Refusing a Master

Lin Chen watched Yu Xiaogang lead Tang San into the Academy. After waiting a little while, he put away White Fox and walked up to the gatekeeper.

"Hello, I'm here to enroll."

At that moment, the gatekeeper was still rejoicing that he had not lost his job.

He had not noticed Lin Chen standing right in the middle of the entrance, his posture straight, his bearing composed and reserved, his clothes neat and clean—a stark contrast to the travel-worn Old Jack and Tang San, both steeped in rustic air.

He held a neatly formatted, finely printed admission certificate bearing the vivid red official seal of the Notting Spirit Hall. Calm and unhurried, he carried himself with the proper bearing of a city child, neither showing off nor currying favor as he quietly waited for the gatekeeper to inspect his Spirit Hall certificate.

Having just embarrassed himself in public, the gatekeeper dared not show the slightest negligence again. He hurried forward, took the certificate, and examined it carefully.

The paper was genuine, the seal bright red, and the information complete and properly recorded. These were unquestionably legitimate credentials for a new student.

Yet the instant he read the information about the martial soul and innate talent, his pupils contracted sharply. Disbelief spread across his face, and he involuntarily cried out:

"How strange! I just sent in someone with Blue Silver Grass and innate full soul power, and now here comes someone with a Detached Martial Soul!"

The words "Detached Martial Soul" struck like thunder from a clear sky, landing squarely in Yu Xiaogang's ears. His whole body jolted, and every movement froze.

Others knew only that Detached Martial Souls were exceedingly rare, far surpassing ordinary martial souls. Only Yu Xiaogang understood how those few simple words carried half a lifetime of obsession and regret.

He himself possessed a Detached Martial Soul, an extreme rarity on the continent. Shackled by his martial soul and unable to break through throughout his life, he had wandered the continent for decades, pored over countless ancient texts, and visited experienced soul masters everywhere. He had exhausted every possible means of studying the characteristics, shortcomings, and cultivation methods of Detached Martial Souls, yet in half a lifetime of searching, he had never encountered another person like himself.

Detached Martial Souls were one in ten thousand; centuries could pass without a single case. He had never dared hope to encounter one, yet here in this remote border town, he had met both someone with twin martial souls and innate full soul power and someone with a Detached Martial Soul in a single day.

At that moment, he completely forgot Tang San, who had just become his disciple. Without sparing a moment for pleasantries, he hurried back, rushed to the entrance, and snatched the admission certificate from the stunned gatekeeper's hand.

His fingertips trembled almost imperceptibly as he checked the information word by word: six years old, the appropriate age; a fox-type Detached Martial Soul; innate level-six soul power; an official awakening conducted by the Spirit Hall.

Every detail precisely matched the field he had devoted his life to studying.

Compared with Tang San's Blue Silver Grass, which possessed innate full soul power but a fixed ceiling, Lin Chen's robust level-six foundation had no restrictions imposed by its attributes. His Detached Martial Soul was highly malleable, its evolutionary path unknown and its potential limitless. Their innate potential was not even on the same plane.

If he could thoroughly understand Lin Chen's martial soul, he might be able to break through level thirty himself, cultivate to greater heights, and even induce a beneficial mutation in Luo Sanpao.

Yu Xiaogang abruptly raised his head. His gaze burned with earnestness and the fierce hope of a man who had waited half a lifetime to find a kindred spirit. He stared intently at the calm, unruffled Lin Chen and spoke with utmost solemnity:

"Child, become my disciple! Like me, you possess a Detached Martial Soul, something rarely seen in this world! I've devoted my entire life to studying this kind of martial soul. No one on the continent understands its shortcomings and potential better than I do! Take me as your master, and I can help you avoid every pitfall in cultivation, remedy your martial soul's flaws, and spare you decades of wrong turns!"

"You probably don't know this, do you? I authored the theory of the ten core competencies of martial soul. People respectfully call me Grandmaster."

An early autumn breeze swept past the academy gates, stirring a few fallen, withered leaves, yet it could not disperse the taut, frozen atmosphere.

Yu Xiaogang stood proudly with his hands behind his back, his gaze fixed solely on Lin Chen, pouring out half a lifetime's obsession and all his fervor. In his eyes, this invitation, for which he had personally stooped to make the offer, was a supreme opportunity countless lowly soul masters could spend their entire lives seeking without success. Any ordinary child would surely be ecstatic and seize it tightly.

Yet Lin Chen's expression remained calm from beginning to end, without the slightest flicker of emotion in his eyes.

The source of Yu Xiaogang's theories was common knowledge.

Moreover, Yu Xiaogang had forcibly attached an incompatible hundred-year soul ring to Luo Sanpao back then, destroying his martial soul's chance of evolving with his own hands and leaving himself stuck at level twenty-nine for life.

His own Detached Martial Soul, White Fox, possessed limitless potential and an unknown evolutionary path. Once bound by rigid theories, his talent would only be shackled, a circle drawn on the ground becoming his prison.

More importantly, becoming Yu Xiaogang's disciple would tie him to the Shrek faction. He would spend his life as Tang San's foil, living beneath the protagonist's halo and completely losing control over his own growth.

From the very beginning, Lin Chen had utterly rejected this path of spending half his life constrained and dependent on others.

Before Yu Xiaogang could continue persuading him or making promises, he spoke politely, interrupting him gently but firmly. "Sorry, Grandmaster. I have my own plans for cultivation."

That crisp, courteous refusal cast aside what Tang San regarded as an unparalleled opportunity.

Without waiting for the stunned Yu Xiaogang to recover, Lin Chen gave a slight nod. "If there's nothing else, I'll head inside."

With that, he turned and walked unhurriedly straight into the Academy, his posture upright. His retreating figure was free and composed, coveting neither hollow fame nor opportunity, possessed of a character all his own.

Yu Xiaogang stood rigidly in place, clutching the admission certificate. The burning hope in his eyes rapidly faded, leaving only profound shock, regret, and disappointment.

He had never imagined that the Detached Martial Soul prodigy he had yearned for through half his life, whom he had personally stooped to recruit, would reject him so decisively. All his fervor turned to regret.

Standing nearby, Tang San took in every detail, and a flood of intensely complicated emotions instantly surged through his heart.

The first was overwhelming relief. Fortunately, this boy, whose talent far surpassed his own, had not accepted the offer. Otherwise, the boy would surely have monopolized all the Grandmaster's resources and careful guidance, while he, a Blue Silver Grass disciple with innate full soul power, would have been reduced to a mere foil. In the end, this heaven-defying opportunity remained firmly in his hands.

Yet after that brief relief, fierce jealousy and icy wariness swept through Tang San's mind.

To him, a man who had lived two lives, Lin Chen's behavior was not a display of lofty character, but arrogance and a failure to appreciate what was good for him.

Yu Xiaogang was one of the continent's foremost theoretical grandmasters, selflessly imparting his teachings and discerning talent with a keen eye. Countless geniuses would fight tooth and nail for a chance to become his disciple, yet this boy had casually discarded the offer like a worn-out shoe, recklessly squandering an unparalleled opportunity and a renowned master's appreciation.

The small hands hanging at his sides quietly clenched. A barely perceptible trace of cold darkness flashed through Tang San's eyes as deep-seated hostility silently took root.

No grievance was needed, nor any interaction. A single opposing choice over an opportunity was enough to plant the seeds of their destined enmity.

A cold thought quietly took root in his heart: You have already chosen the path to your own death.

Walking along the Academy path, Lin Chen suddenly felt a chill at his back. Cold dread rose in his heart, and he could not help quickening his steps to get away.

Fuck, I was so focused on rejecting Yu Xiaogang that I forgot what Tang San was like. That bastard Tang San must be planning to ambush me. He might already have his Sleeve Arrow aimed right between my shoulder blades.