An Chen walked slowly away with his back to the crowd.
Behind him, two young men stirred. They glanced at the people around them, gritted their teeth, and hurried after him.
"Deacon Zhang! Please wait for us!" they called as they ran toward An Chen.
Hm?
An Chen stopped and turned around.
They were two boys of about the same age, both plainly dressed.
They soon caught up and stopped in front of him. Still catching their breath, they spoke nervously.
"Deacon Zhang Jiao, we'd like to follow you and serve you."
One of them spoke while the other had already bowed. Seeing this, the first boy bowed too.
"Oh? Why do you want to follow me?"
They raised their heads, exchanged a look, and answered in unison, "Because you're strong!"
An Chen smiled and gave them a curious look.
"How strong?"
"You're strong enough to accomplish anything. We want to train under you."
"Is that so? Then why do you want to become strong?"
"Spirit Hall doesn't look after us anymore. Bandits are taking advantage of that to cause trouble, and no one's protecting our village. We don't want to sit around waiting to die."
An Chen met their earnest gazes without speaking.
At his silence, one of them gritted his teeth. "Please, Deacon Zhang. We can endure any hardship and do whatever you ask."
An Chen considered this for a moment.
"Do you have Soul Power? Can you cultivate?"
They nodded. One said, "Yes. We both have Innate Soul Power, and we can both cultivate. We're both above level ten now."
"Have you ever hunted a Soul Beast?"
They looked at each other, then shook their heads.
"No. We asked a deacon from Spirit Hall to help us hunt our first Soul Beasts."
"Have you seen anomalies that