A Senior from the Same Orphanage, Yan's Hostility

The girl looked familiar to Qin Yu, and a suspicion formed in his mind.

"Director Su?" The girl looked surprised to see Su Yuntao and Qin Yu.

"Nana, it's you."

Su Yuntao smiled, though a trace of respect appeared in his eyes. "You must be here to see Xie Yue?"

"Yes."

The girl nodded with a smile.

Their exchange confirmed the girl's identity for Qin Yu.

She was Hu Liena, a disciple of the current pope.

Hu Liena's gaze shifted to Qin Yu, curiosity in her eyes. "Director Su, who's this little boy?"

For some reason, Qin Yu looked familiar to her.

She felt as though she had seen him somewhere before.

"This is Qin Yu, Sunshine Orphanage's young prodigy this year," Su Yuntao said.

"Qin... Yu?"

Hu Liena thought for a moment. Then her eyes lit up, and she stared at Qin Yu. "I remember! You're the oddball Grandpa Xiangyang told me about."

"My teacher mentioned you too. You have Innate Full Soul Power, and you awakened..."

Hu Liena swallowed the rest of her words. A strange look flashed through her eyes.

She knew that few people in Spirit Hall knew about Qin Yu's martial spirit. Most only knew it was an exceptionally powerful Dragon martial spirit.

Since Spirit Hall's higher-ups intended to keep it secret, she would not reveal it in front of Su Yuntao.

Su Yuntao noticed nothing unusual about her. He introduced her to Qin Yu. "Qin Yu, this is Hu Liena, a disciple of His Holiness the Pope. You probably know who she is."

"Nana is a student at Spirit Academy too. You should call her your senior."

"Senior," Qin Yu said.

Hu Liena stepped closer, bent down toward him, and gave him a mischievous smile. "You can call me big sister instead."

She and Qin Yu had both come from Sunshine Orphanage, and she knew a little about him.

That gave her an instinctive sense of closeness to him.

Besides, she thought he was good-looking and could not resist teasing him.

"Senior."

Qin Yu remained unmoved by her teasing and stuck with "senior."

"Everyone at Sunshine Orphanage calls each other brothers and sisters. Call me big sister, and I'll look out for you at Spirit Academy."

Hu Liena refused to give up. She was determined to hear Qin Yu call her "big sister."

"Senior Hu." Qin Yu smiled, with no intention of letting Hu Liena get her way.

"Hmph."

Hu Liena huffed, but she was not angry.

She had, however, made a note of this "uncooperative" junior.

She would tease him again when she got the chance.

"Qin Yu, go in by yourself in a moment. I have something else to take care of," Su Yuntao said suddenly.

"All right."

Qin Yu nodded.

Su Yuntao turned and left, gradually disappearing from Qin Yu's and Hu Liena's sight.

"Nana!"

A voice suddenly came from behind them.

Qin Yu and Hu Liena turned instinctively and saw who had arrived.

As the two boys drew closer, Qin Yu thought, Those must be Xie Yue and Yan.

One boy was tall and lean, with a stern face. He seemed aloof and not especially easy to get along with.

The other was a little shorter and sturdier. His short, fiery-red hair was striking, and he carried himself with a solid presence.

The red-haired boy walked briskly toward them, his gaze fixed almost entirely on Hu Liena.

Even so, Qin Yu keenly sensed the boy glancing at him. There was a hint of hostility in his eyes.

"How strange," Qin Yu muttered, then walked into the academy.

He passed Xie Yue and Yan without a change in expression.

"A new student?"

Yan cast a barely noticeable glance at Qin Yu. Whatever he was thinking, he kept it to himself.

"Hm?" Xie Yue looked back at Qin Yu's retreating figure, puzzled. "He looks familiar. I feel like I've seen him somewhere."

"Brother!"

Hu Liena came over and smiled at Xie Yue before turning to Yan. "Yan, I've told you many times. Call me Liena."

"Nana" was a name she reserved for certain elders and her brother Xie Yue.

She was not used to hearing it from anyone else.

"Oh. All right."

Yan pointed toward Qin Yu in the distance. "Na... Liena, who is he? Do you know him?"

"More or less."

Hu Liena nodded.

Yan frowned, and the hostility in his eyes deepened.

"Brother, you should know him too." Hu Liena turned to Xie Yue. "He's Qin Yu, the oddball Grandpa Xiangyang told us about. He's been naturally strong since he was little."

"Qin Yu... So that's him!"

Realization dawned on Xie Yue. After a moment of surprise, he nodded. "Come to think of it, he's old enough to awaken his martial spirit now."

"If he's here, he must have awakened a decent one."

Admission to Spirit Academy required Innate Soul Power of at least level five.

The higher a student's Innate Soul Power, the better their treatment in the first year. After that, resources were allocated according to their cultivation as usual.

"More than decent!"

"Qin Yu awakened a powerful Dragon martial spirit, and he has Innate Full Soul Power. My teacher said Second Worship is considering taking him as a disciple," Hu Liena said.

"Innate Full Soul Power!"

"Second Worship wants to take him as a disciple!"

Yan and Xie Yue exclaimed together, their voices full of disbelief.

They exchanged a glance and saw the same deep shock in each other's eyes.

"That kid..." Yan's expression darkened. He looked at Hu Liena and pressed her. "What martial spirit does he have?"

Hu Liena shook her head.

Yan's face stiffened.

Not one to think things through, he immediately assumed Hu Liena was fond of Qin Yu and did not want to tell him anything more.

Xie Yue, however, grew thoughtful. His conclusion was entirely different from Yan's.

Qin Yu's martial spirit must be extraordinary. Spirit Hall's higher-ups are deliberately keeping it secret.

Now Xie Yue was intensely curious about Qin Yu's martial spirit too.

"Brother, let's go."

Hu Liena interrupted Xie Yue's thoughts.

"Mm."

Xie Yue nodded with a smile, then called to Yan, who was still lost in thought. "Yan, let's go."

"Oh, coming."

Yan hurried after them, but his mind was nowhere near the meal ahead. He kept thinking about Qin Yu's talent and martial spirit.

The next day.

Qin Yu got up early, washed, and went to the cafeteria for breakfast: a cup of fresh beast milk and two eggs laid by some kind of bird-type soul beast.

A breakfast like that would cost at least several silver soul coins elsewhere.

At Spirit Academy, it was completely free.

After breakfast, Qin Yu went to Soul Master Class Two. More than twenty students were already seated inside.

Many looked surprised to see him.

He looked several years younger than they were. Surely he belonged in a Soul Scholar class.

"Did you come to the wrong classroom?" a girl asked him.

"No."

The girl paused, then asked, "You're a one-ring Soul Master?"

"Mm."

Qin Yu offered nothing more. He took a book from the desk drawer and began reading on his own.

He needed to catch up on his theoretical knowledge.