Reporting to the Academy

Nuoding Academy's walls were built of gray brick, neater than any house in Blacksmith Village.

By the time Nan Feng stood outside the academy gates and looked up at the signboard, dusk had blurred the characters painted on it. The strokes of "Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy" had been worn thin by wind and rain.

The gates stood open, revealing a gravel path lined with neatly trimmed holly. Several youths in academy uniforms walked along it, their gazes sweeping over the three unfamiliar faces with bundles at the gate without lingering.

Xiao Wu had run ahead and was leaning over the wooden table by the gate, looking at the list of new students posted on a board.

Tang San walked to Nan Feng's right at an unhurried pace. Nan Feng noticed his gaze linger for an extra moment as it swept over the academy walls. Tang San was sizing up the academy, and so was Nan Feng.

This was his first time entering a Soul Master Academy. The Nuoding Academy he had read about countless times in novels in his previous life was now before him, smaller, older, and more real than it had been in the books.

"New students registering, come over here!"

A middle-aged male teacher sat behind the table with a roster in his hand, his voice ringing out.

When the three walked over, the teacher looked up and glanced at them, his gaze pausing on Xiao Wu and Tang San for a breath each before he lowered his head and opened the roster.

"One at a time. Name, Martial Soul, Innate Soul Power."

Xiao Wu registered first. Soft Bone Rabbit, Innate Soul Power unknown.

She hadn't told the truth, Nan Feng knew. According to Yu Xiaogang's theories, every Martial Soul had a corresponding Soul Power Level. If Xiao Wu didn't have her Soul Power tested, the academy wouldn't force her. The teacher wrote down a few notes and waved her through.

Tang San was second. Blue Silver Grass, Innate Full Soul Power. The teacher's pen paused on the paper. He looked up at Tang San again, his gaze more intent than before.

Nan Feng was last.

"Bronze Tower, innate level eight."

After writing it down, the teacher pointed to a row of single-story buildings deep in the grounds. "The work-study dormitory is in the last row. Go get settled first. Report to the academic affairs office tomorrow morning to be assigned to classes."

Nan Feng nodded and carried his bundle into the academy grounds.

As he passed along the path, his steps slowed for a moment.

Someone was watching him. The gaze was neither heavy nor sharp, but he could feel its weight clearly on his back.

Nan Feng glanced over from the corner of his eye. A middle-aged man in a black robe stood beneath a colonnade to the left of the path, round-framed glasses perched on his nose. Their lenses reflected two patches of white light in the dusk.

Yu Xiaogang. Grandmaster.

He was looking this way-or, more precisely, at Tang San, who was walking in front. There was something in his gaze that Nan Feng couldn't quite name, as though he were analyzing something, yet also as though he were confirming it.

Nan Feng looked away and resumed his normal pace. He didn't give Yu Xiaogang another glance.

The work-study dormitory was a room in the last row of single-story buildings. When they pushed open the door, several children were already staying inside.

The beds were simple wooden board beds, four to a room, two by the window and two by the door.

Tang San chose a spot by the window, and Xiao Wu followed by choosing the one opposite his, also by the window. Nan Feng walked over to a bed by the door and stopped.

The spot by the door was dim and far from the window, cold in winter and stuffy in summer.

It was exactly the spot Nan Feng wanted. Being by the door meant he could sense anyone entering or leaving right away. He couldn't be seen from outside the window, yet he could hear footsteps in the corridor clearly.

He set his bundle on the bed board and began laying out his straw mat. He put the bundle of eggs Old Chen had pressed on him beside his pillow and tucked the twenty copper coins into an inner pocket.

"You're sleeping here?" Xiao Wu had already made her bed. She leaned over for a look. "It's so dark over here."

"I'm used to it," Nan Feng said.

Xiao Wu pursed her lips, then turned and went to strike up a conversation with the girls in the next dormitory.

Tang San sat cross-legged on his bed by the window, eyes closed and breathing evenly. He was cultivating.

Nan Feng didn't disturb him. After making his bed, he sat cross-legged as well and sank his consciousness into the space within the tower.

Old Huai didn't come out that night.

Nan Feng sat before the crack and practiced the Primordial World Qi Refining Art for two cycles. His Soul Power flowed steadily through his meridians. The thin membrane between level nine and level ten was still there, though it was a little thinner than before.

He felt the Gravity Field was especially active tonight, as though the tower also knew he had reached a critical juncture.

He focused his consciousness on his dantian, making his Soul Power compress, expand, and compress again, over and over.

With each cycle, the thin membrane trembled, a crack finer than a strand of hair opening in it before closing again.

It's still not enough.

By the time he withdrew his consciousness from the tower, it was completely dark outside.

The other work-study students in the dormitory were asleep, their snores rising and falling. Steady breathing came from Xiao Wu's side. She was asleep.

Tang San's side was quiet, but Nan Feng knew he was still awake. The Mysterious Heaven Skill was cultivated at different hours from those of ordinary Soul Masters, and Tang San usually practiced an extra cycle in the dead of night.

Separated by two beds, the two sat cross-legged and cultivated, each able to hear the other breathing.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door.

The footsteps were light and steady. They came down the corridor and stopped outside the dormitory.

Nan Feng didn't open his eyes, but he pricked up his ears.

Three knocks sounded on the door, soft but clear.

No one in the dormitory answered. The door was pushed open a crack, and light from the night lamp in the corridor spilled through, laying a narrow strip across the floor.

"Tang San." A voice, kept very low, came from outside the door. "Come with me for a moment."

It was Yu Xiaogang's voice.

Eyes closed, Nan Feng heard Tang San turn over and get out of bed. Tang San's footsteps were so light they were almost inaudible.

He paused for an instant when he reached the door, raising a hand and then lowering it. The door was pulled shut, and the two sets of footsteps receded along the corridor.

The dormitory fell quiet again. Xiao Wu's breathing was as steady as ever, and the other work-study students hadn't stopped snoring.

Nan Feng opened his eyes in the darkness.

The roof beams showed as blurred outlines in the moonlight. The night wind slipped through the cracks in the window, carrying the chill of early spring.

He knew why Yu Xiaogang had called Tang San out: the theory of Martial Soul Mutation, Twin Martial Souls, and Blue Silver Grass's future.

Grandmaster had spent twenty years researching Martial Soul Theory and had finally found an experimental subject with Innate Full Soul Power. He would instill those things in Tang San bit by bit.

Nan Feng didn't follow them out, nor did he peek through the crack in the door.

He turned over to face the wall, pressing his palm to his chest. The warm pulse deep in his palm transmitted through to his ribs, beat by beat, steady and strong.

His Soul Power was stuck between level nine and level ten, just one final push short.

Yu Xiaogang was giving Tang San a lesson next door, while he set himself a goal in the darkness.

Once your Soul Power reaches level ten, Old Huai had said, go hunt for a Soul Ring. If you reach level ten and don't absorb a Soul Ring, your Soul Power will be stuck there forever, unable to increase one bit. That's an iron law; no one can change it.

Nan Feng closed his eyes and sank back into the space within the tower.

The blue-green light in the crack shone quietly, and the verdigris on the tower's surface glimmered blue-green in the darkness. The Gravity Field enveloped his soul like a warm cocoon.

Inside the cocoon, he circulated his Soul Power again and again. One cycle, two cycles, three cycles.

The thin membrane between level nine and level ten grew thinner and thinner as his Soul Power washed over it.

The light was still on in the office at the end of the corridor. Yu Xiaogang's voice couldn't carry through the intervening walls, but Nan Feng could sense what was happening over there.

Tang San sat opposite Yu Xiaogang, listening to Martial Soul theories he had never heard before, his eyes growing brighter bit by bit.

He himself sat in the darkness, his Soul Power circling through his meridians, cycle after cycle. The blue-green light in the crack at the bottom of the tower brightened and dimmed, as though someone were breathing inside.

Soon, he told himself. Almost there.

The moon outside the window had moved to the edge of the sky, and the snores in the dormitory had changed rhythm several times when the light in the office at the end of the corridor finally went out.

Tang San's footsteps came back from the far end of the corridor. He pushed open the dormitory door, returned to his bed, and lay down.

He said nothing, and Nan Feng didn't ask. Separated by two beds, both remained awake.

Nan Feng moved his right hand away from his chest and rested it outside the blanket.

The warm blue-green band on his palm was almost invisible in the moonlight. When he touched it, his fingertip could feel a slight ridge. It was the pattern of the crack at the bottom of the tower, extending along the lines of his palm like a sleeping river.

He curled his fingers, clenched his fist, then let it open.

His Soul Power was at level nine and a half, just half a step short.