If You Can't Identify It, Don't Force It

Once three days had passed, Chen An rose early as usual.

He had only just finished serving the porridge from the pot when Rongrong arrived, carrying her book on Soul Beasts. The corners had curled a little from all her page-turning, and slips of paper still marked the two passages she had asked about last night.

"Are you going to attend a lesson or test the teacher?"

"If there's something I don't understand, I have to ask, don't I?"

Rongrong spoke with perfect confidence and picked up a steamed bun. By the time Chen Xin came in, both children had eaten. Chen An untied his apron and handed the work at the stove over to Uncle Zhou.

"No need to rush back for lunch," Uncle Zhou reminded him again. "Make sure you understand those things first."

Chen An acknowledged him, picked up his book, and went out.

Over the past few days, he had cooked and cultivated as usual, but now he had a sheet of questions beside him. He had asked Grandpa Sword just yesterday about that tree in the forest and the Beast Fur beside it. Chen Xin remembered the color of that tuft of fur, but had not let him use that detail alone to match it to an illustration in the book.

"Ask a teacher at the academy how to identify it."

The old man had said it lightly, but Chen An had kept thinking about it. An illustration in a book was clear enough to see, but things in the forest would not obediently stay in one place and wait for him to identify them.

When the carriage reached Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, Qin Ming was already waiting at the entrance.

He exchanged greetings with Chen Xin, then led the two children uphill. Unlike their last visit to watch the drills, they had a scheduled lesson this time, so they did not stroll slowly along the way. Rongrong still remembered the edge of the grounds where they had stood last time. At the fork, she glanced that way, then hugged her book close and followed.

"Is Cheng Yu not coming today?" Chen An asked.

"His arm is still healing," Qin Ming said. "The poison is gone, but that doesn't mean the wound heals along with it. I told him to rest at his quarters, so he won't go showing off the moment he feels a little better."

Hearing that, Chen An felt reassured. By now, he had a clear idea of what his bowl of porridge could and could not do.

More than a dozen students were already seated in the classroom. On the desk lay several pieces of bark bearing claw marks, Beast Fur sealed in shallow boxes, and footprints transferred onto paper.

Chen An spotted the bark at once.

Well, here I am, and the very thing I'm worst at is sitting right at the front.

After Qin Ming explained why they had come, the teacher taking the lesson saved them two seats at the back. Chen Xin sat down by the wall. He did not answer questions for the children, only let them look for themselves.

The lesson began with the habitats of several common Soul Beasts. Rather than immediately having the students memorize names, the teacher stood two pieces of bark side by side.

The claw marks looked similar, but those on one piece were higher and those on the other lower; beside each lay a tuft of fur of a similar color.

Someone quickly named a beast, and the students nearby nodded along. The teacher did not say whether the answer was right or wrong, but told them to look at the footprints as well. Once that sheet of paper was set out, the student who had named the beast changed his answer first.

"So, is looking at a single claw mark enough?"

"No."

The answer, at least, was unanimous.

The teacher picked up the tuft of fur and rubbed it between his fingers.

"If a tree grows on a slope, the height of the claw marks can change. The fur might also have been left by something rubbing against the tree, not necessarily the same beast that made the scratches. Look at the position first, then see what else is nearby. If you haven't seen something clearly, record that you haven't seen it clearly."

Chen An listened intently and could not help thinking of that time in Sunset Forest.

Back then, he had focused entirely on staring at that tree. He had not clearly seen what color the Beast Fur was, nor had he thought to ask whether there were footprints nearby. After pulling him aside, Grandpa Sword had already led him onward.

If someone drew that claw mark today and asked him to guess which Soul Beast had made it, he would probably have to spend ages leafing through his book again. Yet even the answer he found might not be right.

The teacher had the students take turns examining the sets of objects on the desk. Chen An stepped closer, but did not reach out to touch anything first. He lowered his head and looked for quite a while.

Standing beside him, Rongrong pointed to one of the footprint sheets and asked, "Which way was this one going?"

Chen An followed her gaze. The footprint had sunk deep into soft soil, with a little overturned mud along its front edge. He had meant to say it was moving along the tree, but stopped before the words left his mouth.

There was only one footprint on this sheet.

"We need to see the next print," he said. "This one isn't enough."

Rongrong looked up at him. Seeing that the teacher had heard him without objecting, she noted that point in the margin of her book.

When his turn came to ask the questions he had brought, Chen An did not insist that the fur had been gray when he could not remember its color clearly. He described the marks on the tree in the forest and everything he had failed to see clearly, then asked the teacher what he should look at first if he encountered this again.

After listening, the teacher first asked Chen Xin whether that Soul Beast had still been nearby that day.

"It had long since left," Chen Xin said.

"Then there was even less reason to rush after it." The teacher stacked two footprint sheets together. "First, stand somewhere safe and look at which way the traces lead, and whether there is shed fur, fallen scales, or trampled soil nearby. Record however many things you can see. If all that remains is one old claw mark, just write 'unknown.'"

Chen An nodded.

If I can't identify it, I can write 'unknown'?

Before, he had always felt rather embarrassed that he still could not name it after leaving the forest with Grandpa Sword. Now that the teacher had put it this way, that blank page of his no longer seemed such an eyesore.

What he truly needed to remember was what he had failed to look at back then.

When the lesson reached Soul Rings, Rongrong pulled out the slip of paper tucked inside her book.

Her question was even more direct than Chen An's. "When choosing a first Soul Ring, why can't we simply look for the oldest one?"

The teacher glanced at her, then at Chen Xin beside her. Clearly, he knew these two children were not ordinary students with no one looking after them.

"If you cannot withstand it, even the best Soul Ring has nothing to do with you," the teacher said. "If you can withstand it, you still have to consider whether it suits your Martial Soul and what you want to do. Your father and your sect's elders know more than I do about choices for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, but you must not overlook these things."

Rongrong thought for a moment and did not go on to ask which beast she should choose for her second Soul Ring.

It was still too early for that. She was still practicing when best to use her first Soul Skill. If she went back and asked Grandpa Bone to find a beast just because its age in the book was high, Grandpa Bone would probably be the first to refuse.

At the end of the lesson, the teacher took out an old, untitled record and asked the students what was missing from it. Some noticed that the footprints were incomplete; others discovered that no location had been recorded. After studying it for a long while, Chen An added, "It only says 'roughly a thousand years,' but it doesn't say who assessed it."

The teacher tapped that line.

"Correct. You also need to record who left the account."

Listening at the back, Qin Ming smiled.

How many questions the two children had answered correctly in this lesson did not matter. If they dared to leave what they did not know unresolved, then when they truly entered a forest in the future, at least they would not charge ahead armed with half a sentence.

After class, Chen An thanked the teacher, while Rongrong took another moment to fill in the two lines she had missed. Qin Ming escorted them out of the school building. When they reached the stone steps, Chen Xin led the two children down.

"Next time you see claw marks in the forest, you'll write 'unknown' first?" the old man asked casually.

"I'll stand farther away and look first," Chen An said. "If I can see anything else, I'll record it. If I can't see it, I won't guess."

"Good."

With that one word, Chen An knew he had not come in vain today.

Rongrong was not idle either, telling Chen Xin about that old record as they walked. When she reached the part about "who assessed it," she laughed. "If Chen An records any Beast Fur, he'd better add a note saying he didn't actually see it clearly at the time."

"I already did."

Chen An showed her his paper. Sure enough, beneath that line he had added four words: details of fur unknown.

Rongrong had meant to tease him some more, but seeing that he had really written it down, she laughed first instead.

The two returned to the sect that afternoon. Uncle Zhou had already arranged the meal. Chen An had barely entered the Kitchen when Fang Ming called out to him.

"Finished your lesson? Don't start washing vegetables yet. Senior Brother Shao Heng just came out of Elder Gu's place."

Chen An thought he had been injured and did not even have time to put down the book in his hand.

Seeing his reaction, Fang Ming hurriedly waved his hands.

"It's good news. He's reached rank thirty."

For days, Fang Ming had been holding back his desire to ask Chen An to make a new dish, only for Shao Heng's good news to arrive first. Everyone at the small kitchen was pleased to hear it, and Fang Ming was already planning how they ought to celebrate their senior brother with something delicious.

But Shao Heng had only just broken through, and the important thing now was to stabilize his Soul Power. Chen An did not let Fang Ming hurry him along, instead keeping the meal Shao Heng had left by the stove warm for him.

Hearing all this, Chen An felt like laughing.

He had only been gone for a morning, and this fellow was already about to start thinking about a third Soul Ring.