Xiao Wu's Sacrifice

He glanced at the Blue Silver Grass, then at Xiao Wu's reaction, and felt quite satisfied with the effect of this sowing of discord.

Actually, it couldn't really be called sowing discord—after all, what happened to Tang Hao was far too coincidental, making it hard not to be suspicious.

This situation was like mud in your crotch—not shit, but it sure looks like it.

"Xue Nu, let's go."

With his goal achieved, Lin Ye prepared to leave.

Seeing this, the Blue Silver King quickly said, "Um, could you leave the Empress with me?"

Lin Ye flatly refused. "No. If Tang Hao comes looking later, can you protect her?"

The Blue Silver King was momentarily speechless.

Lin Ye continued, "If your Empress falls into the hands of Tang Hao and his son, do you think they might try to devour her to improve the quality of Tang San's Blue Silver Grass martial soul?"

The Blue Silver King was shocked. How had he overlooked that? With Tang Hao's ruthless nature, doing something like that wasn't impossible.

Thus, the Blue Silver King no longer obstructed them, watching helplessly as Lin Ye's group left, taking Ah Yin with them.

Lin Ye had Bing Di and Xiao Wu return first.

He himself still needed to find his Second Soul Ring.

Originally, he'd planned to find one locally, but this area was mostly plant-type soul beasts.

With no other choice, Lin Ye set out again, heading for the Star Dou Great Forest, which had the most variety and the largest number of soul beasts.

Xue Di and Lin Qiu'er accompanied him—the former to protect Lin Ye's safety.

Lin Qiu'er was simply going home for a visit.

The forest under the cover of night was like a mysterious world. Moonlight filtered through the dense foliage, scattering fine silver-white shadows, as if laying a thin veil over the land. A gentle breeze stirred, and leaves rustled softly.

Several people sat together around a blazing campfire.

The dancing flames illuminated Lin Ye's focused face.

A dressed rabbit was skewered over the fire, slowly rotating. The flames licked at the meat, gradually releasing an enticing aroma.

By the time the rabbit was roasted golden brown, crispy on the outside and tender inside, Lin Qiu'er was already drooling, swallowing repeatedly.

"Eat up, little glutton."

Lin Ye smiled and rubbed Lin Qiu'er's round head, then tore off a rabbit leg and handed it to her.

She took it and immediately took a big bite.

Then, "Ptoo, ptoo, ptoo! This is awful!"

Hearing that, Lin Ye's face darkened. I personally cooked for you, and you're complaining?

Was it really that bad?

He didn't believe it, so he tore off a piece of rabbit meat and put it in his mouth. Then...

Well, it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't delicious either.

Sure enough, whether in his past life or this one, he had no talent for cooking.

Lin Ye set the roasted rabbit aside, silently pulled out some Beef Jerky, and started chewing.

Seeing their reactions, Xue Di also gave up the idea of tasting the rabbit.

"Is what you said to the Blue Silver King today true?" Xue Di suddenly asked.

Lin Ye paused. "Xue Nu, do you think I lied to the Blue Silver King to sow discord?"

Xue Di was silent.

"I did intend to drive a wedge between Tang Hao and the Blue Silver King. But those things I said weren't made up."

"Not to mention Tang Hao—his son, Tang San, also followed in his father's footsteps," Lin Ye said with a chuckle.

"Oh? How so?" Xue Di grew interested.

"In the original course of history, Xiao Wu successfully enrolled at Notting Academy and was assigned to the same dorm as Tang San."

"Their relationship was good, and because of that, Tang Hao didn't act against Xiao Wu right away."

"Later, Tang San and Xiao Wu became sworn siblings."

Lin Qiu'er's big eyes sparkled, gossip burning within her. "Ah, like father, like son—they both like taking little sisters. Did Tang San fall for Xiao Wu too?"

Lin Ye laughed meaningfully. "You guessed right. That's exactly what happened."

"And what's even more interesting is that years later, Tang San and Xiao Wu were also hunted by Martial Soul Hall. In a moment of crisis, Xiao Wu, just like Ah Yin, chose to sacrifice herself for Tang San."

The two women were stunned. This... the plot was so similar.

It seemed the Tang Family's scheming ran deep.

Xue Di asked, "Where was Tang Hao then? Did he just watch Tang San in danger?"

"Tang Hao? That guy chopped off his own limbs and removed two Soul Bones, because those bones came from the Clear Sky Sect—he wanted to return them."

The two women were shocked. Is this guy out of his mind?

"After losing his Soul Bone, Tang Hao's strength plummeted. So he went off to retire with Ah Yin and told Tang San to get revenge for him."

Hearing this, both women fell silent. They truly didn't know what to say. This was really as absurd as it got—absurd's mom opening the door for absurd, absurdity at home.

Chopped off limbs and took the Soul Bone?

Fine. You're so noble, so high and mighty.

And even that was one thing, but then you go retire and make your son carry the burden for you?

Alright, alright, you've got some nerve!

Xue Di's gaze dropped low, making it impossible to read her thoughts.

"Looking at it this way, you capturing Xiao Wu now might not be such a bad thing."

At least she won't die without knowing why. Xue Di added silently to herself.

Soul masters hunting soul beasts wasn't a big deal—after all, you couldn't avoid soul rings if you wanted to raise your cultivation.

But if it was through emotions, tricking someone with romance and then taking both their body and their ring, that was utterly depraved and shameless.

Lin Ye shook his head, however, and said, "Xiao Wu isn't dead."

"Not dead?" Xue Di was slightly stunned. "Didn't she sacrifice herself to Tang San?"

"She planned to, but before she could, I intercepted her."

Lin Ye had learned all this from the Parchment.

He didn't need to think to know—after he snatched Xiao Wu away, watching the soul ring he was about to get fly off, that little bastard Xiao Biesan must have been furious!

Just thinking about it felt great.

"Then... what happened next? What happened after that?" Lin Qiu'er leaned in and asked.

Lin Ye said solemnly, "Later, after I broke through to Titled Douluo, Xiao Wu sacrificed herself to me."

"Ah!" Both women were confused. Weren't Xiao Wu and Tang San very close?

You were constantly opposing Tang San—how could Xiao Wu sacrifice herself to you?

Lin Ye knew their doubts and explained, "It's not what you think. She didn't do it to help me, but to weaken my strength.

At that time, my seventh and eighth soul rings were both 100,000-year. I was planning to find a Fierce Beast soul ring as my Ninth Soul Ring, and I already had a lead.

Xiao Wu was worried that if I grew stronger, I would harm Xiao Biesan, so she chose to sacrifice herself to stop me from obtaining a very powerful soul ring."

Silence. A deathly stillness fell over the scene, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Xue Di and Lin Qiu'er never imagined that Xiao Wu would go this far for Tang San.