"Grandpa Ma Xiunuo, I don't want to join Spirit Hall just yet. I'm already studying at Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy. Would it be all right if I considered it after I graduate?" Xiao Yan declined, putting on a nervous look.
Although Xiao Yan had a fairly good impression of Spirit Hall, he had yet to understand the organization fully. Joining rashly seemed unwise. Besides, he carried too many secrets that outsiders could not be allowed to discover. He could not afford to let down his guard.
On top of that, that old fellow Tang Hao had warned him that if he ever dared to join Spirit Hall, he would personally purge the traitor from his own ranks.
With his current strength, if he rashly joined Spirit Hall and Tang Hao came to kill him, Ma Xiunuo, the Soul Grandmaster before him, would have no way to protect him. Even if he were to join, he would wait until he had made a name for himself and could receive protection from Spirit Hall's powerhouses.
Judging by the strength Tang Hao had displayed earlier, that old fellow was anything but weak. Xiao Yan would quite like to stay alive a little longer.
Besides, whether he joined Spirit Hall or not would not affect his search for heavenly flames. After all, such things seemed useless to the other soul masters of this world. If they were useless, naturally no one would compete with him for them.
After careful deliberation, Xiao Yan declined Ma Xiunuo's invitation.
Ma Xiunuo sighed. "Ah, what a shame. Still, since you're already studying at Nuoding Academy, Spirit Hall can hardly poach you by force. When you graduate in six years, come see me if you want to join Spirit Hall."
"All right, Grandpa Ma Xiunuo. I understand. By the way, I count as an honorable soul master now, don't I?" Xiao Yan smiled faintly and gave him a look whose meaning needed no words.
"Huh?" Ma Xiunuo froze for a moment, then caught on. He handed Xiao Yan a soul master badge and smiled. "Young Xiao Yan, you're already an honorable soul master. Welcome to the ranks of soul masters. From now on, you can use this to collect your soul master stipend."
"We'll report your innate full soul power and your unusual flame martial soul to Spirit Hall's higher-ups as soon as possible. Who knows? A bishop of Spirit Hall might come invite you to join us."
"All right. Thank you, Grandpa Ma Xiunuo." Xiao Yan nodded slightly.
By the time Xiao Yan left Spirit Hall, he had a gold soul coin and a soul master badge tucked into his clothes. He would no longer need to be a work-study student and could devote more time to cultivating.
A little over ten minutes later, Tang San also arrived at Spirit Hall.
Because of his family circumstances, Tang San's life was decidedly impoverished. In any case, Grandmaster had brainwashed him into believing that Spirit Hall paid these stipends to soul masters out of its own pocket. When an organization harbored rebellious ambitions, he might as well take its money.
And so Tang San shamelessly came here anyway.
A short while later, another incredulous voice rang out in the soul master assessment room:
"Did I step in dog shit and strike it lucky today? How is this another soul master with innate full soul power? Has innate full soul power become as common as cabbages on the street? Why do they keep coming, one after another?"
"Can a trash martial soul like Blue Silver Grass really be cultivated to this level?" Ma Xiunuo rubbed his eyes hard, making sure he had not seen things wrong.
Next, just as in the original story, Ma Xiunuo sincerely invited Tang San to join Spirit Hall. However, the outcome was also the same as in the original story: Tang San refused to join.
"All right, child. Since that's the case, I won't force you." Looking somewhat regretful, Ma Xiunuo handed Tang San a soul master badge as well.
"Tang San, congratulations on becoming a soul master. You can use this badge to collect this month's soul master stipend in a moment. A soul master receives one gold soul coin a month, a Soul Grandmaster receives ten, and a Soul Elder receives a hundred. Have you remembered that?" Ma Xiunuo said evenly.
"Yes, Grandpa Ma Xiunuo." Tang San nodded in reply.
"By the way, there's one more thing I need to trouble you with." Seeing the badge in his hand, Tang San seemed to remember something. He took another soul master badge out of the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges and added, "This is my teacher's soul master badge. He's injured and unable to walk, so he asked me to collect this month's stipend for him."
Ma Xiunuo took the badge from Tang San, his brows creasing slightly with curiosity. He gently turned it over. Three characters were engraved on the back:
"Yu Xiaogang?"
"Grandmaster is your teacher?" Ma Xiunuo asked, his expression shifting slightly.
"Yes, Grandpa Ma Xiunuo." Tang San did not conceal it and admitted it outright.
"Hahaha." Ma Xiunuo's face was wreathed in smiles as he said, "Your teacher and I are old acquaintances, you could say. In his dozen or so years in Nuoding City, who knows how many gold soul coins he's collected from Spirit Hall with that eternally unchanging Soul Grandmaster rank of his?"
"A man in his forties or fifties, still living off Spirit Hall's relief money. Truly worthy of being the Grandmaster of a generation." Ma Xiunuo shook his head and laughed with some disdain.
Hearing Ma Xiunuo's words, Tang San's expression immediately darkened. He had no idea how to respond and could only hide his embarrassment behind a smile.
His teacher spent every day shouting about proving himself, yet privately lived off the soul master stipend distributed by Spirit Hall. If anyone else found out, it would be utterly humiliating.
Because Xiao Yan and Tang San both possessed innate full soul power, and because Tang San's trash martial soul, Blue Silver Grass, could actually be cultivated, Ma Xiunuo reported information on the two of them directly to Spirit Hall's higher-ups after Tang San left.
Before long, Bibi Dong would receive their information.
By the time Xiao Yan returned to Nuoding Academy, it was almost evening.
Without even returning to the dormitory, he went straight to the cafeteria. He felt the gold soul coin tucked into his clothes and headed upstairs without hesitation.
He wanted meat.
"Huh, Boss Xiao, that kid seems to be another new work-study student. How does he have the money to eat upstairs today?" In a corner by the windows on the left side of the second floor, a rather sleazy-looking youth of about twelve or thirteen eyed Xiao Yan sidelong.
"Damn it, since when do penniless wretches deserve to eat upstairs?" At those words, the youth sitting in the middle of the long table, the one called Boss Xiao, turned a vicious glare on Xiao Yan and snapped, "Boys, go beat him up and teach him a lesson. Who does he think he is, eating in the same place as me?"
He was the spitting image of the mob boss Xu Jiang from The Knockout!
At his words, the lackeys around him rose and moved to surround Xiao Yan.
"Kid, looking as dirt-poor as you do, can you even afford to eat upstairs?"
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