Lin Yan continued.
"Everyone knows that improving physical fitness benefits Soul Masters, but could those benefits really outweigh increasing Soul Power Level?"
"I hope you won't punish us with such a waste of time again, Grandmaster. We're still young, after all, and our Soul Power improves quickly."
"As for physical training, Teacher Zhao Wuji might have more experience in that area than you do."
On the training ground.
Seeing that everyone had more or less recovered their strength, Lin Yan simply recalled his Martial Soul and headed toward his dormitory.
Just then, Yu Xiaogang suddenly shouted at his retreating back, "What do you mean by that?"
Lin Yan didn't turn around. One could not speak of ice to summer insects. He was already too tired to explain reason to anyone who didn't understand him.
In the end, seeing Yu Xiaogang standing there with bloodshot eyes, Ma Hongjun kindly explained.
"Before you came, we trained our physical fitness using Teacher Zhao's gravity-compression Soul Skill. It was efficient and didn't take long."
"Grandmaster, if you'd just told us you wanted us to run laps to build our stamina, why waste the whole morning?"
As he spoke, Ma Hongjun sighed, as if someone had wasted his time and he was completely helpless about it.
This scene struck Yu Xiaogang far more fatally than any insult or verbal abuse could have.
Because... he had drawn up this training plan based on theories he'd spent years compiling.
Now everyone was rejecting the plan, and even he had discovered its flaws. In other words, his theories hadn't earned their approval either...
Yu Xiaogang looked as if his soul had left his body.
Before long, everyone had recovered their strength and left one after another. Only Tang San and Yu Xiaogang remained.
Tang San came to Yu Xiaogang's side. Seeing how shaken he looked, Tang San asked with concern,
"Teacher, are you all right?"
Yu Xiaogang looked up and saw Tang San's familiar face. It was as if he'd found a beacon of light on a vast, empty sea. He immediately placed a hand on Tang San's shoulder.
"Xiao San, thank goodness you're here..."
A momentary mistake didn't mean anything. He still had Tang San, the Twin Martial Souls genius who would put his theories into practice.
In the bleak wind, the old man and the young boy stood by the courtyard gate for a long time.
Yu Xiaogang didn't notice that a trace of doubt had already crept into Tang San's eyes.
The situation now was this: Tang San no longer trusted Yu Xiaogang completely, and Xiao Wu was deliberately distancing herself from Tang San...
Late that night.
The bright moon hung high, and the evening breeze carried a chill through the window and into the girls' dormitory.
"Rongrong... are you really going to leave the academy with Lin Yan?"
Xiao Wu curled up beneath her covers, as though doing so would make her feel safer.
"Yeah, it's so boring here." Ning Rongrong sounded delighted. "As soon as Lin Yan agrees, I'll take him back to the sect, or we can join Heaven Dou Academy. It's much more fun there. Zhuqing will come with us too. Xiao Wu, you should come along."
"I..."
Xiao Wu lowered her eyes and parted her lips, not knowing what to say.
Honestly, she wasn't even thinking about leaving Tang San or whether he'd be upset anymore. If she really got the chance to shake him off, she'd do it without hesitation.
It wasn't that she was cold and heartless. Xiao Wu truly didn't know how to face him.
She wanted to go with Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect or Heaven Dou Royal Academy, but would powerful experts discover that she was a Soul Beast?
If she remembered correctly, both places had experts at the Soul Douluo level or higher.
Just then, Ning Rongrong seemed to pick up on something from Xiao Wu's reaction and asked with concern,
"What's wrong? You still can't bear to leave your third brother?"
Xiao Wu said nothing, but Ning Rongrong took that as a yes and continued,
"He's already like that. Why not find someone else?"
"I've heard that some men become more and more twisted after losing that thing. They might even take pleasure in tormenting women."
"Stop..."
Xiao Wu suddenly raised her voice and cut Ning Rongrong off, then burrowed beneath the covers.
Zhu Zhuqing sensed something was wrong. Xiao Wu seemed unusually down tonight, so she spoke softly.
"Xiao Wu, is something bothering you?"
Xiao Wu answered from beneath the covers. "It's nothing. Let's go to sleep."
After that, the room fell silent.
Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong exchanged a glance. They both thought Xiao Wu must be a little upset, so they decided not to say anything more.
But just as the two of them were about to fall asleep, Xiao Wu suddenly poked her little head out from under the covers.
"Um... do either of you have any grass leaves left?"
Elsewhere.
In the boys' dormitory, Tang San lay in bed, unable to fall asleep for a long time.
His mind was in turmoil. On one hand, ever since leaving Nuoding City, he'd noticed through various events that Yu Xiaogang didn't seem all that knowledgeable. He'd begun to doubt whether Yu Xiaogang could teach him well.
On the other hand, he'd lost the most important thing a man could have, and he didn't know if treatment could ever restore him to normal.
Those were the things weighing on him most. On top of them were "his relationship with Xiao Wu," "why Lin Yan's Blue Silver Grass was stronger than his," "when his Second Martial Soul would get Soul Rings," and so on...
Countless jumbled thoughts filled his mind, leaving him in utter confusion.
"Teacher, are you really the useless man everyone says you are? Can Blue Silver Grass really only take the control path?"
"Xiao Wu, can't you stay with me? You're all I have left in my world..."
"Father, where are you? Xiao San feels so helpless right now!"
Tang San gazed at the bright moon outside the window. The pain in his body and the helplessness in his heart made a few tears spill from his eyes.
"Why?"
"I'm a Twin Martial Souls genius, and I have the Mysterious Heaven Skill and all kinds of Hidden Weapons. So why have I ended up like this?"
"Why does Lin Yan get along so sweetly with Ning Rongrong? Why is his Blue Silver Grass so popular..."
"Why can he cultivate his Second Martial Soul?!"
Ning Rongrong's affectionate embrace of Lin Yan kept flashing through his mind. Comparing that with his own circumstances, Tang San could only feel that fate had treated him unfairly.
He and Lin Yan had started from the same place. He even had advantages like the cultivation technique from his past life, yet now they were worlds apart.
"Lin Yan! Why did you have to show up at Shrek Academy?"
"If you hadn't dealt with that Man Faced Demon Spider for me back then, I wouldn't have run into that Hellfire Mastiff while chasing Xiao Wu."
"If your Blue Silver Grass didn't have Soul Power at Level 31, I'd be the most popular person now!"
"It's all because of you, Lin Yan!"
"You ruined my life!"
Tang San had finally found something he could blame for every change that had upended his life: Lin Yan.
It didn't matter whether Lin Yan had ever shown him direct malice. It didn't matter that Lin Yan had once saved him. He could just blame everything in front of him on Lin Yan!
At last, he had found a clear target.
With boundless hatred for that target, the Soul Power within him suddenly surged, carrying him from Level 29 to Level 30.
Inside the room, his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul appeared on its own. Tang San was overjoyed.
But he didn't notice that a faint black vein had appeared on the dark-brown blades of his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul...
Before you continue