Grandma Is Not to Be Trifled With

Tang Ling's figure vanished in an instant, leaving behind only that thousand-year spirit ring slowly rotating and emanating a dim violet glow.

Yu Xiaogang stood where he was, only coming back to his senses after a long while.

He lowered his head to look at the claw mark so deep that bone was visible, then touched the Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma in his robes. Suddenly, everything that had happened today felt like a dream.

He had just been pursued by a thousand-year Soul-Devouring Jackal and nearly lost his life. Then, he had been saved by an unfathomably powerful expert and accepted as that person's nominal disciple.

Afterward, he had even been gifted a legendary immortal herb, which might resolve the thirtieth-level bottleneck that had plagued him for years.

In the span of a single quarter-hour, the course of his life had been utterly rewritten.

"Master..." Yu Xiaogang murmured those two words, an exceedingly complicated emotion rising in his heart. Gratitude, reverence, unease, and a faint anticipation that even he himself could neither explain nor understand.

He had endured too many scornful looks in this life. Though he was a descendant of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, one of Spirit Hall's Upper Three Sects, he had awakened the useless martial soul Luo Sanpao. His innate soul power was only half a rank, and he had remained trapped at level twenty-nine for his entire life, unable to advance even a step.

The elders of his clan regarded him as a disgrace, his peers treated him as a joke, and even his martial soul theory research, which he took such pride in, had been mocked by the soul master world as "a useless man's self-consolation."

He had thought this was how his life would be.

But now, everything had changed.

Yu Xiaogang took a deep breath and suppressed his surging emotions deep inside.

He carefully wrapped up the Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma and stored it in Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges. Then, after getting his bearings, he hurried toward Notting City.

Elsewhere, in Holy Soul Village.

"Xiao San, is your luggage heavy? Want Auntie to carry it for you?"

Tang San's mouth twitched. "...No."

"Really no?" Xiao Wu circled around him, her large eyes filled with teasing amusement. "That bundle looks pretty heavy. Don't start crying that you're tired halfway there. If you do, Auntie isn't carrying you."

"...I won't say I'm tired." Tang San gritted his teeth.

Old Jack watched the two children interact and grinned. "That girl Xiao Wu really does care about Xiao San."

Tang San's expression stiffened. Care? This was care?

Xiao Wu smiled as she linked her arm through Tang San's, then gave Old Jack a sweet smile. "Of course, Grandpa Jack."

Tang San felt his temples throbbing, but with Old Jack right there, he could hardly shake off Xiao Wu's hand. He could only stand there stiffly and let her cling to his arm.

"Alright, alright, it's getting late. Let's set off." Old Jack tapped out his pipe and started toward the village entrance.

Along the way, Old Jack kept chattering away about the rules of Notting Academy.

"Some of the children at the academy come from noble families and have terrible tempers. Avoid them when you see them, and don't get into conflicts. We poor folk should endure what we can. Learning skills is what matters."

Tang San listened attentively, nodding from time to time.

Xiao Wu, meanwhile, looked distracted. She glanced around at the wildflowers and grass by the roadside, occasionally bending down to pick a flower and tuck it into her braid.

"Xiao Wu, did you hear me?" Old Jack asked helplessly.

"I heard you, I heard you." Xiao Wu tucked a little yellow flower into her braid and said with a grin, "Avoid them, right? I don't go looking for trouble."

Tang San glanced at her and silently thought, You don't go looking for trouble? If you did, you'd probably turn the whole academy upside down.

But he said nothing.

The past three months of "sparring" had taught him one lesson: arguing with Xiao Wu had only one outcome—getting beaten up.

As the sun gradually climbed higher, the late-summer heat began to fill the air. Tang San and Xiao Wu were both cultivators, so this distance was nothing to them. Old Jack, on the other hand, was clearly out of breath after walking for most of the day, with sweat streaming down the deep wrinkles on his forehead.

"Grandpa Jack, do you want to rest for a while?" Tang San asked.

Old Jack waved his hand. "No, no. We're almost there."

Notting Junior Soul Master Academy.

From afar, Tang San and the others saw a towering archway. In the center of it were the words "Notting Academy," carved in a vigorous, forceful script that carried a certain imposing air.

Just as Old Jack led Tang San and Xiao Wu to the academy gate, they were stopped by a young gatekeeper.

Old Jack straightened his clothes and stepped forward, piling a smile onto his face. "Sir, we're from Holy Soul Village. This child is a work-study student our village is sending this year. You see, we need to—"

Before he could finish, the gatekeeper waved him off.

"Holy Soul Village?" He looked Old Jack up and down, his gaze carrying undisguised contempt. "A tiny village like that has someone with soul power? The academy hasn't accepted a work-study student in a long time. You aren't frauds, are you?"

Old Jack's smile stiffened, but he continued explaining. "Brother, these two children are—"

The gatekeeper did not listen at all and said arrogantly, "These two little brats? They're dressed like beggars, and they think they're worthy of entering Notting Academy?"

Tang San's face darkened, and Xiao Wu frowned as well.

Old Jack did not want to conflict with the gatekeeper, so he suppressed his anger and pulled a recommendation letter from his robes to prove himself. "This is the recommendation letter. All the paperwork is in order—"

The gatekeeper snatched the letter, did not even glance at it, and casually tossed it onto the ground. With a snort, he said, "Enough, enough, old man. Stop being an eyesore here. Everyone from Holy Soul Village is trash. The academy won't waste resources on people like this. Take these two little brats and go home. Don't embarrass yourselves here."

After saying that, he turned to leave.

"Stop."

A clear child's voice rang out.

The gatekeeper paused and turned around, only to find that the speaker was the little girl with the scorpion braid.

Xiao Wu planted her hands on her hips, her little face drawn tight, her big eyes brimming with anger. "Pick up the recommendation letter."

The gatekeeper froze for a moment, then burst into laughter as if he had heard some huge joke.

"Well, well, this little girl sure has a temper." He walked up to Xiao Wu and looked down at her, the rolls of flesh on his face bunching together. "What? If I don't pick it up, are you going to hit me?"

Xiao Wu did not answer. She merely raised her right foot.

Then she stomped down hard.

"Argh—"

A heart-wrenching scream rang through the academy gates.

The gatekeeper clutched his left foot and hopped wildly on one leg. The flesh on his face trembled violently from the pain, while cold sweat poured down his forehead. A distinct little footprint had been pressed into the cloth of his shoe, with several tiny tears even appearing around its edges.

"Y-you little brat!" The gatekeeper's face twisted in pain as he hopped back two steps on one foot, pointing at Xiao Wu with a trembling finger. "Do you know where this is? You dare attack someone at the gates of Notting Academy—"

Before he could finish, Xiao Wu moved again.

Her body left behind a blurry afterimage, and in the next instant, she was already in front of the gatekeeper. One soft, pale hand grabbed his collar and yanked him down, while her right knee drove sharply upward.

Bang!

The gatekeeper's scream cut off abruptly. His body curled up like a cooked shrimp, both hands clutching his stomach as he slowly collapsed to the ground.

"You said we were trash just now?" Xiao Wu walked toward the gatekeeper step by step. None of her steps were quick, but each landed with utter steadiness, like a cat closing in on its prey.

The gatekeeper trembled as he held his stomach. "Y-you... don't do anything rash! I'm part of Notting Academy—"

Bang!

Xiao Wu leaped into the air and drove her knee viciously into his chin. The gatekeeper fell backward, the back of his head striking the stone pavement with a dull thud.

He lay on the ground, stars swimming before his eyes, his jaw hurting as though it were about to dislocate. He could not utter a single word.

Quite a crowd had gathered around them by now: students passing by, parents bringing their children to enroll, and several teachers dressed in academy uniforms.

Everyone whispered among themselves, but no one stepped forward to stop it.

A little girl who looked no more than four or five had knocked an adult gatekeeper flat with just a few punches and kicks. The sight was simply too shocking.

Tang San stood beside Old Jack, watching everything with an expressionless face. He was not surprised in the slightest. After fighting Xiao Wu for three months, he knew better than anyone how formidable this seemingly harmless little girl truly was.

The gatekeeper was already lucky just to get beaten up. At least Xiao Wu had not sat on him and forced him to call her Great-Aunt.

"Stop!"

A deep, authoritative voice suddenly rang out.