"Teacher, how about we make a wager?"
Tang San smiled calmly and unleashed one of the most terrifying skills in the history of the Douluo Continent on Yu Xiaogang.
Little Scumbag's wager!
"Oh? What do you want to bet on?" Yu Xiaogang's anger vanished, and he and the Dean looked at Tang San in puzzlement.
"My wager is simple! The time limit is one incense stick!"
"If I can defeat Wang Sheng within one incense stick using my Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, without using any Soul Bone Skills, I win!"
"Then I can keep going to the Blacksmith Shop every afternoon to forge iron!"
Tang San grew ever more composed. Last time, his teacher's instructions from the sidelines had left him fighting with his hands and feet bound.
With no one else interfering this time, he only needed to secretly use the Tang Sect Secret Arts, Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. How could he possibly lose?
"One incense stick? And without using your Thousand-Year Soul Bone's Soul Skill? San, are you really that confident?"
Yu Xiaogang had assumed Tang San would propose a wager heavily in his own favor. Instead, he had bound his own arms, leaving Yu Xiaogang deeply disappointed!
Had the Soul Bone's passive enhancement gone to San's head?
"What if you lose?" Leaning on his crutches, Yu Xiaogang asked in an icy tone, his expression dark.
"If I fail to defeat Wang Sheng within one incense stick, or if Wang Sheng defeats me, then I will follow your guidance and advice unconditionally, Teacher!"
Tang San spoke calmly, as though he had every reason to be confident.
"Good, but not good enough! I want to change one thing!"
"I don't need you to defeat Wang Sheng. I want you to defeat the strongest student in the entire academy!"
Intent on grinding down Tang San's arrogance, Yu Xiaogang proposed changing part of the wager.
"No problem! I'll do as you say, Teacher!"
Tang San thought nothing of it. The strongest student at Nouding Academy could only be Wang Sheng or Xiao Wu from Dorm Seven.
Whichever one he faced, he did not believe he would lose!
Xiao Wu had defeated him once, but his Purple Demon Eye had been damaged then. He had not even been able to open his eyes.
Yu Xiaogang nodded slightly, then followed the Dean to the clearing where Wang Sheng and Xu Yuan were training.
"Huh? Is that... Xu Yuan?"
Yu Xiaogang and Tang San froze as they approached. The Xu Yuan standing before them could only be described as reborn, with all the dust washed away!
His flawless features offered nothing to criticize, and his long blue-gold hair was tied behind him, lending him a crisp, neat air.
Holding an iron spear with a blunted tip, he exchanged several rounds with Wang Sheng, suppressing him on every front.
His spearplay fell like a rainstorm of pear blossoms, too dazzling for the eye to follow. Tang San could even faintly discern traces of Spear Technique within it.
Xiao Wu sat on the edge of a flower bed, diligently cultivating through meditation. She had been like that ever since Xu Yuan returned.
Perhaps the pressure Xu Yuan brought was so overwhelming that even a genius with innate full soul power like her was drenched in sweat.
Xu Yuan flicked his wrist, spear shadows crisscrossed, and Wang Sheng's vision blurred. The spear tip was already pressed against him.
"I lost, Brother Yuan!"
"I doubt anyone in all of Nouding Academy is a match for you now!"
Wang Sheng raised both hands high, marveling at Xu Yuan's transformation.
A Support System Soul Master was even stronger than a Power Attack System Soul Master!
"Xu Yuan, what happened to your hair?"
Yu Xiaogang hobbled over on his crutches.
"Grandmaster, how did you break your right leg?" Wang Sheng turned around and could not help crying out in shock.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem. There was an accident during Soul Hunting!" The Dean coughed twice and gave Wang Sheng a meaningful look.
Wang Sheng immediately understood and dropped the subject.
"So the Grandmaster is back!"
"When I took leave to go out a while ago, I bought a pill from a street stall. The vendor said it could increase soul power!"
"My soul power really did increase after I took it, but my hair turned out like this."
"Later, I wanted to go back and settle the score with the vendor, but the people nearby said he sold fake medicine and had already run off!"
Xu Yuan stroked his silky long hair and spoke helplessly.
The corners of Yu Xiaogang's and the Dean's mouths twitched.
He really was a fresh six-year-old account, daring to swallow anything he came across.
"I really have to thank the gods for protecting me and keeping me safe!"
Xu Yuan pressed his palms together. Paired with his adorable little face, the gesture set a female teacher's heart fluttering nearby.
Tang San said speechlessly, "You should thank that fake medicine for not being poisonous!"
"San, remember that you mustn't take pills carelessly. They may increase your soul power, but they will damage your potential!"
"Without a theory teacher to guide you, you'll run into plenty more things like this in the future!"
Yu Xiaogang's reminder carried a pointed implication.
"Yes, Teacher!" Tang San planted his right foot, his center of gravity steady, and once again felt the warmth of having a teacher.
What a pity Xu Yuan and the others could not recognize a treasure when they saw one!
"Xu Yuan, from what Wang Sheng said, you've become the strongest student in the academy?" Tang San asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course!" Wang Sheng eagerly stepped forward.
"Brother Yuan's spear isn't a martial soul, so he can use the Wish-Granting Tree's enhancement and attack with his spear at the same time!"
"With that advantage, even Sister Xiao Wu is no match for him!"
Wang Sheng's words made Yu Xiaogang, the Dean, and the others chuckle.
There was a piece of common knowledge on the Douluo Continent!
This world belonged to Soul Masters. Weapons had never mattered.
The strength of a tool martial soul increased with its wielder's soul power level.
According to ancient books, when a Soul Master became a god, their tool martial soul could even transform into a Divine Artifact!
Yet no blacksmith in the world could forge a weapon fit for a god... or, for that matter, a high-level Soul Master.
Xu Yuan could show off his might with an iron spear now, but once his soul power level increased, he would ultimately have to discard it.
"Since Xu Yuan has become the strongest, San, your target will be Xu Yuan."
"If you lose to Xu Yuan, you'll have to undergo my training!"
"After that training, you'll understand just what my martial soul theory truly is!"
Yu Xiaogang spoke mildly, his close-cropped head tilted toward the sky in melancholy.
He could hardly wait for Tang San to lose quickly. That way, when he defeated Xu Yuan next time, it would demonstrate the superiority of his martial soul theory!
"Tang San, you want to challenge me?" Xu Yuan raised his spear.
"That's right! Let me see what the strongest student at Nouding Academy, who ended Xiao Wu's reign, can do!"
The corners of Tang San's lips curled upward, and he stepped forward with his right foot.
He only needed to use Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, and Xu Yuan's defeat would be certain!
"Then come on!"
The words had barely fallen!
Tang San smiled faintly and employed Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. His figure drifted like a phantom, elusive and illusory, making his true position difficult to pin down.
"Xu Yuan, lament your misfortune in lacking the Tang Sect Secret Arts..."
"Aah!"
Crack!
The crisp sound of fracturing bone rang through the clearing.
His ankle suddenly twisted, and a tearing agony sent Tang San collapsing to the ground, unable to rise.
Spear in hand, Xu Yuan stood frozen in place.
Seriously, man? Are you trying to scam me? I haven't even made a move.
Everyone present was utterly dumbfounded.
All they had seen was Tang San's footwork suddenly turn illusory as he flickered before Xu Yuan, then collapse with a fractured bone.
Xu Yuan carefully examined Tang San's right ankle and found that he was not faking it.
That's impossible!
How many years has Tang San practiced Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track? I didn't even attack, so how did he suddenly fracture a bone?
Xu Yuan's gaze instinctively shifted toward Yu Xiaogang.
The only person he could suspect was Yu Xiaogang.
And, as it happened, Yu Xiaogang had also broken his right leg.
But Yu Xiaogang was just as bewildered. He had expected Tang San to lose, but wasn't this loss a little too fast?
Only Tang San clutched his fractured ankle, his gaze fixed firmly on the Thousand-Year Soul Bone in his right leg.
The Soul Bone's passive effect forcibly stabilizes my center of gravity!
But Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track specializes in rapid changes of direction over short distances, emphasizing shifts between feints and real movements, with no fixed center of gravity!
Tang San's face instantly turned pale as a horrifying thought rose unbidden in his mind.
Could his Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track... be ruined?
Before you continue