Master, Your Theory Has Been Countered

Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy.

Four gilded characters hung above the grand arched stone gate, radiating an air of I'm damn impressive.

Not bad-looking.

Wonder how much substance it actually had inside.

Though that gatekeeper looked like a dog. Damn bad luck.

Han Yuchen sauntered over and heard the gatekeeper shouting from a distance.

"Proof? I said you don't have proof, so you don't have proof!"

"Get lost, get lost! Do you mud-legged peasants think Nuoding Academy is somewhere you can enter?"

His voice was shrill and sharp, cruelly spiteful.

The ones being berated were two children.

One was a plainly dressed black-haired boy, his eyes as stubborn as a bull's, standing beside a girl.

Several bluish wild grasses floated beside the boy.

The girl wore a fitted pink outfit, her long black hair braided into a scorpion tail. Her little face was puffed up with anger, like a feral kitten ready to scratch someone at any moment.

Tang San and Xiao Wu.

So it really was them.

Xiao Wu's fiery temper exploded on the spot.

"You watchdog, who are you calling a wild girl?"

Tang San grabbed her and said in a low voice, "Xiao Wu, don't be impulsive."

He looked at the gatekeeper, neither servile nor overbearing. "We have proof issued by Spirit Hall. It clearly states that I'm a Work-Study Student. According to the rules, you can..."

"Rules?"

The gatekeeper sneered as though he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Here, what I say is the rule!"

"Want to enter? Sure." He stretched out a palm as large as a fan and patted Tang San's thin shoulder, making Tang San stagger from the force. "Prove you're qualified. Otherwise, get the hell out!"

Well, damn.

This was the real deal.

Han Yuchen watched from the side, barely able to hold back his laughter.

Villains died from talking too much. Side characters died from this kind of brainless arrogance.

Han Yuchen laughed inwardly, but his face wore a sickly expression as he deliberately coughed twice.

He slowly shuffled over and asked weakly.

"Big brother, may I ask... is this the place that accepts Work-Study Students?"

The gatekeeper shot him a sidelong glance and snorted through his nose.

"Another poor bastard."

That look was no different from looking at trash.

Tang San still wanted to reason with him and handed over the proof from Spirit Hall.

"Sir, this is my proof."

The gatekeeper slapped it aside.

"What the hell is this? Blue Silver Grass? A Wasted Spirit thinks it can apply here?"

"Get lost already! Don't blame me for getting rough otherwise!"

Tang San clenched his fists.

Seeing Tang San's expression grow colder and colder, it was obvious he was about to make a move.

Han Yuchen quickly tugged at Tang San's sleeve and lowered his voice, speaking at just the right volume for everyone to hear.

"Tang San, don't be impulsive."

"I heard on the way here that gatekeepers at city academies are at least twentieth-level Soul Grandmasters! We can't beat him!"

As soon as he said that, the gatekeeper raised his chin even higher.

His back straightened proudly.

That's right, I'm a Soul Grandmaster! Scared now, you little punk?

Tang San did not care about that.

Being blocked by a mere gatekeeper and having his Spirit insulted was something he could not swallow.

"Then let me show you whether Blue Silver Grass is a Wasted Spirit!"

A yellow Hundred-Year Soul Ring lit up.

"Blue Silver Entanglement!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Several Blue Silver Grass vines coiled toward the gatekeeper like snakes.

"That's it?"

The gatekeeper sneered, and two Soul Rings lit up around him as well.

One white, one yellow.

He stomped his foot, and the phantom of a wolfhound half the height of a man emerged.

"Awooo!"

With one swipe of its claw, the wolfhound shredded those Blue Silver Grass vines to pieces.

Tang San's face turned pale.

The gap was rather large.

Just as the gatekeeper's wolfhound was about to pounce, Han Yuchen's opportunity came.

He lunged forward, spread his arms, and blocked Tang San.

His face was filled with the panicked look of someone facing death without hesitation.

"Don't hit him! He's still a child!"

His cry was utterly heart-wrenching.

From the corner of his eye, Han Yuchen had long noticed the older fellow standing stiffly in the corner since earlier.

That was my real target.

What was the point of picking a fight with a gatekeeper? Even if I won, there'd be no glory in it.

If I was going to play, I would play big.

If I was going to strike, I would slap that "Master" right in the face.

What I wanted was not to prove that I was stronger than the gatekeeper. I wanted to make the theory he was so proud of shatter before his very eyes!

This bizarre scene that overturned someone's worldview was ten thousand times more satisfying than punching a gatekeeper away.

Tang San's face was full of shock. He had never expected Han Yuchen to stand in front of him.

He had already launched his second wave of attacks.

Several darker Blue Silver Grass vines, glowing with a faint green light, wrapped around Han Yuchen's arm with no way to avoid them.

They were coated with the Mandala Snake's paralytic venom!

It's here!

The real deal had finally arrived!

Han Yuchen was overjoyed inside, but his acting reached its peak.

A Plant Spirit with inherent venom!

Wasn't this a textbook-level elemental counter?

My Balus was essentially a fish, water. Your poisonous grass countering this little broken fish of mine was only natural!

Master's theory—I wholeheartedly agree with it!

He silently recited in his heart.

I confirm that plant venom restrains me.

[ Ding! Origin Talent [Restraint] has activated! ]

The Blue Silver Grass wrapped around him, but he felt nothing at all.

The next second.

An invisible force exploded from Han Yuchen's body.

Across from him.

Tang San was preparing to launch a third round of attacks when his body suddenly stiffened.

He let out a muffled groan.

An unnatural flush instantly spread across his face.

His entire body trembled violently as though he had been electrocuted.

Then.

"Thud."

He fell stiffly to the ground, his limbs still twitching faintly.

The entire scene fell silent.

Cold sweat had already seeped from the forehead of the gatekeeper who had been so arrogant moments ago.

He looked at Han Yuchen as if he were looking at a monster.

This kid hadn't even summoned a Soul Ring or used a Soul Skill. He had merely stood there and stared a Soul Master into collapse?

Wicked!

Too damn wicked!

Xiao Wu was dumbfounded too.

Her mouth hung open as she looked from the fallen Tang San to the "innocent"-looking Han Yuchen.

The attacker had poisoned himself?

What was this supposed to be?

In a corner of the academy.

The pupils of a bespectacled middle-aged man abruptly shrank to pinpoints the instant Tang San fell.

For the first time, an expression of horrified upheaval appeared on his eternally stiff, corpse-like face!

Control System... attack... rebound...

No, that wasn't right!

That wasn't rebound!

That boy hadn't even lit up a Soul Ring!

This violated every ironclad law of the Soul Master World! It was impossible!

"Clatter."

A soft sound rang out.

The thick theory book he had always held in his hands and cherished like a treasure slipped from his stiff fingers and crashed heavily onto the ground.

Yu Xiaogang looked as though he had been turned to stone.

He stared at the frail figure in the middle of the scene, his eyes filled with unprecedented shock, confusion, and a trace of... fear.

The worldview he had spent his entire life building was smashed to pieces in that instant by an invisible Iron Hammer.

And as the instigator of it all.

Han Yuchen slowly turned around. He looked at the unconscious Tang San on the ground, then lowered his head to look at his own "clean" hands.

At the right moment, a perfectly measured look of confusion and terror appeared on his face.

Stammering, he softly and tentatively asked the utterly stunned gatekeeper and Xiao Wu:

"It... it wasn't me, right?"

"I... I didn't do anything!"