Arriving at Nuoding Academy, Tearing the Grandmaster's Mask in Public

The morning sun spilled over the tall arched gate of Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy.

The wrought-iron gate stood half-open.

Old Jack wore a set of coarse cloth clothes that had been washed until they were faded white.

He rubbed his rough hands together in a flustered manner.

With a fawning smile, he looked toward the young gatekeeper standing on the steps.

"Little brother, we are from Holy Soul Village. This is the proof for our village's work-study student this year. Please, could you make an exception?"

Old Jack handed over the parchment stamped with the seal of Martial Soul Hall.

The gatekeeper glanced at it with a face full of disdain.

He didn't even reach out his hand.

"What Holy Soul Village? I think you mean Beggar Village."

The gatekeeper sneered.

"A pheasant trying to turn into a phoenix? A trashy Blue Silver Grass with Innate Full Soul Power? This proof must be forged by you people."

He swung his hand violently.

He knocked the parchment right out of Old Jack's hand and onto the ground.

"Get lost, get lost, get lost. Don't dirty the grounds of our academy."

Old Jack grew anxious.

He bent down to pick up the proof from the ground.

The gatekeeper, however, raised his foot.

He prepared to stomp directly onto the back of Old Jack's hand.

Tang San, who had been standing silently behind Old Jack the entire time, suddenly raised his head.

His seemingly frail body lunged forward half a step.

He grabbed Old Jack's arm and pulled him backward.

At the same time.

A flash of hidden killing intent flickered in the depths of Tang San's eyes.

The internal energy of the Mysterious Heaven Skill circulated quietly within his body.

His left wrist lifted slightly.

The mechanism of the Silent Sleeve Arrow hidden beneath his sleeve was already primed for firing.

The General Principles of the Tang Sect's Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record:

Anyone who harbors killing intent toward you, may be killed.

Just as Tang San prepared to trigger the sleeve arrow to teach this gatekeeper a lesson, a slightly hoarse voice drifted out from inside the academy gate.

"Stop."

A middle-aged man of medium height and lean build walked out with his hands behind his back.

He wore a black robe that had been washed until it was faded white.

He wore his hair in a crew cut.

His cheeks were gaunt.

His eyes revealed a sense of deliberately feigned depth and world-weariness.

He was none other than Yu Xiaogang.

Seeing this man, the gatekeeper immediately reined in his arrogant expression.

"Grandmaster, why have you come out?"

Yu Xiaogang ignored the gatekeeper's obsequiousness.

He walked straight up to Old Jack.

He bent down to pick up the awakening proof from the ground.

He flicked the dust off it.

His gaze landed on Tang San's name and the information regarding his martial soul.

When he saw the words "Blue Silver Grass" and "Innate Full Soul Power,"

a strange, fanatical light suddenly erupted in Yu Xiaogang's dull eyes.

He had waited so many years for this.

Finally, he had waited for the perfect experimental subject to prove his theories.

Twin Martial Souls.

It was absolutely Twin Martial Souls.

Yu Xiaogang suppressed the excitement surging within his heart.

He turned his head to look at the gatekeeper.

His tone was stern.

"This certificate is genuine, old gentleman. On behalf of the academy, I apologize for what just happened."

Yu Xiaogang put on a grand display.

He handed the certificate back to Old Jack.

Then, he lowered his head to look at Tang San.

He squeezed out a smile that he considered to be kind.

"Child, you are very clever, and also very special."

"Would you be willing to..."

Yu Xiaogang's words were only halfway out.

A heavy sound of hooves, like muffled thunder, rolled in from the end of the long street.

The ground of the entire street was trembling violently.

Yu Xiaogang frowned.

He turned to look.

He saw fifty fully armed Temple Knights riding tall Scaled Horses.

They transformed into a silver torrent of steel.

Carrying an unstoppable, murderous aura, they charged straight toward the gate of Nuoding Academy.

Civilians and merchants on the street fled in terror.

The Temple Knights suddenly pulled on their reins in front of the academy gate.

The warhorses neighed.

A powerful wave of soul power instantly drained the air around the gate.

The arrogant gatekeeper's legs went soft.

He collapsed directly onto the steps.

Tang San was also forced to retreat repeatedly by this immense pressure.

He had to circulate his Mysterious Heaven Skill with all his might just to barely stand steady.

His heart was filled with shock.

Who were these people?

Such a powerful sense of oppression.

In the center of the convoy.

The dark gold carriage pulled by four Black Scaled Dragon Horses slowly came to a halt.

A Cardinal dismounted from his horse.

The dean of Nuoding Academy, covered in sweat, ran out from inside the gate with a dozen instructors.

When they saw the Six-Winged Angel emblem on the carriage, and then the Soul Douluo-level Cardinal, the dean's legs trembled.

Without hesitation, he led all the instructors in kneeling on one knee.

"Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy respectfully welcomes the lords from Martial Soul Hall."

Yu Xiaogang stood where he was, not kneeling.

He prided himself on his background in the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Family.

He had always lacked reverence for the people of Martial Soul Hall.

The Cardinal swept a cold glance at Yu Xiaogang.

He walked to the front of the carriage.

Respectfully, he pulled open the carriage door.

Su Chen stepped slowly out of the carriage.

He was wearing a black and gold Holy Son Ceremonial Robe.

A Purple Gold Pope Token hung at his waist.

Looking down from a position of superiority at the people on the steps.

Su Chen's gaze bypassed the kneeling dean.

It landed directly on Yu Xiaogang and Tang San.

"What were you just about to ask him?"

Su Chen looked at Yu Xiaogang.

His tone carried undisguised mockery.

"Asking if he's willing to be your disciple?"

Yu Xiaogang's expression shifted slightly.

He looked at this six-year-old boy with such an extraordinary bearing.

A sense of foreboding rose in his heart.

"Which high-ranking official of the Martial Soul Hall are you, Excellency? I feel a connection with this child. The matter of taking a disciple seems to have nothing to do with the Martial Soul Hall."

Yu Xiaogang kept his hands behind his back.

He still maintained that inscrutable posture.

"Audacious!"

The Cardinal roared in anger.

"Standing before you is His Highness the current Holy Son of the Martial Soul Hall. A piece of trash who can't even break through level thirty, yet you dare to speak to the Holy Son in such a tone?"

Holy Son.

These two words were like a heavy bomb.

They exploded in front of Nuoding Academy.

The dean and the instructors buried their heads even lower.

Tang San was also deeply shaken in his heart.

The Holy Son of the Martial Soul Hall.

A status equivalent to the Pope.

Yet, he was just a child around his own age.

When Yu Xiaogang heard the Cardinal call him trash.

The muscles on his face twitched violently.

That was the eternal pain in his heart.

"Although my soul power is low, in the field of soul master theory, everyone honors me with the title of Grandmaster."

Yu Xiaogang forcibly maintained his dignity.

"Even though the Holy Son has a lofty status, he has no right to interfere with a scholar's freedom to take a disciple."

Su Chen slowly stepped down from the carriage.

He arrived in front of Yu Xiaogang.

The two were no more than two meters apart.

"Grandmaster?"

Su Chen chuckled aloud.

"A plagiarist who survives on the lowest-tier subsidies from the Martial Soul Hall while posing as a theoretical master all day—do you even deserve to talk about freedom?"

Yu Xiaogang looked as if he had been struck by lightning.

He pointed at Su Chen.

His finger trembled slightly.

"You... you are slandering me."

"I am slandering you?"

The smile on Su Chen's face vanished instantly.

Replaced by extreme coldness.

He pointed at the awakening certificate in Yu Xiaogang's hand.

"You saw the Innate Full Soul Power and Blue Silver Grass on that certificate."

"Your ridiculous brain immediately deduced that he has Twin Martial Souls."

"You were ecstatic. You felt that you had finally found a tool to prove your Ten Core Competencies."

"You want to rely on taking a genius disciple to wash away the first half of your life as a failure."

Every time Su Chen spoke a sentence.

He took a step closer.

A powerful surge of physical vitality mixed with materialized spiritual pressure bore down upon him.

Yu Xiaogang was forced to retreat again and again.

Large beads of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

His heart was filled with extreme terror.

The most secret thoughts within his own mind.

Had been laid bare in public, stripped naked by this six-year-old boy.

Tang San stood to the side.

His brows were tightly furrowed.

The secret of his Twin Martial Souls was his greatest trump card.

He had been keeping his left hand behind his back the entire time.

Precisely because he feared his second martial soul would be discovered.

He had not expected this Martial Soul Hall Holy Son to see through it at a single glance.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

Yu Xiaogang gritted his teeth.

"The Ten Core Competencies are the crystallization of my life's work. They are the greatest contribution to the spirit master world."

"Your life's work?"

Su Chen flicked his sleeve violently.

"Those were top-secret dossiers compiled by generations of elders in Martial Soul Hall with countless blood and lives."

"Back then, relying on someone's protection, you hid like a rat in the Library Pavilion of the Pope Palace to steal a look."

"You took common knowledge known to all high-level spirit masters and pieced it together."

"Then you added in some of your own whimsical fallacies."

"And packaged it all as your own, Yu Xiaogang's, personal academic achievement."

Su Chen's voice echoed throughout the entire street.

"The first point: there are no useless martial souls, only useless spirit masters."

"That sounds truly moving."

Su Chen sneered.

"Then tell me, how does a farm tool martial soul with innate zero spirit power cultivate to become a Titled Douluo?"

"You possess the top-tier bloodline resources of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Family, yet because your martial soul mutated into a Luo Sanpao that isn't even as good as a dog."

"You have cultivated for half your life and cannot even touch the threshold of level thirty."

"According to your own theory, you, Yu Xiaogang, are the most top-tier useless spirit master on the entire continent."

Yu Xiaogang's face turned deathly pale.

Su Chen's words were heart-piercing with every syllable.

They completely tore to shreds the hypocritical mask he had maintained in Nuoding City for years.

"You... you..."

Yu Xiaogang was so enraged that his heart felt like it was bursting.

He couldn't even manage a single word of rebuttal.

The dean and those instructors listened in stunned silence.

Although they usually looked down on Yu Xiaogang's strength.

They still held a degree of reverence for his theories.

Now, after hearing the Holy Son's analysis.

These so-called Ten Core Competencies.

Were nothing more than a complete and utter joke.

At this moment, Tang San could not help but step forward.

He took a step ahead.

Blocking the path in front of Yu Xiaogang.

"Martial Soul Hall's conduct is far too overbearing."

Tang San stared directly at Su Chen.

"A teacher for a day is a father for life. Even if Grandmaster lacks strength, his knowledge is worthy of respect."

"By what right do you insult him like this?"

Su Chen looked at Tang San, who had stepped out to play the hero.

A trace of grimness flashed through his eyes.

The Son of Destiny.

A hypocritical amalgamation.

Finally, he could not help but jump out.

"Overbearing?"

Su Chen looked at Tang San with indifference.

"Martial Soul Hall spends money and effort, sending deacons to remote, impoverished villages to awaken martial souls for commoners for free."

"Without Martial Soul Hall, you wouldn't even have the qualifications to stand here and speak to me."

"You hold the certificate issued by Martial Soul Hall and enjoy the subsidies provided to work-study students."

"And now you run out to accuse Martial Soul Hall of being overbearing?"

Tang San was rendered speechless by the question.

He argued sophistically.

"One thing is one thing, another is another. You insulted Grandmaster, and that is wrong."

Su Chen sneered.

He took a thick, ancient parchment tome from his Void Ring.

He slammed it directly at the feet of Yu Xiaogang.

"This is a rubbing of the Soul Ring Age Verification from the third floor of the Martial Soul Hall Library Pavilion."

"It clearly records that the limit for a first soul ring is four hundred and twenty-three years."

"This book was written a hundred years before you were even born."

"You took this and wrote it into your 'core competencies'—is this what you call your scholarship?"

Yu Xiaogang lowered his head.

He looked at the ancient tome at his feet.

His body could not stop trembling.

With the physical evidence present, he had no way to argue his case.

Tang San looked at the book on the ground.

He also realized that Yu Xiaogang had indeed committed plagiarism.

But he could not back down.

He had just decided that since Yu Xiaogang could see through his Twin Martial Souls, he must be an expert.

He desperately needed a teacher who could guide him in the power system of this world.

"Even if he borrowed from the experience of predecessors, the fact that Grandmaster could summarize and categorize it is also a skill."

Tang San was still shifting the goalposts.

"Oh?"

Su Chen looked at Tang San.

"Then let us talk about those 'original' theories of his that weren't plagiarized."

Su Chen held up a finger.

"Plant-type martial souls can absorb animal-type soul rings."

"This is the great, original invention of Yu Xiaogang."

"Sounds impressive, doesn't it?"

Su Chen leaned down.

He stared into Tang San's eyes.

"But he never told you how high the mortality rate is for plant-types absorbing animal-type soul rings."

"The soul resentment left behind after an animal-type soul beast dies is extremely violent, and the compatibility of plant-type martial souls is exceptionally poor."

"Once your mental power cannot withstand it,"

"Your brain will explode in an instant."

"He dared not try this theory himself."

"That is why he went everywhere looking for a genius with Innate Full Soul Power and Twin Martial Souls."

"He is using you as a laboratory mouse to prove his theory."

"Even if you are blown to pieces by the backlash of a soul ring,"

"He would merely sigh and continue searching for the next test subject."

Su Chen straightened his posture.

His tone was mocking.

"If you are in such a hurry to court death, you might as well kneel and take him as your master right now."

Tang San's pupils constricted violently.

He turned his head to look at Yu Xiaogang.

A trace of suspicion flickered in his eyes.

Yu Xiaogang's complexion had shifted from deathly pale to a livid green.

He wanted to explain.

But Su Chen did not give him the slightest chance to speak.

"Cardinal."

Su Chen did not turn back.

He issued an order directly.

"This subordinate is here."

The Cardinal stepped forward.

"Transmit the Pope Token."

Su Chen's voice was cold and merciless.

"Yu Xiaogang has stolen secrets from Martial Soul Hall, engaged in fraud, and tarnished the reputation of Martial Soul Hall."

"Effective immediately, he is permanently stripped of his title as a lifetime honorary elder of Martial Soul Hall."

"All stipends are to be terminated."

"Furthermore, issue a continent-wide announcement: his so-called Ten Core Competencies are nothing but plagiarism and delusions."

"Whoever dares to honor him as Grandmaster shall be considered an enemy of Martial Soul Hall."

Once this punishment was issued, it effectively severed all paths for Yu Xiaogang to survive in the world of soul masters.

Yu Xiaogang's legs went weak.

He collapsed directly onto the steps.

His reputation.

His status.

The last shred of dignity he held before Liu Erlong.

In this very moment.

Were crushed into nothingness by this six-year-old Holy Son before him.

"You cannot do this."

Tang San's fury burned.

He felt that Martial Soul Hall was being far too overbearing.

The trigger for the Sleeve Arrow on his left hand was quietly pressed.

Three Refined Steel Short Arrows quenched in anesthetic poison.

Shot out from his sleeve without a sound.

They flew in a triangular formation, aiming straight for Su Chen's throat, chest, and lower abdomen.

The distance was too close.

Tang San had absolute confidence in his hidden weapon technique.

Even if the opponent was the Holy Son.

It was impossible for him to dodge in this flash of lightning.

However.

Facing the incoming short arrows.

Su Chen did not even spare them a glance.

The Cardinal behind him let out a cold snort.

The immense soul power belonging to a Soul Douluo erupted instantly.

It formed an impenetrable wall of soul power in front of Su Chen.

Cling.

Cling.

Cling.

Three Refined Steel Short Arrows collided with the wall of energy.

They were instantly crushed into a pile of iron powder.

Not even the slightest ripple was stirred up.

Tang San was shocked and horrified.

The Tang Sect hidden weapons he took such pride in.

In the face of absolute power.

Were actually so vulnerable.

Su Chen looked at the stunned Tang San.

He slowly raised his right hand.

Pointing at Tang San.

"To use such underhanded, shameful hidden weapons to attempt an assassination in front of the Martial Soul Hall Holy Son."

"Is this the extent of your character?"

Su Chen's gaze was indifferent.

"Since you enjoy playing with hidden weapons so much."

"Then let me see."

"Just how hard your bones are."