Humiliating the Grandmaster

"Child, this battle ends here."

"As a Grandmaster, I'll teach you a lesson today. Battles between soul masters depend on catching your opponent off guard. Losing focus in battle is a soul master's greatest taboo." Grandmaster smiled faintly and decisively attacked while Cao Yan was distracted.

As his voice rang out, his hands swiftly formed seals. At the same time, two soul rings emerged beneath Grandmaster's feet, both yellow, clearly having reached the hundred-year level.

With a flick of his finger, a pale yellow glow shot directly into Luo San Pao's stomach, transforming into a stream of heat that completely fused with it.

After what had happened earlier, Grandmaster did not dare relax in the slightest. Even now, he did not know what Cao Yan's martial soul was.

The more unknown something was, the greater the risk it usually posed.

Therefore, after a brief consideration, Grandmaster immediately came up with a plan. He believed that Cao Yan would be utterly unable to resist Luo San Pao's hypnotic smoke.

Then, he would be able to take this disciple under his wing as a matter of course.

As the soul rings flashed, Grandmaster's Second Soul Skill floated out and directly encircled Luo San Pao. The attack suddenly began.

"Luo luo."

Luo San Pao let out a low growl. A sucking sound like a howling hurricane arose as its floating body rapidly expanded at an astonishing speed, looking like an increasingly inflated ball.

"Second Soul Skill, Fart Like Smoke, Hypnotic Slumber Luo San Pao."

Grandmaster raised his hand. Luo San Pao turned around, and with a puff, a cloud of yellow gas sprayed from its plump backside, shooting straight toward Cao Yan.

Grandmaster pulled a mask from his pocket and put it over his mouth. He was full of confidence in Luo San Pao's hypnotic ability.

"Grandmaster, you... actually launched a sneak attack." The gatekeeper stammered, only to feel his head grow dizzy. He inhaled a mouthful of foul gas, his entire body went limp, and he passed out on the spot.

Even the gatekeeper had been caught off guard by Grandmaster's sudden move.

Who would have thought that the supposedly noble Grandmaster would do something so dishonorable just to take in a disciple?

It was simply a disgrace to Nuoding Academy!

Soon, the gatekeeper lost all consciousness and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"Hehe, child, sneak attacks are sometimes a means as well. If this were a battlefield and you were facing an enemy, why would they go easy on you?" Grandmaster smiled and looked toward where Cao Yan stood. In his eyes, the outcome of this match had already been decided.

But soon, a scene that astonished him appeared.

The young figure who should have been lying unconscious on the ground, just as he expected, was nowhere to be seen.

At some point, Cao Yan had vanished from where he stood.

"When did he disappear?" Grandmaster's eyes widened, filled with disbelief.

One had to know that with Luo San Pao's speed, attacking at that exact moment was something a mere six-year-old child could never have evaded. Besides, no matter how useless his martial soul was, Grandmaster still possessed the strength of a Soul Grandmaster.

At that moment, Grandmaster finally panicked completely.

His heart trembled violently as his murky old eyes continuously swept across the scene. Aside from the yellow stench that had yet to fully disperse, Cao Yan seemed to have evaporated into thin air, leaving no trace behind.

"Luo San Pao, come back."

Grandmaster warily looked around, growing increasingly uneasy. The foul gas still hung in the air, and with his vision obstructed, he had no choice but to call Luo San Pao back to his side to ensure his safety.

In this situation, Grandmaster knew very well that no matter where Cao Yan attacked from, it was not something he could withstand.

Was this child really only six years old?

"Grandmaster is right. Sneak attacks are indeed a skill, so you've lost." A clear voice suddenly rang out from behind him. Grandmaster felt a chill run down his spine, followed by pain spreading from his back throughout his entire body. He was sent flying and rolled across the ground.

"Ah!"

Grandmaster's terrified, miserable howl rang out as his nose smashed into the ground. The sound of bones cracking followed. The strike was powerful enough to split the ground open, leaving it blackened.

After taking the heavy blow, Grandmaster braced himself against the ground with his left hand and barely managed to rise. The horror in his eyes deepened. He had never imagined that, as a Soul Grandmaster, he would lose to a six-year-old boy.

"Ying ying ying."

Luo San Pao's body trembled as well, pain appearing on its chubby face. It let out a pitiful cry, turned into a streak of purple light, and burrowed beneath Grandmaster before disappearing.

"Tsk tsk, Grandmaster, are you all right?"

Cao Yan raised a brow and walked straight over to Grandmaster, looking down at him with disdain in his eyes.

"Cough, cough."

"Child, I have to admit that your talent is truly the most outstanding I have ever seen. I really hope to have a disciple like you." After coughing, Grandmaster endured the pain in his body and spoke with a smile.

"Although I lost to you, I accept my defeat wholeheartedly."

"Child, are you willing to take me as your master?"

Grandmaster looked at Cao Yan with pleading eyes. The way things had developed had completely exceeded his expectations.

He had never expected the final outcome to be like this. Though his Luo San Pao was not strong, he had thought it could at least knock Cao Yan unconscious with its fart. Yet the result before him had slapped him viciously across the face.

Cao Yan was absurdly strong—monstrously strong.

Grandmaster felt somewhat stifled. He simply could not understand why this six-year-old boy before him could beat him so effortlessly.

Moreover, from beginning to end, Cao Yan's expression had remained completely calm.

This utterly overturned everything he knew.

"No, Grandmaster. We agreed before that I would only take you as my master if you beat me."

"Now, the one lying on the ground is you."

Cao Yan leisurely paced back and forth before Grandmaster, a scornful smile on his face, as though he were saying, With trash like you, do you really think you're worthy?

"No, you must take me as your master. Otherwise, I'll make sure you can't enter Nuoding Academy." Grandmaster said coldly, his eyes instantly turning red.

If the academy found out that he had been beaten like a dog by a six-year-old child, how could he ever face anyone again?

Still, more than anything, he wanted to take in a disciple like Cao Yan.

Even with his discerning eye, he had to admit that Cao Yan was truly exceptional.

"Oh? You? What qualifications do you have to be my teacher? What can you teach me? How to lie on the ground like trash?" Cao Yan said blandly, already growing impatient.

He despised Yu Xiaogang from the bottom of his heart. If he had not picked up Tang San, a bargain disciple, he would have amounted to nothing in the end.

And now, he still wanted to gain sympathy by playing the victim?

Heh.

"Child, I can teach you theoretical knowledge. As long as you are willing to take me as your master, I will teach you everything I know. My theoretical knowledge is unrivaled throughout the entire soul master world." Grandmaster shamelessly declared, confidently patting his chest with firm eyes.

"Shut up."

"There are no useless martial souls, only useless soul masters?"

"A pitiful wretch who cannot even break through the Soul Grandmaster level dares to boast so wildly here?"

"A useless soul master—that describes someone like you, doesn't it? Do you think I need trash like you to teach me?" Cao Yan's gaze turned cold as he spoke indifferently.

"Let me tell you the truth. From the very beginning, I never intended to take you as my master."

"Someone like you is destined to be nothing but trash."

"How dare you humiliate me?"

Grandmaster's eyes turned bloodshot. He gritted his teeth and unconsciously clenched his fists. Born into the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, this was the first time he had ever suffered such humiliation—and at the hands of a child, no less.

"What is there to dare?"

"Not only will I humiliate you, I'll beat you too."

"Get lost. Don't let me see you in the academy again, or I'll beat you every time I do." Cao Yan shrugged and kicked Grandmaster in the lower abdomen. He deliberately controlled his strength; he could not kill Grandmaster yet.

He wanted to destroy Tang San before his very eyes and take the woman Grandmaster loved into his arms. Besides, trash like Grandmaster posed no threat at all.

Only when Grandmaster had nothing left and everyone had abandoned him would Cao Yan truly make his move.

As for Tang San... hehe, he would meet the same fate!

"Pfft!"

The searing pain in his lower abdomen twisted Grandmaster's face. Coupled with Cao Yan's naked humiliation, his heart finally collapsed completely. He spat out a mouthful of blood.

Grandmaster fell to the ground, blood streaming from his mouth. He was as weak as a sickly puppy and could only glare furiously at Cao Yan, powerless to do anything.

"Hehe, unwilling to accept it?"

"I'll give you a piece of advice: before the strong, there is no place for the weak. If you are weak, then act like it."

After saying that, Cao Yan kicked Grandmaster several more times. His strength was perfectly measured—enough to make Grandmaster suffer, but not enough to kill him.

Cao Yan had always been this way toward those who could never become friends.

Because mercy toward an enemy was cruelty toward oneself.

Immediately afterward, Grandmaster's wails rang out without end. His cries were so miserable that he sounded like a puppy that had just been neutered, his voice filled with unbearable agony.