Tang San: Numb, Now All He Felt Was Regret—Deep Regret

By evening, the two had arrived at the small town before Soul Hunting Forest. During the day-long journey, Chrysanthemum Douluo had also explained much about Spirit Beasts and the precautions for absorbing Soul Rings to Xia Tianling.

"Grandpa Chrysanthemum, let's spend the night in the forest." Xia Tianling was somewhat excited, eagerly pulling Chrysanthemum Douluo forward, looking exactly like a genuine six-year-old child.

In his previous life, he had never experienced spending a night in the forest. Besides, if they arrived too late, he would miss a good show.

Chrysanthemum Douluo paused. He had originally planned to stay the night at Spirit Hall's outpost in town and enter the next day. Now that Xia Tianling had said so, he assumed it was simply a child's nature and fondness for adventure, and readily agreed.

"Hello, please show your authorization."

When they reached the forest entrance, the soldier responsible for inspections spoke up. Unlike the gatekeepers at Notting Academy, who often bullied others by abusing their authority, these soldiers in charge of inspections were highly professional.

Chrysanthemum Douluo took out a Token from his Soul Tool.

"Chry—" The soldier's eyes widened, and he was just about to salute.

Before he could call out the name, Chrysanthemum Douluo waved to stop him, then pulled Xia Tianling into the forest.

"Please travel safely, Your Excellency," the soldier said softly.

"Who was that just now? Why did you seem even more respectful toward him than you were toward that lord holding a Three-Seal Token this morning?" Once the two had gone far away, his colleague cautiously asked.

"That was His Eminence Chrysanthemum Douluo of Spirit Hall!"

Colleague: !!! What was going on today? Why were so many important figures coming to this tiny Soul Hunting Forest?

The lord the two soldiers spoke of was naturally Grand Master and Tang San, who carried the authorization of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

The time returned to that morning.

Today was the day Grand Master had brought Tang San to obtain his First Soul Ring.

Although Tang San had not formally taken Grand Master as his teacher, Grand Master had still given Twenty-Four Bridges Moonlight Night to Tang San in order to win him over and gain his favor.

Along the way, and while entering Soul Hunting Forest, he had constantly flaunted all sorts of knowledge before Tang San, displaying the extent of his theoretical expertise.

Things had been fine at first, but after entering Soul Hunting Forest, it directly had the opposite effect.

"This is a ten-year Striped Cat, a feline-type Spirit Beast."

"Look, up ahead is a Solitary Bamboo. That is also a Spirit Beast, a Plant-type Spirit Beast. The way to distinguish its age is—"

Tang San increasingly felt that his suspicions were completely correct. Grand Master, as a Level Twenty-Nine Soul Grandmaster with a useless Martial Soul, how had he studied these Spirit Beasts? Ten-year ones were one thing, but what about Hundred-Year ones? Thousand-Year ones? Ten-Thousand-Year ones?

"I have carefully studied the experiences of many Soul Masters. Four hundred and twenty-three years should be the limit a First Soul Ring can withstand."

So where exactly had he gotten the samples for comparison and research? Had he tested this theory on anyone else? Tang San silently ridiculed him.

That said, some of Grand Master's basic theoretical knowledge was quite solid. Things like identifying the age of Spirit Beasts were very helpful to his cultivation. Doubts were doubts, but there was no harm in listening to him selectively.

What was that saying Brother Ling had mentioned before? Right—take the essence and discard the dross.

What followed was no different from the plot of the Original Work. Tang San and Grand Master spent the night in the forest, then encountered a pack of wolves and a Mandala Snake.

After Tang San had exhausted all his trump cards and finally managed to kill the Mandala Snake, Grand Master said in wild delight, "Wonderful, Little San! Your Soul Ring has been taken care of."

"Teacher Yu, what did you say? You can't mean this snake, can you?" Tang San stared at Grand Master in shock.

Grand Master nodded seriously. "That's right, this one. Before a Mandala Snake reaches a certain level of cultivation, its body grows one centimeter for every year it survives. This Mandala Snake is nearly four meters long, which means it has nearly four hundred years of cultivation. It is just close to the limit for the First Soul Ring absorbed when a Spirit Soldier becomes a Soul Master. With your Innate Full Soul Power, absorbing its Soul Ring will not be a problem."

"But, Teacher Yu, isn't this a Beast-type Spirit Beast? Wouldn't absorbing it cause a conflict?" Tang San asked doubtfully.

Grand Master wore a confident expression. "According to one of the Top Ten Core Competencies of the Spirit World that I proposed, all things considered, absorbing this Soul Ring is exactly right for you."

"However, other Soul Masters have always dismissed my theories with scorn, and no one believes in them. Little San, are you willing to try? Though I have absolute confidence in theory, no one has ever tried it before. As the saying goes, practice is the sole criterion for testing truth."

Grand Master was passionately presenting his theory to Tang San, while Tang San had already become extremely wary of him.

Fuck, this old bastard is trying to kill me!

You know practice produces true knowledge? You know this is only theory? And you're using your own student as an experiment? What a teacher you are.

Tang San looked at Grand Master, who was so engrossed in his impassioned speech that he had not noticed he had already been poisoned by the Mandala Snake, then thought of the wolf pack they had encountered earlier and let out a deep sigh.

If he did not absorb this Soul Ring, he had no ability whatsoever to protect himself in his current state. Once Grand Master's poisoning worsened, he would definitely fall unconscious. In this forest full of Spirit Beasts, Tang San, who was powerless on his own, would most likely die without even leaving behind a body.

Besides, without Grand Master as a living map, whether he could even find the correct way out was another question.

Forget it. He would gamble on it.

"Teacher Yu, say no more. I believe in your theory."

With that, Tang San sat cross-legged, enduring the weakness from his exhaustion as he began absorbing the First Soul Ring of his Blue Silver Grass. Grand Master guided him from the side.

Then, just as in the Original Work, before Tang San had finished absorbing the Soul Ring, Grand Master had already passed out from the poison.

Some time later.

"Huh? Little San? It really is you!" The voice belonged to Chrysanthemum Douluo and Xia Tianling, who had just followed the sounds of battle here.

Naturally, Chrysanthemum Douluo had heard the sounds of battle, while the one who had urged him to come was Xia Tianling, who had thoroughly read the Original Work. He knew that tonight, Tang San would fight a pack of wolves before obtaining his First Soul Ring.

Xia Tianling arrived at just the right moment, pretending to be delighted by this chance encounter. By now, Tang San had already absorbed his Soul Ring and detoxified Grand Master.

"Brother Tianling!" Tang San was truly overjoyed to see Xia Tianling. Grand Master was deeply unconscious. Although Tang San had detoxified him, whether he would survive was still unknown, and Tang San had no idea what to do.

"Tianling, he is Tang San, the friend you often mention from the village, the one you were especially close with?" Chrysanthemum Douluo spoke unhurriedly. He glanced at Yu Xiaogang lying on the ground, clearly recognizing him, then gave Tang San a meaningful look.

"That's right, Grandpa Chrysanthemum. Little San and I are really close! Oh, Little San, what happened here?" Xia Tianling put on an award-winning performance, knowingly asking the obvious.

Tang San explained everything in full and asked Xia Tianling what he should do next. At the same time, he subtly hinted at the identity of the elder behind him.

Such a little trick could not escape the perception of a Titled Douluo. However, Chrysanthemum Douluo said nothing. Instead, he generously told the two children to stay and catch up. They would both feel uncomfortable with him there anyway, so he would take Xiaogang aside to treat his poison.