Don't think too highly of yourself

Upon hearing that they had come to have his soul power assessed, the two guards looked Jin Jiuxiao up and down.

Then they glanced at Zi JI, who was holding his hand.

They stepped aside. "Go on in. Someone will help you."

Judging by this child's age, he had probably obtained his first soul ring and come to have his level assessed.

His talent seemed quite impressive.

"Thank you."

Once Jin Jiuxiao and Zi JI entered, a receptionist led them to the deacon on duty.

The deacon took out a crystal ball used for testing. "Put your hand on this and channel your soul power into it, little one."

"All right."

Jin Jiuxiao placed his right hand on it.

As the crystal ball shone brighter and brighter, he stopped channeling soul power once he felt it was about right.

"Level fourteen?!" The deacon's eyes widened.

Then he stole a discreet glance at Zi JI beside Jin Jiuxiao.

He was a level thirty-three Soul Elder, yet he could not discern this woman's cultivation at all.

That could only mean this child was exceptionally talented and had a significant background.

It looked as though an elder from his family had brought him to hunt for his first soul ring, then stopped by for an assessment along the way.

With that thought, the deacon abandoned the idea of asking whether they wanted to join Spirit Hall. "How old are you this year? What's your name? What level was your innate soul power?"

Jin Jiuxiao had held back two levels of soul power and casually supplied an age. "Jin Jiuxiao, six and a half. Innate full soul power."

Level fourteen at six and a half was still within reason.

For a Soul Master with innate full soul power, reaching level fourteen in half a year was perfectly normal if he had a powerful organization behind him and resources devoted to his development.

With Zi JI accompanying him, he certainly looked like a disciple from a great family.

But level sixteen at six years old would have been a major problem.

Once they left, this Spirit Hall deacon would undoubtedly report it up through the ranks.

Trouble would come one thing after another.

The deacon nodded, the surprise and uncertainty in his eyes giving way to understanding, as though thinking, Just as I thought. "Little one, you still need to show me your martial soul. Then I'll register you, and we'll be done."

Seeing his reaction, Jin Jiuxiao smiled faintly and summoned his Rey martial soul. "My martial soul is called Rey. It counts as a beast martial soul."

Now there was no need to worry about any trouble.

This assessment report most likely would not reach the Spirit Hall Main Hall.

"Rey, correct?" The deacon wrote the name on the assessment report and showed it to Jin Jiuxiao.

"Yes."

Only after receiving Jin Jiuxiao's confirmation did the deacon continue filling in his sex, age, and level.

Then he stamped it with Spirit Hall's seal. "Once you reach level twenty, you can update your soul power level at any branch hall or subsidiary hall."

"All right, thank you. We'll be leaving, then."

Before leaving, Jin Jiuxiao gave the deacon a meaningful look.

The deacon was a shrewd one, too. He understood instantly and gave a barely perceptible nod.

Only after the two had left did the Spirit Hall deacon smile. "A disciple from a great family, sure enough. He doesn't need this little bit of money."

He promptly took out twelve gold soul coins and pocketed them.

That look had told him to understand what he should and should not say.

The boy had not asked for his Soul Master stipend before leaving, either.

After so many years in the business, how could he fail to understand?

These disciples from great families would register once and never come back.

Some would not even come to Spirit Hall to register.

In other words, over the next several years, until Jin Jiuxiao began making a name for himself...

All his Soul Master stipends would go to the deacon.

At Jin Jiuxiao's soul power level, the monthly stipend was one gold soul coin.

He could pocket at least three years' worth.

That was thirty-six gold soul coins.

Who would turn down gold soul coins that fell into their lap?

He certainly would not. He could simply find a corner to pile the assessment report in.

The two thoroughly enjoyed their travels through the human world.

Two months soon passed.

Zi JI and Jin Jiuxiao stepped down from the carriage.

As they entered the town, Zi JI raised an eyebrow slightly. "Little brother Jiuxiao, I've sensed that little rabbit's presence."

Jin Jiuxiao followed Zi JI's gaze.

There was Xiao Wu, buying carrots from a small stall, with a plainly dressed, black-haired boy beside her.

Jin Jiuxiao recognized the black-haired boy at first glance.

He was Tang San.

"It looks like we won't have to keep running around." A faint smile touched Jin Jiuxiao's eyes.

Hearing his words, Zi JI quickly caught on. "Hmm? Could he be...?"

"He gives me a very similar feeling."

In the distance, Xiao Wu seemed to sense their gaze and abruptly looked back.

When she saw Zi JI and Jin Jiuxiao, her face instantly turned deathly pale, and she hurriedly looked away.

Although she did not recognize the boy...

She had once caught a glimpse of Zi JI's human form from afar.

She knew Zi JI was the Hell Demon Dragon King.

Could the Hell Demon Dragon King have come to take her back because she had secretly run away?

When a rabbit became frightened, her first subconscious impulse was to run before anything else.

No... I don't want to go back...!

Seeing this, Tang San assumed Xiao Wu was feeling unwell. "Xiao Wu, are you not feeling well?"

"Maybe... I ate something bad." Xiao Wu forced a smile. "Little San, can we go back first? I want to rest."

Tang San supported Xiao Wu worriedly. "All right. I'll take you back to rest now."

He left with Xiao Wu.

"She seems pretty nervous."

Zi JI watched Tang San and Xiao Wu retreat with interest. "It seems to be because of us."

"To be precise, she's afraid of our esteemed Hell Demon Dragon King." Jin Jiuxiao teased Zi JI as well.

Zi JI clicked her tongue. "Why is she afraid of me? It's not as if I'd eat her."

"Maybe she thinks we've come to take her back?" That was the only possibility Jin Jiuxiao could think of.

Zi JI, Bi Ji, and Xiong Jun had all ventured out of the Lake of Life.

It was hardly surprising that Xiao Wu could recognize her.

"Hah?" Zi JI scoffed disdainfully. "If she really thinks that, she thinks far too highly of herself."

"She made her own choice. She can take responsibility for it to the very end."

In Zi JI's eyes, rashly choosing to take human form and then venturing alone into the human world was nothing short of idiocy.

Without the protection of the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape, could this rabbit have safely lived to a hundred thousand years?

What a joke. Competition among soul beasts was more direct than among humans, and bloodier, too.

She, Xiong Jun, the Scarlet King, the Myriad Demon King-which of them had not trodden over countless corpses to become an overlord of the forest and ultimately one of the ferocious beasts?

The fittest survived, and the strong reigned supreme.

The Soft Bone Rabbit clan was not powerful, and even its potential was limited.

Their bloodline was too weak. Surviving the two-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation was virtually impossible.

To date, no Soft Bone Rabbit had ever survived the two-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation. Even hundred-thousand-year Soft Bone Rabbits had only two examples: Xiao Wu and her mother.

That was why the previous Soft Bone Rabbit Empress, Xiao Wu's mother, had chosen to take human form and gamble on another path, knowing she could not survive the two-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation.