With a teacher like this, how could Tang San not be ruined?

The next day.

Jin Jiuxiao got up bright and early.

After a simple breakfast, he headed out for Nuoding Academy.

With Jin Jiuxiao awake, Zi JI naturally woke up as well.

She concealed herself and guarded Jin Jiuxiao from the shadows.

When he reached the gates of Nuoding Academy, Jin Jiuxiao found not only the old dean waiting for him, but also a middle-aged man with a short crew cut.

That air of a "reclusive sage" really could fool ordinary people who had seen little of the world and knew even less.

"Dean, may I ask who this gentleman is?" Jin Jiuxiao smiled, but his eyes remained utterly calm, even carrying a trace of indifference.

The old dean laughed. "Jiuxiao, let me introduce you. This is a renowned theoretical Grandmaster of the Soul Master World. His work shook the entire Soul Master World back in the day."

Hearing the old dean introduce him this way, Yu Xiaogang lifted his head a little higher and put on an imposing air, his smugness already written all over his face.

Jin Jiuxiao gave a smile that never reached his eyes. "So you're the 'Grandmaster.' I've read some of your work, and I agree with some of its views and conclusions."

"Oh?" Yu Xiaogang's eyes lit up at those words. "You've read my Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul too?"

Once the conversation turned to a field he was "proficient" in, Yu Xiaogang's words began pouring out. "I wrote that work in my youth, and many of its theories have yet to be verified. Which one do you agree with most?"

"There are no useless martial souls, only useless soul masters."

"I think that theory is quite right."

Jin Jiuxiao genuinely thought Yu Xiaogang was impressive.

He could insult himself twice in a single sentence. Wasn't that impressive?

If Yu Xiaogang thought he wasn't useless, then the useless one had to be his martial soul, Luo Sanpao.

But that contradicted the first half, "there are no useless martial souls," overturning his own theory.

Yet if he insisted that his theory was absolutely correct, then the first half, "there are no useless martial souls," was its prerequisite.

If Luo Sanpao wasn't a useless martial soul, didn't that make Yu Xiaogang a useless soul master?

Nothing delighted Yu Xiaogang more than others agreeing with his theories and writings.

He had already ignored Jin Jiuxiao's earlier mention of "some of its views and conclusions."

Or rather, Yu Xiaogang attributed it to Jin Jiuxiao's youth and the fact that he had yet to read his prized work in full.

It was understandable that he knew only a little.

After all, talented though this boy was, he was only six and a half years old.

Not everyone was as naturally brilliant as Yu Xiaogang, beginning their research into martial souls at such a young age.

Yet those two remarks from Jin Jiuxiao raised Yu Xiaogang's opinion of him by several major notches.

They also strengthened his resolve to take him as a disciple.

His words brimmed with confidence. "Correct. Jin Jiuxiao, right? This theory is one of those I've already verified. I dare say it is absolutely correct, without exception."

"To produce such a monumental work, you must be quite powerful too, Grandmaster, mustn't you?"

"Why would you settle for staying in a little town like Nuoding City?"

Smiling, Jin Jiuxiao asked the fatal questions that stabbed Yu Xiaogang right where it hurt most.

Yu Xiaogang looked a little embarrassed. Why did this boy's questions feel... so pointed?

"Ahem..." Yu Xiaogang cleared his throat. Of course, he had already considered how to answer questions like these.

He slowly explained his reasons. "Jin Jiuxiao, you should know that if one ability is so powerful that it far exceeds ordinary people's, even reaching a level that makes heaven and earth jealous..."

"Then you will inevitably have shortcomings in other areas."

"???" Jin Jiuxiao's lips parted slightly. What could he even say to that?

He had expected Yu Xiaogang to find an excuse to brush off his "pointed" question.

But he hadn't expected Yu Xiaogang to be this shameless!

Now even heaven and earth were jealous? Was he serious?

Once those words left Yu Xiaogang's mouth, it wasn't just Jin Jiuxiao.

They also left Zi JI and Tang Hao, who were watching from the shadows, speechless.

Both of them could sense Yu Xiaogang's soul power level perfectly clearly.

He was merely a rank twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster.

Yet he dared make such brazen claims.

Zi JI glanced toward Tang Hao's hiding place. Does this human Titled Douluo... have something wrong with his head?

During their whispered conversation before bed yesterday, Jin Jiuxiao had also briefly told her about Tang Hao and Tang San.

That included the fact that Tang Hao's son, Tang San, had taken Yu Xiaogang as his master.

She simply couldn't understand it.

Did a human genius with twin martial souls need instruction from a rank twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster?

Wasn't Tang San's father a Titled Douluo? Why didn't his father teach him?

Those two remarks from Yu Xiaogang had already made Zi JI label him stupid and arrogant.

If Tang Hao entrusted his own child to someone like that, what could it be if not something wrong with his head?

Surely Tang Hao couldn't truly be unable to find a normal person to teach Tang San?

At the gates, Yu Xiaogang was still talking. "Jiuxiao, precisely because my talent for research defies the heavens, heaven envies my genius. That is why fate has treated me so unfairly, imposing numerous restrictions on my martial soul."

"I've even encountered the most difficult bottleneck in history."

"The theory 'there are no useless martial souls, only useless soul masters' is correct. But I am an exception."

"Fate's unfairness left me with only half a rank of innate soul power! Yet many years ago, I had already reached rank twenty-nine!"

"Breaking through from rank twenty-nine to rank thirty is a hurdle for any soul master."

"But for me, breaking through to rank thirty is no less difficult than a Soul Douluo becoming a Titled Douluo. Do you understand now that I've explained it this way?"

"It was precisely because I had no hope of breaking through that I began devoting myself to researching martial souls, becoming a theoretical Grandmaster renowned throughout the Soul Master World, known to one and all."

Jin Jiuxiao had nothing left to say.

Still, this was good news for him.

With a teacher like this guiding him, how could Tang San not be ruined?

With its first few soul rings, Blue Silver Grass was an utterly useless martial soul.

If not for the existence of the Blue Silver Forest, Yu Xiaogang's early decisions alone would have left Tang San unable to awaken his Blue Silver Emperor Martial Soul for the rest of his life.

At that thought, Jin Jiuxiao began making plans.

Then keep playing with your Blue Silver Grass, Tang San. In this life, don't even dream of awakening the Blue Silver Emperor again.

The Blue Silver Emperor was also a member of the Soul Beast Clan. She wasn't completely dead yet, and had even left behind a "seed."

As for whether she would still be the Ah Yin Tang Hao knew after cultivating anew, that was another matter entirely.

Blue Silver Grass was indeed very weak.

Even the Blue Silver King wasn't much stronger.

Like the Soft Bone Rabbit, both were low-tier spirits.

But if it transformed and evolved into the Blue Silver Emperor, its strength and potential would far surpass those of the Soft Bone Rabbit Emperor.

From the lowest-tier Blue Silver Grass, the Blue Silver Emperor leaped straight to becoming a top-tier life-attribute plant soul beast (martial soul).

That was equivalent to a low-tier spirit undergoing a single super evolution and leaping straight into the ranks of high-tier spirits!