The teacher's favoritism

Once the laughter in the classroom gradually subsided, their homeroom teacher, Lin Ximeng, regained her composure. A gentle smile rose to her face as she officially began their first lesson.

"Today is your first day at school. I'll start by teaching you the most basic knowledge about martial souls. This afternoon, I'll guide everyone through their first soul power meditation. Meditation is currently the only way to increase soul power. If you want to truly embark on the path of a soul master, you must meditate every day from now on. You must never slack off."

Standing at the front of the classroom, she slowly explained the fundamental knowledge everyone on this continent needed, her voice bright and clear:

"As everyone knows, each person on the continent awakens their martial soul at the age of six. Anything in the world can become a martial soul. It might be a weapon such as a saber, sword, or sickle; it might be a flower, grass, or tree; it might be an exotic beast or other living creature; or it might even be a special object, such as a book or jade pendant."

"Only those who successfully awaken soul power are qualified to cultivate it and become soul masters. That includes all of you here."

"First, the basic classifications of martial souls. There are two main categories: Tool martial souls and beast martial souls. Any martial soul that takes the form of a living creature is collectively known as a beast martial soul. Those without signs of life, taking the form of objects, are all classified as tool martial souls."

"By meditating to cultivate soul power, you continually nourish your martial souls. Once your soul power level breaks through level ten, you can absorb your first soul ring, officially earning your place as a qualified soul master."

"Soul masters are further divided into two categories. Those who rely on their martial souls to fight directly at close quarters, focusing on offensive combat, are battle soul masters. Those who don't focus on combat and lean toward support, control, forging, healing, and similar fields are tool soul masters. Beyond these, martial souls and soul masters have countless smaller branches. I'll gradually teach you about them in future lessons."

Lin Ximeng patiently explained the foundational theory in detail. All the other students watched her intently, their faces full of eagerness to learn.

Tang Wulin alone kept his eyes lowered. He appeared to be sitting properly and listening, but his thoughts had long since drifted away.

He had already spent enough time in Aolai City's library to know these introductory basics inside out. There was no need to listen to them again.

At that moment, his heart was tangled with uncertainty as he considered the path he would truly take in the future.

Should I still follow the original story to the letter?

At the end of the original story, Gu Yuena and I were both sealed in ice, unable to see each other for endless years, sacrificing ourselves to bring peace between humans and beasts. Could an ending like that really be called happy?

Revisiting those memories after so many years left him filled with emotion.

First, there was Gu Yuena. She had plotted and schemed from beginning to end, fortifying every step, only to fall genuinely in love in the end. She had simply thrown herself into the bargain as well. The losses truly outweighed the gains.

But the one whose fate he found hardest to accept was Di Tian.

The most wretched sucker in the entire Douluo Continent—the undisputed Emperor of Imprisonment.

He had spent his life loyally protecting the Dragon God's lineage, bending his back to the utmost for the soul beasts' land. All his life, he had eased his master's worries and suffered in his master's place, shouldering every disaster time after time. In the end, even his corpse had to be flogged. His whole life had been imprisonment, repayment, and sacrifice.

From beginning to end, Di Tian had never harbored the slightest selfish motive, yet he had met the most miserable end.

At that thought, Tang Wulin inwardly shook his head.

If he followed the original path, he would still have to endure countless brushes with death. Those around him would fall into danger one after another, and the loyal would remain trapped in their tragic destinies.

With twin martial souls in his possession, he had already strayed from the original story's course. Perhaps... he could try to carve out an entirely new path.

With that thought, Tang Wulin firmly made up his mind.

He could no longer blindly follow the original main plot. He had to forge a new path that belonged to him alone.

And his first objective on that path was to completely rewrite his adoptive parents' tragic ending.

He could never allow himself to endure countless hardships and ascend to godhood, only to look back and discover that the family who loved him most was already gone, leaving him with nothing in the end.

He vaguely remembered fragments of the original story's side plot: in the future, his adoptive parents would be taken away by the Spirit Pagoda, then later fall into the Holy Spirit Cult's hands. The two would research related technology—or rather, a drug—to calm the Demon Empress's emotions and help her break through to the divine level.

Too much time had passed for him to remember the exact details clearly, but his adoptive parents' miserable ordeal remained carved into his bones.

Tang San had indeed resurrected them and brought them to the Divine Realm late in the original story, but he knew nothing about their subsequent safety or whether they had lived peaceful lives.

He dared not gamble, and he could not afford to.

The most direct way to protect his adoptive parents completely was to cut off every connection they had with the Spirit Pagoda at its source.

But that was far trickier than he had imagined.

To make the Spirit Pagoda afraid to provoke them casually or come to their door and seize them, he needed backing and strength powerful enough to command fear.

Yet right now, he had nothing.

Never mind a powerful organization to back him—even his exalted identity as the Sea God's son was useless at present. Distant water could not quench an immediate thirst.

He dared even less to expose his trump cards.

The Blue Silver Emperor in his right hand, the Clear Sky Hammer in his left, and his distinctive short azure hair—those three traits together made him unmistakable. There was simply no concealing them.

Once his twin martial souls were fully exposed, the Demon Empress would undoubtedly descend on Aolai City herself within a day and grind his bones to dust.

As for why the Demon Empress would hate him so much? That was a good question, and the answer lay in how her husband had died.

Ten thousand years ago, if Tang Wulin remembered correctly, the ninth trial of his father Tang San's Sea God's Nine Trials had been to hunt down the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King. Naturally, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's death had ultimately secured Tang San's position as the Sea God. And he himself had just so happened to awaken Blue Silver Grass, and just so happened to awaken the Clear Sky Hammer. What a coincidence that was.

That was the foremost reason he had to keep his Clear Sky Hammer hidden at all costs.

Besides that, lying low, developing quietly along the original main plot, and avoiding more unknown dangers caused by the butterfly effect were also important reasons to conceal his trump cards.

As his thoughts surged, the dismissal bell rang on schedule, bringing the first day's lessons to an end.

Tang Wulin followed the crowd out of the classroom, looking relaxed on the surface.

Having read widely and mastered all the basic knowledge of soul masters, he found the classroom material child's play. Listening took no effort at all. Against his classmates, it was a crushing attack from a higher dimension—the gap between a top student and ordinary students being thoroughly trounced.

Yet a stifled anger remained lodged in his chest.

His classmates were young and ignorant, following the crowd in mocking his trash martial soul. He could laugh that off and let it go.

But Lin Ximeng, the homeroom teacher responsible for imparting knowledge and guiding her students, had watched coldly throughout. From beginning to end, she had not stopped a single taunt, taking the entire class's contempt and exclusion of him for granted.

Even during the afternoon's group meditation instruction, the teacher had patiently guided every student in the class, deliberately skipping only him and ignoring him the entire time.

The reason went without saying. Although his innate soul power was level five, he had awakened Blue Silver Grass, universally acknowledged as worthless across the continent. His teacher had already branded him useless and destined for mediocrity.

Tang Wulin grew increasingly displeased.

Having lived through it in his previous life, he knew adolescence was the most crucial period for shaping values and developing character. A qualified teacher should treat everyone equally and guide students to respect every person, rather than sorting them into ranks by talent and martial soul, tacitly permitting prejudice and exclusion at school.

Clearly, this Teacher Lin was not qualified at all.

So what if I have Blue Silver Grass? So what if my innate soul power is level five?

I haven't disrupted class or dragged anyone down. I don't eat your family's food or spend a single federal coin of yours. What gives you the right to treat me differently like this?

Tang Wulin clenched his hands, a faint chill flickering through his eyes.

Since everyone judged a person's worth by talent, he would endure all the more and build his strength.

When the day came for him to reveal his full edge, he would leave everyone who had belittled him, mocked him, or treated him differently utterly dumbstruck, regretting every prejudice they had held today.

Tang Wulin walked alone in silence, slowly following the street home, his mind a tangled mess of future plans and the difficulties ahead.

As he walked, a small figure beside the road suddenly seized all his attention.

Warm sunlight spilled down in broad swathes, falling over a little girl crouching by the street and outlining her in a soft, dazzling silver-white halo.

The girl was petite and looked no more than four or five years old. Her neat, short silver-white hair gleamed with a cool silver sheen beneath the sunlight, and her skin was fair and translucent. She crouched quietly by the roadside, all alone, looking especially pitiful.

Tang Wulin stopped abruptly. His pupils narrowed slightly, and storm-tossed waves instantly surged through his heart.

Short silver-white hair, unmistakable features, a young child's form...

No way?

He had not deliberately searched for her or gone ahead to the place where they met in the original story. Yet he had encountered her just like that, without any warning.

What can I say?

The English phrase popped into Tang Wulin's mind, leaving him utterly speechless.

The bonds of fate were far too absurd, the coincidence far too great.

He recognized the girl's identity at a glance—the Silver Dragon King, Gu Yuena.

After the Dragon God split, she had become the other half of the Dragon God Origin, wielding authority over wisdom and the elements. She commanded the ultimate power of seven great elements, possessed a meticulous mind, and was unmatched in strategy.

Yet looking at the tiny girl crouching meekly before him, her eyes innocent and bewildered, he found it hard to connect her with the profoundly calculating Silver Dragon King who had laid plans spanning ten thousand years. She looked dazed and soft instead, with a touch of silly clumsiness.

Should I leave and pretend I didn't see her?

The moment that thought arose, he forcibly cut it off.

Somewhere beyond his understanding, an irresistible, invisible pull instantly enveloped him, tugging at his heart and mind until he could not take a single step away.

The girl's faint fragrance, cool yet soft and sweet, lingered around his nose. Restlessness stirred deep in his bloodline, and a strange, tender instinct to draw closer arose in his heart. Even a peculiar thought slipped into his mind beyond his control—she seems... delicious.

Tang Wulin understood at once.

It's the Golden Dragon King Bloodline!

The Golden Dragon King's residual power within him and the Silver Dragon King Origin within the girl had once been one, sharing the same source. The Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King were naturally drawn to one another.

Reason could not control this pull between their bloodlines. Even if he deliberately tried to avoid her, his bloodline's instincts would still force him to approach.

He was utterly helpless.

It was not that he wanted to step into the game of his own accord. Rather, unseen destiny had long since arranged everything. From beginning to end, it was as though fate had quietly set him up, leaving him no escape.

Fine.

Tang Wulin sighed softly, suppressed the countless thoughts in his heart, and walked straight toward the little girl, one step at a time.

Watching little Gu Yuena raise her head in confusion, her translucent violet eyes clear and pure, he found himself at a loss for words. Everything he had planned to say vanished from his mind, leaving him to speak awkwardly and stiffly:

"Hello, little girl. Why are you here all alone? Where's your family?"

He distinctly remembered that he would pick up the Silver Dragon King in the original story, but he had never known their meeting would come so early, or catch him so completely off guard.