"I'm here to register at Nuoding Academy. Grandpa Jack came to see me off."
Perhaps because Li Ye was his age, the rule-abiding Tang San spoke up to explain on Old Jack's behalf.
"Since you're here to register, let me see the certificate Spirit Hall issued you." Just then, Yu Xiaogang walked over and immediately assumed the air of an academy teacher as he addressed the two of them.
"Hey, Teacher, that was supposed to be my line! Why are you stealing my lines?" Li Ye grumbled indignantly.
"You brat, didn't you only just arrive to register yourself? Do you really have to show off in front of other people?" Yu Xiaogang said, speechless.
Hearing Yu Xiaogang and Li Ye's exchange, Tang San went numb. So you master and disciple were putting on a double act for me.
But since Li Ye had just helped them out of a tight spot, Tang San showed no displeasure. Otherwise, he would have issued a warning: "You have already given me reason to kill you."
"Tang San, martial soul: blue silver grass, innate full soul power!" As he read the genuine certificate issued by Spirit Hall, Yu Xiaogang's eyes filled with shock.
He-he had actually encountered another genius with twin martial souls.
Although he already had Li Ye, a fine disciple he doted on immensely, and no longer intended to take another disciple, if he simply left Tang San to fumble around on his own and let those theoretical incompetents at the academy hunt soul rings for him, the boy would most likely end up ruined.
That did not mean Yu Xiaogang wanted to take Tang San as his disciple, however. Again, he already had Li Ye and did not think much of Tang San at all. He had merely been a little surprised that a golden phoenix could emerge from such a tiny village.
"Blue silver grass can have innate full soul power too?" Li Ye gave Yu Xiaogang a bewildered look, as though saying, Do you think I'm young and easy to fool? Hurry up and let me see that certificate.
"There's nothing wrong with the certificate. Tang San, was it? Come inside with us, then." Yu Xiaogang handed the certificate to Li Ye before addressing Tang San.
"Teacher, thank you for bringing me inside." After saying goodbye to Old Jack, Tang San immediately caught up with Li Ye and Yu Xiaogang and thanked Yu Xiaogang.
"Haha, teacher? I'm not a teacher at the academy," Yu Xiaogang said with a chuckle.
"Then why does this older brother call you Teacher?" Tang San asked in confusion.
"That's because he's my master, so I call him Teacher. Other people call him Grandmaster, because he counts as a grandmaster in martial soul theory. Also, my name is Li Ye. Just call me Brother Ye," Li Ye explained from the side.
"Yes, just as Little Ye said."
"But Tang San, if I'm not mistaken, you should have another martial soul, shouldn't you?" Even Yu Xiaogang did not know why he had said that. He still could not resist showing off.
"Uh, Grandmaster, I only have one martial soul." Although Tang San did not know how Yu Xiaogang knew he had two martial souls, his father had told him before he left home that he was not to tell anyone this secret.
"There's no need to hide it. I know you have twin martial souls entirely because of this certificate issued by Spirit Hall." Standing on the steps, Yu Xiaogang became the king of show-offs at that moment, his image suddenly growing lofty in Tang San's eyes.
"He once investigated over six hundred soul masters whose martial soul was blue silver grass. Only fifteen of them had soul power, and not a single one had soul power above rank one. Yet you have innate full soul power. According to his martial soul ten core competencies theory, you must therefore have an even stronger martial soul that provided you with this condition."
Unable to resist stealing the lines Yu Xiaogang used to show off, Li Ye spun this tale to Tang San with a perfectly straight face.
"Hey, Little Ye, aren't those my lines? How can you steal your teacher's lines?" Hearing Li Ye's words, not only Tang San but even Yu Xiaogang was dumbfounded.
Even this grandmaster's disciple is so knowledgeable. If I take him as my master, I'll definitely be able to learn a lot, Tang San decided inwardly.
"Tang San, don't believe him. This stuff is half true and half false. You'll definitely suffer a huge loss if you believe it." Just as Tang San was about to kneel and ask Yu Xiaogang to take him as his disciple, Li Ye's words pulled him right back up.
"Why would you say that? Isn't Grandmaster your teacher, Brother Ye?" Tang San could not quite understand what Li Ye was doing.
If what he had just said was false, why say it at all?
"Because there's another condition that must be met to awaken twin martial souls." Li Ye adopted such a mysterious air that even Yu Xiaogang was bewildered by his act.
"What condition?" Yu Xiaogang could not help asking curiously.
Although he did not know whether what Li Ye said was true, as a scholar of martial soul theory, he was naturally brimming with a thirst for knowledge about such matters.
Only when he saw Tang San looking at him too did Li Ye slowly speak. "The quality of both parents' martial souls has to be extremely close. Otherwise, it's absolutely impossible."
"Where did you read that?" Hearing Li Ye's words, Yu Xiaogang was utterly stunned, but after thinking it over for a moment, he felt that it was indeed the case.
"Then that means, Tang San, either your other martial soul is just as useless as your blue silver grass, or your blue silver grass is just as strong as your other martial soul."
"But you have innate full soul power, so there's no way you could have twin trash martial souls. It can only mean your blue silver grass is extremely strong."
"And naturally, blue silver grass couldn't possibly be that strong. Only the emperor among blue silver grass, the Blue Silver Emperor, could reach that level."
"But humans can't possess a blue silver emperor martial soul, so that can only mean your mother is a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, a Blue Silver Emperor. Only then could you inherit a blue silver grass martial soul equal in quality to your other martial soul. No, a blue silver grass martial soul with the Blue Silver Emperor bloodline."
Yu Xiaogang blurted out his deductions all at once. Before Tang San even knew what had happened, the truth of his origins had come to light.
Even more shocked was Tang Hao, who was hiding in the shadows and eavesdropping. He had only meant to secretly see his precious son off, but in one unguarded moment, that bastard Yu Xiaogang had exposed all his secrets.
But at that moment, Tang San kept thinking back over everything Tang Hao had done since he came to this world, only to arrive at a single answer in the end.
"My mother was a hundred-thousand-year soul beast that took human form, not a human. Then what am I?"
Tang San slumped to the ground, sinking into profound self-doubt.
At that moment, he felt his whole life grow bleak. No wonder Tang Hao never mentioned his mother to him. Was this the reason?
Tang Hao could also see that things had developed beyond his control. If he did not come out and explain now, Tang San would most likely remain despondent for a while.
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