By the time Lu Yuan arrived at the old village chief’s house, the noon hour had already passed.
The old chief’s wife had passed away in her early years, and he had only a daughter, who had long since married into a neighboring village.
Now, he lived alone in this house.
Knock, knock, knock!
After a few raps on the door, the sound of a cane striking wooden floorboards came from within.
“Oh?
It’s Xiao Yuan.”
Seeing who it was, the old man was momentarily taken aback.
After recovering his wits, he immediately broke into a smile and said, “Come in, come in!
Haven’t had lunch yet, have you?
There are still a few sweet potatoes and some dry rations in the pot.”
“Grandpa Niu, don’t worry about me—I’ve already eaten.”
Following the old man inside and arriving at the center of the living room, Lu Yuan produced a large piece of bone-in meat wrapped in lotus leaves from his basket and placed it on the table under the old chief’s puzzled gaze.
“Xiao Yuan, is this another catch from your traps?”
“Yes, Grandpa Niu.
It’s tiger meat I caught with my traps today.
I brought some over to help supplement your nutrition.”
As he spoke, Lu Yuan unwrapped the lotus leaves, revealing a large chunk of tiger meat that still retained some warmth.
“Tiger meat?
You’re not hurt, are you?” Upon hearing it was tiger meat, the old chief’s face paled with fright, and he immediately began checking Lu Yuan’s body for injuries.
Lu Yuan cooperatively turned around and explained, “I’m fine, Grandpa Niu.
See?
I’m perfectly unharmed.”
“Whew—”
Letting out a long breath, the old chief’s expression finally relaxed.
Then he asked with great concern:
“Didn’t you say last time that you set your traps on the outskirts of the forest?
How did you end up encountering a tiger?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Lu Yuan put on an expression of ignorance and explained, “I don’t know why either.
But something must have happened in the forest recently.”
To keep the old chief from probing further into how he had caught the tiger, Lu Yuan quickly changed the subject: “By the way, Grandpa Niu, I think we should warn everyone.
Recently, wild beasts have been appearing frequently on the forest outskirts.
People should be more careful when they go up the mountain to hunt.”
The old chief nodded in agreement, saying very seriously, “Yes, yes—we definitely should mention that.”
Then he looked back at the pile of tiger meat.
“This…”
Staring at the meat, the old chief felt both gratified and helpless.
“This is way too much, Xiao Yuan.”
“It’s not too much.
If you can’t finish it all, you can make smoked meat or air-dry it.”
“Alright, then!”
The old chief wanted to say more, but seeing the earnest expression on Lu Yuan’s face, he swallowed the words that had risen to his lips.
Seeing this, Lu Yuan broke into a knowing smile.
Then he brought up the other matter he had come for.
“Grandpa Niu, I also have another thing to discuss with you today.”
“Oh?
“It’s like this, Grandpa Niu.
Master Su Yuntao said that after awakening a martial soul, one needs a meditation method to assist with cultivation.”
“So I plan to use this time to go to the Notting City Spirit Master Academy in advance and learn that meditation method.
That way, I won’t waste these three months.”
After listening to Lu Yuan’s explanation, the old chief didn’t know what a “meditation method” was.
But he knew that since Master Su Yuntao had said it was useful, then it must be useful.
Without hesitation, he immediately agreed to Lu Yuan’s request.
“Alright.
Since you’ve made up your mind, Grandpa will take you to the academy early.”
“By the way, when do you plan to leave?”
“Hmm!” Thinking for a moment, Lu Yuan said, “Three days from now.
I need some time to prepare a few things.”
“Alright, no problem.
Grandpa will go with you in three days.”
With that, Lu Yuan chatted with the old chief for a while longer, then stood up and returned to his own home.
He casually grabbed a piece of tiger meat from the table and walked into the kitchen.
Half an hour later, a large basin of fragrant, stewed tiger meat was set upon the dining table.
Ten minutes or so later, the entire basin of meat had been devoured clean by Lu Yuan.
Looking at the basin with not even a drop of broth left, Lu Yuan let out a satisfied burp.
“Ahh, that was so satisfying!”
Just thinking about how Tang San was at home at this very moment, cooking porridge for his drunkard father, Lu Yuan couldn’t help but want to laugh.
“The future Sea God Tang San—right now, he’s really quite pitiful.”
“Not only does he eat poorly with insufficient nutrition, he also has to cook for his drunkard father himself.”
“If Ah Yin knew that Tang Hao was treating her son like this, I wonder if she’d regret sacrificing herself for him back then.”
“But that’s none of my business.”
“However, the Blue Silver Emperor’s right leg bone and the Yin-Yang Dual Flame Eye are both things I can plan for.
Even though they aren’t of much use to me, they could prolong the tug-of-war between Tang San and the Spirit Hall—and that is important to me.”
In truth, Lu Yuan also wanted to see whether, without the immortal herbs and the Blue Silver Emperor martial soul, Tang San and those from Shrek could still become gods.
After washing the dishes, Lu Yuan hurriedly picked up the remaining meat and walked back into the kitchen.
This time, he planned to turn all of it into jerky, so he could supplement his nutrition during his time at the academy.
…
Time flew by, and three days passed in the blink of an eye.
During these three days, Lu Yuan first reorganized all the items in his house, then packed up the more than thirty gold soul coins his parents had left behind, along with all the jerky he had made.
On the morning of the third day, Lu Yuan rose early, ate his breakfast, and was just about to shoulder his luggage and head out when he saw that the old village chief had already arrived at his doorstep.
Accompanying the old chief was a middle-aged man—the head of the household that Lu Yuan had visited first when delivering the tiger meat.
Seeing them, Lu Yuan greeted them joyfully.
“Grandpa Niu, Uncle Li, good morning!”
“Haha, good morning to you too, Xiao Yuan!
The old chief said you were planning to go to the academy early, and I figured since I have a cart, I might as well give you a ride.”
“Here—this is your breakfast to take along.”
As he spoke, Li Erniu handed Lu Yuan a package wrapped in oil paper.
“Thank you, Uncle Li.”
After expressing his thanks, Lu Yuan took it without hesitation.
Since he had already eaten breakfast and his stomach was full, he didn’t eat the food Li Erniu had given him right away.
At this point, the old chief spoke up: “Xiao Yuan, have you packed everything?
Don’t forget the certificate from the Spirit Hall.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan immediately pulled out the certificate from his pocket and said with a smile, “I’ve got everything with me.”
“Good, then let’s go!” Seeing Lu Yuan climb onto the cart, the old chief instructed Li Erniu to drive them toward Notting City.
To accommodate the old chief, Li Erniu kept the cart at a moderate pace—neither too fast nor too slow.
Even so, the three of them arrived at Notting City in less than an hour. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
After asking for directions from a few locals on the street, Li Erniu drove the cart directly to the academy’s entrance.
For Lu Yuan, who was used to seeing ordinary little wooden huts, the gate of the Notting City Spirit Master Academy was quite luxurious.
Looking at the tightly shut gate, Lu Yuan took out a copper soul coin he had prepared in advance and quickly hopped off the cart.
The guard responsible for watching the academy gate saw this and immediately stepped forward, shouting loudly: “Hey, kid!
What business do you have here?”
In the original work, one reason the guard had given Tang San a hard time was that Tang San’s attire and appearance were both very ordinary.
Because of that, the guard had felt a twinge of envy.
In the guard’s eyes, Tang San was clearly just a country bumpkin—what gave him the right to come to Notting Spirit Master Academy, and what gave him the right to become a spirit master?
But Lu Yuan was different.
Both his attire and his appearance made people think more highly of him.
One had to admit—sometimes, well-fitting clothes and a handsome face really could save you a lot of unnecessary trouble.
Hearing the guard’s lukewarm inquiry, Lu Yuan casually handed over a copper soul coin, which the latter unceremoniously accepted.
Seeing this, Lu Yuan smiled and explained: “Brother, here’s the thing.
I’m this year’s work-study student.
Since I’m very passionate about learning, I wanted to come to the academy and ask if I could enroll early.”
“This is my martial soul certificate!”
With that, he handed over the certificate that Su Yuntao had issued.
The guard glanced at it and muttered softly: “Beast martial soul Kula, innate spirit power level eight.”
As his voice trailed off, the previously aloof guard suddenly seemed like a different person.
After returning the certificate, he said cheerfully: “So that’s how it is!
I didn’t expect a little fellow like you to be so enthusiastic about studying.”
“However, I don’t know whether you can enroll early—after all, I’m just a gatekeeper.
But you can go inside and ask for yourself.”
“Follow this road straight ahead.
When you see that building, go inside, head up to the second floor, and find the room on the far left labeled ‘Academic Affairs Office.’ Ask for Director Su—he’ll be able to give you an answer.”
Lu Yuan naturally understood the reason for the guard’s sudden change in attitude.
Though he was just a guard and had no idea what the “Kula” martial soul was, he could still recognize the words “beast martial soul” and “innate spirit power level eight.”
Seeing this, Lu Yuan thanked the guard and ran back to the old chief.
After explaining the situation to the two of them, they decided to wait for Lu Yuan for a while.
“It’s fine—go ask Director Su first.
We’ll wait here for a bit.”
“Alright, Grandpa Chief.
I’ll be right back.”
With that, Lu Yuan ran toward the Academic Affairs Office.
A moment later.
Standing at the door of the Academic Affairs Office, Lu Yuan knocked on the door that stood in the way of his academic pursuits.
Knock, knock, knock!
The next second, a deep, resonant male voice came from within.
“Enter!”
Seeing this, Lu Yuan pushed the door open and walked straight in.
Seeing the visitor, Director Su, who had been sitting at his desk writing something, looked up at the unfamiliar young boy before him.
“You are?”
Without the slightest trace of timidity, Lu Yuan stepped forward and introduced himself confidently:
“Hello, Director Su.
I am a work-study student who will be enrolling this year.
My martial soul is the beast martial soul ‘Kula,’ with innate spirit power level eight.”