"Grandmaster" Wants to Take a Disciple

"Are you going to teach me how to cultivate my Martial Soul?" Tang San asked.

Yu Xiaogang stopped and turned to face Tang San. "Then, are you willing?"

Tang San naturally stopped as well, tilting his head up to look at Yu Xiaogang, who called himself Grandmaster.

Gu You had already pointed out the flaws in this man's theories on the way here, and his first impression on Tang San had been poor. Besides, Gu You had already told him his own theoretical analysis and development plan for his Martial Soul.

Considering that Yu Xiaogang might hold some position in the academy, and for the sake of the next six years of study, Tang San ultimately said nothing. He neither agreed nor refused.

Yu Xiaogang stared at Tang San's unblinking eyes and thought, Damn it! I'm Yu Xiaogang, the Grandmaster of Martial Soul research, and you actually won't agree at once?

Although he was cursing Tang San furiously in his heart and wished he could summon Luo Sanpao to give Tang San a smack, he still forced a stiff smile onto his face. "Good. You really are a clever child."

Yu Xiaogang, who had no idea what Gu You and Tang San had discussed along the way, interpreted Tang San's silence in two ways. First, Tang San was not in a hurry to refuse him, lest he offend him. Second, he was asking through his actions: Why should I acknowledge you as my teacher?

Yu Xiaogang imitated Old Jack's gesture before they left, raising his hand to ruffle Tang San's hair, but Tang San turned his head away and avoided it.

Yu Xiaogang's dissatisfaction grew heavier, but for the sake of obtaining two geniuses as disciples, he withdrew his hand and said, "You have extraordinary talent and are so clever as well. It seems I have to persist this time. After all, you are only the third person with Twin Martial Souls in the past hundred years."

Hearing Grandmaster's words, Tang San was shocked. His gaze toward Grandmaster immediately changed, and his eyes swiftly swept over the surroundings. His left wrist had also been quietly raised, while an uncertain, suspicious look appeared in his eyes.

Yu Xiaogang looked at Tang San with an air of complete composure and smiled. "Are you wondering how I knew you had Twin Martial Souls?" As he spoke, he shook the certificate in his hand. "It's because of this certificate. Perhaps others wouldn't notice the flaw in it, but if even I couldn't, then I wouldn't deserve the title of Grandmaster."

"I once investigated six hundred and forty-seven people whose Martial Souls were Blue Silver Grass. Among them, only sixteen possessed Soul Power, a probability of less than three percent. Even among those sixteen people, not one had Soul Power exceeding rank one. Yet you possess rank ten Innate Full Soul Power. According to one of the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul I have researched, Innate Soul Power is directly proportional to the quality of one's Martial Soul. Blue Silver Grass clearly cannot satisfy that condition. Therefore, I can be certain that you must have another Martial Soul, and it must be an extremely powerful one."

Tang San's gaze gradually calmed. Although Yu Xiaogang had given his explanation, it was completely different from the answer Gu You had provided.

Yu Xiaogang believed that Tang San was an ordinary Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul wielder with Innate Full Soul Power. But ordinary Blue Silver Grass was far too weak to produce Innate Full Soul Power, so Tang San must have Twin Martial Souls, with his Innate Full Soul Power coming from the other Martial Soul.

According to Gu You's theory, however, Tang San's Innate Full Soul Power came from Blue Silver Grass. But ordinary Blue Silver Grass could not provide Innate Full Soul Power, so Tang San's Blue Silver Grass could not be ordinary. Yet during the awakening, it had looked exactly like the ordinary Blue Silver Grass found everywhere. Thus, Gu You believed Tang San had Twin Martial Souls, and that the reason his Blue Silver Grass appeared ordinary was because it had been affected by his other Martial Soul.

Although Tang San believed that his Innate Full Soul Power was entirely due to the Mysterious Heaven Skill, he was more inclined toward Gu You's view regarding his Twin Martial Souls—in other words, his Blue Silver Grass was not ordinary.

Thus, Tang San argued, "There are always exceptions. Why can't I be a special case?"

Although Yu Xiaogang was displeased that a child who had not even enrolled, and who was not yet a Soul Master, would question him, he still nodded and said amiably, "That's right. There are always exceptions. But your Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass, so you clearly aren't that exception. In the past hundred years, the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire have seen only two people with Twin Martial Souls, but nineteen people with Innate Full Soul Power. I carefully studied every one of their Martial Souls, and without exception, they were all powerful. The youngest of them has already reached the level of a Soul Grandmaster. Fourteen of them inherited powerful Martial Souls through their family bloodlines, while five were exceptions."

"Their backgrounds were not noble, yet they still possessed Innate Full Soul Power. Such accidents are the result of Mutated Martial Souls. Based on my many years of research into Mutated Martial Souls, no Martial Soul has ever mutated through a combination with Blue Silver Grass. Your Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul is also ordinary Blue Silver Grass, so I can be completely certain that my judgment is correct."

"Mutated Martial Souls? What are those?" Tang San asked.

Yu Xiaogang explained, "To answer that, we first have to discuss how Martial Souls are inherited. A person's Martial Soul has a direct relationship with their parents' Martial Souls. In the most normal cases, they inherit the Martial Soul of either their father or their mother. This is the family-style inheritance of Martial Souls. Some exceptions are what we call Mutated Martial Souls. Their source is still the Martial Souls of both parents, but because the parents' Martial Souls possess a certain capacity for mutation, the inheritor's Martial Soul undergoes a mutation and produces a new Martial Soul. Mutated Martial Souls can become powerfully mutated, even resulting in Innate Full Soul Power. But the vast majority of Mutated Martial Souls only become weaker. Mutated Martial Souls are like the products of close-kin marriages: the probability of producing an idiot is high, but there is also a chance of producing a genius far beyond ordinary people."

By this point, Tang San was already growing impatient. He had realized that Yu Xiaogang had said so much because he desperately wanted to take him as a disciple.

But someone who had failed to advance even one rank over more than a decade—Tang San truly did not believe that such a person could teach him.

Moreover, Yu Xiaogang had revealed his greatest secret in the middle of the academy's main road, in full view of the public. Gu You was right beside him, and although their years of friendship made Tang San trust Gu You, what if he and Gu You had a poor relationship? Or what if someone happened to be hiding behind a nearby tree? Then the secret of his Twin Martial Souls would be exposed.

Over the past few months since the Martial Soul Awakening, Gu You had repeatedly told him to hide his second Martial Soul. Otherwise, if he offended someone, an ordinary genius might be spared, but a genius with Twin Martial Souls could very well be killed.

Even a child could understand that, at least in Tang San's eyes. Yet Yu Xiaogang, a man in his forties or fifties, still didn't understand? He had casually used someone else's secret as a bargaining chip merely to prove his theory correct. Was he trying to hint at something?

After rereading the original text, I realized that Grandmaster really did choose to reveal that Tang San had Twin Martial Souls on the main road. He truly had something wrong with his head. I'm going to see a movie tonight, so I'll update again tomorrow. Please vote and bookmark.