Chapter 14

"Are you really working students?" asked the boy named Ling Feng, while looking at me and Tang San who was in the middle of the area where they were going to fight.

He was much thinner and smaller than Liu Long, I think he's stronger because he has a beast martial soul. He looked at Tang San, his eyes revealing a hesitant expression.

Tang San only nodded in response, while observing Ling Feng who activated his martial soul, causing him to acquire traits of some kind of bird.

I watched as Ling Feng started running at great speed towards Tang San before making a jump of about two meters with his hands extended pointing towards Tang San's head, but Tang San remained motionless watching Ling Feng's movements, who before crashing into him, changed direction moving his hands that had some feathers and with great speed appeared behind Tang San.

It seemed he was going to use his hands to incapacitate Tang San, but just as his hands were about to touch Tang San's head, Tang San suddenly moved one of his legs and kicked Ling Feng who was behind him without even turning around, then I saw how Ling Feng tried to escape and Tang San started chasing him at high speed giving Ling Feng a kick to the chin who ended up doing somersaults in the air before falling unconscious on the floor.

I tried to memorize every movement of Tang San, while the others were amazed by what Tang San did.

Suddenly I heard Wang Sheng, who was next to us, start to boast. "What do you think, boss Xiao? Convinced or not, Huang Lin left one of your strongest subordinates incapacitated with a single movement, while holding back, and our Tang San didn't even use his martial soul. I see you still have to admit defeat. Stop suffering the pain." I could see how Xiao Chenyu's face turned gloomy, while he gave me looks and then his expression turned cold looking at Tang San before walking towards the battle area.

I heard Xiao Chenyu introduce himself to Tang San "Xiao Chen-Yu, sixth-year student, martial soul, wolf. First soul ring battle soul master, eleventh level".

Tang San, who until now had not brought out his martial soul, remained thoughtful for a brief moment before announcing "Tang San, first-year student, blue silver grass martial soul. First soul ring battle soul master of eleventh level".

Our entire group could hear the loud laughter of all the students when Tang San announced his martial soul.

As Tang San spoke, he raised his right hand and manifested his blue silver grass and a bright yellow soul ring rose around Tang San from below his feet, floating regularly up and down around his body.

"Another 100-year soul ring?" Xiao Chenyu's face started to look a bit bad, but he remained in his position. While all the other students were in shock, though I don't blame them. Two first-year students already have a soul ring and not a white soul ring. But yellow ones, and above all, one of them has a blue silver grass martial soul.

Xiao Chenyu also manifested his martial soul which was a kind of wolf and after a moment the fight began.

What's happening? I wondered as I saw how Tang San and Xiao Chenyu instead of fighting with techniques or strategies. Both ran towards each other with their hands extended and Xiao Chenyu's claws clashed with Tang San's palms, I could hear many mocking Tang San.

But when both crashed their hands, a loud sound was heard and a tiny current of air could be felt, but that was all, for a moment I thought Tang San had gone crazy and wanted to have a Sumo fight, but after Tang San's palms clashed with Xiao Chenyu's claws, Tang San grabbed Xiao Chenyu's arms and pulled him in his direction and then used one of his shoulders to hit Xiao Chenyu's stomach taking advantage of the size difference between a six-year-old child against a twelve-year-old.

Then Tang San said with a cold look "I'm still busy and don't have time to play with you, so I'll end it like this. Blue silver grass, bind."

Suddenly blue silver grass appeared from the ground that wrapped and immobilized Xiao Chenyu. "What is this?!" Xiao Chenyu shouted, while trying to free himself.

In the end, Tang San must have gotten the snake from the original series, I was curious if he would get a different soul ring, but it seems the butterfly effect is not having too much effect.

Tang San approached him and said "Don't try. You can't free yourself by fighting. My first soul ring was a datura snake, therefore, my blue silver grass has the hardness of the datura snake. Of course, it also has a bit of the datura snake's poison. If you feel you still have more fighting strength, I don't mind letting you try the taste of the datura snake's venom. Ah, I should mention that I don't have an antidote". Xiao Chenyu started to look at Tang San with fear upon hearing him and said with a pleading expression "Don't use snake venom. I admit defeat".

If I'm not mistaken, it's impossible for the blue silver grass to fully acquire the datura snake's venom with just the first soul ring, it must be a very diluted version.

"Since you've already admitted defeat, then, follow what you and Xiao Wu agreed on previously". Xiao Chenyu was released and looked at me and Xiao Wu before fixing his gaze on Tang San with sadness and confusion.

"So, should I recognize you as boss, Huang Lin, or recognize her?" Tang San without any doubt said "Of course Xiao Wu is your boss. I can't beat her. Otherwise, the boss of room seven would be me or Huang Lin, not her".

"Huh?" Xiao Chenyu's incredulous expression was quite satisfying.

Xiao Wu walked leisurely to Tang San's side, while I followed her to her side and she ended up patting Tang San and me on the shoulder, adopting the appearance of a leader.

"Little San and Huang Lin's performance wasn't bad, you've worked hard".

"The master still left me some matters to attend to, you'll resolve the rest of the matters yourself. Afterwards you can be the academy's boss".

"Alright, you go, we'll take care of the rest". When Xiao Wu finished speaking, Tang San looked at me and Xiao Wu.

"Good luck in whatever you do" I said and when he heard me he nodded before starting to move away from us.

Xiao Wu fixed her gaze on Xiao Chenyu, who seems to have many doubts about Xiao Wu being more powerful than us two.

"What? You're still not convinced? Fine. I'll introduce myself once. I'm Xiao Wu, first-year student, rabbit martial soul, battle soul master of first soul ring of twelfth level". Xiao Wu said proudly, while a red light emerged that enveloped her before rabbit ears started to appear and she became a little taller and a yellow soul ring appeared below her feet moving continuously.

Xiao Wu looked with some smugness at the senior students before they started to bow in greeting, casting a glance at the stunned Tang San who still hadn't left.

"Didn't you have some problem? Why haven't you left? You and Huang Lin have innate full soul power, so why wouldn't I have it?". She asked smugly, but then Tang San muttered something that made her angry before leaving.

When Tang San left, I stood watching curiously what Xiao Wu would order the students to do.

"From now on, you'll all call me Xiao Wu Jie, you'll do all my cleaning work, Huang Lin's and Tang San's" I tapped Xiao Wu on the shoulder.

"I don't do the duties of a working student" Xiao Wu looked at me confused. I thought I had already told her or maybe she had forgotten.

"Then everyone will do my cleaning duties and Tang San's"

"Understood!" Everyone said in unison before bowing to Xiao Wu. The scene was very amusing, because it was like watching a mafia boss's daughter giving orders to her father's subordinates.

"Xiao Wu Jie, I will be the one organizing people to take care of your tasks and I truly regret saying all the bad things I said," said Xiao Chenyue, who had approached us.

Xiao Wu looked at him with her big eyes before saying magnanimously, "You are forgiven. From today on, you will all be my younger brothers. So you can go now."

"Thank you very much, Xiao Wu Jie," said Xiao Chenyu before leaving, accompanied by his other followers, leaving Xiao Wu, our dormitory mates, and me alone.

"Xiao Wu, Huang Lin... Thank you very much for making it so that we working students... no longer have to suffer abuse from other students at the academy," Wang Sheng said with great joy, but at the same time I could feel his helplessness and melancholy.

We could notice the grateful looks from all our dormitory mates.

Then Xiao Wu seemed to remember something. "But leaving that aside, why are you in the dormitory with the working students? But don't you have to do the chores?" Xiao Wu asked me curiously.

Wang Sheng along with the other dormitory members looked at me and seemed quite interested to know the reason.

"It's not too important, but since you ask. As you might have heard from the professor, I don't have to do the chores and the reason for that is because my father is a professor who teaches the sixth-year students. But I came to this academy with a scholarship for working students because I used to live in a small village with an annual quota for working students and this year there was hardly anyone noteworthy besides me. So my father pays part of the tuition instead of doing it completely and convinced the director to allow me to stay in the workers' dormitory on my whim," I explained to them.

"But leaving that aside, I'm going back to the dormitory to continue my cultivation," I said before walking to the dormitory and for some reason everyone started following me.

"I think on second thought I'll go visit my mom." When I said that, I abandoned them and went to a secluded place after making sure no one was following me. I took out Sylph to feed her and after doing so, I practiced a bit with my soul ring ability before returning to the dormitory to cultivate where I saw that everyone seemed happy.

Xiao Wu seemed quite bored, lying on her back.

"Now that I think about it, why do you never cultivate?" I asked Xiao Wu, although she doesn't need to cultivate or train for her soul power to increase naturally, it's possible that the speed at which her soul power increases could significantly increase.

"It's very boring and I fall asleep shortly after doing it." What a waste of talent.

"I'm going to cultivate for a while," I said before starting to meditate on one of the most distant beds so that the other dormitory members, who were quite happy while chatting, wouldn't interrupt me.

After a while, the door opened and Tang San had arrived and Xiao Wu went to boast about her position and that they no longer had to do the cleaning chores.

After a moment I heard something that I had completely forgotten. Registering as a soul master in the spirit hall and obtaining the benefit of a monthly gold coin.

I think it's time to register at the spirit hall, Sylph doesn't stop devouring a lot of food to the point that I already have the habit of always carrying a bag full of food when leaving the dining room.

"I think I'll also go register as a soul master." I approached Xiao Wu and Tang San and I could feel the envious eyes of the other dormitory mates.

"That's great, we can go together, let's hurry, we're already at the end of the month so we can have two gold coins in a row," Xiao Wu said with a smiling face.

When I was about to accompany her, she ran off excitedly towards the Spirit Hall headquarters in Nuoding City and I had to keep up with her pace.

When we arrived at the building, we could see two guards at the entrance.

"Can we enter? We are students from the primary soul master academy. We came because we recently obtained our first soul ring and want to measure our soul power level." They started looking at our uniforms before letting us pass.

When we had crossed the door I heard one of the guards mutter, "What's wrong with these kids these days? Why do they come to brag about going to Nuoding Academy and bother if the academy must have a soul power meter."

We ignored them and continued going inside, the place had a dome shape with glass windows everywhere which allowed the place to be well lit during the day. We observed the surroundings and could only see some servants so we had no choice but to ask a servant for directions, who began to guide us along the way with much enthusiasm, it seemed he wanted to take a break from cleaning.

He took us up some stairs to the second floor and then we could see a bunch of doors down a hallway, until he left us in front of one of them.

"Xiao Wu, are you ready?" I asked Xiao Wu who seemed to be daydreaming, while not stopping mumbling about carrots.

"Of course, that gold coin won't claim itself," she said with much enthusiasm.

We knocked on the door several times and then we heard a voice come from the room "You can enter."

We could see an adult man who was behind a counter, the place was quite spacious.

"Why did children like you come to this place? Are you going to perform the awakening of martial souls?" asked the man, while observing us.

"We came for the advancement test," I said, while Xiao Yu responded at the same time "We came for the gold coin."

He seemed quite confused by what we said.

"Don't tell me you are also innate full soul power like the boy from a while ago?" he asked shocked.

"Not me, but she is, only that she dedicated a great part of time to cultivate me and that's why I reached the tenth level of soul power." Xiao Wu seemed confused when she heard me, but I simply winked at her to keep quiet.

"Wow, you must have put a lot of effort and dedication to achieve that feat." His attitude was quite friendly and I could feel a bit of admiration when he heard me.

"Let me introduce myself, I'm Ma Xiu-Nuo, what are your names little ones?" said the old man kindly.

"My name is Huang Lin, I have a poke ball soul martial, I'm in your care Ma Xiu-Nuo," I said, while making a small bow.

He put his gaze on Xiao Wu who began to say "I'm Xiao Wu, Wu for dance and my martial soul is a white rabbit, I'm also in your care" in a cute way.

"What well-mannered children have come today. Let me guide you to take the advancement test." He got up from his seat and we left the Office, he guided us until we arrived at a place where there were three quite tall doors.

He looked at us with a friendly smile of an old man before saying, "Here is the soul testing room to perform the advancement evaluation. Come, children."

He opened the door on the left and we entered a very spacious place. I looked up at the ceiling and it was quite surprising how high it was. Additionally, in this place there was a giant window that allowed the whole place to be illuminated with sunlight. The Spirit Hall headquarters have so many glass windows they could easily be mistaken for some kind of greenhouse if they were dedicated to taking care of plants.

The floor was decorated with the image of a giant sword.

"Elder Ma Xiu-Nuo, will we do the soul power level evaluation here?" said Xiao Wu, while looking at every corner of the place.

"Of course," said Ma Xiu-Nuo, while picking up a crystal ball that was on a table before approaching us.

"Show me your martial souls so I can verify your soul power level." When I heard him, I immediately took out my martial soul of a poke ball.

"My martial soul, although it looks like a harmless metal ball, is an attack martial soul." When I finished speaking, I noticed that Ma Xiu-Nuo had a shocked look, while observing the soul rings that were moving up and down our bodies instead of focusing on our martial souls.

"By any chance, are you also disciples of the Grandmaster?" he asked us, after a moment.

"We are not," Xiao Wu and I answered at the same time.

"Would you like to join the Spirit Hall as exclusive soul masters of the spirit hall?" Xiao Wu seemed confused by what he said, so I explained to her.

"He means that we would not only receive the national stipend, but we would study in the Spirit Hall academies, near the most important facilities of the Spirit Hall, where there would even be Title Douluo quite close." I could notice the brief trembling in Xiao Wu's body when she heard me and she said hastily, "I'm sorry, but I'm already committed to studying at Nuoding Academy."

"It's a shame, what do you say, little one?" He said with hopeful eyes.

"What benefits can joining the Spirit Hall offer that are better than Nuoding Academy?" When he heard me, he started explaining very excitedly.

"In the Spirit Hall you will have many high-level soul masters as teachers who will guide you on your path of cultivation, they will allow you to obtain many quite powerful soul beasts when you need a soul ring, in addition to giving you access to the spirit hall library that has a wide variety of information on everything related to cultivation and they allow you access to facilities that can slightly increase your cultivation speed along with places with very advanced training equipment."

I could notice that he looked very happy explaining. But it doesn't sound very tempting when I think that I can get a fairy grass, in addition to being able to acquire the best cultivation technique that exists in this world from Tang San since he would receive knowledge from Yu Xiaogang about many soul beasts, which would be much more efficient than researching on my own when I could spend that time cultivating and training.

Besides, I already have a lot of information about how the world works and the cultivation of martial souls that haven't even been normalized in this world, and when it comes to high-level soul masters, Shrek's teachers fulfill that, the only thing that would change would be the luxuries and much of the comfort that it provides due to their large amount of money at their disposal. In fact, it sounds much more tempting than Shrek in that part because Shrek would be no different from an isolated school in a rural field whose greatest achievement would be to raise people who were already people who had a secure future no matter where they joined, while the Spirit hall would be a famous school.

"I'm sorry, but it doesn't sound very tempting, so I'll stay at Nuoding Academy." He looked at me with a bit of reluctance for a moment, but then he composed himself.

"It's a pity, let's leave it at that. Who wants to be the first to take the evaluation? You just need to infuse your soul power."

"Me!" said Xiao Wu excitedly and started touching the crystal sphere that began to glow yellow.

"You have a soul power of twelfth level," said Ma Xiu-Nuo, while observing the glow of the crystal sphere.

"It's your turn, boy."

I started to infuse my soul power and the same thing happened as with Xiao Wu, only the glow was a little more intense.

"An-another thirteenth level soul power! Is Nuoding Academy full of geniuses?" I heard him exclaim after he was surprised.

"What kind of soul beast did you hunt to jump two cultivation levels?" He asked with a great gleam of curiosity in his eyes.

"I'm not sure, it's a type of red bird a couple of meters tall that looks like an eagle with mostly red plumage with purple feathers that are at the edge of its wings." He thought for a moment and said,

"I'm not very sure what type of soul beast it is, maybe it's a hybrid soul beast between a hundred-year eagle and another type of bird with a similar age," he said a little discouraged for not knowing the answer.

"Well, thank you very much for helping us with the evaluation." When we finished speaking I saw Xiao Wu a little impatient to one side and she said in a somewhat cute way,

"Where can we claim the gold coin?" To which Ma Xiu-Nuo simply let out a laugh.

"You sure are impatient little girl, on the first floor to the right going down the stairs there is a reception room that is in charge of paying the national stipend." When he said that, Xiao Wu left very excited and left the place.

"Thank you very much for your help and sorry for making you waste a little time." He seemed very pleased with what I said.

"Don't worry, it's my job after all and it's nice to see children with so much potential take their advancement test," he said, with a quite happy smile.

After this, Xiao Wu and I claimed the spiritual gold coin and we went to Nuoding Academy.