"Hello everyone, my name is Wang Wu..."
"Hello everyone, my name is Kun Liu..."
In just a minute or so, all the students had introduced themselves. After all, soul masters were rare—only fifteen students filled the entire class.
Mo Hen wrote down their names, closed the roll book, and said, "Alright, next, let's arrange the curriculum for this semester."
"We'll have classes five days a week, with two days off. Classes are mostly in the morning. In the afternoon, you'll help clean the school. But I suggest—if you have time after cleaning, use it to practice."
"That's the basic schedule."
"Now, let's begin our first lesson—literacy."
All fifteen students were work-study students, mostly from rural villages around Nuoding City. Few could recognize large characters, so basic education was essential.
Work-study students from Nuoding City could read and were placed in separate classes. Even among work-study students, the academy made distinctions.
Tang San had learned from Wang Sheng that Dorms Seven, Eight, and Nine were for village students; Dorms Six, Five, and Four housed work-study students born in Nuoding City; Dorms Three, Two, and One were for nobles and wealthier formal students who could afford tuition.
Nine dorms, three tiers—clearly separated.
In Tang San's class, everyone except him and Xiao Wu came from Dorms Eight and Nine. Most were illiterate and couldn't even understand the meditation method. Progress would be slow.
Speaking of meditation, Tang San had seen the version Su Yuntao gave him. It was basic: close your eyes, sense your soul, communicate with it, and guide it to absorb energy from the world to convert into soul power.
In this process, the soul took the lead.
Most people relied on their martial soul to absorb energy—not themselves.
While Tang San suspected others had tried to get children to meditate before awakening their souls, none had succeeded. Even with advanced techniques, the world's soul masters still needed to use their souls for cultivation.
In the original novel, even when Yu Xiaogang taught a simple soul power circulation method, Tang San from his Wuxia background didn't appreciate it.
In this era, cultivating soul power through internal energy flow alone was nearly impossible.
Thus, innate soul power mattered. It represented how efficiently one could communicate with their martial soul—and thus absorb the energy of the world.
Still, those born with martial souls had limitless potential.
From a commoner's point of view, though, martial souls were a double-edged sword—they had no way to resist powerful soul masters.
Continental conflicts always came down to soul masters.
Even in the era of soul tools ten thousand years later, the technology primarily served soul masters.
Such was the curse of all worlds with supernatural powers.
Still, unlike fantasy worlds where a flick of a finger could destroy cities, ordinary people here at least had a chance—though it came slowly.
Back to meditation—Tang San believed it was worth studying.
Though he had Mysterious Heaven Skill, which allowed him to absorb energy without a martial soul and was arguably the greatest skill in this world, the meditation methods were still valuable.
He was a researcher at heart. Arrogance had no place in true study.
···
"Tang San, do you need help hunting your soul beast?" After class, Mo Hen stopped Tang San, who had requested a half-month leave.
"The academy's teachers can help students obtain their first soul ring for free."
"Thank you, Teacher Mo Hen, but I've already found two Spirit Hall masters to assist me, and I've selected the type of soul beast to hunt."
"Su Yuntao, right? We were classmates—though not close," Mo Hen chuckled. Then his eyes shifted toward Yu Xiaogang walking past the window. His tone lowered.
"There's someone at our academy—'the master.' His reputation isn't the best. Try to avoid him. If he wants to take you as a disciple, just say no."
"Thanks for the warning, Teacher Mo Hen. But isn't he friends with the dean? Won't rejecting him cause problems?" Tang San asked cautiously.
"Just refuse. Don't explain. He has a strong sense of pride, but he's not unreasonable. For all these years, he's tolerated people talking behind his back. Honestly, he's... unique."
After bidding farewell to Mo Hen, Tang San left the office. Outside, Xiao Wu was waiting.
"You're not really an innate full soul power, are you? How did you improve so fast?"
"Maybe I have high affinity with the Blue Silver Grass," Tang San said with a smile. "Besides, I found records saying Soft Boned Rabbits have a rare chance at full soul power. You might be the first case. Even I was surprised."
Xiao Wu's face twitched but recovered quickly. He couldn't possibly guess my true identity.
"That might not be true," she said. "Maybe previous cases just weren't documented."
"Could be," Tang San nodded, remembering that Xiao Wu's mother had also transformed. Then he looked at her braid. "Still, I think you might not be completely normal. What six-year-old girl has hair that long?"
Xiao Wu ground her teeth. That felt personal.
But she had no comeback—because it was true.