You've Already Earned Your Death

When Lin Yuan returned to Nuoding City, it was still early.

He did not go straight back to the academy. Instead, he went to the Spirit Hall Branch. It stood in the city center, a gray-white Gothic building with two guards in black armor at its entrance.

Lin Yuan walked in. The hall was dim, lit by the soft glow of several Soul Guidance Lamps. A young woman in fitted white clothes sat behind the counter, her head lowered as she wrote something.

She looked up and paused at the sight of Lin Yuan. A six-year-old boy holding a little creature in a Penguin Suit made for an odd sight.

"Who are you looking for, little one?"

"Is Deacon Su Yuntao here?"

The woman in white looked him over. She was about eighteen or nineteen, with delicate features, a Spirit Hall badge pinned to her chest, and long hair tied back with a plain ribbon.

"I'm Sisi, a white-robed deacon. What do you need Deacon Su for?"

"He's an old acquaintance."

Sisi was about to reply when footsteps sounded behind her. Su Yuntao came down the stairs with a file in his hand. He looked up, saw Lin Yuan, and stopped short.

"Lin Yuan?"

"Brother Su." Lin Yuan nodded.

Su Yuntao hurried over and looked him up and down. The boy wore a Nuoding Academy uniform. The little creature in a Penguin Suit peered at him with black-bean eyes, a grass stem of unknown origin dangling from its mouth.

"Didn't I tell you to just call me Brother Su?" Su Yuntao smiled. "What brings you here?"

"I want to know how to get to the Star Dou Great Forest."

Su Yuntao's smile froze.

"The Star Dou Great Forest? What would you go there for?"

"The Soul Beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest are too weak. They can't even beat Guga. I need to find stronger ones."

Su Yuntao fell silent for a few seconds. He remembered Guga sending him flying with one punch back in Holy Soul Village. The ten-year and hundred-year Soul Beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest really were no match for the little creature.

"As it happens..."

Su Yuntao spoke again.

"Elder Ma just broke through to level thirty and needs a Thousand-Year Soul Ring. He's going to the Star Dou Great Forest tomorrow, and Sisi and I are going with him. You can come with us."

Lin Yuan nodded.

"All right."

"Meet us outside Spirit Hall tomorrow at dawn."

"Got it."

Lin Yuan turned to leave. Guga poked its head out of his arms and waved a stubby little hand at Su Yuntao.

"Bye, Brother Su! Guga!"

Su Yuntao paused, then laughed.

"Goodbye, little fellow."

Sisi watched the small figure disappear through the doorway, then turned to Su Yuntao.

"Deacon Su, is that child... really going to the Star Dou Great Forest? He looks only six."

"I know."

"Then why did you agree to take him?"

Su Yuntao gazed out the door and shook his head.

"If I refused, he'd go on his own. Better he come with us than die alone in the Star Dou Great Forest."

Sisi opened her mouth, but said nothing more.

Deep in the Soul Hunting Forest.

Tang San had watched over Yu Xiaogang all afternoon. He had used realgar powder and antidotes to suppress the Mandala Snake's venom, but Yu Xiaogang's face was still a sickly mix of blue and white, and his forehead burned with fever. The Mandala Snake had bitten Luo Sanpao, who had turned into purple light and returned to Yu Xiaogang's body. The poison, however, had traveled back through their Martial Soul bond and struck him too.

Tang San sat beside the unconscious Yu Xiaogang and studied the Yellow Soul Ring newly merged with the Blue Silver Grass in his right hand. A Mandala Snake Soul Ring close to four hundred years old. His First Soul Skill: Entanglement. He had tested it. The Blue Silver Grass was nearly twice as thick as before, and its surface carried a faint numbing toxin.

He should have been happy.

But his mind kept replaying the direction the snake had flown from.

Behind the oak tree.

The Mandala Snake had clearly been chasing them, yet it had suddenly turned toward the woods. Then it had flown back out as though something had thrown it. He had seen it clearly. The snake had not leaped out on its own. It had been hurled.

Someone had been in the woods.

Tang San stood and walked toward the grove of oak trees. He pushed through the bushes and stepped deep into their shadows. On the ground lay only a few crushed leaves and two shallow little footprints. They were small enough to belong to a child—or perhaps some little animal.

He crouched and studied them for a long time.

Then he stood and returned to Yu Xiaogang's side.

Whoever it was, that snake had nearly killed his teacher. They had already earned their death. Yet that same snake had given him his First Soul Ring.

He would settle that account another day.

Dusk was falling when Lin Yuan returned to Nuoding Academy.

The door to Dorm Seven stood ajar. He pushed it open and found only Xiao Wu inside. She sat on her bed, combing her long scorpion braid and humming an unfamiliar tune.

"You're back?" Xiao Wu looked up. "How was the Soul Hunting Forest?"

"No good."

"Hm?"

"The Soul Beasts were too weak."

Xiao Wu blinked, then suddenly grew excited.

"So you're going to the Star Dou Great Forest? I know that place! It's huge, more than a hundred times bigger than the Soul Hunting Forest, and the Soul Beasts there are much stronger. I used to live nearby..."

She abruptly fell silent, as if she had let something slip. After a couple of dry coughs, she went back to combing her hair.

Lin Yuan did not ask. He went to his bed and checked the contents of his bundle. Dry rations, water, a short knife—it was all there. He tied the bundle shut again, set it by his pillow, and lay down.

Guga crawled out of his arms, found a comfortable spot on his chest, and curled into a ball.

"Guga."

The little creature patted its belly. The message was clear: it was hungry.

Without opening his eyes, Lin Yuan took half a dry biscuit from inside his clothes and stuffed it into Guga's mouth. Guga held the biscuit in both stubby hands and crunched away, scattering crumbs all over Lin Yuan's chest.

"Can you not eat in bed?"

"Guga."

It kept eating.

Lin Yuan gave up.

Watching from the side, Xiao Wu could not help laughing.

"Guga can really eat."

"Guga!" Guga protested, indignant, but its mouth was stuffed with biscuit, so the sound came out muffled.

Outside the window, darkness gradually settled in. The Nuoding Academy clock tower struck eight. A final clatter of bowls and chopsticks came from the dining hall, then silence. On the distant training ground, a few older students were still practicing, their occasional shouts carrying through the night.

Lin Yuan rolled over and stared at the thin crack in the ceiling.

Tomorrow. The Star Dou Great Forest.

The Star Dou Great Forest was not the Soul Hunting Forest. It held thousand-year Soul Beasts and real danger. But that was precisely why its Soul Rings were worth absorbing. He needed a Soul Ring strong enough to give him a foothold in this world.

Guga finished the biscuit, nuzzled against him, settled into the most comfortable position it could find, and closed its eyes.

Lin Yuan glanced down at Guga.

He still had no idea how he was going to feed this little glutton tomorrow.

Forget it.

Sleep first.