Old Jack hurriedly offered a conciliatory smile, "This young brother, we have come from Holy Soul Village, and this child is the working student our village has sent this year. As you can see, what procedures do we need to follow?"
The gatekeeper frowned and said with a sarcastic tone, "Can a nest of grass produce a golden phoenix? Does someone from a small village even possess soul power? The academy hasn't had working students for many years. You're not imposters, are you?"
A flash of anger passed through Old Jack's eyes, but he still swallowed his feelings and took out the certificate issued by the deacon Su Yuntao from the Martial Soul Hall last time, handing it to the gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper took the certificate, looked it over, "Martial Soul Blue Silver Grass? And innate full soul power? Ridiculous, this is really the height of absurdity. I've been working as the gatekeeper at the academy for four years and have never heard of a student with innate full soul power. This kid's Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass, and he's supposed to have full soul power? I bet this Martial Soul Hall's certificate is forged by you."
"You..." Even though Jack had a good temper, by now he could hardly bear it any longer, "You're deliberately making things difficult. Fine, just wait, I'm going to find the deacon from the Martial Soul branch hall. Xiaosan, let's go." With that, Jack turned around with Tang San and headed into the city.
Naturally, the Martial Soul branch hall's certificate couldn't be fake, and the gatekeeper knew this. However, those who came to deliver new students would usually give a little 'incentive', especially from civilian families. 'The king of hell is easy to meet, but the little devils are tough to deal with' was the logic here.
Old Jack came from the countryside, and although he was the village head, how could he understand these twists and turns?
The gatekeeper felt a bit uneasy in his heart. If someone from the Martial Soul Hall really came over, it wouldn't be something he could afford to handle. Of course, he also believed that the Martial Soul Hall people would never come to the academy to dispute over a couple of country bumpkins.
Feeling depressed inside, his words naturally weren't going to be pleasant, "Holy Soul Village? I think Beggar Village would be more like it."
"What did you say?" Old Jack, with a sudden turn, faced the gatekeeper again. The gatekeeper's words had touched upon his greatest pride. He could fall out with Tang Hao over this back then, and now, this gatekeeper was an outsider from the village, making it even less bearable for him. He quickly walked back, glaring at the gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper was taken aback by the furious Old Jack and couldn't help but step back, but he quickly recovered, cursing himself internally. It was just an old man, after all, what was there to be afraid of.
"What? Can't take the truth, can you? I said you came from Beggar Village, am I wrong? Just look at this little pauper, his clothes are full of patches. I think you'd better find a place to beg. Our Notting Academy is certainly not a charitable hall. Get out, get out!"
As he spoke, the gatekeeper raised his left hand to push against Jack's chest, trying to shoo the two away.
Just as Old Jack was overwhelmed with anger, suddenly, a slender figure appeared between the two, also raising their left arm, their tender little hand barely reaching the gatekeeper's hand. The left hand pushed the gatekeeper's left hand away with a forceful move to the right. At the same time, the slender figure stepped forward quickly with the right foot, landing precisely behind the gatekeeper's left foot, while raising the right hand, joining the left to clamp the gatekeeper's hand and pull down.
This palm strike should have been aimed at the crook of the opponent's left arm, preventing them from exerting force, but since the person performing it was quite short, it only managed to grab the gatekeeper's wrist. The movements were quick, and the body leaned forward simultaneously, pushing both hands forward after flinging the gatekeeper's left hand away, directly hitting the gatekeeper's lower abdomen.
With another foot added behind his left foot, although it wasn't big, it was enough to achieve the intended effect; the lower abdomen was under pressure, and there was a trip on the foot. With a thud, the gatekeeper was already sitting on the ground.
"Xiaosan, you..." Jack stared, dumbfounded, at the person standing in front of him.
The one who had acted was Tang San; what he had used wasn't even a Tang Sect technique, but rather the simplest move from his original world's martial arts, 'Pushing the Window to Gaze at the Moon'. Of course, when executed by his small stature, it naturally had to be adapted. Not only was he unable to reach his opponent's arm crook, the hand that should have been pushed onto the opponent's chest ended up at the lower abdomen. But the result was the same.
Although Tang San wasn't large, his strength was certainly not weak. These few months of swinging the hammer had not been in vain, and even without using the Mysterious Heaven Method, he still managed to knock down the gatekeeper in an instant.
"You little brat, you're looking for death." The gatekeeper, humiliated by being pushed down by a child, quickly got up from the ground and lunged at Tang San.
"Alright, that's enough." Just then, a somewhat hoarse voice rang out, stopping the gatekeeper's move.
The gatekeeper was startled at first, then his face full of anger instantly transformed into obsequiousness, the change so rapid it was hard to believe. He bowed and scraped to the new arrival, "Master, you're back."
Tang San turned to look and saw a man of medium height, slightly lean, who had appeared beside them unnoticed. He appeared to be in his forties or fifties, with black short hair parted on the side, commonplace features, hands clasped behind his back, but a peculiar quality about him, his lethargic and decadent eyes opening and closing lazily.
'Master' merely glanced sideways at the gatekeeper and ignored him, addressing Old Jack, "Old sir, may I see the certificate from the Martial Soul Hall?"
Old Jack, after all, was a village chief and knew how to read the room. From the gatekeeper's expression, it was evident that this middle-aged man held an undoubtedly high status in the academy, and there was the title 'Master' as well. He quickly passed the certificate in his hand over.
Master inspected the certificate, then turned his gaze back to Tang San, looking him up and down a few times. For some reason, even though Master's gaze wasn't sharp, Tang San felt as if he were being seen right through.
"The certificate is definitely real, old sir. I apologize on behalf of the academy for what just happened. Let me take care of the child."