Tang San: Am I Not Better Than Tang Wulin? [3000]

"We're going to..."

"Senior Golden Crocodile, you're agreeing just like that?"

Seeing how readily he agreed, Tang Wulin was taken aback. He had thought Golden Crocodile might agree, but not so quickly.

"What's the problem? Your teacher really can't get away, and there's no problem with you asking me to take you. What's the big deal?"

"I may be old, but I'm not necessarily any more afraid of a little trouble than you youngsters. Back in the day, I even fought Tang Chen, the strongest on the continent!"

Golden Crocodile Douluo spoke with a hearty laugh. He had fought him, at any rate. Whether he had been strong enough to win was another matter entirely!

"I knew your blade was still sharp, Senior Golden Crocodile."

"Then..."

"We're going to Suotuo City."

Tang Wulin answered with a smile, stating their destination outright.

"All right."

Golden Crocodile Douluo laughed, immediately circulating the terrifying Soul Power within him and rising into the air with Tang Wulin at his side. Then he suddenly paused.

"Suotuo City..."

"Where is it?"

"Well, it's a city in the Balak Kingdom, in the eastern part of the Heaven Dou Empire. Senior Golden Crocodile, surely I don't need to tell you where the Heaven Dou Empire is, do I?"

Tang Wulin glanced at the old man pondering in front of him and couldn't help falling into thought himself. Just which of them was the senior here?

"Ahem, all right!"

Golden Crocodile Douluo smiled, somewhat embarrassed. He understood at once and carried Tang Wulin toward the Balak Kingdom in an instant.

Wulin really wouldn't lie to me. He only chose the Second Worship to accompany him because, aside from me, the Second Worship was the strongest of the experts he knew.

Somewhere in the distance, Pope Bibi Dong had also arrived at some point. Watching the two figures depart, she recalled their conversation, and only then did a smile appear on her face.

"Senior Golden Crocodile, once we reach Suotuo City, you only need to suppress your cultivation to the Soul Douluo level."

Meanwhile, as Tang Wulin traveled through the air with Golden Crocodile Douluo, he explained more of his plan with a smile.

"Playing the pig to eat the tiger?"

Golden Crocodile Douluo understood at once and chuckled.

"No."

"That man hardly counts as a tiger. At most, he's a rat, and when dealing with a fellow like that, we naturally can't let him run..."

Tang Wulin smiled and shook his head as he spoke.

"Easy enough, easy enough. I'd also like to know who dares to disrespect the Holy Son of our Spirit Hall!"

Not long afterward, Tang Wulin and Golden Crocodile Douluo appeared unnoticed at Suotuo City's southern gate.

That was naturally nothing special to the latter, while the former now focused more of his attention on the city before him.

This was the capital of the Balak Kingdom, and it ranked among the finest cities in the entire Heaven Dou Empire. Its Spirit Hall Branch even had a Platinum Bishop stationed there.

"Senior, let's go."

Tang Wulin smiled at Golden Crocodile Douluo beside him and, as he spoke, led the way through the city gate.

It was undoubtedly a fairly good city. It might not compare to a Soul Master holy land like Spirit Hall, but it stood in stark contrast to Nuoding City, where he had once lived.

I wonder exactly how this timeline compares to the original... Hmm, there it is!

Just as Tang Wulin was thinking, his gaze fell on a shop bearing Spirit Hall's emblem.

If he remembered correctly, this was where Tang San had obtained the Plate Gold Hair Crystal in the original story: Flender's shop.

With that thought, he immediately stepped inside.

As soon as he entered, he saw a long-faced man with a hooked nose sitting on a bed, his eyes narrowed, seemingly unmoved.

"It's still here. Looks like I came early."

Seeing a piece of golden crystal on the counter, Tang Wulin looked thoughtful and chuckled.

"How much for this?"

Tang Wulin looked toward Flender and asked.

"This..."

"300 Gold Soul Coins."

Flender yawned and spoke indifferently.

"Mm, all right."

Tang Wulin nodded and took out a special black card. His teacher Bibi Dong had given it to him, and it held more than six million Gold Soul Coins. After all, Spirit Hall was never short of money.

"No, it was 300 Gold Soul Coins just now."

"Now it's 500..."

Seeing how readily the person before him agreed, Flender's formerly drowsy gaze instantly cleared. He immediately felt he had named too low a price, and his eyes lit up as he changed his tune.

"Oh, how much did you say? I don't think I heard you clearly."

"Say it again."

At that moment, Golden Crocodile Douluo silently looked at him. A powerful presence appeared in an instant, leaving Flender stunned.

"500..."

"No, 50 Gold Soul Coins!"

At that moment, Flender froze on the spot, his face full of fear as he stammered.

A Soul Douluo. This man's presence was at least at the Eight-Ring Soul Douluo level, perhaps even the peak of the eighth ring. He might even become a Titled Douluo someday.

He absolutely couldn't afford to offend someone like that!

"Oh?"

"But the way I see it, that lousy rock my young master picked up isn't worth a penny, is it?"

Golden Crocodile Douluo stared coldly at the long-faced man before him. He had raised the price on Wulin right in front of him; he clearly didn't take them seriously at all!

"Right, it's worthless, worthless! Since this young master likes it, he can take it!"

Hearing this, Flender felt a pang of pain in his heart, but he still gritted his teeth and agreed repeatedly, full of remorse.

He had finally managed to sell that lousy rock and had nearly received three hundred Gold Soul Coins. And now look: because of a moment of greed, they were gone!

"Mm, then I won't stand on ceremony."

Tang Wulin didn't refuse. He picked up the piece of Plate Gold Hair Crystal and tossed it into his system space.

In Tang San's hands in the original story, it had been a devastating weapon for fighting above his level, allowing a Soul Grandmaster to counter a Soul Saint. But Tang Wulin himself wasn't particularly interested in the Hundred Explanations of Hidden Weapons or anything like that.

In his eyes, nothing spoke better than a swipe of his claw.

I wonder where Tang San and Xiao Wu are right now. Tang San doesn't matter, but as for Xiao Wu...

System, just as I told you before, once Xiao Wu appears, I'll still have to ask you to step in. Sorry for the trouble.

At that moment, Tang Wulin thought silently to himself.

Having Golden Crocodile Douluo suppress his Soul Power was partly because he feared Tang Hao would run, and partly because he feared that, at full strength, Golden Crocodile Douluo's pressure would make Xiao Wu's scalp go numb with fright.

As a Soul Beast, she would have nowhere to hide before Senior Golden Crocodile. Whether because she was a goddess he could sign in with or because she was his first friend on Douluo Continent, he wouldn't let her run into danger like that.

Of course, giving her the Lovesick Heartbreak Red as in the original story was impossible. Leaving aside the fact that she didn't have those feelings, the Immortal Herb itself had to be activated.

And in the end, the method he chose was one he had already had in mind, a simple and direct method—having the system step in.

System, you wouldn't want a goddess I've signed in with to be unable to complete the other progress, would you?

[Yes. In reply to the host, the system is taking action.]

[The goddess Xiao Wu, with whom the host has signed in, has been detected within Suotuo City. A layer of concealment has been added; the host is respectfully informed.]

"Oh."

"Xiao Wu is in the city?"

Tang Wulin was taken aback. It seemed he had only arrived a little earlier than she had. He just didn't know whether Tang San was with her.

Meanwhile, to the north of Suotuo City, a girl and a boy had appeared. Judging by the considerable distance between them, however, they didn't seem particularly close at all.

The girl was extremely pretty, her smooth, long black hair braided neatly into a scorpion braid that hung past her calves.

She wore a pink top that closely hugged her developing figure. Her slender waist seemed narrow enough to encircle with both hands.

Her large, limpid eyes surveyed her surroundings, lending her a certain charming liveliness.

Compared to her, the boy beside her, who already had few distinctive features, seemed rather lackluster. His looks were ordinary, he was a little shorter than the girl, his features were regular, and his clothes were plain.

"Suotuo City. We've finally arrived."

The two were Xiao Wu and Tang San, who had graduated from Notting Junior Academy. It was precisely because they had graduated that they had now come to Suotuo City together with the same goal: finding an advanced school.

Their destination was Shrek Academy, a top-tier school vouched for by the academy's Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang and recommended by Dean Fakes to the academy's Soul Grandmasters of two rings or above.

It could be said to have been tailor-made for the two of them. After all, no one else was a Soul Grandmaster.

"Xiao Wu, what do you think Shrek Academy will be like?"

Tang San looked at her and tried to start a conversation. He had tried countless times on the journey from Nuoding City, only to fail every time.

"I don't know."

"Besides, why are you asking me? Weren't you the ones who told us to come here after your teacher mentioned this academy to the Dean?"

Hearing him, Xiao Wu stopped looking around and turned toward him, her face somewhat silent.

She naturally knew Tang San wasn't all that reliable, but surely not to this extent? If she'd known, she shouldn't have come.

She had only heard that Shrek Academy had high-level Soul Masters and excellent teaching. If she'd known, she would have gone looking elsewhere on her own. At the very least, just seeing this fellow called Tang San put her in a slightly bad mood.

"If there's nothing else, I'm going somewhere else first."

Without so much as looking at him, Xiao Wu tossed out those words, immediately picked up her pace, and hurried forward.

"I..."

Tang San watched her leave. The affection that had been in his eyes had long since vanished, and he gritted his teeth. Was Xiao Wu really so cold and unfeeling?

Or could it be that, after all these years... she still cared about that Tang Wulin?

"No, impossible!"

Tang San gritted his teeth, his eyes bloodshot. Just where was he inferior to Tang Wulin? Where?

As a genius with Innate Full Soul Power, he was already a Soul Grandmaster at twelve. How many people under heaven could do that?

Could Tang Wulin do it? Could he?!

P.S. They say votes speed up updates. Haozi getting slapped around without Soul Power is almost here~