"No matter."
Xu Xingxuan saw Lou Xu's concerns, but her calm voice held not the slightest ripple.
"Youyou, release your first Soul Skill."
"First Soul Skill, Star Transformation!"
Xu Youyou stood up. Her Star Crown Martial Soul appeared above her head, and her Soul Ring lit up. Shimmering starlight showered down, flowing into her and Lou Xu.
Pride spread across her pretty face as she lifted her chin, revealing a slender neck as fair and delicate as a swan's.
"My first Soul Skill came from an extremely rare Soul Beast. It gave me a powerful support skill, and its effects are..."
A shield of starlight as thin as a cicada's wing enveloped Lou Xu. He flexed his hands, feeling the strength surging through his body, and clicked his tongue in wonder.
"It boosts my strength according to my Soul Power Level, and the power of the stars forms a shield to protect me. The shield can withstand a strike from a Soul Grandmaster. This skill consumes very little Soul Power. If I'm not fighting, I can keep it active all day!"
With a strength boost that increased with her Soul Power Level, she could swing not just a forging hammer, but a person with strength to spare.
Lou Xu chuckled at the image.
"Hey, what are you laughing at? Isn't my Soul Skill impressive?"
Xu Youyou planted her hands on her hips.
Her eyelashes fluttered, displeasure flickering in her golden eyes, and she withdrew the Soul Skill she had bestowed on Lou Xu.
"Your Soul Skill is certainly impressive, Miss Xu."
"But forging is hard work that takes both time and effort. You should prepare yourself for that."
Lou Xu smilingly offered the little Star Crown princess a few reassuring words, then picked up his teacup and took a sip.
"Tch. You make it sound like I can't handle hardship."
She had always been surrounded by praise and commendations, yet this shortsighted fellow actually dared to look down on her.
So what if his innate Soul Power was high?
Xu Youyou folded her arms, rolled her eyes at Lou Xu, and sat back down beside Xu Xingxuan, saying nothing more in her sulk.
Lou Xu paid her no mind and turned to Xu Xingxuan, who sat composedly.
"Your Eminence, rather than having your daughter become my grandfather's disciple, I have another suggestion..."
"To pass Runic Forging down through the generations, relying on my grandfather and my four senior brothers to teach disciples personally would mean they could spend their entire lives teaching and still train very few people."
"So, once the method is perfected, Gengxin City will establish the Artisan Soul Academy. It will specialize in teaching Runic Forging and also provide systematic instruction in Soul Power cultivation. When the academy opens, your daughter can join its first class, taught personally by my grandfather. Would that suit you?"
At last, a trace of warm anticipation appeared on Xu Xingxuan's beautiful, cool, and placid face.
"When will the method be perfected?"
"In three to five years at the earliest, six or seven at the latest."
Her gaze moved between Lou Xu and Xu Youyou. After a moment, her lips curved into a smile, radiant as falling starlight.
Six years? Twelve and fifteen. They would make a suitable match.
"That... would be fine."
"Youyou, let's go."
With the treatment finished and their business settled, mother and daughter stayed no longer.
Lou Xu accompanied them downstairs and saluted with clasped hands as they boarded their carriage. He was about to return to his room when something before him abruptly chilled his eyes, so he took Xiong Jun over to deal with it.
Only after instructing an attendant to handle the aftermath did he sit down in his room to think.
The idea of founding the Artisan Soul Academy had come to him as early as when he had asked Dai Changkong for Gengxin City. He had mentioned it to his grandfather, but Lou Gao had waved him off and turned back to studying runes, leaving him to handle it himself.
When his grandfather was first granted the title of Marquis of Sacred Forging, he had still attended to everything personally.
Later, Lou Xu had helped out a few times. Seeing how well he did, and how everyone from the association's members to the common folk on the streets praised him, his grandfather had simply handed authority over to him, trusting him completely.
Unless Lou Xu encountered something he was uncertain about and needed advice, he only had to report to his grandfather afterward.
He was considering how to plan the Artisan Soul Academy when Xiao Wu came over and peppered him with questions. Lou Xu was about to send her off to cultivate when she said something startling.
"Little Xu, could you give me a copy of that beginner's rune manual?"
Lou Xu's eyes widened. He looked Xiao Wu over, his voice tinged with disbelief.
"You can understand it?"
"You wrote it in pretty easy-to-understand language. Even if I don't understand something, I still have you, don't I? Won't you give this bunny a copy?"
She pouted, hugging Lou Xu's arm and gently shaking it.
One day, Xiao Wu had discovered that this gesture and tone worked particularly well when asking Lou Xu for things.
She had remembered it ever since.
Lou Xu turned his head away from her, pressed a hand to his forehead, and sighed helplessly.
"All right, all right. I'll find you a copied edition later. Don't bother me right now."
His Soul Power bottleneck was close at hand. Lou Xu needed to break through to level twenty-seven as soon as possible.
Inside the understated yet luxurious carriage, the Xu mother and daughter sat facing each other.
"Mom, I haven't even finished learning all our family's inherited arts. Why do you want me to learn Runic Forging too? Could you really bear to have your adorable daughter work with metal all day and get roasted into a lump of charcoal?"
Xu Youyou pouted, unconsciously touching her smooth, fair skin as she asked in bewilderment.
"Didn't you just tell him you could endure hardship?"
Xu Xingxuan covered her mouth and chuckled. As she looked at her daughter, faint ripples seemed to stir in her doting gaze.
It was not the art of Runic Forging she coveted. It was Lou Xu himself.
Their ancestor had recorded that innate Soul Power of level twenty was God-Given Soul Power.
God-given.
Those words were the reason she had accepted Dai Changkong's invitation and even refused payment.
"Learning Runic Forging would be good for you. You're restless by nature. Settling down to hammer iron will help your future cultivation too."
"Don't worry. Your mother won't harm you."
Facing Xu Xingxuan's unquestionable gaze, Xu Youyou pouted and nodded. Her silver-bell voice carried a touch of resignation, its final note drawn out.
"Okaaay."
Her mother doted on her, but Xu Youyou did not dare let that affection go to her head enough to disobey her.
Remembering the consequences of misbehaving as a child, Xu Youyou rubbed her stomach and swallowed. She asked an attendant for some food and began taking small bites, until the hunger in her belly finally started to subside.
Wailing came from outside the carriage. The aged, mournful cries made Xu Xingxuan frown.
She drew the curtain aside and looked out. A brawny old man knelt before a cross, sobbing with his head bowed. Seeing Lou Xu approach with Xiong Jun, she let the curtain fall.
Her gaze returned to Xu Youyou, deep starlight filling her tranquil eyes.
She was the head of the Xu Family first, and the Star Crown Douluo second.
Even if the Star Crown no longer shone, when the kindling was spent, its flame must be passed on!
The advent of Runic Forging would surely bring changes unseen on the continent for a thousand years. Only by seizing the source of that change could the Star Crown's legacy endure forever.
"Master, this old servant came too late...!"
The surrounding craftsmen backed away, staring at the old man as though they had seen a ghost, making no effort to conceal their disgust.
Tai Tan ignored the commoners' gazes. Through tear-blurred eyes, he looked at Tang Hao's ruined body on the wooden frame and staggered to his feet, wanting only to collect his master's remains.
Just then, a clear rebuke rang out from the crowd.
"What old dog has come here to snarl and bark?!"
"Did your mother give birth to you just so you could be a dead rat's dog?!"
Grief vanished from Tai Tan's eyes, replaced by blazing fury. He looked toward the voice.
The gathered onlookers parted of their own accord.
A handsome youth in elegant clothing strolled out alongside a ferocious-looking, burly man. Everyone saluted the youth with clasped hands, calling him "Young Master."
"You little beast! You dare insult my master!"
Tai Tan slowly straightened, eight Soul Rings rising behind him and gleaming with a chilling light.
His aged face turned icy. The murderous intent in his gaze as he stared at Lou Xu was so thick it almost took physical form.
Lou Xu calmly met that murderous gaze, his back straight and his expression unchanged.
"Old dog, only beasts are always thinking of other beasts!"
"You're courting death!"
Tai Tan suddenly erupted into motion, pouring out all his Soul Power and activating his Martial Soul Avatar.
His thirty-foot-tall Great Strength Gorilla avatar lunged at Lou Xu with unstoppable momentum, swinging a fist the size of a millstone.
In a flash, the wind from that punch nearly struck Lou Xu's face.
"Young Master..."
Someone in the crowd covered their mouth and cried out. None of them seemed to have realized that this old man, so willing to be a slave, was actually a powerful Soul Douluo!
Bang!
The collision sent dust billowing across the ground.
Everyone stared blankly into the center of the dust cloud, holding their breath, not daring to make a sound.
As the dust cleared, the seemingly invincible Great Strength Gorilla avatar was revealed to be caught in Xiong Jun's single hand.
Xiong Jun grinned, baring a mouthful of stark white teeth.
"Lou boy, how about the Bear Lord kills him for you, and we have whole roast lamb tonight?"
"Haha! All the lamb you can eat, and all the wine you can drink!"
As the two laughed with utter disregard for him, the anger and murderous intent swiftly drained from Tai Tan's face. Alarm and terror rose in his eyes, growing ever stronger.
I... I can't move...
He struggled to turn his eyes, only to meet Xiong Jun's playful gaze.
Don't... don't kill me...
Lou boy...
Lou!
"Wait... I'm the vice-"
Bang!
Xiong Jun yanked him closer and lashed out with a claw.
Tai Tan's head burst like a watermelon dropped from a tall building.
Blood and gore splattered everywhere.
Smiling, Xiong Jun dispersed the Soul Power barrier around himself.
He brushed nonexistent dust from his shoulder, then turned, draped an arm over Lou Xu's shoulders, and pulled him inside.
"Start with five lambs. Let the Bear Lord fill a few gaps."
"..."
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