"Take me to have a look."
"All right."
Lu Yuan asked the work-study student to lead him to the academy entrance, where Director Su and City Lord Xiao were facing off.
Still refusing to give up? Would becoming my disciple really be so humiliating for you?
Yu Xiaogang thought to himself and followed them.
A crowd of onlookers had already gathered at the entrance to Nuoding City Junior Soul Master Academy. Among them were Xiao Chenyu, his father City Lord Xiao, and their guards, as well as teachers and students from Nuoding Academy and Director Su.
The two sides stood opposed, their conflict seemingly ready to erupt at the slightest spark. Lu Yuan, the catalyst and cause of this confrontation, finally stepped into the spotlight.
"Lu Yuan, you actually had the guts to come face my father. If I were you, I'd have fled Nuoding City long ago and hidden in some remote village for three years."
When Xiao Chenyu saw Lu Yuan arrive, he laughed and mocked him.
"That's just because you're as timid as a mouse."
"You-hmph! Let's see if you can still talk in a moment."
"So you're Lu Yuan, the one who injured this city lord's son."
City Lord Xiao's face flushed red. Seeing Xiao Chenyu lose ground in his exchange with Lu Yuan, he hurriedly interrupted them.
"So what if I am?"
Lu Yuan's expression was resolute. Things had already gone this far. What point was there in trying to argue his way out now?
"Hahaha!" City Lord Xiao burst out laughing.
"Good! You really do have some backbone. Let's see whether those bones of yours stay so tough in a moment."
As Lu Yuan confronted the Xiao father and son, Yu Xiaogang caught up with them.
Seeing Lu Yuan and City Lord Xiao's faction standing with swords drawn and bows bent, his smile deepened.
Lu Yuan, if you refuse to become my disciple, I'd like to see how you escape this crisis.
City Lord Xiao turned to Director Su, his expression brimming with righteous indignation.
"Director Su, you saw it yourself. This brat brutalized a fellow student, and that student was my son, Xiao Chenyu. Surely there's no problem with this city lord disciplining a work-study student from the countryside who doesn't know the rules?"
"Rest assured. Since he's a student of your Nuoding Academy, I certainly won't take things too far. I'll spare his life."
Of course, I'll only spare the little bastard's life. As for whether his martial soul remains intact, or whether he loses an arm or a leg, I can't make any guarantees.
Naturally, City Lord Xiao kept that last thought to himself. He certainly couldn't openly lay out his intention to beat Lu Yuan into a cripple before so many watching commoners, merely to punish him for what he had done to Xiao Chenyu.
Director Su's brows drew together slightly. He looked tense, sweat pouring off him. He had thought of that possibility too. Though City Lord Xiao claimed he would spare Lu Yuan's life, he would surely cripple him to vent Xiao Chenyu's anger and regain his lost face.
So he absolutely could not let City Lord Xiao strike and bully a child with his superior strength.
Director Su stepped in front of Lu Yuan, his gaze turning resolute as he firmly shielded his student behind him.
"City Lord Xiao, you've heard what happened. Your Xiao Chenyu was the one who bullied the work-study students first. He lost to Lu Yuan because his skills were inferior. There's nothing more to say. This was also permitted under the academy's rules, which allow students to fight each other to encourage them to grow stronger."
"Director Su, are you really going to stop this city lord from disciplining this brat?"
City Lord Xiao saw that Director Su intended to stop him from beating Lu Yuan. Unable to wait any longer, he pressed harder and harder.
Boom!
City Lord Xiao's war wolf martial soul instantly possessed him. Knotted muscles stretched his city lord's robes taut, sparse wolf fur sprouted over his exposed skin, and his hands transformed into sharp wolf claws.
Most striking were the four soul rings beneath City Lord Xiao's feet, two yellow and two purple, proclaiming his status as Nuoding City's strongest Soul Master.
"It seems you really intend to oppose this city lord."
The immense pressure City Lord Xiao unleashed at full strength spread outward. The guards, teachers, and students between them, along with the residents watching from farther away, could not withstand it and retreated several steps.
This old bastard is getting serious.
Nearby, Director Su had no choice but to release his own three Soul Elder soul rings, two yellow and one purple, to resist the pressure of City Lord Xiao's martial soul. Even so, he instinctively took a step back.
"Director Su, you're no match for me. Stand aside. If you step aside now, my earlier promise not to take that little bastard's life still stands. Otherwise, I'll discipline you too. Even if your dean comes back, what can he do to me?"
City Lord Xiao threatened Director Su harshly.
Sheltered behind Director Su, Lu Yuan saw that even the director's hands were trembling as he faced a Soul Ancestor head-on.
Lu Yuan turned to look at Yu Xiaogang again. Watching Lu Yuan's predicament, Yu Xiaogang could not keep the smug smile off his face, as though he were saying:
Come on. Kneel before everyone and beg this Grandmaster to take you as his disciple. Wouldn't that solve all your troubles right now? Wouldn't it?
That expression made it seem as though he already had Lu Yuan firmly in his grasp.
Could it be that, in the original timeline, City Lord Xiao never came looking for Tang San after he fought back against Xiao Chenyu precisely because he'd become Yu Xiaogang's disciple?
Thinking it over, Lu Yuan found that it made sense. Yu Xiaogang was the son of the Titled Douluo Yu Yuanzhen and a direct descendant of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, one of the three great clans.
Whether it was the earlier uproar over his external martial soul and his innate soul power of only rank 0.5,
or his expulsion from Spirit City by Spirit Hall,
or his travels across the continent with Liu Erlong and Flender as the Golden Iron Triangle, only to fall in love with and marry his own female cousin, those three great scandals had made him somewhat well-known throughout the Douluo Continent.
The dean of Nuoding City Junior Soul Master Academy and City Lord Xiao probably knew something about them. At the very least, they understood that Yu Xiaogang had powerful backing.
But do I really have to rely on Yu Xiaogang's status, become his disciple and bind myself to him, or even bow beneath him?
Lu Yuan had never imagined that his casual decision to become the work-study students' boss would trigger such a huge butterfly effect and such turmoil.
Lu Yuan gritted his teeth and clenched both fists. He closed his eyes, made his final decision, then snapped them open again.
"No. Absolutely not!"
In the end, Lu Yuan abandoned the idea of becoming Yu Xiaogang's disciple to resolve his current troubles.
Since that old geezer Xiao said he wouldn't kill me, so what if he cripples me? With my foreknowledge of this world, I'll find a way to locate the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and heal myself with the immortal herbs there.
Lu Yuan let out a long breath, his calm gaze carrying a steely resolve. One should bear the consequences of one's own actions. He stepped out from behind Director Su.
"Lu Yuan, what are you coming out for? Hurry back into the academy. I'll handle things here." Seeing the look on Lu Yuan's face, as though he were courting death, Director Su hurriedly tried to dissuade him.
"Oh, you little bastard. Have you finally decided to stop dragging others down?" City Lord Xiao's anger receded, and his expression turned smug.
Yu Xiaogang, by contrast, seemed to have swapped expressions with City Lord Xiao. His face flushed red, and he tucked his hands farther inward.
Lu Yuan, would you rather be beaten half to death by a Soul Elder than become my disciple? Am I, Yu Xiaogang... really that worthless?
Resentment gradually surfaced in Yu Xiaogang's eyes. He stared fixedly at Lu Yuan as the boy spoke:
"City Lord Xiao, I, Lu Yuan..."
"Wait! City Lord Xiao, who did you say you were going to discipline?"
An aged voice suddenly rang out from the crowd, calling a halt to City Lord Xiao's attempt to punish Lu Yuan.