Eve of the Soul Hunt

Cold. Utterly cold.

Xiao Wu froze.

Ever since she was little, because she was cute, who hadn't greeted her with a smile?

Yet this guy actually dared to ignore her?

"Are you looking down on me?"

Xiao Wu's fiery temper flared up at once. Without another thought, she charged straight at him.

"First Soul Skill, Waist Bow... ah, no, Soft Skill!"

Her body moved like lightning, and her long leg lashed toward Bai Tang San's neck.

Against an ordinary person, or even a careless One-Ring Soul Master, this move would have caught them off guard.

But Bai Tang San was no ordinary person.

The instant Xiao Wu closed in.

Whoosh!

A flash of violet glinted in Bai Tang San's eyes.

Xiao Wu's lightning-fast movements immediately slowed in his vision, exposing nothing but openings!

He calmly extended his left hand.

Mysterious Jade Hand activated, his palm as smooth and hard as jade.

Smack!

A soft sound rang out.

Bai Tang San precisely caught Xiao Wu's incoming ankle.

Like iron pincers, his grip did not budge in the slightest.

"What?!"

Xiao Wu's expression changed dramatically. She tried to break free, only to find that her Soul Power had been sealed in an instant!

That was the Pulse Severing Method of the Mysterious Jade Hand!

"Too slow. Too weak."

Bai Tang San delivered the cold assessment.

Then, he gave his wrist a light flick.

There was not the slightest hint of tenderness.

Xiao Wu was flung away like a rag doll.

Bang!

She crashed heavily onto the soft bedding. She was unhurt, but the fall left her thoroughly disoriented.

"Your movements are flashy, but full of openings."

"If I had been holding a blade, your leg would already be broken."

Bai Tang San withdrew his hand and continued wiping his Flying Dagger.

As though he had merely swatted away an annoying fly.

"If you don't want to die, stay away from me."

Silence.

Deathly silence.

Xiao Wu sat on the bed, staring blankly at that cold, ruthless back.

Aggrieved?

Angry?

She felt both.

But more than that, she felt an unprecedented... shock.

She had lost.

Lost completely.

She had not even touched the edge of his clothes.

"This guy..."

Xiao Wu bit her lip, her eyes slightly red, but there was little hatred in her gaze.

In the world of Soul Beasts, the strong were revered.

This icy human child was more terrifying than any Soul Beast of the same age she had ever seen.

And also... more alluring.

She did not become the arrogant "Sister Xiao Wu" she had been in the original story.

Instead, she curled up at the foot of the bed, hugging her knees as she secretly watched that intimidating back.

A seed called "curiosity" and "awe" quietly took root in her heart.

[Real World]

Shrek Academy.

Xiao Wu of the Black World watched the Sky Curtain.

Watched herself being ruthlessly flung away by Bai Tang San.

She should have been angry.

But...

Looking at Bai Tang San's cold profile, his fluid movements, and his utterly domineering presence.

Her face actually turned red in spite of herself.

"This..."

"He's way too fierce..."

"But..."

Xiao Wu secretly glanced at Hei Tang San beside her, who was always timid and obedient around her.

Then she looked at Bai Tang San on the Sky Curtain, who could not care less about her.

"Why do I feel like..."

"That fierce guy seems... a little more handsome?"

Meanwhile, Hei Tang San stood there with an awkward expression.

He watched the decisive, ruthless version of himself on the screen.

Then he looked at the people in reality pointing and whispering about him.

The label of "simp" seemed to have been branded firmly onto his forehead.

"I..."

"I really just didn't want to hurt her back then!"

He screamed inwardly.

But faced with the overwhelming mockery in the comments, his explanation seemed pale and powerless.

The Sky Curtain continued.

Night fell.

The night in Nuoding City was tranquil and deep.

The two Tang Sans were about to face the first major choice of their lives.

Soul Hunting Forest.

First Soul Ring.

One was a good little boy who depended on Master.

The other was a lone wolf preparing alone.

Who would go farther?

The answer would soon be revealed!

[Black World]

The sunshine was perfect, and the breeze was gentle.

Yu Xiaogang walked at the front of the market with his hands behind his back, occasionally gesturing grandly as he spoke.

"Xiao San, look. That is twenty-year-old Gu Zhu, and that is the hide of a ten-year-old Nether Wolf."

"These are all basic facts about Soul Beasts. You must remember them."

Hei Tang San followed behind him, carrying several large bags.

Inside were neither weapons nor medicine.

They were filled with a huge bag of... white radishes.

"Teacher, why are we buying so many radishes?" Hei Tang San asked in confusion.

Yu Xiaogang stopped and smiled mysteriously.

"This is your teacher's secret weapon."

"Although Luo San Pao's mutation failed, its sense of smell and warning ability are first-rate."

"And radishes are its source of power."

As he spoke, he took several Silver Soul Coins from his robes and handed them to Tang San.

"Take these Silver Soul Coins and buy yourself a decent set of bedding."

"As a Soul Master, your body is the foundation of everything. You can't mistreat yourself too badly."

Hei Tang San held those Silver Soul Coins, still warm with Yu Xiaogang's body heat, and his eyes instantly reddened.

To him.

This was not merely money.

This was a father's love and concern from his Teacher!

"Thank you, Teacher!"

"This disciple will remember it forever!"

He carefully put away the money and followed closely behind Yu Xiaogang.

Like a child who had yet to be weaned, unable to leave an adult's protection.

Even though he was a transmigrator.

Even though he possessed the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record.

At this moment, he had completely lost his own judgment and was willing to become an obedient puppet.

[White World]

By then, night had fallen over Nuoding City.

Inside the Blacksmith Shop, sparks flew everywhere.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The rhythmic hammering sounded like a stirring symphony.

Bai Tang San stood bare-chested, sweat sliding down the lines of his lean, muscular body.

Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer!

Though he did not have the Clear Sky Hammer, he still achieved astonishing results with an ordinary Forging Hammer.

"Good! Good boy!"

The Blacksmith Shop owner stared in astonishment and slapped down a heavy bag of Gold Soul Coins.

"This is your pay for the past few days, plus a bonus!"

"As long as you want to come back, my doors will always be open to you!"

Bai Tang San took the money pouch and weighed it in his hand.

A satisfied curve formed at the corner of his mouth.

"Thanks."

There was no excessive politeness.

He took the money and left.

He did not buy bedding, nor did he go enjoy himself.

Instead, he turned and slipped into Nuoding City's largest pharmacy and general store.

"Shopkeeper, I want three jin of high-purity Realgar Powder."

"Five Detoxification Grass plants, each at least ten years old."

"And get me a set of Steel Beast Traps, the kind with reinforced springs."

Bai Tang San listed item after item, each one precise and straight to the point.

The shopkeeper looked at the child in surprise.

"Little friend, what are you buying these things for? They're all used to hunt fierce beasts."

Bai Tang San gave him a faint glance.

"Don't ask what you shouldn't."

That icy look immediately made the shopkeeper shut his mouth and obediently prepare the goods.

After finishing his purchases.

Bai Tang San did not rest.

Instead, under cover of night, he slipped into the library of Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy.

The candlelight flickered.

He sat at a desk with two books spread out before him.

One was the Soul Beast Illustrated Guide.

The other was a handwritten copy of Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul that Yu Xiaogang had given him.

He held a pen in his hand, writing rapidly in a notebook.

His gaze was focused and sharp.

Like a forensic examiner dissecting a corpse.

"Yu Xiaogang praised the Datura Snake for its toughness, claiming it suited Blue Silver Grass's binding control."

Bai Tang San looked at that line, a disdainful sneer curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Shallow."

With a turn of his pen, he wrote a lengthy red annotation beside it.

"The essence of Blue Silver Grass is vitality—life without end."

"Simple binding, no matter how tough, is ultimately dead matter."

"If it could absorb the neurotoxin within a Datura Snake..."

"Transform it into the Life Plunder attributes of 'corrosion' and 'paralysis.'"

"Even if a single blade of grass merely cut an enemy's skin..."

"It could instantly render them incapable of fighting."

"That is the proper way to develop a plant-type Martial Soul."

"Not to become some control-type vine."

"But rather to become..."

"A poisonous thorn that kills at the sight of blood!"