The old man was gaunt, leaning on a walking stick and dressed like a typical old farmer.
Beside him was a black-haired boy in plain clothes, lean and slightly wiry.
The gatekeeper, who had been all smiles a moment ago, was now shoving the two of them back over their proof of admission. It looked as though a quarrel was about to break out.
"An old man and a boy... a gatekeeper making trouble..."
Xiao Xuan leaned over the windowsill, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.
Looks like Tang San's here. Gangzi should be showing up soon, too.
Sure enough, the very next second.
A middle-aged man of average height and a slightly thin build walked slowly out from the tree-lined path, his hands clasped behind his back. His face was expressionless, and with a few words, he scolded the gatekeeper into retreat and got the two out of trouble.
Immediately afterward, Yu Xiaogang delivered a series of profound and mysterious deductions about Tang San's "Twin Martial Souls." Tang San promptly bowed his head and dropped to his knees with a thud, performing the full ceremony to become his disciple.
Watching the iconic scene downstairs, one he couldn't have been more familiar with, Xiao Xuan merely smacked his lips and silently reached out to draw the curtains tight.
"Taking Yu Xiaogang as his master. The plot really hasn't changed one bit."
Xiao Xuan turned around and neatly packed his luggage into the wardrobe, calmly weighing his options in his mind:
That kid Tang San has a Titled Douluo father lurking behind him, ready to smash anyone at a moment's notice. Picking a fight with him would be asking for an early death.
As for me, I've got a heaven-defying cheat like Three-in-One Fusion of All Things. There's no need to go over there showing off and face-slapping or forcing a friendship.
On the Douluo Continent, the way to go is to keep a low profile, build high walls, and stockpile grain. Lay low and grow strong-don't get cocky!
Having made up his mind, Xiao Xuan formally began his life at the academy.
The days that followed were peaceful and extremely fulfilling.
Xiao Xuan became the most inconspicuous student in the academy, but also the most disciplined.
Every morning, he went to the classroom on time for his theory lessons.
Whenever he had free time in the afternoon, he plunged into Nuoding Academy's book repository and library, devouring texts on the habits of all kinds of Soul Beasts, how to identify their ages, and the medicinal properties of plants, desperately filling the gaps in his knowledge of this world.
At night, he shut himself in his single dorm room, held his breath, and concentrated, circulating his Soul Power with all his might as he sat in meditation.
Normally, a Soul Master with level-one Innate Soul Power cultivated no faster than a snail climbing a tree.
But Xiao Xuan's foundation had long since changed.
After his Lone Bamboo Martial Soul fused with two kinds of metal ore, it had begun to show signs of leaving the category of Plant-type Martial Souls altogether. His Innate Soul Power had also soared to level eight!
If he continued fusing it, it wasn't impossible for Xiao Xuan's Lone Bamboo Martial Soul to transform completely into an entirely new Martial Soul.
The base materials needed for the next fusion, however, were two stalks of Lone Bamboo over a thousand years old.
Lone Bamboo of that age naturally couldn't be found in Lone Bamboo Village. Only by looking in the Soul Hunting Forest would he have a chance of finding it.
As for the auxiliary materials for the next fusion, Xiao Xuan already had an idea.
But it was still too early to think about those things. For now, he needed to raise his Soul Power to level ten first, then decide what to do.
Time flew like a white colt flashing past a crack in the wall.
A month passed in the blink of an eye.
Late that night, inside his single dorm room.
Xiao Xuan sat cross-legged on the bed, faint dark-green and dark-gold halos pulsing slowly around him.
A faint, exceptionally crisp crack came from the meridians inside his body.
The Soul Power that had been gathered inside Xiao Xuan trembled violently. Like rivers pouring into the sea, it slammed into an invisible, solid ceiling in an instant!
Xiao Xuan took a deep breath, slowly reined in his Qi, and abruptly opened his eyes.
A bright gleam flashed in his eyes in the darkness.
Level ten!
Xiao Xuan couldn't help clenching his little fists, his face full of excitement he could barely contain.
He could finally absorb a Soul Ring!
Early the next morning, as the sky was just beginning to brighten.
Xiao Xuan rolled out of bed, went straight to his homeroom teacher to ask for leave, and hurried home in a rush.
Having broken through the level-ten bottleneck, his first priority was naturally to obtain his First Soul Ring.
He had originally planned to ask his father, Xiao Wuyong, to lead the trip. After all, his father was a Soul Grandmaster with years of Soul Hunting experience, making him a dependable and safe choice.
But when Xiao Xuan pushed open the gate to the Xiao family's little courtyard on the outskirts of Nuoding City, only his mother, Li Ya, was inside, sorting medicinal ingredients.
When he asked, he learned that Xiao Wuyong had taken another major escort job with that mercenary group. They had broken camp and left the city before dawn, and he wouldn't be back for at least ten days or so.
Xiao Xuan sighed inwardly.
With his father away, a level-ten Soul Scholar like him charging into the Soul Hunting Forest alone would be courting death. It looked like he could only rely on a teacher at the academy for his First Soul Ring.
But since he had come home, Xiao Xuan hadn't forgotten another important matter.
He moved closer to his mother and asked in a low voice, "Mom, did you find any of that 'Whale Rubber' I asked you to look out for at the pharmacy?"
"Whale Rubber?"
Li Ya stopped what she was doing and rubbed Xiao Xuan's little head, chuckling. "You child. Last time, you said your teacher had asked you to inquire about it in private, so I really did keep an eye out."
"A few days ago, when I was buying medicinal ingredients, I happened to get three pieces from a maritime trading caravan. But they're all very young, only a few decades old apiece. Even added together, they don't reach a hundred years."
As she spoke, Li Ya took three small oilpaper packets from an iron box deep inside the cabinet and handed them to Xiao Xuan with some embarrassment.
"This low-grade Whale Rubber is such poor quality. It has a strong fishy smell and lots of impurities. If you give it to your teacher at the academy, I'm afraid he won't think much of it, will he?"
But as Xiao Xuan looked at the three weighty oilpaper packets, his eyes lit up like two little light bulbs!
Won't think much of it?
Ordinary people might look down on it for its impurities and low age, but I've got a cheat!
Throw three pieces of low-grade Whale Rubber, each a few decades old, into the system for a three-in-one fusion, and wouldn't that give me a genuine piece of hundred-year Whale Rubber?!
"He won't mind! The teacher said any Whale Rubber would do. He's using it as a medicinal catalyst!"
Xiao Xuan hurriedly accepted the packets. "Mom, how much did these three pieces cost? I'll ask the teacher to pay our family back in Silver Soul Coins later."
Li Ya's face immediately grew stern, and she poked Xiao Xuan in the forehead with affectionate reproach.
"You little rascal, if it's for your teacher, why would we ask for money? Take it, take it. As long as your teacher looks after you a little more at the academy, that's worth far more than a few Silver Soul Coins!"
"Hehe, thanks, Mom! I'll go back to the academy and give it to the teacher!"
Xiao Xuan scratched his head with a guileless grin, quickly tucked the three pieces of ten-year Whale Rubber safely inside his clothes, and said goodbye to his mother before jogging all the way back to Nuoding Academy.
Back in his single dorm room, Xiao Xuan locked the door behind him. Looking at the three dark-yellow crystals laid out on the table, each giving off a faint fishy-sweet smell, he quickly calculated in his mind:
Fuse three ten-year pieces into one hundred-year piece, and after I take it, it should raise this six-year-old body's ability to take a beating by at least a level.
But if I want my body to be tough enough to absorb a Soul Ring beyond my level, one piece of hundred-year Whale Rubber clearly won't be enough.
When all's said and done, I still need to hurry up and make money!
I can't keep fleecing my family every day. Once I become a full-fledged Soul Master, I'll get a monthly stipend from Spirit Hall, and then I can find a way to make some money on the side!
Xiao Xuan put away the Whale Rubber, took a deep breath, and straightened the collar of his academy uniform. Then he turned and went out, heading straight for the academic affairs building.