Chapter 12 – Three Years Later
Three years later. Red Mountain Academy.
Wan Yunchao twisted his chubby body, moving closer to Tang Wulin’s side and whispered, “Wulin, I heard that Zhou Shao Long broke through rank 10, and he’s going to buy a spirit soul tonight. How about you? Didn’t you tell me last time that you’re already at rank 9? We’re about to graduate. If you’re not rank 10 by the time we graduate, you’ll have to go home and cultivate without the academy’s recommendation letter. It’ll be very troublesome to enter an intermediate academy later.”
Three years had gone by, and with it came big changes for Tang Wulin.
Originally only 1.2 meters in height, he had now grown to a height of 1.4 meters. He was already somewhat taller than his peers. With a moderate build, he was neither fat nor thin. From an outsider’s perspective, he didn’t seem particularly strong. Along with his growth, his face had become increasingly handsome, especially his crystal clear black eyes that reflected light like mirrors. Although his martial soul was Bluesilver Grass, he was still very popular within Red Mountain Academy.
Wan Yunchao was the fatty that he had encountered in his first year. He had originally looked down upon Tang Wulin, but he had the tables turned on him one day when he tried bullying Tang Wulin, and was instead pushed onto the floor by Tang Wulin and beaten senseless. He had been well-behaved ever since that beating.
Neither of them had a soul skill yet, nor were there any significant differences in their soul power ranks. Tang Wulin’s physical strength undoubtedly played an important role in their relationship. Although he didn’t look particularly strong or sturdy, that time he had lifted up Wan Yunchao with a single arm had frightened Wan Yunchao into crying loudly, wah wah. Since then, Wan Yunchao had been Tang Wulin’s shadow.
The martial soul class only had a dozen or so students, and six of them had already reached rank 10 soul power. They could already advance from the lowest Soul Master rank of Soul Scholar to the rank of Soul Master. Naturally, they first had to obtain a spirit soul to advance.
In these three years, they had nearly finished their studies at this elementary academy. Once they entered an intermediate academy, they would be divided into their specializations and would attend an academy for their specialization. Glorybound City was a small city. Thus, it didn’t have an intermediate Soul Master academy. In order to enroll in an intermediate academy in a medium sized city, one was required to have a spirit soul.
Wan Yunchao was one of the six students who had achieved rank 10 soul power. Any students who reached rank 10 soul power before graduation were eligible to receive a recommendation letter from the academy, making it significantly easier to enter an intermediate academy. This was due to the fact that it acted as proof that the student had the necessary skill. If they didn’t cultivate to rank 10 before they were 10 years old, they would have to take several tests before being allowed to enroll in an intermediate academy.
“I should be nearly there. I think I’ve hit the bottleneck,” Tang Wulin said with a smile.
His cultivation speed had shocked their teacher, Teacher Lin Ximeng. Cultivating to rank 10 soul power from rank 3 innate soul power in three years couldn’t be considered fast among Soul Masters. At most, it was only considered an average speed.
However, his martial soul was Bluesilver Grass! Cultivating to rank 10 in three years with this kind of trash martial soul certainly couldn’t be considered slow. Although it couldn’t be compared with those geniuses, it was still within the upper levels within the class.
As Lin Ximeng guided Tang Wulin, she discovered that this child had a gift for meditation. It was very easy for him to sense the energy in the atmosphere. Moreover, his meditative state was exceedingly focused. Later, she discovered the cause of Tang Wulin’s fast cultivation speed. This child’s spiritual power was far higher than his peers, enabling him to cultivate with more focus and thus, speed.
If even one more student was able to reach rank 10 before graduation, the teacher would win glory as well as a bonus. Thus, in their last year of studies, Lin Ximeng had treated Tang Wulin with much more importance. She would frequently give him pointers and one on one instruction. Tang Wulin didn’t disappoint her either. With half a month to spare before graduation, Tang Wulin had reached rank 9 and was just a step away from rank 10. After this last step, he would be able to fuse with a spirit soul and become a true Soul Master.
A Soul Scholar without a spirit soul wasn’t much stronger than an ordinary person. However, once they became a Soul Master and possessed a spirit soul’s soul skill, they would enter a completely different realm.
“Good luck, good luck. Who can say for certain if we’ll enter the same intermediate academy after graduating.” Wan Yunchao laughed. “Don’t say that big brother bullied you. Once you have your own spirit soul, we’ll have another spar. When the time comes, we’ll see who beats up who.”
Tang Wulin shot him a glance as he put on his schoolbag. “You can slowly dream on.” He naturally wouldn’t tell Wan Yunchao how strong he was now.
Tang Wulin wasn’t eager to leave as they approached the academy’s gates. Rather, he stood outside the gates and waited.
Not too long after, a smear of radiant silver hair wandered over from the composite academy building.
“Na’er, slow down. You’re going to trip.” Tang Wulin’s voice was brimming with love as he doted on her.
Na’er had a head of short silver hair, and even after three years, she hadn’t changed too much. She was just a bit taller than before while remaining just as adorably pretty. It was just that, no matter how you looked at it, Tang Wulin and Na’er didn’t look like they only had a one year age difference between the two of them. She was just a loli who hadn’t grown too much.
“Big brother, I want to eat a lollipop,” Na’er giggled as she held onto Tang Wulin’s arm.
“Alright. Let’s go buy one and then I’ll bring you home before I head off to the workshop.” Tang Wulin said as he patted her head.
As the dismissed students left, none of them were surprised by the sight of these two siblings. They had long since gotten used to it.
In the second year that Na’er stayed with the Tang family, she had attended the Awakening Ceremony and brought about a marvel. This marvel wasn’t that her martial soul was exceedingly powerful. Instead, she didn’t possess any martial soul at all. This was something that was rarely seen throughout the history of the continent.
Naturally she could only enter the ordinary section of the academy to study without a martial soul.
Na’er grew to become very pretty, making all of the other girls jealous while arousing the curiosity of all of the boys. Due to this, Tang Wulin never had a shortage of fights. One time, a group of male students stopped him, and since he was unable to beat them all by himself, he just used his body to protect Na’er. In the end, he was covered in cuts and bruises, but not a single hair on Na’er was damaged.
The next day, Tang Wulin found the leader and would have a fierce fight every day until finally, he had beaten his opponent until they were afraid of him and were too scared to bully Na’er anymore. Because he was in the Soul Master class, he didn’t receive any serious punishments. He was famous after that fight, and no one in the Red Mountain Academy dared to bully Na’er again.
Since he was eight years old, Tang Wulin had acted like a young man. He shouldered the responsibility of picking up and dropping off his younger sister.
After buying some snacks, Tang Wulin dropped off Na’er at their home along with his schoolbag. In exchange, he put on some oil soaked work clothes and left the house once again.
Mang Tian’s workshop had already become a part of his everyday life.