The Master's Face

The dean and the classroom teacher, drawn over by the sounds of fighting, hurried over. After the two of them figured out what had happened from start to finish, they fell silent on the spot.

There was honestly no way to judge this mess.

If you called Yu Xiaogang useless, his theoretical knowledge was solid; in all of Nuoding Academy, there was no second person who understood martial-soul theory better than he did. He really did have something in that belly of his.

But if you called him impressive, then this dignified rank-twenty-nine Great Soul Master had not only been beaten head-on by a Soul Master with only a first soul ring, he had even been knocked unconscious on the ground by the backlash from his own martial soul.

The dean stared at Yu Xiaogang lying on the ground and let out a long, helpless sigh. Then he turned to Teacher Su beside him and gave an instruction.

"Teacher Su, sorry to trouble you, but take him to the infirmary and let him lie down there."

Teacher Su froze on the spot when he heard this, resistance immediately showing on his face. He waved his hands with an awkward expression. "Huh? Dean, could you find someone else? I'm a clean freak, so it's really not very convenient for me."

"Cut the nonsense." The dean frowned, his tone sinking a little, carrying an air that brooked no refusal. "Aside from the two of us, everyone here is a lower-year student. Don't tell me you expect these half-grown children to carry an adult? Hurry up and go."

Seeing that the dean was getting angry, Teacher Su did not dare refuse any longer. He was unwilling a hundred times over in his heart, but he could only steel himself and step forward, bend down, carry the unconscious Yu Xiaogang on his back, and walk toward the academy infirmary, cursing as he went.

Inside the infirmary, several hours passed in the blink of an eye.

Yu Xiaogang, who had been unconscious for a long time, finally stirred slowly. His eyelids trembled lightly, and he opened his heavy eyes at a leisurely pace.

"Grandmaster, you're awake? How do you feel now?"

The dean was sitting beside the sickbed, his expression calm, his tone without the slightest fluctuation, and a faint distance showing between the lines.

Yu Xiaogang, who had just woken up, was still a little dazed and did not notice the wrongness in the dean's tone at all.

He recovered for a few seconds, and the scenes before he lost consciousness instantly flooded into his mind. The image of himself being knocked down in public by a student, then fainting from the backlash of his own martial soul, appeared clearly before his eyes.

In an instant, Yu Xiaogang's expression sank completely. His entire face turned incomparably ferocious, rage churning in his chest, his humiliation and anger impossible to suppress.

He propped himself up on the sickbed, his voice somewhat hoarse. "Dean! You must expel those two lawless students who have no respect for rules!!

They were so audacious that they even dared to lay hands on me and beat me! With such reckless temperaments, they will inevitably commit even more outrageous acts in the future. Sooner or later, they will ruin Nuoding Academy's reputation and bring shame upon the academy! They absolutely cannot be kept!"

As the dean listened to Yu Xiaogang indiscriminately insist on pinning a serious accusation on those two outstanding students with innate full soul power, his brows furrowed tightly, and a trace of impatience appeared in his eyes.

"Grandmaster, that is going too far."

The dean spoke slowly, his tone carrying obvious disapproval, and his expression grew a little more serious as well.

"In the end, they were only students who acted somewhat impulsively. In my view, scolding them, disciplining them strictly, and making them understand and admit their mistake would be enough."

The moment these words came out, Yu Xiaogang's face instantly flushed red, and his volume abruptly rose, filled with resentment and unwillingness.

"Going too far?! Dean, you're actually saying I'm going too far?!

They attacked me in public, made me lose all face, and humiliated me in front of every student! Such a great humiliation—is that still not serious enough?!!"

Yu Xiaogang's chest heaved violently. The more he thought about it, the more stifled he felt, and he directly issued an ultimatum, his attitude tough to the extreme.

"I'll put my words right here today! There is no room for compromise in this matter! Either expel those two students who have no respect for their elders, or I will leave Nuoding Academy directly!"

After saying that, Yu Xiaogang gave a cold snort, turned his head with an arrogant expression, leaned against the headboard, shut his eyes tightly, and quietly waited for the dean's answer, clearly certain that the dean needed his martial-soul theory teaching.

The dean only felt exhausted. How had he agreed to let him stay at the academy back then?

Not only did he eat and drink for free, whenever the dean asked him to teach a few students, his face would be full of impatience, and he would not take it to heart at all.

Now he had offended two geniuses with innate full soul power too. What a disaster. How did he still have the face to make the dean choose between the two sides?

"Since things have already been said to this point, find some time to pack up and leave. My little temple is too small to hold a great Buddha like you."

"You're driving me away?"

Yu Xiaogang's eyes instantly widened, his face full of disbelief.

He was a theoretical grandmaster renowned throughout the entire Douluo Continent! His martial-soul theories were known to everyone.

The mere dean of a tiny Nuoding Primary Soul Master Academy actually dared not give him face, and was even indirectly forcing him to leave?

Yu Xiaogang truly wanted to toss everything aside and walk away, but the moment that thought emerged, he instantly calmed down.

Tang San, the disciple he valued most, was still here, and this was precisely the time when he needed Yu Xiaogang's careful guidance. He absolutely could not leave now. Once he left, he would completely miss out on this peerless good seedling.

After weighing things several times, Yu Xiaogang forcibly suppressed the anger filling his chest and deliberately let out a deep breath as though magnanimous.

"Haah—forget it.

I'll give you face and not lower myself to the level of two juniors. I will drop this matter here and no longer pursue it."

The dean at the side looked at this hypocritical appearance of him forcibly finding himself a way out, and the corners of his mouth twitched several times.

He had truly had his eyes opened. In the past, he had only known that Yu Xiaogang had theory and terrible strength. Only today had he truly seen just how thick-skinned this man was.

The dean was too lazy to waste even half a sentence more on him. With only speechlessness and disgust left in his heart, he directly flicked his sleeve, turned around, and walked straight out of the infirmary ward.

On the other side, inside the classroom.

The teacher on the platform was currently giving a lesson, carefully explaining the ranks corresponding to soul rings, as well as the upper limit of soul rings that could be absorbed at each cultivation stage.

The group of new students below listened very attentively. Only Ye Yun was silently calculating in his heart.

He had to take Xiao Wu away from the academy as soon as possible and pretend they were going out to obtain their first soul rings.

Otherwise, if the academy took him to hunt for a soul ring in a few days, he would give himself away on the spot.

The risk was too great. He absolutely could not wait.

Ye Yun turned to look at Xiao Wu beside him.

At that moment, Xiao Wu was sprawled listlessly over her desk, chewing on the end of her pen. Her big eyes blinked every now and then; she was clearly getting drowsy from listening and had no interest at all in these basic theories.

Ye Yun reached out and gently nudged her arm.

"Xiao Wu, stop spacing out. Once class is over, let's go ask the teacher for leave and head out to hunt for a soul ring."

"Sure, Brother Yun!"

Xiao Wu agreed at once without even thinking, nodding as her eyes lit up instantly.

She had already condensed her first soul ring long ago and had no need to specially hunt a soul beast at all.

But staying in a dull classroom and listening to lectures was too boring. As long as she did not have to attend class, anywhere was fine.

The teacher on the podium was still droning on endlessly about the basic knowledge points. Xiao Wu listened until her head was almost pressed flat against the desk, feeling only that the person up there was incredibly long-winded.

Finally, the long lesson ended, and the bell rang right on time.

The moment the bell stopped, Xiao Wu grabbed Ye Yun's hand and, without wasting a second, headed straight for the academic affairs office.