Nuoding Academy.
It was an utterly ordinary junior soul master academy, with dusty gray walls, a school sign with peeling paint, and a few crooked-necked trees planted in the courtyard.
Yi Yun stood at the academy gates in white robes, his long hair fluttering in the wind. He exuded an ethereal air, completely out of place in his surroundings.
The old gatekeeper rubbed his eyes, thinking his vision had gone blurry.
"Young master, who are you looking for?"
"Tang San," Yi Yun said with a smile.
The old gatekeeper froze for a moment. "You're looking for that blue silver grass boy?"
Blue silver grass?
Yi Yun nearly burst out laughing.
Tang San's blue silver grass had yet to awaken a second martial soul, so people at this little academy probably considered it a trash martial soul.
"Yes, him. Take me to him."
The old gatekeeper hesitated. "But academy rules..."
Yi Yun pulled a handful of Gold Soul Coins from inside his robes and stuffed them into the old man's hand.
The old man's eyes instantly lit up. "Tang San is at the training ground. I'll take you there."
Yi Yun: "..."
Money could make even ghosts turn the millstone. The ancients really hadn't lied.
The training ground.
Tang San stood in one corner of the training ground, with a row of wooden stakes in front of him.
He took a deep breath and flicked his right hand. Several tiny streaks of cold light flew from his sleeve, embedding themselves precisely in the wooden stakes.
Had an expert in hidden weapons been present, they would certainly have recognized the Tang Sect's basic technique, Sleeve Arrow.
Though it lacked power, its strengths lay in concealment and taking opponents by surprise.
Tang San looked at his handiwork and nodded in satisfaction.
"Not bad. My accuracy has improved a little again."
Just as he was about to continue practicing, a lazy voice suddenly came from behind him.
"So these are your hidden weapons?"
Tang San spun around and saw a young man in white standing three meters behind him, arms folded across his chest, watching him with an amused expression.
When did this man arrive?
I didn't notice him at all.
He instinctively backed away two steps and eyed the newcomer warily. "Who are you?"
Rather than answer his question, Yi Yun walked over to a wooden stake, pulled out one of the iron needles Tang San had fired, and weighed it in his hand.
"Iron, roughly polished, slow in flight, weak penetration, mediocre concealment," Yi Yun assessed, his tone full of disdain. "You have the nerve to call this junk a hidden weapon?"
Tang San's expression immediately darkened.
He had brought this set of hidden weapon techniques with him from the Tang Sect. In his previous life, he had poured ten full years of painstaking effort into it.
Anyone would have felt bad hearing it disparaged to their face.
"What do you know?" Tang San said coldly. "The essence of hidden weapons isn't power, but taking your opponent by surprise. Overcoming the strong with the weak-that is the true meaning of hidden weapons."
Yi Yun raised an eyebrow.
Well, well. That actually sounded quite reasonable.
"Taking your opponent by surprise?" Yi Yun laughed. "At the speed of your hidden weapons, an ordinary person might not react in time, but any slightly stronger soul master could block them with a casual move."
"You..."
"Don't believe me?" Yi Yun interrupted him. "Try firing a needle at me."
Tang San hesitated.
This man looked dangerous, but since he was asking for it...
"Are you sure?"
"Sure. Go ahead."
Tang San took a deep breath and flicked his right hand, sending an iron needle shooting toward Yi Yun's face at tremendous speed.
He had put seventy percent of his power into this needle, and its speed was already approaching the limit of an ordinary soul master.
Then he witnessed a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Yi Yun raised his right hand and lightly pinched his index and middle fingers together. The iron needle stopped firmly between them, less than an inch from the tip of his nose.
The entire motion flowed like drifting clouds and running water, as though Tang San had not fired a hidden weapon but personally placed the iron needle in his hand.
Tang San's pupils abruptly contracted.
How was that possible?
He knew exactly how much speed and force that needle carried. Even a level-thirty soul master could not have caught it so effortlessly.
Yi Yun twirled the iron needle between his fingers and smiled as lightly as clouds on a gentle breeze. "That's it?"
Cold sweat broke out on Tang San's forehead.
Just what level of soul master was this man?
"Not convinced?" Seeing Tang San's unwillingness to accept it, Yi Yun curled his lips. "All right. Let me show you what a real hidden weapon looks like."
He pulled something from inside his robes.
Tang San took a closer look and froze.
It was a pitch-black lump of iron with a strange shape, a grip, and a long tube.
"What is that?"
"This?" Yi Yun rested the AK-47 on his shoulder, smiling like a salesman. "This is a hidden weapon, model AK-47, known throughout the martial world as Rat-a-tat-tat."
Tang San looked utterly bewildered.
He had spent so many years in the Tang Sect in his previous life, yet he had never heard of this hidden weapon.
Yi Yun offered no explanation and casually pointed it toward a nearby wooden stake.
His finger pulled the trigger.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat.
A stream of soul power bullets spewed from the muzzle, dense as a torrential downpour and too fast for the naked eye to make out.
The wooden stake was riddled with holes in an instant, then exploded into countless fragments. Finally, even the fragments were pulverized by the bullets that followed.
The entire process took less than three seconds.
When the gunsmoke cleared, all that remained where the wooden stake had stood was a deep crater trailing wisps of smoke.
Tang San turned to stone.
He stood rooted to the spot, his mouth open wide enough to fit an egg, his eyes as round as bronze bells, and his brain completely frozen.
What kind of power was that???
What kind of speed was that???
Was that really a hidden weapon???
Yi Yun watched Tang San's expression with satisfaction, blew at the nonexistent gunsmoke over the muzzle, and said with feigned modesty, "It's nothing special. This is the lowest-spec model. I haven't even brought out the Rocket Launcher or the Gatling Gun yet."
The corners of Tang San's mouth twitched violently.
Lowest-spec???
That thing could kill most soul masters in an instant!
"Y-you... just who are you?" Even Tang San's voice was trembling.
"Me?" Yi Yun put away the AK-47, actually storing it in his space-time magic mirror martial soul's storage space, and gave him a friendly smile. "My name is Yi Yun, a helpful passerby. I came specifically to give you some guidance."
Tang San: "...Give me guidance?"
"That's right." Yi Yun patted Tang San's shoulder and said earnestly, "Little brother, your hidden weapon skills still need work. How about becoming my disciple? I'll teach you real hidden weapons."
Tang San instinctively wanted to refuse.
But the terrifying power of the AK-47 flashed through his mind, and he swallowed the refusal that had reached his lips.
"I... I'll think about it."
Yi Yun smiled.
The bait had been cast. There was no need to worry about the fish not taking the hook.
"Sure. Take your time. I'll be staying nearby for a few days. Come find me when you've decided."
With that, he turned and left.
After a few steps, he suddenly stopped again and looked back to say something.
"Oh, right. That blue silver grass martial soul of yours is trash too. Want me to help you find a better martial soul?"
Tang San shuddered. "You can help me find a martial soul?"
Yi Yun gave a mysterious smile without answering and disappeared beyond the training ground's gates.
Tang San was left standing there alone, unable to calm down for a long time.
Just where had this man come from?
Why were his hidden weapons so powerful?
Was he telling the truth about helping me find a martial soul?
Tang San stared at the ground that had been blasted into a deep crater, and the image of the AK-47 spitting tongues of flame appeared in his mind again.
He suddenly felt that the things he had learned at the Tang Sect in his previous life might truly not measure up in this world.
Yi Yun walked out of Nuoding Academy in excellent spirits.
He could laugh for a whole year over Tang San's petrified expression just now.
"This is only the beginning, little Tang San," Yi Yun murmured to himself. "There are plenty more surprises waiting for you."
He looked up at the sky. The sun shone brightly, and not a cloud marred its vast expanse.
"Tomorrow, I'll go play with Xiao Wu."
Yi Yun's smile grew even brighter.
Before you continue