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Grandpa.

Yu Xiaogang's expression clearly froze for a moment, but he quickly recovered. There were indeed quite a few commoner families on the continent who married early. Judging by age alone, many people his age had already become grandfathers. So there was nothing wrong with this child addressing him that way.

He reached out to take the certificate and lowered his head to scan it.

Under Zhu Wu's upturned gaze, Yu Xiaogang's eyes visibly lit up. He then passed over Zhu Wu and turned to look at Tang San, sizing him up a few times.

His gaze was not sharp, but Tang San felt as though he had been seen through, and his brows could not help but furrow slightly.

As if noticing the change in Tang San's expression, Yu Xiaogang withdrew his gaze and turned to Old Jack.

"There's no problem with the certificate, sir. I apologize to you for what happened just now. Leave these two children to me from here on."

"No, no, there's no need to apologize." Old Jack hurriedly waved his hands, then said, "Then, Master, I'll have to trouble you with these two children." As he spoke, he turned to remind them, "Little San, Xiao Wu, hurry and go in with Master. Once you're inside, behave yourselves and don't cause Master any trouble."

"Mm-hm." Zhu Wu nodded lightly.

Tang San nodded slightly but did not speak.

It was not that he did not appreciate this so-called Master beside him, but even if this Master had not appeared to stop him, he had had a way to resolve the situation. In fact, the moment the gatekeeper threw his certificate to the ground, he had already disengaged the Sleeve Arrow's safety. If Master had not stopped him first, and the gatekeeper had risen to pounce on someone other than himself, then perhaps there would already have been a short arrow lodged in his throat.

The general principles of the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record stated that once one determined an opponent to be an enemy with a death-seeking path, there was no need to show mercy. Otherwise, one would only bring trouble upon oneself. In Tang San's view, the gatekeeper had first spoken rudely, then thrown away his certificate, and even laid hands on an old man. He had already taken the path to death. And Tang San was absolutely confident that he could kill him without Old Jack or Zhu Wu discovering it was his doing.

As he thought, Yu Xiaogang glanced at the gatekeeper and said flatly, "I don't want to hear of a next time."

"Yes, yes." The young man nodded frantically.

Yu Xiaogang no longer looked at him. He lowered his head slightly, and the hand holding the Spirit Hall certificate naturally moved behind his back. His other hand conveniently grasped Tang San's wrist. He forced a faint smile onto his somewhat stiff face, and his slightly hoarse voice became much gentler. "Let's go in."

It seemed I was being disliked. So I'm the unnecessary one here. Zhu Wu said to himself.

"Hmph, I'll just stick around and refuse to leave later."

"Tang San and I don't share a surname, and our Martial Souls are different too. We're obviously not family. Let's see whether you have the nerve to tell an outsider like me that Tang San has Twin Martial Souls! If it looks like you're about to, I can always cut you off and leave."

He thought to himself.

Yu Xiaogang said no more and pulled Tang San toward the academy.

Zhu Wu followed close behind.

After entering the academy and walking for a while, Tang San's voice sounded. "Teacher, thank you."

"Teacher? I'm not a teacher at this academy." Master lowered his head to glance at Tang San and replied blandly.

Such a familiar plot. Zhu Wu watched quietly.

Until their classic exchange arrived.

"Unless you truly wish to have me as your teacher."

"Are you going to teach me how to cultivate my Martial Soul?"

"Then are you willing?"

Tang San said nothing. He merely raised his head and looked quietly at Yu Xiaogang.

Zhu Wu continued following in silence.

On the other side, Yu Xiaogang stared blankly at Tang San, then smiled. "You truly are a clever child."

He then turned to Zhu Wu and said calmly, "Xiao Wu, may I call you that?"

Uh, was he going to show off his theories through me for Tang San's benefit? Zhu Wu immediately guessed that possibility and nodded. "You're an elder, of course you can."

Tang San glanced at Yu Xiaogang, looking thoughtful, and stopped interrupting.

"If I'm not mistaken, your silkworm Martial Soul should be a Mutated Martial Soul, correct?" Yu Xiaogang asked with a nod.

"I'm not sure about that either." Zhu Wu scratched his head, wearing an expression of complete ignorance.

Don't ask. If you ask, I don't know!

Yu Xiaogang nodded slightly and continued on his own, "I once investigated 586 people who awakened silkworm Martial Souls. Among them, fifteen possessed Soul Power, a probability of less than three percent."

"Moreover, among those fifteen people, half had Soul Power that did not exceed Rank 1, and very few reached Rank 1. However, there was one exception. Not only did her Soul Power exceed Rank 1, it reached the astonishing level of Innate Rank 8 Soul Power."

"There was no other reason. She had awakened a Mutated Martial Soul, and it was the rare Ice Silkworm Martial Soul."

He had seen this in the records when he had been researching materials in Spirit Hall back then. The person who had awakened that Martial Soul had been a woman from Skywater Academy, and she had died many years ago.

"Its original form exists in reality. It is a rare soul beast that lives in the Far North Land, north of the Heaven Dou Empire. Not only does it possess an ice attribute, it also has a certain talent for spiritual power and excels at concealment. When it encounters invading enemies, it can use Illusion Transformation to take the form of other high-level soul beasts and frighten them away."

"Your Martial Soul certificate did not state that it possessed an ice attribute, so clearly, your Martial Soul did not awaken such a talent. Otherwise, Spirit Hall would definitely have latched onto you and tried to persuade you to join them. They would never have allowed you to come to Notting Academy as a work-study student."

"Any Martial Soul that possesses elemental talents such as ice or fire will display certain characteristics upon awakening. Since it has only just awakened, the host cannot yet control the Martial Soul."

"For example, an ice attribute will lower the temperature of the surrounding air, while a Fire Attribute Martial Soul will cause flames to rise from the body."

"If such phenomena truly appeared, then so long as the deacon who awakened your Martial Souls wasn't an idiot, he would definitely have noticed."

At this point, Yu Xiaogang smiled slightly and said with confidence, "Therefore, I dare say that when your silkworm Martial Soul awakened, its appearance must have been nearly identical to that of an ordinary domestic silkworm. That was why the Spirit Hall deacon mistakenly identified it as an ordinary domestic silkworm Martial Soul. You awakened Innate Rank 6 Soul Power, yet possess no obvious elemental abilities. So I believe your Martial Soul's ability should lean toward the spiritual aspect."

"And it is highly likely to be an ability related to Illusion Transformation."

I didn't expect this man to possess such insight. A trace of surprise flashed through Tang San's eyes.

Zhu Wu's awakened Martial Soul had indeed looked no different from an ordinary domestic silkworm. Tang San had seen it with his own eyes.

Yu Xiaogang caught that subtle shift in Tang San's expression from the corner of his eye. The corners of his lips could not help but curl upward, and his chest straightened.

Oh, so if the only person you knew who awakened a mutated silkworm Martial Soul possessed some other non-obvious ability, such as time, space, water, light, or something else, would the direction of your conclusion about my Martial Soul have changed accordingly? Zhu Wu had a different opinion.

However, he had no intention of showing it. Instead, he scratched his head and said, "My Martial Soul really does look exactly like a domestic silkworm."

"As for whether its ability is related to spiritual power, I don't know."

Yu Xiaogang looked resolute. He did not ask Zhu Wu to summon his Martial Soul for closer examination, but instead said regretfully:

"Spiritual abilities are still fairly good abilities. In the future, you can consider adding soul rings to your Martial Soul that provide soul skills such as Charm and Illusion Transformation. You could barely develop in the direction of the Control System."

"However, I do not recommend that you do so."

"Ah? Why not?" Zhu Wu pretended to be startled and hurriedly asked.

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