The morning sun spilled over the towering archway of Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy.
The wrought-iron gate stood half open.
Old Jack wore a coarse cloth outfit, washed until it had faded white.
He rubbed his rough hands together nervously.
With a smile, he looked toward the young gatekeeper standing on the steps.
"Little brother, we're from Holy Soul Village. This is the certificate for our village's Work-Study Student this year. Sorry for the trouble, but could you make an exception for us?"
Old Jack handed over the sheepskin certificate bearing Spirit Hall's seal.
The gatekeeper glanced at it with disdain.
He didn't even reach out to take it.
"What Holy Soul Village? Looks more like Beggar Village to me."
The gatekeeper sneered.
"Even a barnyard chicken wants to become a phoenix. A measly Blue Silver Grass with Innate Full Soul Power? That certificate must be forged."
He suddenly swept his hand.
He knocked the sheepskin certificate right out of Old Jack's hands.
"Get lost, get lost, get lost. Don't dirty our academy."
Old Jack panicked.
He bent down to pick up the certificate.
But the gatekeeper raised his foot.
He was about to stomp right on the back of Old Jack's hand.
Tang San, who had stood silently behind Old Jack all this time, suddenly raised his head.
His seemingly frail body lunged forward half a step.
He grabbed Old Jack's arm and pulled him back.
At the same time.
A trace of murderous intent flashed through Tang San's eyes.
The inner force of the Mysterious Heaven Skill quietly circulated within him.
His left wrist lifted slightly.
Beneath his sleeve, the mechanism of his Silent Sleeve Arrow was already primed to fire.
The general principles of the Tang Sect's Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record.
Anyone who harbored murderous intent toward me.
May be killed.
Just as Tang San was about to trigger his Sleeve Arrow and teach the gatekeeper a lesson.
A slightly hoarse voice came from inside the academy gate.
"Stop."
A middle-aged man of average height and lean build walked out with his hands behind his back.
He wore a black robe washed until it had faded white.
His hair was cropped short.
His cheeks were gaunt.
His eyes held a deliberately feigned depth and world-weariness.
He was Yu Xiaogang.
When the gatekeeper saw him.
His arrogant expression immediately subsided.
"Grandmaster, what brings you out here?"
Yu Xiaogang ignored the gatekeeper's fawning.
He walked straight over to Old Jack.
Bending down, he picked up the awakening certificate from the ground.
He brushed the dust off it.
His gaze fell on Tang San's name and Martial Soul information.
When he saw the words "Blue Silver Grass" and "Innate Full Soul Power."
A strange, feverish light burst from Yu Xiaogang's dim eyes.
He had waited so many years.
At last, he had found a perfect experimental subject who could prove his theory.
Twin Martial Souls.
It was definitely Twin Martial Souls.
Yu Xiaogang forced down his excitement.
He turned to the gatekeeper.
His tone was stern.
"This certificate is genuine. Sir, on behalf of the academy, I apologize for what just happened."
Yu Xiaogang made a show of his graciousness.
He handed the certificate back to Old Jack.
Then he looked down at Tang San.
He squeezed out what he considered a kindly smile.
"Child, you're clever. And you're special."
"Would you be willing to..."
Yu Xiaogang had only gotten halfway through his sentence.
A heavy clatter of hoofbeats, like muffled thunder, rolled over from the end of the long street.
The ground beneath the entire street shook violently.
Yu Xiaogang furrowed his brow.
He turned to look.
Fifty fully armed Temple Knights rode tall Scaled Horses.
They surged toward Nuoding Academy's gate like a silver torrent of steel.
Their murderous presence swept all before it.
The commoners and merchants in the street scattered in terror.
The Temple Knights abruptly reined in before the academy.
Their warhorses neighed.
The powerful waves of Soul Power instantly seemed to suck the air from around the gate.
The arrogant gatekeeper's legs went weak.
He collapsed right there on the steps.
Tang San was also forced back again and again by the tremendous pressure.
He had to circulate the Mysterious Heaven Skill with all his might just to remain standing.
He was horrified.
Who are these people?
What overwhelming pressure.
In the middle of the convoy.
The dark-gold carriage, pulled by four Black Scaled Dragon Horses, came to a slow stop.
A red-robed Cardinal dismounted.
The principal of Nuoding Academy came rushing out of the gate with more than a dozen instructors, their foreheads slick with sweat.
They saw the Six-Winged Angel emblem on the carriage.
Then they saw the Red-Robed Cardinal, who was at the Soul Douluo level.
The principal's legs trembled.
Without hesitation, he led all the instructors in dropping to one knee.
"Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy welcomes the esteemed representatives of Spirit Hall."
Yu Xiaogang remained standing.
Proud of his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan background.
He had never shown much reverence toward people from Spirit Hall.
The Red-Robed Cardinal glanced coldly at Yu Xiaogang.
He walked to the carriage.
Then he opened the door respectfully.
Su Chen stepped slowly out of the carriage.
He wore the black-and-gold Holy Son Ceremonial Robe.
The Purple Gold Pope Token hung at his waist.
He looked down at everyone on the steps.
Su Chen's gaze passed over the kneeling principal.
It landed directly on Yu Xiaogang and Tang San.
"What were you just going to ask him?"
Su Chen looked at Yu Xiaogang.
His voice carried unconcealed mockery.
"Whether he'd be willing to become your disciple?"
Yu Xiaogang's expression shifted.
He looked at the six-year-old boy with his extraordinary bearing.
A sense of foreboding rose in his heart.
"Which senior official of Spirit Hall are you? This child and I took to each other. My decision to take him as a disciple has nothing to do with Spirit Hall."
Yu Xiaogang kept his hands behind his back.
He still maintained that air of inscrutable profundity.
"Impudent!"
The Red-Robed Cardinal shouted.
"The person standing before you is His Highness the Holy Son of Spirit Hall. You can't even break through level thirty, you good-for-nothing, and you dare speak to His Highness in that tone?"
Holy Son.
Those two words exploded like a bomb.
Right outside Nuoding Academy.
The principal and instructors lowered their heads even further.
Tang San was also deeply shaken.
The Holy Son of Spirit Hall.
His status was equal to the Pope's.
And he was only a child about the same age as me.
When Yu Xiaogang heard the Red-Robed Cardinal call him useless.
The muscles in his face twitched violently.
It was the deepest wound in his heart.
"My Soul Power may be low, but in the world of Soul Master theory, everyone respectfully calls me Grandmaster."
Yu Xiaogang stubbornly clung to his dignity.
"His Highness the Holy Son may hold a lofty position, but he has no right to interfere with a scholar's freedom to choose disciples."
Su Chen stepped down from the carriage.
He came to stand in front of Yu Xiaogang.
They were no more than two meters apart.
"Grandmaster?"
Su Chen chuckled.
"A plagiarist who lives off Spirit Hall's lowest-tier stipend, yet calls himself a master of theory every day—does he really have the nerve to talk about freedom?"
Yu Xiaogang was struck as if by lightning.
He pointed at Su Chen.
His finger trembled slightly.
"You... You're slandering me!"
"Slandering you?"
The smile on Su Chen's face vanished in an instant.
It was replaced by absolute 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 laughable brain immediately concluded that he had Twin Martial Souls."
"You were overjoyed. You thought you'd finally found a tool to prove your Ten Core Competencies."
"You wanted to take a genius as your disciple and wash away the first half of your worthless life."
With every sentence Su Chen spoke.
He stepped closer.
His powerful physique and blood qi, mixed with substantialized spiritual power, pressed down on him.
Yu Xiaogang was forced to stumble backward again and again.
Large beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
He was horrified to the extreme.
The most secret thoughts in his heart—
Had actually been exposed in public, completely bare, by this six-year-old boy.
Tang San stood off to the side.
His brows were knitted tightly.
The secret of his Twin Martial Souls was his greatest trump card.
He had kept his left hand behind his back the entire time.
He was afraid someone would discover his Second Martial Soul.
He hadn't expected this Martial Soul Hall Holy Son to see through him at a glance.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Yu Xiaogang clenched his teeth.
"The Ten Core Competencies are the crystallization of my life's work. They are my greatest contribution to the Soul Master World."
"Your life's work?"
Su Chen abruptly flung his sleeve.
"Those were classified records compiled by generations of Spirit Hall elders through countless deaths and sacrifices."
"Back then, under someone's protection, you hid in the Library Pavilion of the Pope Palace like a rat and stole glances at them."
"You pieced together common knowledge known to all high-ranking Soul Masters."
"Then you added a few of your own wild, baseless theories."
"And packaged it all as your personal academic achievement, Yu Xiaogang."
Su Chen's voice echoed down the entire street.
"First: there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters."
"That sounds so moving."
Su Chen sneered.
"Then tell me: how does someone with an innate zero Soul Power farm-tool Martial Soul cultivate to become a Titled Douluo?"
"You had the top-tier bloodline and resources of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, yet your Martial Soul mutated into Luo Sanpao, a creature not even as good as a dog."
"You've cultivated for most of your life, yet you can't even reach level thirty."
"By your own theory, you, Yu Xiaogang, are the most useless Soul Master on the entire continent."
Yu Xiaogang's face turned deathly pale.
Every word Su Chen said struck straight to the heart.
He had completely torn apart the hypocritical mask Yu Xiaogang had spent years cultivating in Nuoding City.
"You... you..."
Yu Xiaogang was so furious he could barely breathe.
He couldn't even manage a single rebuttal.
The dean and the instructors were dumbstruck.
Although they had never thought much of Yu Xiaogang's strength, they had still held some respect for his theories.
Now, hearing the Holy Son dissect them like this—
These so-called Ten Core Competencies were nothing but a complete joke.
Tang San could no longer hold back and stepped forward.
He took a step ahead.
And stood in front of Yu Xiaogang.
"Spirit Hall is being far too overbearing."
Tang San stared straight at Su Chen.
"Once a teacher, a father for life. Even if Grandmaster isn't strong, his knowledge deserves respect."
"What gives you the right to insult him like this?"
Su Chen looked at Tang San, who had stepped in to defend Yu Xiaogang.
A cold glint flashed through his eyes.
The Child of Destiny.
A perfect embodiment of hypocrisy.
So he'd finally been unable to resist jumping out.
"Overbearing?"
Su Chen looked at Tang San coldly.
"Spirit Hall spends its own money and effort to send Deacons out to remote, impoverished villages to awaken the Martial Souls of commoners for free."
"Without Spirit Hall, you wouldn't even have the right to stand here and talk to me."
"You're carrying a certificate issued by Spirit Hall and receiving the subsidies Spirit Hall gives Work-Study Students."
"And now you're accusing Spirit Hall of being overbearing?"
Tang San was momentarily at a loss for words.
He resorted to sophistry.
"Those are two separate matters. You insulted Grandmaster, and that was wrong."
Su Chen sneered.
He took a thick, ancient parchment book from his Void Ring.
Then he hurled it at Yu Xiaogang's feet.
"This is a copy of Soul Ring Age Verification, from the third floor of Spirit Hall's Library Pavilion."
"It clearly records the limit for the First Soul Ring as four hundred and twenty-three years."
"It was written a hundred years before you were born."
"You put this in your Core Competencies and call that your knowledge?"
Yu Xiaogang lowered his head.
He looked at the ancient book at his feet.
His body trembled uncontrollably.
The evidence was right there.
He had no way to defend himself.
Tang San looked at the book on the ground.
He realized Yu Xiaogang really had plagiarized.
But he couldn't back down.
He had just thought Yu Xiaogang was an expert for seeing through his Twin Martial Souls.
He urgently needed a teacher who could guide him in cultivating the power system of this world.
"Even if he borrowed from the experience of those who came before, Grandmaster's ability to summarize and organize it is still an accomplishment."
Tang San continued to twist the issue.
"Oh?"
Su Chen looked at Tang San.
"Then let's talk about his original theories—the ones he didn't plagiarize."
Su Chen raised one finger.
"Plant-type Martial Souls can absorb animal-type Soul Rings."
"That was Yu Xiaogang's great original discovery."
"Sounds impressive, doesn't it?"
Su Chen bent down.
He stared into Tang San's eyes.
"But he never told you how high the death rate is when a plant-type Martial Soul absorbs an animal-type Soul Ring."
"The soul grudges left by animal-type Soul Beasts are extremely violent, while plant-type Martial Souls have very poor tolerance."
"Once your spiritual power can't withstand it—"
"Your brain will explode in an instant."
"He didn't dare test this theory himself."
"So he searched everywhere for a genius with Innate Full Soul Power and Twin Martial Souls."
"He's treating you as a test rat to prove his theory."
"Even if you were blown to pieces by your Soul Ring's backlash—"
"He would merely sigh and go look for the next test subject."
Su Chen straightened up.
His tone was mocking.
"If you're in such a hurry to die, you might as well kneel down and become his disciple right now."
Tang San's pupils contracted sharply.
He turned to look at Yu Xiaogang.
A hint of suspicion entered his eyes.
By now, Yu Xiaogang's face had changed from deathly pale to livid.
He wanted to explain.
But Su Chen gave him no chance to speak.
"Cardinal."
Su Chen didn't turn around.
He issued his order directly.
"Your subordinate is here."
The Cardinal stepped forward.
"Transmit the Pope Token."
Su Chen's voice was cold and merciless.
"Yu Xiaogang stole Spirit Hall's secrets, deceived the public, and tarnished Spirit Hall's reputation."
"Effective immediately, permanently strip him of his honorary lifetime elder title in Spirit Hall."
"Discontinue all his allowances."
"And inform the entire continent that his so-called Ten Core Competencies are nothing but plagiarism and nonsense."
"Anyone who dares call him Grandmaster will be an enemy of Spirit Hall."
This punishment—
Cut off Yu Xiaogang's every path in the Soul Master World.
Yu Xiaogang's legs gave way.
He collapsed onto the steps.
His reputation.
His status.
The last shred of dignity he had left in front of Liu Erlong—
At this moment—
Had been trampled into dust by the six-year-old Holy Son before him.
"You can't do this!"
Tang San burned with rage.
He felt Spirit Hall had gone too far.
He quietly pressed the mechanism of the Sleeve Arrow on his left hand.
Three Refined Steel Short Arrows coated with paralyzing poison—
Shot soundlessly from his sleeve.
They flew in a triangular formation toward 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 his opponent was the Holy Son—
There was no way he could dodge in the blink of an eye.
However—
Faced with the Short Arrows hurtling toward him—
Su Chen didn't even look at them.
The Cardinal behind him let out a cold snort.
The vast Soul Power of a Soul Douluo erupted instantly.
It formed an impenetrable wall of Soul Power in front of Su Chen.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Three Refined Steel Short Arrows struck the wall of air.
In an instant, they were crushed into a pile of iron dust.
They didn't even cause the slightest ripple.
Tang San was aghast.
The Tang Sect Hidden Weapons he prided himself on—
before absolute power,
they were shockingly fragile.
Su Chen looked at Tang San's stunned face.
He slowly raised his right hand,
pointing at Tang San.
"To use such a despicable, underhanded Hidden Weapon to assassinate someone in front of the Martial Soul Hall Holy Son..."
"This is your true character."
Su Chen's gaze was indifferent.
"Since you like playing with Hidden Weapons so much..."
"Then let me see..."
"Just how hard your bones are."
Before you continue