Become My Junior Brother
Soon, Su Lin's first class on the Douluo Continent officially began, but its contents left him sorely disappointed.
It was much like the filler classes of his previous life, covering things like the definition of Martial Souls, the definition of Soul Power, how Soul Power was released through a Martial Soul, and how Soul Rings were distinguished by age and color.
It was not entirely useless, but it was far too basic. To Su Lin, it was merely better than nothing. He turned to look at Xiao Wu and found her equally uninterested. After some thought, he cheerfully decided to skip class rather than keep wasting time here.
After finally enduring until the end of the first class, Su Lin snapped shut the textbook he had never even opened the moment the bell stopped ringing, took Xiao Wu by the wrist, and got up to head out of the classroom.
"Aren't we staying for the next class?" Xiao Wu asked in a low voice, a trace of lingering confusion on her face. After all, she had not been human for long. Like a college freshman who had just graduated from high school, she was used to following rules and felt extremely uneasy about skipping class.
Su Lin, however, was different. As an old hand who had spent years weathering the rough and tumble of society, he was already a seasoned slacker.
"They're only teaching the most basic things. They're not much use to us anymore." Looking utterly unconcerned, Su Lin kept walking down the corridor toward the exit of the teaching building. "We'd be better off spending that time in the back hills. You can help me fill in the missing parts of my meridian diagram."
"Mm... you have a point." Xiao Wu blinked and, after thinking it over carefully, agreed. She promptly put aside her concerns and followed Su Lin with light steps. Walking one behind the other, they soon made their way around to the grassy clearing in the back hills where they had fought yesterday.
"Let's fight first, then you can teach me about acupuncture points." Putting some distance between himself and Xiao Wu, Su Lin patted Pikachu's head on his shoulder and issued a challenge.
"Sure." Suspecting nothing, Xiao Wu nodded and agreed.
And so time raced past like a white steed flashing through a gap, and three months passed in the blink of an eye.
Three months was neither long nor short, just enough for the season to move from late autumn into early winter.
Classes at Nuoding Academy had long since settled into their regular routine. The first-year students gradually got the hang of basic meditation and Martial Soul control, attending classes and cultivating in an orderly fashion each day, their lives regular and uneventful.
As for Su Lin, apart from studying Soul Beasts and Martial Souls on his own in the library and doing some ordinary physical training, he spent his time in the back hills learning grappling techniques and meridian theory from Xiao Wu, continuously farming experience from her along the way.
At first, Xiao Wu had still felt uneasy about skipping class, but after doing it enough times, she completely let loose. In just three months, she completed the ultimate transformation from college freshman to senior-year slacker.
Su Lin had almost thought this rhythm would continue until the end of the semester. Yet when he came to the back hills with Xiao Wu to spar as usual, he unexpectedly caught sight of someone he had not expected standing beneath a pine tree at the top of the slope.
"Tang San?" Su Lin narrowed his eyes and studied him for a couple of seconds, then raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. "You come here to train too?"
Tang San shook his head and walked down the slope, stopping a short distance in front of Su Lin. "I came to find you."
"Find me?" Su Lin was somewhat puzzled.
Since meeting at the entrance to Dorm Seven on the first day of school, the two had barely interacted over the past three months. Their daily routines ran along entirely separate tracks.
But if he had come to settle the score over that incident, three months had already passed. Wouldn't that be a little too petty...?
All right, that did fit Tang San's character perfectly.
Perhaps noticing the confusion on Su Lin's face, Tang San said directly, "I came on behalf of my teacher, Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang."
"Ah..." Su Lin drew the sound out, his expression growing even more bewildered.
What did this have to do with Yu Xiaogang?
Fortunately, Tang San had no intention of keeping him guessing. Looking Su Lin straight in the eyes, he said earnestly, "I'd like to invite you to become my junior brother."
!!!
This time, not only Su Lin but even Xiao Wu stared with wide eyes, their faces filled with shock.
"Although you turned down Teacher's invitation, I still want to say that he truly wants to help you."
Tang San's tone was sincere. He reached into the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges storage belt at his waist, took out a brand-new scroll, and held it out to Su Lin.
"Over these three months, Teacher has spent almost every night organizing his research. He's put together a complete plan for capturing and combining Soul Beasts specifically for your Poké Ball Martial Soul. You can take a look first, and you'll understand his sincerity."
As he spoke, Tang San extended the scroll a little closer to Su Lin.
Su Lin gave an awkward smile, waved his hands repeatedly, and took two steps back. "I'd better pass. I can't accept a reward I haven't earned, and I really have no intention of taking a teacher. Please thank Grandmaster for his kindness on my behalf."
Seeing this, Tang San did not press him. He unhurriedly rolled up the scroll and put it back into his belt, then raised his head again, a look of certainty appearing on his still somewhat childish face.
"I know you've probably heard things about Teacher somewhere that have led you to misunderstand him. But most of those are just rumors spread by people jealous of his talent, repeating falsehoods until they pass for truth. In reality, Teacher's expertise in Soul Beasts and Martial Souls is second to none. If you could receive his guidance, you would definitely improve tremendously. Take me, for example..."
As his words fell, a faint yellow halo suddenly rippled out beneath Tang San's feet.
A bright yellow Soul Ring emerged from beneath his soles, turning from illusory to solid, from faint to vivid, until it hovered steadily at his feet, radiating a warm, substantial yellow glow.
Tang San lifted his chin slightly, his tone carrying unmistakable pride. "Look, this is the first Soul Ring I obtained for my Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul on Teacher's advice, from a four-hundred-year-old Mandala Snake. The normal limit for a Soul Master's first Soul Ring is only a little over four hundred years. Teacher helped me hit precisely the optimal age, ensuring the greatest benefit while also perfectly matching my Martial Soul's attributes."
With himself as a living example, Tang San was utterly confident he could change Su Lin's mind. If even Blue Silver Grass, universally acknowledged as a trash Martial Soul, could obtain a four-hundred-year Soul Ring, could he still doubt Grandmaster's abilities?
It would have been better if he had not brought that up. At the mention of the Mandala Snake, the corner of Su Lin's mouth twitched, and he hurriedly turned his head away, afraid his expression would give too much away.
If he remembered correctly, had it not been for Tang San's almost miraculous hidden weapon techniques, the Mandala Snake would have scored a double kill on master and disciple in the Soul Hunting Forest.
Leaving everything else aside, if Yu Xiaogang's theories were truly as powerful as he boasted, his current Soul Ring configuration should have made him unmatched by anything under a thousand years old. Even if he could not fight across an entire major rank, he should at least have been able to handle a mere four-hundred-year-old Soul Beast.
The facts and the claims were simply contradicting each other.
At any rate, Su Lin could not imagine just how absurd a rank-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster had to be to lose to a Soul Beast that was barely four hundred years old.