In the brightly lit underground base, the silver-haired boy shook his head, as if he had just thought of something.
What does being a yandere have to do with a six-year-old like me?
Banishing all the chaotic thoughts from his mind, Su Chen wiped his hands and eagerly pushed open the door to the experimental area.
Measuring cup, alcohol lamp, petri dish.
Gazing at the green liquid that occasionally bubbled, the boy felt a sense of familiarity mixed with strangeness.
"Phew, it's been a long time."
The boy gently stroked the equipment and finally stopped in front of the test bench.
Pulling over the light, Su Chen took out two items from the soul tool.
A slice of the silkworm's body, and a ten-thousand-year-old soul bone containing natural energy!
The former is said to have great nourishing effects, and Su Chen wanted to see if he could make it into a medicine to improve its utilization and absorption efficiency.
Needless to say, natural energy is a priority and a subject that must be studied.
Su Chen rubbed his hands together, his chakra surged, and his eyes instantly turned into a jade-like white.
Roll your eyes, see through things!
"Let me see what secrets you're hiding."
In an unnamed valley.
The roars of ferocious beasts and low-level soul beasts echoed continuously, along with the faint cries of boys and girls.
"What a boring job, these kids are really something."
In the very center of the valley, on the tallest tree, Ghost Douluo sat cross-legged on a branch, bored out of his mind. His spiritual power spread out, taking in every corner of the valley.
At this moment, apart from Su Chen, all the awakened children above level five are here.
Some were torn apart by wild beasts, struggling and crying out desperately; some formed small teams to hunt and survive; and some trembled and hid in corners, not daring to make a move.
Such scenes played out everywhere in the valley.
Despite the tragic scene, Ghost Douluo remained unmoved.
He would only release a small amount of his soul power to save someone whose life was hanging by a thread, and then throw them out of the valley, where someone who had made prior preparations would naturally pick them up.
These are all "failures".
They will be given intensive training and instruction, and once they are a little older, they will be sent to positions that are not dangerous but have no future.
Those who can personally hunt soul beasts in this valley, or even the most vicious individuals who have been specially released into the valley, are the ones that the Spirit Hall focuses on cultivating.
"Well, although he's not as monstrous as Su Chen, he's still a rare genius."
Ghost Douluo stared intently in one direction.
There, Xie Yue, Yan, Hu Liena, and a little girl named Zhang Ping were struggling to withstand the relentless beast tide.
They were all almost soaked in blood, their faces were pale, and they were clearly on the verge of collapse.
No matter how strong a genius is, he is still just a six-year-old child.
The stench of killing and blood assaulted their already fragile minds.
Even Xie Yue, the strongest among them, was on the verge of fainting.
To Ghost Douluo's surprise, Hu Liena's reaction was the best among them. She was still able to maintain a relatively clear mind and was constantly giving instructions.
"This little girl is not bad."
He nodded in satisfaction, then sighed.
It's all Su Chen's fault for raising their standards with his incredible performances time and time again, making them unmoved by geniuses of this caliber now.
Otherwise, in previous years, he and Old Chrysanthemum would have come together for this kind of thing.
But this year he was all alone.
"Keep it up, you little devils, there's still plenty of time."
"Only those who graduate from here will be worthy of being called the elite of the future."
Pain, suffocation, and the pungent smell of blood almost overwhelmed Hu Liena's senses.
Her beautiful pink hair was now stained red with blood, and her delicate face was covered in bits of flesh and blood. She couldn't even tell if it was her own or that of the wild beasts that kept attacking her.
Almost mechanically, she swung her weapon, releasing her soul power. As she listened to the screams and cries around her, a pair of dark, bright eyes appeared in Hu Liena's mind.
A day earlier, when Ghost Douluo brought them to this valley, she had inquired about the boy's whereabouts.
However, the answer she received left everyone, including her, speechless.
"Su Chen? What's that kid doing here? Is he here to go on a rampage? I'm not kidding, but he could kill his way from one end of the valley to the other without even getting his eyes wet. He's already skipped that step."
They naively believed that the wild animals here were weak.
Until the first trainee almost died in front of them.
Until they were surrounded by wild beasts and driven to the brink of despair.
Even after they exhausted all their strength, they only managed to kill a ten-year-old soul beast.
Only then did they realize what Ghost Douluo's words meant.
The girl didn't have any special feelings for Su Chen; she was just curious about why the boy was so powerful, so calm, and why he could make her feel so warm.
She had many questions and wanted to follow in his footsteps to ask them.
But now, a huge chasm has suddenly appeared between them.
No--!
A powerful surge of soul energy erupted from the girl, spreading pink light. The phantom of a fox spirit appeared and disappeared on Hu Liena's body. The surrounding beasts seemed to see their goddess, stopping their movements and their eyes turning pink.
"Huff, huff."
The girl was panting heavily, her face ashen, yet a happy smile appeared on her face.
Now, the gap shouldn't be that big anymore, right?
As she thought this, she closed her beautiful eyes and lost consciousness.
Zhang Ping, who was behind her, quickly ran over and hugged her.
"This is Nana's soul power, let's go!"
Xie Yue glanced around at the situation. His face was pale, and he felt his muscles trembling and he had lost all strength. But if he didn't leave now, he would probably only face death once the beasts recovered.
Yan, still shaken and panting, nodded hastily and followed Xie Yue.
"She actually broke through! This little girl has such a strong charm talent."
Ghost Douluo narrowed his eyes, somewhat surprised.
Their performance was more than enough to get them out of the valley, but Ghost Douluo was eager to see what these little devils were capable of.
"Well, maybe His Holiness the Pope will take her as his disciple, if that kid Su Chen doesn't interfere."
"However, speaking of which, I wonder how things are going in Spirit City. Has that kid caused some big trouble again?"
"Damn it, I really want to go back and see."
From the tallest tree in the very center of the valley came a faint, murmuring voice.
Su Chen was naturally unaware that Hu Liena had unleashed her full power because of him, and even less aware that Ghost Douluo was also thinking about him.
At this moment, he was standing in front of the Pope.
"Level 20? That fast?"
Bibi Dong's red lips parted slightly, her beautiful eyes filled with surprise as she looked at the boy.
It's only been a few days!
You've already broken through level 20?
By this calculation, the little guy is about the same as my own bastard child who was born with full innate soul power!
Both of them had level 20 soul power when they were six years old, but the little guy was different from that bastard; he leveled up five in less than half a month!
This speed is simply terrifying!
"Yeah, I was surprised too."
Su Chen nodded somewhat helplessly.
He had anticipated that the breakthrough would not happen so quickly, but that it should be a month later. However, the domineering nature of the natural energy exceeded his expectations.
Originally, he was just trying to absorb it, but when the natural energy touched the chakra, it was like encountering a long-lost newlywed wife. It rushed into the boy's body in a brutal and forceful manner, and began to travel through the meridians with the chakra without saying a word.
This terrified Su Chen. He knew that the ratio of chakra to natural energy in the body had very strict requirements, and one could easily assimilate with nature if one was not careful.
Fortunately, the worst-case scenario he had anticipated did not occur.
Whether it was due to insufficient natural energy or some other reason, Su Chen did not turn into a stone statue; instead, his soul power surged by five levels.
The Soul Bone, as if it had lost its core, went from being lustrous to dull and lifeless, and even showed some cracks.
Su Chen could feel it slowly recovering, but the time was extremely long, so long that it was almost negligible.
In short, it was an experiment that was neither a success nor a failure.
"Little guy, you really surprise me every day!"
After a long while, the Pope finally breathed a sigh of relief, his wine-red eyes filled with the reflection of the silver-haired boy.
She gently patted Su Chen's shoulder, "Then let Elder Ju accompany you to the Star Dou Great Forest."