Chapter 1: Nan Li

At the west of Noding City, the Noding初级魂师学院 (Noding初级Soul Master Academy).

At this moment, an old man was standing outside the grand archway of Noding Academy, holding the hand of a boy around six or seven years old, bowing and greeting the young man standing at the gate.

The young man, with an air of superiority, asked, "What are you doing here? Is this a place for you country folk to come to?"

Old Jack had specially worn a new outfit to send Tang San, which was already considered decent in the Holy Soul Village. However, this was Noding City, and compared to the splendid attire of the city dwellers, Old Jack's clothes seemed rather shabby.

Even if the person in front of him was just a gatekeeper at the初级Soul Master Academy, Old Jack could only smile and explain, taking out the certificate issued by Su Yuntao for Tang San: "This child is this year's work-study student from our village. This is the certificate issued by the Soul Master大人."

Even though the gatekeeper knew that the certificate from the Soul Temple could not be fake, he still mocked the two people in front of him with a sarcastic tone. They clearly came from a poor and remote area, and there was nothing to gain from them.

"Truly amusing, a Blue Silver Grass soul power, and yet with full soul force at birth..."

If it were a wealthy family, the gatekeeper would have praised the full soul force despite the Blue Silver Grass soul power. But these people from a poor and remote area probably had no decent soul powers in their lineage. Otherwise, they would have risen to prominence long ago and wouldn't be begging for a work-study student position.

Sometimes, politeness does not earn respect; instead, the less confident you are, the more others will take advantage of you.

"Is this Noding Academy?"

A girl about the same age as Tang San walked up to the gate and stopped, looking at the "Noding Academy" sign and speaking to herself.

The girl had red hair, half-tied and half-loose, and despite being a child, she wore wrist guards on both wrists. She was dressed in a red outfit with gold trim, and her calves were adorned with two red-gold feather-shaped decorations, the ends of which were tucked into her boots.

Behind her followed a person wrapped entirely in a red robe. The person was tall, and it was impossible to tell if they were male or female from the red robe, but their eyes were sharp and piercing.

The gatekeeper's sarcastic words were cut off halfway. He turned to scold, but seeing the well-dressed girl and the valuable red gems on her wrists, he instantly changed his attitude and smiled obsequiously.

"Yes, this is the Noding初级Soul Master Academy. Miss, are you here to register? I am the gatekeeper here, and I am very familiar with the academy. Would you like me to guide you?"

The girl ignored him and turned her red eyes to the boy beside her.

"At least we made it in time."

The eyes scanned the boy, and the owner thought, "This is the protagonist Tang San from the book."

"Miss..." The gatekeeper tried to speak, but a pressure locked onto him.

The gatekeeper struggled to turn his head, and as soon as his eyes met the red-robed person, he felt as if he had fallen into an icy river in winter, shivering and unable to speak.

"Hello, I'm Tang San. You..." Tang San, seeing the girl looking at him, though puzzled, greeted her politely.

"Nan Li." The girl's eyes turned to the gatekeeper, but she spoke to Tang San, "I am Nan Li."

"Is there any problem with his certificate?"

"Ah?" The gatekeeper was taken aback by her question. He dared to be arrogant in front of the two country folk, but he would never dare to be so with someone wealthy or noble.

"No, no problem."

"Since there is no problem, why don't you let them in?" The girl clearly did not want to let him off easily.

"I, I..." The gatekeeper stammered, unsure how to explain. How could he say that he took advantage of their lack of power and influence to satisfy his own vanity and show off his superiority?

"What's going on?" Just as the gatekeeper was sweating profusely, a somewhat hoarse voice sounded.

The red-robed person released the pressure on the gatekeeper, exchanged a glance with the girl, and seeing her nod, turned and left.

The gatekeeper felt as if he had been granted a reprieve, gasping for breath and greeting the newcomer obsequiously: "Master, you're back."

The newcomer was of medium build, a middle-aged man with short black hair and an ordinary appearance.

"Master" Yu Xiaogang ignored the gatekeeper and said to Old Jack and Nan Li, "Could you show me your certificates?"

The two handed over the certificates issued by the Soul Temple. Yu Xiaogang examined them and looked the two children over, saying nothing.

"Alright, these certificates are fine." Yu Xiaogang returned the certificates to them, "The old man can go back now. You two, follow me into the academy."

With the "Master" speaking, Old Jack gave Tang San a few instructions and left.

Yu Xiaogang warned the gatekeeper and then turned to Tang San and Nan Li.

"You two, follow me."

As they walked, Tang San expressed his gratitude to "Master," and "Master" Yu Xiaogang took the opportunity to reveal that he was not just anyone and should not be called "teacher" casually. The conversation gradually turned to the topic of "becoming a disciple."

Yu Xiaogang stopped, turned to face the two, and took a deep breath to calm his excitement at the prospect of having two talented disciples and the validation of his theories.

"Soul power Blue Silver Grass, full soul force at birth... Tang San, you must have a second soul power, and it must be very powerful to provide you with full soul force at birth. If..."

Yu Xiaogang had seen their certificates and was very satisfied with their talents. In his eyes, they were already his disciples, and he directly revealed Tang San's secret without considering the setting.

"As for Nan Li, soul power Flame Feather Phoenix, full soul force at birth. Although your talent is slightly inferior to Tang San's, it is still outstanding. If I am not mistaken, your soul power is a variant of the Flame Feather Sparrow, and there is a chance it will evolve into a Flame Feather Phoenix in the future..."

Listening to "Master's" long speech, Tang San's admiration grew.

Nan Li had to admit that Yu Xiaogang had a certain level of expertise in soul powers, but that was all.

Judging the dual soul power based on a guess and hastily comparing the "Flame Feather Phoenix" and "Flame Feather Sparrow" without proper reasoning, Nan Li found it laughable. Was he so excited by the prospect of validating his theories that he couldn't even think logically?

Nan Li truly looked down on such a stubborn and hypocritical person and interrupted Yu Xiaogang's lecture.

---

Originally, I intended to write a story from the Soul Temple's perspective, but after watching the anime, I found that many of my favorite characters were no longer present, and I felt a sense of loss, so I decided to write this one instead.

A few notes about this story:

(1) Although this story is from the perspective opposing the Soul Temple, it does not follow the main characters. Before the Soul Master Elite Tournament, it will diverge from the main group and join the Four Elements Academy.

(2) It will use some of the opportunities encountered by the main characters, affecting Tang San to some extent (since Tang San is not the protagonist in this story), but it will not blindly take everything. There will be a reasonable explanation for the special nature of the female protagonist.

(3) The intention is not to break up any couples, and it will not do so to accommodate Nan Li. However, some characters who could have better development may have their positions and development altered. Currently, the most significant change I want to make is to Zhu Zhuging, but this will depend on the future plot.

(4) The female protagonist will have a growth process, but Nan Li's character is passionate and bright, decisive and responsible. She does not pretend to be weak and generally acts directly and confronts challenges head-on, but she is not recklessly impulsive.

(5*) A very important point: Originally, there was a male protagonist (Dong Yun), but after much deliberation, I changed it to a female protagonist. One reason is the background of the story (see the introduction), as there is no time for romance when focusing on a cause. Another reason is that the author values friendship as much as love, and the two are comrades fighting to save their clan from extinction. Therefore, there is no male protagonist or couple in this story. Important things said three times:

No male protagonist or couple! No male protagonist or couple! No male protagonist or couple!

(6) This story references the anime and the original work. Some aspects not clearly explained in the original or different in the story are considered private settings and do not require excessive scrutiny.

(7) Everyone has different tastes. If you are interested, feel free to read. Writing and reading are for enjoyment, and those who deliberately nitpick or cause trouble will be ignored.

No bashing or provoking in the comments. Let's be civil and kind to each other. Heart.

If you want to see a story from the Soul Temple's perspective with Ling and Xiaoxue, you can follow us for the next one.

"Fortunately, we made it in time" is, of course, a sarcastic comment directed at Yu Xiaogang. òó

(End of Chapter)