"The scenery in the city really is something else," Tang San exclaimed sincerely.
Huang Fei nodded.
Holy Soul Village was nice, but it was still only a village.
Mud roads, earthen houses, chicken droppings and duck manure all over the place—it couldn't compare to this.
But then again, the rickety bed he'd slept on in Holy Soul Village was more nostalgic to him than any scenery here.
"Come on. Let's check in first." Huang Fei patted Tang San on the shoulder and headed toward the teaching building.
The registration office was on the right side of the first-floor lobby, in a medium-sized room.
A wooden plaque hung on the door, bearing the words "New Student Registration."
Tang San knocked. A woman's voice came from inside. "Come in."
He pushed the door open. A female teacher in her thirties sat inside. Her hair was tied in a simple bun, and she wore the academy's standard blue-green uniform. She was plain-looking, but smiled warmly.
"Are you new students here to register?" The teacher set down her pen and looked the two of them over.
"Yes."
Tang San stepped forward, took the Martial Soul Awakening Certificate and the proof of his work-study placement from his clothes, and handed them over with both hands.
Huang Fei took out his own documents as well and placed them on the desk.
The teacher accepted the two sets of documents and glanced down at them.
The first read: Tang San, six years old, Martial Soul: Blue Silver Grass, Innate Full Soul Power.
She froze.
Innate Full Soul Power with a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul?
That was rare.
No, she'd never heard of such a thing.
For a trash Martial Soul like Blue Silver Grass, having one or two ranks of Soul Power was already good. But Innate Full Soul Power? What did that even mean?
Suppressing her astonishment, she opened the second set of documents.
Huang Fei, six years old, Martial Soul: Blue Silver Grass, Innate Full Soul Power.
The teacher's hand shook. She nearly dropped the documents.
Two?
Two Blue Silver Grass Martial Souls, both with Innate Full Soul Power?
She looked up at Tang San, then at Huang Fei. Her mouth opened and closed, then opened and closed again. It took her a long while to finally manage a question.
"You two... are from the same village?"
"Yes, we're from Holy Soul Village," Tang San replied politely.
Holy Soul Village.
The teacher searched her memory, but was certain she'd never heard that name before.
A tiny village had produced two children with Innate Full Soul Power in a single year, and both had Blue Silver Grass Martial Souls?
As far as luck went, the Martial Soul was Blue Silver Grass.
The whole continent recognized it as a trash Martial Soul.
But then again, they had Innate Full Soul Power.
That was a talent countless Soul Masters wouldn't even dare dream of.
Good grief. It was both absurd and regrettable. For a moment, she couldn't decide whether to congratulate them or feel sorry for them.
The teacher took a deep breath, picked up her pen, and began filling out the register.
"Tang San, work-study student, Dorm Seven. Huang Fei, work-study student, Dorm Seven."
She quickly wrote down their names, then looked up, her tone returning to professional calm.
"Although you're work-study students and don't have to pay tuition, you'll need to work in exchange for your meals and lodging. A life teacher will tell you exactly what you'll be doing. For example, helping clean the academy, organizing the storeroom, or carrying supplies."
She paused, then added, "Don't worry, you won't be working for nothing. You'll get paid. It won't be much, but it'll be enough for pocket money."
Tang San nodded earnestly. "Understood. Thank you, teacher."
Huang Fei nodded too, but his thoughts had turned to something else.
Spirit Hall.
Come to think of it, this system of "free admission for work-study students, with labor in place of tuition" was precisely the sort of thing Spirit Hall had promoted.
As long as a child from a commoner family awakened a Martial Soul, they could receive Soul Master education through the work-study program, even if their talent was average.
Spirit Hall also provided promising commoner Soul Masters with cultivation resources to help them advance.
In a world like Douluo Continent, where the strong preyed on the weak, that counted as a rare "welfare policy."
Back in his previous life, when Huang Fei had read the novel, his feelings about Spirit Hall had been complicated.
Spirit Hall had certainly done plenty of evil and had enormous ambitions, but there was no denying that its support for commoner Soul Masters was real.
By contrast, those so-called "righteous" sects stood aloof, shut their doors to the world, and made it harder for ordinary people to enter than to climb to the heavens.
Then, at the end of the first part of Douluo Continent, Spirit Hall fell and the Tang Sect rose.
Anyone who had read the sequels knew what happened afterward.
The Tang Sect became all-powerful and monopolized resources. The lot of commoner Soul Masters was far worse than it had been in Spirit Hall's time.
By the time of Peerless Tang Sect, even Martial Soul Awakening had become an impossible dream. Children from ordinary families didn't even know what their own Martial Souls were.
This was where Tang San, in his previous life, drew criticism from readers.
After overthrowing Spirit Hall, he hadn't established any better system to replace it.
The Tang Sect cared only about growing stronger. Who cared about the lives of ordinary commoners?
Of course, Huang Fei wouldn't say any of this to Tang San.
It was too early to bring it up. Besides, Tang San was only six years old and didn't even have his First Soul Ring. Discussing "the replacement of political systems" and "the historical cycle" with him would probably leave him completely baffled.
"Come on. Let's take a look at the dorm." Huang Fei tugged at Tang San, who was still studying the registration form.
They left the office and followed the path behind the teaching building toward the dormitory area.
The dorms were in the academy's northeastern corner, a cluster of two-story buildings made of gray brick with gray-tiled roofs.
Dorm Seven, where the work-study students lived, was at the very back. It was the oldest building, with patches of plaster peeling off its outer walls.
Just as the two reached the entrance to the dormitory area, a man came toward them.
He wore black and had a close-cropped haircut. His expression was stern, and there was an inexplicable gloom in his eyes.
He looked to be around forty, of average build, and walked at an unhurried pace. He held a thick notebook in one hand, as if pondering some problem.
Huang Fei's steps slowed slightly.
Yu Xiaogang.
The Horn of Wisdom of the Golden Iron Triangle, the outcast of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, an authority on Martial Soul Theory.
Well, that last title was debatable.
Back in his previous life, when Huang Fei read the novel, his assessment of Yu Xiaogang could be summed up in four words:
Grand theories, harsh reality.
He'd spent half his life researching Martial Soul Theory and proposed countless "revolutionary" hypotheses. Yet because of a Martial Soul Mutation, his Soul Power had been stuck at rank twenty-nine forever. He'd never managed to break through.
His greatest "achievement" was "raising" Tang San, the future God King.
And his line at the end of the story—"I raised a god"—had become a favorite target for readers' jokes.
Raised him?
Tang San had brought the Mysterious Heaven Skill with him from his previous life. He'd trained in the Tang Sect Secret Arts himself, risked his life to absorb his Soul Rings, learned to use the Clear Sky Hammer from Tang Hao, and awakened his Blue Silver Emperor Bloodline on his own.
Apart from offering Tang San a few theoretical suggestions, what had Yu Xiaogang actually "raised"?
To be fair, Yu Xiaogang's theories weren't entirely useless.
He did have a unique understanding of Martial Souls, and was certainly better than the Soul Masters on the continent who only knew how to parrot what they'd learned.
But his greatest problem was that he treated Tang San as a "test subject" for his theories.
In the original story, Tang San chose to hunt a Mandala Snake for his First Soul Ring after taking Yu Xiaogang's advice, setting him on a path focused on poison and control.
To be honest, that choice wasn't wrong, but it certainly wasn't the best one.
Blue Silver Grass's greatest strength was its vitality, not its poison.
That was why Huang Fei had brought it up with Tang San ahead of time.
Plant the seed of a "vitality-focused path" early on. Once Tang San began researching and testing things for himself, he would naturally see that it was the right way to go.
As for Yu Xiaogang?
If he showed up, just as he had in the original story, and tried to sell Tang San his theory of "trash Martial Souls making a comeback," Huang Fei wanted to see whether Tang San would buy it this time around.
Yu Xiaogang walked past the two of them, his gaze sweeping over them casually. His steps never faltered.
His eyes lingered on Huang Fei for less than half a second, and on Tang San for half a second longer. Then he looked away, clutched his notebook, and walked on without glancing back.
He didn't say a single word.
Tang San gave him a polite nod. When the man didn't respond, he paid it no mind and continued toward the dorms.
Huang Fei followed behind him, glancing back at Yu Xiaogang.
The "Grandmaster" had no idea that his "perfect laboratory mouse" had already been poached right under his nose.
Huang Fei looked away, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.
Interesting.
He suddenly found himself looking forward to the day Yu Xiaogang came calling.
"Huang Fei, are you coming?" Tang San called from up ahead.
"Coming, coming."
Huang Fei hurried a few steps and caught up with Tang San.
The setting sun spilled through the gaps in the ginkgo trees, bathing the two boys in a layer of warm golden light.
In the distance, Yu Xiaogang disappeared around the corner of the teaching building, leaving behind a lonely black silhouette.
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