Healing-type Soul Sage

Judging by the decor, this couldn't be the academy. So was this the lord's residence in Notting City? Or Spirit Hall's local branch?

Chu Chen's eyes shifted as he considered the possibilities.

He curled his fingers slightly and closed his eyes, sinking his Soul Force into the Flame Ji Ring on his finger.

Deep inside the Storage Ring, the six Spirit Bones still glowed warmly beneath their charred surfaces. The Lead Box containing the Blue Silver Emperor and the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone was intact too. Only then did the weight hanging over his heart finally lift.

Tang Hao was dead.

The Spirit Bones were his.

And he had survived that world-shattering explosion.

His injuries were severe, but the gamble he'd staked his life on had paid off spectacularly!

"You're awake, little one?"

Just as Chu Chen was running through all this, a voice filled with delighted surprise came from the doorway...

He looked up at once. The door stood open, and several richly dressed adults were walking in.

Two elderly men, a middle-aged man, and a beautiful woman. All four carried themselves like people of importance.

Yet Chu Chen could clearly sense a hint of unease beneath their seemingly calm expressions.

The explosion on the mountain behind the academy must have frightened them.

He tried to raise his bandaged arm in greeting, only to suck in a sharp breath at the pain.

"Hey, hey! Your injuries haven't healed yet. Don't move that arm!"

The speaker was the only woman among them, a beauty who looked to be in her early thirties.

As she spoke, she murmured something under her breath. A begonia appeared in her hand, its white and pink petals vivid and graceful.

Leaves and trailing branches spilled over either side of her palm. Its supple vines stirred in the breeze, and its blossoms drooped like a shy lady whose hair veiled her face.

Then, amid a faint fragrance, a white light descended. Strangely, it took the shape of petals that drifted down onto Chu Chen and gently dissolved into his body.

A tremor ran through him. His exposed wounds healed at a miraculous pace, and color returned to his face. He even managed to sit up in bed.

Only then did Chu Chen get a clear look at the Soul Rings surrounding the woman.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black...

She's a Soul Sage?

Chu Chen was secretly astonished. That pink begonia was undoubtedly her Martial Soul.

To find a rare Healing-type Soul Sage in a remote place like Notting City—he had been lucky indeed.

"My name is Chu Chen. Thank you, my lady. May I ask your name? Once I've made something of myself, I will repay you for saving my life!"

Feeling the change in his body, Chu Chen immediately clasped his hands and thanked her with a solemn expression.

Without this Healing-type Soul Sage's help, his injuries would likely have taken a long time to heal.

In cultivation, one slow step could put every step after it behind.

Even though he had eliminated Tang Hao, the greatest obstacle on his path, Chu Chen had no wish to waste time recovering.

This Healing-type Soul Sage had arrived at exactly the right moment!

He owed her for this.

But at the sight of his earnest expression, the woman merely smiled gently.

"What a polite child. But if you want to thank someone, thank these gentlemen. I just happened to be staying in Notting City. They're the ones who actually saved you."

"Besides, your injuries wouldn't have been fatal even without my help. Before I saw you, someone far stronger than me had already protected your Heart Meridian. I don't know who did it, but I wouldn't dare take credit for it."

The woman waved a hand casually, though Chu Chen could see the curiosity in her eyes.

Her words gave Chu Chen a fair idea of what had happened.

Barring some unlikely coincidence, the powerful person she spoke of was Chu Chen himself.

Before losing consciousness, he had used his Soul Force to protect his Heart Meridian. That much was certain.

Still, he was surprised that a Soul Sage had judged that Soul Force to belong to someone far stronger than herself.

Could a Fifth-Rank Alchemist's Soul Force really surpass that of a seven-ring Soul Sage?

Well, I guess this world's power levels really are that underwhelming.

While he grumbled inwardly, Chu Chen respectfully clasped his hands toward the other three, thanked them, and asked who they were.

Unlike the woman, who had not given her name, they answered.

And the three men's positions were indeed impressive.

The two elderly men were Dean Wei of Notting City Junior Soul Master Academy and Ma Xiunuo, head of Spirit Hall's Notting City branch.

Dean Wei had only recently become a Soul Ancestor. Ma Xiunuo was weaker still—merely a Soul Grandmaster.

The middle-aged man, surnamed Xiao, was not especially strong either. Despite being the lord of Notting City, he was only a three-ring Soul Elder. Chu Chen couldn't help thinking how poor the city's Soul Masters were.

Well, not all of them. There is a Soul Sage right here.

A rare Healing-type Soul Sage, no less. What brought someone like her to little Notting City?

As Chu Chen pondered this, the three men suddenly bowed to the woman in unison.

"Thank you for your help, Madam Ye."

Chu Chen looked up curiously. The woman they called Madam Ye waved them off.

"Don't mention it." Then she turned to Chu Chen.

"Little one, I've done all I can for your injuries. Now you need rest while your body heals, especially the meridians inside it. That will take... about three months."

"You'll have to stop cultivating for those three months, and you mustn't fight anyone. Remember that."

Chu Chen nodded. After a moment's thought, he asked a question.

"My lady, does that mean I can't absorb a Soul Ring and advance either?"

"Absorb a Soul Ring?"

Madam Ye raised an eyebrow and turned to Dean Wei of the Soul Master Academy.

"If I remember correctly, you said this child had just enrolled. He's a new student who hasn't attended a single day of classes, isn't he?"

"Yes, Madam Ye. He is indeed a new student."

Dean Wei answered respectfully, though a smile played at the corners of his mouth.

"But as it happens, this child awakened a mutated Martial Soul, and he also has... Innate Full Soul Power!"