Don't Take Little Steel for an Ordinary Soul Grandmaster

The old man looked to be over sixty. He was thin and lanky, but hale and hearty, with clean, neat clothes and hair combed meticulously. He was fairly presentable.

The younger one, however, looked rather miserable. Not only was he covered in patches, but his entire body was thin and gaunt, as though he were severely malnourished. Compared with the old man, they were complete opposites.

Yet it was the other man's utterly ordinary face that caught Lin Yuan's attention.

At this point in time, with those clothes and that utterly ordinary face, there could only be Tang San, the only male work-study student in this generation of the original story.

And the old man was, as expected, probably the village chief of Holy Soul Village, Old Jack.

Now that Tang San had arrived, Yu Xiaogang should be making his appearance very soon as well.

As Lin Yuan was thinking this, he saw the gatekeeper begin making things difficult for Tang San and Old Jack.

Then his gaze shifted, and he saw two other people.

If Yu Xiaogang's appearance had been within his expectations, then the other person was somewhat beyond them.

Yan Beifei.

The transmigrator who had developed his Blue Silver Grass Soul Power from nothing.

Judging by the direction he had just come from, as well as the fact that his clothes had been changed, he had probably been staying at an inn all this time.

But what amused Lin Yuan was that when Yu Xiaogang heard the gatekeeper angrily claim that Tang San's Innate Full Soul Power Blue Silver Grass was fake,

the Yu Xiaogang who had shown little interest just moments ago suddenly wore an expression as if he had found a priceless treasure.

When Yan Beifei saw that expression on Yu Xiaogang's face, disdain appeared on his own.

It was not long before the gatekeeper, unable to make things difficult for them and instead kicked over by Tang San, was about to be killed by Tang San's Silent Sleeve Arrow when Yu Xiaogang shouted to stop him.

"All right, stop."

"Master, you're back."

The gatekeeper had been incredibly arrogant before, completely unaware that he had just brushed past death. Now, he was equally obsequious.

Yu Xiaogang merely shot the gatekeeper a sidelong glance before shifting his attention to Tang San's Martial Soul certificate.

After confirming that Tang San truly possessed Innate Full Soul Power and that his Martial Soul was Blue Silver Grass, Yu Xiaogang looked Tang San up and down.

He then put on a show of apologizing to Old Jack and sent him away.

After giving the gatekeeper a token reprimand, he led Tang San into the academy.

At the same time, Yan Beifei walked over.

After the lesson he had just received, and seeing that Yan Beifei was decently dressed, the gatekeeper naturally did not dare make things difficult for him.

After presenting the Martial Soul certificate issued by Su Yuntao, Yan Beifei followed behind Yu Xiaogang and Tang San into the academy.

Immediately afterward, a dramatic scene unfolded.

Just as Yu Xiaogang had gotten lucky and guessed that Tang San possessed Twin Martial Souls, tricking Tang San into preparing to become his disciple,

Yan Beifei, who had been following behind them, suddenly spoke. "If I were you, I wouldn't become his disciple."

Those words left Yu Xiaogang completely stunned.

Tang San, who had been preparing to become his disciple, instantly turned cold. He had kept all his attention on Yu Xiaogang and neglected his rear. He had never expected that someone had been following behind him and secretly listening.

Didn't that mean the other person already knew that he possessed Twin Martial Souls?

His father had once told him never to reveal the secret of his Twin Martial Souls to anyone.

Now that the other person already knew,

according to the general principles of the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, this person had earned a death sentence.

At that thought, Tang San's eyes gradually reddened, and he was already showing signs of breathing heavily.

Lin Yuan saw this from a distance. Although he could not hear what they were saying clearly, Yan Beifei's sudden appearance when Tang San was about to kowtow and become a disciple was enough for him to guess what had happened.

Leaving aside what Tang San might be thinking,

even Yu Xiaogang was not someone Yan Beifei could afford to provoke right now.

As the saying went, blocking someone's path to advancement was no different from killing their parents.

Tang San was Yu Xiaogang's hope of proving himself.

Yan Beifei was merely a Blue Silver Grass Soul Scholar with a few levels of Soul Power, yet he had gone and ruined Yu Xiaogang's good deed.

He really was treating a level-twenty-nine Yu Xiaogang as though he were not a Soul Grandmaster.

Meanwhile, Yu Xiaogang, who had finally reacted, also frowned, though he was an actor at heart after all.

In front of Tang San, although Yan Beifei's attempt to stop Tang San from becoming his disciple had infuriated him,

he still pretended to be calm and asked, "Little friend, can you tell me why?"

Completely unaware of his own predicament, Yan Beifei recklessly dug himself deeper:

"You look far too weak."

"If Tang San becomes your disciple, there won't even be anyone to hunt Soul Rings for him."

"Even if you are willing to hunt Soul Rings for Tang San, you won't be able to defeat a century-old Soul Beast. You would only drag Tang San into dying with you."

"And if you encountered a decade-old Soul Beast, you would merely ruin Tang San, this possessor of Innate Full Soul Power."

"Tang San, you absolutely must not listen to this swindler's nonsense."

"Also, I actually noticed this fellow keeping watch near the academy gates from the very beginning."

"When he saw you and that old grandpa being bullied by the gatekeeper, he did not come out to stop it. He only appeared after hearing the gatekeeper say that you were a Blue Silver Grass Soul Master with Innate Full Soul Power."

"This was all premeditated. He wanted to trick you, a genius with Innate Full Soul Power, into becoming his disciple."

"And most importantly, I know this man. His real name is Yu Xiaogang."

"After his Martial Soul mutated and he awakened a pig-like Martial Soul, he ran away from home."

"After that, he went around swindling people, lived off others while acting entitled, was ruthless toward his own people yet spineless toward outsiders, and told everyone he met that he was a master."

"In reality, he was nothing more than a swindler who had yet to reach level thirty despite being nearly fifty, misleading students through his incompetence."

"Oh, I almost forgot. He isn't fifty yet. But with that pig-like Martial Soul that can never break through level thirty,"

"forget fifty years old—even at sixty, seventy, eighty, or ninety, he can forget about breaking through level thirty."

After this tirade, Yan Beifei had stripped Yu Xiaogang bare, exposing every last one of his secrets.

Yu Xiaogang's expression suddenly darkened. He said nothing, merely lowering his head halfway as shadows concealed his eyes. No one knew what he was thinking.

Tang San's expression was no better.

Because from Yan Beifei, he had learned that the other man had been following behind him from the very beginning.

That meant the secret of his Twin Martial Souls had been exposed beyond doubt.

Their argument soon attracted quite a few students.

Some older students who had always looked down on Yu Xiaogang began pointing at him and whispering among themselves.

Lin Yuan also took the opportunity to blend into the crowd.

As mocking laughter and derisive remarks reached his ears now and then, Yu Xiaogang clenched both fists. He did not care even as his fingernails dug into his flesh.

Yu Xiaogang growled, "What else do you know? Say it all at once."

Yan Beifei was badly startled by Yu Xiaogang's appearance.

But after seeing the people packed around them, he grew bolder again and said with a face full of disdain:

"And there's one more important point. You just said that you were merely a lodger who freeloaded on food and drink."

"That means you have never taught a single student."

"Did someone stop you from teaching? Obviously not. After all, at a Junior Soul Master Academy, the teachers' cultivation levels are generally those of Soul Grandmasters."

"The real reason is that you are unwilling to teach. You are incapable of teaching. You only want to find a genius like Tang San with Innate Full Soul Power, then bask in his glory after he succeeds."

"A true master should turn an ordinary Soul Master into a genius, not specifically seek out geniuses to teach."

"All this does is make it clear how terrible your teaching ability is."