"Y-young master... p-please calm down, we were only-"
[Soul 03: Walk of the Lightning God Activated]
Before the leader of the group can finish his sentence, he heard a menacing and crunching sound as he felt his whole future crumble in front of him, or more specifically, below his waist.
His face turned blue as he spat a nasty amount of saliva. The pain slowly, but surely, reached his entire body.
It happened in a split second, the young child that was supposed to be their cash cow suddenly disappeared from his sight, and once again a large explosion was heard as he felt a numbing pain on his crotch.
The little boy was now standing infront of him, with his arms in an uppercut position aimed through his balls.
The pain finally registered in the skinny man's mind as he let out not a scream, but a shriek. His shriek was accompanied by another series of explosion as his remaining group of members suffered the same fate.
It all happened so fast, the boy disappeared from one place to the next as the ground beneath him shattered.
Perhaps the fat member that was now planted on the wall is actually the luckiest of them all. ... or perhaps not, as a final explosion resounded in the dark alley followed once again by the sound of a dying cat.
The group was no longer a gang of hard-headed and vile criminals, but a gathering of unfortunate eunuchs.
For men who has only known how to oppress and bully weaker people, is this not a fate worse than death?
Or so the skinny man thought as he slowly lost consciousness because of the pain.
"Yay! Pedophiles have been swooshed from the world!", Viel, who just initiated a massacre of manhood, retrieved the exam pass and performed a weird victory pose.
[Soul 03's nose is bleeding because of Player's cuteness]
"W-what the hell is going on here!?", suddenly, a city guard entered the dark alley.
The guard was on a break near the area, he was supposed to be going back to his shift before he heard a series of thunders coming from an alley. He quickly rushed through the scene only to find a group of men scattered randomly in weird poses. Some of them were foaming in their mouths.
'T..this, what is this!?', he then noticed a very small child standing confidently with his left hand pointed above.
The small child then looked at him. The guard was startled at first because of the boy's pitch-blacked eyes, not to add the child's fair skin and golden hair.
They paused and stared at each other awkwardly for quite some time until the boy whispered something.
"...I wasn't here, woooosh", as he slowly, bit by bit, vanished into the darkness.
"...."
"What in ancestral tit's was that!? W-was it a ghost!?", the middle-aged guard could not believe what just happened.
A group of footsteps can be heard approaching his position.
"Guard Leader Bai! W-we heard explosives in this area. Did you happen to notice anything, sir!", one of the men saluted him.
"Yes...", the Guard Leader weakly replied as he slowly pointed at the dark alley.
"S-sir?", the guard turned his head, "W..what happened here!?"
"It... was an evil spirit"
Yes, Guard Leader Bai was convinced that the little child was some kind of ghostly entity. But there was something that he could not quite put together, the little child looked somewhat familiar to him.
‐------------------
A long line of children of all ages were forming a line inside a spacious courtyard.
This courtyard is one of the training grounds for the students of Taizhou Academy. Currently, it is also the place the academy is using to hold their entrance examinations.
Infront of the long line of children, a boy with golden hair stood out as he was joyfully looking at the other children behind him. He also stood out because he was the smaller child in the group.
Although Viel encountered an unfortunate delay because of some... pedophiles, he was still the first to arrive in the entrance exam. This is because he left his home as early as possible because he could not contain his excitement.
"Hello, my name is Viel! What's yours?", Viel excitedly asked the girl behind him.
"….Diao Mei", the girl quietly responded to his question before looking into the other direction.
Diao Mei was very beautiful, even though she was still very young, about 9 or 10, she exuded a graceful aura.
"Hehehe, nice to meet you, Diao Mei. Are you going planning to go to the academy? Oh of course, that's why you're here. Do you want to play after the exams? Ooooh, I hope I pass. Are you confident in passing? I am a bit nervous, it's the first time I am being infront of a lot of people",
Viel continued to bombard the girl with unending questions. But the girl, as if not hearing anything, just continued to stare at the other direction, completely ignoring Viel.
"Lady Mei, is this westerner runt bothering you?!". Suddenly, a tall muscular boy confronted Viel. This boy was originally in the middle of the line, but he decided to step in when he saw a westerner was talking to her "Goddess".
"Oh! Hello, my name is Viel! Nice to meet you!". Viel didn't mind the arrogant tone of the boy. He reached out to shake his hands with the newly arrived party. But the boy just slapped his hand away.
"Tch, you were a boy? You westerners all look alike.", the tall boy sneered in disgust.
"Anyway, don't you dare talk to Lady Mei again!", the tall boy looked at Diao Mei for approval. But Diao Mei did not even give him a glance.
"See?! Lady Mei can't even stand the sight of you! You should go to the end of the line, you golden haired mongrel!", the boy continued to bicker and insult Viel.
"Back of the line? But why?", suddenly, the tall boy felt a chill on his spine as he saw the little westerner staring at him. He could not help but back away as he thought he was going to be sucked in by the westerner's pitch-black pupils.
"W-what do you mean why?! I already told you, Lady Mei is annoyed to see you standing infront of her!", although the tall boy was slightly flustered with the sudden pressure, he couldn't back down as he was afraid to look like a sissy in front of his goddess.
"O-oh...R-really?! Then, I shall go to the back of the line. Miss Diao Mei, sorry for annoying you". Just like that, the sudden pressure on the tall boy was gone.
Viel bowed to Diao Mei and the tall boy, before innocently walking away to the back of the line. Everyone watching the scene were disappointed, they thought that they were going to see a fight. They sneered at Viel, looking at him as if he was a pathetic weakling who backs out from a fight.
"W-what, he really did go? Ha..Haha! That's right! Go to the back of the line! Your weak little ass belongs there, you filthy westerner!", the tall boy wiped his sweat off before he once again insulted Viel.
Diao Mei, who was keeping quiet from the start, opened her mouth. "Brother Wei Song, that was unnecessary", Diao Mei spoke to the tall boy, before looking at Viel, who was currently on his way to the back of the line.
"Hehe, no need to thank me, Lady Mei. I just did what I thought was right, that westerner was sullying everyone's mood. People like him don't deserve to be in the academy", Wei Song was very proud of what he did, even claiming that he did for everyone.
He tried to speak to Diao Mei for a while and get into her good graces, but decided to go back in the middle of the line, as Diao Mei was clearly not in the mood to talk.
Everyone here knows who Diao Mei was, after all, the Diao family was a prestigious name. They have always produced top cultivators and were one of the leading families who defended their country when the minions of the Evil Monarch invaded their land.
Viel who was now at the back of the line was completely oblivious that the other children were gossiping about him, secretly mocking him for being weak.
Suddenly, the boy in front of him reached out his hand.
"Hey, don't worry about it. Wei Song has always been like that, being a leech of his family is all that he is good at, after all."
"Wei Song?"
"Yeah, the huge mutt that was talking to you earlier. My name is Xiao Pei, what's yours?"
The boy who reached out his hand didn't really have any special features, except that he has a long scar on the left part of his face, going from the brow to bottom of the chin.
Hearing this, Viel was surprised at first before excitedly shaking Xiao Pei's hand.
"Woah, finally. Someone normal, hello. My name is Viel.". Viel was still vigorously shaking Xiao Pei's hand as he adorned a wide smile. Finally meeting his first friend.
"Eeh?! You're a boy?!". Xiao Pei revealed a disappointed expression. He couldn't believe that the beautiful child in front of him was a boy. Although he saw the scene earlier, he couldn't quite hear what they were talking about.
"I suppose it doesn't matter. Man, that Wei Song… always so domineering. I can't wait until I put his stupid mug in place. Hehe, too bad huh? Just earlier, you were at the front of the line and now you're here with me, the latecomer"
Xiao Pei said as he shrugged, lamenting the fact the he came late. Well, what's important was that he was no longer the one who was at the end of the line.
"Eeh, I don't really mind being on the back. Afterall, my Grandma Ling said that I-", but before Viel could finish what he was going to say, he looked at the direction of the examination platform adjacent to their line.
"Silence! The exam is about to start!". Suddenly, a loud voice can be heard as an old man suddenly appeared on top of the examination platform.
"You are gathered here today not to bicker amongst yourselves, but to take your first step of being a cultivator! Probably, most of you will not even pass the first entrance examination, so there is no point in making friends. I am An Da, I will be your examiner today".
An Da raised his hand as a huge slab of stone appeared beside him.
"This is a Strength Revealing Stone from the West, as its name suggests, if you hit this stone it will display the corresponding strength that you put into it." As the old man said this, he hit the stone lightly and a number suddenly appeared infront of it.
'600'
Seeing this, all the children were startled and revealed faces of shock.
"W-wah! 600! As expected of a teacher in the academy!", the children all shared the same exact thought, except for Viel, who was wearing a confused face.
"That's right. The first test is a test of your physical strength. Even though most cultivators don't rely on their physical strength alone, it is still the most fundamental aspect of a cultivator! If you can not even pass this simple test, then you have no right to enter this academy! In order to pass this test, your strength needs to atleast be above 30!". As An Da said this, he pointed at Diao Mei, who was currently the one leading the long line of children. "You will start first!".
Diao Mei hurriedly walked on to the stage.
"Diao Mei greets teacher An Da!" Diao Mei politely greeted An Da as she stood in front of him. An Da just smiles and nod before telling Diao Mei to proceed to the test.
Diao Mei stood in front of the huge slab of stone. She switched to a fighting stance and readied to strike. She stayed like this for a while before releasing a fast jab with all her strength.
'66'
Diao Mei looked at her score before revealing a happy smile, after a few seconds, she returned to her usual calm expression. The other students revealed a shock expression, for children their age, a physical strength of 66 can be considered very high.
"Very good! As expected of General Diao's daughter!", he nodded and smiled at Diao Mei.
"Next!"
After Diao Mei, all the other students who passed only gained a normal score of around 40. Most of the students have already failed, scoring below 30.
This pace continued until it was Wei Song's turn.
*Pang*
'53'
Seeing his score, Wei Song quickly revealed an arrogant smile as he looked towards the other students who went ahead him and scored below him. He also looked at the direction of Viel and Xiao Pei and sneered at him.
"Good, very good.". Examiner An Da was very satisfied to see another good offspring coming into the academy.
However, after Wei Song, there was another examinee who scored above 50, it was a girl sporting a long black hair with a few hints of silver on her bangs.
Finally, it was Xiao Pei's turn.
'58'
All the students were in shock to see another examiner score above 50, and it was even higher than Wei Song. Seeing this, Wei Song gritted his teeth and looked at the boy on the stage. Xiao Pei returned Wei Song's glare with his own, revealing a mocking smile, as if saying that he has won.
An Da was delighted to see 4 talented students enrolling in his academy this year, but his expression immediately turned in to a frown when he saw a small boy with golden hair climbing on the stage.
It was finally Viel's turn.
"Tch tch. Those who are late will always be last in life. If you keep up this attitude you will not achieve anything in life.". An Da lectured the little boy in front of him.
Hearing this, the other students couldn't help but chuckle and sneer at Viel, especially Wei Song, who was currently wearing a twisted smile.
"Haha! That's right! Westerners like you should just go back to the end of the line all the way to your country, filthy scum!", Wei Song couldn't help but shout, garnering the attention and laughs of the other children.
"That's enough! The academy does not discriminate race! Little boy, you may begin!". An Da reprimanded Wei Song before urging Viel to start immediately.
"I thank Grandpa An Da! ...But I do not mind being last.", Viel replied politely to An Da.
An Da revealed a weird expression as the little boy in front of him called him Grandpa. Although he was growing on in his years, he was still fairly young for a cultivator and considered himself to still be in a marrying age, 120 years old.
"What do you mean you do not mind being last, little boy?". An Da couldn't help but ask, making sure to emphasize the word "little".
Viel stood in front of the huge slab of stone and slowly reached out his hand.
"Because Grandma Ling taught me…". Viel smiled as he flicked his finger.
Suddenly, a loud noise can be heard as everyone stood in their place and stopped talking to each other. Some children even forgot how to breathe.
Wei Song, who was dissing and badmouthing Viel with the other children, started to redden in shame.
Xiao Pei revealed a sweat before finally whistling in admiration.
Diao Mei, who has been quiet throughout the whole test, had her mouth opened in shock. She couldn't believe at what she is seeing right now.
'69'
"…to be kind and give way to people weaker than me"