Su Mo nodded. "More or less."
"Fine. You helped Sister Xiao Wu, so we'll do you this favor," Da Ming said.
Su Mo found it amusing. This clearly benefited them too, yet they were trying to make it sound like a favor.
Still, he didn't call them out.
Shifting the blame onto Tang Hao and the Clear Sky Sect was partly about revenge, but the main point was to divert the Myriad Demon King's attention away from Holy Soul Village.
Besides, it would buy him more time to grow.
Uncle Hao, don't blame me.
You sowed the seeds yourself, so let your sect swallow the bitter fruit.
With Su Mo's suggestion in hand, Da Ming and Er Ming couldn't wait to return and report. Although they hated to leave Sister Xiao Wu, they also knew that after soul beast transformation, she had to engage with human society. She couldn't go back with them.
Fortunately, Sister Xiao Wu was safe and had one of their own looking out for her, which put them much more at ease.
After bidding Sister Xiao Wu farewell, the two beasts left.
On their way back, Su Mo suddenly said, "I thought that once your backers arrived, you'd take the chance to expose me and have Da Ming and Er Ming deal with me."
"But you've poisoned me," Xiao Wu said, seemingly with another meaning behind her words.
"What if I told you the One-Day Death Powder was actually fake?"
"Tch, I don't know anything about that stuff. You can say whatever you want." Xiao Wu rolled her eyes, apparently in quite a good mood.
Toward nightfall, Su Mo and Xiao Wu returned to the Frog House.
With nobody else around, there was no need to keep it hidden.
After Su Mo's furnishing, the Frog House had really taken shape, complete with a living room, kitchen, bedroom, toilet, and bathroom.
"Wait a moment. I'll cook you some noodles." Su Mo plunged into the kitchen.
As for letting Xiao Wu cook?
Better not. He feared he wouldn't be able to resist stir-frying some rabbit meat.
After eating their noodles and washing up, the two enjoyed a comfortable night's sleep.
Meanwhile, Tang San's group could only shelter beneath a tree from the rain, with Director Su and Yu Xiaogang taking turns keeping watch against any unexpected danger.
The next morning.
Dawn gradually broke across the sky.
Su Mo and Xiao Wu left the Frog House and continued their journey back.
After half a day's travel, Su Mo suddenly detected Tang San's group. His eyes lit up, and he strode toward them.
"Yo, Little San! Finally found you!"
Hearing that familiar "yo," Tang San didn't find it irritating this time. Instead, it sounded rather warm.
"Brother Mo, it's wonderful that you're both safe!"
Director Su's face was wreathed in smiles. "It's good to have you back... Speaking of which, where did you go earlier? You vanished in the blink of an eye."
"Ahem, well, wasn't Grandmaster using a soul skill then? That gas was shit-yellow, so thick it was practically solid. I couldn't even imagine how dizzying the smell would be. It was terrifying, so I hurriedly took Xiao Wu and ran. Later, I felt even stronger battle fluctuations. It seemed dangerous, so we ran farther away..."
Su Mo described it so vividly that Director Su and Tang San felt sick listening to him.
After all, they had still been there at the time.
Director Su also briefly recounted what had happened to them afterward, leaving Su Mo's heart pounding with alarm. He hadn't expected Tang San to have nearly died.
Fortunately, Tang Hao had been there.
Otherwise, if Little Scumbag had died just like that, whom would he take revenge on later?
Seeing Grandmaster sitting cross-legged the whole time, Su Mo asked curiously, "What's wrong with Grandmaster?"
Director Su explained, "Not long ago, we found an armored beetle that had been stunned by the shock waves of the battle. Its cultivation was a full seventeen hundred years..."
Su Mo interrupted. "If I remember correctly, armored beetles are defensive types, aren't they?"
Director Su was rather helpless about that too. "Grandmaster theorized that combining an armored beetle with the Clear Sky Hammer might produce a defense-breaking soul skill. He insisted on absorbing it. I couldn't stop him even if I wanted to."
Hearing this, Su Mo suddenly remembered.
Tang San seemed to have absorbed the soul ring of a fifty-thousand-year-old armored beetle king, gaining the soul skill Steadfastness Break, which could indeed break through defenses.
But Tang San was the protagonist. Who the hell are you to try the same stunt?
Oh, you're Tang San's teacher, and you even got your disciple's Clear Sky Hammer. Then you do have some chance of getting a defense-breaking soul skill.
But would I give you that chance?
Gambling dogs don't deserve a house!
Yu Xiaogang had heard the Three Great Laws of Martial Souls, so he naturally owed Su Mo a debt of instruction as well. Su Mo immediately activated Return a Peach for a Plum in secret, drawing seven hundred years of soul ring energy from the armored beetle.
Although its color became a little paler, it was still a thousand-year ring.
It wouldn't arouse too much suspicion.
Of the seven hundred years of energy he had drawn out, Su Mo added three hundred to the Frog House to make it a thousand-year ring, then added the remaining four hundred to Wood Element Control to make up for its earlier shortfall.
With the soul ring's energy reduced, Yu Xiaogang finished absorbing it before long.
Upon waking, Yu Xiaogang immediately sensed the soul skill he had obtained. Soon, however, his face fell.
Director Su asked curiously, "Grandmaster, what sort of soul skill did you obtain?"
But Yu Xiaogang still kept his mouth shut.
Seeing this, Su Mo looked thoughtful. Did this guy lose his bet?
Seeing Yu Xiaogang's expression, as though he couldn't bring himself to say it, the others gradually understood as well. Grandmaster hadn't obtained the soul skill he wanted.
But Su Mo wasn't planning to let Yu Xiaogang off.
He activated Tian Meng's soul bone skill, Emotion Control-
Reduce Grandmaster's sense of shame!
Amplify Grandmaster's desire to show off!
The next moment, Yu Xiaogang's formerly constipated expression suddenly turned open and unabashed.
"Ah, I'm ashamed to say I've let you all down. I didn't obtain a defense-breaking soul skill. Instead, I acquired a defensive soul skill..."
As he spoke, Yu Xiaogang summoned his martial soul, the Clear Sky Hammer, preparing to demonstrate.
"Fart like..."
Yet merely hearing those words frightened Su Mo into putting a great distance between them.
Xiao Wu ran far away too.
Seeing this, Director Su and Tang San belatedly realized what was happening and likewise distanced themselves from Grandmaster.
It had to be said that those words were truly intimidating, enough to make their faces change at the mere sound. After all, if their faces didn't change upon hearing him before Grandmaster used his soul skill, they would certainly change upon smelling it afterward.
"Fart like a shield, walls of bronze and iron-Clear Sky Hammer!"
Grandmaster shouted the soul skill's name, then, beneath everyone's stunned gazes, slammed the Clear Sky Hammer into the ground. A great mass of yellow sand swirled up, enveloping his entire body and forming a hemispherical shield.
Something was wrong!
The way that yellow sand moved was wrong!
That wasn't yellow sand...
It was fart gas!
At the sight, everyone grew even more disgusted and backed farther away.
Su Mo was utterly speechless too. Luo Sanpao was gone, so why were the soul skills still related to farting?
A perfectly good armored beetle had ended up as a farting beetle.
"Everyone, my soul skill turns fart gas into a mist shield. Inside the shield, it can obstruct vision and detection-type soul skills, while the Clear Sky Hammer spins at high speed within the fart mist, blocking attacks from every direction. If you don't believe me, try attacking me."
Yu Xiaogang's explanation came from within the fart mist.
Unable to contain his curiosity, Su Mo asked, "Grandmaster, doesn't it stink in there?"
"Although the smell isn't pleasant, it's really nothing once you get used to it. If you don't believe me, come in and try it." As Yu Xiaogang spoke, he walked toward Su Mo and the others.
Don't come any closer!
Everyone cried out inwardly in unison, hurriedly retreating to put more distance between them.