Talking Back to Grandmaster 2

"That's right! That's a theory I wrote in my book."

As Yu Xiaogang said this, he raised his chin slightly and gave a crooked smile, adopting an air of "this child is beyond teaching" toward Su Ling.

"Good, good, boy. Though your aptitude is poor, you can study martial soul theory under me."

Su Ling almost laughed aloud.

"Wrote in your book?" Su Ling repeated. "Grandmaster, may I ask what you wrote in your book?"

"I systematically discussed the characteristics of twin martial souls, their awakening conditions, and their cultivation paths." Yu Xiaogang clasped his hands behind his back. "What you just said was nothing more than introductory knowledge from my book."

"Introductory knowledge?"

Su Ling was amused.

"Grandmaster, let me ask a different question, then. How many Soul Masters with twin martial souls have you had contact with?"

Yu Xiaogang's lips moved.

Su Ling did not stop and continued,

"Spirit Hall has fewer than ten documented cases of twin martial souls across the entire continent. And as far as I know, only one person in history has truly cultivated twin martial souls to a high level: Spirit Hall's current Supreme Pontiff, Bibi Dong. She possesses twin martial souls, the Death Spider Emperor and the Soul-Devouring Spider Emperor. Apart from her, all the other people with twin martial souls exploded and died while cultivating their second martial soul!"

"I wonder whether you know how to solve the problem of cultivating twin martial souls, Grandmaster."

Yu Xiaogang's expression began to change.

Of course he did not know. Bibi Dong had only started cultivating her second martial soul after he left Spirit Hall.

"Of course I know, but why should I tell an outsider like you?"

Su Ling was somewhat speechless. This Grandmaster really refused to back down.

"Then why don't you publish it, Grandmaster?"

"And," Su Ling took a step forward, his gaze pinning Yu Xiaogang's face, "you just said that what I explained was introductory knowledge. Then tell me, what is Tang Xiaosan's second martial soul? If its quality is low, why did she awaken with innate full soul power? If its quality is high, that contradicts the fundamental theory that only martial souls of similar quality can coexist!"

Yu Xiaogang opened his mouth.

He could not tell. He could not tell at all. Blue Silver Grass with innate full soul power did indeed point to twin martial souls, but he truly had no idea what the specific martial soul was, much less how to answer Su Ling's question.

"I..."

"You can't even determine the quality of her second martial soul, yet you dare call yourself Grandmaster?" Every word from Su Ling struck precisely at Yu Xiaogang's weak spot.

His back struck a pillar in the corridor.

At some point, seven or eight students had gathered around, their expressions subtle.

Under those gazes, Yu Xiaogang felt for the first time that he could not keep his footing.

"Grandmaster," Su Ling said one last thing, "you know better than I do whether you researched those theories yourself. If you truly want to be a grandmaster, study your own martial soul first."

What's there to study? If my martial soul hadn't undergone a harmful mutation and dragged me down, how could I still be a Soul Grandmaster?

The more Yu Xiaogang thought about it, the worse he felt. That damned Luo Sanpao! Why did he have to latch onto me?

Yu Xiaogang stood there, his lips moving a few times, but in the end, he said nothing. He turned and left.

"Ding! Mission 'Expose the Hypocrite Grandmaster' completed! Tang Xiaosan's initial trust in Yu Xiaogang has dropped to zero. Mission 'Save the Wayward Girl Tang Xiaosan' completed!"

"Ding! Mission reward distributed: soul power level ×1."

Level fourteen.

Su Ling felt the soul power stir slightly within him.

Although the reward was not much, he had little need for soul power anyway.

Leveling up too quickly would instead rob him of the fun of an old man toying with a mischievous child.

"Su Ling."

"Hm?"

"How did you know I had twin martial souls?"

Su Ling looked down at her.

The little girl tilted her face up, her eyes shining. There was little complexity in them, only simple trust.

"Naturally, I deduced it with my great wisdom."

Su Ling assumed the air of an expert. Seeing that Tang Xiaosan still looked somewhat doubtful, he patted her head again.

When have I ever lied to you?

He really had not lied to Tang Xiaosan about anything over these six years. At most, he had failed to get her name right for six years and led the village's wild children to challenge her to peeing contests. That really had been pretty rotten of him.

"Also," Tang Xiaosan added, "you looked especially handsome when you spoke up for me just now."

Su Ling: ...

Ah Yin's quiet voice sounded in his mind. "Master, are you interested in my daughter?"

"Shut up."

"Tch."

At this moment, Bibi Dong was practically bursting with rage behind the screen. She had never imagined that Yu Xiaogang, the man who haunted her soul and dreams, was actually someone like this.

She had once even considered eloping with him.

Now, looking at Yu Xiaogang only turned her stomach.

Hypocritical, shameless, old and useless, yet still putting on a mystical act every day.

Su Ling walked in front, with Tang Xiaosan half a step behind him. She kept her head lowered and walked for quite a while before suddenly reaching out to tug on his sleeve.

"Su Ling."

"Hm?"

"Thank you for today."

Su Ling looked at her. This little Xiaosan girl and Little Scumbag really are two entirely different species.

"There's nothing to thank me for."

"There is," Tang Xiaosan said earnestly. "No one's ever treated me like this. You treat me even better than my dad does!"

Something stirred in Su Ling's heart.

At that moment, Ah Yin's voice sounded in Su Ling's mind again.

"Why don't you just be her father? I don't think Tang Hao deserves to be Xiaosan's father anyway."

"All right, hurry up." Su Ling turned his face away. "It's almost dark."

Tang Xiaosan smiled and obediently followed.

The two crossed the field and headed toward the dormitory building.

Dorm Seven was on the east side of the building by the field. Its door stood ajar, and the clamor inside could be heard through the door. Su Ling pushed it open, and a decaying smell hit him in the face.

A group of half-grown boys were roughhousing, shoving and tussling with one another. Someone was doing somersaults on an upper bunk by the window, while others arm-wrestled on a lower bunk. In the middle of the room stood a boy a head taller than the others, his arms folded. When he saw the door open, he raised his eyebrows.

"New here? I'm Wang Sheng. My martial soul is the War Tiger, and I'm the boss of Dorm Seven. What are your names? What are your martial souls?"

Before Su Ling could speak,

Tang Xiaosan poked half her head out from behind him.

Wang Sheng's gaze landed on her face, and he froze.

"...A girl?"

The dormitory instantly fell silent.

Everyone turned in unison to look at the doorway.

With so many people staring at her, Tang Xiaosan shrank behind Su Ling, keeping him in front of her as a shield. She poked half her head out and spoke in a clear voice.

"My name is Tang Xiaosan. My martial soul is Blue Silver Grass, and I have innate full soul power."

The dormitory was silent for three seconds.

Then it boiled over.

"Innate full soul power?!"

"Blue Silver Grass? That's impossible!"

"A girl! We've got a girl!"

Wang Sheng slapped that boy.

"What's wrong with a girl? What are you getting so excited about? Work-study students have always shared mixed dormitories."

Wang Sheng stood stunned for a long while, then suddenly took two steps forward and looked Tang Xiaosan up and down.

Su Ling stepped forward, shielding Tang Xiaosan behind him.

"She's my friend. Do you have a problem with that?"

Wang Sheng looked at Su Ling, and the two held each other's gaze for several seconds.

Wang Sheng was about the same height as Su Ling, but Su Ling clearly had the more imposing presence.

"What's your name?"

"Su Ling. My martial soul is a round stone. Innate soul power, level four."

Wang Sheng frowned.

Innate level four counted as excellent at Nuoding Academy, but he really had never heard of a round stone martial soul.

Wang Sheng snorted and stepped back.

"Fine, you're tough. But let me get the unpleasant part out of the way first: we can't break the dormitory rules."

"What rules?"

Wang Sheng lifted his chin.

"Fight me. Beat me, and you're the boss of Dorm Seven."

Before Su Ling could speak, Tang Xiaosan slipped out from behind him.

"I'll fight."

Su Ling looked down at her.

Tang Xiaosan tilted her face up, her eyes gleaming.

"Su Ling, you helped me once. This time, I'll do it myself."

Su Ling looked at her for two seconds.

Then he stepped aside.

He was not worried about Tang Xiaosan in the slightest. Although her sex had changed, she had still practiced the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

"Don't get hurt."

Tang Xiaosan nodded and walked to the middle of the room.

Wang Sheng looked at the little girl, who was more than a head shorter than him, and hesitated.

"You really want to fight?"

"Yes."

"Then I won't hold back."

Tang Xiaosan smiled.

"I won't hold back either!"