Chapter 16: The Master and Tang San
Early the next morning, Luo Ling was dragged out of bed by Hu Liena.
"Little Brother Luo Ling, Notting City looks so run-down," Hu Liena said, holding his hand tightly while looking around curiously.
"Senior Sister, Notting City is just a small border city of the Heaven Dou Empire. You can't compare it to the larger cities," Luo Ling replied helplessly.
Their interaction appeared unusually close; Hu Liena was practically clinging to him. With her pressed so tightly to his arm, Luo Ling could clearly feel her soft warmth.
At her age, she's developed this much already… truly, women of Douluo Continent are a different breed, he sighed silently.
Ever since he had saved Hu Liena in the Spirit Hunting Forest, she had been especially affectionate toward him. Luo Ling hadn't resisted—he simply went along with it.
"Look! The Grandmaster's back!"
"What Grandmaster? I'd say he's just a wicked soul master practicing forbidden arts!"
"A castrated pervert soul master!"
…
While Luo Ling and Hu Liena wandered through the streets, a commotion formed up ahead.
Luo Ling's eyes darkened instantly when he recognized the man in the crowd—the one he had longed to kill since that night.
Yu Xiaogang.
At this moment, Yu Xiaogang was walking slowly down the street with a dark-haired, plain-faced boy at his side.
Recently, Yu Xiaogang's mood had been foul. He had only sent an assistant to deal with a troublesome student—a mere working student—yet he himself had ended up crippled.
Rumors now spread that he practiced vile, forbidden techniques.
He couldn't even refute them—too many people had witnessed that night.
Zhang Lang's body had been found in his office, both of them naked. When Yu Xiaogang woke, that had been the scene before his eyes.
He remembered meeting Zhang Lang—but at some point, his vision went black. What happened after that, he didn't know.
As people whispered and pointed from every direction, Yu Xiaogang gritted his teeth.
Someone must have framed me out of jealousy! Yes… that's it.
Veins bulged in his bloodshot eyes. Lowering his head, he glanced at the boy walking beside him.
That boy—Tang San—was a rare prodigy with twin martial souls. His second martial soul was none other than the legendary Clear Sky Hammer, the greatest of all tool-type martial souls.
Once I cultivate a genius like him, I'll clear my name. Everyone will see that Yu Xiaogang was right all along!
Clenching his fists until his knuckles whitened, Yu Xiaogang tried to ignore the humiliation and led Tang San toward the gates of Notting Academy.
"Yu Xiaogang! Tell me what you did to Luo Ling!"
The shout came before he even stepped through the gate.
Yu Xiaogang's face froze as he looked up. Panic flickered faintly in his eyes.
Nearby, Luo Ling and Hu Liena had also reached the academy's entrance. They watched from a distance, enjoying the scene.
"So that's Yu Xiaogang?" Hu Liena said, her tone dripping with disdain as she eyed the disheveled figure in the crowd. "He looks pathetic… this is the man our teacher once…"
She didn't finish the sentence. Perhaps she thought this man wasn't worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as Bibi Dong.
"Maybe our teacher was simply deceived back then," Luo Ling said lightly, his gaze flicking subtly toward a shadowed corner not far away.
Bibi Dong stood there, expression complex, staring silently at the three figures gathered before Notting Academy's gate.
"I told you already—I don't know where that kid went or why he disappeared!" Yu Xiaogang shouted defensively.
"How can you not know? Luo Ling wanted to be your disciple, but after you rejected him, he disappeared! That same night, your assistant was found dead—his body drained completely! Luo Ling must have been killed by you!" his accuser—an angry young man—retorted, provoking an uproar among the onlookers.
"What? Someone else died?"
"So that so-called Grandmaster really does practice dark arts?"
"He's dangerous! How could such a person remain at the academy?"
The muttering quickly escalated into shouts of disgust.
"Don't slander me!" Yu Xiaogang yelled furiously, his composure cracking.
In the crowd, Luo Ling watched silently. When he saw who stood arguing with Yu Xiaogang, warmth briefly flickered in his chest.
It was Wang Sheng—his former roommate.
He's actually confronting Yu Xiaogang over my disappearance…? Luo Ling thought, touched.
He had only spent one year at the academy. Though they were friends, he hadn't expected Wang Sheng to stand up for him like this.
"Then tell us—why did Luo Ling vanish without a trace?" Wang Sheng demanded coldly, refusing to back down.
Before, he may never have dared to oppose an academy teacher. But now, with Yu Xiaogang disgraced across the city, even most faculty members looked down on him.
"Don't insult my teacher!"
Before Yu Xiaogang could reply, the black-haired boy stepped forward—Tang San.
"My teacher was framed!" Tang San declared firmly. "He never practiced any forbidden arts!"
Yu Xiaogang felt his eyes sting with emotion. "Tang San…" he whispered gratefully. At least I didn't take the wrong disciple.
"We all saw it!" Wang Sheng snapped. "Zhang Lang's body was found in Yu Xiaogang's office! You say he was framed—but who would bother framing him?"
"I don't know who did it," Tang San answered sharply. "But I know my teacher isn't a heretic!"
As a transmigrator, Tang San had noticed too many inconsistencies. If Yu Xiaogang had truly cultivated dark arts, why would he choose to do it in his office—such a public place—of all locations?
And being conveniently discovered afterwards? It looked far too deliberate.
From his perspective, Yu Xiaogang was like an expert of the Tang Sect—a wise teacher envied by fools.
That was why Tang San had chosen him.
"Believe what you want," Tang San said coldly. "But my teacher is innocent. And this Luo Ling you mentioned—he has nothing to do with him! If you keep slandering my teacher, I won't hold back!"
"Oh really?" Wang Sheng sneered. "Tang San, you defend Yu Xiaogang so passionately—maybe you've been practicing those dark arts too, huh? Otherwise, how could a worthless Blue Silver Grass martial soul be born with full innate soul power?"
"What? Full innate power with a Blue Silver Grass martial soul?"
"Now I understand why Yu Xiaogang took him as a disciple. Maybe this kid's another dark cultivator too!"
The crowd's whispers grew louder, uglier.
Tang San's expression twisted, his eyes flashing dangerously.
You dare insult my martial soul… and my teacher?
"Wang Sheng," he hissed, his voice dropping to a deadly calm. "You have chosen your death."
In an instant, a pale-yellow soul ring rose at Tang San's feet.
"First Soul Skill—Blue Silver Bind!"
(END CHAPTER)
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