Xiao Wu's Tea Art

Li Chen felt that over the past few years, he and Xiao Wu had nearly played Tang San to the breaking point.

Tang San's daily routine consisted of attending classes, cultivating, going to the blacksmith's shop, and, most importantly, keeping Xiao Wu happy.

Tang San had no idea that more than half of the tasty food Xiao Wu asked him to bring back from the blacksmith's shop ended up in Li Chen's stomach.

There was a saying: if you wanted to become stronger than others, one way was to cultivate diligently. Li Chen, however, chose another, relatively easier method.

That was to make everyone else slack off~~

As long as he cultivated normally, he could surpass everyone else by a huge margin.

Xiao Wu was now Level 21 as well. Over the past few years, Li Chen had taught her plenty of fun games. Every day, she played cards, rubbed out a few rounds of mahjong, played chess for a while, then ate the snacks Tang San dutifully offered her. This kind of life, one not even an immortal would trade away, had made Xiao Wu considerably more decadent.

Yes, "dutifully offered"!

Xiao Wu did not see Tang San's attempts to please her as a display of affection. Nor did she think a child barely ten years old understood anything about romance between men and women. She understood it only because she was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast!

Though she had not lived for a hundred thousand years, she had probably lived for over ten thousand.

She simply regarded Tang San's behavior as a weakling currying favor with the strong.

Over these six years, aside from teaching Tang San some knowledge about soul beasts, Yu Xiaogang cultivated on his own every day. At first, he had been full of confidence, thinking that now that he had finally broken through Level 30, he could continue cultivating. With his own hard work and the system's support combined, he was surely going to join the ranks of the strong soon.

But Yu Xiaogang had overlooked the fact that he had been unable to break through Level 30 not because there was anything special about that threshold, but because his talent was insufficient and Level 30 was all he could reach.

Thus, after two years of hard work, Yu Xiaogang's Soul Power had increased by only one-tenth of a level, practically negligible. Yet what Li Chen admired was that Yu Xiaogang had cultivated tirelessly for six whole years.

He was now a Level 30.2 Soul Elder.

It had to be said that Li Chen greatly admired Yu Xiaogang's persistence. He could not do that. Slacking off and waiting for the system to raise his level was much faster.

In the south of the Heaven Dou Empire lay Suotuo City of the Balak Kingdom.

The sun was already high in the sky, its blazing rays baking the air until it seemed to warp.

On the street, one girl and two boys were walking slowly.

The girl was adorable, with twin ponytails and a red-and-black plaid JK miniskirt. Behind her, a rather ordinary-looking, slightly dark-skinned boy held a parasol over her.

That girl was Xiao Wu.

Li Chen felt that wearing the same outfit every day would grow tiresome no matter how pleasing she was to look at. So he had bought some pretty girls' clothes from the system. Sure enough, the moment Xiao Wu saw those cute outfits, she nearly drooled.

"Xiao Wu, you look so beautiful."

As he held the parasol over Xiao Wu, Tang San praised her.

Xiao Wu's long legs were wrapped in black stockings, and she wore a pair of small leather shoes, making her every bit the modern young beauty.

Although this was perfectly normal attire in Li Chen's original era, it was still somewhat ahead of its time on the Douluo Continent.

Xiao Wu's outfit earned a one-hundred-percent head-turning rate as she walked down the street. Not only did men turn to look, even women stared at her with burning eyes.

Seeing this, Li Chen had an idea.

Looks like I can open a clothing store first and sell clothes with more novel styles. Suotuo City is big, and there are plenty of soul masters, which means plenty of Gold Soul Coins.

Xiao Wu was no longer the naïve, sweet Xiao Wu from the original work. Li Chen had trained her to be quite scheming.

Enmmm~~

You could call it scheming, or you could call it green tea.

Xiao Wu turned and sweetly smiled at Tang San. "Brother Tang San, aren't you tired? Let me hold the parasol for a while!"

Xiao Wu made as if to snatch the parasol from Tang San's hand.

She was betting that Tang San would never let her hold it herself.

Tang San hurriedly reached out to stop Xiao Wu. Just as his hand was about to touch hers, Xiao Wu pulled her hand back.

"Little Sister Xiao Wu, be good. I'm not tired at all. How could I let you do such rough work? I've got plenty of strength."

"Then thank you, Brother Tang San."

Tang San flashed Li Chen a provocative smile, as though it said, "See? Xiao Wu is mine. She only lets me hold her parasol."

Little did he know that Li Chen had taught Xiao Wu this very tea art. On one hand, it was to disgust Tang San; on the other, it was for Xiao Wu's own good. Without Tang San, Xiao Wu would be standing under the sun too, and who knew when she might get tanned.

When Li Chen had first taught Xiao Wu to make use of Tang San, she had felt somewhat bad about it. But Li Chen reasoned with her patiently and finally succeeded in leading Xiao Wu astray.

Li Chen remembered saying this to Xiao Wu at the time.

"Xiao Wu, look, if you don't accept Tang San's things, then I'll have to buy them for you. Do you want your Brother Li Chen to become a pauper?"

"Xiao Wu, you're not using him. You're helping him."

"Think about it, Xiao Wu. From the perspective of maximizing human happiness, if you accept Tang San's things, Tang San will be happy. You get delicious food, so you're happy. I spend less money, so I'm happy too. Three extra portions of happiness appear in this world for no reason. Doesn't that sound right?"

If it had been anyone else, Li Chen definitely would not have let Xiao Wu do this. Trading a woman's beauty for things was not something he, Li Chen, was that shameless enough to do. Besides, taking advantage of someone like that was not good in the end. But who told that person to be Tang San?

At this moment, the three of them looked up at a luxuriously decorated hotel by the roadside: the Rose Hotel.

Xiao Wu said to Tang San, "Tang San, shall we stay here today?"

Tang San touched his pocket and silently calculated in his mind.

I still have one hundred and seven Gold Soul Coins. Good thing Teacher gave me one hundred Gold Soul Coins when he came, or I really wouldn't have been able to help Xiao Wu.

Tang San wore what he believed was an extremely charming smile. "Xiao Wu, we'll stay at this Rose Hotel. I have money!"

Tang San took the lead and strode through the entrance, asking the attendant at the front desk, "What are your rates here?"

The attendant politely replied, "Hello, sir. Ordinary rooms are ten Gold Soul Coins per night, deluxe rooms are fifty Gold Soul Coins per night and come with special services, while the royal suite is two hundred Gold Soul Coins per night. You can enjoy treatment fit for a king with three thousand beauties."

The attendant looked at the group before her with a strange smile. Many people came to their hotel, and most were couples, but the unusual combination of one girl and two boys was truly rare.