Where Was Tang San?

Because he looked very handsome, Li Yue was named Li Yue in this life.

He could not help but sigh. He had finally returned to the name from his first life. Having been called Tang Yue for more than ten years in the Tang Sect during his previous life, he was still somewhat unaccustomed to it.

Li Yue also gradually came to understand the circumstances of his family in this life.

In this life, his father possessed the Blue Silver Grass martial spirit.

An exceedingly rare Blue Silver Grass martial spirit that had been identified as possessing level-one Innate Soul Power.

One had to know that the chances of Blue Silver Grass possessing Soul Power were extremely low.

Yu Xiaogang had conducted research: out of more than six hundred people with Blue Silver Grass martial spirits, only sixteen possessed Soul Power, and not one of those sixteen had Soul Power above level one.

After painstakingly cultivating to level ten, Li Father added a ten-year soul ring to his Blue Silver Grass.

It had been obtained from a plant-type soul beast, and its soul skill allowed Blue Silver Grass to grow rapidly, making it tender, juicy, and edible.

It could be said to have no combat power whatsoever.

But Li Father was still a distinguished Soul Master. At level ten, he had advanced from a Soul Scholar to a Soul Master.

Every month, he could collect a subsidy of one Gold Soul Coin from Spirit Hall.

Thus, he saved up Gold Soul Coins and settled down in Holy Spirit Village. Because a Soul Saint had once emerged from this place, it had one work-study student slot at the Junior Academy each year.

Back then, he had lacked the money to attend the Junior Academy. The shared slot used by several villages had gone to someone else, and it was the villagers who pooled their money to buy him a slot.

Although Li Father had only level-one Innate Soul Power and his martial spirit was merely Blue Silver Grass, he still possessed Innate Soul Power. In a commoner village, it might be years or even over a decade before one such person appeared.

It was like a village producing a college student in the past, with the villagers scraping together tuition fees to send that person to university.

Li Father's fellow villagers had done the same. One household contributed a little, another household contributed a little, and together they gathered enough money to buy a work-study student slot.

Therefore, Li Father was highly sensitive about this matter. Once he knew he had no hope himself and could only place his hopes on the next generation, he chose Holy Spirit Village as the place to settle.

Here, a single village possessed one recommendation slot, rather than having to share one with several villages.

In order to have descendants, Li Father married a beautiful commoner woman.

—Female Soul Masters were unwilling to marry him.

Among Soul Masters, female Soul Masters made up only one-fifth of male Soul Masters.

They were exceedingly scarce, so even female Soul Masters without level-one Innate Soul Power never lacked Soul Master suitors.

Thus, Li Father had no choice but to choose an ordinary woman.

But when the matchmaker learned that he intended to marry an ordinary woman, the threshold of his home was nearly trampled flat.

For the first time, Li Father discovered that he was actually so popular, even if only among ordinary people.

He had countless blind-date prospects, enough to line up from his doorstep to the village entrance.

Li Father chose the most beautiful woman among those he had met, and her family was also quite wealthy.

Moreover, he used his first soul skill—the useless skill that could produce tender, juicy Blue Silver Grass—to raise cattle, then rented the cattle out, since they could be used to plow fields.

In this way, aside from his monthly subsidy of one Gold Soul Coin, he gained a new source of income. He slowly built up his family assets and bought up much of the farmland in Holy Spirit Village.

As he gradually grew older, Li Yue learned about his father from his mother.

As for his father, he had been killed by a soul beast in the wild.

Li Father, whose martial spirit was Blue Silver Grass and whose only soul skill was a useless one after adding a ten-year soul ring, had possessed no ability whatsoever to resist a soul beast.

After learning about his father, Li Yue was somewhat surprised.

Buying land, hiring farmers to cultivate it, raising cattle and renting them out, even renting out farm tools.

Was that not simply being a landlord? It seemed that his living conditions in this life were not bad.

Though he could not compare to Nobles, Li Yue was already content when he thought of Tang San's living conditions. Everything was frightening only when compared.

The courtyard before his home was filled with lush Blue Silver Grass, which Li Father had produced.

Li Yue liked it very much. After all, his martial spirit was also Blue Silver Grass, and it was even the emperor among Blue Silver Grass.

Cultivating within a patch of Blue Silver Grass made cultivation somewhat faster. Li Father had used this very method to raise his Soul Power to level ten.

One day, Li Yue's household needed to send some farm tools to the Blacksmith Shop for repairs.

Li Yue's family owned a great deal of farmland and was the largest landlord in Holy Spirit Village, so they possessed many farm tools.

Even if they were merely damaged, unusable tools that needed repairs, their number was still considerable.

Several sturdy women carried baskets of farm tools and made their way to the Blacksmith Shop in a grand procession.

They were nimble and capable, all carefully selected. Even ordinary adult men could be sent flying with a single slap from them.

Li Yue went along as well, with several maidservants following behind him.

"Young Master Yue is amazing. You can walk by yourself now."

"Young Master, walk a little slower. It would be bad if you fell."

"Is Young Master tired? Would you like me to carry you there? We still have quite a way to go."

The maidservants, dressed in plain clothing, followed behind Li Yue in small steps, their words full of concern.

"No need," Li Yue immediately replied.

Li Yue was rather speechless toward these maidservants who always treated him like a child.

Whether it was his mother or the maidservants, they all loved carrying him around, to the point where he could barely walk by himself. It made Li Yue feel constrained.

They also did not respect him enough and liked pinching his cheeks.

This time, he had managed to come out by himself. Although several maidservants still followed him, it was nevertheless the result of his own efforts.

This made Li Yue miss Tang San even more. At the very least, Tang San had always treated him with the utmost respect.

Li Yue desperately wanted to meet Tang San and have this capable subordinate by his side again.

Having a subordinate was quite convenient, especially since Tang San had a special talent.

Tang San knew how to make mechanical Hidden Weapons.

In the Tang Sect, Li Yue had devoted all his time to martial arts.

He had created the Lingbo Step, Bei Ming Hand, and Star Sucking Pupil, and had continued refining those three supreme techniques afterward.

Beyond that, he had also developed the Mysterious Jade Body.

He had incorporated several external martial arts techniques into the Mysterious Jade Hand, expanding it from a hand-training method into a body-tempering technique.

In other words, Li Yue actually had four cultivation methods that required refinement. He also needed to practice Hidden Weapon techniques during the day and cultivate the Xuanxin Gong while sleeping.

His time was truly tight, with every day packed full.

Although mechanical Hidden Weapons were also important, martial arts were clearly the more important matter.

With only a dozen or so years, one had to make choices.

Therefore, Li Yue had trained Tang San. Not only had he made him the Outer Sect Supervisor, he had also placed him in charge of Hidden Weapons.

It was precisely so that, after transmigrating, Tang San could continue helping him forge mechanical Hidden Weapons.

After arriving at the Blacksmith Shop, Li Yue saw Tang Hao, a broad and sturdy man.

His hair was a tangled mess, shaped like a chicken's nest. His face was covered in untrimmed stubble, and he looked exactly as despondent and weathered as described in the original story.

This delighted Li Yue greatly. That appearance was unmistakable—he was definitely Tang Hao! Exactly as described in the original story.

Moreover, Li Yue had already asked around. The Blacksmith Shop's child was named Tang San, so this had to be Tang Hao!

Li Yue only gave him a brief look and did not act too presumptuously. He said to Tang Hao, "Hello, I'm Li Yue. Some of my family's farm tools are broken. Please help us repair them, Uncle."

At that moment, Tang Hao was focused on swinging his forging hammer and crafting the ironwork in his hands.

Upon hearing the voice, Tang Hao raised his head and glanced at Li Yue, his gaze lingering on his face for a moment.

He pointed toward the entrance of the Blacksmith Shop, where quite a few farm tools had already been placed.

"Just leave them there. Come collect them in a couple of days." After saying that, Tang Hao lowered his head and continued forging, no longer paying anyone any attention.

The sturdy women were already used to Tang Hao's attitude.

They had delivered damaged farm tools several times before and knew that Tang Hao did not like talking, though his craftsmanship was excellent.

Upon hearing this, the sturdy women swiftly put down the farm tools, leaving the bamboo baskets that held them there as well.

After setting down the farm tools, Li Yue did not leave. Instead, he wandered around the Blacksmith Shop and saw some finished weapons.

Tang Hao's craftsmanship was beyond reproach. Using it to make farm tools was truly a waste of talent.

But this was not Li Yue's purpose. These weapons were of no use to him. Having learned the Hundred Solutions for Hidden Weapons, even grass, wood, bamboo, and stone could serve as Hidden Weapons. He had come here to find Tang San.

Lifting the curtain to the inner room, Li Yue did not see Tang San. He saw only a little girl.

When the little girl saw Li Yue, she was somewhat startled and stared at him blankly.

Li Yue paid her no mind. He was well aware of just how handsome the appearance he had inherited from his mother in this life—one that also resembled his appearance from his previous life—was.

He merely looked elsewhere in confusion. That was right, there was only one Blacksmith Shop in Holy Spirit Village. Where was Tang San?

But at that moment, Li Yue heard the little girl before him call out his name from his previous life, her clear voice carrying an unusual emotion. "Tang Yue Senior Brother!"

The voice was soft and faint, so quiet that it would have been difficult to hear even if one listened carefully.

But he heard it.

Li Yue was instantly shocked. He abruptly turned to stare at the little girl, a bad feeling rising in his heart.