Stopping Tang San from Becoming Gangzi's Disciple

Li Yan jogged around Nuoding City that morning. Normally, ten or twenty laps would have been his limit.

But the three-hundred-year-old piece of Whale Rubber and the two-thousand-year-old piece he had eaten yesterday had given his body a tremendous boost.

After a full twenty-five laps, Li Yan still had strength to spare.

But if he kept running, he would be late for his first day of school.

If he missed Gangzi taking Tang San as his disciple and failed to stop it, he would be in trouble.

When Li Yan reached the gates of Nuoding Academy, he saw an old man in coarse hemp clothes, leaning on a cane, with a plainly dressed, ordinary-looking boy beside him.

God King Old Jack and Third Brother?

Then the classic villain-making-things-difficult scene should be next.

Li Yan hid in the shadows, planning to step out as soon as the gatekeeper started making trouble.

Sure enough, everything happened just as Li Yan had expected.

"How dare you! Let go of that boy!"

Li Yan leaped out and stood beside Tang San and Old Jack.

"What are you doing? A student has proof of his Martial Soul, and you won't let him enroll? Who gave you the nerve?"

"Wang Ergou, don't forget you came from a village yourself. Do you have to make things so difficult for them?"

Li Yan let loose a barrage of scolding that left the gatekeeper, Wang Ergou, burning with shame.

"Sir, little brother, may I see the proof of his Martial Soul?"

"I'm a new student at the academy too. If possible, I can go enroll with him."

Old Jack nodded with relief and took out Tang San's Martial Soul certificate.

"There's no problem with it. Sir, if you trust me, you can let him come with me."

Hearing this, Old Jack looked at Tang San.

"Xiao San, this young fellow is your age. Why don't you let him take you in to enroll?"

Pale and somewhat malnourished, Tang San looked at Li Yan.

His smile was bright, and his skin had a faint wheat-colored tan.

Most importantly, he was drenched in sweat and seemed to have been training early in the morning, which gave Tang San a very good first impression of him.

Helpful, positive about life, and diligent in cultivation—those were the labels he gave Li Yan.

"All right, sorry for the trouble."

Li Yan rejoiced inwardly. It worked!

"Your name is Tang San. Can I call you Xiao San?"

"My name is Li Yan. You can call me Little Yan or Brother Yan. That's what my family calls me."

Tang San nodded. "All right, Brother Little Yan."

He was a little touched. This was the first time someone had stood up for him. Even though the other boy was only six years old, Tang San felt a familial affection he had never felt before.

Look at that, I'm already friends with the future God King Tang. Can it be long before I make him my dog?

Just as he was about to take Tang San into the academy, a crew-cut man came running out.

"Xiao San, hurry!"

Li Yan's young face turned cold, and he quickly grabbed Tang San's hand.

"What's wrong, Brother Yan? Is that man scary?"

"He's not scary, he's conceited. Don't believe anything he tells you from now on."

Li Yan and Tang San took off running, with Yu Xiaogang chasing them for all he was worth.

Somewhere in the unseen, he sensed that he had an affinity with the child beside Li Yan, and that the child would one day be the best person to test his Martial Soul Theory.

I have to take him as my disciple!

But Li Yan had trained for years, and Tang San had the Tang Sect's Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. The Grandmaster, who had not engaged in strenuous activity for decades, was soon left far behind.

Only when Yu Xiaogang had disappeared completely from sight did Li Yan stop.

"Xiao San, remember this: you must never have anything to do with him, or your whole life will be ruined."

"Especially you. You're a rare Soul Master with Innate Full Soul Power. He'll definitely keep pestering you. When he does, just beat him up, or call me."

"What do you mean, Brother Yan?"

Li Yan cleared his throat and told Tang San everything he knew about Yu Xiaogang.

"What?! He's been eating and drinking at the academy for free for over ten years without teaching a single student?"

"He's past fifty and hasn't even reached level thirty, and his so-called Grandmaster theories were all stolen from Spirit Hall?"

"And he wanted to take you as his disciple just so he could take money from your family every month under a legitimate pretext?"

Tang San was dumbstruck. He had not expected the crew-cut man, sleazy as he looked, to do things that were even more shameless.

"Oh, and the thing he says most often is, 'There are no trash Martial Souls, only trash Soul Masters.'"

"Yet he neglects his own cultivation every day and even feeds his Martial Soul radishes every day, missing its chance to evolve for nothing."

"Doesn't that mean he insulted himself twice in one sentence?"

Tang San burst out laughing. During their conversation, he had learned that the Grandmaster's Martial Soul was the same as Brother Yan's.

It was just that one of them ran from reality, while the other stayed positive and strived to improve.

"Brother Yan, you mean your Martial Soul can still evolve?"

"That's right. I reckon it'll undergo a qualitative change when I become a Soul Elder. That Grandmaster had a chance too, but he was too weak and held his Martial Soul back. How can someone like that have the nerve to call himself a theoretical grandmaster?"

Tang San nodded inwardly. From now on, he would have to stay far away from that so-called Grandmaster.

"I understand, Brother Yuan. From now on, I'll cultivate with you."

Li Yan took Tang San to register as a new student. With the academy director's son there, the paperwork went quickly and was finished in a few minutes.

"Oh, right, Xiao San, I noticed you didn't bring any bedding. The school is a boarding school, so you'll need a full set."

"And it looks like you haven't eaten yet either? Come home with me."

Tang San waved his hands instinctively. He still was not used to someone treating him so well.

"Maybe I shouldn't."

"You're my friend. Isn't it perfectly normal for you to come to my house? Besides, the cloth shops in the city are closed for the next few days. You can't sleep on bare bed boards tonight, can you?"

Tang San hesitated for a moment, then followed Li Yan home.

What Li Yan wanted was to bring Tang San to his home more often, let him feel the warmth of a family, and make his own parents the family Tang San felt he needed to protect.

As for whether a scene like "Li Gang is my real dad, Tang Hao. Don't contact me anymore, you cousin-dad. I'm afraid my dad will misunderstand" would play out...

Li Yan thought it most likely would.

After all, this guy had never felt a father's or a mother's love in either of his two lives, and that was what he longed for most.

After walking for ten minutes, Li Yan arrived at his front door.

He pushed the door open and went in. Behind him, Tang San craned his neck and peered inside curiously.

"You little rascal, do you know today is your first day of school? You're back so late. Aren't you afraid of being late?"

Mother Li's scolding rang out at once.

"Oh... son, did you bring a friend home?"

"Yes, Mom. This is my good friend Tang San. You can call him Xiao San. He's a student at the academy. I just took him to register."

Mother Li came out of the kitchen, and Tang San froze the moment he saw her.

She matched his image of a mother perfectly...

For some reason, he suddenly wanted to call her Mom, but he forcibly held himself back in the end.

"Hello, Auntie. I'm Brother Yan's friend."

Mother Li was startled when she saw Tang San. "Child, doesn't your family feed you?"

"Why are you so thin? Someone your age should be eating more nourishing food. Don't just stand there, sit down and eat."

Listening to her fuss, Tang San's heart filled with emotion.

If only she were my mother. Unfortunately, I've never had one.

"All right, Auntie."