Spirit City.
At Spirit Hall's Junior Soul Master Academy, Chen Zhuo stood with his hands behind his back, obediently taking his scolding.
After all, he had arrived a full week late for the new term.
"Only in your third year, and already getting too big for your boots, are you?"
"My dear young master."
"What should I call you now? Dugu Zhuo?" Su Rou asked sarcastically, her expression stern.
When she had not seen Chen Zhuo on the first day of term, she had started to worry.
When he still failed to arrive on the second day, she had contacted Spirit Hall's covert agents in the Heaven Dou Empire.
And what she learned had come as quite a shock.
What did they mean, Dugu Manor had publicly announced that it now had a young master?
Apparently, that old venomous monster Dugu Bo had found his long-lost biological grandson?
"Headmistress, I was wrong!"
Chen Zhuo forced a fawning smile onto his face, trying his best to look harmless.
"Something unexpected happened when I went to Sunset Forest to obtain my second soul ring. That's why I was delayed for so many days."
Su Rou raised a willow-leaf brow.
What Chen Zhuo said more or less matched the intelligence she had received.
"Let me see your second soul skill."
"If it isn't too terrible, I'll forgive you this time. But there won't be a next time!"
Su Rou closed the lesson plan on her desk and finally gave Chen Zhuo a proper look.
She waited for his demonstration.
She wanted to see what Chen Zhuo had to show for rejecting the academy's goodwill, arriving late, and missing classes.
Just how old a soul ring could that grandfather of his, Dugu Bo, have obtained for him?
Surely it could not be a thousand-year one?
As far as she knew, throughout Spirit Hall, only Pope Bibi Dong, with her twin martial souls, had broken the usual rules.
She had surpassed the normal limit by absorbing a Thousand-Year Soul Ring as her second ring.
Other geniuses generally followed the yellow-yellow configuration of two hundred-year soul rings.
Chen Zhuo gave her a look that said, "Headmistress, do you really want to see?"
He was brewing mischief in his belly.
His awkward, reluctant act only stoked Su Rou's curiosity further.
Then-
Boom!
Chen Zhuo revealed his martial soul, and two black soul rings appeared one after the other.
Both the visual impact and the terrifying soul pressure emanating from the revolving rings left Su Rou utterly shaken!
"Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings!"
Su Rou shot straight out of her chair.
Under normal circumstances, how could a two-ring soul master possibly absorb a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring?
That defied all reason!
Never mind that, starting with ten-thousand-year rings, soul masters faced the assault of a soul beast's lingering spirit and resentment during absorption.
The sheer energy contained within one was already beyond what a two-ring soul master could absorb.
Forcing it into their body would inevitably make them explode and die.
"Don't tell me this was another sacrifice."
Su Rou's expression turned rather strange.
Just what sort of monster was this little brat standing before her?
Even calling him a prodigy was not enough.
A freak of nature was more like it.
And if she remembered correctly, this boy's soul power had been at level twenty before the break.
Now, after just two months apart, how had he reached level twenty-four?
"Headmistress, you're so clever."
Chen Zhuo gave her a thumbs-up. He started spinning another tale, laying all the blame at Dugu Bo's feet.
If anyone doubted him, they were welcome to go ask Dugu Bo themselves-if they had the guts.
"The Dugu Family's accumulated resources."
"A ten-thousand-year Medusa kept and tamed in Sunset Forest all this time..." Su Rou murmured, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Medusa possessed an imperial-grade bloodline among snake-type soul beasts.
Their population was critically endangered, and they were all but extinct in the world today.
Chen Zhuo had not made everything up, either.
He had learned from Dugu Bo that both the man's eighth soul skill and his extremely precious Head Soul Bone had come from the same ten-thousand-year Medusa soul beast.
Moreover, back when Dugu Bo discovered the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well...
The occupants of that treasured land had not been a single Medusa, but a family of three!
Dugu Bo had only just reached level eighty at the time, and he had risked his life to kill the weakest one.
The other two, a Medusa couple with greater cultivation ages, had escaped.
He had no idea whether that male and female were still hiding somewhere in Sunset Forest.
After getting past Su Rou and apologizing to all his subject teachers...
Chen Zhuo returned to his peaceful academy life.
Not long afterward...
Dugu Bo sent word with some good news.
The seventy-thousand-year White-Eyed Demon Tiger King's soul bone had been purchased by the Star Luo Empire's Imperial Family.
It had sold for one modest little target sum, no more and no less.
One hundred million Gold Soul Coins!
With that, he would not have to worry about running out of spending money anytime soon.
Between cultivating and studying, Chen Zhuo unleashed the power of cash.
Through major auctions, mercenary corps, independent cultivators, the Underground Black Market, and all manner of other channels, he offered hefty sums for the exotic beasts and soul beasts needed for his gene elixirs.
He gathered most of what he needed for the Twelve Forms Bloodline Gene Elixir.
Only a suitable dragon-blood soul beast continued to elude him.
There were simply too few soul beasts in this plane with pure true-dragon bloodlines.
Just a paltry handful.
And each was more absurdly powerful than the last.
Even a Super Douluo like Dugu Bo would be serving himself up on a platter if he went after them.
There was no rushing this for now. He could only work toward it slowly later.
First, he would master the other beast forms.
And so...
Two years passed.
Chen Zhuo was ten, and his soul power level had reached the bottleneck at level thirty.
"Headmistress, I'd like to graduate early."
Chen Zhuo went to see Su Rou.
Given both his soul power level and his grasp of the foundational curriculum for low-ranking soul masters, there was no longer any need for him to remain at the academy.
At a regular junior Soul Master Academy, the graduation requirement was to reach the realm of a level-twenty, two-ring Soul Grandmaster by age twelve.
Anyone who failed to meet that standard could only repeat a year or settle for a certificate of completion.
"Are you sure?"
Deep down, Su Rou did not want Chen Zhuo to graduate early.
For one thing, she liked him very much.
For another, having this boy at the academy was like having a gleaming gold signboard.
Every year, he helped her attract quite a few more high-quality students.
Those were all concrete achievements she could put on her professional résumé.
"Let's be clear."
"If you fall short in even one subject, whether academic or practical..."
"There is no way I'll let you graduate early."
Su Rou knew threats would not work on him.
Offering incentives might have worked in the past.
But now that he was the Dugu Family's young master, the chances of tempting him with benefits were vanishingly small.
"By the way, what level is your soul power now?"
Considering his cultivation speed with innate full soul power, Su Rou reckoned...
Chen Zhuo ought to be at least level twenty-six or twenty-seven by now.
"Headmistress, I'm level thirty," Chen Zhuo replied casually.
He did not care about her little schemes, either.
"Only level thirty? Just as I thought."
"What level did you say?"
Su Rou practically bristled.
"A level-thirty Soul Elder at ten?"
"What's even the point of fighting? We might as well declare you the winner!"
Su Rou's face puckered like a bitter melon, and she slumped into her office chair like a deflated ball.
She had already been thinking about how to arrange the tactics and participants.
She had hoped to use this opportunity to take Chen Zhuo down a peg.
Among each year's outstanding sixth-year graduates, there were always some two-ring geniuses whose cultivation approached the third-ring threshold.
At least Chen Zhuo would not be the only flower in bloom.
At Chen Zhuo's request, Su Rou arranged a special graduation assessment for him.
His written examinations in all seven academic subjects were graded on the spot as soon as he finished.
As Chen Zhuo expected, his overall grade across the seven subjects was an A+.
As for the practical assessment, Su Rou used her authority as headmistress to alter the examination rules.
Chen Zhuo would have to fight an entire temporary team made up of Two-Ring Soul Grandmasters by himself.
The hellish difficulty made it plain that she did not want him to pass.
"No problem. I accept the challenge!"
That day, at the tender age of ten, Chen Zhuo would take on seven Soul Grandmasters single-handedly in his graduation assessment.
The news spread as though it had sprouted wings.
Not only did students from Spirit Hall's Advanced Academy flock over upon hearing it...
It even drew the attention of Pope Bibi Dong.
The supreme ruler of Spirit City.
Despite her packed schedule...
She actually made time to watch the battle!
Before you continue