A Madman's Deal

[Real World]

Spirit Hall.

Qian Daoliu watched the Sky Curtain, his brows slightly furrowed.

"Though Yu Xiaogang of this White World is also a good-for-nothing."

"This trick of insulting someone by scolding pigs does have some bite."

"Without the correct formula, Whale Rubber truly is highly toxic."

"If that Bai Tang San does not reveal something substantial this time, I am afraid it will be difficult for him to end this."

Bibi Dong merely gave a cold laugh.

"Something substantial?"

"Since that child dared to put forth this theory, he definitely has a backup plan."

"Just watch."

"These pigs cannot scare a true lion."

[White World]

Bai Tang San casually shut the drafty wooden door.

After being neglected for so long, the Blacksmith Shop had accumulated a thin layer of dust.

The man called his father was slumped in a battered wicker chair in the corner.

He still held a flask of liquor in his hand.

Yet the instant he saw his son enter, an imperceptible glint flashed through his cloudy eyes.

"Back?"

Tang Hao's voice was hoarse and thick with the stench of alcohol.

"Mm."

Unlike Hei Tang San, Bai Tang San did not hurry to clean the house or light the fire and cook porridge as soon as he entered.

He walked straight to the grease-stained forging table.

With a wave of his hand.

Bang!

A heavy Jade Box slammed onto the tabletop.

The box, made from cold jade, was actually giving off white smoke.

The cold air was being forcibly evaporated by the intense heat inside.

"What is this?"

Tang Hao frowned, instinctively sensing an aura that made him uncomfortable.

Bai Tang San did not waste words.

He lightly flicked the lid with his finger.

Crack.

The Jade Box opened.

Boom—!

A dark-red heat wave visible to the naked eye instantly swept through the entire Blacksmith Shop.

The moisture in the air evaporated in an instant.

Even the dry firewood piled in the corner began crackling and popping, as though it might ignite at any moment.

Inside the box.

There lay a fist-sized lump of gelatinous matter, jet-black throughout, with dark-gold magma-like veins flowing within it.

Ten Thousand Year—Black Gold Whale Rubber!

Supremely yang.

Supremely fierce.

This was terrifying fire poison capable of burning through Meridians.

Tang Hao abruptly sat upright, crushing the liquor flask in his hand with a crack.

The liquor spilled onto the ground, but before it could spread, the heat wave evaporated it into vapor.

"Ten Thousand Year Whale Rubber?"

"And mutated with a Black Gold attribute?"

Tang Hao stared fixedly at the thing, his voice stern and fierce.

"What are you trying to do?"

"Do not tell me you want to swallow it."

"The yang fire inside that thing is something even a Titled Douluo would not dare absorb directly!"

"If you eat it, you will turn to ash!"

Faced with the roar of a Titled Douluo.

Bai Tang San's expression was as calm as a pool of dead water.

He extended two fingers and lightly picked up the scorching Whale Rubber.

A sizzling sound like roasting flesh instantly rose from his fingertips.

Yet he did not even furrow his brow.

"Fortune is sought amid danger."

"Ordinary Whale Rubber can only strengthen muscle."

"But this piece of Ten Thousand Year Black Gold can reshape my marrow."

"What I want is not to patch up a ruined house."

"But rather..."

"Demolish it and rebuild it."

Madman!

As Tang Hao looked at the six-year-old boy before him, those were the only two words left in his mind.

Demolish it and rebuild it?

Was that something a person could do?

"What gives you the right?"

Tang Hao sneered. The air of despondency in his eyes vanished, replaced by the pressure of a powerful expert.

"With that pitiful bit of Soul Power of yours?"

"Or with that so-called theory of yours?"

"Before absolute power, theory is nothing but bullshit!"

Bai Tang San did not argue.

He simply took another list from his clothes and slapped it onto the table.

"Because the Mysterious Heaven Skill protects my body and can keep my heart meridians intact."

"Because I have the companion cold grass of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, which can suppress thirty percent of its fire poison."

At that, Bai Tang San paused.

He raised his head, his Purple Demon Eye meeting Tang Hao's gaze directly.

There was no fear.

Only the rationality with which one regarded a business partner.

"But I still need one final safeguard."

"I need someone."

"When my Meridians are about to collapse and my bones are about to melt."

"To use the most vast and purest Soul Power as a hammer."

"To treat my body as a piece of raw iron."

"And forge it repeatedly."

"To forcibly hammer the medicinal power into my bone marrow."

Tang Hao froze.

Forging a human like iron?

This unheard-of method of cultivation was simply absurd!

"You want me to guard you?"

Tang Hao narrowed his eyes, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Kid, I am your father, not your hired thug."

"Besides."

"One small mistake during this process, and you will die by my hand."

"You dare gamble on that?"

Bai Tang San smiled.

His smile was cold, and arrogant.

"I dare gamble with my life."

"It depends on whether you dare gamble with your hammer."

"And besides..."

Bai Tang San raised one finger and gave it a slight shake.

"This is not volunteer work."

"There is a separate price."

Tang Hao raised a brow. "A price? What do you think I lack?"

Bai Tang San turned around and pulled out a wine jar sealed with a red strip from the bundle behind him.

He broke open the clay seal.

An unusual fragrance of liquor instantly filled the air.

It was not merely the scent of alcohol.

It was a distinctive aroma blending a hundred herbs, spicy yet sweet on the finish.

Just one breath of it made the blocked Meridians in one's body twitch slightly.

"Hundred Herb Brew."

"I distilled it from eighty-one herbs that promote blood circulation and disperse blood stasis, combined with strong liquor."

"It tastes ten thousand times better than your Inferior Ale."

Tang Hao's Adam's apple bobbed uncontrollably.

For a drunkard, this was a fatal temptation.

But even more fatal were Bai Tang San's next words.

"This wine is merely the deposit."

"If you help me complete this body forging."

"I am confident that within three years."

"I can heal your old injuries."

Boom!

Those words exploded in Tang Hao's mind like a thunderclap.

His body suddenly stiffened.

Those eyes, which had held a trace of mockery moments ago, instantly became as terrifying as the Abyss.

Killing Intent.

Tangible Killing Intent instantly locked onto Bai Tang San.

"You know... I am injured?"

Tang Hao's voice was frighteningly low.

This was his greatest secret.

And the root of his decline to this day.

Facing the killing intent of a Titled Douluo, Bai Tang San remained as steady as a mountain.

He even poured himself a bowl of water.

"I deal in poison."

"And medicine."

"From the moment I cooked you your first bowl of porridge, I smelled that decaying scent of blood on you."

"Your Meridians are severed, and your internal organs are displaced."

"You are still alive only because a domineering surge of Soul Power is keeping you going."

"But that is also drinking poison to quench thirst."

Bai Tang San set down the bowl of water, his gaze blazing.

"What do you say, His Highness Haotian?"

"Use one session of protection in exchange for a chance to return to your peak."

"This deal."

"Will you make it, or not?"

Dead silence.

The Blacksmith Shop sank into suffocating silence.

Tang Hao stared fixedly at the boy before him.

He was assessing him.

He was weighing it.

He was also... shaken.

He had never imagined that a six-year-old child would see through his hand and seize upon his weakness.

And that child was his son.

There was no tearful complaint.

No pleading.

Only a naked exchange of interests and an equal conversation.