The Self-Important Grandmaster
"Li Yan, I heard from your father that you awakened two Luo Sanpao Martial Souls."
At the entrance to Nuoding Academy, a middle-aged man with a crew cut blocked Li Yan's path.
"Oh, Grandmaster. What do you want?"
Li Yan had just finished his morning training and was breathing heavily. Two Luo Sanpaos, one gold and one black, followed behind him.
"Since you awakened Luo Sanpao Martial Souls, you should know that becoming a powerful Soul Master is beyond your reach in this life. What do you say? Would you consider taking me as your master and pursuing the path of theory?"
"Not interested. I'm going home to eat."
Li Yan waved him off, went around him, and left.
He wanted nothing to do with the Grandmaster.
Yu Xiaogang watched Li Yan leave and sneered. Luo Sanpao was a Trash Martial Soul. What future could he possibly have?
"So be it. I'll go find your father and have him decide your future."
Yu Xiaogang followed Li Yan, trailing him the whole way.
The boy's name was Li Yan, the son of Nuoding Academy's dean. He was not from this world, but had transmigrated here.
Other transmigrators were either holy sons of Spirit Hall or direct descendants of major sects, while he was merely the son of the dean of a little academy in Nuoding.
His father's Martial Soul was a Golden-Thread Snake, and he was a level thirty-nine Soul Elder. His mother's Martial Soul was a Black-Thread Snake, and she was a level thirty-two Soul Elder.
Half a month ago, he had awakened his Martial Soul. He had thought he would inherit a snake Martial Soul from one of his parents, but unexpectedly, a strange phenomenon appeared in the sky during the awakening.
His twin Dark Sacred Dragon and Radiant Sacred Dragon Martial Souls had stunned Brother Tao, who had performed the awakening for him at the Spirit Hall Branch.
He had thought himself a heaven-sent genius, ready to kick Tang San aside and become a god.
But his moment of glory did not last three seconds. Both powerful Martial Souls promptly degenerated into Luo Sanpaos, and his Innate Soul Power settled at level six.
Even so, Li Yan knew he was in a good position. His Innate Soul Power was already considered high.
Hadn't a certain Grandmaster possessed only half a level of Innate Soul Power when he awakened?
That was why Li Yan had not lost heart. He knew he was the one holding his Martial Souls back.
For the past half month, he had been tempering his body and cultivating Soul Power at night. He was already close to breaking through to level seven.
"Mom, Dad, I'm home!"
Li Yan pushed open the door and called inside.
The little courtyard was not large, but it felt especially cozy.
A woman of around thirty came out of the inner room. She was Li Yan's mother.
She wore an apron and held a spatula in one hand.
"You must be exhausted. Come in and rest for a bit. The food will be ready soon." "There's Hundred-Year Soul Beast meat stewing in the pot. Your dad just bought it from a Soul Hunting team."
Li Yan's parents doted on him. If he had not been a transmigrator, he might well have grown into Nuoding City's little tyrant by now.
After all, in this small city, a level thirty-nine Soul Elder could strut around unchecked, to say nothing of the fact that his father was still young and had a chance of reaching the Soul King realm in his lifetime.
When Li Yan awakened his Martial Souls half a month ago, his parents blamed themselves for his failed awakening. They believed they had held their son back from becoming a genius, so they had doted on him even more for the past half year.
As long as Li Yan asked, they would grant him anything.
"Mom, I'm fine. Hundred-Year Soul Beast meat is expensive. We don't have to eat it at every meal."
"What are you talking about? You're still growing. It never hurts to eat more."
Eating Hundred-Year Soul Beast meat at every meal was a major expense for a Soul Elder's family.
Li Yan knew that because his awakening had failed, his parents hoped that eating more Soul Beast meat would build him up and perhaps let his Martial Souls evolve again.
But Li Yan knew that ordinary Soul Beast meat would do little for Martial Soul Evolution, aside from making him grow taller and filling the Luo Sanpaos' bellies a little more.
What he truly needed was a dragon-type Soul Beast for his First Soul Ring, to stimulate the bloodlines hidden within the Luo Sanpaos.
Soon, a hearty breakfast was served, and Li Yan's father came out of the room.
The atmosphere at the table was delicate. The couple kept placing Soul Beast meat in Li Yan's and the two Luo Sanpaos' bowls, eating little themselves.
"Mom, Dad, let's talk. I know you feel guilty about my failed Martial Soul Awakening, but it wasn't your fault."
"There's no need to treat me like this. We're a family."
Both of Li Yan's parents came from poor backgrounds and had struggled for many years before reaching the position of dean of Nuoding Academy.
"Son, I've failed you. If my Innate Soul Power had been a little higher, and I were a Soul King or even a Soul Emperor now, the Martial Soul genes you inherited would have been better. Maybe your awakening would have succeeded."
"I heard the master of the Spirit Hall Branch say that your two Martial Souls were most likely the legendary Golden Sacred Dragon and Dark Sacred Dragon, even stronger than the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, the number one Beast Martial Soul on the continent."
Li Yan smiled faintly and popped a piece of Soul Beast meat into his mouth.
"Yu Xiaogang—you know, the Yu Xiaogang who's been living off our academy for years—has Luo Sanpao as his Martial Soul too. You know that."
Li Yan's parents nodded.
"He's a direct descendant of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and his father is a Titled Douluo. Even his awakening failed, so doesn't that make me pretty lucky? At least I have level six Innate Soul Power."
"Dad, do you think your seed is better than a Titled Douluo's?"
Hearing that, Father Li laughed and scolded him.
"You little brat! Your old man wouldn't dare compare himself to a Titled Douluo, but I believe my son is the best."
"With level six Innate Soul Power, breaking through to Soul Saint won't be hard in the future. Then, when both Luo Sanpaos fart at once, even a Soul Saint will be stunk to death."
Father Li joked as though a knot in his heart had come undone.
"Actually, I've already found a way to make the Luo Sanpaos evolve."
Li Yan spoke.
"What? Tell us quickly. Let's see how hard it would be to do."
Li Yan explained his idea.
"I've come up with two reasons why my Martial Soul Evolution failed."
"First, the Light Sacred Dragon and Dark Sacred Dragon are even more powerful Martial Souls than the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, so their requirements for their host's body must be very demanding. I'm not there yet, which is why I temper myself every day, to meet that standard."
"Second, and this is the fundamental reason, there's far too little dragon blood in my Martial Souls."
"Mom, Dad, your Martial Souls are both thread snakes, with only a faint trace of dragon blood, and I didn't inherit much either. To be honest, we really are the ones holding the Sanpaos back."
"So what I need to do is absorb Soul Rings from Soul Beasts with dragon blood, or even sub-dragon species, at levels ten, twenty, and thirty, to activate the bloodline in my body."
"So, Dad, for the sake of my future Soul Rings, you'd better break through to level forty as soon as you can. Dragon-type Soul Beasts are very powerful. If you can't even beat the one for my First Soul Ring, you'll die of shame if word gets out."
"You little brat, can't you say something nice? I'm a level thirty-nine Soul Elder, a well-known figure in Nuoding City. You think I can't beat a Soul Beast that's only two or three hundred years old?"
Father Li laughed and scolded him, but the knot in his heart had come undone.
Since his son had an ambition, there was only one thing he needed to do: support him!
He would fight to give his son a bright future!
Knock, knock, knock. Someone was knocking at the courtyard gate.
"Dean Li, it's me, Xiaogang."