Everyone's Here
"Um, thank you for stepping in to help just now!"
On the way to the Mingdu Soul Engineer Academy's registration office, Huo Wu softly thanked Xu De. Her long, dark red hair swayed in the wind, and the sight of it framing her earnest face left Xu De staring in a daze. Only when Xiao Wu pinched him hard at the waist did he come back to his senses.
Who taught her to pinch people like that? I certainly never taught her anything of the sort. Or are girls just born knowing that move?
"I couldn't stand how despicably he was behaving either. After all, the Mingdu Soul Engineer Academy's principle is to teach everyone without distinction. Here, we don't distinguish between people from the Douluo Continent and the Sun Moon Continent!"
Xu De really wasn't lying. In his view, the unification of the Sun Moon Continent was only a matter of time. No matter which empire people came from, they would all end up either serving under him or lying beneath him.
Huo Wu's eyes lit up when she heard that. The thing she and her companions had encountered most often on their journey was discrimination. People from the Sun Moon Empire seemed to have an innate sense of superiority, and the more prosperous the city, the worse it was.
Mingdu's Soul Masters, for example, discriminated equally against people from the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires. Even people from other cities in the Sun Moon Empire were, in their eyes, only a little better than those from the Douluo Continent.
They walked the rest of the way in silence. Huo Wu didn't know why, but although she was normally hot-tempered and spoke her mind without hesitation to anyone, she always felt reserved in front of this young man. She wanted him to see her good side and didn't want him to think she had a bad temper.
A faint awkwardness hung in the air. Xu De wanted to say something, but with Xiao Wu casting him threatening looks and having only just gotten to know the others, he decided to take things slowly. He wasn't an incubus; surely people wouldn't fall in love with him just by looking at him.
He was wrong about one thing, though. Outstanding men always had an easier time attracting women, especially in the world of Soul Masters. Even with that shitty face Tang San had early on, he could make the female supporting characters take a liking to him after defeating them or showing off his strength. Let alone Xu De, whose looks, bearing, and strength far surpassed Tang San's.
The three had just entered the academy gates when they saw a long, snaking queue stretching all the way from the registration office to where they stood. It was packed with people-at a rough count, there had to be fifty or sixty of them.
"Hey, why are you cutting in line?"
In the middle of the queue, Shui Yue'er, her long hair dark green, was arguing with a group of boys wearing uniforms from a local Mingdu Soul Master Academy. Clearly, they had cut in front of her group. Behind her, Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu wore equally cold expressions. They didn't want trouble, but now that trouble had come knocking, they weren't going to swallow the insult.
But among the people in the queue, it wasn't Shui Bing'er and her companions who drew Xu De's attention most. It was two other girls. One wore a long white dress and had short, ear-length hair, dewy skin, and a height of about 1.65 meters. Her bearing was exceptional; one look was enough to tell she had studied noble etiquette from childhood.
The other had straight black hair coiled up on either side of her head like cat ears. She wore a tight black-and-purple leather outfit and black high heels, and her figure was incredibly voluptuous. In any case, Xu De had never seen such a broad chest before. Her face was cold, in stark contrast to her figure.
The two were, of course, Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing. So Gangzi's sister had been right for once: Zhu Zhuqing was the most...
All right, here's my chance to show off. Xu De's eyes lit up. Wasn't this the perfect opportunity to put himself on display?
"The Mingdu Soul Engineer Academy's rules don't say you can break the rules as you please and bully students who aren't locals, do they?"
Xu De strode forward, ignoring the resentful Xiao Wu beside him, and placed a hand directly on the leading boy's shoulder. His voice was cold.
That left them at a loss, especially the boy in front. His father was an imperial noble and a Soul Emperor powerhouse in the Dongyang Legion. With his father's status behind him, hardly anyone dared speak to him like that. But he had no way of knowing that even his father would have to kneel and pay his respects to the person standing before him.
"Kid, are you going to play the hero and defend these flowers in the name of justice?" the noble youth asked, looking at Xu De provocatively. One reason he had chosen to cut in front of Shui Bing'er's group was that they were from the Douluo Continent and easy to bully here.
The other was that lolis like them were very much to his taste, and he wanted to show off his masculine prowess. To Xu De, though, he was no different from Jiahao in his previous life, who used to tug girls' braids at school to get their attention.
"The arena. You dare?" Xu De's emotions barely stirred. He reached out and lightly slapped the boy's left cheek as he spoke. His calm words, coupled with the commanding presence he had cultivated over the years, sent a chill through everyone around them.
At the same time, the female Soul Masters in the queue cast all sorts of looks his way. Shui Yue'er in particular gazed at him with a lovestruck expression. "He's so handsome and manly, and a little bit naughty too."
Hearing her sister's words, Shui Bing'er pulled Xue Wu two steps back in silence. I don't know anyone that embarrassing. Ning Rongrong watched with great interest. Zhu Zhuqing's expression barely changed, but her attention was clearly on Xu De as well.
The boy who had been slapped twisted his face. How dare he humiliate me like this in front of so many people? If I don't teach him a lesson today, how am I supposed to show my face in Mingdu?
"Qian Hao, twenty-five years old, level forty-nine Power Attack System Battle Soul Ancestor. Get up here and die, kid!"
He had to admit that Qian Hao had some ability. His Soul Power fluctuated, a sign that he had taken potions to increase it, but he had clearly kept the dosage under control. Though his foundation was shaky, he was much better than Wang Xiu from earlier.
This time, Xu De didn't choose to defeat him in an instant. With a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone and several Immortal Herbs under his belt, doing so would have been all too easy. But that wouldn't have been impressive enough; it wasn't what he wanted.
"Xu Wushuang, twelve years old, level forty-three Power Attack System Battle Soul Ancestor."
To avoid trouble, Xu De had enrolled under a false name. After all, his identity as the crown prince of the Sun Moon Empire made it unsuitable for him to associate directly with students from the Douluo Continent. The best strategy was to approach them under another identity first, then slowly win them over.
The moment he said that, the whole crowd erupted, especially Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing. Ning Rongrong had grown up in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and naturally had seen much of the world, but a twelve-year-old level forty-three Soul Ancestor was unheard of across the entire continent. A flicker of astonishment also appeared on Zhu Zhuqing's aloof face.
Among the crowd by the gate behind him, Tang San, dressed in blue, looked panicked. How is that possible? In this life, I relied on my memories of my previous life, returned to the Clear Sky Sect, won Xue Beng over, and cheated and swindled my way into two Soul Bones from all over the place, only to reach level thirty-four Soul Power. How could he have cultivated so quickly?
In the arena, a giant purple dragon appeared behind Xu De: the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon. He wasn't going for strength, but style. Compared to the Sun Moon Divine Eyes' instant victory, a Beast Martial Soul possession would undoubtedly do more to show off his perfect physique and strength.
But just as Xu De was putting all his effort into showing off, Tian Meng, who had been silent for a long time in his spiritual sea, spoke up for a change. "Kid, I've sensed something strange near you. It seems to be the presence of a Soul Beast, and it's even stronger than that girl Xiao Wu-at least two hundred thousand years old!"