A day flew by in the blink of an eye.
Two figures appeared on the dirt road outside Shrek Academy.
They were Tang San and Yu Xiaogang.
Five years had passed, and Tang San had completely outgrown his former short, scrawny appearance. He was quite a bit taller now.
His skin, however, had been tanned dark, turning him into a bona fide little blackie.
At that moment, his good-for-nothing master, Yu Xiaogang, was sneaking along behind him.
To be precise, he was trailing Tang San on the right, at a forty-five-degree angle, and always keeping at least three meters between them as an absolutely safe distance.
Yu Xiaogang even gripped a two-meter-long wooden club tightly in his hand.
It wasn't that he was being unreasonable. He'd simply been burned so badly that he'd been left with psychological scars.
After the Egg-Stabbing Incident back then, Yu Xiaogang had set aside their differences for the sake of his theories and continued playing the good teacher in Tang San's eyes.
But fate had other plans. Every year, Tang San's luck would go rotten for a few hours.
For the first couple of years, whenever Tang San's bad luck struck, Yu Xiaogang had wanted to step in and show off their deep teacher-student bond.
And the result? When he went to help out of kindness, either a chamber pot fell from the sky and landed on his head, or a rabid dog chased him for two whole li.
If he hadn't already been castrated, and thus lacked those two extra bits of baggage, he wouldn't have been able to outrun the dog. That mad beast might even have taken a bite out of him for a little snack.
After much painful reflection, Yu Xiaogang had finally developed this "Anti-Explosion Infantry Positioning Method."
The moment Tang San's luck turned bad, Yu Xiaogang immediately retreated!
As long as he stayed outside a three-meter radius, he, Yu Xiaogang, would be absolutely safe!
Tang San had wept bitterly and sworn to support him in his old age and see him to his grave, but that damn bad-luck aura didn't care about their deep teacher-student bond.
"Teachuh."
Tang San looked back and tried to speak. He grinned, revealing that his two front teeth had vanished. The gap was huge, and the wind rushing in completely mangled his pronunciation.
"I smithuhd today an' earned three silver coins. Tomorruh I'll buy ya a roast chicken tuh make ya feel bettuh."
He'd meant to show his filial respect for his teacher.
But with that toothless mouth and ridiculous accent, he'd turned a heartwarming drama into a country comedy.
Three years ago, anyone who dared provoke him would have heard Tang San snap, "You have a way of seeking death."
Nowadays, the words rotted away in his gut. He wouldn't dare say even half of them if you beat him to death.
Just last month, he'd gotten into an argument with a thug. Trying to show off, he'd bellowed, "You have a way of seeking death!"
And what happened? The thug stared at him blankly for three seconds, then laughed so hard he couldn't catch his breath. He clutched his stomach and rolled around on the ground until he actually laughed himself unconscious. Foam bubbled from his mouth, and passersby rushed him to a clinic in Suotuo City for emergency treatment.
Naturally, Su Chen was to blame for Tang San's miserable state.
In the spirit of being a decent person, Su Chen renewed Tang San's Bad Luck Talisman every year without fail.
Once a year, with potent effects.
Getting water down the wrong way and tripping on flat ground were just appetizers.
While Tang San was hammering iron at the blacksmith's, one swing had bounced back and struck his two front teeth. It had smashed them to bits on the spot, forcing them into retirement for good.
Yu Xiaogang gripped his wooden club from three meters away and replied in a sharp, nasal voice.
"Xiao San, your thoughtfulness warms your teacher's heart."
The two maintained their strange formation as they headed back toward the village where Shrek Academy was located, one in front and one behind.
They stopped together as soon as they entered the village.
In front of the row of wooden houses that even stray dogs usually avoided, a luxurious house had appeared out of nowhere.
"Holy crap?"
Tang San rubbed his eyes and pointed ahead, the wind whistling through the gap in his teeth. "Teachuh, what's that thing? Did we walk into the wrong village?"
Yu Xiaogang's features scrunched together.
He craned his neck and studied it for a long while, then came up with an utterly confident deduction. "Xiao San, don't let appearances fool you! You and I know exactly how poor this academy is."
Flender, that stingy old miser, wore the same pair of shoes for three years without replacing them. Where would he get the money to build a mansion like this?
Tang San scratched his head. "Then what's goin' on?"
Yu Xiaogang held one hand behind his back and struck the arrogant pose of a wise man who saw through everything. "Have you forgotten? These are the days when Shrek Academy recruits new students. Flender must have cooked up some illusion to save face, just to trick those sheltered newcomers who've never seen the world."
At that, Yu Xiaogang lowered his nasal voice and instructed him, "Xiao San, go back to your room and rest. I'll go ask them what's going on."
Tang San suddenly understood, his admiration for his teacher swelling like the Yangtze River. "Teachuh, you're brilliant! I'll go back tuh the dorm."
"Go on. Watch your step, and try not to break your nose again."
After warning him, Yu Xiaogang turned toward the Teacher Dormitory.
The door of the shabby brick house stood wide open, and the stench of alcohol poured out.
Zhao Wuji, Li Yusong, and Shao Xin sat around a rickety wooden table, where a few plates of shriveled peanuts and some cheap liquor had been laid out.
After a few cups of swill, their faces and necks had turned red as they argued about something.
"Ahem!"
Yu Xiaogang cleared his throat, clasped his hands behind his back, and crossed the threshold with his legs spread wide.
When Li Yusong saw him enter, he hurriedly called out and pulled over a long bench. "Well, Grandmaster, perfect timing! Come, sit, sit."
Shao Xin's eyes shifted, and he suddenly looked at Yu Xiaogang. "Grandmaster, now that you're here, we have an academic question we'd like to ask you."
At the word "academic," Yu Xiaogang straightened up at once.
He instinctively stiffened his back and clasped his hands behind him, nailing that air of a profound Grandmaster.
His back no longer ached, his legs no longer hurt, and even his inferiority complex over being short a few parts had eased considerably.
Li Yusong spoke up. "Grandmaster, in your published theories, did you ever clearly state the age limits for a Soul Master's Second Soul Ring and Third Soul Ring?"
Yu Xiaogang knew this one by heart. He could recite it with his eyes closed.
He smugly rocked his head and raised two fingers. "Listen carefully."
"Based on my many years of studying the patterns of Martial Soul evolution, along with a comparison of extensive documentary sources..."
"The limit for the Second Soul Ring is exactly seven hundred and sixty-four years."
"The limit for the Third Soul Ring is one thousand seven hundred and sixty years."
"One year more, and a Soul Master's meridians will burst. One year less, and they won't reach their full potential."
The words rang out with authority. Yu Xiaogang even felt that the holy light of truth was shining from his head.
Shao Xin held half a cup of liquor and leaned in, asking cautiously, "Then... Grandmaster, is there even the slightest chance..."
"For example, a twelve-year-old boy with a thousand-year Second Soul Ring and a black, Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring for his third?"
The moment he finished speaking, the air in the room froze.
Yu Xiaogang was stunned for a moment, then flung his sleeve with a wildly exaggerated flourish, nearly tumbling off the broken bench.
He shot to his feet and shouted in his shrill voice.
"Impossible!"
"Absolutely impossible!"
Yu Xiaogang jumped up and down in agitation, spittle flying everywhere. "This completely violates the limits of what a Soul Master's body can withstand! The energy contained in a thousand-year Soul Ring and a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring is simply more than a Soul Grandmaster can handle!"
"My theory is perfect, flawless! Something like that has never happened in the history of the entire Douluo Continent—not in the past, not now, and never in the future!"
At the sight of Yu Xiaogang's furious, red-faced expression, Li Yusong and Shao Xin were briefly at a loss for words.
They wanted nothing more than to drag Su Chen over, press Yu Xiaogang's head down, and make him open his damn eyes to look at that pitch-black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring!
And he was still claiming it was absolutely impossible?
Did he think they were blind?
At that moment, Zhao Wuji, who had polished off half a jug of swill, finally couldn't take it anymore.
He'd never liked that useless eunuch who walked with his legs pressed together and spent all day mooching food and drink.
On top of that, Su Chen had ground him into the dirt earlier that day, making him drop to his knees dozens of times. He had a whole nest of Evil Fire pent up with nowhere to vent it.
Now that he'd downed a few cups of swill, his explosive temper couldn't care less about social niceties or whether he should show Yu Xiaogang some respect.