Once the head teacher concluded his opening remarks, the students began to stand one by one, offering their introductions to the room.
Yang Xiong watched with a measuring eye. To his surprise, every single child in the room possessed Innate Soul Power at or above Rank 5. In a class of twenty, this was a staggering concentration of talent. It was clear that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School gathered its most promising seeds into a single pot, which explained why even a standard homeroom teacher was a Spirit King.
He had a burgeoning premonition: this was the Sect's elite "seed" class, a fact confirmed by the presence of the Sect Master's own daughter.
Another curiosity emerged as the introductions continued; several children possessed the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Spirit, yet their Innate Soul Power hovered only at Rank 5. It seemed that even within the direct bloodline, talent was a fickle mistress.
Then, it was Ning Rongrong's turn.
She stood with the practiced grace of a young noble. "Hello, everyone. My name is Ning Rongrong. My Spirit is the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, and my Innate Soul Power is Rank 9. I've come here today with my father and Grandpa Sword. If you have the time, you are all welcome to visit my home."
The classroom erupted into a frantic buzz. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda was the sovereign heart of the Sect, and a Rank 9 talent was a figure of legend. Among these children, she was a mountain peak they could only hope to glimpse through the clouds. Aside from her, the highest talent in the room was a lone Rank 7; not a single Rank 8 was to be found.
Beyond her power, Ning Rongrong was exceptionally beautiful, a doll-like figure that naturally pulled every gaze in the room toward her.
Yang Xiong, however, felt only a sense of weary speechlessness. He knew this girl's reputation—the "Little Devil Girl." Underneath that well-behaved, porcelain exterior lay a hurricane of chaos.
Furthermore, a girl with such a profound princess complex was a headache he didn't need. He had no desire to navigate the minefield of her social circles. Given his blunt, straightforward nature, he feared that if he accidentally made her cry, he'd find the Sword Douluo at his door ready to test the sharpness of his blade.
The introductions wound their way to the back of the room until only Yang Xiong remained.
He stood up, his posture straight and his voice calm. "Hello, everyone. My name is Yang Xiong. My Innate Soul Power is Rank 6, and my Spirit is my own body."
Because a Body Martial Soul could not be manifested as a shimmering tool or a spectral beast, his declaration was met with a sea of blinking, confused eyes. The other students looked at him as if he were speaking a foreign tongue; they had never heard of a Spirit that wasn't an external entity.
Lin Gong, the teacher, offered a supportive smile and a nod. "Very well. Your Spirit is indeed rare, but your Innate Soul Power is solid. Keep your focus, and there is a bright path ahead for you to become an Advanced Spirit Master."
Yang Xiong ignored the whispered confusion of his peers and sat back down, his mind already returning to his books.
In the back of the hall, Ning Fengzhi leaned slightly toward the Sword Douluo, his voice a mere breath of sound. "Uncle Sword, a full-body Spirit... that is a rarity. It's a shame his Innate Soul Power didn't match the uniqueness of the mutation."
The Sword Douluo, who had been sitting with his eyes closed in a state of meditative rest, gave a slow nod. "Body Spirits are outliers in our world. The difficulty of their cultivation is notoriously steep. In the history of our School, we have only ever seen one other."
The first day carried no formal lessons; it was intended as a social bridge for the classmates.
Yang Xiong glanced toward the back of the room and realized that Ning Fengzhi and the Sword Douluo had vanished. They had departed as silently as ghosts, leaving no trace of their presence.
Ning Rongrong remained, the center of a dense orbit of children who treated her like a star surrounded by moons.
Yang Xiong let out a soft sigh of relief and reopened his book.
Since the students were all residents of the Sect's territory, the school provided no dormitories. The afternoons were free periods. While some students chose to use the school's expansive training grounds, most scurried home to begin their afternoon Meditation.
The teachers remained in their offices, available for any student brave enough to seek extra guidance.
Among the textbooks distributed to the class, one stood out to Yang Xiong: The Ten Core Competencies of Spirit by Yu Xiaogang. It seemed that even within the Great Sects, the "Grandmaster's" theories held a significant level of recognition. It lent context to why Ning Fengzhi would speak so highly of the man in the years to come.
However, as Yang Xiong flipped through the pages, he found the content mediocre. It was riddled with limitations. While it served as a decent primer for the average student, it was a cage for a true genius.
Yu Xiaogang was, after all, a man who had never progressed beyond the rank of Spirit Grandmaster. His exposure to high-level Spirit Beasts and the pinnacle of talent was second-hand at best. Had his theories been truly revolutionary, he wouldn't have been an outcast of the Spirit Master world.
To Yang Xiong, it was clear that the book was a synthesis of existing literature—a summary rather than an innovation. It provided a foundation, but it also threatened to narrow the horizons of those who followed it too blindly.
Having already absorbed the core concepts of the curriculum through his own reading, Yang Xiong found the live lectures redundant. He settled into a routine: the teacher would lecture at the front, and he would sit in the shadows of the back row, immersed in his own advanced materials.
The school's library became his sanctuary. It was a treasure trove of all-encompassing knowledge, open to all internal members. Every morning, he would check out a fresh stack of books, spending his dawn hours in silent study.
Lin Gong, the homeroom teacher, was initially troubled by this student who seemed to treat his lectures as background noise.
To test him, Lin Gong had peppered his lessons with increasingly obscure questions. Each time, Yang Xiong would look up, provide a fluent and comprehensive answer, and then return to his book. Eventually, the teacher stopped interfering. As long as Yang Xiong didn't disrupt the class, he was left to his own devices.
Lin Gong did attempt to counsel him privately once. "Yang Xiong, you must interact with your peers. These children will be the future leaders of the Sect. Building these bridges now is as important as any meditation."
Yang Xiong's response had left the Spirit King stunned.
"Teacher Lin," the boy had said, "the path of a Spirit Master is a struggle against the Heavens. Compared to the fleeting nature of 'connections,' I believe it is more vital to forge my own strength—especially given the unique nature of my Spirit. I must find the Dao that belongs to me alone."
Lin Gong could only sigh. "Perhaps you are right. If I had possessed your clarity and resolve at your age, I might have climbed higher than the rank of Spirit King."
...
As the weeks bled into months, the reputation of the "Strange One" grew in Class One. He was the boy with the invisible Spirit who read constantly and spoke to no one.
Yet, he was undeniably the academic sovereign of the grade. He swept every exam with perfect marks. He answered questions that stumped even the brightest of the direct lineage, providing explanations so detailed and insightful that he sounded less like a student and more like a seasoned professor.
Yang Xiong knew his reality: the Body Martial Soul was a fragile thing in its infancy. Its early cultivation was a mountain of hardship. But he also knew that in the late stages, its growth would accelerate exponentially, eventually eclipsing every other Spirit type in the world.
This was the fuel for his fire. Every drop of sweat in training and every hour spent in the library was a brick in the foundation of his future. He needed the physical strength to sustain the Spirit, and the knowledge to navigate its evolution.
He was also aware of a major drawback of the Body Martial Soul—one that required a mastery of combat techniques to overcome. He wasn't ready to dive into the complexities of "Self-Created Soul Skills" just yet, but he was amassing the raw knowledge required to build them when the time came.