Meanwhile, Li Hanqiu led Tang San toward the corridor. It was not long, and their shadows stretched across the ground, one long and one short.
Tang San kept his head lowered, taking tiny steps, his knuckles white around his luggage.
Li Hanqiu slowed down and glanced back at him. Tang San was supposed to be tough and resilient. How had becoming a girl softened his personality too?
He lowered his voice. "Tang San, can I ask you something?"
Tang San looked up, his eyes slightly red. "Mm."
"Were you... a girl from birth?"
Tang San froze, his dark eyes full of bewilderment. "Teacher, of course I'm a girl."
"Always?"
"Always."
Li Hanqiu pondered for a moment, then accepted reality completely.
Apparently, Tang San had never changed from male to female. This Douluo simply differed from the one he remembered.
Li Hanqiu decided not to dwell on it. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly noticed a clue.
Why had Tang San come to enroll at the academy alone? Where was Old Jack?
Li Hanqiu guessed at the truth, but patiently asked anyway, "Then let me ask you something else. Do you have... a second Martial Soul?"
Silence settled over them after his question. Li Hanqiu studied Tang San's little face, trying to catch any change in emotion.
Surprise, fear, even a trace of murderous intent-but... nothing.
Tang San merely lifted his little face, first puzzled, then confused.
He stared straight at Li Hanqiu, then slowly shook his head.
"No, Teacher. Are there really people in this world with two Martial Souls?"
"You really don't have one?"
"Just Blue Silver Grass." Tang San's voice grew quieter.
Unwilling to give up, Li Hanqiu asked again, "Think carefully. On the day of your awakening, did anything else appear in your hand? A saber, a sword... a hammer! Even for an instant?"
Tang San still shook his head. "No, Teacher. Just Blue Silver Grass."
Li Hanqiu was utterly speechless.
Where was the Clear Sky Hammer? That was impossible. What exactly had gone wrong with this Douluo?
Tang San suddenly fell silent, lowering his head farther and clutching his luggage desperately.
"Teacher..." His muffled voice drifted out from beneath his hair. "Did you say all those nice things because you thought I had a second Martial Soul?"
"All that talk about 'embracing everything' and 'vitality' was just to trick me, wasn't it?"
"Even you... look down on me..."
Li Hanqiu looked at him and opened his mouth, but could not find anything to say.
Without waiting for an answer, Tang San continued, "On the day my Martial Soul awakened, my dad saw the Blue Silver Grass and flew into a rage. He yelled at me and wouldn't let me go to school. He said this Martial Soul was a disgrace..."
"Grandpa Old Jack wanted to bring me here, but Dad refused. He wouldn't let me take a work-study place either. Grandpa Jack secretly gave me one anyway, so I sneaked away on my own."
"When I enrolled today, all those teachers laughed at me. That Grandmaster in the gray robe laughed at me too."
"I thought... you were different, Teacher."
He stepped back half a pace and bowed deeply, his bangs hiding his entire delicate face.
"Thank you, Teacher. You're a good person."
With that, he straightened, hugged his luggage tight, and turned to leave.
This time, his steps were even slower, as though he were trampling his last shred of hope underfoot.
"I'd better go back to the Blacksmith Shop. If Dad wakes up and finds I haven't cooked for him, he'll beat me again..."
Li Hanqiu stood in the corridor, watching that thin little figure gradually recede.
After transmigrating to the Douluo Continent, he had inexplicably acquired the manga Yu Xiaogang template, with level-six innate Soul Power-a far better starting point than Yu Xiaogang's.
Yet he had ended up stuck at the level-thirty-two bottleneck, unable to advance no matter what he tried.
He had thought that meeting Tang San and making contact with him would break the bottleneck...
But now, it all seemed to have been wishful thinking. Not only was Tang San a girl, but the Clear Sky Hammer was nowhere to be found.
Had the Clear Sky Hammer disappeared along with "Little Tang San"?
What bullshit! Those things weren't linked together.
Watching Tang San's delicate figure move farther away, one step at a time, Li Hanqiu suddenly clenched his back teeth.
Innate full Soul Power, twin Martial Souls, the Clear Sky Hammer-even resolving his own Soul Power bottleneck-all of it had been his own assumption.
But if he accepted disciples solely for their talent, solely for his own benefit, how was he any different from Yu Xiaogang, who stood at the entrance spouting boasts?
Tang San had only Blue Silver Grass as his Martial Soul and was ill-suited to becoming a Soul Master, but did choosing a disciple have to depend on talent?
That was merely a master's laziness: wanting twice the results for half the effort, or hoping to leave a name through a disciple!
Reputation, legacy-Li Hanqiu had neither. Why insist on choosing a genius disciple?
At that thought, Li Hanqiu suddenly strode forward, caught up in a few steps, and grabbed Tang San by the shoulder.
Tang San shuddered and looked back again. Tears had already fallen onto his luggage, spreading into a small damp spot.
"Tang San."
Li Hanqiu's voice was very low, every word firm enough to cleave nails and sever iron.
"Are you willing to become my disciple?"
Tang San froze.
"You... would accept me?"
"I'm asking whether you're willing."
Tang San's delicate body trembled. His knees bent, and he dropped to the ground with a thud. His luggage tumbled down, one corner of the tattered bundle falling open.
He solemnly kowtowed three times, each louder than the last.
"Teacher!"
Li Hanqiu looked down at him and reached out to ruffle his soft hair.
"Get up."
Tang San tilted his face upward. Tears still clung to his eyelashes, blurring everything before him, yet at that moment, Li Hanqiu's figure became clearer than ever.
"Teacher, you really don't mind that I..."
"I'm accepting you for you, not because of Blue Silver Grass or some second Martial Soul," Li Hanqiu interrupted.
Yet the instant his words fell,
An icy voice sounded in Li Hanqiu's mind:
[Disciple accepted successfully: Tang San (female)] [Manga Grandmaster System officially activated.]
Li Hanqiu's pupils contracted.
At his feet, the little golden dog abruptly opened his eyes, raised his head, and cried "Lulu lu!" three times, every golden hair standing on end.
[Reward: true dragon's blood. Luo Sanpao's genetic limiter removed: radiant sacred dragon.] [Reward: host's Soul Power +5 levels.]
The next instant, Li Hanqiu felt a warm current explode from his chest and surge through his entire body.
The level-thirty-two bottleneck shattered with a crack.
Thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five...
His Soul Power skyrocketed, only gradually settling at level thirty-seven.
Luo Sanpao also grew a size larger. His golden coat shone brighter, and a faint streak of gold appeared in his dark eyes.
He lowered his head to sniff his paws, then raised it again with another "Lu!"
Tang San stared blankly. "Teacher, what happened to your Martial Soul?"
"Ignore him. The glutton's just hungry," Li Hanqiu said.
Luo Sanpao gave a dissatisfied "Lu!"
Li Hanqiu betrayed nothing on his face. He bent down to help Tang San up, then brushed the dust from his knees.
Inside, however, seas churned and rivers overturned.
His guess had been correct. His manga Grandmaster template was clearly connected to Tang San.
But merely making contact with Tang San would not trigger the change. He had to accept him as a disciple.
Only by truly establishing their master-disciple relationship would the system appear.
If he had let go just now and allowed Tang San to walk away with those words, "You look down on me too," he would never have gotten anywhere near the system for the rest of his life.
Li Hanqiu lifted his head and suddenly smiled. "You really are a sly one, System."
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