The Stench Is So Strong

After submitting to the gate guards' inspection, the two of them entered the bustling city. The streets were packed with people and alive with activity.

Compared to the silent Huo Yuhao, Huo Yun'er, the mother, kept looking around at everything, her eyes full of curiosity.

Huo Yuhao's voice suddenly sounded beside her ear.

"Mom."

Hearing Huo Yuhao speak so suddenly, Huo Yun'er lowered her head to look at him. "What is it?"

"I want to change my name to Huo Yuhao."

The abrupt words left Huo Yun'er stunned. Before she could react, Huo Yuhao spoke again.

"From now on, I'm only your son—not the White Tiger Duke's son. Everyone in the Duke's Mansion who bullied you, I'll make them all pay the price."

Huo Yun'er could not stop her nose from stinging. Her grip on his hand unconsciously tightened.

In the past, she might have clung to her remaining hopes and tried to persuade Huo Yuhao otherwise. After all, it could have given him a chance at a better life in the future. But after everything they had been through, she could not bring herself to say anything against it.

"Yuhao, don't be impulsive."

Huo Yun'er took a deep breath. "Mom doesn't care whether you can take revenge. As long as you can live your life safely and peacefully, that's enough."

"Don't worry, Mom." Huo Yuhao's lips curved upward. "Your son is very—"

Just then, a commotion arose not far ahead of them. The pedestrians on the street seemed to have noticed it as well. They exchanged glances, and some curiously moved closer.

The two arrived at the edge of the crowd. Peering through a gap, Huo Yuhao saw a boy about his own age standing before a Blacksmith Shop, glaring darkly at several middle-aged men who had walked out.

"We agreed that wages would be paid monthly. I've already worked a full month, yet you're saying you'll deduct half?"

"Kid, do you even understand the rules?"

The leading middle-aged man sneered disdainfully.

"Go ask around. Which apprentice at a Blacksmith Shop doesn't use his first month's wages to show respect to his master? I'm only taking half, which is already generous enough. Work if you want; get lost if you don't!"

As soon as the man finished speaking, Huo Yuhao noticed an extremely well-concealed glint of killing intent flash through the boy's eyes. He frowned as a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind, only to be quickly suppressed.

The boy clearly had no intention of compromising. Feeling that he was in the right, he raised his voice even further.

"I may be an apprentice, but I do no less work than anyone else on ordinary days. Give me that half of my wages!"

As more and more people gathered around them, the middle-aged man seemed to grow irritated. "You want your wages? Fine! Return all those scraps you've been secretly taking!"

He had long noticed that this new apprentice often used scraps to forge things. Materials that could have been remelted and reused had all been secretly stuffed into the fellow's pockets.

However, because the boy's craftsmanship was fairly good, he had previously turned a blind eye.

But since the boy was being so ungrateful, there was no need to spare him any face.

Hearing the middle-aged man's words, the surrounding crowd immediately understood that this was merely dogs biting dogs. Their strange looks swept over the boy, making his already gloomy face seem as though it could drip water.

The boy was naturally the reincarnated Tang San. In order to save money for his Martial Soul awakening and to buy medicinal herbs, he could only work at another Blacksmith Shop. His own family's Blacksmith Shop had poor business to begin with, and if his father learned that he was earning money through smithing, he feared every coin would have to be handed over.

As someone who placed filial piety above all else, he believed that buying his father wine was only proper. But becoming stronger would allow him to be a better son, which was why he had chosen to secretly earn money forging outside.

He had never expected the Blacksmith Shop's owner to see him as young and easy to bully, targeting him like this.

He had merely taken some discarded scraps to forge hidden weapons. He had done the same in his previous life, and he was far from the only one in the shop taking them. Yet the man ignored everyone else and singled him out for public accusation.

No wonder blacksmiths had it so hard these days. If every Blacksmith Shop oppressed newcomers like this and demanded kickbacks, who would be willing to become a blacksmith in the future?

In his previous life, he had been the son of a master blacksmith and had shared close ties with the three master blacksmiths of that era. Naturally, he could not tolerate anyone tarnishing the sacred profession of blacksmithing.

Staring at the owner before him, he abruptly clenched his fists, only to loosen them again moments later.

There was no helping it. He was still too weak. Though dealing with a few blacksmiths using hidden weapons would not be a problem, this was Heaven Dou City. Once a fight broke out, the Law Enforcement Team that arrived would not be easy to deal with. He could only endure for now.

Endure!

What he had learned in Moon Pavilion in his previous life came into play once more. The reason Tang San had been able to steadily become an enforcer of the Divine Realm was certainly not strength alone. More importantly, he knew how to assess the situation!

After forcibly suppressing the killing intent in his heart, Tang San took a deep breath and spoke calmly.

"I thought those scraps had been piled there because they were useless and discarded. I couldn't bear to see them wasted, so I took some. But since you insist on putting it that way, I won't take that half of my wages. It can serve as compensation."

Let you live a little longer. After some time...

Judging by how practiced they were, they had likely made plenty of ill-gotten money in ordinary times. In his previous life, he had been an enforcer of the Divine Realm, the Asura God renowned for being just and incorruptible. Naturally, Tang San had to uphold justice on behalf of heaven.

If he happened to seize the ill-gotten money they had earned, he could use it to buy herbs and awaken his Martial Soul. That could be considered the reward for his good deed.

If he were not worried that others would connect the incident to him, he would have acted tonight. Unfortunately, in order to clear himself of suspicion, he had to continue lying low for a while and wait until the matter had blown over.

Having said that, he did not linger. Under everyone's gazes, he passed through the crowd and left directly.

Huo Yuhao, who had silently watched everything from within the crowd, wore a rather strange expression.

Why does this stench feel so strong?

A strangely familiar feeling welled up in his heart, and Huo Yuhao suddenly realized something.

Could Tang San have been reincarnated too, just like him?

Huo Yuhao's eyes flickered, but soon settled into calmness. Whether Tang San had truly been reincarnated alongside him or not, his priority right now was undoubtedly to improve his own strength.

Even if Tang San had truly been reincarnated into the Douluo Plane, he was not worried in the slightest. After all, if they were truly standing at the same starting line, he did not believe Tang San would be stronger than him.

The one he truly needed to exhaust all his efforts to deal with was the one in the sky.

Since no conflict erupted as everyone had expected, those who had planned to watch a good show dispersed with disappointed expressions. Huo Yuhao, meanwhile, called out to the middle-aged man who was about to return to the Blacksmith Shop.

"Hello, I'd like to commission an oven."

The middle-aged man paused and turned back. Upon seeing Huo Yuhao, he was slightly taken aback, but with Huo Yun'er standing beside him, he did not look down on him because of his age.

"Little brother, what kind of oven do you want?"