggling to squeeze its way out.

Su Chen had not given a summoning command.

This youngest bear had run out on its own.

After finally squeezing its entire body out of the crack, it shook the rubble from its fur, then scampered over to Su Chen on four short little legs. It plopped down in front of him and looked up at him.

Those dark golden vertical pupils held an expression utterly unsuited to the title of a Ten-Thousand-Year Ferocious Beast.

Aggrieved.

Su Chen: "..."

The youngest bear edged closer, placed its front claws on Su Chen's leg, and pressed its enormous head directly against him.

The three-meter-tall Ten-Thousand-Year Fearclaw Bear was still over a meter tall even when lying down.

Su Chen was squeezed into the corner by its head, and the wooden chair behind him let out a groan under the strain.

"Why did you run out instead of staying in the Summoning Space?"

The youngest bear whimpered twice, its tail sweeping back and forth across the ground and reducing three bluestone slabs to powder.

Su Chen fell silent for two seconds, then reached out and patted its head.

"Fine. From now on, your name is Little Gold."

Little Gold's tail wagged even more happily.

Another five floor tiles shattered in response.

Su Chen stared expressionlessly at the mess covering the ground and silently calculated the repair costs.

He did not have a single copper coin in his pocket.

"...Go back."

Little Gold lay there without moving.

"Go back. I'll let you out again tomorrow."

Little Gold simply buried its head in its claws and played dead.

Su Chen sighed, stopped bothering with it, and turned to walk into the inner room.

He sat quietly in the darkness for a long time.

Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the window lattice, drawing streaks of white across the floor.

Su Chen sat cross-legged on the bed with his eyes closed, repeatedly working through several matters in his mind.

First, Soul Power consumption.

Today, summoning Iron Wall alone and maintaining it for about a quarter of an hour had consumed nearly one-tenth of his Soul Power.

If all ten were summoned and entered full combat mode, his current reserves of Soul Power would probably only last for half an hour.

Not enough.

Far from enough.

Second, that elder's reaction.

Jiang Yuandong's fear during the awakening ceremony had been genuine, but after that fear—Su Chen had caught something else.

An undisguised possessiveness upon seeing a priceless treasure.

Third.

The words of his adoptive father on the night before his death surfaced once again.

The old man had lain on a battered wooden bed, his withered hand gripping Su Chen's wrist. His voice was hoarse, broken by the rasp of air passing through his throat.

"Chen'er, there is something inside you... something very dangerous. Once it awakens, every important figure in this world will come looking for you."

"Some will want to use you, while others will want to destroy you... The only person you can trust is yourself."

"Unless you stand at the very top. Stand at a height no one can reach, and then no one will be able to touch you."

Su Chen opened his eyes.

Little Gold's steady snoring came from the courtyard, occasionally mixed with low growls from its dreams.

"Stand at the very top."

Su Chen repeated softly, swallowing those five words into his heart until they became part of his flesh and blood.

Under the same moonlight, on the other side of the academy.

No lamps were lit in Jiang Yuandong's room.

He knelt on the floor. On the table before him sat a fist-sized dark red crystal.

A faint light flowed within the crystal. It was a long-range soul-tool communication device specially made by Spirit Hall headquarters, the only one in all of Nording City.

"...This subordinate has written every detail into the report, including the Soul Power fluctuation records from the awakening. They have been sealed together and will be delivered to headquarters by a flying Soul Master tomorrow morning."

A woman's voice came from the crystal.

It was very calm.

So calm that it was suffocating.

"What was the background of that child's adoptive father?"

Cold sweat seeped across Jiang Yuandong's forehead. "He was merely an ordinary herbal farmer outside the city. He died of illness three years ago. This subordinate investigated him; he had no Soul Master background whatsoever..."

"Not enough."

The woman interrupted him. There was not the slightest ripple in her tone, but what she said sent chills down his spine.

"Dig up that herbal farmer's grave."

"I want to know his bone age, physique, whether he had any residual soul bones—every detail must be accounted for."

Jiang Yuandong opened his mouth, then forcibly swallowed the words, This is too much.

"Yes."

"And one more thing." The woman paused briefly. "From this point on, you are not 'watching over' him."

"You are 'serving' him."

"Make him comfortable. Make him relax. Make him believe that Spirit Hall is his best destination. Before my people arrive—he cannot feel even the slightest dissatisfaction."

The communication ended.

Jiang Yuandong remained kneeling on the floor, his clothes already soaked through with cold sweat.

He slowly rose to his feet and walked to the window.

Across more than half the academy, he looked toward the private courtyard where Su Chen was staying.

Under the moonlight, he could vaguely see a huge dark golden silhouette lying in the courtyard, rising and falling steadily with each breath.

Jiang Yuandong's Adam's apple bobbed violently.

"He must belong to Spirit Hall."

He softly repeated that person's words.

"He must."

The fear in his eyes slowly faded, replaced by the feverish madness of a gamble staked on his entire life.

If... if he could personally deliver this child before His Holiness the Pope...

A mere Level Four Elder? No!

Becoming a Black-Robed Bishop in one leap was not impossible!

Jiang Yuandong immediately turned around and began writing furiously, planning for the next day.

Early the next morning, Jiang Yuandong arrived.

He wore a different face.

The elder who had panicked and lost control at the training ground yesterday was gone. In his place was a smiling, gentle-voiced "Grandpa Jiang."

"Young friend Su Chen, did you rest well last night?"

Su Chen sat in the courtyard, with breakfast sent by the academy laid out before him.

Little Gold lay at his feet, wildly licking a meat bone thicker than Su Chen's thigh.

"Not bad."

Su Chen did not even raise his head.

Jiang Yuandong sat across from him. His gaze swept over Little Gold, and the smile on his face froze for an instant before quickly returning to normal.

"I carefully looked through the records after returning yesterday. Young friend Su Chen, your Martial Soul is very likely a high-level summoning-type Martial Soul that has been lost since ancient times. The cultivation method for this kind of Martial Soul is entirely different from that of ordinary Soul Masters. It requires the most specialized guidance and the finest resources."

He paused, lowering his voice until it was almost a whisper, filled with temptation.

"And Spirit Hall... can provide all of that."

Su Chen took a bite of the steamed bun and chewed slowly twice before looking up at him.

"Elder Jiang."

"Hmm?"

"Yesterday, all five of your Spirit Rings released themselves at the training ground. You could not control them."

Su Chen's tone was as casual as if he were discussing the weather.

Jiang Yuandong's smile finally could not hold.

Su Chen set down the steamed bun and brushed the crumbs from his hands.

"A Soul King-level elder lost even the basic control of his own Soul Power merely because he sensed the aura of my Martial Soul."

He stood and looked at Jiang Yuandong.

A six-year-old child only reached Jiang Yuandong's waist, yet at that moment, Jiang Yuandong felt as though he were being looked down upon.

"This showed that before my martial soul, your martial soul instinctively submitted."

Su Chen tilted his head slightly, his gaze calm.

"So, Elder Jiang, were you here to guide me—

"or to test me?"

In the courtyard, the sound of gnawing bones stopped.

Little Gold's dark golden vertical pupils slowly turned toward Jiang Yuandong. Deep within them, there was not a trace of warmth.

Cold sweat broke out across Jiang Yuandong's back again.