All rights reserved to the respective authors.
"Dialogue": Represented in double quotes for conversations between characters.
'Thoughts': Represented in single quotation marks, indicating the characters' internal reflections.
[Diary]: Represented in square brackets, used for messages intended for the heroines or entries written by Tenshin.
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Nuoding Academy
"Tang San, would you consider becoming my student?"
As soon as Yu Xiaogang posed the question, a heavy silence settled over the group. The only sound came from Tang San, who blinked in confusion and responded with a simple:
"Ah?" His voice carried a note of surprise. The suddenness of the offer left him momentarily stunned, and though he felt the urge to reply, no words came to him. His mind raced, unsure of what to make of the situation.
Yu Xiaogang observed the boy's reaction with keen interest. To him, Tang San's hesitation wasn't rejection—it was the understandable uncertainty of a six-year-old suddenly thrust into something unfamiliar. He remained composed, his expression unreadable, and decided to steer the conversation toward reason and knowledge. If logic could not persuade Tang San, perhaps curiosity would.
'He's just a child from a remote village… a little insight might be all it takes to win him over as my disciple. Maybe even Satoru Tenshin,' Yu Xiaogang thought, inwardly optimistic. The possibility of acquiring not just one, but two gifted students excited him—especially if it meant validating his long-held theories.
With a deliberate step forward, Yu Xiaogang clasped his hands behind his back, his tone scholarly as he began to speak. "I've studied countless individuals with Blue Silver Grass martial souls. In nearly every case, those who awaken with it either possess no soul power at all or barely reach level 1."
He paused for effect, then shifted his gaze to Tang San, locking eyes with him. "But you are different," he continued, his voice softer now, tinged with curiosity. "You possess the Blue Silver Grass martial soul—and yet, you also have full innate soul power. What could that mean?"
Tang San's heartbeat quickened. A vague discomfort took hold of him. He felt a flicker of anxiety, but quickly steadied himself.
"I don't know…" he answered, shaking his head.
Yu Xiaogang nodded slightly, a mix of disappointment and admiration flickering in his eyes. Tang San didn't say what he expected, nor did he reveal what he knew. That, in itself, was promising; he has caution.
"This makes you a rare case—an exception," Yu Xiaogang went on. "There must be a reason behind this anomaly. In my opinion, there are two possible explanations."
He raised one finger in the air. "The first possibility is that your martial soul isn't an ordinary Blue Silver Grass—it might be a mutated martial soul," he said, the statement hanging in the air. Though he presented the idea with confidence, his tone betrayed a lack of conviction.
Meanwhile, Satoru Tenshin stood a good distance away from them, silently observing the academy campus. Or rather, he pretended to.
Feigning interest in the academy's architecture or perhaps a nearby bird, Tenshin slowly backed away—careful not to be overheard. He knew almost completely how this conversation would unfold. Every word, every gesture—it had all played out before in the timeline he remembered.
But this world was not bound to follow exactly the same script he knew.
In the original course of events, everything had proceeded smoothly. Tang San accepted, and Yu Xiaogang took him under his wing. But here, in this moment, anything could change - because of his presence. Tenshin couldn't afford to gamble—not when the variables included not just Tang San, but Tang Hao. And while Tenshin had the power and skill to handle the boy, the same could not be said for the boy's father.
Yu Xiaogang, wholly engrossed in Tang San, didn't notice Tenshin's discreet retreat. His focus remained fixed on the boy before him.
"Nevertheless," Yu Xiaogang continued, "I find that explanation unlikely. While mutations can occasionally enhance a martial soul—sometimes even resulting in full innate soul power—they more often lead to a degradation in quality. Most mutated martial souls emerge weaker, not stronger."
He paused, his gaze drifting momentarily as if caught in a memory. A flicker of bitterness passed across his face.
'Like a dragon twisted into something grotesque… a mix of dog and pig, thunder into noise.'
The image of Luo San Pao—his martial soul—flashed in his mind. He forced the thought away. This wasn't the time for personal regrets. First impressions mattered, and right now, the future hung in the balance.
Refocusing on Tang San, who remained silent but attentive, Yu Xiaogang felt encouraged. The boy was listening—and that was enough.
He pressed on, voice steady with conviction. "As for the other possibility—and the one I firmly believe to be true—you are one of only three known cases on the continent. Your full innate soul power must come from your second martial soul. In other words, you are a Twin Martial Soul bearer."
With those words, Yu Xiaogang straightened, exuding quiet triumph. He imagined the shock Tang San must be feeling. Once the boy accepted him as his teacher, Yu Xiaogang would ensure his rise to the ranks of the Titled Douluo. Then, the world would see—his theories had merit. Those who ridiculed him would be silenced.
But Yu Xiaogang had misjudged the silence.
Tang San was not merely stunned. He was terrified.
His heart pounded erratically as his right hand moved subtly behind him, fingertips brushing against the hidden mechanism of his concealed weapon. His thoughts raced.
'Father warned me—never reveal my second martial soul. And now… on my first day, no less… it's already been exposed. Should I eliminate him before this spreads?'
Instinctively, his eyes darted around in search of Tenshin. But after a quick scan, he realized Tenshin had moved too far away to have overheard any of the conversation. From that distance—and judging by the direction he was facing—Tang San was confident that there was no threat from that side.
Furthermore, after witnessing Tenshin's performance before, Tang San knew that it was best not to act recklessly. Even if he could defeat him, it would risk revealing too much of his hidden strength.
Yu Xiaogang, unaware of the inner turmoil he had sparked, mistook Tang San's silence for doubt—and moved to dispel it.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked, his tone soft but proud.
"I am Yu Xiaogang, the foremost theorist on martial souls across the continent. I've dedicated my life to this study. If you choose to follow me, I will teach you everything I know."
He took a step closer.
"Many dismiss Blue Silver Grass as a useless martial soul. But I don't believe in useless martial souls—only in Soul Masters who fail to cultivate them properly. With the right guidance, even Blue Silver Grass can achieve greatness."
Those final words struck Tang San like lightning.
From the moment he had awakened his martial soul, he had been told—by Spirit Hall officials, and even by his father—that Blue Silver Grass was a dead end. Worthless. Weak. A burden to carry rather than a legacy to honor.
But this man saw something else.
He didn't scorn Tang San's martial soul. He acknowledged its potential—and more impressively, he had deduced the truth from just two facts: Blue Silver Grass and full innate soul power.
In that instant, Tang San's resolve shifted. The tension in his body eased. He withdrew his right hand from behind his back and made a choice.
He would not kill this man.
Meanwhile, in the distance, Tenshin stood silently listening to the conversation, while with his spiritual power he saw the conversation and felt the ebb and flow of emotions—danger, hesitation, revelation, and killing intent.
And when the decision was made, he picked up on it instantly.
'What the hell...' he thought, equal parts incredulous and amused. 'Even with all my knowledge of the novel, it was... surreal. It felt like a cheap comedy unfolding in real time.' As he reflected on the encounter, Tenshin began to write in his diary:
[Yu Xiaogang almost got himself killed. He has no idea how close he came to death at that moment—the gate to the afterlife was practically yawning before him.]
This single entry caused a stir among the women who read his words. As far as they knew, they were on their way to finish enrolling in Nuoding Academy—an otherwise unremarkable occasion. So how could Yu Xiaogang have nearly died without even realizing it?
The diary continued:
[Just like in the novel, he tried to dazzle Tang San with his great theoretical knowledge. But instead of starting by presenting some of his theories, he went straight to the big reveal: Tang San being a Twin Martial Soul holder.]
[He started confidently, insisting that no known Blue Silver Grass wielder had ever awakened with soul power beyond Level One. From that he deduced two possibilities for Tang San's anomaly: a martial soul mutation or twin martial souls.]
[He barely addressed mutation—offering no precedents—and quickly dismissed it. Then, with absolute certainty, he declared that Tang San must possess a second martial soul. In his view, the gap in Tang San's innate power was simply split between Blue Silver Grass and an undisclosed second soul.]
[Honestly… it was a bold, lucky guess. He wasn't entirely wrong—Tang San does have twin martial souls. The second is the Clear Sky Hammer. But Yu Xiaogang's reasoning was, at best, shaky.]
Far away at Blue Tyrant Academy, Liu Erlong was swelling with pride. 'See? My Xiaogang's brilliance shines again! He instantly uncovered the truth—Tang San really is a Twin Martial Soul wielder!'
But as she read the following entry, her expression shifted. 'Wait… Tenshin called it a lucky guess? But… isn't that logic sound? Isn't it technically correct?'
She wasn't the only one confused. The other women who read the diary were also curious and skeptical. After all, those who knew of the only two documented Twin Martial Soul cases—especially Bibi Dong—understood the gravity of the situation. Bibi Dong, who had firsthand experience, had spent years studying how to resolve the conflict between her two martial souls until she found a solution.
Their curiosity deepened as Tenshin's diary elaborated further.
[Before I unpack his flawed logic, let me address the more urgent matter: how he nearly died.]
[The moment Tang San realized his secret had been exposed, his entire demeanor shifted. He tucked his right hand behind his back and scanned the surroundings—not in fear, but in cold calculation. The reflex of a trained assassin.]
[In that instant, Tang San weighed murdering Yu Xiaogang to protect his secret. He looked to me to see if I'd overheard, deciding whether I, too, posed a threat that needed silencing.]
[This, of course, is exactly what I expect from Tang San. In his previous life, he belonged to the Tang Sect—a guild of assassins. Anything that threatens their secrets must be eliminated without hesitation.]
[I still remember more or less two lines from the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record:
"Never let those you can't fully trust glimpse the depths of your true strength."
"Once you deem an opponent worthy of death, show no mercy—hesitation only breeds further peril."]
[Yu Xiaogang stumbled obliviously into that lethal zone. He uncovered the truth… but the truth nearly killed him. Even from the distance between them and me, I felt the killing intent radiating from Tang San. How Yu Xiaogang failed to sense it remains a mystery.]
[Ironically, his theory was fundamentally flawed. While he guessed the twin martial soul truth, his explanation for Tang San's "full innate soul power" was entirely off the mark.]
To those reading the diary, Tang San's instinctive shift into assassin mode—calmly assessing whether to kill Yu Xiaogang, and even Tenshin, to protect his secret—was chilling. No panic, no hesitation. Just pure calculation. The fact that he was only six years old made it all the more unsettling.
Some were initially shocked, even disturbed. But when Tenshin once again brought up Tang San's situation—possessing a soul older than his body—they calmed down a bit. But even so, his killing instinct, his cold pragmatism, his complete lack of mercy when it came to protecting vital secrets… It was terrifying, yes, but not entirely unexpected. He was behaving exactly as he had been trained.
Still, a faint unease remained.
To act on killing intent so easily, to weigh life and death with such detachment, and at that age—it wasn't something they could fully excuse, no matter the explanation. It wasn't just about protecting a secret. It was about how quickly Tang San was willing to erase a life, and how methodical his thinking was in the heat of the moment. That kind of instinct didn't develop overnight—it came from years of surviving a world far darker than this one.
But if that revelation shook them, what followed truly left them stunned.
Yu Xiaogang's so-called insight—his proud deduction about Tang San's innate soul power—was, as Tenshin mercilessly revealed, nothing more than a flawed hypothesis that just happened to hit the mark. His understanding of Tang San's abilities was shallow at best, built on shaky logic and assumptions. He had stumbled into the truth by accident, and in doing so, had unknowingly stepped onto a knife's edge.
For now, they kept reading—eyes wide, expressions wary, hearts just a little heavier. The melon seeds, metaphorical or not, no longer tasted quite as sweet.
[Let's start with what really governs twin martial soul formation.]
[Much later in the original timeline, Tang San doubted his Blue Silver Grass and considered abandoning it to focus solely on the Clear Sky Hammer. Poison Douluo Dugu Bo intervened, citing an ancient text that laid out two specific conditions—beyond merely having different parental souls—for twinsoul emergence:]
[1. The parents' martial souls must be extremely similar in inherent quality.
2. Their soul attributes must be either radically oppositional.]
[Tang San's case meets both criteria. His father wields the Clear Sky Hammer, a tooltype soul known for its raw power. His mother's soul, though sealed as common Blue Silver Grass, actually bears the dormant bloodline of the Blue Silver Emperor—a royal planttype soul whose quality equals the hammer's.]
[In other words, Tang San's Blue Silver Grass was never "inferior" to the Clear Sky Hammer.]
[Yet this model doesn't cover every instance. Take Bibi Dong: both her souls are spidertype, clearly not opposites. So my current hypothesis is that twin martial souls arise when parent souls share similar qualities and exhibit either extreme contrast or profound elemental harmony.]
The women leaned in as they read through Tenshin's latest entries, utterly absorbed—not just by the drama surrounding Tang San, but by the dense, eye-opening knowledge about martial souls.
By the time they finished Tenshin's explanation, they were stunned.
The conditions for awakening twin martial souls were far more stringent than they had ever imagined. It wasn't just about having parents with different martial souls—it was about intricate balances of quality, elemental alignment, and even hidden compatibility. Tenshin's explanation, especially the contrast between Tang Hao's Clear Sky Hammer and Ah Yin's disguised Blue Silver Emperor, gave them a whole new appreciation for just how miraculous Tang San's birth really was.
Liu Erlong, in particular, sat quietly as she reread the part about Yu Xiaogang.
At first, she had felt a sense of vindication. Her admiration for Yu Xiaogang had swelled when he guessed Tang San's secret—but now that pride had dimmed. His theory, while partially correct, had no real foundation. He hadn't reasoned it out—he'd stumbled into the truth by sheer coincidence.
And that bothered her more than she wanted to admit.
In the end, they continued reading—not just as curious observers, but as eager students. The diary had become more than a narrative. It was becoming a guidebook. And with every new entry, their world grew deeper, and richer than they'd ever realized.