Linhe City's long streets had a little more of everyday life than the arena.
The first day of the elimination rounds had ended. Every team had shut themselves away at their lodgings to review their matches, but Su Chen was walking alone along the bluestone road.
Chu Yao asked where he was going.
He said he was buying candied hawthorns.
He stopped before an old man selling candied hawthorns and picked out two skewers.
One held bright red hawthorns, while the other was covered in sugar-coated Chinese yams.
Su Chen's fingertips moved slightly.
An imperceptible spatial rift opened by his feet.
The smallest Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear squeezed out of the void on its thick paw pads.
Little Gold.
The claws capable of tearing apart dragons were tucked into its thick fur. Its round ears twitched, and its nose kept sniffing eagerly at the candied hawthorns.
The old man selling candied hawthorns tilted the straw bundle in his hands, and the red hawthorns swayed nonstop beneath the setting sun.
He forgot to hawk his wares and even forgot to run.
Su Chen held the Chinese yam skewer to Little Gold's mouth.
The ten-thousand-year beast opened its bloody maw, curled its tongue around the bamboo skewer, and crunched away noisily.
It narrowed its eyes, its dark golden pupils filled with satisfaction. Its tail swept across the ground, stirring a faint breeze.
Su Chen patted its head, covered in bristles as hard as steel needles.
"Slow down. No one's going to take it from you."
Su Chen handed it two more skewers.
He crouched by the roadside, one man and one bear.
At first, passersby scattered with screams. Then, caught by the bizarre sense of harmony, they stopped and pointed from afar.
"Is that the summoner from Sky Abyss Academy?"
"A Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear... eating candied hawthorns?"
"This world has gone mad."
Su Chen ignored them. He bit into a hawthorn, and its sweet-and-sour flavor burst across his mouth.
He could sense an aura approaching from twenty paces behind him.
It was exceedingly faint.
Like a patch of snow melting into sunlight.
But the texture of that Soul Power carried a holiness and exclusivity carved deep into the bones.
Light.
Holiness.
Su Chen did not turn around.
The footsteps stopped three paces behind him, measured and rhythmic—the gait of someone steeped in the finest etiquette.
"Hello."
The voice was clear, like ice striking porcelain.
Su Chen looked up.
The young woman before him wore a white dress. Her veil had been removed, revealing a face so exquisite it seemed almost unreal.
Her pale golden eyes were like melted amber, carrying a composure beyond her years.
"My name is Xue'er. I'm an exchange student from Spirit Hall Academy."
She dipped slightly, her smile flawless in every way.
"I watched your match today. It was wonderful."
"It was just... I'm rather curious about your Martial Soul."
Su Chen looked at her.
For three seconds.
Then he lowered his head and continued feeding the last hawthorn to Little Gold.
"Oh."
The smile on Qian Renxue's face stiffened for an instant.
She had imagined countless openings, but never expected him to be so indifferent.
She crouched as well, trying to close the distance.
"This is a ten-thousand-year Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear, isn't it? I never thought it could be tamed so gently."
"Keep it fed, and it won't feel like eating people."
Su Chen's tone was flat.
Qian Renxue extended a hand, cautiously trying to touch Little Gold's back.
Little Gold suddenly turned its head. A low growl spilled from its throat, and the reeking wind ruffled the loose strands at the young woman's temples.
It let out a loud sneeze, splattering clear fluid across Qian Renxue's pristine white sleeve.
Qian Renxue's hand froze in midair.
"It doesn't let strangers touch it."
Su Chen finally looked at her again, amusement in his eyes.
Qian Renxue calmly withdrew her hand, rubbing her fingertips against her sleeve as she forcibly suppressed her discomfort.
"Student Su Chen, your summoning-type Martial Soul has never been recorded in the continent's history."
"Even Spirit Hall's library has no precedent for the ability to maintain several high-level Soul Beasts at once."
A curve formed at the corner of Su Chen's mouth.
"Spirit Hall Academy's library?"
"Yes."
"Then you should know that Spirit Hall Academy's spots are never given to temporary local tournaments."
Qian Renxue's eyelashes trembled.
Su Chen rose to his feet, brushing the crumbs from his robe. His gaze was like a blade, cutting open the calm the young woman had maintained.
"Your center of gravity is on your right foot. That's the standard alert stance of the Consecration Hall."
"The weave at your cuffs is a Heavenly Silkworm Silk blend. That's an allotment reserved for the inner hall."
He took a step forward, closing in on those pale golden eyes.
"Most importantly, the Soul Power within your body is resonating."
"The Waterfall Cycle, a secret transmission of the Angel Clan. Fewer than five people on the entire continent have mastered it."
The clamor of the street suddenly seemed to recede.
Qian Renxue stood still, and a crack finally appeared in her perfect mask.
"You're from Spirit Hall."
This was not a question.
It was a judgment.
"But you're not here to kill me."
Su Chen casually flicked away the empty bamboo skewer. It drew an arc through the air and precisely embedded itself in a bamboo basket three meters away.
"Anyone sent to kill me wouldn't waste so many words."
"You came to test my worth."
Qian Renxue took a deep breath, her palms damp with sweat.
"What if I said Spirit Hall could provide everything you want?"
"Spirit Rings, soul bones, even clues to godhood."
Su Chen smiled.
It was the first time that day he had shown such a sharp smile.
"What I want is something Spirit Hall can't afford."
He patted Little Gold's head. Light flickered, and the beast vanished into the air.
Su Chen turned and left.
After taking three steps, he stopped. His voice drifted on the wind into Qian Renxue's ears.
"Go back and tell your master that I have no interest in Spirit Hall."
"But if she wants a fight—"
"I'll oblige her anytime."
The gray-robed figure disappeared around the street corner.
Qian Renxue stood where she was, her right hand clenched tightly into a fist within her sleeve.
She was not angry because she had been rejected.
She was angry because, at the moment Su Chen had approached her, the Angel Martial Soul within her...
Had trembled.
That trembling was not fear, but a submission that transcended rank.
As though the gray-robed youth was not human, but some god who ruled all living things.
She lowered her head.
In her palm, the phantom of the Angel Martial Soul emerged on its own. Its six wings parted slightly, releasing a faint, yearning glow toward the direction Su Chen had gone.
"Interesting..."
She murmured to herself and turned toward the darkness.
That night.
Inside a secret chamber, the light of the voice-transmission array flickered erratically.
Bibi Dong's voice came from the other end, cold as frost.
"You said the Angel Martial Soul felt submission toward him?"
"Yes."
Qian Renxue lowered her head.
The other end of the voice-transmission array fell into deathly silence.
After a long while, Bibi Dong's voice rang out again.
"At any cost, stay by his side."
"I want to know what exactly he is."
The voice-transmission array went dark.
Qian Renxue pushed open the window, and moonlight spilled across her face.
On the roof of a distant inn, Su Chen lay with his hands behind his head, gazing at the same moon.
A strand of golden Soul Power coiled around his fingertips.
It was the energy he had casually "intercepted" when Qian Renxue's Martial Soul resonated earlier.
"The aura of an angel..."
Su Chen closed his eyes, a confident curve rising at the corner of his mouth.
"Looks like the bait has taken hold."
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