Yu Xiaogang Got Scammed

Several guards hurriedly threw themselves to the ground and wailed.

"Ow, ow! It hurts so bad!"

"I'm done for! My bones are broken! Shattered fractures!"

Xiao Yue, the waitress, and several other servers were equally quick-witted. They immediately lay down together and began howling and shrieking.

Chen Tao respectfully bowed to Yu Xiaogang, who was on the ground. "Master Yu, they're all children. Please be forgiving if they did anything wrong. You're a Theory Master, surely you wouldn't lower yourself to argue with a bunch of children."

A female head waitress who looked somewhat older immediately chimed in. "Exactly, exactly. Master, thank you for showing mercy. Otherwise, Xiao Yue's life would have been ruined. Look how pitiful our Xiao Yue is, she's crying like this. Master, shouldn't you—"

Chen Tao continued, "Master Yu, they're all still children. You scared them terribly. How about giving each of them fifty Gold Soul Coins? Otherwise, word of your great display of power getting out might damage your reputation."

Yu Xiaogang's face had turned livid. How could he not realize that he was being scammed?

Though he had justice on his side—the waitress should have paid his bill in the first place—there were simply too many people here, and he could not beat them. He could only accept his loss.

"There are ten people here. Just give us one thousand Gold Soul Coins."

Yu Xiaogang's face darkened. Did this Shady Merchant think he could not do math? Fifty times ten was five hundred.

Before he could speak, Chen Tao shouted to the customers in the hall, "Sorry, everyone! Everything is on the house today! Master Yu Xiaogang is treating!"

"Awesome! Boss, you're amazing!"

"The boss is generous!"

"We're eating for free today. We should thank Master Yu!"

Yu Xiaogang thought that at last, someone sensible had spoken. He really was paying for this meal, after all.

But the man's next words nearly made his vision go black.

"It's rare to see someone this stupid! Boss, bring two more bowls of noodles! Master Yu, give us a heads-up next time you come!"

Under Yu Xiaogang's pained gaze, the restaurant owner snatched away the Gold Soul Coins he had just taken out.

Listening to the cheers inside, Yu Xiaogang staggered out of the Rose Restaurant with a heartache. He now had only a little over a hundred Gold Soul Coins left.

"System, did I succeed?"

Yu Xiaogang's weak voice sounded utterly pitiful, but the system's icy reply poured another bucket of cold water over him. "As your mission has failed severely, three levels of your Soul Power will be deducted."

He suddenly shuddered, terror appearing on his face.

"Punishment commencing!"

In an instant, Yu Xiaogang felt as though his body had become a leaking balloon.

Yu Xiaogang swore he had never encountered anything like this before. His Soul Power had remained at the peak perfection of level 29 for many years. It had never risen, but neither had it ever declined by even the slightest amount.

Yet just now, it was as if someone had suddenly drained away his Soul Power. Even the meridians that had once expanded to store Soul Power showed signs of atrophy.

He was now certain that this system had some real ability. Umm... it was only a tiny bit stronger than Yu Xiaogang himself.

If he had known failure came with punishment, he would have made that waitress pay no matter what.

"System, system, are there any more missions? Can my Soul Power come back?"

"Rest assured, Host. Your next mission is to go to the entrance of Nuoding Academy and save Tang San, who is wearing blue. Tang San possesses Twin Martial Souls. Accept Tang San as your disciple. Mission reward: increase Soul Power by one level.

I will now impart to you the correct cultivation method for Twin Martial Souls!

The other little boy has no talent. There is no need to care about him."

"Twin Martial Souls! Aside from that vile woman, there is actually someone else in this world with Twin Martial Souls! System, is he really willing to take me as his master?"

"I'm only a level 29—no, level 26 Soul Grandmaster."

"Don't worry. With the correct cultivation method for Twin Martial Souls that I will teach you, everything you saw in either the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan or the Spirit Hall library was fake!"

"How many people in this world even possess Twin Martial Souls? Could one successful example prove that her cultivation method was optimal?"

"Besides, once you expose Tang San's Twin Martial Souls, he might just take you as his master."

Yu Xiaogang stroked his stubble with both hands, circling left three times and right three times before replying, "That makes sense. I gathered so many examples before arriving at such a perfect theory. This really was an oversight on my part."

No one noticed Li Chen, standing beside Tang San, struggling to hold back his laughter.

What was happening at the entrance to Nuoding Academy had also diverged greatly from the original story.

Old Jack led the two children to the gate and, as expected, was stopped by the young gatekeeper who dared block even a God King.

"What are you country bumpkins doing here? Is this somewhere you're allowed to come?"

Just as in the original story, Old Jack apologized profusely and handed over their Spirit Hall certificates.

"Blue Silver Grass, Innate Soul Power level six?"

"An iron bucket with an overly thick inner wall and no bottom, Innate Soul Power level ten?"

"What a joke! What a joke! This is utterly ridiculous! I have never seen anyone as shameless as you!"

"If you're going to forge something, at least make it convincing! Trash Martial Souls like Blue Silver Grass can have level six Soul Power? And that bottomless bucket cannot even hold water. Yours is worse than that Blue Silver Grass!"

"Are you old fool trying to mooch food and drink? Let me tell you, a golden phoenix can't fly out of a grass nest. You must be frauds, right?"

The young gatekeeper folded his arms across his chest, rolled his eyes, and looked down at the three from the high platform.

Li Chen estimated that Yu Xiaogang would arrive soon, so he had Tangyuan issue Tang San a mission.

Tang San heard his Adoptive Mother's voice in his mind. "My son, shortly, someone calling himself a master will expose the secret of your Twin Martial Souls. In martial soul research across Douluo Continent, this master is unmatched before or since."

"Though your mother is powerful and graceful, I am somewhat inferior in martial soul research. After all, I am not from this world."

"However, this master dislikes people with bad tempers. So when this gatekeeper insults you later, you must endure it. Leave a good impression on the master."

"Remember, this is your first step toward success. Endure what ordinary people cannot endure!"

As for why Li Chen wanted Tang San to endure it, naturally it was to give the master a chance to play the hero and save the beauty.

Little Tangyuan asked weakly, "Host, but that gatekeeper is insulting you too."

"If a dog barks at you, would you get angry?"

"No."

"Then there you have it. Anger shortens your life. Young people should not be so hot-tempered!"

To Li Chen, such minor characters could not cause even the slightest ripple in his state of mind.

He would never admit that he simply could not be bothered to deal with this gatekeeper.

Because Yu Xiaogang had been delayed at the restaurant, he had not arrived yet. According to the plot, the gatekeeper should have continued mocking them.

At this point, Old Jack could no longer hold back. "You're deliberately making things difficult for us! Fine, just wait! We'll go to Spirit Hall and ask the deacon to judge this fairly!"

Seeing that they actually dared to seek someone from Spirit Hall, the gatekeeper realized that the certificates were probably genuine. Unease rose in his heart. If they were real, then whether he could keep his position as the Nuoding Gate God was uncertain.

Though he believed the higher-ups at Spirit Hall would not come forward for them, he still felt nervous and was about to stop them.

Tang San spoke up. "No, Grandpa Jack. Little Chen, we're not leaving. Let him insult us."

"I want to see whether there is still justice in this world!"

"Dawn will eventually pierce the fog and shine upon this gatekeeper's ugly face."