Nuoding City.
Inside Nuoding Academy, Yu Xiaogang, who had just taken on a disciple, was talking nonstop to Tang San.
"Little San, I will use my world-shaking wisdom to help you become a god!"
"But it's a pity about that fellow townsman of yours. His Innate Soul Power is only level one, and he has a Trash Martial Soul. I'm afraid he has no hope of becoming a Soul Elder in this lifetime."
"Yet if he had my guidance, let alone a Trash Martial Soul, even if his Innate Soul Power were only half a level, I'd still have some confidence in making him a Titled Douluo someday. But I don't take disciples lightly. Having you as my one disciple is enough."
Tang San's worshipful gaze gave Yu Xiaogang's vanity immense satisfaction.
"Huh? No, what's wrong with you? I'm just passing by, and you still have to step on me to make yourself look better?"
Gu Chen, who had just registered at the Academic Affairs Office and was on his way to check in at Dorm Seven, happened to run into Yu Xiaogang and his disciple. When he heard those words, he really couldn't hold back and burst out laughing. At that moment, he understood a truth: when people were truly speechless, they really did laugh.
But to Yu Xiaogang, who was enjoying his disciple's admiration, that laughter was grating.
"What are you laughing at?"
"With your level-one Innate Soul Power and that low-potential Trash Martial Soul, Blue Silver Grass, you're destined to live a mediocre life without my guidance as a Grandmaster. Little San, on the other hand, has a bright future ahead of him with my guidance. There's an unbridgeable chasm between you. Take advantage of these years of study to look up to Little San. In the future, you won't even be qualified to look up to him."
Standing before Gu Chen, Yu Xiaogang felt an inexplicable sense of superiority. A piece of trash with level-one Innate Soul Power, who wasn't even qualified to be his disciple-no, who wasn't even qualified for a second glance from him-actually dared laugh at him. He truly had a way to die.
So he belittled Gu Chen without hesitation, hoping to satisfy himself by putting him down.
This time, Gu Chen really couldn't hold back.
He hadn't wanted to bother with trash like Yu Xiaogang. Even when the man was showing off in front of Tang San, he couldn't be bothered to get involved and was going to slip away. But as it turned out, though he hadn't looked for trouble, trouble had come looking for him.
With his fiery temper, whether in his previous life or this one, he had never been in the habit of taking a beating without talking back or being cursed without hitting back.
"Heh!"
"My Innate Soul Power is level one, but that's still better than yours, Grandmaster, you half-level trash! At least I'm half a level higher than you!"
Those words struck straight at the man's heart.
Yu Xiaogang's eyes reddened slightly, and he began to pant.
But Gu Chen gave Yu Xiaogang no chance to retort and unleashed a barrage on him.
"Yu Xiaogang, don't think you're really a Grandmaster just because people call you one a couple of times. Everyone knows how inflated that title of yours is. If you were truly capable, would you have been freeloading at Nuoding Academy for over a decade?"
"If you really had the ability, you couldn't have produced a single expert in all these years? I'd say you just don't have what it takes!"
"You're only waiting for a genius with Innate Full Soul Power like Tang San to appear, then doing everything you can to take him as your disciple. Once the seed sprouts and grows into a towering tree, you can reap both fame and fortune."
"But a genius with Innate Full Soul Power like Tang San already has the potential to become a Titled Douluo. Even without your guidance, he can still become someone great. You're nothing but a thief hoping to sit and wait for the fruit to ripen before picking it."
"And you have the nerve to put me down to elevate yourself? Does trash like you deserve to?"
Gu Chen unloaded on Yu Xiaogang without a shred of restraint or fear. There was no other reason: while at the Academic Affairs Office, he had casually asked about Yu Xiaogang, then happened to mention that Yu Xiaogang had taken Tang San, who had Innate Full Soul Power, as his disciple. That had made Director Su so angry that he spilled everything like beans from a bamboo tube, voicing all his grievances about Yu Xiaogang, and several teachers nearby had joined in.
That showed just how much everyone at Nuoding Academy despised Yu Xiaogang-even the dogs hated him.
He had even asked what would happen if he accidentally offended Yu Xiaogang and the man used his age and strength to bully him. Director Su had said Yu Xiaogang didn't have the guts; the Nuoding City Law Enforcement Team was no pushover. A student at the academy had once provoked Yu Xiaogang to his face, and in the end Yu Xiaogang had gone to complain to the academy head, only for the matter to be dropped.
That was why he dared trade insults with Yu Xiaogang, even getting right in his face and unloading on him.
"You, you, you..."
Whether Gu Chen had exposed his true thoughts or revealed his true level of ability, Yu Xiaogang was so furious that his eyes were crimson and he was panting like a bull.
"You ignorant child, how dare you casually slander my name as Grandmaster? Who on the entire continent doesn't know my name, Yu Xiaogang? Everyone knows the 'Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul' that I wrote, and everyone respects me as a Grandmaster. How could trash like you, who only awakened level-one Innate Soul Power through sheer luck in some backwater, possibly understand my greatness?"
Yu Xiaogang's voice grew louder and louder, as though that could cover up his guilty conscience.
"Ha! I've heard a little about your crappy Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, and what's in it is a pile of dog shit!"
"Like how Innate Soul Power is directly proportional to the quality of a Martial Soul. What, if it weren't directly proportional, would it be inversely proportional? That's like taking off your pants to fart-completely unnecessary!"
"And then there's 'there are no trash Martial Souls, only trash Soul Masters.' I hear you broke through to age fifty at level twenty-nine, Grandmaster, and you even managed to insult yourself twice in one sentence. I'm impressed!"
"And the theory that Martial Souls are divided into Tool Martial Souls and Beast Martial Souls? What, are you the only one with eyes? You can even publish a brain-dead observation like that as a theory? Who the fuck are you trying to fool?"
"Don't rush, I'm not finished. There's also your Martial Soul Mimicry Theory: Plant-type Martial Souls can absorb beast Soul Rings..."
"..."
Gu Chen showed him no consideration, pulling out each of his Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul in turn to criticize and tear apart. As he spoke, Yu Xiaogang's anger kept rising, while Gu Chen's impassioned words drew a crowd of students over to watch the drama.
"Yu Xiaogang, your Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul can be summed up in a few words: a pile of nonsense!"
"The fact that you earned the title of 'Grandmaster' with this nonsense says everything about your ability. With your trash level of skill, you dare make grand pronouncements about my future? Who gave you the courage? Liang Jingru?!"
As his words fell, thunderous applause followed.
It was the students who had gathered to watch the drama. There was no other reason: his words had truly struck a chord with them. Yu Xiaogang had no ability to speak of, and while at the academy, he would frequently belittle students to satisfy himself. The entire school's teachers and students had long since grown sick of him.
Now that a brave soul had stepped forward to rage at Yu Xiaogang, they had to back him up no matter what.
"You, you, you're courting death!!!"
"Luo Sanpao!!!"
Yu Xiaogang's eyes were crimson, and he panted like a bull. He immediately summoned his Martial Soul, ready to teach Gu Chen, that brat who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth, a lesson.
And yet.
"Yu Xiaogang, what do you think you're doing? You freeloader, do you dare attack a student of our Nuoding Academy?!!!"
Director Su, who had been watching the drama for half the exchange, also stepped forward. He stood in front of Gu Chen and shouted at Yu Xiaogang.
Seeing this,
Yu Xiaogang instantly calmed down. Although they were both Soul Grandmasters, Director Su could beat the shit out of him in a fight.
"Director Su, this boy dared humiliate me like this. I only want to teach him a lesson!"
But the flames of Yu Xiaogang's anger toward Gu Chen were still burning fiercely in his heart.
"Hmph! It's not the place of an outsider and freeloader like you to discipline a student of Nuoding Academy! Besides, every word he just said was perfectly reasonable! What did he do wrong?!"
Director Su said, standing up for his own.
"You..."
Yu Xiaogang was so angry that his Tang syndrome flared up again.
"Fine, fine, fine! I, Yu Xiaogang, am a renowned Martial Soul Grandmaster, after all. Everyone who meets me shows me some respect. Yet today, a child like you has dared insult me like this. I'm telling you, this isn't over! I'll report you to the academy head and have an arrogant brat like you, who shows no respect for his teachers and elders, expelled!!!"
After delivering that threat, he pulled Tang San along, turned around, and left.
You little brat, just wait to be expelled!