The Useless Yu Xiaogang Dreamed of Taking a Genius as His Disciple

After the practical combat class, Yu Xiaogang came knocking.

There were no classes that afternoon. I was leaning by the dormitory window, flipping through an illustrated guide to soul beasts borrowed from the academy library. Yu Xiaolou was sprawled over the desk, gnawing on dried meat and mumbling about next month's monthly exam.

With a sweep of my spiritual sense, I saw someone standing outside the door in a faded black robe, clutching a thick book.

"Come in."

The door opened, and Yu Xiaogang walked in, his gaze sweeping around the room. The dormitory was small: two beds, one table, and two cabinets.

"Tian Lin, could we speak alone for a few moments?"

I glanced at Yu Xiaolou. The chubby boy nimbly climbed to his feet, grabbed a handful of dried meat, and headed out. "You two talk. I'm going to the cafeteria to save us seats."

Only the two of us remained in the room.

Yu Xiaogang sat down on a chair, placed the thick book on his lap, and folded his hands over it. He was silent for several seconds, as if organizing his words. Then he looked up at me, his eyes carrying an eagerness I had never seen in him before.

"Tang San told me everything that happened in your practical combat class. Your soul skill, Azure Dragon Longevity, absorbs an opponent's Soul Power and converts it into your own endurance while also feeding it back to your teammates. I have never seen a life-attribute soul skill like this in any text. Its potential far exceeds your imagination."

"You flatter me, Master."

Yu Xiaogang leaned forward slightly. "I came to ask you a question today. Would you be willing to take me as your master?"

As he said this, his fingers lightly tapped the book's cover. Every tap was forceful, as though he were bolstering his own courage.

I looked into his eyes and remained silent for two seconds.

"Master, you are Tang San's teacher."

"Tang San won't mind. A good teacher can teach multiple students."

"I already have a teacher." My tone was calm, but every word was crisp. "My teacher is Thunder Douluo, Yu Yuanzhen."

Yu Xiaogang's expression froze for an instant. Everyone in the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan knew about his relationship with Yu Yuanzhen. A mountain stood between father and son, and that mountain was called "useless." The name he least wanted to hear in his life was probably his father's.

But he quickly recovered, forcing a passable smile. "The Clan Leader's cultivation is indeed extraordinary. He is a Title Douluo and can offer you the best guidance in Soul Power cultivation. But Tian Lin, a soul master's theoretical foundation and combat experience are equally important. I have researched martial soul theory for twenty years and compiled the Ten Core Competencies. I also have a systematic classification of soul beast types and compatibility. As for your Azure Dragon Longevity soul skill, I searched through every text last night and found three possible paths for optimizing it."

He opened the thick book. Inside were densely packed handwritten notes in neat script. Every page contained detailed annotations and cross-references, and some sections even had simple diagrams.

"Look here. What is your conversion efficiency when your soul skill absorbs an opponent's Soul Power? Based on Tang San's account, I estimate it should be around forty percent. If you can find a suitable soul bone or External Soul Bone to serve as a conversion medium, the efficiency could rise to at least sixty percent. And as for the feedback function, if you add your own Soul Power as guidance while feeding it back, the healing effect could double."

He spoke endlessly, faster and faster, while the light in his eyes grew brighter. I had seen that look in the cultivation world: the gaze of someone who had spent most of his life studying something and had finally found a perfect subject of research.

I interrupted him.

"Master, I already told you. I have a teacher."

He stopped. His smile was still there, but it had begun to stiffen.

"And besides," I closed the soul beast guide in my hands and looked at him, "you are not qualified."

Three words, like three nails.

Yu Xiaogang's expression completely froze. His lips parted slightly, as if he wanted to say something but did not know what to say. The open book lay across his knees, its pages densely covered in notes. Every word represented twenty years of his painstaking effort.

"Tian Lin, perhaps you don't fully understand my research. The first of the Ten Core Competencies is that a martial soul's potential limit is far higher than you imagine. Your martial soul is a mutated dragon type. If you cultivate according to my theoretical system, you may one day even surpass the level of a Title Douluo. I have served as a consultant at Notting Academy for so many years. Although my Soul Power is only in the twenties, the students I have taught..."

I interrupted him a second time.

"Master, you said you have studied martial soul theory for twenty years and compiled the Ten Core Competencies. Your theories are very advanced, but why are you still stuck at level twenty-something?"

His mouth hung open for a long time.

"Someone who cannot even teach himself properly—what makes him qualified to teach me?" I placed the soul beast guide on the table, my tone still calm. "Your nickname among soul masters is Master, but do you know what people call you behind your back? The useless son, useless. Your theories sound impressive, but you cannot produce a single respectable combat achievement. Tang San has studied under you for so long, yet in practical combat class, he could not even withstand one move from me. You want to take me as your disciple. Do you really think you have the qualifications?"

Yu Xiaogang's face flushed crimson, as though someone had slapped him across the face. He shot to his feet, the chair legs scraping across the stone floor with a piercing shriek. The thick book slipped from his lap and fell to the ground with a smack, opening to a page with a diagram of a dragon-type soul beast's skeletal structure.

"Yu Tianlin, you are too arrogant." His voice trembled.

"You think Innate Full Soul Power and a mutated martial soul make you invincible? Do you know how many people with Innate Full Soul Power Spirit Hall discovers at awakening ceremonies every year? Do you know how many of those geniuses later fail when attempting to become Title Douluo and remain stuck at Soul Douluo for the rest of their lives? Without proper theoretical guidance, no matter how great your talent is, you will reach a dead end. You look down on me now, but one day you will understand what a terrible mistake it was not to take me as your master. Don't regret it when that day comes."

Spittle sprayed onto the tabletop.

I looked down at him.

"Master, you say I will hit a ceiling without proper theoretical guidance. Then where is the ceiling of your supposedly correct theory? Level twenty-something?"

"You!"

"Do not lecture me." I stepped forward, leaving less than an arm's length between us. "What gives you the right to guide me? That theory of yours that cannot even help you break through level thirty? Your standing in the clan, where everyone looks down on you? Or the students you taught, who cannot last even five breaths before me?"

Yu Xiaogang's face went from red to livid. His lips trembled, his arms shook, and for the first time, resentment appeared in his usually steady eyes. Twenty years of endurance, repression, and unwillingness were peeled away layer by layer by a six-year-old child, like an onion.

"Fine, Yu Tianlin." His voice turned hoarse.

"You are just like my father. You acknowledge talent but not theory. Do you think talent makes you so remarkable? I have seen plenty of brats like you, relying on their talent and looking down on everyone else. You look down on me today, but tomorrow, someone stronger will trample you beneath his feet. Your mutated dragon is nothing more than a frog at the bottom of a well."

When I grabbed his collar, he had not yet reacted.

I lifted him with one hand. His toes barely touched the ground, and his face changed from livid to purplish red as he struggled to breathe. His toes kicked the fallen book into the corner. Its cover faced down, and several inner pages crumpled.

"You keep talking about theory, but in the end, you only want to use my talent to prove yourself. To prove it to the clan, to prove it to your father, to prove that you are not useless." I looked into his eyes and enunciated every word. "But unfortunately, you are."

I released him. He staggered back several steps, his back slamming into the doorframe with a dull thud.

"Do not come to this dormitory again." I sat back down, picked up the soul beast guide, and turned to the page I had been reading.

"Teach Tang San however you wish. He is your disciple, and it has nothing to do with me. But if you want to be my teacher, give up that idea as soon as possible."

Yu Xiaogang braced himself against the doorframe and gasped for breath. Five creases had been left in his collar where I had grabbed him, and the neckline hung crookedly to one side. His faded gray robe was crumpled into a mess. He bent down to pick up the book, his fingers still trembling.

"You will regret this."

He threw out those four words, pulled open the door, and walked away. His footsteps grew more distant in the corridor. He stumbled once in the middle, as if he had tripped over the threshold, then continued onward until he vanished completely at the end of the hall.

Yu Xiaolou poked half his head in through the doorway, still holding half a strip of dried meat. His face was a mixture of shock and excitement.

"Brother Tian Lin, I heard everything from the other end of the corridor. You scolded Master so badly that his face turned black." He stuffed the dried meat into his mouth and mumbled, "He is Tang San's teacher. Will Tang San come looking for trouble with you?"

"If he can beat me, then I welcome him to come looking for trouble."

"That's true." Yu Xiaolou leaned closer and lowered his voice. "But Brother Tian Lin, when you grabbed Master by the collar just now, did you consider that he is still the Clan Leader's son? What if he goes back and complains about you?"

"Do you think he would go complain to the Clan Leader?"

Yu Xiaolou thought for a moment, then shook his head. "True. I wouldn't either. Getting called useless by your six-year-old nephew and then running to complain to your father would be more humiliating than death if word got out."

Outside the window, the sky darkened.

I put down the soul beast guide and looked out the window.

One thing Yu Xiaogang said today was actually correct. Without proper theoretical guidance, no amount of talent would be enough. But he had gotten one thing wrong. My theoretical guidance did not come from anyone in this world.

The cultivation experience accumulated across three lives was something no second person on Douluo Continent possessed. A mere level twenty-nine theorist dared claim he could guide me?