"Xiao San, come with me."
"Dad!" Tang San looked in delighted surprise at Tang Hao, who had suddenly appeared behind him, but his eyes were full of questions.
"Xiao San, I originally intended to wait until you grew strong before appearing again and telling you about your mother. But now I have no choice but to tell you ahead of time." After saying this, Tang Hao did not forget to glare at Yu Xiaogang, who stood nervously to one side.
"Teacher, who is he? He feels invincible. There's no way I can fight him." Li Ye nervously sidled up to Yu Xiaogang, giving voice to his cowardice.
"Obviously. If I'm not mistaken, this is the Clear Sky Douluo I told you about. Is a Titled Douluo someone you can handle right now?" Yu Xiaogang slapped the back of Li Ye's head, signaling him to hurry behind him and stop talking nonsense.
"Teacher, we've figured out his secret. Do you think he'll kill us to silence us? That look he gave us was vicious. One glance tells you he's no good," Li Ye said fearfully.
"Stop talking. His Excellency Haotian is a legend in the Soul Master World. I've met him before, too. He won't attack us," Yu Xiaogang said, sounding a little nervous himself.
"Teacher, don't joke around. If he comes at us, I'm pushing you toward him first thing," Li Ye said earnestly.
"Could I trouble you and your disciple to be quiet for a moment, Grandmaster? I need to discuss something with Xiao San. I'll leave once we're finished."
Tang Hao had naturally heard the conversation between Li Ye and his teacher. But since he still needed Yu Xiaogang's help, he did his best to restrain himself and spoke politely.
At this, Li Ye and Yu Xiaogang immediately stood up straight and nodded meekly.
"Dad, was everything that Grandmaster just said true?" Tang San tried hard to remain calm as he asked Tang Hao.
"What he said was right. Your mother was indeed a hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor. But these things aren't your concern right now. The only thing you need to do is listen to Grandmaster and cultivate hard. Once your strength meets my requirements, I'll naturally tell you everything. Understand?" Tang Hao stroked Tang San's little head and spoke solemnly.
"Dad, you want me to take Grandmaster as my teacher?"
"Yes. Right now, he's the only one who can help us." Tang Hao nodded.
"Dad, don't worry. I'll work hard at cultivating and meet your requirements as soon as possible," Tang San promised, his gaze firm.
"All right, go with Grandmaster. I'll be leaving now." With that, Tang Hao vanished from before Tang San in a flash.
At that moment, Tang San understood. His father was no ordinary blacksmith. Their family must have gone into seclusion in Holy Soul Village for some reason, and he would have to keep growing stronger to learn what that reason was.
"Your disciple, Tang San, pays his respects, Teacher." Tang San collected himself, knelt, and bowed to Yu Xiaogang.
"Uh, Teacher, do we have to kneel to become your disciple?" Watching Tang San's baffling actions, Li Ye turned a bewildered face toward an equally bewildered Yu Xiaogang.
"Uh, well, Tang San, you don't need to kneel to become my disciple. Just bow to me. Kneeling is a courtesy reserved for your parents and sovereign," Yu Xiaogang said awkwardly, hurriedly helping Tang San up.
"A teacher for a day is a father for life. Since I've taken you as my teacher, I should treat you as I would my father," Tang San said earnestly.
"All right, then. Come, Tang San, follow me to register."
"Teacher, just call me Xiao San."
"Uh, all right. I'll call you Xiao San from now on."
"Then I'll call you Xiao San from now on, too."
"Of course you can call me that, Senior Brother."
After they finished registering at the Freshman Registration Office, Yu Xiaogang had Li Ye take Tang San to Dorm Seven, where the work-study students lived.
"Xiao San, let me tell you, from now on, your Brother Ye has your back at this school. If anyone dares bully you, just tell me." Li Ye draped an arm over Tang San's shoulders, his tone utterly swaggering.
"Uh, Brother Ye, can I ask what level Soul Master you are now?"
Although Tang San was somewhat surprised by the strength Li Ye had displayed earlier, he did not think the other boy could be much stronger than him.
"If I tell you, you can't go spreading it around." Li Ye pulled Tang San aside and spoke with an air of mystery.
"I swear on my character that I won't spread it around." Seeing Li Ye act this way only made Tang San more curious.
"You'd better prepare yourself. Don't let this crush you."
"Mm." Tang San nodded earnestly.
"I'm already a level twenty-one Soul Grandmaster. Well? My strength gave you a scare, didn't it?" Looking at Tang San's shocked expression, Li Ye wore a smug look.
"How is that possible? Aren't you the same age as me? Even with innate full soul power, you couldn't become a Soul Grandmaster all at once."
Although Tang San did not know much about Soul Masters, he still understood the basic fact that cultivation required becoming a Soul Master first, then a Soul Grandmaster.
Seeing Tang San's disbelieving expression, Li Ye slowly extended his right hand and released the Demonic Flame Spear, which already had two soul rings attached, one yellow and one purple (a mutated martial soul that Li Ye had named himself).
"Two soul rings. You really are a Soul Grandmaster. But why is one yellow and the other purple?" With his limited knowledge, Tang San naturally did not know that soul rings were also divided into grades by age.
"You'll find out about that later. For now, you just need to know that I'm a Soul Grandmaster and can watch your back."
Seeing Tang San's puzzled expression, Li Ye could not be bothered to explain. He would leave this sort of thing for Yu Xiaogang to explain.
"All right, let's go in. Remember, if you get bullied..." Li Ye slowly pushed open the door to Dorm Seven. Who would have thought that before he could even finish speaking, a half-grown boy would ambush him?
"Holy shit, you actually dared to ambush me!"
Li Ye cried out in surprise, then immediately calmed down. He reached out and caught Wang Sheng's little tiger paw, then delivered a serious punch to his abdomen, knocking him to the floor.
"Ooh~"
Although Li Ye had held back, Wang Sheng still collapsed to the floor, clutching his stomach in pain.
The work-study students who had intended to watch the show were truly startled by the sight.
Were this year's work-study students really this fierce? He knocked Wang Sheng flat with one punch.
"Hey, don't try to stage an accident and pin it on me, okay? You were clearly the one who ambushed me first." Li Ye glanced speechlessly at Wang Sheng, who was still lying on the floor.
Only after hearing Li Ye's rebuke did Wang Sheng struggle to climb to his feet.
"The reason I..."
Before Wang Sheng could finish, the door to Dorm Seven was pushed open again. A cute girl wearing a pink dress, carrying a pink shoulder bag, and sporting a pair of rabbit ears walked in.
"Hey, is this Dorm Seven?"
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