His Back Looked Like a Dog

Three months flashed by in the blink of an eye; aside from a chicken thief hitting the house, things had been peaceful and steady.

"Tang Yin, Tang Sanmei, let's go!"

Early in the morning, Old Jack urged the siblings to set off from outside the courtyard.

Although he didn't know how Tang Hao had managed to scrape together the tuition for the junior soul master academy, this gesture had finally improved Old Jack's opinion of him; even though Tang Hao didn't come out to see them off today, he didn't offer any biting remarks either.

"Alright, Grandpa Jack." Aside from the clothes on his back, Tang Yin only had a change of clothes in his pack and nothing else, so he had been sitting in the courtyard waiting for a long time.

Tang Sanmei, however, had been in the storage room for quite a while and hadn't come out yet; there was no telling what she was packing.

Some time ago, Tang Hao had gone somewhere, and upon returning, he not only told the two of them to go to Nuoding Academy together, but he also brought them several sets of clothes made from clearly high-grade materials.

Naturally, most of them were for Tang Sanmei; Tang Yin only had two sets in total. According to Tang Hao, he had gone to see their aunt.

This surprised Tang Yin a little; he hadn't expected that because of his arrival, Tang Hao would start making contact with Tang Yuehua so early.

After about a quarter of an hour, Tang Sanmei finally emerged from the storage room carrying a large pack, her attire significantly different from her usual look.

Not only was there a leather belt around her waist with a small iron hammer tucked into it, but the cuffs of her left sleeve were also bulging, with the faint glint of metal visible.

It seems this girl has been busy behind my back!

Tang Yin remained calm on the surface, but his heart was clear; how could he not know about the changes in the house during this time?

Tang Sanmei was fine; at least she knew to hide it from him, secretly picking up her old craft from her past life while he was out.

Tang Hao, however, was going too far. He would often call Tang Sanmei into the smithy alone right in front of him, followed immediately by the sound of hammering.

Guarding against his own son—did he think that without the Clear Sky Hammer, one wasn't worthy of learning the Chaotic Cloak?

Tang Yin felt disdain in his heart. What would a brute like Tang Hao, who had no culture and only had hammers and Ah Yin on his mind, understand?

Even if Tang Sanmei had promised Tang Hao not to pass it on, Tang Yin was confident that if he truly wanted it, Tang Sanmei would really give it to him.

This was the confidence brought to him by the "eldest brother is like a father" dimensional strike against Tang Hao, this biological father.

Of course, thanks to Tang Hao's changes during this period, Tang Sanmei's relationship with him had clearly improved.

In the end, she was still that love-starved outer sect disciple of the Tang Sect.

Tang Hao had not only solved their enrollment problem, but since then, he had also shed his former decadence, putting his heart and soul into playing the role of a strict teacher and kind father in front of Tang Sanmei, greatly boosting his favorability.

Well, the rice porridge and notes on the dining table were proof of that!

The distance from Holy Soul Village to Nuoding City wasn't far; even walking, it only took about half a day.

Because he had followed Old Jack to deliver goods for years, Tang Yin was quite familiar with the road. Tang Sanmei, on the other hand, was leaving the village for the first time, her face full of curiosity as she excitedly asked Tang Yin about this and that from time to time.

By noon, the three of them ate some simple dry rations and continued on their way. By the afternoon, they could see the tall, thick walls of Nuoding City.

After a round of inspection by the guards, the three entered Nuoding City, during which he took Tang Sanmei to buy bedding.

Although Tang Sanmei initially insisted on buying one set of bedding to save money, Tang Yin vetoed it.

The journey to Nuoding Academy wasn't delayed much, and before long, they arrived in front of the academy gates.

"Big brothers, my sister and I are new students here to handle enrollment. May I ask what procedures we need to follow?" Knowing the plot, Tang Yin handed the bedding to Old Jack, then stepped forward, beating Old Jack to the punch as he asked the guards in a poised, neither humble nor pushy manner.

"New students?" The idle guards were slightly stunned by the voice, and only then did they turn to look at the three people outside the gate.

His gaze first fell on Old Jack, and after seeing his attire, a flash of disdain crossed his eyes. He then looked at Tang Sanmei, and although her clothes were high-grade, the somewhat worn-out pack on her back and the bedding in front of her made him frown. Finally, he looked at Tang Yin, who had only a small pack and was empty-handed.

Although he was young, his clothing and the poise with which he spoke to strangers made the guard involuntarily put away his contempt.

Country nobles and their old steward and maid, perhaps?

Tsk tsk, nobles really know how to play; they even have a girl who has awakened her martial soul as a reading companion.

"Go through this gate, walk straight along the main road, and turn right at the first intersection. You'll see the big sign for the new student registration office after a hundred meters." The guard curled his lip and waved for them to enter without even looking at the certificate issued by the Martial Soul Hall.

That was unexpectedly smooth! Tang Yin raised an eyebrow; he had already been prepared to take out the certificate issued by the Martial Soul Hall.

He greeted Old Jack and gave him a reassuring look before taking Tang Sanmei through the academy gates.

The new student registration office couldn't possibly be in an obscure corner. They could see the sign from far away, but at the intersection, Tang Yin ran into a middle-aged man with a buzz cut, wearing an academic robe and with his hands behind his back.

During this, the middle-aged man with the buzz cut took a meaningful look at the siblings before brushing past them and walking toward the gate guards. A moment later, the guard's respectful voice came through.

"Grandmaster, you've come!"

"Hmm, have you discovered any special new students lately?" The voice was a bit stiff, the kind that clearly showed someone not used to dealing with others.

The guard felt a bit helpless hearing this, but he still squeezed out a smile: "Nothing special, but Grandmaster, I'm just an ordinary person after all; what would I know about these things? You'd be better off going directly to the Dean; he has the files for all the new students."

"That's true, I had forgotten." The man addressed as Grandmaster nodded, then turned around expressionlessly and walked slowly toward the Dean's office with his hands behind his back.

"Brother, do you know him?" Tang Sanmei noticed Tang Yin's anomaly. Following his gaze, she only saw the back of a man with his hands behind his back, remembering that he was the middle-aged man who had looked at them with a scrutinizing gaze while passing them just now.

"I don't know him, but that man looks like a dog to me!"

"He doesn't look like one!"

Tang Sanmei looked again, uncertain, confirming that he was just a normal, greasy middle-aged man, and then she puffed out her cheeks, a little angry.

"Brother, you're lying to me again. Can't I tell the difference between a person and a dog?"

"If you really can tell the difference, then that truly makes your brother gratified." Tang Yin smiled slightly, stopped paying attention to the so-called Grandmaster, and pulled Tang Sanmei toward the new student registration office.

"Brother is saying things I don't understand again." Pouting, Tang Sanmei turned her head to glance at the man's retreating figure, muttering to herself, "He doesn't look like him at all!"

The sign for the freshman registration office was extremely conspicuous, and the building itself was quite grand; after all, it concerned the first impression new students had of the academy.

Just as they entered the door, they saw a woman wearing glasses at a nearby counter, currently dozing off.

Tang Yin walked up to the counter and tapped the desktop lightly with his hand.

"Hello, we are new students here to register!"

"Huh? Oh, right, please show me your proof from Martial Soul Hall." Startled awake, the woman moved in a flustered manner, adjusting her glasses before finally looking at the brother and sister.

Under the woman's guidance, Tang Yin and Tang Sanmei subsequently processed their enrollment procedures as a regular student and a work-study student respectively, but a disagreement arose when it came to dormitory assignments.

"I don't want to go to the regular student dorms; I want to live in the work-study dorm with my brother." Upon learning she would be separated from her brother, Tang Sanmei's face was full of displeasure.

"This..." Tang Yin frowned slightly, feeling hesitant.

Because Nuoding City was a small city with a sparse population, there were very few children capable of becoming Spirit Masters, so the entire academy only had one dormitory building.

Generally, students of the same grade lived in one large dormitory regardless of gender, but the work-study students were an exception; because their numbers were so small, work-study students of all grades were crammed into a single room.

To be honest, Tang Yin also felt uneasy about letting his sister live mixed in with other students; what if she encountered a boy like that hooligan rabbit...

After all, work-study students were exempt from tuition, and the academy was not a charity; it was impossible for them to make an exception for the siblings.

Of course, it would be a different matter if a regular student insisted on suffering and choosing to live in the work-study dorm.

In the end, just as in the original story, Tang Sanmei stayed with Tang Yin in the work-study dormitory.