The journey from Holy Spirit Village to Nuoding City was a revelation for the children. What took them days on foot was a jarring, bumpy ride in a hired cart.
Zhang Tian, however, took it all in stride, his calm demeanor a stark contrast to Tang San's quiet curiosity. Old Jack, bless his heart, chattered excitedly the entire way, his pride in the two boys radiating like a palpable aura.
Before they had left, Zhang Tian had sought out the village elder. He found Old Jack sitting on his porch, carving a small wooden animal.
"Grandpa Jack," Zhang Tian began, his voice polite and respectful.
"Ah, Tian'er! What is it, my boy?" the old man asked, his wrinkled face creasing into a warm smile. He had a soft spot for this handsome, self-reliant child who had done so much for the village.
"I wish to go to the Nuoding Academy with Tang San," Zhang Tian stated directly, leaving no room for ambiguity.
Old Jack's smile faltered. He sighed, placing his carving down. "Tian'er, I know your spirit is… well, it's not the best. And your spirit power is very low. The academy fees are not cheap. Perhaps it would be better to save that money. You are a smart boy; you could become a successful merchant or a scholar."
"I have already decided," Zhang Tian said, his voice soft but firm. He produced a small, heavy pouch from his jacket. "And I have the money for my own tuition. From the designs and methods I sold to the village."
Old Jack looked at the pouch, then back at the boy's determined face. He saw not the foolish ambition of a child, but a resolve that seemed far older than his six years. The elder's heart softened completely.
"Oh, you silly child," he chuckled, a tear welling in the corner of his eye. "Put that away. The village owes you far more than a few farming tools. Your ideas have made our lives easier and our harvests richer. Of course, we will pay for your fees! It is the least we can do. Consider it an investment from all of us in the Holy Spirit Village!"
Zhang Tian hesitated for a moment, then gave a slight bow. "Then, I thank you, Grandpa Jack. And I thank the village." He accepted the offer, knowing it was a genuine gesture of gratitude. To refuse would be an insult.
The gates of Nuoding Elementary Spirit Master Academy were far grander than anything in the village. They were wrought iron, flanked by stone walls that seemed to stretch on forever. Two guards stood at attention, their uniforms crisp and their expressions bored and arrogant.
"Halt! This is the Nuoding Academy. Not a place for country bumpkins to wander around," one of the guards sneered, his eyes sweeping over Old Jack's simple clothes with disdain.
Old Jack, undeterred, puffed out his chest with pride. "Good sirs, we are not here to wander. We are from the Holy Spirit Village, and I have brought two children to enroll in your esteemed academy!"
He proudly gestured to Tang San and Zhang Tian.
The guard snorted. "Enroll? With what qualifications?"
"This boy, Tang San, has a Blue Silver Grass spirit!" Old Jack announced.
The guards exchanged a look of pure contempt. "Blue Silver Grass? Old man, are you joking? You want to enroll someone with a trash spirit?"
Old Jack's face flushed with anger. "You... you don't understand! His Blue Silver Grass is different! He possesses Full Innate Spirit Power!"
The words 'Full Innate Spirit Power' made the guards pause for a fraction of a second, but their skepticism quickly returned.
"Full Innate Spirit Power with a Blue Silver Grass? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," the second guard laughed. "It's a waste of a good innate talent. What about the other one?" He jerked his chin towards Zhang Tian.
"He also has a Blue Silver Grass spirit," Old Jack admitted, his voice a little less confident.
"Let me guess, another 'genius'?" the first guard mocked.
"He has a spirit power of 0.5," Old Jack said truthfully.
The guards broke into open laughter now, slapping their thighs. "Level 0.5? Hahaha! Old man, you are truly a comedian! You bring us one waste with a trash spirit and another with basically no spirit power at all! Get out of here! Go on, scram before we throw you out!"
One of the guards, a burly man with a cruel smirk, stepped forward and raised his hand to shove Old Jack.
Zhang Tian, who had been watching the exchange with detached calm, narrowed his eyes slightly. He wasn't looking at the guard, but at Tang San. He saw the boy's hand, hidden by his loose sleeve, dip subtly into his pocket. The posture, the slight tension in his fingers—it was unmistakable.
'Needles,' Zhang Tian thought, a sense of disbelief warring with a detached sense of morbid curiosity. 'Poisoned, no doubt. He's actually planning to attack the academy guards over a verbal insult. This guy's audacity is on another level. Does he have a death wish? Or does he genuinely believe his Tang Sect skills make him untouchable?'
Zhang Tian had no intention of intervening. This was Tang San's mess. He was almost interested to see how it would unfold. A six-year-old attacking uniformed guards would certainly be a spectacle.
But before Tang San could make his move, a new voice cut through the air. It was a tired, slightly melancholic voice, but it carried an authority that made the guards freeze.
"What's all this commotion about?"
A man walked towards them from inside the gates. He looked to be in his thirties or forties, with a stiff, unkempt appearance, a sallow complexion, and a gloomy expression etched onto his face. He seemed like a perpetual loser, yet the guards immediately straightened up.
"Master," they said, bowing their heads slightly.
The man ignored them, his gaze falling upon the group. "I heard something about... Blue Silver Grass and Full Innate Spirit Power?"
Old Jack, seeing a glimmer of hope, rushed forward. "Yes! That's right, Master! This is Tang San! He awakened a Blue Silver Grass, but he has Full Innate Spirit Power! The spirit hall emissary tested it himself!"
The man's eyes, previously dull, lit up with a spark of intense academic interest. He walked right up to Tang San, studying him as if he were a fascinating but peculiar specimen.
"Extend your hand," he commanded.
Tang San, sensing no hostility, did as he was told. A blade of Blue Silver Grass appeared in his palm.
The man nodded slowly. "Indeed. Blue Silver Grass. And you truly have Innate Level 10 spirit power?"
"Yes," Tang San replied.
The man's gaze then shifted to Zhang Tian. He looked at the boy's handsome face, then at the identical blade of grass that Zhang Tian summoned for inspection.
"And you?"
"Blue Silver Grass, Innate Level 0.5," Zhang Tian answered calmly.
The man, who the world would come to know as Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang, looked at Zhang Tian with undisguised pity and dismissal. "Level 0.5... a true waste. Your path is already sealed. Becoming a Spirit Master is a pipe dream. You are wasting your money and your time coming here. Go home, boy. Be a farmer. It's a more realistic future for you."
The words were harsh, delivered without a shred of compassion. Old Jack looked crestfallen, and the guards snickered.
Zhang Tian, however, felt almost nothing. A tiny flicker of annoyance was quickly extinguished, replaced by a cold, internal snort.
'This is the great Grandmaster? The man whose grand theories are nothing more than plagiarized texts from Spirit Hall's restricted libraries? The man whose own spirit mutated into a pig that can't even attack? This pretentious failure dares to judge my future? How utterly pathetic.'
He simply gave a slight, polite nod, his face betraying no emotion. "Thank you for your advice, Master."
Yu Xiaogang had already lost all interest in him. His entire focus was now locked on Tang San, a diamond in the rough that only he, with his superior intellect, could possibly comprehend.
"Come with me," he said to Tang San, turning and walking back into the academy. He led Tang San away from the gates, leaving Zhang Tian and a confused Old Jack with the now-subdued guards.
Following the established procedure, Zhang Tian paid his fees and completed his registration. He bid farewell to Old Jack, promising to work hard, a promise he fully intended to keep, albeit in his own way.
As he walked through the campus, he saw a girl being admitted. She was vibrant and full of energy, with long, dark hair braided into a scorpion plait that bounced as she walked. She had a mischievous sparkle in her large eyes.
'Xiao Wu,' Zhang Tian identified her immediately. 'The 100,000-year-old Soft Bone Rabbit in human form. And where she is, Tang San is sure to follow. And where Tang San is... Tang Hao is watching.'
The thought sent a chill down his spine. Getting involved with Xiao Wu meant drawing the attention of a Title Douluo, one of the most powerful and unstable individuals on the continent.
'No, thank you. I'll keep my distance. My own path is difficult enough without borrowing trouble from the protagonist's lover who is mentally unstable.'
He made his way into Nuoding City, a bustling place full of sights and sounds that were a world away from his quiet village. He efficiently purchased a simple quilt, a pillow, and other basic necessities before heading back to the academy.
He found his assigned dormitory: Number 7.
He pushed the door open and was met with a scene of silent, awkward tension. Five other boys were in the room, all looking at a single girl with a mixture of fear and awe. It was Xiao Wu. And standing to the side, looking slightly dusty and disgruntled, was Tang San.
It was clear what had just happened. The traditional dorm-room brawl to establish dominance had taken place, and the small, energetic girl had apparently wiped the floor with everyone.
"From now on, I am the boss of this dorm! Does anyone have any objections?" Xiao Wu declared, placing her hands on her hips.
No one dared to speak.
Zhang Tian didn't care one way or the other. He paid them no mind, walking past the group as if they were invisible. He found the empty bed in the corner, a top bunk, and began to neatly make it. His quiet, self-contained actions were so out of place with the tense atmosphere that everyone, including Xiao Wu, just stared at him for a second.
But they quickly dismissed him. He was the kid with the near-zero spirit power. Polite, handsome, but ultimately harmless. He wasn't a threat, nor was he a potential ally of any value. He was just... there.
And that was exactly how Zhang Tian wanted it. Anonymity was a shield.
Life at the academy settled into a routine. He was a model student. He attended every class, listened attentively to the teachers drone on about the history of Spirit Masters and the basics of spirit beasts, and never caused any trouble. He was polite to Xiao Wu, Tang San, and the other boys, but distant. He was a ghost in Dormitory 7.
His real work began when classes ended.
While the other students played, socialized, or practiced their spirit skills in the training grounds, Zhang Tian would slip away. He headed for the mountains that bordered the academy, a sprawling wilderness of trees and rocks.
He spent days searching, not for spirit beasts, but for a specific type of environment. Finally, he found it: a small, secluded meadow, hidden away in a valley, where Blue Silver Grass grew in incredible profusion. The grass here was taller, greener, and radiated a palpable life energy.
This became his sanctuary.
Every evening, he would sit cross-legged in the center of this field of grass. He would summon his own, lonely blade of Blue Silver Grass and begin to meditate, circulating his minuscule wisp of spirit power.
He could feel it. Here, surrounded by its brethren, his martial spirit seemed to hum with a faint energy. The process of absorbing ambient spirit power from the world, though still agonizingly slow, was noticeably faster than in the sterile environment of the dormitory. It wasn't a torrent, not even a stream, but more like the slow, steady drip of a leaky faucet.
'It's working,' he thought one evening, as the setting sun painted the sky in hues of orange and purple. 'It's not much, but it's progress. Drip by drip, I will fill my ocean.'
His gaze was fixed on the distant, dark peaks of the mountains. His handsome face, illuminated by the fading light, held an expression of unwavering, cold resolve.
'Patience. Train the body. Cultivate the spirit. Absorb the knowledge. And when the time is right, I will find my first ring. I will force the mutation. And it starts here, with this valley of Blue Silver Grass.'