This result completely disrupted Lu Tianyu's previous plans. Now, he could only go to the Notting Junior Soul Master Academy to study.
Lu Tianyu wasn't sure how far he could go. Suddenly, he remembered that there was someone in Notting City who could help him.
However, with his mediocre talent, how could he possibly attract the attention of a master?
If he couldn't get guidance from a master, he had to cling to the protagonist Tang San's coattails. Following Tang San, even if he didn't get the main character, he'd still have some broth.
Early the next morning, Lu Tianyu arrived at another magnificent complex of buildings in Notting City—the Notting Junior Soul Master Academy.
At the academy gate, Lu Tianyu stopped a rather pretty female teacher to ask where to register. Unexpectedly, after seeing Lu Tianyu's Martial Soul Awakening Certificate, the teacher became incredibly warm and friendly.
Her arrogance vanished, replaced by a gentle smile, and she called him "Little Brother Tianyu" more readily than anyone else's parents from her previous life.
Then, Lu Tianyu followed the teacher named Si Rong to a tall teaching building, where he registered, paid tuition, and received his school uniform, meal card, daily necessities, bedding, and so on, all in a daze.
Si Rong escorted Lu Tianyu to his single dormitory area, even personally making his bed and arranging his toiletries.
After doing all this, he took Lu Tianyu to the academy's cafeteria and treated him to a delicious meal.
Si Rong's enthusiasm left Lu Tianyu feeling somewhat bewildered. In his memory, the protagonist's experience studying at Notting Junior Soul Master Academy was incredibly tough.
Not only did he have to be bullied by upperclassmen, but he also had to clean the academy.
But right now, the most important thing was to find out if Tang San was studying at Notting Junior Soul Master Academy. As for actively seeking out Grandmaster, Lu Tianyu thought it over and decided against it.
Grandmaster gave Lu Tianyu the impression of being rigid, aloof, and omniscient, so it was best not to deliberately approach him and leave a bad impression.
He could learn from others and first cultivate a good relationship with Tang San, then indirectly obtain useful cultivation knowledge from him.
Thinking of this, Lu Tianyu asked, "Teacher Sirong, is there a work-study student named Tang San in our academy?"
Sirong smiled and replied, "No, there are only seven work-study students in the academy, and none of them are named Tang San."
Lu Tianyu frowned slightly upon hearing this, then thought for a moment and asked, "When does freshman registration end?"
"Freshman registration ended the day before yesterday, but there might be other reasons why some students are late,"
Sirong said, sensing that Lu Tianyu wanted to find Tang San, hence her half-explanation, half-answer.
However, Lu Tianyu clearly remembered that Tang San was never late when registering, and even obtained his first spirit ring on the first day of school.
Undeterred, Lu Tianyu asked again, "Teacher Sirong, could you be mistaken? Are you sure Tang San isn't among this year's work-study students? And there's a girl named Xiao Wu."
Sirong replied with certainty, "No girls enrolled this year. If there were, I would definitely remember."
Lu Tianyu knew he would give himself away if he kept asking, so he changed the subject, asking what he should pay attention to when cultivating at the academy. Sirong
answered Lu Tianyu's questions without reservation. In fact, the primary Soul Master Academy mainly teaches the basic theoretical knowledge of Martial Soul cultivation.
Especially for the first and second years, there are only theoretical courses and introductory meditation guidance. It's already quite difficult for six- or seven-year-old kids to sit still for half a day.
More than 70% of them don't even know how to read. Students in a class must meet the academic requirements before they can have practical training.
After graduating from the primary Soul Master Academy and entering the intermediate Soul Master Academy, there will be a lot of practical training courses.
Even in the advanced Soul Master Academy, about 30% of the time is spent studying theory, after all, a Soul Master needs sufficient knowledge to develop their Martial Soul to its fullest potential.
In short, at the Elementary Soul Master Training Academy, students only have one day of practical training per week.
The rest of the time is spent learning theoretical knowledge and cultivating soul power through meditation, since most students only possess soul power of around level half to five. Those with
soul power exceeding level five receive invitations from the Spirit Hall, and those who accept the invitation usually go to study at the Soul Master Academy established by the Spirit Hall.
It's truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for someone like Lu Tianyu, who possesses level nine soul power, not to study at a Soul Master Academy established by the Spirit Hall.
After dinner, Si Rong took Lu Tianyu on a tour of the Notting Elementary Soul Master Academy, and they didn't return to their dormitory until around ten o'clock at night.
While familiarizing himself with the academy, Lu Tianyu specifically searched the work-study student quarters, but indeed, he couldn't find any trace of Xiao Wu.
The next morning, as soon as Lu Tianyu got up and dressed, Si Rong came to call him to go to the cafeteria for breakfast.
On the second floor of the cafeteria, Si Rong encountered a middle-aged man in a black robe with a somewhat pale face. Reluctantly, Si Rong addressed him as "Master."
The man gave Si Rong a cold look, then left the cafeteria with his hands behind his back.
Without Si Rong's introduction, Lu Tianyu immediately recognized the man as Yu Xiaogang, affectionately known as "Master."
"Hmph, Tianyu, don't bother with this guy. He's just relying on his connection with the Dean. What's so great about him?"
Lu Tianyu glanced at Si Rong but said nothing more. The man's arrogance was understandable.
Seeing Master but not seeing Tang San or Xiao Wu made Lu Tianyu suspect he had entered the elementary soul master academy before Tang San.
But so be it; he was of age to awaken his martial soul, so naturally he had to do it.
He remembered Master saying that the younger one was to cultivate soul power, the faster the speed. Delaying by a year could potentially trap one at a certain level, preventing them from ever breaking through.
After learning how to cultivate soul power through meditation, Lu Tianyu devoted all his time to it, except for sleeping, eating, and attending classes. After all, soul power was one of the standards for judging a soul master's strength.
No matter how powerful your martial soul was, or how much innate soul power you had when you awakened it,
you weren't qualified to obtain a soul ring without level ten or twenty soul power
. And for a soul master, soul rings were the foundation of power. Lu Tianyu reached level ten in soul power within a month of enrolling as a freshman.
However, he didn't tell any of the academy's teachers, mainly because none of them knew anything about soul beasts or soul rings.
His memories of soul beasts and soul rings were all casually mentioned by masters, and Lu Tianyu felt that even if he had to wait longer, he wanted someone knowledgeable to guide him in finding soul rings.
Then, when the new student registration opened the following year, Lu Tianyu watched as the master left the academy with his hands behind his back and entered Notting City.
About ten minutes later, a girl dressed in pink and wearing a pink rabbit hair accessory skipped and hopped into the academy.
The little girl ran into the academy without noticing Lu Tianyu at all, and Lu Tianyu had to restrain himself from greeting Xiao Wu several times.
Around noon, a white-haired, simply dressed, hunched old man led a similarly simply dressed but unusually bright-eyed child to the academy gate.
The middle-aged gatekeeper deliberately made things difficult for the two because of their appearance, and was pushed to the ground by the child.
Just then, Grandmaster returned from his outing and stopped the conflict between the gatekeeper, the child, and the old man. Seeing this scene, Lu Tianyu smiled happily.
Tang San and Grandmaster's first encounter was being broadcast live, and Lu Tianyu found this unusual feeling quite pleasant.
After reprimanding the gatekeeper, Grandmaster led Tang San into the Notting Junior Soul Master Academy.
Tang San looked at Lu Tianyu as soon as he entered the gate, and seeing Lu Tianyu smile at him, Tang San returned the smile.
Grandmaster seemed to notice the subtle interaction between Tang San and Lu Tianyu, frowned slightly at Lu Tianyu, and remained silent.
Only when he led Tang San to Lu Tianyu's side did he speak, "Your name is Lu Tianyu, right? A genius with innate level nine soul power."
"Uh."
Lu Tianyu really didn't expect the master to know him, and hurriedly stood up and said, "I'm level ten now. As for genius, I wouldn't call myself a genius."
After hearing Lu Tianyu's words, the master seemed to become a little interested and couldn't help but continue, "Oh, right now there are only six students with level ten soul power in the Notting Junior Soul Master Academy."
"The other five are fifth-year students, now sixth-year students. Among the second-year students, you're the only one with level ten
. If you're not a genius, then who is?" After listening to the master's words, Lu Tianyu glanced at Tang San and said, "For example, from the moment you awaken your martial soul, your innate soul power is level ten. I only reached level ten after a year of cultivation."
The master, unusually indifferent today, said with interest, "Wow, if I'm not mistaken, your soul power should have reached level ten six months ago."
Lu Tianyu looked into the master's eyes, thought for a moment, and said with utmost seriousness, "Soul power doesn't completely represent talent. My understanding of martial souls is like that of a complete novice."
The master felt that Lu Tianyu's words had struck a chord with him. Wasn't the thing he wanted to prove most in his life that soul power didn't represent a soul master's talent?
"Continue,"
the Grandmaster said, his voice trembling slightly as he suppressed his inner turmoil. "Why do you believe that soul power cannot fully represent talent?"
Lu Tianyu raised his chin slightly, looking into the Grandmaster's eyes. "I don't know either, it's just a feeling."
"For the past year, I've really wanted to cultivate my martial soul, but I've discovered I have no idea how."
At this point, Lu Tianyu raised his right hand, summoning his martial soul. "So far, I can only summon my martial soul; I know nothing else."
"I don't know what my martial soul is called? What are its characteristics? What abilities does it grant me? What are its strengths that I should cultivate? What weaknesses do I need to overcome?"
Tang San and the Grandmaster both stared curiously at the illusory figure appearing in Lu Tianyu's right palm. Even the erudite Grandmaster couldn't immediately identify Lu Tianyu's martial soul.
The only thing the Grandmaster was certain of was that Lu Tianyu's martial soul was definitely a top-tier martial soul—a theory he himself had proposed.
The quality of a martial soul is directly proportional to the soul power gained upon awakening it; in other words, the higher the innate soul power, the higher the quality of the martial soul.
"Interesting little fellow, interesting martial soul. If you really want to explore your martial soul thoroughly, you can come find me."
Lu Tianyu couldn't help but shudder after hearing the master's words. He had only been venting his pent-up frustrations from the past year.
The master had actually offered to study his martial soul; it was truly a case of "the flower you plant with care doesn't bloom, but the willow you plant unintentionally thrives."
Having received the master's promise, Lu Tianyu suppressed his excitement and bowed respectfully, saying, "Then this student thanks the master for his guidance."
The master nodded slightly, saying, "Hmm, your martial soul is indeed very rare. At least it's different from the few martial souls I know."
"How about this, come to my office tonight."
Lu Tianyu hurriedly nodded after hearing the master's words, saying, "Yes, Master..."
Little did Lu Tianyu know that his unintentional words had touched the master's heartstrings. Furthermore, the master was excited to have encountered Tang San, a genius with twin martial souls, and thus abandoned his usual aloofness to offer Lu Tianyu some guidance.
Lu Tianyu stayed in his dormitory waiting for nightfall, because Grandmaster was the only person he could think of who could help him understand his martial soul.
As for asking the Spirit Hall or major sects, he decided against it. They were strangers to him; why would they wholeheartedly nurture him?
Even if they were willing to, it would be with ulterior motives, not only binding him with the shackles of sect or faction affiliation but
also labeling him as belonging to a faction long ago, participating in the power struggle between the Spirit Hall and major sects before he had much strength.
Wasn't that tantamount to suicide? It was better to develop stealthily and become a free spirit master.
Now that he had connected with Yu Xiaogang, it was the first step to becoming stronger. Lu Tianyu found waiting to be incredibly agonizing; an afternoon felt like an eternity.
After the streetlights in the academy came on, Lu Tianyu changed his clothes and headed towards Grandmaster's residence.
Lu Tianyu had been paying attention to the location of Grandmaster's residence since he first entered Notting Junior Spirit Master Academy, and today he finally arrived at the door of this room.
"Knock, knock, knock."
"Come in."
Lu Tianyu knocked lightly, and Grandmaster's voice came from inside.
Pushing open the door, Lu Tianyu found not only Grandmaster but also Tang San, who had changed into the uniform of the Notting Junior Soul Master Academy.
Lu Tianyu glanced at Tang San, then bowed to Grandmaster and said, "Grandmaster, good evening."
Grandmaster gave a soft hum and said, "Lu Tianyu, would you like to come with me to the Soul Hunting Forest to find soul rings tomorrow?"
(End of Chapter)