Before long, the gatekeeper who had left earlier hurried back, followed by a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties and wore a silver robe.
The middle-aged man walked with steady steps, but he carried an air of authority even without anger. He looked like someone who held a high position.
"Director Xue, this is the young student." The gatekeeper pointed respectfully at Lin Mo.
The middle-aged man addressed as Director Xue immediately turned his gaze to Lin Mo. A faint smile appeared on his face as he walked over.
"Are you Lin Mo, young man?" Director Xue asked gently.
"Yes. Hello, Director Xue." Lin Mo greeted him with a bow, neither servile nor overbearing, and once again offered the recommendation letter and Soul Master booklet in his hands.
Director Xue accepted them but did not examine them immediately. Instead, he told Lin Mo, "This isn't the place to talk. Come with me to the admissions office."
"All right," Lin Mo replied.
Director Xue nodded to the two gatekeepers, then led Lin Mo through the academy gates toward an office building not far away.
Inside the admissions office.
Only after inviting Lin Mo to sit did Director Xue begin carefully reading the recommendation letter and Soul Master booklet.
He read slowly and just as carefully.
When he saw the entry in the Soul Master booklet stating that Lin Mo had obtained his first Soul Ring only a little over half a year ago, his eyebrows could not help twitching upward.
Then he raised his head and looked at Lin Mo, a trace of astonishment in his voice.
"Lin Mo, your Soul Master booklet says you awakened your Martial Soul a year ago and obtained your first Soul Ring a little over half a year ago?"
"Yes, Director Xue," Lin Mo answered calmly.
"Lin Mo, as part of the procedure, I need to see your Martial Soul and confirm your current Soul Power level myself," Director Xue said, setting down the booklet and looking at him.
"All right, Director Xue." With a slight shift of Lin Mo's thoughts, he acted.
A red light flashed, and Charmander immediately appeared at his feet, a bright yellow Soul Ring circling its body.
The Soul Power fluctuations radiating from Lin Mo also clearly indicated his current cultivation-rank sixteen!
With half a month of rest and recuperation in Soul Emperor Village, followed by over twenty days of travel during which he had never slacked off in his cultivation, his Soul Power level had broken through again, rising from the middle of rank fifteen to rank sixteen.
Director Xue's gaze first lingered on the hundred-year Soul Ring for a moment. Then he keenly sensed Lin Mo's Soul Power level, and unmistakable astonishment appeared on his face for the first time.
"Rank sixteen?!" He could not help rising to his feet and picking up the Soul Master booklet for another look. It clearly recorded that when Lin Mo had obtained his first Soul Ring in Nuoding City over half a year ago, his Soul Power had been at rank twelve.
"If I remember correctly, you obtained your first Soul Ring a little over half a year ago, didn't you? From rank twelve to rank sixteen... how little time has passed?"
Director Xue's voice was filled with shock. "Your cultivation speed... isn't it a little too fast?"
He hardly knew how to describe it.
This was simply staggering!
He had taught for many years and seen no shortage of geniuses, but those like Lin Mo, who could still maintain such a terrifying rate of advancement at the Soul Master stage, were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.
Even among the direct descendants of great sects and clans, with the best resources and meditation methods, very few could achieve such a terrifying cultivation speed.
Director Xue even began to wonder whether his eyes had deceived him, or whether this Soul Master booklet was a fake.
But the seal and the trace of Soul Power could not be faked.
Noticing Director Xue's shock, Lin Mo smiled and explained, "It may be because my Martial Soul is a rather unusual mutated Martial Soul, which makes my cultivation speed considerably faster than most people's."
At this point, Lin Mo paused and reached down to stroke Charmander's smooth head. "Although Charmander is also a beast Martial Soul, once released, it manifests outside my body, just like other tool Martial Souls.
"Perhaps that's precisely why my cultivation speed is considerably faster than most people's."
He was not lying about this. He had merely chosen to reveal part of the truth rather than lay out every reason.
Because they shared Soul Power, his cultivation speed and Charmander's could be combined.
To put it in the most straightforward terms, he and Charmander could cultivate at the same time to fill the same Soul Power level experience bar.
This was also why his cultivation speed was so fast. Despite having an innate rank-six talent, his cultivation speed even surpassed that of quite a few Soul Masters with innate full Soul Power.
At Lin Mo's words, Director Xue seemed to recall something. "An external beast Martial Soul... Martial Souls in this form are indeed rare.
"I remember that the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, one of the Upper Three Sects, seems to have someone... although his Martial Soul is also a beast Martial Soul, it manifests outside his body like a tool Martial Soul and cannot possess him."
Director Xue phrased it rather tactfully, but Lin Mo knew he was probably referring to Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang, the man with the Luo Sanpao Martial Soul whose Martial Soul mutation had left him unable to break through rank thirty, yet who was "invincible in theory."
Hearing this, Lin Mo nodded, confirming Director Xue's statement. "You're right, Director Xue. My Charmander Martial Soul is indeed an external beast Martial Soul that cannot possess me. It's somewhat similar to that person's situation, but its specific form and abilities are different."
He certainly did not want others equating him with Yu Xiaogang's Luo Sanpao.
Whether in potential or fighting strength, his Charmander was far beyond anything Luo Sanpao could compare to.
Director Xue nodded thoughtfully and did not probe further into the Martial Soul. Every Soul Master had their own secrets, and prying too deeply would only be unseemly.
A gentle smile returned to his face as he told Lin Mo, "Lin Mo, I understand your situation now.
"On behalf of Heaven Dou Intermediate Soul Master Academy, I welcome you!"
With such an exceptionally gifted student coming to their door of his own accord, what reason was there to turn him away?
As Director Xue looked at Lin Mo, he grew more and more satisfied.
He himself came from the Heaven Dou Imperial Family. Though he belonged only to a collateral branch, he held deep affection for both the imperial family and Heaven Dou Royal Academy, which was affiliated with it.
As Heaven Dou Intermediate Soul Master Academy was one of the important bases supplying outstanding talent to Heaven Dou Royal Academy, being able to recruit a genius like Lin Mo made him sincerely happy.
He could almost see Lin Mo successfully entering Heaven Dou Royal Soul Master Academy a few years later.
Then, at the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, he would shine brilliantly, winning glory for the Heaven Dou Empire and Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
With the talent and cultivation speed Lin Mo had shown so far, by the time he was around twenty and that Soul Master Tournament took place, his strength would definitely have reached a truly astonishing height!
At this thought, Director Xue's smile broadened.
However, he soon reined in his smile and looked at Lin Mo, his tone becoming a little more formal. "Lin Mo, welcoming you is one thing, but we still have to follow the academy's procedures."
He pointed outside the office. "All new students must take an entrance assessment.
"On the one hand, it confirms your practical combat ability. On the other, the results allow us to assign you to classes so we can teach according to your aptitudes."
"So you'll still need to take the upcoming entrance assessment. Is that all right?"
Lin Mo had expected this and nodded without hesitation. "No problem, Director Xue. I'll prepare thoroughly."
Demonstrating his strength was a necessary step, and he had no aversion to it.
On the contrary, he also very much wanted to see just what standard the students of Heaven Dou Intermediate Soul Master Academy had reached.