Tang San cultivated the Mysterious Heaven Skill and knew how to use Hidden Weapons, so he wasn't particularly worried about what Kai had just said about hunting Soul Beasts to obtain Soul Rings.
He had suffered from the monopolization of knowledge in his previous life, so in this life he placed special importance on knowledge and theory.
Yu Xiaogang's image as a learned master, rich in theory and broad in knowledge, held a fatal attraction for him. It was difficult for Tang San not to be tempted.
But since Kai had just shattered Yu Xiaogang's masterly image, Tang San still had some doubts about him.
"Mutated Martial Souls? What are those?" Tang San asked. He was testing Yu Xiaogang, but he genuinely wanted to know, too.
This was precisely the area Yu Xiaogang had focused on studying. His own Luo Sanpao was a Mutated Martial Soul, and a harmful mutation at that. He had spent a great deal of time researching how to improve his abilities and had read all sorts of books. He could recite the details with his eyes closed.
The master immediately began to explain. "First, we need to talk about how Martial Souls are passed down. A person's Martial Soul is directly related to their parents' Martial Souls. The most common situation is that they inherit the Martial Soul of either their father or their mother. This is what we call hereditary Martial Soul transmission within a family. There are some exceptions, however, and these are what we call Mutated Martial Souls. They still originate from the parents' Martial Souls, but because the father's and mother's Martial Souls have a certain degree of mutability, the child's inherited Martial Soul can undergo a mutation and become an entirely new Martial Soul. Mutated Martial Souls can become exceptionally powerful, even granting Innate Full Soul Power. But most Mutated Martial Souls only become weaker..."
Yu Xiaogang spoke at length. Listening to his detailed theories and his confident, uninterrupted delivery, as if he didn't need to think at all, Tang San was finally won over.
Tang San nodded, then stepped back to put some distance between himself and the master. Immediately afterward, he dropped to his knees and respectfully kowtowed three times.
"Teacher," Tang San said respectfully. "Please accept me as your disciple."
In this world, Tang San had spent his whole life in the village and had never seen anyone formally become a disciple.
This was the rite of apprenticeship from his previous life. It was because of such solemn ceremonies that people said, "A teacher for a day is a father for life."
After all, a man's knees were worth their weight in gold; he knelt only to Heaven, Earth, and his parents. With this kowtow, a master was practically a second father.
This bow also startled Yu Xiaogang. Because of the unique way Martial Souls were inherited on the Douluo Continent, families were exceptionally close-knit, and blood ties mattered far more than teacher-disciple relationships.
The bond between master and disciple wasn't particularly strong. In the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect where he himself had once lived, most of the disciples he took were members of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. Even if people from other clans joined the sect, at most they were given odd jobs or used as expendable subordinates. The relationships between masters and disciples weren't very good.
This was the first time he had seen someone kneel to become a disciple—and the one kneeling was a genius with Innate Full Soul Power, while he was only a Soul Grandmaster with Soul Power Level 29 and a weak Martial Soul.
Honestly, Yu Xiaogang was thrilled. Even the unpleasantness of being talked back to by that other child, Kai, just moments earlier had faded away.
"What are you doing?" Yu Xiaogang asked, but he made no move to stop him. He accepted the kowtow.
Then, nodding with satisfaction, he accepted Tang San as his disciple.
Much later, when he learned what Tang San's other Martial Soul was, his face turned completely green.
After taking on his disciple, Yu Xiaogang cheerfully escorted him to the Academic Affairs Office. He gave the staff a few instructions, then left.
The teachers at the Academic Affairs Office knew, more or less, that Yu Xiaogang, who called himself a master and drew a salary without doing any work at the school, had connections. Though they looked down on him, they didn't want to offend him, so they agreed.
But after they watched the master walk away and realized that Tang San had Innate Full Soul Power, one of the younger teachers couldn't help offering him a few words of warning.
He told Tang San that he shouldn't accept just anyone as his master, and that a Soul Master could only have one teacher. He urged Tang San to think it over, but Tang San naturally responded with a question of his own.
"What's wrong with that?"
Tang San was still caught up in the moment. He had just become a disciple, and the teachings from his previous life about respecting one's teacher made him instinctively defend Yu Xiaogang, the master he had accepted.
Director Su shot the young teacher beside him a glare. "The master may be a little eccentric, but from a certain perspective, he's 'invincible' when it comes to Martial Souls. Besides, your Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass, so there's no harm in accepting him as your teacher. All right, that's settled. Here are your supplies, provided free by the academy. You'll be staying in Dormitory Room 9. Off you go."
Director Su didn't want to invite trouble. Tang San wasn't listening, and Yu Xiaogang had powerful connections. If this blew up, he'd end up offending both sides, and might even attract resentment and retaliation. Why get mixed up in that?
Tang San nodded and accepted the supplies, his attitude cooling as well. He had always been indifferent toward people who had little to offer him.
Now he had a master with powerful connections, extensive theoretical knowledge, and the standing to represent the school. The other teachers were naturally dispensable.
As soon as Tang San left the Academic Affairs Office, the young teacher from before grumbled, "I wasn't wrong. The master really is 'invincible'—but only in theory. Of course, his theories would have to work in practice, too. Director, I remember the master had something called the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, right? It was downright ridiculous."
Teacher Su watched Tang San's retreating figure and said, "Enough. The master is the dean's friend. Don't make reckless judgments. No one has proven his theories correct, but no one has proven them wrong, either. The master is a well-known figure in the Martial Soul world."
These young people really had no idea how to handle social relationships. The child had just defended the master, and now he might hear them badmouthing him. He could easily repeat it to Yu Xiaogang, and then they would have offended someone for no reason.
But Teacher Su could only smooth things over with a few words. He couldn't bring himself to praise Yu Xiaogang against his conscience.
Yu Xiaogang had indeed proposed the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, but he had no evidence that any of his theories were correct.
On the other hand, plenty of people could point out the flaws in those theories. They simply didn't dare to publicly humiliate him because of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan behind him.
He could disprove his own theories himself.
Yu Xiaogang's first theory was that Innate Soul Power Level was directly proportional to Martial Soul strength: a person's Innate Soul Power Level determined their potential on the path of becoming a Soul Master.
Then his second theory immediately undermined the first: there were no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters. If Innate Soul Power determined Martial Soul strength and a Soul Master's future potential, then a Martial Soul's strength had a fixed limit. So how could there be no useless Martial Souls?
Yet Yu Xiaogang himself was a classic example of his first theory. He had only half a level of Innate Soul Power. Despite being the child of a Titled Douluo and receiving abundant resources from his clan, he had become stuck at Level 29.
If there were no useless Martial Souls, was Yu Xiaogang, who could never break through the Soul Grandmaster rank, saying that he himself was a useless Soul Master?
His theories were crude and shallow, and many lacked any experimental proof. He published mere conjectures, some of which were practically motivational clichés. He probably used them to encourage himself. The logic was muddled, and some of it was even self-contradictory. How could he have the nerve to publish that stuff?
Anyway, the teachers at Nuoding Academy didn't think much of him.
Chapter 24: The Dormitory
Yu Xiaogang's theory that there were "no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters" could be said to insult every commoner in the world, including himself, a Soul Master with half a level of Innate Soul Power.
Because everyone in this world had a Martial Soul.
It was just that many people had zero Innate Soul Power and couldn't cultivate.
The common folk didn't know what he had said, and those who did know didn't dare offend the Soul Master who had said it.
Even Soul Masters from ordinary families had held back because of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect behind him.
Yu Xiaogang went on like this, smugly basking in his status as a master and his Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, completely unaware of how many people he had offended.
If the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan ever fell, and Liu Erlong and Flender stopped protecting him, Yu Xiaogang would be done for.
When Kai arrived at the Work-Study Student dormitory, he casually beat up the brats who came to challenge him. He had only brought a few changes of clothes and still needed to buy necessities like a quilt, sheets, and a toothbrush. He had no time to play around with them, so he dropped off his things and left.
Meanwhile, Tang San had switched dormitories since he was paying his own way through school, ending up in a different one from Xiao Wu.
After introducing himself to his roommates and learning about their Martial Souls and Soul Power Levels, Tang San wasn't particularly friendly toward them.
Children were very straightforward, and they didn't know much. In their minds, Blue Silver Grass was a Trash Martial Soul. Moreover, the dormitory didn't separate students by age, and many of them were older kids with their own groups and friends. Naturally, they excluded Tang San, who had suddenly joined them, dressed plainly, and seemed like he didn't belong.
One of the more curious students asked, "Where are your parents? Why did you only bring this little bundle? How are you going to sleep tonight?"
Children who could pay their own way through school were all from well-off families. They couldn't understand why Tang San's family had paid his tuition but hadn't dressed him better. He looked so shabby.
Tang San's expression darkened. "It's more or less the same."
Before Tang San had left that morning, his father, Tang Hao, had tossed him some tuition money and then left him to his own devices. He hadn't even brought him to school.
In truth, Tang San didn't understand why his father had acted that way, either.
"Tang San, we're going to the cafeteria to eat. Want to come?" asked the student next to him, glancing at the time.
"No." Tang Hao was a rough man who did everything carelessly. When he said he'd give him tuition, he really meant only the tuition. He hadn't considered what the child would eat at school, or given him any money for living expenses.
When Tang Hao had been in the Clear Sky Sect, the clan had covered all his food and lodging. He had never needed money. Even when he went out to train, he was never short on cash.
He had even once expected a child to wash his clothes, cook, and wait on him like an adult. Clearly, he was a pretty heartless man.
When he first learned that Tang San's Martial Soul was Blue Silver Grass, he had been cold toward him. If Tang San hadn't awakened Twin Martial Souls, it was anyone's guess whether he would have become a Soul Master at all. People who had given up on themselves always dragged down those around them.
Tang San reckoned the dry rations he'd brought would last him a few days. After that, he would need to find work at a blacksmith's shop to earn money for living expenses.
His classmate nodded when Tang San turned him down. "All right, we'll go on ahead."
He left for the cafeteria with his friends.
The dormitory fell completely silent.
The dormitory for students paying their own way really was much better than the Work-Study Student dormitory. It was a four-person room, with beds 1.5 meters wide and two meters long—large enough for a young Soul Master to sleep in until the age of twelve. It also had desks, chairs, and a bathroom. It was incomparably better than the Work-Study Students' rows of shared beds.
The other three beds were neatly made, with soft quilts and mattresses. Even the fabric looked better than the clothes Tang San wore. Books, ink, and snacks and fruit were laid out on the desks nearby. The fruit still had droplets of water on it, so it was fresh, probably just delivered.
It was clear that these students' families were not only wealthy but also cared a great deal about them.
By comparison, Tang San, who had arrived with just a small bundle of food and spare clothes, looked especially shabby.
After he'd put all his things away, the room still looked empty.
Tang San suppressed his feelings and sat in a chair, eating the rough flatbread he'd brought.
Just then, a teacher in his thirties walked in from outside. "Is the new student named Tang San here?"
Tang San was the only one in the room, so the teacher's gaze fell on him.
Tang San stood up. "Hello, teacher. I'm Tang San."
The teacher said, "My name is Mo Hen. You can call me Teacher Mo. Tang San, these are the bedding the master sent for you."
Tang San accepted the bedding. It wasn't fancy, but it smelled clean and fresh, and everything was brand-new. There was a pillow, too.
Tang San felt warm inside.
Watching Tang San take the bedding, Mo Hen continued, "The opening ceremony is tomorrow. Classes officially begin the day after. First-year students will have lessons in Class One on the first floor of the teaching building. Just be there on time the day after tomorrow."
With that, Mo Hen left. He wasn't happy about being ordered around by that "master" and made to run errands, but he had no powerful connections and couldn't afford to offend him...
Tang San naturally didn't give a thought to the errand-running teacher who had brought him bedding. He was simply grateful to the master for caring about him.
When Kai returned with the supplies he'd bought, Xiao Wu and Wang Sheng were talking with the other children in the dormitory after dinner.
The moment Wang Sheng saw Kai come in, his eyes lit up. "Boss, someone wants to challenge you."
Xiao Wu also turned to look at the door. Her eyes met Kai's, and as she faced that icy gaze, she suddenly remembered the night her mother died. She couldn't help but take a fearful step back.
Kai was carrying quite a lot. He walked over and set it down before turning to Wang Sheng. "What happened? Who wants to challenge me?"
Kai didn't mind being the Work-Study Students' boss. According to Wang Sheng, the noble students at this school liked to bully Work-Study Students, and Kai himself was one of their targets.
If that was the case, he might as well accept the position of boss. Rather than wait for others to come and cause trouble, he could solve the problem first and deal with everything at once.
"I'm the one challenging you. You're the boss Kai Wang Sheng told me about?" The one who spoke was Xiao Wu. She had heard about Dorm Seven's rules from Wang Sheng and had eagerly wanted to challenge Kai.
Her long black hair was braided into a scorpion braid that hung past her hips. Her big eyes were watery, and her pretty little face was flushed with a rosy glow. She looked as soft and tender as a ripe peach, though her expression was a little dark. Nuoding Academy's uniform showed off her young, still-developing figure.
Wang Sheng, standing beside her, had flushed cheeks and didn't dare look in Xiao Wu's direction.
Kai stared at her, speechless. "And who are you? Also, this isn't the girls' dormitory, is it?"
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