"Yes, everyone here is still just a child. The academy doesn't separate boys and girls in the dorms. They say that only when you reach the Intermediate Soul Master Academy will they start splitting by gender." Wang Sheng nodded, then frowned with confusion.
"It's really strange. Last year not even a single work-study student came. But this year, three at once?"
"Boss, go on, give her a warning match!" someone whispered, egging him on in a hushed tone.
"Uh… there's no need for that." Tang San's face showed embarrassment.
And so, in front of Yang Yunhai and the other dormmates, the same scene played out just as in the original story. Tang San and Xiao Wu fought. The result didn't change either. Tang San, because of that moment of shyness when he caught a glimpse of Xiao Wu's undergarments, hesitated for a split second, and in that instant fell to Xiao Wu's soft techniques.
Once the little skirmish ended, Xiao Wu sat down decisively on the bed right next to Tang San's, claiming the space as hers. She patted the mattress, crossed her legs with casual familiarity, and told Wang Sheng to introduce the academy's rules and situation to her.
After listening carefully, Xiao Wu tilted her head and looked at Tang San.
"Tang San, what rank is your soul power? Just now, I felt like your strength was very high."
"I'm innate full soul power," Tang San replied directly. "So yes, my strength is a bit stronger."
Xiao Wu blinked, her pink eyes shimmering faintly. Her lips moved ever so slightly, mouthing words too soft for anyone to catch.
"???" Yang Yunhai frowned inwardly. He couldn't read lips, but from Xiao Wu's eyes and subtle expressions, he had a gut feeling that something wasn't simple. As someone who had run a shop in his previous life, he wasn't unfamiliar with observing people's expressions. The way she reacted to Tang San's words hinted at something deeper.
Before he could dwell on it further, a voice called from outside.
"Which one of you is Tang San?"
Turning his head, Yang Yunhai saw a middle-aged teacher—Mo Hen—sent by Yu Xiaogang to deliver bedding to Tang San.
The teacher handed the blanket over, then gave a quick explanation about the duties of work-study students and mentioned tomorrow's opening ceremony. Without lingering, he turned and left.
Not long after, another iconic moment from the original story unfolded. Xiao Wu, after a bit of back-and-forth, finally threw out the line that made Yang Yunhai's worldview tremble.
"What's so bad about it? I'm a girl and I don't care. What are you afraid of? What, are you scared I'll take advantage of you?"
"Holy hell! No wonder Xiao Wu was nicknamed the Rogue Rabbit in my previous life. It wasn't for nothing!" Yang Yunhai thought, shaken to the core.
"Uh…" Tang San also froze, dumbfounded. His mouth opened slightly in disbelief.
Two lifetimes and over thirty years of experience combined, and he had never seen such a brazen girl. Everything about her behavior clashed violently with the traditional teachings and values he had received.
"Um… Sister Xiao Wu, bedding isn't expensive. Why don't we pool some money and buy you a new set from outside the school?" Wang Sheng suggested carefully. Maybe it was because of Yang Yunhai's earlier presence that he dared to say it aloud when he saw Tang San frozen in place.
"I'm too lazy to go outside." Xiao Wu suddenly hopped off her bed, put her hands on her hips, and looked straight at Tang San. Her tone was commanding, even impatient.
"Don't just stand there. Hurry up, move your bed here. You're supposed to be strong, aren't you?"
For some reason—maybe intimidated, maybe simply stunned—Tang San obeyed without protest. His hands gripped his bed frame and pushed it right beside Xiao Wu's.
'What the hell…? You've lived two lives, over thirty years total. Shouldn't you be acting like a proper gentleman? Shouldn't you have some backbone and reject her clearly? Instead you just give in?' Yang Yunhai nearly choked on his own thoughts, staring speechlessly.
'And besides, it's not even necessary to go outside to buy anything. Why not just have Wang Sheng go fetch another blanket and bring it back? Xiao Wu either didn't think of it because she's careless, or she's doing this on purpose.'
'The way she reacted after hearing Tang San has innate full soul power makes it look like she wants to stay close to him deliberately. Is she intentionally sticking to Tang San because she sees his talent and potential?'
Yang Yunhai's mind raced.
He remembered clearly from the original story: Xiao Wu shared a bed with Tang San for a long time before they ever separated. And when she got her first soul ring and received subsidies from the Spirit Hall, she had more than enough money to buy her own bedding. Yet she didn't.
That didn't line up.
The original material had even explained: for a soul beast in human form, getting close to humans and experiencing their aura was critical to cultivating further.
'So Xiao Wu sharing a bed with Tang San… was it really just for convenience? Or was it a conscious choice to draw nearer, to better sense human aura? And why Tang San specifically? Because he had innate full soul power and showed extraordinary combat ability?'
He shook his head.
'Or maybe it was another reason entirely. Could she be using Tang San as a shield, another innate full soul power student to draw attention, so that her own presence seems less suspicious? But wait, no… that doesn't add up either.'
'In the original, Xiao Wu wasn't low-key at all. At Notting Academy she was famous for her boldness, basically the undisputed big sister. And she was always the spark that set Tang San off.'
'She was anything but subtle.'
While his thoughts tangled, Xiao Wu casually tossed her small bundle onto the space between the two beds, drawing a line as though setting her own territory.
Wang Sheng, seeing the tension diffuse, smiled. "Sister Xiao Wu, Tang San, it's about lunchtime. Should we all head to the cafeteria?"
So, after some pulling and shoving, the group left together.
What followed unfolded exactly as Yang Yunhai remembered. In the cafeteria, the noble student Xiao Chenyu mocked the work-study students. Then Yu Xiaogang appeared, and in a dramatic fashion, invited Tang San upstairs to dine. Tang San refused. Yu Xiaogang left alone.
Afterward, Wang Sheng muttered about Yu Xiaogang's actual strength, unintentionally offending Tang San, who grew angry and stormed out.
Yang Yunhai sat quietly the entire time, eating his food without comment. When the meal was over, he excused himself, claiming he needed to buy living supplies. He slipped out of the academy and spent some time shopping in the nearby town.
Returning with his purchases, he put everything away neatly in the dorm. With everyone taking their afternoon nap, he quietly left again, wandering the grounds of the academy to familiarize himself with the layout. Eventually, his steps took him straight to the back mountain.
Blue Silver Grass, a plant nearly everywhere on the continent, also grew in patches here.
After some searching, he found a small, flat clearing where clusters of Blue Silver Grass grew thickly. Perfect. Without hesitation, he settled down, arranging his things and beginning to cultivate.
This natural patch of Blue Silver Grass, this imitation of his Martial Soul's own nature, would likely become his personal training ground for a long time.
An hour later, he rose, dusting himself off. He approached a hardwood tree, snapped off a sturdy branch, and stripped it down into a rough wooden staff.
He held it in one hand, sank into a horse stance, and began practicing.
Ever since he had come to this world, especially once he learned it was the Douluo Continent where Martial Souls could awaken, his first thought was to devise a training plan for his body. If he could build a strong foundation, then when his Martial Soul awakened, he would have a greater chance of cultivating soul power.
And now that he had, it also meant that the stronger his body was, the more he could build on it for the future.
'The body is the capital of revolution. That truth never changes.'
He scoured his memory for every exercise, every drill he had seen in his past life: martial arts stances from TV, training exercises from military drills, sports programs on television, even taolu he had once practiced briefly.
Horse stance, frog jumps, sit-ups—all these basics he remembered clearly. Sword thrusts, spear thrusts, basic strikes and blocks—he recalled scraps from movies and shows. They weren't much, but they were better than nothing.
From these fragments, he had set himself two goals.
First, his stance must be firm. Horse stance must be solid; his foundation had to be immovable. Second, he had to improve flexibility. His body needed to be nimble. Even if he couldn't replicate Tang San's hidden weapon mastery, his body had to be capable of the same movements.
Take something as simple as the splits. If he ever got forced into a split by an enemy attack and tore muscles, leaving him writhing in pain and unable to move, that would be a disaster. But if he trained his body to handle it, he'd still have the strength to counter.
As a famous man once said, not having a sword and never using a sword are two entirely different things.
So he had started training from age four.
Now, with his Martial Soul awakened as Blue Silver Grass, he had to think carefully.
'If I practice consistently, maybe one day I'll be able to shape my Martial Soul into a spear. A spear infused with lightning… that has potential. Even if I can't master advanced spear techniques, just drilling the basics should already make me strong. Even three simple strikes, like Cheng Yaojin's three axes, could carve me a place in the world.'
'And if nothing else, I can just practice throwing it. Long-range spears, combined with control-type skills—binding enemies and then striking them down—that works too.'
'Even if I never master it, all this training will strengthen my arms and wrists. A pair of powerful arms is never a waste. Even in a tug-of-war of Blue Silver Grass control, I'll have the edge over someone who neglected their body.'
Resolute, Yang Yunhai tightened his grip on the stick.
He set a third goal for himself: the spear must be steady. Horse stance with a weapon, push-ups, pull-ups, practicing thrusts until his arms trembled—all of it had to be drilled daily.
As for more advanced training, he'd leave that until after obtaining his first soul ring.
With that thought, he closed his eyes, sank into meditation, and continued to train.
(End of Chapter)
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