Your Dog Barking Hurt My Ears

Li Xinggang smiled and looked at Xu Huxiao. "Oh, right, right. Look at me, I forgot that there are trash among those with Innate Full Soul Power too."

"But our Young Master Xu doesn't look like trash to me."

"Hmph. Even if he isn't trash, with nothing but a mutated low-grade Twin Arms Martial Soul, he can only become an ordinary low-level Soul Master in the future."

"Isn't that right, Young Master Xu?"

As Li Langkuan said this, he provocatively poked Xu Huxiao in the chest with a finger.

Xu Huxiao frowned and glanced at him before he could speak.

Li Xinggang continued, "Young Master Xu, don't blame my little brother. He just speaks bluntly, but he's actually a pretty decent person."

"Hmph, it's simply the truth. Unlike our Young Master Xu Luo, who inherited Elder Demon Bear's top-tier Martial Soul, the Blood Demon Berserker Bear, and has Innate Soul Power at rank nine. He's destined to become a Titled Douluo in the future."

"Young Master Xu Luo is naturally extraordinary, and besides..."

Xu Huxiao had no interest in listening to any more of their nonsense and cut him off directly.

"Hey, move aside. Good dogs don't block the road."

With that, he pushed the two aside and headed for the dormitory. He did not know whether this had been instructed by his cousin Xu Luo or not.

But Xu Huxiao truly could not be bothered with this kind of provocation. Even saying another word felt like a waste of time.

"Don't leave! Make yourself clear! Who are you calling a dog?!"

After being forcibly shoved aside by a first-year student, Li Langkuan flew into a rage.

Xu Huxiao stopped and looked at him sideways with the expression of someone looking at an idiot. The implication was obvious: there was no one else around, so who else could he possibly mean?

Li Xinggang, who had been speaking sarcastically all along, could no longer keep up the act either.

"Don't get too arrogant. We can stand wherever we want and say whatever we want. Our mouths and legs belong to us. What can you do about it?"

After saying that, Li Xinggang crossed his arms and provocatively blocked Xu Huxiao's path.

Xu Huxiao looked completely unconcerned and spread his hands.

"You're right. Of course I can't control you. But your dog barking hurt my ears, and I'm not in a very good mood right now."

As he spoke, Xu Huxiao rolled his wrists and twisted his neck. After a dense series of crackling pops like frying beans, his gaze gradually sharpened.

"Oh? Not in a good mood? Then hit me, if you dare... Ah!" Li Xinggang, standing in front of him, was still provoking him.

Until a straight punch landed solidly on the bridge of his nose, cutting off the rest of his words.

"So, since you went looking for a beating, I can only oblige you."

Li Langkuan shouted from the side, "You little brat! You're only a rank-thirteen rookie, and you dare attack us brothers? Brother, summon your Martial Soul and teach him a lesson!"

Li Xinggang had taken a punch to the nose and nearly cried from the pain. He wiped beneath it with his hand, and a streak of red liquid appeared.

"Blood? Damn it, you're serious, kid. Then we won't hold back either. Don't think we're idiots like Xue Long. You should know that I'm a control-type Soul Master specifically suited to counter strength types!"

"Little brother, summon your Martial Soul. With Young Master Xu Luo backing us, there's nothing to fear. Star-Marked Meteor Hammer... You, wait!"

Li Xinggang screamed because, before his Martial Soul could be summoned, a right hook struck his cheek again from a tricky angle.

At the same time, Xu Huxiao used two fingers of his left hand to strike a spot three inches below the center of Li Xinggang's chest, interrupting the gathering of Soul Power within him.

"What's going on with my Martial Soul? Why can't I summon it?!" Li Xinggang was horrified.

Awoo!

Li Langkuan roared and was about to activate Frost Wolf Martial Soul Possession to show this first-year brat what he was made of.

But before his Martial Soul Possession could be completed, Xu Huxiao launched a sharp, precise side kick that struck an acupoint on his right shoulder.

The force of the kick sent Li Langkuan staggering several steps to the side. Just as he angrily tried to activate his Martial Soul again, a swelling pain spread through the spot on his right shoulder that had been kicked.

Hm?

His Martial Soul was not responding?!

"What's going on? Why can't my Martial Soul possess me either?" He stared at Xu Huxiao in shock.

"What did you do to us brothers?!"

The brothers Li Langkuan and Li Xinggang looked at each other, both seeing panic in the other's eyes.

One was a fifth-year student and the other was a sixth-year student, yet they had never heard of a Martial Soul being impossible to summon!

This...

Xu Huxiao lowered his leg. Seeing their reactions, he knew his idea had been correct.

Soul Power drove a Martial Soul. If, before the opponent activated their Martial Soul, one precisely interrupted the gathering of Soul Power at the relevant acupoints, they would be unable to summon it for a short time.

Xu Huxiao's martial arts had already reached the peak of the Essence Intent Realm. His greatly increased spiritual power had granted him inner sight. Although he could only see his own blood and qi, he was extremely sensitive to Soul Power. Even without activating the Eye of Omniscience, he knew the Soul Power Levels of the two men before him.

The older brother was rank twenty-one, while the younger was rank eighteen.

"Don't worry. In half an hour, you'll be able to summon your Martial Souls again."

"Now, it's time for you to pay for your dog barking."

Li Langkuan watched Xu Huxiao approach and forced a fierce expression onto his face. "What are you going to do? Even if we can't summon our Martial Souls, we can still take care of a first-year rookie like you!"

"Oh, really?"

Soon afterward, repeated screams echoed across the corridor bridge, and passing students covered their faces and took detours around them.

"Damn it! I'm really pissed now! Langkuan, hold him! I'll hit him with Crow Sitting on a Plane!"

"I've got him! Brother, hurry up and hit him!!"

"Brutal Charge, was it? Crow Sitting on a Plane, was it? Hm?"

"Waaah... Stop hitting us, stop hitting us..."

"Wrong, we were wrong, Brother Huxiao, Brother Huxiao, ow!"

"Don't hit my face!"

Xu Huxiao had been exercising perfectly well today, only to run into two groups of irritating flies in a row. He had already been holding back his anger, but Xiao Ji had been too cowardly to make a move.

Then, after dinner, he encountered these two idiots singing the same tune and speaking in sarcastic riddles.

Naturally, he had to teach these little brats a profound lesson this time, so they would not delay his training again later.

Just as Xu Huxiao was half-lifting the still-arrogant Li Langkuan with one hand, preparing to give him a few more slaps.

A hand landed on his shoulder from behind, accompanied by a voice trying to stop him.

"Huxiao, little brother, stop. Fighting so fiercely in the academy would be bad if Third Uncle heard about it."

Xu Huxiao turned and glanced at the person behind him. It was Xu Luo!

"Who the hell are you? Take your hand off me. I'm not done beating them yet."

As soon as he spoke, pale golden Yang Origin Soul Power surged around Xu Huxiao. He shook his right shoulder and sent Xu Luo's hand flying away.

Huh?

That single shake forced Xu Luo back a step. Xu Luo was shocked. Was this what natural God strength was like?

And... what was with that look in his eyes?!

With only a single glance, that sharp and domineering feeling made Xu Luo feel as though he were facing a berserk thousand-year soul beast.

Xu Luo's feeling was not wrong.

After all, Xu Huxiao had faced an eight-hundred-year Black-Patterned Dread Lizard head-on and beaten it to death.

Furthermore, he possessed the "momentum" of the Essence Intent Realm Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms. Momentum could not only amplify one's attributes, but also invisibly influence Xu Huxiao's temperament.

The Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms were incomparably fierce and forceful, while Xu Huxiao's version carried an additional domineering true intent of ruling over all.

Therefore, it was hardly strange that the brief leak of his aura had intimidated Xu Luo.

After a while.

Xu Huxiao clapped his hands, kicked away the two groaning men in front of him, and spoke calmly.

"My fists are attached to me, so you can't control them either. Remember this: from now on, whenever you see me in the academy, take a detour. Otherwise, if I'm unhappy, I'll beat you every time I see you."

"Yes, yes..."

After saying that, Xu Huxiao ignored Xu Luo beside him and left directly for the dormitory.

His cousin Xu Luo was young, yet already had the look of someone deeply scheming. He was also hostile toward him, so Xu Huxiao had nothing to say to him.

Watching the two men groaning on the ground, Xu Luo's expression darkened.

He had intended to use their provocation as an opportunity to intervene, staging a scene of a hero saving his younger cousin and establishing an image of himself as talented and magnanimous.

That way, he could enter the sight of his Third Uncle.

But now, the plan had failed.

Xu Luo wanted to prove the power of the Blood Demon Berserker Bear Martial Soul and revitalize his father's branch of the family.

Because of the mistake his mother had made, his father no longer held any real authority in the Xu Family business. He also rarely had the chance to meet his Third Uncle, Demon Bear Douluo, so he had wanted to start with his younger cousin.

After all, his older female cousin had a mutated Golden-Eyed Demon Bear Martial Soul.

His younger cousin Xu Huxiao had an even more mutated low-grade Twin Arms Martial Soul.

And his eldest brother possessed the filthy Flash Mongoose Martial Soul.

He was currently the only member of the Xu Family's second generation who had inherited the orthodox Blood Demon Berserker Bear Martial Soul. In the world of Soul Masters, that meant Xu Luo possessed the most legitimate right of succession in the Xu Family.

If nothing unexpected happened, then the Xu Family's vast fortune should belong to him in the future!

But because of what his mother Lin Yanli had done, his Third Uncle Xu Bayan seemed not to value him much and even appeared faintly distant.

At that thought.

Xu Luo clenched his fists. It was all because of the stupid things his parents had done, yet he had to bear the consequences now.

If he had found a suitable opportunity, he might even have wanted his cowardly father to adopt him into Xu Bayan's branch.

Only then could he secure his future.

"It seems this younger cousin has quite a bad temper. Since winning him over won't work, then I'll crush him with strength instead."

"I'll prove to everyone that I, the one who inherited the orthodox Blood Demon Berserker Bear Martial Soul, am the Xu Family's only hope for the future."

Xu Luo looked toward the night sky and silently swore an oath.

After returning to Room 603 of the boys' dormitory, the same four-person room.

Xu Huxiao began his Soul Power cultivation for the night.

His condensed Yang Origin Soul Power surged through his meridians. Every time it completed one great circulation, the total amount of Soul Power within him increased by a trace.

In addition, all Eight Extraordinary Meridians in his body were open and had completed innate nourishment. His Soul Power flowed without the slightest obstruction or stagnation, making cultivation extremely smooth and efficient.

In truth, the Soul Power within his body circulated on its own every day, but its autonomous circulation was very inefficient. That was why he set aside time every morning, noon, and evening for focused cultivation.

To increase the speed at which he accumulated Soul Power.

Two hours quickly passed.

Xu Huxiao exhaled a breath of turbid air, stretched, and ended his cultivation.

"Huxiao, you cultivate so diligently every day. Don't you get tired?" His roommate Ao Li'ao asked, looking at him as though he were a monster.