At that moment, Tang San chimed in, "You're not a teacher, but you're called Grandmaster. Then you must be one of the academy's administrators."
"Hahaha, you're quite clever for a six-year-old, but you still guessed wrong. I'm not an administrator here," Grandmaster said with a chuckle.
Xiao Yan and Tang San asked in bewilderment at the same time, "Then who are you?"
Grandmaster puffed out his chest and put on an air of profound wisdom. "I, Yu, am merely a lodger who mooches food and drink here. Just call me Grandmaster like everyone else. Everyone calls me that. I've almost forgotten my own name."
"You must understand that Grandmaster and teacher are as different as heaven and earth. Don't get them mixed up again. Unless you'd like me to become your teacher." A burning light flickered in Grandmaster's eyes. Clearly, he had spotted something in Xiao Yan's and Tang San's martial soul certificates.
"Teacher? Are you saying you'll teach us how to cultivate our martial souls?" Tang San asked excitedly.
Grandmaster turned to look at Tang San. "Would you be willing?"
Hearing this, Tang San stopped and glanced back at Xiao Yan behind him before looking up at Grandmaster. He neither agreed nor refused.
"It seems I'll have to be persistent for once. After all, you're the third person with twin martial souls in the past hundred years." When Tang San gave no answer, Grandmaster raised a hand and ruffled his hair.
Grandmaster's words gave Tang San a tremendous shock. He remembered what his father, Tang Hao, had told him: he must not let anyone know he had twin martial souls.
The look Tang San now gave Grandmaster was one of shock and suspicion. He quietly raised his left wrist, exposing the tip of his Silent Sleeve Arrow.
[Grandmaster knows my secret. He has already given himself a reason to die.]
Seeing the slight change in Tang San's expression, Grandmaster shook the martial soul certificate in his hand and explained, "Don't be nervous, child. I mean you no harm. It was this martial soul certificate that allowed me to deduce that you have twin martial souls. If I couldn't even see that, I wouldn't deserve the title of Grandmaster."
Hearing this, Tang San's gaze gradually settled. He thought to himself, This middle-aged man discovered I have twin martial souls from a single martial soul certificate. He is definitely no ordinary man.
"I once investigated six hundred and forty-seven people whose martial soul was blue silver grass. Only sixteen of them possessed soul power-a rate of less than three percent. Even among those sixteen, not one had soul power above rank one, yet you have rank-ten innate full soul power. According to one of the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul that I researched, innate soul power is directly proportional to martial soul quality. Your blue silver grass martial soul clearly doesn't meet that condition. So I'm certain you must have another martial soul, and a very powerful one at that."
"In the two great empires, over the past hundred years, only two people with twin martial souls appeared before you, while nineteen possessed innate full soul power. Every one of them was a powerful individual. Yet your martial soul is trash like blue silver grass. Your innate soul power is completely out of proportion to your martial soul, so I have every confidence that my judgment is correct."
"It's just a pity that no one acknowledges my theory," Grandmaster sighed.
As someone who had transmigrated from the modern world, Xiao Yan heard another layer of meaning in what Grandmaster had just told Tang San.
[Grandmaster: Didn't expect that, did you? I spent years researching the trash martial soul blue silver grass, and years researching twin martial souls. In this field, I'm a god... Then why doesn't anyone acknowledge your theory? Grandmaster: It's all tears if I tell the whole story. I picked an unpopular major and couldn't find a job. I've waited more than a decade, but there are neither blue silver grass soul masters in this world... nor other people with twin martial souls for me to study.]
Xiao Yan was already catching the faint scent of a charlatan.
Moreover, after arriving on the Douluo Continent, Xiao Yan had been pleasantly surprised to discover that his spiritual power was much stronger than that of ordinary people, especially after awakening his martial soul.
He could now clearly see the minute movements of mosquitoes beating their wings within ten meters.
Xiao Yan had also used his spiritual power to probe Grandmaster just now, only to discover that he was merely a little stronger than the Spirit Hall's deacon. Compared with Tang Hao, the drunken father back home, the gap between them was simply heaven and earth.
At forty or fifty years old, with strength like that, isn't he a complete piece of trash? He has no strength, yet he loves pretending to be profound and showing off his knowledge. His words are full of melancholy. He probably has quite a past, and life hasn't been going his way, has it?
Just as Xiao Yan was pondering and analyzing Grandmaster, Tang San took a step back. Then he dropped to both knees and respectfully kowtowed three times.
"Teacher, please accept me as your disciple," Tang San said respectfully.
At the sight before him, not only was Grandmaster stunned, but Xiao Yan behind Tang San was dumbfounded too.
With his keenly perceptive spiritual power, Xiao Yan had naturally noticed Tang San's covert move with the Silent Sleeve Arrow. One second he had been ready to kill Grandmaster, and the next he wanted to become his disciple.
This "younger brother" of his changed faces faster than someone flipping through a book.
That forced Xiao Yan to stay secretly on guard against Tang San, lest he carelessly say the wrong thing one day and get shot dead by one of Tang San's arrows before he knew it.
Joking aside, it wasn't impossible.
In the original story, Tang San had already accepted Grandmaster as his teacher and even declared that a teacher for a day was a father for life. Yet when they went hunting for a soul ring, he had still considered killing Yu Trash for fear of exposing his Tang Sect Secret Arts.
If he could kill a father, what did an older brother amount to?
So it was absolutely necessary for Xiao Yan to remain wary of Tang San.
Seeing Tang San kowtow and ask to become his disciple, Grandmaster smiled in satisfaction. His goal had been achieved. He bent down, pulled Tang San to his feet, and said mildly:
"Silly child, there's no need to kowtow when accepting a teacher. That's a courtesy reserved for monarchs and parents. A bow is enough."
Tang San said solemnly, "A teacher for a day is a father for life. As my teacher, you deserve my kneeling homage."
Watching the scene before him, Xiao Yan couldn't help seeing an unfamiliar yet familiar image surface in his mind:
A translucent, elderly figure sat cross-legged on a slab of bluestone and chuckled slyly. "Hehe, you're willing? Then become my disciple."
"I have to formally accept you as my teacher too?" the boy asked in confusion.
"Of course! You expect me to teach you everything I know without becoming my disciple? Dream on!" The old man rolled his eyes. Clearly, this somewhat pedantic old fellow seemed to care a great deal about such formalities.
The boy pursed his lips helplessly and respectfully performed the disciple's rites before the old man.
"My name is Yao Lao. As for my origins, you don't need to know them yet. All you need to know right now is that the fellow they call the Pill King is actually... actually nothing but a fart."
The corners of Xiao Yan's mouth twitched, and he returned to reality.
P.S. Please send monthly tickets and recommendation tickets.
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