Just then, Tom walked in through the door with a hoe over his shoulder.
"Xiao Wu, Yang, what would you like for dinner? Grandpa will cook for you."
"Grandpa! That rotten chicken bullied me!"
Xiao Wu's eyes reddened as she pointed ahead, looking utterly wronged.
"What?!"
Tom's expression darkened instantly, and he planted his hoe beside him.
Chen Yang's heart skipped a beat. He hurried forward to explain.
"Grandpa, this is a misunderstanding..."
"Say no more, Yang. We're having chicken soup tonight!"
Ah... sorry, Brother Chicken. Rest in peace. We'll make sure to enjoy your remains.
Meanwhile, the rooster, busy pecking at the Pokéblock crumbs on the ground, suddenly noticed a shadow fall over it.
It tilted its head and scratched the ground twice in confusion.
"Cluck, cluck, cluck!!"
Bubble, bubble-
"Oh man, that smells amazing!"
Chen Yang held Brother Chicken's foot between his chopsticks and gnawed away, tears of grief involuntarily spilling from the corners of his mouth.
Tom ladled a bowl of chicken soup for each of them.
"Thank you, Grandpa~"
Xiao Wu accepted hers with a smile.
"What a good girl~"
Tom patted Xiao Wu's head and served her several more dishes.
"Yang, you two are going to Nuoding Academy tomorrow. Grandpa isn't capable enough. I can only get you in as work-study students..."
Chen Yang set down his bowl and chopsticks. There wasn't a trace of disdain on his face, only gratitude and solemnity.
"Grandpa, being a work-study student is pretty good too. It won't stop us from becoming powerful Soul Masters."
Tom wiped his face with one hand, collected himself, and continued.
"Yang, if anything comes up, you can look for a teacher named Jerry. He's my younger brother. I wrote him a letter ahead of time."
"Your younger brother? Grandpa Tom, how come I've never heard you mention him?"
"Ah..."
Tom sighed.
"When we were young, my brother and I fell for the same girl. Since I didn't become a Soul Master, she chose my brother.
"I was so upset that I never went to see them again."
After hearing this, Chen Yang was instantly speechless, inwardly exclaiming how absurd it was.
As expected of the Douluo Continent. It really is the continent of romance.
Two brothers fighting over one woman-this kind of melodramatic plot is way too common here!
"Grandpa, what level is your brother's soul power?"
Tom stroked his graying beard, thought for a moment, and said,
"He should be a level forty-five Soul Ancestor now."
Level forty-five?
Chen Yang silently weighed it up. That level was more than enough to be safe. Once he broke through to level twenty, obtaining his second soul beast would be no problem at all.
Early the next morning.
Chen Yang and Xiao Wu climbed onto an ox cart together and slowly headed toward Nuoding City.
Tom didn't want to run into his younger brother Jerry, so he didn't accompany them.
When they reached the gates of Nuoding Academy, Chen Yang and Xiao Wu had barely stepped off the cart before a somewhat elderly man called out to them.
"You must be Yang and Xiao Wu?"
Chen Yang looked up. The man's face bore a strong resemblance to Grandpa Tom's, though he looked a little younger.
"That's us. You must be Grandpa Jerry?"
Jerry nodded kindly and patted both their heads.
"How is my older brother... doing?"
"Grandpa Tom is doing great. He's fit as a fiddle."
"That's good... ah... let me take you to register first."
Jerry said nothing more. Taking both children by the hand, he was about to lead them into the academy.
Just then, however, Chen Yang spotted two people approaching from a distance: an old man and a little boy dressed in blue cloth clothing.
He could faintly hear the old man calling the boy Tang San.
In the original story, the gatekeeper looked down on Tang San and got into a fight with him. That drew Gangzi over, followed by a whole string of kowtows and formalities.
Then if I get Tang San inside ahead of time, wouldn't that cut off his early development?
At that thought, Chen Yang tugged Jerry's hand.
"Grandpa Jerry, someone over there is here to enroll too. Why don't we bring him along?"
"Of course."
Jerry agreed with a smile, his opinion of the little fellow rising another notch.
Xiao Wu didn't understand, so she simply gnawed quietly on her crystal carrot.
Once Tang San and Jack drew close, Jerry raised a hand and called out.
"Hey, you're a new student too, aren't you? Want to come in with us?"
Old Jack froze for a moment at those words, then broke into a simple, grateful smile. He hurriedly cupped his hands toward Chen Yang in thanks.
"Thank you for your kindness, sir! This is the child's first time at Nuoding Academy, and he doesn't know the rules. We were just worrying about how to get inside. We really can't thank you enough."
Beside him, Tang San raised his eyes slightly and looked at the two children standing together before him. For some reason, he kept feeling a vague discomfort.
Strange...
Tang San frowned, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong.
"Thank you, teacher. My name is Tang San. This is my martial soul certificate."
Tang San composed himself, stepped forward, and respectfully handed over his martial soul certificate.
Jerry took the paper and glanced over it, his expression remaining perfectly calm.
It's only Blue Silver Grass. So what if he has innate full soul power? At the end of the day, it's still a universally acknowledged trash martial soul.
After Old Jack and Tang San said their goodbyes, the group headed toward the registration office.
With Jerry, a Soul Ancestor, present, the guard didn't dare cause any trouble.
Once they had smoothly completed the enrollment process.
Their dorm assignments were handed out as well.
"Tang San, work-study dormitory."
"Xiao Wu, Chen Yang, regular dormitory."
Chen Yang paused, then looked up at Jerry beside him.
Jerry smiled and nodded.
All right, this works too. Saves me from having to do all that pointless labor.
On the way to the dormitory, the system chimed in as well.
"Ding, congratulations, host. You have delayed the meeting between the Child of Destiny and Yu Xiaogang, plundering a tiny amount of destiny. Reward: Fenghou Qimen: Heaven Character · Illusion Technique · Hundred Flowers in Chaos."
Only delayed?
Chen Yang frowned. That made sense. If Tang San didn't become Yu Xiaogang's disciple, Tang Hao would intervene.
After all, Tang Hao also knew about the history between Yu Xiaogang and Bibi Dong. He could use Yu Xiaogang to find out how Bibi Dong cultivated her twin martial souls.
With these thoughts in mind, the two arrived at the regular dormitory.
Most of the students living here came from ordinary families. They were neither destitute nor wealthy heirs. The atmosphere was peaceful, without any bullying by the strong against the weak.
Lying on his bed, Chen Yang closed his eyes and silently considered his next steps toward becoming stronger.
Even with the cultivation boost shared by Xiao Wu added to his current cultivation speed, he was still leveling up too slowly.
The simplest way to speed things up was to have Xiao Wu take part in real fights and build combat experience. As Xiao Wu grew stronger and leveled up, he could share her cultivation progress in sync.
Got it!
Chen Yang instantly made up his mind and set a small goal: first, have Xiao Wu beat every student in their year, one by one!
That way, Xiao Wu could fight to her heart's content, and he could level up to his heart's content too.
"Xiao Wu, stop eating. Your big brother's taking you out to fight."
"Really?!"
Xiao Wu's eyes instantly lit up. She sprang off the bed and fixed her sparkling gaze on their four other roommates, itching to get started.
"You! That little fatty! What the hell are you staring at? Come spar with Sister Xiao Wu!"
Before you continue