Stripping Away More of Tang San's Secrets

Early morning.

Inside Spirit Hall.

For the past few days, there had been a knock at Bibi Dong's door before she was even awake.

She groggily climbed out of her little bed, wondering who was knocking so early.

When she opened the door, she found Tang Yuehua standing there.

Bibi Dong was dumbfounded. "You're up this early?"

Tang Yuehua smiled. "I've brought Master breakfast."

Brought him breakfast?

Bibi Dong looked questioningly at Lu Jin, who was lying on the big bed. She didn't remember him asking for that last night, did she?

Lu Jin rubbed his brow. He understood what Tang Yuehua was thinking.

Bringing breakfast was a pretext; she was really afraid he and Bibi Dong would do some morning exercise together. Where had that even come from?

He hadn't even eaten that silly Dong yet.

With no other choice, he got out of bed, only for Ah Yin to come running over too. "Brother Lu, I'll dress you!"

"Master, I'll wash your face."

Bibi Dong's brain all but shut down. Suddenly, she understood a little of why she had failed to climb into his bed and been driven out.

So that was how it could be done?

She adjusted her voice and tried speaking in a coy tone. "Master~"

For a moment, the room fell silent, and all eyes turned to Bibi Dong.

"It's... it's nothing. Carry on..." Bibi Dong covered her face and fled, still dressed in her pajamas.

So I really do sound strange when I do that?

Ah Yin and Tang Yuehua came back to their senses, feeling an itch in their hearts. Even the two of them, women though they were, could hardly bear Bibi Dong's sweet, tingling voice.

"Ahem... Yuehua, go check on Bibi Dong first. Ah Yin, you stay."

"Yes, Master."

Tang Yuehua suspected nothing else and didn't even notice Ah Yin's crimson face.

A long while later.

Tang Yuehua saw Ah Yin rinsing her mouth again with warm water a maid had brought. "Sister Ah Yin, didn't you brush your teeth this morning?"

"D-did I?" Ah Yin smiled awkwardly. "Yuehua, let me take you to the Mimicry Training Ground, so you can get familiar with your domain first."

"Huh? Oh, all right. Thank you, Sister Ah Yin."

The maid, who had seen through everything, sighed and silently picked up the mouth-rinsing water to pour it away. When she turned, however, she saw Bibi Dong, who had just finished her proper morning exercise.

Bibi Dong ran up and picked up the cup. "Can I drink this water? I'm dying of thirst."

"Your Highness Saintess, that's not..."

Gulp, gulp...

Bibi Dong wiped the water from the corner of her mouth and asked in confusion, "Huh? What did you say?"

The maid shook her head sheepishly. "N-nothing. Thank you for your hard work, Your Highness Saintess."

Once Spirit Hall was operating as usual, Lu Jin went to the Pope's Hall.

Qian Daoliu and the others had already been waiting there for some time.

Lu Jin sat down on the Pope's throne. "I've covered most of what came before, so let's start with Tang San."

"The person who awakened Tang San's Martial Soul was a deacon from one of your Spirit Hall branches, a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster. And Tang San's First Martial Soul was supposed to be the Trash Martial Soul, Blue Silver Grass."

Qian Xunji asked in confusion, "Shouldn't it have been the Clear Sky Hammer?"

Lu Jin nodded. "He did indeed have the Clear Sky Hammer too, because he had Twin Martial Souls and Innate Full Soul Power. Do you remember who I said his mother was originally supposed to be?"

"Miss Ah Yin."

"Right. As a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, Ah Yin's bloodline wasn't much inferior in quality to the Clear Sky Hammer."

The Spirit Hall members nodded. In truth, if they hadn't seen Ah Yin for themselves, none of them would have believed that a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast could exist among Blue Silver Grass.

Qian Daoliu analyzed it calmly. "You're right, Senior. If he used Blue Silver Grass as a cover, that would also explain how he managed to grow up right under Spirit Hall's nose."

Even Qian Daoliu himself hadn't noticed that he had gone from simply receiving information to trying to pick up where Lu Jin left off.

Could this guy stop staring at me all the time...? Lu Jin felt a headache coming on.

He could only be glad that Qian Daoliu hadn't been affected too much by his Whisper. Or perhaps Limit Douluo were more independent by nature, allowing them to counteract some of Whisper's side effects.

Whatever the reason, Lu Jin had no intention of continuing to use Whisper to change Qian Daoliu's faith in the Angel God for the time being.

Just then, Bibi Dong arrived as well, fresh from her bath.

She tactfully came over to Lu Jin's side and mixed him a cup of water, then thought for a moment and poured one for herself too.

Qian Daoliu frowned. "Dong'er, don't be rude!"

Bibi Dong shook her head. "Great Enshrined, I just thought our Spirit Hall's water tasted strange, so I wanted to taste it for Senior."

"Strange?"

"Yeth... gulp..." Bibi Dong took a sip. "That's odd. Why does it taste different from the water the servant brought this morning? That cup tasted strange, kind of fishy."

No way. Bibi Dong, you little glutton, could you have drunk it again?

"Don't be rude!" Qian Xunji merely assumed Bibi Dong was acting crazy again.

"Why did you have to shout so loud...?" Bibi Dong puffed out her cheeks and muttered under her breath, then stood straight at Lu Jin's side.

Lu Jin slapped his forehead. How did this girl Bibi Dong manage to drink it every time? He hoped the day would never come when she learned the truth.

He cleared his throat and continued, "As the Great Enshrined said, Blue Silver Grass became the best talisman to protect Tang San as he grew up."

Qian Xunji shook his head. "It seems Spirit Hall hasn't done enough to train the people who oversee awakenings. Blue Silver Grass having Innate Full Soul Power was unusual in itself."

Qian Daoliu pressed on. "But Senior, Miss Ah Yin is at your side now. Wouldn't Tang San's First Martial Soul change as well?"

Lu Jin shook his head. "It most likely won't. Do you remember Yu Xiaogang, whom you killed? I trust you also know that Yu Xiaogang came back to life, and that Dugu Bo, a guest elder of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family, killed him again some time ago."

Bibi Dong jumped in. "I know about that. Everyone says Yu Xiaogang is a needle. What does 'needle' mean?"

"Don't ask what you shouldn't!" Qian Daoliu rebuked her. "Senior, I'd also like to ask: why did Yu Xiaogang come back to life?"

"Because the world has the ability to correct the future. Yu Xiaogang can't die at this time, just as Tang San needs Blue Silver Grass to make Yu Xiaogang stand out."

"To think he could actually return from the dead." Qian Daoliu sighed. "Senior, then Yu Xiaogang probably won't stay dead this time either."

Lu Jin nodded. "Not only will he survive, he might even gain some fortuitous opportunities to help him stay alive."

Qian Daoliu sighed. "Your subordinate was rash."

Hearing this, Qian Xunji looked at his father in shock.

He hadn't expected his father to refer to himself as a subordinate. It was a scene he had never imagined.

"No matter. It just adds a little more amusement." Lu Jin continued his explanation. "After Tang San awakened his Martial Soul, he was sent to study at Nuoding Academy. It was there that he met Yu Xiaogang, who was hiding from reality. Yu Xiaogang helped Tang San cultivate all the way until he became a god."

Curiosity appeared on Bibi Dong's face. "Yu Xiaogang is useless now. Could he really become that capable in the future?"

Lu Jin curled his lip. "On the original course of events, he did have some ability in the future. He summed up something called the Ten Core Competencies and became a Grandmaster renowned throughout the Soul Master World."

"That fellow was very mediocre and didn't have much ability, but that was also what made him study Martial Souls in depth. He saw that Tang San had Twin Martial Souls."

"But the interesting thing was that he claimed Blue Silver Grass was a Trash Martial Soul and that the Clear Sky Hammer was the reason for Tang San's Innate Full Soul Power. He managed to fool Tang San, who had only just entered the Soul Master World."

Qian Xunji nodded. "He could tell from Tang San's Soul Power that there was something unusual about his Martial Soul. It seems his knowledge of Soul Masters was indeed solid."

Lu Jin shook his head. "It was only his basic knowledge that was solid. What advanced things do you think a level 29 Soul Master could know? It's like someone who lives at the foot of a mountain all his life: he could never know how biting the wind is at its peak."

Qian Xunji asked again, "Then how could he guide Tang San's early cultivation? A level 29 Soul Grandmaster shouldn't have enough experience, and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan doesn't have much knowledge of Soul Masters to draw on."

"For one thing, Yu Xiaogang liked to slip in his own ideas, blindly guiding Tang San with a mix of guesses and gambles." Lu Jin thought of something amusing. "Guess what Tang San's first Soul Skill was. Or rather, knowing that Tang San had the Clear Sky Hammer, if you were choosing a Soul Ring and first Soul Skill for Blue Silver Grass, what kind would you favor?"

Qian Xunji displayed his professionalism as Pope. "With a sufficiently offensive Martial Soul already available, a healing-oriented first Soul Skill for Blue Silver Grass would be better suited to his early development."

Lu Jin nodded. "That's right, but Tang San's first Soul Skill was Entanglement."

"Entanglement?" Ah Yin happened to arrive just then. "Doesn't Blue Silver Grass already have the ability to entangle things? It's a skill that can keep growing stronger as Soul Power increases. Why waste an additional Soul Skill on it?"

As the Blue Silver Emperor, no one understood Blue Silver Grass's basic abilities better than Ah Yin.

Using Entanglement as an additional Soul Skill was no different from taking off one's pants to fart.

"Otherwise, how could anyone call Yu Xiaogang a Grandmaster?"