Just then, a male teacher walked over and stared at Yin Xuan. "Wait, you're not one of our students, are you?"
Yin Xuan nodded. "Hi, I'm from a village nearby. I want to enroll. I'm already a one-ring Spirit Master. Could you let me in?"
He handed his Spirit Master handbook over.
The teacher looked at Yin Xuan kind of funny, then flipped through the handbook. One glance and—
He almost jumped out of his skin.
"Hold on—Innate Full Spirit Power?" The teacher looked stunned.
Yin Xuan nodded.
The teacher grinned. "Come with me. I'll take you to the Dean. In all these years, I've never seen anyone with Innate Full Spirit Power. Didn't imagine I'd meet such a treasure this year!"
Yin Xuan followed him right away.
A little while later, they stepped into the Dean's office.
Dean Bruce adjusted his glasses, looked Yin Xuan up and down, glanced at the handbook, and said, "Well, registration's over, but someone like you… we can make an exception. Show me your Spirit and ring."
Yin Xuan spread his right hand. The Dark Blue Silver Emperor appeared, glowing with a white ring. "This is my Spirit, Shadow Demon Grass."
Bruce blinked. "Shadow Demon Grass? Never heard of it, but whatever. A white ring's still better than none."
He thought it over for a minute. "Pay one gold coin for tuition, pick up your uniform, and you can start right away."
Yin Xuan replied, "I don't have that much money. Is it possible to become a work-study student?"
Bruce looked surprised. He paused, then nodded. "Alright—one gold coin per month. I'll let you delay tuition. But you know, you'll lose out on cultivation time if you become a work-study."
"Thank you, Dean." Yin Xuan grabbed a set of uniforms from the secretary, promised to pay next month, and left.
Bruce nodded.
Tang Hao! Tang Hao!
When you take Tang San to awaken the Blue Silver Emperor and find it won't work, remember—I'm not dead yet!
Yin Xuan's lips curled into a chilly sneer.
His appearance had changed so much, even his hair turned black again. By the time he was grown, things would be different. With a bit more disguise, even if he stood right in front of Tang Hao, he figured Tang Hao wouldn't recognize him.
"Hehehehe—"
...
...
Nuoding City.
Primary Soul Master Academy.
Yin Xuan vanished—and his disappearance stirred things up in the work-study dorm, but honestly, nobody was too shaken.
Tang San was puzzled, but he and Yu Xiaogang still headed off to the Spirit Hunting Forest to get a spirit ring.
After all kinds of trouble, they finally came back five days later.
That night, someone knocked on the door.
Yu Xiaogang was studying the Datura Snake's corpse, frowning. He opened the door—and saw a man in black.
"Who are you?"
Tang Hao lowered his hood, showed his face. "Grandmaster, it's been years. I am Tang Hao."
"Tang... Tang Hao!?" Yu Xiaogang's eyes went wide and he stammered.
Tang Hao shrugged. "I'm here mainly for Little San."
"Go ahead," Yu Xiaogang replied, serious now.
Tang Hao said, "I know Little San's your student now. I trust you, so I'm leaving him to you while I handle other business."
Yu Xiaogang nodded. "Don't worry. I'll treat him like my own."
Tang Hao handed him a token with six marks. "You know what this is. Might come in handy later."
Yu Xiaogang saw it—a Supreme Pontiff Decree, symbol of Spirit Hall elder status. His hands shook.
"That's all. I'm leaving. Take care of Little San." Tang Hao turned to go.
Yu Xiaogang remembered something. "Tang Yin, he's your other son, right? He disappeared—nobody knows where he went."
Tang Hao stiffened. "I took Little Yin away. He doesn't have twin spirits, not as talented as Little San. He'll be ordinary, but at least he doesn't need to hide his identity here."
Hearing that, Yu Xiaogang got it.
"Keep this secret from Little San." Tang Hao vanished.
Yu Xiaogang's eye twitched. "He couldn't have taken him before or after, only exactly when I gave them the Meditation Technique and wanted both as disciples…"
"But whatever. With Tang Hao's teaching, Tang Yin won't need mine. Shame I won't get to study his mutated Blue Silver Grass Spirit."
...
...
Two years later.
Yin Xuan, in a black robe, walked out of Mulan Junior Spirit Master Academy.
He was tall for his age—1.6 meters—and stood out among his peers. Cold, deep eyes, strikingly handsome. He was pretty famous around school.
The past two years went smoothly.
His spirit power jumped from eleven to nineteen, just one rank from getting his second spirit ring.
He didn't have Tang San's skill with Hidden Weapons, didn't have Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, Purple Demon Eye, or those hidden weapon moves.
He poured everything into Spirit cultivation.
His innate soul ring evolved as he got stronger—from white (ten years) up to yellow (hundred years). When he reached the level for a thousand-year ring, it'd upgrade too.
That's the benefit of an innate soul ring.
"If only all my rings were innate soul rings," Yin Xuan muttered.
It'd save him from hunting Spirit Beasts in the early stages. Plus, spirit abilities from innate rings feel more like those from god-bestowed rings—much more suited to him than ones gained by hunting beasts.
He thought of Lan Xuanyu, who carried both Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King bloodlines, seven-eighths Dragon God blood—almost a Spirit Beast in human form. Not so different from Xiao Wu, he could even "condense" several innate soul rings that grow stronger as he does. Ridiculous, honestly.
"Tang Hao, you never thought I'd survive!"
"My first revenge will be for that Blue Silver Emperor Spirit Bone!"
When Tang Hao tries to give that bone to Tang San and finds it missing—oh, that'll be entertaining.
A chill flashed in Yin Xuan's eyes.
Anyone who wrongs him, he'll give it right back.