Now that Xiao Yan had come to the Sun Moon Empire, however, he was reminded of someone.
That person was Ye Guyi, who possessed the Holy Angel Martial Soul.
If he found Ye Guyi and had her use the power of her Martial Soul to purify the evil curse inside the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife, he could begin absorbing the Gold of Life ahead of time.
In the original story, Ye Guyi was born into a family that had inherited the Angel Martial Soul. Her family was persecuted by Evil Soul Masters, causing her to lose all her loved ones.
As a result, she had become rather strong-willed and stubborn, and she hated Evil Soul Masters and people who possessed evil power with a passion.
Xiao Yan wanted to find her and see whether he could speed up the removal of the evil curse from the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife.
Ye Guyi... Xiao Yan silently repeated the name in his mind, then pushed it aside.
The original story had never revealed exactly where Ye Guyi was, though, so he had no way to pinpoint her location. He could only leave it to fate.
Aside from finding her, his immediate task was to adapt to the Sun Moon Royal Academy as quickly as possible and begin systematically studying Soul Tool technology.
With that, Xiao Yan stopped dwelling on it. He got up, entered the cultivation room, and sat down to cultivate.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Sun Moon Royal Academy, faculty office.
After handling the matters at hand, Wang Chengyuan took a document and headed toward a luxurious building deeper within the academy.
He intended to report Xiao Yan's situation to the dean, Jing Hongchen.
After all, a twelve-year-old Soul Ancestor was worthy of attention wherever he went.
Another reason Wang Chengyuan had taken an interest was the maturity and composure Xiao Yan had displayed.
If he was talented in cultivation, then his talent for Soul Tools surely wouldn't be lacking either.
Not wanting to let talent go to waste, he planned to report the matter to the academy's senior staff first and see whether he could secure better learning conditions for Xiao Yan.
Before long, Wang Chengyuan arrived outside the dean's office. He straightened his clothes and raised a hand to knock.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Come in."
A steady voice came from inside.
Wang Chengyuan pushed the door open and entered.
Seated in the spacious office was the master of Mingde Hall-Jing Hongchen!
He was leafing through documents. Although he wore a smile, he always exuded the authority of someone in a high position.
"Greetings, Dean."
Wang Chengyuan hurried forward and bowed.
Jing Hongchen looked up at him and couldn't help asking, "Chengyuan, what brought you all the way here? Weren't you still over at the border?"
"There is indeed something. Today, the exchange student from the Star Luo Empire's Royal Academy arrived at our academy. I brought him here as arranged and completed his enrollment procedures."
As Wang Chengyuan spoke, he took a document from the storage soul's area and held it out with both hands, placing it on Jing Hongchen's desk.
"An exchange student from the Star Luo Empire?"
Jing Hongchen leafed through the document and asked casually, "What's his name?"
"Xiao Yan."
He lowered his head to look at the name on the document, then carefully read through the rest.
Hearing this, Jing Hongchen nodded slightly and looked down at the information in the document.
It listed Xiao Yan's place of origin, age, and academic affiliation, along with the paperwork for his early exchange studies. Everything was in proper order.
Among the information, what stood out most was this:
Twelve years old, a Soul Ancestor!
At that, Jing Hongchen's eyes gradually grew thoughtful.
As the master of Mingde Hall, he had naturally seen no shortage of geniuses.
As the master of Mingde Hall, he had seen countless geniuses, including plenty of students who had reached the Soul Elder or Soul Ancestor level at twelve.
That, however, was with the aid of Soul Tools and pills taken to boost their potential.
A twelve-year-old Soul Ancestor from the Star Luo Empire was enough to arouse his curiosity.
"Not bad."
Jing Hongchen spoke slowly.
"Being a Soul Ancestor at twelve shows that his cultivation talent is exceptionally high. His composed nature also suggests that his spiritual talent isn't bad either."
This was especially important to Jing Hongchen.
He advocated a school of thought that combined Martial Souls and Soul Tools.
He believed that a Soul Master's Martial Soul talent determined a person's starting point, but learning about Soul Tools could raise that starting point and open the way to higher realms.
Even so, this was only an indirect indication. They would still have to see how Xiao Yan performed after studying Soul Tools.
"I understand why you've come. In that case, I'll give him a chance."
Wang Chengyuan's expression changed, and he couldn't help feeling reassured.
"Dean, you mean?"
"First, let him follow the academy's basic courses for a while and see how he actually performs."
Jing Hongchen paused briefly at that point, then continued,
"However, since he's an exchange student from the Star Luo Empire, having an ordinary teacher instruct him would make it seem as though our Royal Academy was showing them no respect."
"As I recall, Xuan Ziwen hasn't been assigned any basic teaching duties lately, has he?"
Hearing that name, Wang Chengyuan immediately understood what Jing Hongchen meant.
"Dean, are you planning to have Teacher Xuan personally instruct Xiao Yan?" Wang Chengyuan asked tentatively.
"There's no need to trouble him just yet. Let's first see how Xiao Yan performs over the coming year. Have Xuan Ziwen spend more time around the academy and discover some of our talented students."
Smiling, Jing Hongchen picked up his teacup and took a small sip.
"In any case, Xiao Yan is an exchange student from the Star Luo Empire's Royal Academy. We have to keep up appearances."
"I understand." Wang Chengyuan nodded solemnly. Having obtained the result he wanted, he withdrew from the office.
The door closed.
Jing Hongchen picked up Xiao Yan's document again and read it carefully once more.
A twelve-year-old Soul Ancestor from the Star Luo Empire's Royal Academy, who had applied of his own accord to study Soul Tools...
His main reason for putting Xuan Ziwen forward was to sound out Kong Deming's attitude.
Xuan Ziwen's teacher was Kong Deming. If Xuan Ziwen took Xiao Yan as a student, then Xiao Yan would, in a roundabout way, become Kong Deming's grand-disciple.
That represented an exchange between the two countries, and it might lead to other considerations if they went to war in the future.
"I hope I'm overthinking it..."
Jing Hongchen spoke to himself. In recent years, the Sun Moon Empire had been in a period of political upheaval.
That was why it needed stable diplomatic relations abroad, so it could settle its internal troubles before expanding outward.