If you couldn't take them on, you could at least hide
"Let's go to the Soul Hunting Forest." After sitting there for a while, Su Lin suddenly spoke to Xiao Wu.
"Yes, yes!" Su Lin's suggestion made Xiao Wu's eyes light up.
She hadn't returned to a forest in a long time. Although they were only going to the Soul Hunting Forest this time rather than the Star Dou Great Forest, the mere thought of returning to nature made her happy. If soul beast transformation hadn't required her to stay in the human world and come into contact with human presences, she would have preferred to stay in the Star Dou Great Forest forever.
"Then wait here. I'll ask the principal for a travel permit, and then we'll stop by Wealth Village first to replenish our supplies." As Su Lin spoke, he stood and headed toward the principal's office.
There were two main reasons he had suggested leaving the academy at this point.
The first was Yu Xiaogang and Tang San.
That fellow Yu Xiaogang had gone mad trying to validate his logic concerning Martial Souls, but that was precisely where the problem lay. His abilities and thinking were far too idealistic. He had nothing but a theoretical framework for waging war on paper, without sufficient strength or practical combat experience to support it. Every link fit neatly into the next when he reasoned things out, but once put into practice, there were pitfalls everywhere.
As the old saying went, a villain racking his brains couldn't compare to a fool's flash of inspiration.
Yu Xiaogang was undoubtedly just such a fool. Su Lin believed that as long as he remained at the academy, Yu Xiaogang wouldn't give up.
Rather than stay and keep matching wits and courage with him, he might as well make running away his first order of business.
There was another old saying: if you couldn't take someone on, you could at least hide from them.
The second, more fundamental reason was that there was nothing much left for him to learn at the academy. There wasn't much point in staying.
He needed combat-high-intensity combat.
Now that he had laid a firm foundation for his meridians and obtained a movement technique manual, continuing to hole up in the little pond that was Nuoding Academy and drag his feet would only hold back his progress.
It was time to pick up the pace of his development.
Before long, Su Lin stood outside the principal's office. He raised his hand and knocked on the heavy solid-wood door. Principal Jiang's steady voice soon came from inside. "Come in."
He pushed the door open and entered. Principal Jiang was bent over his desk reviewing students' cultivation records. Looking up and seeing Su Lin, he immediately put down his fountain pen, a warm smile spreading across his face. "Little Lin, what brings you here? Have you run into some difficulty with your cultivation?"
"Principal Jiang, I've come to ask you for a travel permit. I'm planning to go back to Wealth Village." Su Lin got straight to the point.
Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy had a six-year curriculum, with each academic year divided into two terms. Its day-to-day rules were strict. Outside the holidays, students were forbidden from leaving the academy without permission unless there were special circumstances.
Principal Jiang's expression tightened at this, his brows creasing slightly. "Why do you suddenly want to go back? Have you been bullied at the academy, or has someone been making things unpleasant for you? Just tell me. I'll stand up for you."
"No, nothing like that." Su Lin hurriedly shook his head and explained, "It's just that I haven't seen Uncle Grant in a long time, and I miss him a little. More importantly, I've already studied all the courses from the first through sixth years on my own. I won't learn anything new by staying in class, so there's not much point. I might as well head out and gain some experience sooner."
Only then did Principal Jiang breathe a sigh of relief. Leaning back in his chair, he looked at the boy before him and asked a very practical question. "Then, once you leave this time, are you planning to come back?"
Su Lin considered it for two seconds before answering honestly. "I probably won't be coming back."
"Geniuses..." Principal Jiang shook his head with a smile, a touch of feeling in his voice but little surprise in his eyes.
He had been the principal of a junior academy for so many years and had seen plenty of this.
Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy's curriculum lasted six years, with students entering at six and completing their studies at twelve. But children with truly exceptional talent never followed the prescribed routine and stayed for all six years.
To them, a junior academy was only ever a stepping stone. They would pause briefly before moving on to greater heights. It was the students with middling talent who steadily completed all six years of coursework and stayed in the area to develop after graduation.
Of course, the early departure of a promising youngster like Su Lin wasn't a bad thing for him as principal, either. Reporting it to the Spirit Hall Branch and the provincial education department at the end of the year would secure a substantial sum of dedicated education funding. However he calculated it, it was a deal guaranteed to profit without a loss.
With that thought, he opened the bottom drawer of his desk and took out a preprinted blank certificate of completion. He picked up his fountain pen, dipped it in ink, and, with a flourish, neatly filled in Su Lin's name and the dates of his enrollment and completion in the blank spaces. Finally, he stamped it with the academy's large vermilion seal.
"Here, take it." He pushed the certificate to the edge of the desk and said with a smile, "An early completion. You've still got a long road ahead. Walk it well."
"Um... Principal Jiang, there's one more." Su Lin accepted the certificate and coughed somewhat awkwardly before adding sheepishly, "There's Xiao Wu's, too-the girl who changed dorm rooms three months ago. She's leaving with me."
"Xiao Wu?" Principal Jiang paused, then caught on. Pointing at Su Lin, he couldn't help laughing. "You little rascal. Only six years old, and you already know to keep a little girl in mind. Not bad."
He remembered that girl. He had personally approved her move to a single room on the top floor. Her Martial Soul was a Soft Bone Rabbit, and she also had innate full soul power.
Without asking any further questions, he smiled and pulled out another blank certificate. Following the same procedure, he filled in the details and stamped it, then handed it over along with Su Lin's. "All right, keep both of these safe. Happy completion, little ones."
"Thank you, Uncle Jiang." Su Lin took the two certificates, still fragrant with ink, and solemnly thanked him before turning and leaving the principal's office.
Later, the academy carriage arranged by Principal Jiang stopped punctually outside the academy gates. Having already packed, Su Lin and Xiao Wu quietly boarded without alerting anyone and set off toward Wealth Village beneath the warm afternoon sun.
"We're just leaving like this?" Xiao Wu rested her chin on the window frame and watched the fields receding outside, feeling a little wistful.
Even so, anyone who had stayed somewhere for three months would feel something different upon suddenly leaving.
Su Lin leaned against the carriage wall, resting with his eyes closed, and replied casually, "What else? Should we beat gongs and drums and set off firecrackers?"
Xiao Wu thought about it, then shook her head seriously. "Better not. Too noisy."
The journey from Nuoding City to Wealth Village took about three hours, much as it had at the start of term.
After leaving the city, the carriage followed the main road south. Vast stretches of harvested farmland lay on either side, with dry yellow stalks piled on the field ridges and bare branches reaching toward the gray-white sky.
Sitting in the swaying carriage, Su Lin had intended to use the time to read more of the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track manual. But the jolting carriage made the tiny, fly-head-sized regular script on its pages dance before his eyes. After reading a few pages, he put it away and simply leaned into a corner of the carriage, listening to the wheels rolling over the dirt road and chatting intermittently with Xiao Wu.
By the time the carriage reached the entrance to Wealth Village, it was already evening. Grant had received word from Principal Jiang well in advance and was already waiting at the village entrance.
"Uncle Grant!"