Chapter 5: A Show of Force? First Encounter with Xiao Wu
At the entrance of Dorm Seven, Nuoding Academy.
Lin Yuan didn't rush inside.
'Dorm Seven—the work-study student dorm where boys and girls live together.'
'I have to say, the headmaster of Nuoding Academy must have a loose screw somewhere.'
'Just to save a bit of funding, he doesn't even bother with the most basic separation between the genders? Or is this deliberately arranged to help certain people 'cultivate feelings'?'
Lin Yuan shook his head and reached out to push open the creaking wooden door.
In this world, due to the existence of soul rings, boys and girls were considered adults upon graduating from sixth grade.
The instant the door cracked open—
Whoosh!
A fierce gust of wind rushed straight at his face!
A massive fist, wrapped in not-very-strong soul power, shot directly toward Lin Yuan's head.
A sneak attack?
Or a show of force?
Lin Yuan didn't even activate his dual pupils. In his eyes, this kind of attack was so slow it looked like an old granny practicing tai chi.
"Too slow. Too weak."
His expression indifferent, Lin Yuan merely shifted his body slightly to the left.
The fist brushed past his hair.
In the next instant, Lin Yuan's right hand shot out like lightning, accurately locking onto the attacker's wrist. He twisted his waist, tripped with his foot—
Borrowing force to counter force—an over-the-shoulder throw!
Smooth as flowing water, completed in one breath!
"Off you go!"
Boom!
A dull impact echoed through the entire dormitory.
The tall figure who had launched the sneak attack was slammed into the hard floor like a ragged sack.
Dust flew everywhere.
"Cough… cough…"
The person on the ground curled up in pain, unable to recover for quite some time.
Dead silence.
The Dorm Seven students, who had been ready to enjoy the newcomer's humiliation, now stood there with mouths agape, eyes nearly popping out.
"W–what the hell?!"
"The boss got one-shot killed?"
"Boss Wang Sheng is a Rank Nine Soul Warrior! He was actually killed in one move?"
Lin Yuan brushed nonexistent dust from his hands and looked down at Wang Sheng, then swept his gaze over the stunned work-study students.
There was not the slightest hint of pride in his eyes—only deep disdain.
"So this is Dorm Seven's welcoming ceremony?"
"Sneak-attacking a freshman who just enrolled?"
"This is how you welcome a new roommate?"
Lin Yuan's voice carried no warmth at all, yet it sent a chill through everyone present.
He genuinely couldn't muster the slightest interest in this childish, house-play nonsense.
If not for wanting to see the so-called "pure and noble Tang Buddha" and the "hundred-thousand-year-old rogue rabbit," he would've applied to change dorms long ago.
Even paying out of his own pocket for a single room would be better than squeezing in with this bunch of brats.
As for money?
The system's newbie gift pack had given him a thousand gold soul coins—more than enough.
And wasn't he about to head to the Spirit Hall to collect subsidies anyway?
One gold soul coin per month!
Free money—why not take it?
After all, the funds came from the two great empires anyway; the Spirit Hall was just handling the distribution.
Then again, without the Spirit Hall, those two empires probably wouldn't be willing to subsidize ordinary soul masters at all.
At this moment, Wang Sheng, on the ground, finally caught his breath. Clutching his chest, he staggered to his feet.
Looking at Lin Yuan, fear flickered in his eyes, but he still forced himself to speak.
"Sorry. This is a rule unique to Dorm Seven."
"Every newcomer has to spar with the dorm leader."
"Whoever wins becomes the new dorm leader."
Gritting his teeth, Wang Sheng explained, "Don't blame us for being ruthless. Work-study students like us are often bullied by those noble students in the academy."
"If we don't stick together, if we don't choose the strongest as our leader, we simply can't survive in this academy!"
Hearing this so-called "passionate speech," Lin Yuan almost laughed.
"Bullied? So you turn around and bully your own people?"
He shot Wang Sheng a glance, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
"I have no interest in being some king of kids. Whoever wants the position can have it."
"But there's something I want to say to you all."
"If you have time for this pointless infighting, if you have time to stand here complaining about nobles bullying you, why not spend that time meditating and cultivating?"
Wang Sheng froze, seemingly not understanding.
Lin Yuan sneered and pointed at his nose.
"Wang Sheng, right? Since you're the dorm leader, you should be in sixth grade by now?"
"If you can be this so-called 'leader,' your innate soul power shouldn't be too low. At least Rank Two or Three, right?"
"And yet? Six years, and you've only reached Rank Nine?"
"Are you telling me this is because nobles bullied you?"
"This is because you're lazy!"
"I'll ask everyone here one question: how much time do you spend meditating every day after classes?"
"Has anyone here ever managed two full hours of meditation a day? Has anyone trained their body relentlessly, rain or shine?"
Lin Yuan's words landed like loud slaps across every face in Dorm Seven.
Everyone lowered their heads, faces burning red.
Most of their time really had been spent fooling around—or complaining about unfairness.
"Don't blame talent."
"In this world, talent determines your ceiling, but effort determines your floor."
"With how lazy you are, forget nobles—even I look down on you."
With that, Lin Yuan couldn't be bothered to spare them another glance. Carrying his luggage, he walked toward the empty bed at the far end of the room.
Six years to reach Rank Nine—no need to spell out what kind of "ingredients" made him.
Huo Yuhao had a rank 1 innate soul power, yet he reached rank 10 at eleven years old.
And back then, Huo Yuhao's circumstances were far harsher than those of these work-study students.
If they were oppressed, then why not cultivate harder? Cultivate like their lives depended on it?
Just then—
The wooden door of Dorm Seven was pushed open again.
"Excuse me, is this Dorm Seven?"
A crisp voice rang out, followed by two figures entering one after the other.
Lin Yuan paused slightly as he spread his bedding and turned to look.
Well damn—speak of the devil.
On the left was an ordinary-looking boy, dressed in rough cloth patched all over. His eyes seemed gentle on the surface, yet carried a cold detachment that kept others at arm's length.
Tang San!
On his right was a delicate little girl.
Her face was like carved jade, with a hint of baby fat. A pair of big, watery eyes sparkled with life. Most eye-catching of all were the fluffy rabbit-ear accessories on her head.
Her long black hair was braided into a scorpion braid that hung past her hips, and in her hand she held half a carrot she hadn't finished eating.
Xiao Wu!
Unexpectedly, Xiao Wu had appeared almost at the same time as Tang San.
This immediately gave rise to a guess in Lin Yuan's mind—there was a very high chance Xiao Wu already possessed a copy of his diary.
After all, at the very end of his first diary entry, he had deliberately written the words "rogue rabbit" precisely to test her reaction.
He hadn't directly used the binding function on Xiao Wu, instead choosing to probe once more.
With a thought, a black diary—visible only to him—appeared.
[Judging by those iconic rabbit ears, the little girl in front of me should be Xiao Wu.]
[But she still looks too young right now, hasn't grown into herself yet. Pity—I don't have a lolicon fetish.]
[Not sure if this is a butterfly effect caused by my appearance. In the original story, Xiao Wu should arrive a little later than Tang San.]
[Yet now they've appeared at the same time.]
[Sigh. With these two showing up, they'll probably have to compete again for the Dorm Seven leader position. But this kind of kids' house-play really doesn't interest me.]
[Might as well let Tang San and Xiao Wu fight it out. Xiao Wu's already used to being the big sister back in the Star Dou Forest anyway.]
As the final period was written—
Xiao Wu, who had just stepped through the door of Dorm Seven, suddenly stiffened.
Her light, lively steps froze in place.
Somehow, she sensed that her diary copy in her mind had just been updated.
Instinctively, Xiao Wu read the new contents.
The next second, her once-curious and slightly arrogant little face became a spectacle of shifting expressions.
—
End of Chapter