You Call This Twin Martial Souls?

Picking up from before, Chen Xuan's single remark—"farm tools"—completely shattered Yu Xiaogang's psychological defenses.

Yu Xiaogang jolted violently. Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, he charged straight into the training grounds from the sidelines. He did not even bother picking up the sound-amplifying soul tool that had fallen to the ground. Pointing at Chen Xuan's nose, his finger trembled as if it had been electrified.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Yu Xiaogang's voice turned shrill from extreme agitation. "How could a few worthless rocks without any soul power fluctuations unleash such strength? You cheated! You concealed your true martial soul!"

The entire venue erupted in an uproar.

"Concealed martial soul? Could Chen Xuan have twin martial souls too?"

"Holy shit, no wonder he's so fierce. He'd been playing the pig to eat the tiger all along!"

"But didn't Master say twin martial souls only appear once in a century? How did our class produce two of them at once?"

Listening to the surrounding students' discussion, Yu Xiaogang seemed to have seized his last lifeline. His face flushed crimson with blood. "That's right! You definitely have twin martial souls! You used those five worthless rocks as a disguise, while secretly cultivating another extremely powerful tool-type martial soul! This is serious deception! A trampling of the academy's rules!"

The more Yu Xiaogang spoke, the more convinced he became that his logic formed a perfect loop.

That's right! Other than twin martial souls, what else could explain all this? As long as Chen Xuan was branded a "liar" who had concealed his twin martial souls, then his defeat of Tang San would not mean my theories were wrong—it would mean Chen Xuan had fought without honor!

His theories were still flawless truth!

Seeing Yu Xiaogang's crazed expression as though he had discovered a new continent, Chen Xuan could not help rolling his eyes.

"Master, did your CPU burn out? Just to patch up that worthless theory of yours, you really dare pin any accusation on me."

Chen Xuan sighed and held out both palms.

"Buzz—"

Along with faint soul power fluctuations, five dull gray stones slowly emerged from his palms. They looked like five utterly ordinary pebbles, silently floating in the air. Apart from one of them faintly giving off a yellowish-brown glow, there was nothing remarkable about them.

"Master, open your eyes and take a good look. Since the day I awakened, my martial soul has only ever been these five lousy rocks." Chen Xuan's tone carried a hint of mockery. "Deacon Su Yuntao personally verified it, and the Notting City Martial Soul Hall branch has it on record. If you don't believe me, you can go check right now."

Yu Xiaogang stared fixedly at the five stones, his eyes nearly popping out. "Then how do you explain that dark golden claw just now?! Are you saying that wasn't your second martial soul?!"

"The claw..." A malicious smile curled across Chen Xuan's lips.

In his mind, he communicated with the [Light and Shadow Lottery System].

[Ding! Detected that the host is showing off. Friendly system reminder: an epic-grade weapon that is thick, long, and hard is about to be drawn for you. Please watch the range of your movements to avoid accidentally injuring the flowers and grass around you, or causing unnecessary misunderstandings from girlish moans~]

For once, the system's mechanical voice carried a trace of static, making Chen Xuan's mouth twitch. This damned system always dropped the ball when it needed to be serious, yet it was full of tricks when it came to filthy jokes.

Chen Xuan could not be bothered with the system's madness. His right hand suddenly reached into thin air.

"Since Master is so interested in my 'farm tools,' I'll show you something more exciting."

A dazzling blue radiance instantly exploded from Chen Xuan's hand.

When the light faded, a heavy repeating crossbow with an extremely flashy design and an icy blue metallic sheen appeared in Chen Xuan's grasp. Its body was long and slender, its front fitted with sharp barbs, radiating a chillingly piercing aura.

Epic-grade weapon—the Wind Eagle Crossbow!

Because the Wind Eagle Crossbow was rather large, when Chen Xuan held it one-handed, its body nearly reached the base of his thigh.

Xiao Wu had just helped Tang San to his feet at the sidelines. The moment she looked up and saw Chen Xuan pull out such an enormous thing, her little face instantly flushed red. She blurted out, "Holy shit! How can you just pull something so huge out of your body?! Where the hell were you hiding it?!"

Several older female students nearby covered their faces as well, though the gaps between their fingers were wide open and their gazes kept darting toward Chen Xuan. "Oh my... that shape... Ahem, I mean, that weapon looks incredibly lethal."

Chen Xuan ignored the little brats whose thoughts had gone astray. Holding the Wind Eagle Crossbow in one hand, he casually spun it once. The crossbow mechanism gave a crisp metallic click.

He looked at Yu Xiaogang, whose face had already turned pale as paper, with a half-smile. "Master, you said that claw was my second martial soul. Then what about this repeating crossbow? Does that mean I have three martial souls?"

Yu Xiaogang's lips trembled violently, and his feet involuntarily staggered two steps backward.

But Chen Xuan had no intention of letting him off. He pressed forward step by step. "If I pull out a blade tomorrow and a shield the day after, Master, which twin martial soul in your theories can produce three or four completely different weapons?"

"Does your Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls mention anything like this?"

"Is your so-called 'invincible theory' just about labeling everything you can't explain as 'cheating' or 'mutation'?"

Every word struck straight at the heart!

The training grounds fell deathly silent.

The way every teacher and student looked at Yu Xiaogang had completely changed.

If they had previously respected him because of his status as a master, that respect had now vanished without a trace, replaced by deep suspicion, disdain, and even a hint of contempt.

"So Master's theories are only this much..."

"When he runs into someone he can't beat, he says they have twin martial souls. Now the guy has pulled out a third weapon—how is he going to explain that?"

"What kind of master is he? He looks more like a fraud living off a stolen reputation!"

The murmurs poured into Yu Xiaogang's ears like a tide.

The self-respect he had always prized, the "theoretical master" persona he had painstakingly built over thirty years, all came crashing down beneath Chen Xuan's few casual questions.

Yu Xiaogang's legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the ground covered in broken stones. His eyes lost focus as he muttered endlessly, "Impossible... This isn't within my framework... This doesn't follow logic..."

Chen Xuan looked coldly at Yu Xiaogang on the ground, feeling not the slightest sympathy.

This old bastard had not hesitated to use me as a stepping stone and publicly humiliate me just to prop up Tang San. Since you like setting the stage, don't blame me for tearing it down.

"Master, admitting that others are outstanding—or admitting that you're just a frog at the bottom of a well—isn't actually that difficult." Chen Xuan put away the Wind Eagle Crossbow and calmly tossed out one final sentence. "Stop trying to trap this whole world inside your pitiful little understanding."

Just as the atmosphere hit freezing point and Yu Xiaogang was nearly ready to dig himself a three-bedroom apartment in the ground and bury himself in it—

"Make way! Make way!"

A burst of hurried footsteps broke the deathly silence of the training grounds.

The old gatekeeper of Nuoding Academy pushed through the crowd, panting heavily as he held a letter high in the air and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Chen Xuan! Is Chen Xuan here? There's an urgent letter for you!"

Chen Xuan was slightly stunned. He was alone in this world with no family or friends. Who would write to him?

He stepped forward and took the envelope from the old gatekeeper.

The envelope was made of rough material, but its seal bore an extremely conspicuous emblem—a sharp-eyed owl with its wings spread in flight.

Chen Xuan's gaze paused on that owl emblem for a second, and a name instantly flashed through his mind.

Four-Eyed Owl, Flender.

The dean of Shrek Academy, and Yu Xiaogang's former sworn brother.

Chen Xuan tore open the envelope and pulled out the thin sheet of paper inside.

There was only one wildly scrawled line on it:

[I heard Notting City has a little monster whose martial soul is five lousy rocks, yet whose arsenal is richer than a storage soul tool. If you think those trash at Nuoding Academy can't teach you anything, come to Shrek Academy in Soto City. I'll personally see what kind of freak you are. —Flender]

Looking at this letter filled with bandit-like bravado, Chen Xuan could not help curling his lips into a meaningful smile.

The gears of the plot were turning awfully fast.

He had only just ground Yu Xiaogang into the dirt, and Flender's invitation had already arrived. It seemed that the commotion he had caused over the past few years by secretly dealing weapons and building an intelligence network in Notting City had finally caught certain people's attention.

Chen Xuan slowly folded the letter and slipped it into his pocket.

He turned around, his gaze passing over Yu Xiaogang sitting on the ground before landing on Tang San, who was being supported by Xiao Wu in the distance.

Tang San's arms still hung limply at his sides, but his eyes remained locked on Chen Xuan. They were filled with unwillingness, humiliation, and a trace of wavering that even he had not noticed.

"Tang San." Chen Xuan spoke casually from more than ten meters away.

Tang San's body stiffened, but he gritted his teeth and said nothing.

"You're a decent genius. Too bad you were taught wrong." Chen Xuan pointed at Yu Xiaogang on the ground, then at Tang San. "Consider today's beating a free graduation gift. Let it teach you that there are always greater people beyond you, and greater heavens beyond the heavens."

Chen Xuan put his hands back into his pockets and turned toward the exit of the training grounds beneath the afterglow of the setting sun.

The breeze swept over his somewhat slender back, yet it carried an oppressive force that made people unable to look directly at him.

"Looks like our sparring at Nuoding Academy will have to come to a temporary end."

With his back to everyone, Chen Xuan casually raised a hand and waved. His voice drifted on the wind into Tang San's ears.

"Next stop, see you at Shrek."

[Ding! Detected that an important plot point has been activated!]

[Archrival Tang San · Cognitive Wavering: 5%]

[Yu Xiaogang Alertness: 38%]

[Next Main Quest Objective: Head to Shrek Academy and let those people who call themselves monsters witness what a true dimensionality-reduction strike looks like!]

[System Reminder: Tonight's midnight lottery has been refreshed. Host, wash your hands and get ready to welcome your new toy~]