You Call These Evil Soul Masters?

"In the larger towns around Mingdu, right down to every village, there are classrooms like this-roughly a hundred in total. All are staffed by the Holy Spirit Cult, which provides free martial soul awakenings and teachers. Those with exceptional talent are also guaranteed admission to nearby advanced academies."

Nana clung to Xu Cheng's arm as she spoke languidly.

"If you don't believe it, you've got legs. Go see for yourself."

Nana's tone toward this girl wasn't particularly friendly. Whether it was jealousy or something else...

"..."

Tang Ya froze.

A hundred classrooms, and they really were for commoners?

Commoners, people everyone regarded as no more than weeds, were actually being treated this way by a religious order. It was almost inconceivable.

She had grown up in Heaven Dou City.

Amid the remnants of the old aristocracy, even her own father had paid little attention to commoners...

Yet the Holy Spirit Cult was willing to spend time and effort awakening their martial souls for free and providing them with an education.

You call these Evil Soul Masters?!!

As she remembered them, weren't Evil Soul Masters a pack of utterly depraved scum who went around burning, killing, looting, and pillaging? The very term was infamous enough to silence a crying child.

Why...

"What I've done was also done by another organization, if you look back across the vast sweep of history."

Xu Cheng spoke unhurriedly.

The name he uttered made Tang Ya's scalp prickle.

"Spirit Hall."

"They established branch halls across the continent and sent specialists to awaken martial souls. Outstanding candidates could be recommended to higher-level academies. Afterward, they could choose to join Spirit Hall or simply leave."

Xu Cheng said.

"You should know that most of Spirit Hall's upper ranks came from commoner backgrounds."

"..." Tang Ya fell silent.

Seeing this, Xu Cheng smiled.

"Interestingly, as far as I know, the father of your Tang Sect ancestor spent his days drinking in despair after his wife died. Though he was the Clear Sky Douluo, he never offered Tang San the slightest help."

"As luck would have it, Spirit Hall sent someone to the village to awaken martial souls. Then, with one of Spirit Hall's recommendation slots, he attended a local junior academy. That was where his rise to strength truly began..."

"So why don't we imagine, just for a moment-and I do mean imagine."

"What if that person from Spirit Hall happened to miss that village? How would things have turned out then?"

"..."

Tang Ya's face went blank.

It was as though a heavy hammer had struck her.

She wasn't stupid. Naturally, she understood what Xu Cheng meant.

Back then, if Spirit Hall hadn't awakened Tang San's martial soul and guaranteed his admission to an academy, he wouldn't have met Grandmaster. It was also the Gold Soul Coins Spirit Hall issued to every Soul Master that had helped him scrape through those earliest days.

But what had happened in the end?

History recorded it plainly in black and white.

Spirit Hall was a remnant of the old order.

Why?

Because it had sought unification! Because it had shaken the interests of the aristocracy!

Ordinary commoners were supposed to have reins strapped onto them from birth, to be ridden by noble lords, stripped of their rights, and left to live and die on their little patch of land...

"..."

It felt as though her world had been turned upside down.

Having her long-held worldview shattered dealt her a devastating blow.

Yet Xu Cheng continued watching her with a smile.

This was exactly what he wanted. Only a Tang Ya whose worldview had been shattered and then rebuilt could become one of his future allies...

Tang Ya racked her brains, trying to find a few words in defense of her ancestor, Tang San.

But her conscience gripped her throat tightly.

She opened her mouth, only to swallow her words.

A long while passed.

Only then did Xu Cheng speak again.

"I sincerely invite you to stay in this village for a while. Once classes begin, whether you stay or leave will be entirely up to you. I hope to see you when the term starts, but I'll respect your choice..."

With that, he slowly walked away with Nana.

"..."

Watching Xu Cheng's retreating back.

Tang Ya stood there in a daze.

"Big brother, why are you paying so much attention to her?"

On the back of a giant crow.

Nana grumbled.

"I'm jealous..."

"I noticed."

Xu Cheng nodded.

"Then aren't you going to do anything about it?" Nana's beautiful eyes widened.

"Keep making a fuss, and I won't take you along."

Xu Cheng calmly played his trump card.

Sure enough, Nana immediately fell quiet and mimed zipping her mouth shut. Still, she glared fiercely at Xu Cheng, as though she meant to kill him with her eyes.

Xu Cheng paid her no mind and leisurely admired the scenery.

"When will we get there?"

Wu Yun wore a sour expression.

"Soon!"

"How soon is soon?"

"Keep making a fuss, and I won't take you along!" Wu Yun shot Xu Cheng a glare. This brat definitely treated him like a slave, the kind who came running whenever he called.

"..."

Thus, the three settled into a peculiar dynamic.

They all stared at one another.

Several hours later.

Vast stretches of encampment tents appeared in Xu Cheng's field of vision. His martial soul gave him extraordinary eyesight, so he could see them especially clearly.

Near the tents, a column of women in red armor swept past, seemingly guarding the camp. Stranger still, every one of these red-armored guards was a woman.

As far as the eye could see, there wasn't a single man in the entire military camp!

"Looks like we're here..."

Xu Cheng nodded.

This was probably the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Corps, one of the Sun Moon Empire's four great beast soul engineer corps and the only entirely female corps. Of course, that might have something to do with its leader, the Level 9 Soul Engineer Fire Phoenix...

"Let's stop here."

"All right."

Wu Yun nodded.

His eyes swept over their surroundings.

A trace of gravity flashed through them. "They've already spotted us..."

As his words fell.

Fiery-red figures appeared one after another, surrounding the black crow completely.

Only when they observed them up close.

Could they see the soul tools the women wore.

Relatively basic external skeletons, along with standard soul cannons, soul guidance rays, and the like, plus defensive soul tools at their waists...

Their equipment was downright lavish.

Xu Cheng marveled inwardly.

As expected of one of the most formidable soul engineer corps currently in existence, its weaponry was unquestionably at the very forefront of the Sun Moon Empire.

Moreover, his Spiritual Detection revealed that all twenty guards around them were Level 5 Soul Engineers or higher.

And this was probably just a single squad.

"Who are you? Why have you trespassed on military grounds?!"

The attractive middle-aged woman leading them shouted sternly, exuding the air of a heroine who yielded nothing to any man.

"So cool..."

Even Nana couldn't help saying it at the sight.

That bold, spirited bearing was exactly what she yearned for.

"..."

The crow spread his hands and looked at Xu Cheng.

Making it clear that the brat would have to explain himself.

"My name is Xu Cheng. I came here not to cause offense, but to seek an elder of mine, Huo Qing, the Fourth Battalion's battalion commander."

"Battalion Commander Huo Qing?"

The woman in charge paused and exchanged a glance with the woman to her left. Both saw the meaning in the other's eyes.

In the Sun Moon Empire, the surname Xu alone could say a great deal.

And he was here to see Battalion Commander Huo Qing...

Her tone immediately softened considerably.

"I'm sorry, Battalion Commander Huo Qing is leading a routine border patrol. She should be back in about an hour. Why don't you wait a little while..."