The Village

Zhao Wuji's back vanished at the far end of the training ground.

Dai Mubai walked over from the side and looked at Tang San, then at Wang Xingyu and Xiao Wu. "Your teamwork actually reached that level. You really did pass Teacher Zhao Wuji's test."

Although Zhao Wuji had gone easy on them, he was still a powerful level seventy-six Soul Saint.

Zhu Zhuqing stood nearby, wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth. She looked at the three of them, gratitude and curiosity in her eyes. "Why is your Second Soul Ring a thousand-year ring?"

She asked directly. Wang Xingyu knew that was just how Zhu Zhuqing was, and that she could be considered the hardest-working person in the original story.

Ning Rongrong looked over too, the same question in her eyes.

Wang Xingyu glanced at Tang San, then at Xiao Wu. The three exchanged looks.

"Because of this." Wang Xingyu held out his right hand. Blue Silver Grass emerged from his palm, one strand wrapping around Tang San's wrist and another around Xiao Wu's.

Another strand connected Tang San and Xiao Wu. The three strands of Blue Silver Grass linked them in pairs, forming a triangle, and Soul Power began to circulate around it.

"It's how the three of us cultivate. We started back at Nuoding Academy. While we're connected, our Soul Power flows between us, and we cultivate faster than we do alone. When we attach a Soul Ring, we share the impact and bear the pressure of a thousand-year ring in three parts."

This was how the three cultivated every day. There was no need to hide it.

Dai Mubai looked at the triangle formed by the three strands of Blue Silver Grass and fell silent for a few breaths. "Blue Silver Grass can do that? No wonder."

He had thought Tang San was the core of the three, but it turned out to be Wang Xingyu, the most inconspicuous of them.

Zhu Zhuqing stared at the triangle for a while. "Only three people?"

"We've tried adding others. Plant-type and earth-type Martial Souls can barely connect, but the efficiency is less than half. Other Martial Souls basically can't connect at all." Wang Xingyu withdrew the Blue Silver Grass.

Ning Rongrong sighed softly. "Then it can't be replicated."

Dai Mubai nodded. "All right. That's enough for today. Go back and rest. The dorms are in that row of stone houses west of the training ground. Find your own rooms."

With that, he turned and left. Zhu Zhuqing glanced at the three of them and left as well. Ning Rongrong followed her.

Only the three of them remained in the open space. Xiao Wu tossed her scorpion braid back. "We passed! Come on, let's look around the village."

The three left the academy and followed the dirt road into the village. It wasn't large, with a single main street lined with stalls selling vegetables, cloth, and coarse-grain flatbreads. Vendors' cries rose one after another. Xiao Wu pulled Tang San along in front, while Wang Xingyu followed, waving his fan.

As they reached the end of the street, they heard an argument ahead.

A fatty dressed in red was gripping a girl's arm as she struggled furiously. "Let go! I told you not to come looking for me again!"

"Cuihua, listen to me-" The fatty was twelve or thirteen, round all over, with red hair and an anxious look on his face. His hand held on in a vise.

Tang San stepped forward, took the fatty by the wrist, and gave it a gentle twist. The fatty's fingers went numb, and he released his grip involuntarily. The girl backed away several steps, rubbing her reddened wrist.

"Don't bully her."

The fatty turned and glared at Tang San. "Who the hell do you think you are? How dare you meddle in my business?"

Before Tang San could speak, Xiao Wu's eyebrows had already shot up. "How dare you insult Third Brother?"

She thrust out her right hand, and a Yellow Soul Ring rose from beneath her feet. Her Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul possessed her, and her scorpion braid lifted slightly.

The fatty froze for a moment, then the corners of his mouth curled up. "Think you're so great because you're a Soul Master?" He turned his right hand over, and a ball of fiery red light shone in his palm. Two Yellow Soul Rings rose around him. With Martial Soul Possession, his hair and pupils took on a crimson hue, and a flame-like cockscomb sprouted atop his head.

"A turkey Martial Soul?"

"I'm not a damn turkey. I'm a phoenix!"

"First Soul Skill, Phoenix Fire Line!"

A crimson line of fire shot from his palm, heading straight for Xiao Wu's face. Xiao Wu didn't retreat. Moon Shadow lit up, and two afterimages spread out to either side.

The line of fire passed through an afterimage and struck empty space. Xiao Wu herself had already circled to his side. Without breaking stride, she shot toward him like a cannonball. Self-Created Soul Skill: Waist Bow. She swept one leg upward from below, kicking the fatty squarely in the side of his waist.

The kick lifted the fatty off the ground. He flipped once in the air and landed hard on his back, sending dust flying.

Xiao Wu didn't stop. She drove her knee into the fatty's chest, pinning him back to the ground, and seized his wrist with her right hand, twisting his arm behind his back. He grunted and struggled several times, but couldn't break free.

"Do you submit?"

"Like hell I do!"

Wang Xingyu held his fan horizontally between them. "Stop."

He knew full well that Ma Hongjun was the kind who naturally responded to force, not persuasion. Before he was beaten into submission, even if Wang Xingyu had spoken up to stop them, the little fatty would probably only have climbed onto his face if given an inch. It would have done no good at all.

Xiao Wu turned her head to look at him. Wang Xingyu closed his fan and pointed at the fatty on the ground. "An Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul. He's Ma Hongjun, a student at Shrek."

Ma Hongjun froze, then turned his head to glare at him. "How do you know?"

"I'd heard of you before." Wang Xingyu's expression didn't change.

The girl called Cuihua stood a few steps away, tears still on her face. She looked at Ma Hongjun, then at Wang Xingyu, bit her lip, and turned to run. Ma Hongjun lay on the ground, watching her leave. He opened his mouth, but didn't call out.

Xiao Wu slowly loosened her grip. She got off Ma Hongjun and stepped back. He lay on the ground without getting up immediately. He stared at the sky, his chest rising and falling.

Wang Xingyu crouched down and held out a hand to him.

Ma Hongjun looked at the hand and remained silent for two breaths before reaching out to take it. Wang Xingyu pulled him up from the ground. Once on his feet, he dusted off his backside, worked the shoulder that had been twisted, and rubbed the spot on his waist where he had been kicked, grimacing.

"Who are you people, anyway?"

"New students," Tang San said.

"New students? Then why did you beat me up?" Ma Hongjun rubbed his waist and glanced at the Yellow Soul Ring beneath Xiao Wu's feet, which hadn't completely faded. The corner of his mouth twitched. "That kick of yours was really vicious."

Xiao Wu tossed her scorpion braid back. "That's what you get for bullying people."

"I..." Ma Hongjun wanted to explain, but the reason was too embarrassing. He looked in the direction Cuihua had disappeared and said nothing.

Ma Hongjun looked Wang Xingyu over, then glanced at Tang San and Xiao Wu. Finally, he sighed. "All right, then. No fight, no friendship. What are your names?"

"Tang San."

"Xiao Wu."

"Wang Xingyu."

Ma Hongjun nodded and rolled his shoulder. "You're pretty strong. Come on. I'll take you to have my aunt's baked flatbread. You won't find another like it in all of Suotuo City." With that, he turned and headed for the end of the street.

Wang Xingyu closed his fan. "Let's go."

After they finished the flatbread, Ma Hongjun waved and left. The three took another walk around the village. It wasn't large, and walking to the end of the main street and back didn't take long.

The sky darkened, and cooking smoke rose from all around as the three headed back to the academy. A training ground separated the girls' dorms from the boys' dorms. At its edge, Xiao Wu waved and headed west.

The boys' dorms were a row of stone houses with wooden plaques hanging by the doors. Wang Xingyu and Tang San found their room and pushed the door open. Inside were two wooden plank beds, a table, and a chair. A copper basin sat on a washstand in the corner.

Wang Xingyu set his fan on the table and flopped onto a bed. Tang San sat on the edge of the other bed, took off his outer robe, folded it, and placed it at the head of the bed.

Wang Xingyu stared at the ceiling for a while, then suddenly turned his head. "Little San."

"Hmm?"

"Want to go watch a show tonight?"

Tang San turned to look at him. Wang Xingyu offered no explanation, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.