The Difference Between Xiao Yan and Tang San

"Holy Soul Village? Beggar Village sounds more like it." The gatekeeper was in a foul mood, and naturally, nothing pleasant came out of his mouth.

At that very moment, Tang San quietly raised his left hand. The safety on his Silent Sleeve Arrow was already off. To him, the gatekeeper's cruel, cutting words had already given him a reason to court death.

Besides, the gatekeeper could insult Holy Soul Village, Old Jack, or even his own elder brother, Xiao Yan, but he absolutely could not call him a beggar. How could a disciple of the Tang Sect let others insult him at will? If anyone wronged him, he would repay them with thunderous fury.

Tang San was absolutely certain he could seal the gatekeeper's throat with a single arrow!

As long as someone has given me a reason to kill them, I must show no mercy. Otherwise, I'll only bring more trouble upon myself, Tang San thought.

Just as Tang San was about to strike, Old Jack suddenly rushed up to the gatekeeper and glared at him.

"What did you just say?"

By calling Holy Soul Village Beggar Village, the gatekeeper had trampled on Old Jack's greatest source of pride. Back then, he had fallen out with Tang Hao over this very matter. Now, this gatekeeper was an outsider, making it even harder for him to accept.

Even Tang Hao could be shocked into silence by Old Jack. Under that furious glare, the gatekeeper was frightened into retreating three steps.

However, the gatekeeper soon recovered and inwardly cursed himself for being useless. Isn't he just an old man? What, can he turn the world upside down and give me a beating?

With that thought, the gatekeeper raised his hand to drive Old Jack away.

"You're courting death!" Tang San's gaze turned cold. He raised his left hand forward, aiming the Silent Sleeve Arrow at the gatekeeper's throat.

Just as Tang San was about to trigger the mechanism and shoot the gatekeeper dead, the gatekeeper suddenly felt all strength leave his legs. With a thud, he dropped to his knees before Old Jack, then collapsed forward and knocked his head against the ground in a kowtow.

"What's... gotten into you?" Old Jack looked utterly bewildered.

This was, of course, Xiao Yan's doing. The moment Tang San released the safety on his Silent Sleeve Arrow, Xiao Yan had sensed the killing intent radiating from him.

They had only exchanged a few heated words. Why kill someone over it?

Xiao Yan had secretly opened his palm and released his Heavenly Flames martial soul, then condensed several slender needles of fire and flicked them into the gatekeeper's knees.

The moment the fire needles pierced his knees, the gatekeeper lost the ability to move.

Seeing that the gatekeeper could no longer move, Tang San froze briefly. Then he remembered how the gatekeeper had called him a beggar, and his anger still refused to subside. Once again, he aimed the Silent Sleeve Arrow at the gatekeeper's throat.

Tang San believed the Tang Sect's Silent Sleeve Arrow was so fast that no one should be able to discover he had fired it. As long as there was no evidence that he had killed anyone, who could claim he was the killer?

In any case, this gatekeeper had already given him a reason to kill him.

"What's going on here?" Just then, a somewhat hoarse voice rang out, stopping Tang San from shooting the gatekeeper dead.

Tang San paused, then turned to look behind him. A slightly thin, average-sized middle-aged man had appeared behind him at some point.

The middle-aged man looked to be in his forties or fifties. His appearance was utterly ordinary, with slightly thick lips, a crew cut, and heavy stubble on his face. He looked rather dispirited and slovenly.

"Grandmaster, you're back! My legs... sorry for the trouble, but could you please see what's wrong with them?" The gatekeeper crawled toward Grandmaster on his knees. The anger he had shown Old Jack had turned into a fawning expression as he pleaded.

Grandmaster ignored his plea and merely cast him a sidelong glance. He had witnessed everything the gatekeeper had done.

Had Yu Xiaogang arrived a moment later, there might well have been a short arrow lodged in the gatekeeper's throat.

Xiao Yan stepped forward and helped the gatekeeper up from the ground. At the same time, he channeled soul power through his arm into the gatekeeper's body, instantly dissolving the fire needles in his knees.

"Thank you." Seeing Xiao Yan repay his hostility with kindness and help him up, the gatekeeper looked deeply ashamed. "I was wrong just now. I was a real scoundrel. I'll apologize to you right away."

"Sir, I'm sorry." The gatekeeper bowed to Old Jack.

To Xiao Yan, a man from the modern world, the gatekeeper's behavior had been wrong, but it did not warrant death. Teaching him a proper lesson was enough.

Wicked people could be taught, but enemies had to be eliminated.

That was Xiao Yan's standard for conducting himself. For example, Nalan Yanran had come to his door to break off their engagement, humiliating both him and the Xiao Clan. To Xiao Yan, she was undeniably a wrongdoer, but her offense did not warrant death, and there was room for reconciliation.

Persuasion should always come first, so the chance to turn toward goodness would not be lost.

People were not sages. Who could live without making mistakes?

In the end, hadn't Nalan Yanran remained alive and well?

Enemies, however, had to be eliminated in Xiao Yan's eyes. When Yun Shan and Yun Leng slaughtered members of the Xiao Clan, they crossed his bottom line. That meant he would fight them until one side was dead.

Xiao Yan was also someone who drew a clear line between debts of gratitude and grievances. After his third ascent of the Misty Cloud Sect, when he killed Yun Shan, he ultimately spared the sect's disciples.

That was the difference between Xiao Yan and Tang San. Xiao Yan clearly distinguished gratitude from grudges, repaying every wrong and every kindness alike. As for Tang San, Buddha Tang, anyone who displeased him would immediately be judged to have courted death.

In the original story, after Tang San returned from Sea God Island, he killed anyone he saw from Spirit Hall, slaughtering his way from the coast to the interior. It was nothing short of indiscriminately killing the innocent.

Grandmaster said to Old Jack, "Sir, could you let me see their martial soul certificates?"

Old Jack was a village chief, after all, and knew how to read people's expressions. Hearing the gatekeeper address this middle-aged man as Grandmaster, he guessed that the man must hold a fairly high position at the academy.

Little did he know that Grandmaster was merely a fraud freeloading for meals.

So Old Jack handed the certificates to Grandmaster.

Grandmaster examined the certificates in his hand and said to Old Jack, "Your certificates are genuine. Sir, on behalf of the academy, I apologize for what happened just now. Leave these two children with me. I'll take them into the academy."

"There's no need to apologize, no need at all." Assuming Grandmaster was a teacher at the academy, Old Jack hurriedly waved both hands. "Grandmaster, sorry for the trouble of looking after these two children. Little Yan, Little San, follow Grandmaster inside."

"All right, Grandpa Jack," Xiao Yan said with a nod.

Tang San merely nodded without saying anything.

Old Jack gave them a few more reminders before finally leaving.

Once Old Jack was far away, Grandmaster cast a cool glance at the gatekeeper and said angrily, "This is the first time, and it will be the last. If you do it again, I'll have the dean dismiss you."

The gatekeeper nodded repeatedly, cold sweat pouring down his back.

Grandmaster lowered his head to look at Tang San and Xiao Yan, forcing a faint smile onto his face. His facial muscles seemed rather stiff, making his smile somewhat unsightly.

"Teacher, where are we going next?" Xiao Yan asked Grandmaster.

Grandmaster glanced down at Xiao Yan and shook his head. "Teacher? I'm not a teacher at the academy," he said flatly.

P.S. Please send monthly votes and recommendation votes.