Lin Gu nodded!
"Of course I did. I just hunted it!"
Supervisor Ma smiled and said, "All right, show us, and we can register you!"
Lin Gu nodded and immediately released his Martial Soul. A purple Soul Ring slowly rose from beneath his feet, and a breastplate appeared on his upper body. His Soul Power fluctuations were far beyond rank eleven.
The sight stunned Su Yuntao and Supervisor Ma. Both kept rubbing their eyes, saying over and over:
"A Thousand-Year Soul Ring? Are my old eyes failing me? Su Yuntao, help me check whether that's a Thousand-Year Soul Ring!"
Beside him, Su Yuntao kept rubbing his eyes too, and even pinched himself:
"Ow! Ow! It's real! I'm not seeing things! Supervisor Ma, h-h-h-h-his first Soul Ring is a thousand-year one!"
Su Yuntao had already started stammering. Disbelief covered his face as he kept wiping the sweat from his forehead.
At that, Supervisor Ma sprang to his feet, looking Lin Gu over again and again while constantly tugging at his beard.
"His first Soul Ring? A purple thousand-year Soul Ring? H-how is that possible?"
Lin Gu smiled faintly and said calmly:
"How is it impossible? Aren't I standing right in front of you?"
Supervisor Ma froze on the spot. It took him quite a while to recover, and only after checking again and again did he exclaim:
"A genius! An absolute genius! No, a genius among geniuses! Truly someone you wouldn't encounter in a thousand years! Heavens, even my second Soul Ring wasn't a thousand-year one."
Watching from the side, Su Yuntao could not even lift his head. He merely kept rubbing his head. He did not have a Thousand-Year Soul Ring either.
Seeing the two so shocked that they did not know what to do with themselves, Lin Gu also felt he had gone too far beyond the standard, so he reminded them:
"Uncle, Grandpa, can I register as a Soul Master now?"
Only then did Supervisor Ma come back to his senses. He clapped his hands on the spot. "Of course! Su Yuntao, go attend to your work. I'll register him."
Su Yuntao left after hearing that, though his gaze repeatedly returned to Lin Gu's Soul Ring in astonishment.
Supervisor Ma fetched a registration file, then said:
"Have a seat, child. Let's take our time. What's your name?"
Lin Gu sat down beside him as Supervisor Ma filled in his information:
"My name is Lin Gu!"
Supervisor Ma smiled until his eyes narrowed to slits, as though he had found a treasure, then continued asking:
"What is your Martial Soul?"
At that question, Lin Gu frowned and thought, My Martial Soul? Should I just say equipment slot, or the breastplate they can see?
He hesitated, thinking, Better keep a little mystery, then said:
"My Martial Soul is a breastplate."
Supervisor Ma nodded. "A breastplate Martial Soul. It looks like a defense type. It should have decent prospects as it develops."
After asking a few more everyday questions, he was about to complete Lin Gu's registration when Su Yuntao hurriedly knocked on the door again:
"Supervisor Ma, someone else is here to register as a Soul Master!"
Supervisor Ma nodded at that. "All right, we'll register them together. Bring him in!"
Su Yuntao brought the person inside. Seeing him, Lin Gu said in surprise:
"Tang San?"
"Xiao Gu, you're here too? What a coincidence!"
The newcomer was Tang San. After parting with Yu Xiaogang, he had come to register as a Soul Master so that he would not need to use a work-study student quota to study.
Upon seeing Lin Gu, he continued:
"Xiao Gu, I didn't expect you to get here so quickly!"
Lin Gu merely smiled faintly without saying anything more.
Seeing another six-year-old child who even knew Lin Gu, Supervisor Ma judged from their manner that both had probably hunted their first Soul Rings.
What geniuses. Still, he asked as a formality:
"Child, have you hunted a Soul Ring too?"
Tang San nodded. "I have. I hunted it together with Lin Gu."
Supervisor Ma was startled by that, as was Su Yuntao beside him. Supervisor Ma continued asking:
"Your first Soul Ring isn't a thousand-year one too, is it?"
Hearing that, Tang San knew Lin Gu's Soul Ring must have given them quite a fright. Unfortunately, his own Soul Ring was still far too inferior, so he shook his head:
"No, my Soul Ring isn't as old as Lin Gu's. It's only four hundred and twenty-two years old!"
"Only four hundred and twenty-two years?"
Supervisor Ma and Su Yuntao exchanged a glance. So even four hundred years was considered low?
Then what did that make the two of us?
They shook their heads helplessly. The gap truly was immense, so they asked him to display his Soul Ring.
Sure enough, a Yellow Soul Ring appeared, followed by Blue Silver Grass.
Only then did Su Yuntao remember:
"I remember now! You two-you're those two children from Holy Soul Village! One had Blue Silver Grass with innate full Soul Power, and the other had a piece of clothing with innate rank-nine Soul Power. They were both trash Martial Souls back then! How did you both become so powerful today?"
At that, Supervisor Ma promptly rapped Su Yuntao on the head.
"Su Yuntao, you really are an idiot! You awakened two geniuses, so why didn't you recruit them into Spirit Hall?"
Su Yuntao looked helpless. "How was I supposed to know they'd become so powerful later?"
Supervisor Ma glared at Su Yuntao, thinking that the Blue Silver Grass had also turned purple, while Lin Gu's Martial Soul had become a breastplate. Presumably, these changes had occurred after they absorbed their Soul Rings. It seemed powerful Soul Rings really did provide a great improvement.
Then, feeling there was no hope for him in this lifetime anyway, he said to the two:
"Lin Gu, and you-what's your name?"
"My name is Tang San!"
Supervisor Ma nodded and solemnly said:
"Lin Gu, Tang San, would you be willing to join Spirit Hall?"
Lin Gu and Tang San exchanged a glance. Tang San's eyes were calm, while a corner of Lin Gu's mouth tilted slightly upward. They answered in unison:
"I'd rather not!"
"Sure!"
Their voices overlapped. Naturally, Lin Gu was the one who had agreed.
Tang San looked at Lin Gu in surprise, walked up to him, and said, "Xiao Gu, are you really going to join Spirit Hall?"
Lin Gu said leisurely, "Of course. They awakened my Martial Soul for free, and they even give Soul Masters benefits every month. That's pretty good-much better than that master you took!"
Tang San frowned at that and sank into thought. His teacher had specifically told him not to join Spirit Hall.
But as he looked at Lin Gu, he still chose to listen to his teacher. After all, he had already taken him as his master and could not go back on his word, so he said:
"All right, Xiao Gu. Then we'll have to go our separate ways. I'd been thinking we could study at another academy together after graduating from the junior academy!"
Lin Gu smiled openly. Tang San was still young at this point, and none of it had happened yet, so naturally he knew nothing of the opposing camps they would belong to in the future. Lin Gu said:
"All right, Xiao San. You'd better work hard. Who knows? We might be enemies someday!"
Tang San smiled faintly without answering, then quickly registered as a Soul Master and left.
Supervisor Ma, meanwhile, was positively blooming with joy after hearing that Lin Gu was willing to join Spirit Hall. Although Tang San had not agreed, Lin Gu was naturally the more impressive of the two by comparison, so he said:
"Lin Gu, since you're willing to join Spirit Hall, wait a few days while we send a letter to the main hall. Stay at Nuoding Academy for the next few days!"
Lin Gu nodded and left.