Everyone looked toward the voice in alarm, eager to see who dared stop Lord Xiao while he was in a fury.
A white-haired old man wearing a three-sword insignia stepped out of the crowd, followed by Su Yuntao and a young, beautiful Soul Master.
Presumably, she was Sisi, the Soul Master with a fox Martial Soul from the Nuoding City Spirit Hall Branch whom Su Yuntao adored.
As for the old man leading them, his identity went without saying: Ma Xiunuo, the head of the Nuoding City Spirit Hall Branch, a three-ring Soul Elder.
"Ma Xiunuo, this matter has nothing to do with your Spirit Hall Branch, does it?"
Lord Xiao looked utterly puzzled. He merely wanted to teach the little brat who had injured his precious son a lesson, to leave him with injured muscles and broken bones.
As the little bastard's teacher, Director Su had understandable reasons to protect him, but why had the Spirit Hall Branch suddenly jumped into the fray to stop him too?
"We of Spirit Hall worship the radiant Angel God. It is only right that we carry out her will, punishing evil and promoting good across the continent. Naturally, we cannot stand by while you bully a child, Lord Xiao."
Ma Xiunuo spoke with righteous conviction as he approached Lord Xiao. Even the ordinary citizens of Nuoding City around them were somewhat moved by his words.
"Hah!"
Lord Xiao chuckled. As a vassal of the Heaven Dou Empire, one of the two great empires, he naturally knew that nobles treated commoners poorly.
But aside from forcing the two great empires to provide money so commoners could awaken their Martial Souls for free, and dealing with the fallen, Spirit Hall...
Was nothing special either. Who didn't know that Soul Masters looked down on ordinary people?
As Ma Xiunuo came up to him, Lord Xiao, who had eaten more salt than Xiao Chenyu had eaten rice and had long since become an old fox, immediately guessed that Ma Xiunuo had something confidential to tell him that too many people must not hear.
Lord Xiao withdrew his pressure, Martial Soul, and Soul Rings. The arrival of the three from Spirit Hall had also calmed his mood.
"Tell me, then. Why exactly does your Spirit Hall Branch want to protect Lu Yuan, the boy who injured my son?"
Meanwhile, Su Yuntao and Sisi had found Lu Yuan and begun chatting with him.
Director Su did not stop the pair from Spirit Hall from getting close to Lu Yuan. Although the Nuoding City Junior Soul Master Academy belonged to the Fasino Province education department and should have stood on the Heaven Dou Empire's side, just like Lord Xiao,
Director Su was no fool. Given Lu Yuan's current predicament, intervention from the Spirit Hall Branch was the best hope of keeping him from harm.
As for guarding against Spirit Hall recruiting the Heaven Dou Empire's Soul Masters, Director Su had already cast that concern to the back of his mind.
"Hello, are you Lu Yuan, the boy with the external Martial Soul? My name is Sisi. My Martial Soul is a fox, and I'm a rank-nineteen Soul Grandmaster from the Nuoding City Spirit Hall Branch."
Lu Yuan looked at the rather alluring Miss Sisi, then at Su Yuntao beside her, whose adoration for her could not have been more obvious, and nodded.
"Master Su Yuntao, why has your Spirit Hall Branch come to help me?" Lu Yuan was no fool either. Taking advantage of his identity as an innocent six-year-old, he asked them outright.
"Don't call me master. I'm only in my twenties. Do I look that old? Just call me Brother Yuntao."
"You can call me Sister Sisi too. As for why we came..." Sisi chimed in.
A quarter of an hour earlier, on the second floor of the Nuoding City Spirit Hall Branch, the decor had a classical Western style.
Su Yuntao and Ma Xiunuo were handling the Spirit Hall Branch's official business when Sisi walked in and eagerly shared the juicy news she had witnessed that day.
"Master Ma Xiunuo, Su Yuntao, did you hear? Lord Xiao went out today to make trouble for Nuoding Academy!"
"What?" Su Yuntao was surprised. After all, Lord Xiao and Nuoding Academy's dean were the only two Soul Ancestor experts in Nuoding City. The dean was away from Nuoding Academy most of the year, which naturally made Lord Xiao the strongest person in the city.
A Soul Master at the Soul Ancestor level would not casually make an appearance in Nuoding City unless something important happened.
"Oh? How interesting. What could have prompted Lord Xiao to go and make trouble for Nuoding Academy himself?" Ma Xiunuo's interest was piqued too.
"I heard that a boy named Lu Yuan beat up Lord Xiao's son, Xiao Chenyu, in public and even made him literally roll away," Sisi explained to them.
"His precious son made such a fool of himself. No wonder that fellow flew into a rage and threw his dignity aside to go after a child who isn't even a Soul Master."
Ma Xiunuo's expression suddenly changed, a hint of puzzlement appearing in his eyes.
"But why does the name Lu Yuan sound rather familiar?"
"Lu Yuan, the boy with the external Martial Soul. As it happens, I was the one who awakened his Martial Soul."
Su Yuntao sighed, his voice tinged with regret. Lu Yuan had been born in a small mountain village and awakened an external Martial Soul as rare as Meowmeow. He had wanted to see Lu Yuan become a Soul Master and watch him fight using his external Martial Soul.
Yet now that the furious Lord Xiao had come knocking, injured muscles and broken bones would probably be getting off lightly for this commoner Soul Master who should have brought glory to his ancestors. Lu Yuan's entire life would be ruined.
"Wait!"
Ma Xiunuo's voice suddenly grew agitated.
"Su Yuntao, Sisi, you said that child is named Lu Yuan, and that he awakened an external Martial Soul?"
Startled by Ma Xiunuo's sudden reaction, Su Yuntao and Sisi froze for a moment, then nodded lightly in confirmation.
Bang!
Ma Xiunuo slapped the desk and sprang to his feet, heading out of the Spirit Hall Branch.
"Hey, master, where are you going?" Sisi asked in confusion.
"Where? To the entrance of Nuoding Academy to save Lu Yuan, of course!" Ma Xiunuo said firmly.
"What?" The confusion on Su Yuntao's and Sisi's faces deepened.
"I can only tell you this much, and you must never repeat it: the higher-ups want that boy, Lu Yuan."
Ma Xiunuo's gaze turned fierce. As he spoke, he raised a finger and pointed at the ceiling.
"Is the external Martial Soul that Lu Yuan awakened really so important that it caught the attention of Spirit Hall in Heaven Dou City?"
However much Su Yuntao thought about it, he would never have imagined that this involved the Martial Soul Hall Headquarters in Spirit City.
"Let's hurry. Don't let that old bastard actually hurt Lu Yuan."
Leaving them with those words, Ma Xiunuo went downstairs.
"Right." Su Yuntao and Sisi answered and immediately followed him.
Back in the present, at the entrance of the Nuoding City Junior Soul Master Academy.
"As for why our Spirit Hall Branch is helping you, that's a secret."
Sisi did not know herself, so she could only answer Lu Yuan's question with a gentle smile, softly stroking his head.
Not far away, Ma Xiunuo and Lord Xiao stood close together, still exchanging information. Lord Xiao's expression was grave.
"Ma Xiunuo, you old fox, you have to give me something. Otherwise, you've offered no proof, just your Spirit Hall Branch's word. If I let Lu Yuan off after he beat and humiliated my son, wouldn't I lose every shred of face?"
"Hmph!" Ma Xiunuo curled one corner of his mouth into a smile.
"What if I told you that our Martial Soul Hall Headquarters specifically ordered us to keep an eye on this boy-and that the order came from the Pontiff herself?"