Makeshift Troupe

Abyss City.

A city on the southwestern border of the Heaven Dou Empire.

It was neither prosperous nor dilapidated.

Tenacious moss sprouted from the cracks in the city walls. One of the stone lions at the gate had lost half an ear to weathering, while the guards leaned against the gateframe, their heads bobbing as they dozed.

Su Chen had chosen this place for one reason—remoteness.

Remote enough that there would be no unnecessary eyes.

Without eyes, there would be no troublesome inspections.

When their group of seven emerged from the western side of the Star Dou Great Forest, they looked exactly like refugees fleeing famine: ragged clothes, bandages wrapped around their bodies, and pale, sickly faces.

The only ones still brimming with energy, Iron Wall and Little Gold, were currently inside the Summoning Space.

After entering the city, Su Chen did not look for an inn.

He headed straight for a branch office of the Imperial Soul Master Administration.

Abyss City's Soul Master Administration was crammed into a two-story wooden building, wedged between a braised beef shop and a tailor's shop. It looked cramped and shabby.

The plaque above the entrance had long faded. Of the words "Heaven Dou Empire Soul Master Administration · Abyss City Office," the lower half of the character for "Administration" had rotted away from rainwater, making it look like an entirely different character.

Su Chen pushed the door open and entered.

Behind the counter, a slightly plump middle-aged man was frantically stamping a pile of documents with his head lowered. Three buttons on his uniform had already popped open.

Hearing footsteps, he spoke without looking up, his voice carrying the habitual perfunctoriness of someone who had said the same thing too many times.

"Certification is upstairs, Martial Soul registration is in the back courtyard, and awakening ceremony appointments are already booked through next month."

Su Chen's voice was calm.

"Academy registration."

The stamping paused for half a beat.

The middle-aged man finally looked up. His small eyes narrowed behind his lenses as he examined Su Chen.

A youth, no more than thirteen or fourteen judging by his bone age, wearing an outer robe faded nearly white from washing. Several spots along the hem had been crudely mended.

Behind him stood six other youths around the same age.

One of the boys was carrying two large bags of freshly cooked braised beef in his left hand. His right arm was still hanging in a sling, clearly not fully healed.

"...Academy registration?" The middle-aged man pushed up his glasses, making sure he had heard correctly.

"Correct."

"Documents."

Su Chen pulled a stack of prepared papers from his robes and placed them on the counter.

He had spent two days forging these documents. The identity papers borrowed the name of a fallen noble family—a family that had not produced a Soul Master in three generations and existed in name only. Su Chen had spent just eighty Gold Soul Coins to purchase full rights to use its name from an intelligence broker.

The middle-aged man picked up the documents and opened the first page.

"Academy name?"

"Sky Abyss."

"Founder?"

"Su Chen."

"Teaching staff?"

"Zero."

The pen stopped on the paper.

The middle-aged man looked up at him again.

"Zero?"

"I'll teach them myself."

The middle-aged man asked no more questions. He merely assumed it was a youth's foolish whim and continued reading.

"Total number of enrolled students?"

"Seven."

"...Seven."

"Including me."

The middle-aged man set down his pen and rubbed his brow hard.

He had worked in this field for seventeen years. What ridiculous applications had he not seen? Some wanted to register an academy that taught support-type Soul Masters to dance. Some wanted to establish an aristocratic preparatory school that accepted only female students. One old man had even tried to declare his family chicken farm a Soul Beast taming research institute.

But this sort of nested arrangement—founder, sole teacher, and one of the seven students—was something he had never seen before.

Suppressing his irritation, he asked in a businesslike manner, "Academy buildings and permanent teaching grounds?"

"I rented a courtyard."

"Rented?"

"A short lease. Three months."

"...History of operation?"

"Three days." Su Chen considered it, then added seriously, "Counting from the moment I wrote down the academy's name."

The middle-aged man gently closed the documents, clasped his hands together, and rested them on the counter.

His expression held the peculiar calm forged by countless absurdities.

"Young man, I don't care whether someone deceived you or whether you're simply indulging in fantasy. Founding an academy is not child's play. There are one hundred and thirty-seven official Soul Master Academies within the Heaven Dou Empire. Every year, more than eighty academies have their applications for Elite Tournament eligibility rejected. Even the worst of those rejected academies have over thirty students and five or six official teachers."

He reached out and pushed the stack of documents back.

"I can help you start the process, but it has a one hundred percent chance of failing review. Don't waste the twenty Gold Soul Coin registration fee. Use it to buy something good to eat instead."

Su Chen did not take the documents.

"What are the review standards?"

"At least five students with three rings or above, and at least one teacher qualified as a Soul Master with four rings or above. In addition, you must complete a strength assessment in front of an Administration official." The middle-aged man recited it as smoothly as if he were reading from a textbook.

"Three rings?"

"Yes, Soul Elder. That's the minimum threshold..."

He did not get to finish.

Su Chen turned and glanced at the six people behind him.

Jiang Tieyi was struggling to tear apart braised beef with one hand, the corners of his mouth smeared with glossy sauce.

Chu Yao stood with her arms folded against the doorframe. She gave Su Chen a slight nod, amusement glinting in her eyes as though she were watching a show.

Mo Qianye stood in the deepest shadow, his hood pulled low.

Yan Wuji was wrapped in two layers of blankets like a statue. Though he was indoors, he seemed to still be suffering from the chill of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Ye Linglong's emerald eyes casually swept over the plaques on the wall behind the counter, each representing the rank of an existing academy in Abyss City.

Ling Shuang stood quietly at Su Chen's side without saying a word.

Su Chen turned back.

"You want a strength assessment, right?"

"Yes, but you all..."

The middle-aged man's words were cut off abruptly.

Because four Spirit Rings silently rose beneath Su Chen's feet.

Not century-old yellow.

Not millennium purple.

But abyssal black.

Silent as death.

The first ring, ten thousand years.

The second ring, ten thousand years.

The third ring, ten... thousand years.

The fourth ring was also ten thousand years!

A Four-Ring Soul Ancestor!

A thirteen- or fourteen-year-old Four-Ring Soul Ancestor!

A monster possessing four Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Rings!

The realization exploded in the middle-aged man's mind like thunder, leaving his entire body rigid.

Yet this was only the beginning.

Behind Su Chen, the six refugee-like youths released their Soul Power at the same time.

Four black rings.

Four black rings.

Four black rings.

Four black rings.

Four black rings.

Another four black rings!

A full twenty-eight pitch-black Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Rings lit up and spun simultaneously within the narrow, rundown office!

The terrifying fluctuations of Soul Power instantly gathered into tangible waves of air, surging violently in every direction!

The owner of the braised beef shop next door had just poked his head inside to ask what the commotion was. The blast struck him head-on, and with a scream, he staggered back three steps before landing on his rear in the street.

Inside the office, papers danced like snowflakes, an ink bottle crashed over, and the various seals accumulated on the counter over seventeen years rattled furiously all at once.

The middle-aged man clung desperately to the edge of the desk just to remain standing.

His legs were shaking, not from fear—after all, he had seen a Titled Douluo visit Abyss City—but from the absurdity and tremor of having everything he knew completely overturned.

Seven people.

The oldest was fourteen, and the youngest was only twelve.

All of them were Four-Ring Soul Ancestors.

All of them had Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Rings!

He had sat here for seventeen years. He had seen the applications from Heaven Dou Royal Academy and Godwind Academy. Even Shrek Academy's early filing documents had once passed through his hands.

Not a single academy had possessed such a configuration, one that could only be called miraculous, from the moment of its founding!

"The registration fee is twenty gold?"

Su Chen withdrew his Soul Power. The room instantly returned to calm, and his tone was so indifferent that it was as if nothing had just happened.

The middle-aged man nodded mechanically.

Su Chen placed twenty Gold Soul Coins on the counter, one by one, in neat rows.

"...Approved. It's approved." The middle-aged man's voice drifted. He picked up the documents again, his fingers trembling as he turned to the stamping page and shakily raised the seal.

Suddenly, he stopped.

"The academy motto... Your academy's motto hasn't been filled in yet."

Before Su Chen could speak, Jiang Tieyi's muffled voice burst out from behind him.

"Full meals!"

Chu Yao slapped the back of his head.

Su Chen fell silent for two seconds.

"Strength rises from the abyss; origins need not be asked."

The seal came down heavily.

Sky Abyss Academy was officially established.

The middle-aged man handed the stamped copy to Su Chen. After hesitating several times, he finally could not resist asking in a dreamlike tone, "You... are going to participate in the Elite Tournament?"

Su Chen accepted the document, folded it, and tucked it into his robes.

"Yes."

"But do you know this year's seeded teams?"

"I do."

"Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Godwind Academy, and Mingdao Academy, which is directly under Spirit Hall." The middle-aged man paused, lowering his voice as if speaking of a taboo. "And there's one more... Shrek."

"Shrek Academy." He spoke the name with a trace of reverence. "Their lineup this year is supposedly the strongest in twenty years. The boy leading them is called Tang San... Rumor has it that he possesses Twin Martial Souls."

"Mm."

Su Chen's response was a single syllable.

The middle-aged man opened his mouth, but in the end swallowed every word he wanted to say.

The seven of them turned and left the office.

The door closed behind them.

The middle-aged man sat alone amid the mess, staring blankly at the documents scattered across the floor for a long time.

Then he abruptly pulled open a drawer and took out special letter paper marked for expedited dispatch.

Recipient: Heaven Dou Empire Capital · Soul Master Administrative General Office · All-Continent Elite Tournament Committee.

"Report: A newly registered academy in Abyss City has applied to participate in this year's All-Continent Elite Tournament. Academy name: Sky Abyss. Total number of students: seven."

He wrote up to that point, paused, and used all his strength to add a personal note at the bottom of the letter.

"Please, pay, close, attention."

--

On the street.

Jiang Tieyi chewed the last bite of braised beef and, thoroughly satisfied, wiped the grease onto his pants with his left hand.

"Boss, that academy motto of yours was way too refined."

"Would 'full meals' be better?"

"At least it's practical!"

Chu Yao rolled her eyes. "In the entire continent, only you could turn a Soul Master Academy's motto into a cafeteria slogan."

Yan Wuji walked at the back, wrapped in his blankets, and added expressionlessly.

"Why not call it 'Sky Abyss Feedlot'?"

"You—"

Laughter drifted through the not-so-wide streets of Abyss City.

The setting sun stretched the shadows of the seven youths long, casting them diagonally across the ancient bluestone road.

Behind them stood no grand school buildings, no venerable teachers, and certainly no long-standing legacy.

Yet three months later, the entire continent would remember this name.

—Abyss.

A thousand miles away, in the imperial capital of the Heaven Dou Empire.

Shrek Academy's temporary residence.

A young man wearing a conical hat sat by the window, a crystalline Blue Silver Grass curled around his fingertips, its blade edges gleaming with razor-sharp frost.

Spread across the table was an updated list of the academies participating in the competition, delivered only moments ago.

At the very end of the list was an extra line of still-wet ink.

[Abyss Academy—Abyss City—Students: Seven]

The young man's gaze paused on that line for a moment.

"An academy with seven people..."

Tang San withdrew the Blue Silver Grass and looked out the window.

The imperial capital's sky was vast, and the setting sun was slowly sinking beyond the outline of the towering city walls.

For some reason, the instant he saw the two words "Abyss," his body—tempered by the Ice-Fire Yin Yang Well—felt an exceedingly faint chill from the depths of his soul.

It was not fear.

It was an instinct born of ancient bloodlines, a warning upon encountering a worthy opponent.

Something was awakening from an unseen abyss, and it was... drawing near.