The older one looked to be in his sixties. He was tall and thin but full of energy, with neat clothes and meticulously combed hair. All in all, he looked presentable enough.
The younger one had it rough. His clothes were covered in patches, and he was so thin he looked severely malnourished. Beside the old man, he was the opposite extreme.
But his utterly ordinary face caught Lin Yuan's attention.
At this point in time, with those clothes and that ordinary face, he could only be Tang San, the only male work-study student in the original story's incoming class.
And the old man was most likely Old Jack, the village chief of Holy Soul Village.
Now that Tang San had arrived, Yu Xiaogang should be making his entrance soon.
As Lin Yuan watched, the gatekeeper began giving Tang San and Old Jack a hard time.
His gaze shifted, and he spotted two more people.
If Yu Xiaogang was someone he had expected to see, the other came as a surprise.
Yan Beifei.
The Transmigrator who had somehow gained Soul Power for his Blue Silver Grass.
Judging by the direction he had come from and the change of clothes,
he had probably been staying at an inn all this time.
What Lin Yuan found amusing was that when Yu Xiaogang heard the gatekeeper angrily insist that Tang San's Innate Full Soul Power and Blue Silver Grass had to be fake,
the man, who had shown little interest moments ago, suddenly looked as though he had struck gold.
Yan Beifei saw his expression and looked at him with disdain.
Before long, the gatekeeper's attempt to make trouble backfired, and Tang San kicked him to the ground. Just as Tang San was about to kill him with the Silent Sleeve Arrow, Yu Xiaogang called out.
"Enough. Stop."
"Master, you're back!"
The gatekeeper had no idea how close he had come to death. The arrogance he had shown earlier vanished, replaced by utter servility.
Yu Xiaogang merely glanced at the gatekeeper before turning his attention to Tang San's Martial Soul certificate.
After confirming that Tang San truly had Innate Full Soul Power and a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, Yu Xiaogang looked him up and down.
Then he put on a show of apologizing to Old Jack and sent him home.
After a token scolding for the gatekeeper, he led Tang San into the academy.
Meanwhile, Yan Beifei walked over.
After what had just happened, and with Yan Beifei dressed decently, the gatekeeper naturally did not dare make trouble for him.
Yan Beifei showed the Martial Soul certificate Su Yuntao had issued him, then followed Yu Xiaogang and Tang San inside.
What happened next was almost comical.
Yu Xiaogang had stumbled onto the truth about Tang San's Twin Martial Souls and talked him into becoming his disciple.
Just as Tang San was about to bow, Yan Beifei spoke up from behind them. "If I were you, I wouldn't take him as my master."
Yu Xiaogang froze.
Tang San's face instantly turned cold. He had been so focused on Yu Xiaogang that he had neglected to watch his back. He had never imagined someone had been following them and listening all along.
Did that mean this stranger knew about his Twin Martial Souls?
His father had told him never to reveal that secret to anyone.
Now this man knew.
By the principles laid out in the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, the man had given Tang San reason to kill him.
At the thought, Tang San's eyes gradually reddened, and his breathing grew heavy.
From a distance, Lin Yuan could not make out what they were saying. But seeing Yan Beifei jump in just as Tang San was about to bow and accept Yu Xiaogang as his master, he could guess what was going on.
Never mind what Tang San thought.
Even Gangzi was more than Yan Beifei could afford to provoke right now.
Standing between a man and his ambitions was as good as killing his parents.
Tang San was Yu Xiaogang's hope of proving himself.
Yet Yan Beifei, a Soul Scholar whose Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul had only a few levels of Soul Power, had run over to ruin Gangzi's plans.
He really wasn't taking a level-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster seriously.
Yu Xiaogang, too, had recovered from his shock and frowned. But he was a practiced actor.
Though Yan Beifei's attempt to stop Tang San from becoming his disciple had infuriated him, Yu Xiaogang put on a calm front before Tang San.
"Young man, could you tell me why?" he asked.
Oblivious to the danger he was in, Yan Beifei kept pushing his luck.
"You look far too weak."
"If Tang San takes you as his master, who's going to hunt Soul Rings for him?"
"Even if you're willing to help him hunt one, you can't beat a Hundred-Year Soul Beast. You'll just drag Tang San to his death."
"And if you settle for a Ten-Year Soul Beast, you'll ruin someone with Innate Full Soul Power."
"Tang San, don't let this fraud fool you."
"Besides, I saw this man lurking near the academy gate a while ago."
"He watched the gatekeeper give you and that old gentleman a hard time without stepping in. He only came forward after hearing the gatekeeper say you were a Blue Silver Grass Soul Master with Innate Full Soul Power."
"He planned this from the start. He wants to trick a genius like you into becoming his disciple."
"Most importantly, I know this man. His real name is Yu Xiaogang."
"He ran away from home after a Martial Soul Mutation left him with a Swine Martial Soul."
"Since then, he's bluffed and conned his way through life, lived off others, bullied his own side, and cowered before outsiders. He calls himself Master to anyone who'll listen."
"In truth, he's just a fraud who passed fifty without reaching level thirty and misleads his students."
"Oh, I almost forgot. He isn't fifty yet. But with that Swine Martial Soul of his, he'll never break through to level thirty."
"He could live to fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, or ninety and still never reach level thirty."
By the time Yan Beifei finished, he had stripped Yu Xiaogang of every last shred of dignity.
Yu Xiaogang's face darkened at once. He said nothing, merely lowering his head until his eyes vanished in shadow. No one could tell what he was thinking.
Tang San's expression was no better.
Yan Beifei had said he had been following Tang San from the beginning.
That meant the secret of Tang San's Twin Martial Souls was out.
Their argument soon drew a crowd of students.
Some older students who already looked down on Yu Xiaogang began pointing at him and whispering.
Lin Yuan took the opportunity to slip into the crowd.
With mocking laughter reaching him from every side, Yu Xiaogang clenched his fists. His nails dug into his palms, but he did not seem to care.
"What else do you know?" Yu Xiaogang growled. "Say it all."
The sight of him gave Yan Beifei a fright.
But when Yan Beifei saw the crowd around them, his courage returned, and he spoke with open contempt.
"And here's the most important part. You just said you were only a guest living here off the academy's hospitality."
"That means you've never taught a single student."
"Is it because they won't let you teach? Obviously not. The teachers at the Junior Soul Master Academy are generally Soul Grandmasters."
"The real reason is that you don't want to teach. You aren't capable of it. You just want to find a genius with Innate Full Soul Power like Tang San and bask in his success once he makes something of himself."
"A real master turns an ordinary Soul Master into a genius. He doesn't go looking for geniuses to teach."
"All that does is show how poor you are at teaching."
Before you continue