"Your Excellency? May we have a word?"
Seeing no one respond, Instructor Wang raised his voice again.
…
Aside from the roars of soul beasts in the surroundings, there was no sign of anyone.
"Teacher… it—it was him!"
Shui Bing'er bit her lip, gently tugged on Instructor Wang's sleeve, and cast her gaze toward the boy who stood off to the side as if nothing had happened.
"It was him who drove away that attacking soul beast just now!"
Even now, Shui Bing'er's heart was still reeling with shock.
When that soul beast lunged at them, she had stepped forward without hesitation to shield the others.
Aside from Instructor Wang and Teacher Xu, she was the strongest among their group.
Behind her, aside from Aether and his two companions, there was also her younger sister, her little face drenched in sweat and twisted in pain.
She knew full well what they were facing, yet she still stepped forward with the resolve to die if needed.
Before the soul beast even reached her, the terrifying pressure of its soul power had already come crashing down. Just as she thought she'd be ripped apart, the boy behind her calmly reached out and pulled her back. With a casual wave of his other hand, a gust of wind materialized—transformed into a tornado by the time it met the beast—blasting it into the distance.
The soul beasts that even academy teachers struggled to suppress were nothing in front of this unremarkable-looking young man.
Like fallen leaves before an autumn breeze—effortlessly swept aside.
That moment had etched itself deep into her mind. When she looked at the boy again, her heart was filled with complex emotions.
"…"
Instructor Wang looked at Shui Bing'er's stunned expression and could tell she wasn't lying.
But no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't imagine that this sunny-looking boy was capable of facing off against a high-grade soul beast that had lived seventy or eighty thousand years…
No—not facing off.
This boy… had the power to casually obliterate such beasts!
"Hmph, how about that, you stinky lion? Still feel like snarling at people?"
Paimon floated over with a smug look, hands on her hips and chin tilted proudly. Her eyes gleamed with arrogance as she stared down the blazing-maned lion on the opposite side.
She acted as if she had been the one to fend off the beast just moments ago.
"Roar~!"
The Blazing-Maned Lion growled lowly, slowly backing away while keeping its wary gaze fixed on Aether.
As a soul beast nearing the hundred-thousand-year mark, its intelligence was already quite high—just shy of being able to speak.
Among the humans before it, it had only sensed two that posed any potential threat. So it had confidently sent three underlings forward, believing they would easily tear the group apart.
And indeed, things had gone just as expected… until that human stepped in.
With a single effortless strike, he had flung its trusted subordinate into the air—now lying half-dead on the ground.
This human is terrifyingly strong.
That was the only thought in the lion's mind.
Even though the boy before it emitted no soul power at all, just that casual display of strength—capable of gravely injuring its subordinate—was something only the few apex predators at the heart of the forest could match.
Faced with Paimon's taunts and its underling's injury, all it could do was adopt a defensive stance, not daring to make a move.
"Um… y-young master, was it you who repelled the soul beast just now?"
Shui Bing'er's certainty echoed in Instructor Wang's mind, though it still felt unreal.
Aether simply nodded.
"…Wang Wan of Tianshui Academy offers her sincerest thanks for your aid, sir!"
Only now did Instructor Wang reveal her full name.
But Aether's calm, indifferent demeanor made her feel that taking down a seventy- or eighty-thousand-year-old soul beast was just another casual task for him.
Her thoughts drifted to everything that had happened so far.
The beast tide, the supposed rescue, the request to accompany them in finding soul rings…
It all seemed like wishful thinking on their part.
Just as that strange little girl had said—in this Star Dou Forest, with such a powerful guardian by their side, they had never been in any real danger.
At that realization, a faint blush crept across Wang Wan's refined, elegant face.
"It's nothing. We just happened to be passing by, and figured we'd help this little one find a soul ring."
Aether chuckled softly, then took Yu Keke's hand and walked slowly toward the beasts.
"Roar… roar…"
The Blazing-Maned Lion instinctively stepped back as the boy approached, its other two subordinates flanking it with low growls—issuing a warning.
Aether paid them no mind, continuing forward with Yu Keke in tow.
Thirty steps. Twenty steps…
As they drew closer, Yu Keke couldn't help but tense up. She clutched Aether's arm tightly against her chest.
She wasn't afraid—just nervous. It was her first time seeing so many fierce, snarling soul beasts up close.
But she firmly believed that as long as she was by her brother's side, no monster could ever harm her.
"ROAR!"
When Aether was just a few steps away, one of the lion's subordinates suddenly lunged like a bolt of lightning.
"Ah!"
Yu Keke let out a startled cry and buried her head in Aether's chest.
A loud bang and a pained howl rang out.
When she looked up again, the attacking soul beast was nowhere to be seen.
Before her, the other soul beasts—including the massive Blazing-Maned Lion—had all taken several steps back, their ferocious faces now twisted in unmistakable fear.
As Aether and Yu Keke came to a stop in front of the lion, the beast's towering body suddenly collapsed onto the ground, forelimbs tucked under and its enormous head bowed low. Its eyes were filled with submission… even a hint of pleading.
"Hmph! That's what you get for roaring at people!"
Paimon came fluttering over and threw a tiny fist at the lion's head.
But its mane was so thick that her small body nearly disappeared into it before making contact.
"Ugh—how annoying! Traveler…"
Paimon flew back out, disgruntled, and was about to shout for backup when—
The Blazing-Maned Lion abruptly rolled over, curled up all four limbs, and exposed its pale underbelly.
Its pitiful eyes looked at Paimon as if to say, Please, Auntie, don't call him over! Look, here's my tummy—punch all you want…
"Uh…"
Paimon blinked, momentarily speechless.
"Forget it. Since there are so many soul beasts around, let's hurry and help Keke find a suitable one."
Seeing how cooperative the big-cat-like lion was acting, Paimon decided it wasn't worth the effort to scold it. The trio began casually strolling through the horde of soul beasts.
Aether let out a faint hint of aura, and wherever the three of them went, the soul beasts all collapsed to the ground in submission, not daring to lift their heads.
"Teacher… are they… picking soul beasts?"
On the Tianshui Academy side, Shui Bing'er helped support Teacher Xu as their group watched the three figures wander through the soul beasts. She asked blankly.
"I… I guess so…"
Wang Wan was also in a daze. She had never heard of soul beasts lying down meekly to be chosen during a soul ring hunt.
This wasn't soul ring hunting…
This was just grocery shopping at the market!
_
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