Elder Jiang, Are You Testing Me?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nording City had produced a monster.

Notting Academy's response was the most direct.

The headmaster personally led a group to move Su Chen from a shared six-person dormitory into a private courtyard on the academy's eastern side, one reserved specifically for noble students.

The courtyard was enormous, with a front hall, inner rooms, and an exquisite little garden.

This was not out of respect.

It was purely out of fear.

Because the headmaster had personally seen that, although Su Chen had recalled the ten Terrorclaw Bears while returning to the dormitory, the hard stone floor of the corridor had been left with ten rows of terrifying claw marks half an inch deep.

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

"Student Su Chen, this courtyard is quiet and suitable for you... ah, suitable for your rest."

The headmaster smiled ingratiatingly, 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 at the table for a moment, then raised his right hand.

A dark golden radiance surfaced in his palm, and the phantom of the Void Throne flashed by.

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

It was a strange connection.

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

At the other ends of those threads, ten massive life auras lay silently dormant.

Su Chen tried tugging at only one of those threads.

"Bang."

A dark golden crack burst across the courtyard's bluestone floor, 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 forepaws into the real world.

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

Its head alone was larger than Su Chen's entire body.

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

Su Chen reached out and pressed his hand against Iron Wall's cool snout. 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 further 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 through the crack, precise, swift, and 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. Iron Wall immediately stopped all movement, lay back down, and watched him quietly.

Its obedience was perfect.

Its response speed was nearly instantaneous.

Just as Su Chen was about to send Iron Wall back, a faint rustling came from behind him.

He turned around.

Another, much smaller dark golden crack had appeared in the ground at the other corner of the courtyard.

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

Su Chen had not issued 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 and scampered over to Su Chen on four short little legs. It plopped down in front of him and looked up.

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

Aggrievement.

Su Chen: "..."

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

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

Su Chen was shoved into the corner by its head, and the wooden chair behind him groaned under the strain.

"Why did you run out instead of staying in the summoning space?"

The little bear whimpered twice, its tail sweeping back and forth across the ground and turning three bluestone slabs into powder.

Su Chen was silent for two seconds before reaching out and patting its head.

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

Little Gold's tail wagged even more enthusiastically.

Another five floor tiles shattered in response.

Su Chen stared expressionlessly at the mess all over 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 paws and played dead.

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

He sat quietly in the darkness for a long time.

Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the window lattice, drawing pale lines 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 roughly fifteen minutes had consumed nearly one-tenth of his soul power.

If he summoned all ten bears and put them into full combat mode, his current reserves of soul power could probably only last 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 the fear—Su Chen had caught something else.

An undisguised possessiveness upon seeing a peerless treasure.

Third.

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

The old man had lain on a broken wooden bed, his withered hand gripping Su Chen's wrist. His voice had been hoarse, each word rasping through his throat.

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

"Some will want to use you, and some 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 else can reach, and then no one will be able to touch you."

Su Chen opened his eyes.

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

"Stand at the very top."

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

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

No lamp was 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 communicator specially made by Spirit Hall's 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 will be sealed together and 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 only an ordinary herbal farmer outside the city, deceased from 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, yet her words sent chills down his spine.

"Dig up that herbal farmer's grave."

"I want to know his bone age, his physique, whether any soul bone remnants remain. No detail may be omitted."

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

"Yes."

"One more thing." The woman paused briefly. "From now on, you are not 'watching over' him."

"You are 'serving' him."

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

The communication cut off.

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

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

Across more than half the academy, he gazed in the direction of Su Chen's private courtyard.

Under the moonlight, he could vaguely make out a massive 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 gradually faded, replaced by the feverish madness of a gambler staking his entire fortune and life.

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

A mere fourth-rank elder? No!

It was not impossible that he could be promoted directly to black-robed bishop!

Jiang Yuandong immediately turned around and began writing furiously, planning the next day's arrangements.

Early the next morning, Jiang Yuandong arrived.

He had put on a different face.

The terrified, panic-stricken elder from the training grounds yesterday had vanished. In his place was a smiling, gentle-spoken "Grandpa Jiang."

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

Su Chen sat in the courtyard with the 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 stiffened for an instant before quickly returning to normal.

"Regarding yesterday's matter, this old man carefully consulted the ancient texts. Young friend Su Chen, your martial soul is very likely a high-level summoning-type martial soul lost since ancient times. The cultivation method for this kind of martial soul differs entirely 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, full of temptation.

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

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

"Elder Jiang."

"Hmm?"

"Yesterday, all five of your Soul Rings released themselves on the training grounds, beyond your control."

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

Jiang Yuandong's smile finally could no longer hold.

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

"A Soul King-level elder lost even basic control over 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 in height, but at that moment, Jiang Yuandong felt as though he were being looked down upon.

"That showed that your martial soul instinctively submitted before mine."

Su Chen tilted his head slightly, his gaze calm.

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

"or to test me?"

The sound of gnawing bones in the courtyard stopped.

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

Sweat broke out across Jiang Yuandong's back again.