29th Rank at Fifty

"Far North? It's far too cold there.

Hardly anyone lives there. How did you know such a Soul Beast was there?"

Yu Xiaogang's brows drew tighter and tighter as he stared suspiciously at Fang Fan.

"You didn't just make that up, did you?"

"If you don't know, then you're just making things up?"

Fang Fan slightly opened his eyes. The drunken haze in them vanished in an instant, leaving them clear as mirrors.

He casually raised his right hand. Seven-colored light swirled and condensed in his palm, forming a three-foot-long sword.

The instant the Seven-Colored Light Sword appeared, a clear sword cry echoed through the narrow stone-paved alley.

The air itself rippled in visible rings, while an incomparably sharp Sword Intent spread outward.

The moss in the corners of the walls was silently sliced away, and dust from between the stone slabs fluttered into the air.

Yu Xiaogang's eyes lit up as he stared fixedly at the Seven-Colored Light Sword, waves surging through his heart.

Innate Full Soul Power, with a Martial Soul that carried its own attribute radiance—this boy's talent was even more terrifying than he had imagined.

"This Martial Soul really is powerful—what abilities does your light sword have?"

"It can grow larger and extend."

Fang Fan answered blandly. With a thought, the light sword in his hand suddenly stretched outward.

The seven-colored sword radiance drew a dazzling arc through the alley before instantly shrinking back to normal.

"Oh, then that's simple!"

Yu Xiaogang's eyes brightened. He felt that his chance to take Fang Fan as his disciple had finally arrived.

He cleared his throat, assumed the posture of a theoretical master, and launched into an endless analysis.

"Your Martial Soul can develop toward the control system—

Add Soul Rings from vine-type Soul Beasts, allowing the light sword to split into several streaks the moment it shoots out, with a vine-binding effect attached.

As long as it hits the enemy, the light swords will bind them tightly like vines!

It would absolutely be an invincible control system!"

"Ha ha—"

Ning Rongrong could no longer hold it in. She clutched her stomach and bent over laughing, the hem of her green dress trembling lightly with her laughter.

"Are you kidding?

Such a powerful Seven-Colored Light Sword Martial Soul, and instead of letting him develop it as an assault system, you want him to develop it as a control system?

Adding vine-type Soul Rings?

Turning a divine sword capable of splitting heaven and earth into hemp rope for tying people up?

And you call that an invincible control system?"

Zhu Zhuqing was speechless as well. Her deep eyes glanced at Yu Xiaogang.

There was no extra emotion in her gaze, only faint disappointment—

So he was merely a bookish fool who talked theory without practice.

She withdrew her gaze and looked down at Fang Fan, who was leaning against her shoulder.

She pulled out the stopper of the wine flask and fed him another mouthful, her movements practiced and natural.

Ning Rongrong's laughter made Yu Xiaogang's face turn green, then white.

But he quickly steadied his expression, clasped his hands behind his back again, and looked at Fang Fan with an expression that said, "You don't understand."

"Young man, theory is the foundation of practice. The position of control-system Soul Masters in a team is far beyond that of assault-system Soul Masters—"

"You said it yourself just now. You know every Martial Soul and every Soul Beast."

Fang Fan interrupted him. His voice was as placid as a mirror, neither cold nor warm, yet it reflected Yu Xiaogang's lofty words back at him one by one. Every word was like a slap across his forcibly composed face.

"You don't even know about the Titan Snow Demon Ape, and you can't even tell which direction my Martial Soul should develop in—

Your theory doesn't seem very reliable, does it?"

Fang Fan leaned against Zhu Zhuqing's shoulder and slightly lifted his eyelids. There was no mockery or anger in his eyes, only an almost bored indifference.

That indifference hurt more than any ridicule—

Because it meant that, in Fang Fan's eyes, Yu Xiaogang was not even worthy of being taken seriously.

"And you still want to take me as your disciple? Don't you think too highly of yourself?"

Fang Fan continued, his tone still calm, though each word cut deeper than the last.

"Did you think everyone was as foolish as Tang San, letting you fool them around in circles?

Taking you as an adoptive father?

And calling you Grandmaster—you're a big fool."

"Y-you know who I am?

You even know Tang San is my student?"

Yu Xiaogang's eyes widened. His weathered face beneath his flat-cut hair was filled with disbelief.

He took one step back, then another. At some point, the hands behind his back had fallen to his sides, his fingers trembling faintly.

He had never met this boy, nor had he left any information about himself anywhere. He had lived in seclusion in Nuoding City for years.

Even Spirit Hall did not know where he was—

How could this boy know his name, his student, and even what Tang San called him?

"Isn't it said that once a teacher for a day, a father for life?"

Fang Fan's tone remained calm.

"Y-you know he said that? Who exactly are you?"

Terrified, Yu Xiaogang stumbled back several more steps until his back struck the cold stone wall of the alley, leaving him nowhere to retreat.

Fine sweat seeped from his forehead, faintly reflecting the dim yellow twilight.

"Ha ha—"

Ning Rongrong laughed from the side. Her green dress swayed lightly, and her lively eyes were filled with delighted schadenfreude.

"So you're that sinister fellow's teacher!

That guy couldn't beat Fang Fan, so he launched a sneak attack—

He used Blue Silver Grass to bind Fang Fan's feet, then joined forces with Zhao Wuji and Dai Mubai to strike with lethal force. Afterward, he still wasn't satisfied and threw hidden weapons!

You master and disciple really are alike. One swindles and deceives, while the other is addicted to sneak attacks!"

"Y-you're talking nonsense!"

Yu Xiaogang glared at the three before him. His voice rose uncontrollably, cracking as he lost the composure he had been forcing himself to maintain.

Tang San was the perfect disciple in his heart—

Diligent, intelligent, loyal, and righteous; the perfect practitioner of his theories.

He was the culmination of Yu Xiaogang's life's work. How could he possibly launch a sneak attack?

How could he possibly lose to a drunkard?

"My disciple Tang San is so outstanding, so formidable. Is he someone you could defeat?"

"There are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters—

You said that yourself. Doesn't that mean you are a useless Soul Master?"

Fang Fan leaned against Zhu Zhuqing's shoulder, his tone lazy and calm, every word a blade.

"Luo Sanpao, a malignant mutation of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, Innate Soul Power of level 0.5.

You reached rank 29 only after fifty years.

If you aren't a useless Soul Master, then who is?"

Yu Xiaogang's face turned as white as paper.

The three words Luo Sanpao were like a rusty blunt knife stabbing into the deepest old wound in his chest.

It was the shame of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, the sole reason he had been cast out.

"You're talking nonsense!

Reaching rank 29 with Innate Soul Power of level 0.5—

That makes me a genius among useless Soul Masters!"

This was the final line of defense he had upheld for decades. He had begun from less than nothing and made it this far.

Even if the entire world mocked him, he could still hold his head high.

But Fang Fan's next words shattered even that line of defense.

"You didn't rely on yourself. You relied on your father.

As the son of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's leader, you soaked in the best medicinal baths from childhood and were piled high with the finest resources.

If an ordinary direct descendant had received the same treatment, their achievements would not have been lower than yours.

And after leaving the clan? Did your Soul Power rise even one level over the decades?"

Yu Xiaogang opened his mouth, but he could not say a single word.