"That's just ridiculous."
Xiao Wu felt that this wasn't a first soul skill at all. Wasn't it eighteen soul skills?
It had offense, defense, and control.
It was simply too versatile.
"Say, Su Mo, with such a powerful martial soul, why was your innate soul power only rank three? Normally, the stronger your martial soul, the more innate soul power you should have."
Xiao Wu blinked her big eyes and stared curiously at Su Mo.
Su Mo shook his head. "How would I know? Maybe it's because it mutated?"
How was he supposed to know why? As long as it worked, wasn't that enough?
He had originally thought the Gashapon Machine was merely a tool martial soul for drawing capsules.
Well, now it certainly was a tool. It just came with rather a lot of tools.
"All right, that's about it. We've tested everything we needed to, and now we both have soul rings. We can head back."
He had only been away for two days, and he was already missing his bed.
Although he had Xiao Wu to keep him warm here, how could that compare to sleeping comfortably in his own bed?
Su Mo hadn't expected to come all this way, kill not a single soul beast, and simply draw a soul ring instead.
If he had known it would turn out like this, he wouldn't have come.
Still, he could treat the trip as a vacation.
Besides, he had to throw people off the scent regarding where his soul ring came from.
Without coming here, he wouldn't have been able to explain how he had gotten it.
As things stood, it worked out perfectly.
"We really should head back. I miss my bed." Xiao Wu stretched, revealing half of her slender waist, narrow enough to fit between his hands.
Su Mo glanced at it. Very fair.
Her words, however, left him speechless. "Have you ever slept in your own bed? And you say you miss it."
If he remembered correctly, Xiao Wu had been sleeping in his bed ever since school started, hadn't she?
"Hmph, of course it's my bed. What's yours is mine, isn't it?" Xiao Wu planted both hands on her hips, utterly confident in her reasoning.
"Then is what's yours mine?" Su Mo asked curiously.
"Of course not! Sister Xiao Wu's things will always belong to Sister Xiao Wu!"
Xiao Wu guarded her little bunny bag and eyed Su Mo warily.
"That's fine too, as long as you belong to me." Su Mo teased her.
"Who... who belongs to you?!" Xiao Wu blushed a little and kicked him. "Su Mo, keep talking nonsense and don't blame Sister Xiao Wu for getting rough!"
"Please, we sleep in the same bed. Don't tell me you plan to marry someone else someday?" Su Mo wrapped his arms around Xiao Wu's slender waist.
"I... you... I'm not marrying anyone!" Xiao Wu's face grew even redder. She wriggled out of his embrace and ran ahead.
After a few steps, she turned back and stuck out her little pink tongue at him. "Bleh, bleh, bleh! Stupid Su Mo! You want to marry Sister Xiao Wu? In your dreams!"
Su Mo took the opportunity to chase after her and tickle her.
"Say that again!"
"Hahaha! Let go! Su Mo, let go! That tickles! Hahaha, I can't take it!"
The two chased each other all the way out of the Soul Hunting Forest.
"You're all right! Thank goodness."
As soon as Su Mo and Xiao Wu emerged from the Soul Hunting Forest, they ran into the academy teacher.
The teacher looked somewhat exhausted and had a few small wounds on his body.
Su Mo looked behind the teacher and noticed that two people were missing.
The others were in low spirits too, all looking wilted.
One of them seemed to have a broken arm.
"Sir, this..."
The teacher sighed. "Two of them were unfortunate..."
Su Mo understood without needing to hear the rest.
Xiao Wu held on to Su Mo's arm, her mood seemingly affected as well.
Their earlier playful mood vanished.
Su Mo sighed inwardly too. There was nothing to be done about it.
Hunting soul beasts was inherently dangerous for soul masters.
Having so many of them still alive was already a blessing amid misfortune.
After all, they had encountered a thousand-year Mandala Snake.
"All right. Seeing that you're safe puts my mind at ease."
"I was planning to wait another day. If you still hadn't come out, I would have taken the others back."
"By the way, did you obtain your first soul rings?"
"If not, I can take you inside again."
The teacher was quite responsible, asking right away whether they had obtained soul rings.
Su Mo and Xiao Wu both nodded.
"Sir, we've both obtained our soul rings."
The teacher nodded. That was one of the few pieces of good news.
He didn't ask what kind of soul rings they had gotten. In his view, two students could at most obtain ten-year soul rings.
So he couldn't be bothered to ask.
The students behind him whom he had guided were much the same; almost all had ten-year soul rings.
There was no helping it. A thousand-year Mandala Snake was lurking on the outskirts of the Soul Hunting Forest.
He himself was only at rank twenty-something and lacked the strength to help students hunt hundred-year soul beasts.
In truth, ten-year soul rings were the norm.
A hundred-year ring was already an exceptionally high standard for ordinary people.
The teacher turned to everyone and said, "Chin up. Let's head back to the academy first."
On the way back to the academy, perhaps because of what they had experienced, hardly anyone spoke.
Su Mo and Xiao Wu didn't say much either.
By the time they returned to the academy, it was already the next day.
The moment they arrived, they saw Tang San fighting someone.
"Blue Silver Pole Vault!"
However, just then, Tang San happened to spot Su Mo and Xiao Wu returning.
He failed to control his soul power properly and used too much force.
Su Mo had barely arrived when he saw Tang San plant a bamboo pole and launch himself straight into the sky.
Below him, a crowd craned their necks toward the sky, looking utterly bewildered.
"Where's he gone?"
"How should I know? Weren't we fighting? Why did he fly away?"
"Will he be back for dinner, then?"
"Who knows? Forget it. Never mind him."
"Wang Sheng, the only person in your Dorm Seven who can fight has run off. Let's see what you do now."
The people there had split into two groups, with Wang Sheng leading Dorm Seven on one side.
On the other side stood a group of upper-year students led by another boy.
Wang Sheng felt utterly helpless.
Tang San had clearly caused this whole mess, yet he had run off himself.
If Tang San hadn't belonged to Dorm Seven, Wang Sheng would never have come along, no matter what anyone said.
Although he couldn't stand Tang San, as members of Dorm Seven, they had to stick together.
Other people already looked down on their dorm.
If they didn't back each other up when someone was bullied, people would look down on them even more in the future.
He didn't want to stir up trouble.
Unfortunately, the one stirring up trouble was Tang San.
"Wang Sheng, what happened?"
Su Mo glanced up at the sky, having no idea where Tang San had flown off to.
He probably wouldn't be back anytime soon.
So he walked over with Xiao Wu.
"If there's a problem, tell Sister Xiao Wu. Don't forget, Sister Xiao Wu is your boss," Xiao Wu chimed in.
At the sight of Su Mo and Xiao Wu, Wang Sheng's face immediately lit up. "Sister Xiao Wu! Brother Su! You're back!"
Su Mo nodded. "Tell me. What's going on?"
With someone there to back him up, Wang Sheng was no longer afraid, so he recounted what had happened earlier.
It was the same old story, really: they had mocked the work-study students for being poor and unable to afford food.
One of them, however, had gone much further and even insulted Yu Xiaogang, saying that a pauper had taken a useless fool as his master.
Tang San couldn't swallow that insult, so he had attacked and beaten the boy up.
Then the boy had issued a threat, telling him to come to the Back Mountain if he had the guts.
"That's pretty much what happened."
"I see." Su Mo understood.
He looked at the other side. "So, how do you want to settle this?"
Before you continue