Looking at Tang San standing outside the door, Lu Fei frowned. "Tang San? What are you doing here?"
"Ahem, I heard your brother sent something back to you. Has he come back too?" Tang San coughed awkwardly and explained why he had come.
Lu Fei was instantly speechless. During his month at Nuoding Academy, Tang San and Yu Xiaogang had sought him out four or five times, always asking about Lu Yu.
At first, Lu Fei had thought Lu Yu was making a mountain out of a molehill. Perhaps Yu Xiaogang wasn't as bad as Lu Yu had said; after all, the teachers at the academy all called Yu Xiaogang Grandmaster.
But later, Xiao Chenyu told him that Yu Xiaogang was nothing but a freeloader sponging food and drink off the academy, and the other students thought the same. After that, Lu Fei lost any favorable impression he had of the two.
"My brother hasn't come back, and I don't know where he is. Stop coming to find me!" As Lu Fei spoke, he made to close the door.
A chill appeared in Tang San's eyes. He raised a hand to hold the door, preventing Lu Fei from closing it.
"Lu Fei, listen to me. My teacher is the foremost expert on Martial Soul Theory, and his Martial Soul is just like your brother's: both are External Beast Martial Souls. On this continent, Grandmaster is also able to help your brother find the right path of cultivation."
Lu Fei let out a turbid breath and gave Tang San a strange look. "Tang San, are you sure there's nothing wrong with your head?"
Tang San was about to angrily demand what Lu Fei meant when Lu Fei raised a hand and interrupted him.
"If your teacher is so capable, then what's his Soul Power Level now? And how many disciples has he taught?"
"As far as I know, Grandmaster has stayed at Nuoding Academy for decades, but he's never taken a single disciple. How can you be sure he can be a good teacher?"
Lu Fei paused, then continued, "Besides, I've heard a saying: 'There are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters.' Your teacher said that, didn't he?"
Tang San nodded, his expression shifting. Lu Fei continued, "Since there are no useless Martial Souls, why has Grandmaster never taught the other students a class in all his years at Nuoding Academy?"
"If Grandmaster is really as capable as you say, why doesn't he take people with low Innate Soul Power and poor-quality Martial Souls as disciples? Instead, he took you, a disciple with Innate Full Soul Power."
"Don't you think that's the complete opposite of what your teacher says? He says there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters, yet he took a disciple with Innate Full Soul Power himself."
"Lu Fei, my teacher isn't the way you think. Isn't your brother's talent very poor? He only had level-one Innate Soul Power, and my teacher still wanted to take him as a disciple and teach him how to cultivate."
Although Tang San was furious as he listened to Lu Fei, he couldn't think of a rebuttal for the moment, because every word Lu Fei said was true. The truth was often the hardest thing to counter.
Lu Fei spread his hands and looked at Tang San innocently. "I don't know where my brother is either. There's no use asking me!"
"Then do you know when your brother will come back?" Tang San still refused to give up and pressed on.
Lu Fei shook his head and slammed the door shut with a bang.
Outside, Tang San stared fixedly at the wooden door. If Yu Xiaogang hadn't arranged this, Tang San would have taught Lu Fei a lesson long ago for what he had just said.
Tang San took several deep breaths before finally letting out the pent-up frustration in his chest. He took a long look at Lu Fei's dormitory, then turned and left.
As soon as Tang San entered Yu Xiaogang's office, Yu Xiaogang hurried forward and asked impatiently, "Little San, how did it go? Has Lu Yu come back?"
Looking at Yu Xiaogang's stubbled face, Tang San pursed his lips and silently shook his head.
Seeing Tang San shake his head, Yu Xiaogang stood up in disappointment. "Sigh... where do you think he could have gone?"
It sounded as though he was asking Tang San, but also as though he was asking himself.
In Suotuo City, outside the small courtyard house Lu Yu rented, an employee of the Soto Great Soul Arena was knocking anxiously at the gate.
Inside, Lu Yu heard the knocking, let out a turbid breath, and stopped cultivating. He looked outside through the window.
"Coming!"
Hearing the call from inside the courtyard, the arena employee lowered his hand and paced back and forth anxiously.
Lu Yu opened the courtyard gate and saw the badge on the visitor's chest. He ventured, "Did Manager Huang send you?"
"Yes, Mr. Equal to Heaven. Manager Huang has an urgent matter to discuss with you," the arena employee explained respectfully.
Lu Yu nodded and followed the arena employee toward the arena. Before long, he arrived at Manager Huang's office.
"Sit!" Manager Huang said mildly.
"Manager Huang, is something the matter? Why did you call me here so urgently?" Lu Yu asked, puzzled.
Manager Huang looked at the documents in his hands in silence for a moment, then looked up at Lu Yu with a conflicted expression.
"Equal to Heaven, this concerns the Narvis Soul Fighting Arena. Your record of thirty-eight wins and zero losses at our arena made the Soto Soul Fighting Arena the talk of the town for a time, and many Soul Masters came here to compete."
"That caused the Narvis Soul Fighting Arena's earnings to fall. They sent over a level-twenty-eight Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster named Lin Tian. Over the past two months, he's already racked up forty-eight wins and seven losses."
"No Soul Master at his level is a match for him. I'd like to ask you to give it a try. Perhaps..."
At that point, Manager Huang was amused by his own words: he was asking a One-Ring Soul Master to fight a level-twenty-eight Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster.
But Manager Huang still held a sliver of hope. He had watched Lu Yu's previous matches, and Lu Yu had often won within a few moves.
With Manager Huang's discerning eye, he had naturally seen that Lu Yu hadn't used his full strength in his previous Soul Fighting matches. Even threatening Lin Tian would be useless; the Narvis Soul Fighting Arena stood behind him.
With no other choice, Manager Huang had decided to treat a dead horse as if it were still alive and called Lu Yu over, hoping to have him give it a try. Besides, Manager Huang had a hunch that if Lu Yu didn't show himself, Lin Tian would probably stay at the Soto Soul Fighting Arena indefinitely.
Lu Yu looked at Manager Huang with a troubled expression. "Manager Huang, forgive me for speaking bluntly, but I'm afraid this might be difficult!"
Lu Yu hadn't been to the arena for a month and a half, having spent the whole time cultivating. He had used up nearly all the money he had earned from Soul Fighting and the money Manager Huang had given him.
Lu Yu had now reached level twenty and was planning to go hunt for his Second Soul Ring the next day. Who could have expected Manager Huang to summon him today?
Lu Yu was confident he could deal with the level-twenty-eight Lin Tian. He was only pretending to be troubled because he was almost out of money and wanted to squeeze out a little more.
"Young friend Equal to Heaven, you can rest assured on that point. Win or lose, I'll give you an appearance fee of fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins. What do you think?" Manager Huang said with a smile, holding up five fingers.
Manager Huang was, after all, the arena's manager. Since Lu Yu hadn't refused immediately, it meant he was willing to take the stage; the price simply wasn't high enough.
As Manager Huang named the fee, he also extended his perception to check Lu Yu's current Soul Power Level. He wouldn't have known without looking, but one look gave him a shock.
Manager Huang cried out in disbelief:
"You're level twenty?"