Xiao Yan suddenly stopped the Grandmaster. After a moment of hesitation, he asked, "Grandmaster, on this continent... have you ever heard of someone named Yao Lao?"
"Granny Yao? Never heard of her. Young man, there are plenty of fake grandmasters out there these days, all freeloaders who swindle people for food and drink. Keep your eyes peeled when choosing a teacher." Yu Xiaogang shook his head disdainfully.
Was what I just experienced an illusion? But why did it feel so real? Why did it feel etched into my very bones? Xiao Yan frowned slightly. He kept feeling as though he had forgotten someone very important, and a bitter laugh rose in his heart.
It seems I really don't belong to this world. Perhaps that scene just now was a memory from another world.
"All right, Grandmaster, I understand." Xiao Yan nodded slightly and said calmly, "Let's go complete the enrollment formalities."
Yu Xiaogang was astonished. He first glanced at Tang San beside him, then asked Xiao Yan, "You're not going to take me as your teacher?"
"Why should I take you as my teacher?" Xiao Yan asked with a smile.
The question left Yu Xiaogang stunned, his expression turning ugly. Only after a moment did he say, "From a single martial soul certificate, I deduced that Tang San has twin martial souls. Don't you admire me for that?"
In truth, however, Tang San's innate full soul power had nothing whatsoever to do with his twin martial souls. It was entirely the result of cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
"Besides, Tang San has already taken me as his teacher. I can see that you have good talent, and your martial soul is of decent quality. With a little guidance from me on your path as a soul master, you could certainly make your name resound across the continent someday."
Xiao Yan said, "Grandmaster, you're that impressive? Then guess whether I have one martial soul or twin martial souls."
Yu Xiaogang regarded Xiao Yan with an air of complete composure. He shook the martial soul certificate Old Jack had given him. "Your martial soul is a mysterious flame. A person's martial soul is directly related to their parents. You come from an ordinary background, yet possess the rare gift of innate full soul power. I believe your martial soul must be a mutated martial soul."
"A mutated martial soul can become stronger, but it can also become weaker. Your flame has extremely powerful offensive capabilities, completely unlike Little San's Blue Silver Grass martial soul. According to the theory that innate soul power is directly proportional to martial soul quality, your martial soul fully satisfies that condition. Therefore, you have only one martial soul. Wouldn't you say my analysis is correct?" Yu Xiaogang said, brimming with confidence.
"Grandmaster, what nonsense are you spouting now? Tang San and I were born to the same parents. Can a hammer and grass mutate into a flame? I think you're nothing but a charlatan," Xiao Yan mocked.
Moreover, Xiao Yan knew that he possessed a second martial soul.
He did not have just one martial soul at all. Grandmaster Yu was talking utter nonsense.
"You... what did you say? Then why does one of your martial soul certificates say Xiao Yan, while the other says Tang San?" Yu Xiaogang's eyes widened in disbelief.
Tang San explained, "Teacher, he really is my twin brother. My elder brother was originally called Tang Yan, but he secretly changed his name before coming to Nuoding City. Father doesn't know about it yet, or he would certainly scold him."
At those words, Yu Xiaogang's face turned livid. He had never expected that his attempt to take Xiao Yan as a disciple would end with him lifting a rock only to smash his own foot.
If he forced an explanation now, wouldn't that mean his theory had been overturned by a six-year-old child? Yu Xiaogang hurriedly took Tang San's hand and headed toward the academic affairs office, afraid that Tang San would catch on and refuse to become his disciple.
"Little San, let's go report to the academic affairs office." The Grandmaster took Tang San's hand again. His previously dry palm was now slightly sweaty with nerves.
Xiao Yan followed behind them.
Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy was not as large as it appeared from the outside. It was mainly divided into several areas: the main teaching building, the sports field, and the dormitory building east of the field.
The academic affairs office was on the first floor of the main teaching building. A teacher who looked to be in his sixties was responsible for receiving new students, assisted by two younger teachers under thirty.
After entering the academic affairs office, Yu Xiaogang slapped Tang San's martial soul certificate onto the desk with a smack, then said to the older teacher:
"Director Su, this is the work-study student sent by Holy Soul Village this year. He's also my new disciple. Sorry for the trouble, but please register him."
"What? Grandmaster, you've actually taken a disciple?" Director Su froze for a moment, then said with a broad smile, "Of course. Please wait a moment. I'll register him right away."
Yu Xiaogang lowered his head and said to Tang San, "Little San, stay here and register on your own. I have something to attend to, so I'll leave first. I'll come find you when I have time."
"All right. Goodbye, Teacher." Tang San nodded respectfully.
Yu Xiaogang patted Tang San's head. As he turned to leave, he also cast a glance at Xiao Yan.
In Grandmaster Yu's mind, he was the foremost theorist on the Douluo Continent. He had offered to take Xiao Yan as his disciple, yet the boy had not only refused but even picked holes in his words. The boy simply didn't know how high the heavens were or how deep the earth was.
The day will come when you regret this, Xiao Yan.
Director Su seemed quite interested upon hearing that the Grandmaster had taken a disciple. He picked up Tang San's martial soul certificate and examined it, exclaiming, "Just what you'd expect of the Grandmaster. He's always maintained that there are no trash martial souls, only trash soul masters. Now that he's taken a disciple with the trash martial soul Blue Silver Grass, I imagine he'll finally get his wish and prove his theory."
"Pfft!"
After saying that, even Director Su couldn't hold back his laughter.
The Grandmaster's most famous saying was undoubtedly, "There are no trash martial souls, only trash soul masters."
Yet he himself had been stuck at the twenty-ninth level his entire life. Perhaps it should have been changed to, "Not only are there trash martial souls, there are even trashier soul masters."
That might have been more reasonable.
Of the so-called Ten Core Martial Soul Competition Theories proposed by the Grandmaster, the most important was, "Soul rings can be absorbed across species."
What the hell had he even been researching?
So someone with a hammer martial soul supposedly had to find and kill a hammer soul beast before they could successfully absorb its soul ring?
Wasn't that just an idiot spouting complete bullshit?
Wasn't this understanding of soul ring absorption something people had already discovered in the earliest days of the soul master system, when nobody knew anything and simply absorbed soul beast rings at random?
In the early days of the soul master system, many commoner soul masters had no choice and could only absorb rings indiscriminately. This fact had been proven long ago.
Did they really need you to research that, Grandmaster?
In the original story, the Grandmaster taught several geniuses blessed with exceptional martial souls: Little Scumbag, who possessed the world's strongest tool martial soul, the Clear Sky Hammer; Buddha Tang, with the top-tier plant-type martial soul, the Blue Silver Emperor; Oscar, an unprecedented food-type soul master with innate full soul power; Witch Ning, with the continent's strongest support martial soul, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda; and Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ma Hongjun, with the top-tier beast martial souls Evil-Eyed White Tiger, Hell Spirit Cat, and Fire Phoenix.
Oh, right, there was also an Old Demon Rabbit who had cultivated for a hundred thousand years and taken human form.
These people already possessed extraordinary talent and immensely powerful martial souls. The Grandmaster taught them some theoretical knowledge everyone already knew, then had them go running whenever they had nothing to do and compete at the Soul Fighting Arena.
In the end, they became Titled Douluo and inherited divine positions, while the Grandmaster went around boasting that these were disciples he had trained. That was like your primary school teacher teaching you that one plus one equals two, then boasting that it was all thanks to his teaching after you won a Nobel Prize through your own hard work.
Wasn't that just downright deranged?
The Grandmaster was nothing more than a fame-fishing fraud.
Before you continue