The Truth Is Out: Your Martial Soul Can't Stand Before Me

Linhe City's long streets had a little more 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, yet Su Chen walked 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 was filled with bright red hawthorns, the other with Chinese yam beans coated in sugar.

Su Chen's fingers twitched slightly.

An imperceptible spatial rift opened at his feet.

The smallest Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear squeezed out of the void on its thick padded paws.

Little Gold.

The claws capable of tearing apart dragons were tucked into its thick fur. Its round ears twitched, and its nose wriggled eagerly toward the candied hawthorns.

The old man's straw stand tilted in his hands, the crimson hawthorns swaying endlessly beneath the setting sun.

He forgot to call out to customers. He even forgot to run.

Su Chen held the yam beans to Little Gold's mouth.

The ten-thousand-year vicious beast opened its bloody maw, curled its tongue around the bamboo skewer, and crunched loudly.

It narrowed its eyes, its dark golden pupils full of contentment. Its tail swept across the ground, stirring a light breeze.

Su Chen patted its head, covered in bristles as hard as steel needles.

"Slow down. No one's taking them from you."

Su Chen handed it another two skewers.

He crouched at the roadside, one man and one bear.

At first, the passing pedestrians screamed and scattered. Then, caught by that 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 and bit into a hawthorn. 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 snow melting into sunlight.

Yet the texture of that soul power carried a holiness and exclusiveness carved into the bones.

Light.

Holiness.

Su Chen did not turn around.

Footsteps stopped three paces behind him, measured and perfectly rhythmic—the gait of someone steeped in the finest etiquette.

"Hello."

The voice was clear, like ice striking porcelain.

Su Chen looked up.

The girl before him wore a white dress. Her veil was gone, revealing a face so exquisite it seemed almost unreal.

Her pale golden eyes resembled melted amber, carrying a composure that did not belong to someone her age.

"My name is Xue'er. I'm an exchange student from Spirit Hall Academy."

She dipped into a slight curtsy, her smile flawless.

"I watched your match today. It was wonderful."

"It was just... I was rather curious about your martial soul."

Su Chen looked at her.

For three seconds.

Then he lowered his head and fed Little Gold the last hawthorn.

"Oh."

The smile on Qian Renxue's face stiffened for an instant.

She had imagined countless openings, but never expected him to be so cold.

She crouched down as well, attempting to close the distance.

"This is a ten-thousand-year Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear, isn't it? I never expected it to be tamed so gently."

"Keep it fed, and it won't want to eat people."

Su Chen's tone was calm.

Qian Renxue extended a hand, tentatively trying to touch Little Gold's back.

Little Gold suddenly turned its head. A low growl spilled from its throat, and its fishy breath scattered the loose strands by the girl's temples.

It let out a loud sneeze, splattering clear fluid over 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 flickering in his eyes.

Qian Renxue calmly withdrew her hand and rubbed her fingertips against her sleeve, forcibly suppressing her discomfort.

"Student Su Chen, there has never been any record in continental history of a summoning-type martial soul like yours."

"Even the Spirit Hall library has no precedent for an ability to maintain several high-level soul beasts at once."

The corner of Su Chen's mouth lifted.

"The Spirit Hall Academy library?"

"Yes."

"Then you should know that Spirit Hall Academy's places have never been given to a temporary local tournament."

Qian Renxue's lashes trembled.

Su Chen rose to his feet, dusted the crumbs from his robe, and turned a blade-sharp gaze upon her, cutting through the calm she 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, a ration available only to the inner hall."

He took a step forward, closing in on those pale golden eyes.

"Most importantly, the soul power inside you is resonating."

"The Waterfall Cycle—the Angel Clan's secret inheritance. Across the entire continent, fewer than five people have mastered it."

The noise of the street abruptly faded away.

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 didn't come to kill me."

Su Chen casually flicked away the empty bamboo skewer. It carved an arc through the air and pierced a bamboo basket three meters away with precision.

"Anyone who came to kill me wouldn't waste so many words."

"You came to test my worth."

Qian Renxue took a deep breath, her palm 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 smile he had shown that day with such sharpness.

"What I want is something Spirit Hall can't afford to give."

He patted Little Gold's head. Light flickered, and the vicious beast vanished into the air.

Su Chen turned and left.

After 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'm ready anytime."

The figure in the gray robe 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, when Su Chen had approached her just now, the Angel Martial Soul inside her...

Had trembled.

That trembling was not fear, but a submission that transcended rank.

As though that gray-robed youth was not human, but some deity who ruled over all living things.

She lowered her head.

Within her palm, the phantom of the Angel Martial Soul emerged on its own. Its six wings spread slightly, and it gave off a faint, yearning glow toward the direction Su Chen had left.

"Interesting..."

She murmured to herself and turned toward the darkness.

That night.

Inside a secret chamber, the light of a communication array flickered uncertainly.

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 communication array fell into deathly silence.

After a long while, Bibi Dong's voice sounded again.

"At any cost, stay by his side."

"I want to know what exactly he is."

The communication 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 thread of golden soul power curled around his fingertips.

It was the energy he had casually "intercepted" when Qian Renxue's martial soul had resonated with his earlier.

"The aura of an angel..."

Su Chen closed his eyes, a confident curve forming on his lips.

"Looks like the bait has taken hold."