From the moment Huang Tian began speaking, the entire training ground fell utterly silent.
The instant he opened his mouth, everyone gaped in astonishment, frozen like wooden chickens.
But their expressions quickly turned wonderfully animated. One after another, they pricked up their ears and craned their necks, their eyes gleaming as they pressed their lips tightly together to keep from accidentally laughing aloud.
In their brief lives, they had never seen such an arrogant student, such a hot-tempered child, or a low-ranking Soul Master so brazenly defiant in front of a One-Ring Soul Master.
With all three in one person, the scene was simply thrilling.
On the surface, nobody said a word, but quite a few teachers were secretly cheering him on.
After working alongside him for years, they had grown sick to death of that hideous face, so obviously useless yet constantly putting on airs.
There were plenty of incompetent people around. If they accepted reality, made peace with their mediocrity, and lived quietly, nobody would say anything.
"Good one."
"Awesome."
"Young people these days, damn! He said everything I've been thinking."
"Is his Martial Soul his own courage? Is his first Soul Skill called 'Audacity Beyond the Heavens'?"
"Gangzi, oh, Gangzi. Why'd you go picking on a kid? Don't you know kids love telling the truth?"
"This is kind of strange. Where's this kid getting his confidence?"
Yu Xiaogang was practically dumbstruck by the scolding. With that prestigious surname of his, few dared speak to him like that—not even commoners, and not even powerful Soul Masters.
After three seconds of silence, he raised his arm and pointed a finger at Huang Tian's nose. His hand shook violently, and even his lips and facial muscles trembled uncontrollably.
By now, he regretted it. He'd thought a first-year student would be easy to handle, but never imagined the boy would be so difficult to deal with.
The boy's temper was one thing. No matter how foul the language, it couldn't put so much as a dent in that wall-like hide. The worst part was, the boy had hit the nail on the head.
What Gangzi feared most
was that some of those things might reach Tang San's ears. That would be disastrous.
So he flew into an even greater rage than before and said:
"As a student, how dare you speak to a teacher like that?
"You call a teacher a dog, make up all sorts of baseless rumors, and howl and scream right in front of him. You don't look like a student at all—you look like a lunatic.
"How did your parents raise you? And how did your teacher teach you? Where are your manners and your respect for your elders?
"Even if I got a little worked up, it was because I care about my disciple. I was trying to teach you how to behave and handle things properly. Can't we just talk this out calmly?"
Though he looked furious, he was secretly pleased.
"Arguing over what my opponent said will only make things worse. Don't I know whether those claims are true? Don't I know my own shortcomings?"
"But no matter how silver-tongued you are, a child insulting an adult is wrong, and a student insulting a teacher is wrong. Let's see how you get out of this."
"As long as I win the argument on one little point, afterward I can tell Tang San I won the whole thing."
"Then all those words will be nothing but the defeated man's barking, and the slander of someone who's lost his temper."
"Heh."
Huang Tian immediately let out a laugh, his voice dripping with undisguised contempt. Everyone felt it, loud and clear.
That stench was overwhelming. When he lost the argument, he stopped talking about the facts and started criticizing the other person's attitude.
It didn't matter whether you had a point. The only question was whether you'd raised your voice. If you had, then you were wrong, you were guilty, and you had to apologize.
And once you apologized, that meant you were in the wrong—and if you were wrong, then he was right. How could you be so brazen when you were the one who'd clearly messed up?
He could even rewrite history later and keep claiming your character was rotten.
If Huang Tian really started arguing about his tone, then as a student, he'd be at an inherent disadvantage and would be in the wrong no matter what. He'd fall straight into his opponent's trap.
Unfortunately, after driving several girlfriends away with his insults, Huang Tian had seen it all. He wasn't falling for that.
Huang Tian smiled and said:
"So you're admitting you're useless? Admitting you're a hypocrite? Admitting you're talking nonsense?
"All I did was call you useless and hypocritical, and point out that you were talking nonsense. You're saying my tone wasn't calm enough?
"You lost the argument and I hit a sore spot, so now you're saying I shouldn't have pointed out your mistakes because my tone was bad. You're trying to change the subject and distract everyone. Do you think that'll work?
"I can't help wondering—
"Where were your manners, your professional ethics, and your generosity when you, a respected teacher, twisted the truth, slandered and smeared others, and stood on your moral high horse to pin baseless accusations on an innocent student?
"You demand that students respect their teachers, yet you act however you please. If that isn't hypocrisy—being lenient with yourself and strict with everyone else—then what is?
"And it's only been a little while. Everyone watched it happen with their own eyes, and now you're openly muddling right and wrong. Are you insulting everyone's intelligence?
"How can your skin be so thick? You wouldn't be acting this outrageously if you had even a scrap of shame.
"What else could that be but hypocrisy?
"And as for my tone being bad—
"You slapped five or six charges on me: that I'm ruthless, vicious, that I hurt my classmates, envy others, and disrespect my teacher. And you call that getting just 'a little worked up'?
"Then how about I get a little worked up too?
"If I don't stand up right now and refute you to your face, point by point, can I wash this mud off me afterward?
"You were the one who agreed to let Tang San fight me. You even invited Teacher Zhao to referee, and all these people watched the fight.
"Ask yourselves: did things really happen the way he said?
"Oh, your pride got hurt, and you couldn't accept losing a single Soul Fighting match, so you spread rumors to smear your opponent. But my reputation and innocence don't matter, is that it?"
This time, Huang Tian didn't really raise his voice or howl. Aside from a few choice words, he spoke in an even, unhurried tone.
Yet the shock and astonishment he stirred up were no less than before.
Many who had only come to watch the spectacle, those who thought Huang Tian had indeed hit a little too hard, and even the teachers who had instinctively disliked seeing a child and a student look so ferocious all fell into thought.
The more they considered it, the more sense it made. The more they thought about it, the more impressed they were—and some were even a little horrified.
"That's right. He got slandered like that. What's wrong with raising his voice a little?"
"No wonder he's so furious."
"Whew, I almost fell for it too. Just now, I really did think it was wrong for Huang Tian, a student, to shout at a teacher like that."
"Who would've thought? Yu Xiaogang can shamelessly scheme against even a six-year-old child."
"His own disciple couldn't beat someone, so he tried every which way to slander the other guy and ruin his reputation. What a beast—no, worse than a beast."
"I knew Yu Xiaogang had a vile character, but I never imagined he could sink this low."
"If I were dealing with someone like that, I'd probably have already activated my Martial Soul and charged at him."
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