He was neither quite a Soul Master nor quite a Soul Engineer.
Instead, he sought a wondrous point of balance between spiritual power and soul power, or even... a fusion.
The sword fanatic, Ji Juechen.
Xu Cheng murmured inwardly.
In the original story, his talent had been utterly unremarkable. His innate soul power was only rank three, and his Martial Soul was nothing more than an ordinary Iron Sword. Yet he had trained day after day until, at eight years old, he reached rank ten and ventured into the forest alone. With his white robes drenched in blood, he obtained his first Soul Ring.
He walked a Sword Dao unlike anyone else's, a path he had forged alone.
Of course, judging by his current state, he was still far from the formidable figure he had been upon his debut in the original story. He even seemed somewhat ordinary.
Xu Cheng saw through it at a glance.
It was a deficiency in his soul power.
Only later, when he could fuse spiritual power with soul power and wield the Sword of Destruction, would he truly reach the pinnacle of his strength...
Bang!
The thick, pitch-black vines of Blue Silver Grass lashed out again, striking Ji Juechen squarely.
His body shot backward.
He slammed hard into a metal partition.
Xu Cheng nodded slightly.
After her dark transformation, Tang Ya undoubtedly ranked among the strongest in their entire year, even without using Soul Tools.
The lives of those hundreds of people she had devoured would gradually become nutrients for her Blue Silver Grass, nourishing her in turn.
So Ji Juechen's defeat was well within his expectations.
"What are you looking at? Is this sword fanatic really worth your attention? Or are you checking out a beauty..." Xiao Hongchen grinned wickedly. "After all, Tang Ya is the top-ranked beauty in our freshman year. It's only natural if you like her."
"..."
Xu Cheng paused. "What ranking?"
"Forgot a grind god like you doesn't pay attention to this stuff." Xiao Hongchen spread his hands. "The whole year voted on a beauty ranking. Here..."
As he spoke, Xiao Hongchen handed him a ranking list.
In first place was none other than Tang Ya.
Then came Meng Hongchen...
Nana was seventh. Xu Cheng continued reading and spotted a few more "old acquaintances": Keke in seventy-second place, Jing Ziyan in one hundred and seventy-second...
Xu Cheng leafed through it.
This was no ranking list. It was practically a handbook.
It contained not only names but also front-facing photos, personality descriptions, and more. The thick stack was like a book.
"Who put this together? Do they have that much free time?"
Xu Cheng frowned.
"Shi Xing from our class. Look, in assessment zone eleven, the guy using a Ranged Soul Guidance Tool," Xiao Hongchen said casually.
As he spoke, he handed over another book.
"What's this one?"
"The boys' rankings..." Xiao Hongchen snickered.
Xu Cheng: "..."
If you hadn't said anything, I really wouldn't have cared. But now that you have, I just have to take a look.
"Hehe, don't you want to see where you rank?" Xiao Hongchen grinned mischievously.
Xu Cheng smiled and opened the handbook.
The first face he saw was Ji Juechen's.
He himself was second.
And Xiao Hongchen... twenty-seventh.
"Pretty objective," Xu Cheng said with a nod.
"Fuck, what's that supposed to mean?!" Xiao Hongchen instantly flushed red. "So I deserve twenty-seventh, huh? What's not handsome about me? What kind of taste do these girls have?!"
"I meant this Shi Xing..." Xu Cheng coughed twice. "He's pretty interesting."
As he spoke, he recalled a scene from the original story.
During the Continental Soul Master Academy Tournament held in Mingdu, Shi Xing had been underhandedly killed by Princess Tang.
A minor character who died barely two minutes after appearing, yet his death had exposed the Tang Sect's hypocrisy...
When Xu Cheng had read it, he had felt rather sorry for this insignificant character.
It had also given him a new understanding of how low the Tang Sect's moral standards could sink.
"This guy is pretty interesting."
Xu Cheng hefted the two books in his hands and studied Shi Xing below with interest.
To him, Shi Xing's talent was fairly average. By the end of the first semester, he had barely become a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster, and his soul power was clearly unstable, indicating that he had raised it with drugs.
But what interested Xu Cheng more was his talent for gathering intelligence...
He had quite a bit of Fingel about him.
Besides, a future organization would need something like an intelligence bureau.
Xu Cheng pondered for a moment.
No rush. One step at a time.
Class One certainly lives up to its name. So many "talents"...
On the seventh day.
Most participants had been eliminated.
Only two remained standing on the stage.
Xiao Hongchen and Xu Cheng.
The two faced each other from afar.
After seven days of continuous assessments and round after round of selection, every place in the top twenty had been decided except first and second.
Meng Hongchen was third, Tang Ya fourth, Nana fifth, Ji Juechen tenth...
Almost everyone Xu Cheng knew had placed near the top.
And this final assessment would determine the Freshman Champion.
Precisely for that reason.
The Soul Tool assessment venue was even more crowded than on the previous days. The arena, which could hold ten thousand people, was almost packed to capacity.
They had all come drawn by the competitors' reputations, eager to watch the long-renowned "number-one Soul Tool prodigy" face a terrifying dark horse who had suddenly charged out of "obscurity."
The question of who would become Freshman Champion had generated all the hype it possibly could.
"Place your bets!"
Shi Xing squeezed his way through the corridor.
"I'm betting on Xiao Hongchen! He deserves his reputation as the number-one prodigy!"
"I think Xu Cheng is pretty formidable too. It's been almost impossible to see through his attacks all along. It always feels like he's holding something back..."
"Exactly. Xiao Hongchen's strength is out in the open. He's too famous. Everyone knows what he can do, and people have even specifically studied his moves. But this Xu Cheng... he's genuinely mysterious. He stunned everyone in one fell swoop, and his strength is impossible to gauge."
"I'm betting on Xu Cheng!"
"..."
Betting was an old Douluo tradition.
From Xu Sanshi and Bei Bei's arena matches to the Continental Soul Master Tournament, events of every scale featured it.
There were certainly plenty of gamblers.
Among the crowd.
Ji Juechen stared intently at Xu Cheng, his eyes burning.
Just yesterday, he had lost to him.
That sense of helplessness was something he would never forget.
An ordinary person might have suffered a crushing blow, but he was a sword fanatic. He never concerned himself with victory or defeat, only with growing through them.
He recalled yesterday, when Xu Cheng had defeated him effortlessly and spoken in that casual tone: "Merging your soul into the sword-is this sword qi? Fusing soul power with spiritual power is the right path, but the key lies in finding a balance. If you want to catch up to me, accomplish that first..."
Someone who truly understood him was hard to find.
A ripple stirred in Ji Juechen's heart, which had lain still for eleven years.
He grew all the more curious about Xu Cheng's match today.
Just how strong was this man...
In the stands.
Elder Cheng and Jing Hongchen were seated as well.
They, too, were quite curious about this contest for the top spot among the new generation.
"Elder Cheng, what do you think of this match?"
"The boy excels at strategy. As for actual combat... I wouldn't presume to say," Elder Cheng said slowly after a moment's thought.
He had not had much contact with Xu Cheng, and their relationship as master and disciple had only just begun.
He only knew that, in Soul Tool research, the boy was indeed a genius among geniuses, just like himself.
But when it came to actual combat...
As long as Xiao Hongchen avoided contact with his opponent and did not fall into a trap.
They would probably be evenly matched.
Before you continue