Yu Xiaogang, the Grandmaster, led Tang San and Xiao Wu to the Spirit Hall in Nuoding City to collect their Soul Master stipends.
When Xiao Wu heard that the Spirit Hall gave Soul Masters stipends—one whole Gold Soul Coin—she was surprised. Although she was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, she had spent enough time among humans to know what a Gold Soul Coin was worth.
She said, "I didn't expect the Spirit Hall to be so decent."
It was hard to say whether she remembered her mother when she said that.
As soon as Xiao Wu praised the Spirit Hall, our Great God King Tang and Yu Xiaogang, the Grandmaster, were displeased. Their faces immediately darkened.
Our Great God King Tang said, "Xiao Wu, don't be fooled by the Spirit Hall's facade. This is just an attempt to win people over. Besides, the money comes from the two great empires."
"Xiao San is right. The Spirit Hall is full of ambition and is definitely no good," Yu Xiaogang, the Grandmaster, added.
"I understand. I had no idea the Spirit Hall was so awful." After hearing Tang San and Yu Xiaogang, Xiao Wu's opinion of the Spirit Hall changed at once.
"But, Xiao San, let's hurry inside and collect the money." With that, Xiao Wu grabbed Tang San and bounced toward the Spirit Hall. She showed no sign of still being injured.
The vitality of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast was truly terrifying.
The Spirit Hall staff's faces turned cloudy the moment they saw Yu Xiaogang.
They hated this useless man more than anyone.
When he came to collect his money, he'd keep his hands behind his back, stick out his rear, puff out his chest, and hold his head high, putting on an air of someone who considered money beneath him.
But the moment he saw those glittering Gold Soul Coins, he'd practically drool.
He had a terrible attitude, too, always wearing a sour expression as though someone owed him something.
The worst part was that he knew the Spirit Hall only gave stipends to Soul Masters below level thirty, so he had deliberately kept his level at twenty-nine. And then he'd stopped making any progress at all.
Who said Yu Xiaogang wasn't a Grandmaster? Maybe he wasn't a master of Martial Soul Theory, but he was certainly a master economist.
Yu Xiaogang walked into the Spirit Hall with a stony expression. His face was blank, but his eyes burned as he said, "I'm here to collect my Soul Master stipend."
"Sorry, you don't meet the requirements."
"That's impossible. I collected it last month, and my Soul Power is level twenty-nine."
"Our requirements for Soul Master stipends state that Soul Grandmasters must be under forty. You don't meet the age requirement."
"You're discriminating against the elderly!"
"Teacher, please don't get angry." Tang San stepped forward. "I'm here to collect my Soul Master stipend. Surely I meet the requirements?"
"Sorry,"
"According to our records, you often fight with your classmates at school, but you only ever take a beating and never fight back. You don't meet the requirements either."
Was it my choice to start fights? Was it my choice not to fight back? Tang San felt as though a hundred thousand alpacas were stampeding through his mind.
"What about me?" Xiao Wu asked, bouncing up and down, her rabbit-eared head swaying.
"Sorry,"
"According to the rules from above, no stipends are given to anyone named Xiao Wu, anyone whose Martial Soul is a Soft Bone Rabbit, or anyone with two rabbit ears."
"Furthermore, all Spirit Hall members who encounter anyone matching that description must give her two slaps."
As he spoke, the Martial Soul Hall Deacon stepped forward and SMACK! SMACK! slapped Xiao Wu twice.
The blows left Xiao Wu seeing stars and reeling with dizziness. She swayed and fell to the ground.
When Tang San saw Xiao Wu get slapped, he flew into a rage. "How dare you hurt my Xiao Wu! I'll kill you!"
As he spoke, a Yellow Soul Ring appeared around Tang San.
"You dare make trouble in the Spirit Hall? You're asking for death!"
A group of Spirit Hall deacons immediately surrounded them.
Yu Xiaogang saw what was happening and immediately lost his nerve. "Everyone, it's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. They're just children and don't know any better. I apologize on their behalf."
"If an apology were enough, what would we need the Spirit Hall for?"
"Beat them senseless!"
A while later, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Yu Xiaogang were thrown out of the Spirit Hall.
After some more time passed, the three of them finally recovered.
The moment he came around, Tang San thought, Damn the Spirit Hall! They dared to deny my stipend and beat me, my Xiao Wu, and my teacher. Now they've given me three more reasons to kill them.
"Teacher, what should we do now?" Tang San asked.
"It's fine. I have some savings. Take them. You and Xiao Wu can find a cheap hotel; it should be enough."
"Thank you, Teacher."
Tang San eagerly took Xiao Wu to find a hotel room.
But Tang San went from asking at five-star hotels to hotels with no stars, then from those to brick houses, from brick houses to mud huts, and from mud huts to thatched cottages. At last, he found a vacant room.
Naturally, this was all Qian Renyu's doing. When he heard Tang San and Xiao Wu planned to stay somewhere else for a few days, he had Zhang Zhuan and Yang He book every place in Nuoding City that could be lived in, leaving only this thatched cottage.
Xiao Wu looked at the dilapidated cottage and shook her rabbit-eared head, refusing outright. She'd rather go back and get beaten by Qian Renyu than live there.
You're a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast who usually sleeps out in the open. Now you have a thatched cottage to shelter you from the wind and rain, and you're still complaining.
Some people were just impossible to please.
Tang San couldn't talk Xiao Wu into it, so he had no choice but to return with her to Dorm Seven at Nuoding Academy.
When Tang San and Xiao Wu got back to Dorm Seven, they found Qian Renyu waiting there with Zhang Zhuan and Yang He.
"Zhang Zhuan, Yang He, beat them up!"
CRASH! BANG!
Tang San and Xiao Wu—one beast and one half-beast, two strange creatures—hobbled back to the same thatched cottage, covered in blood.
But the rent for the cottage had now gone up tenfold.
Tang San had been about to fight back, but when he saw the other side had two white Soul Rings and one yellow Soul Ring, he wisely backed down.
Tang San and Xiao Wu settled into the thatched cottage, while Yu Xiaogang helped them get leave from school.
Still, Tang San was happy that he and Xiao Wu were sleeping in the same bed and under the same covers again, both of them still without clothes.
Once again, Tang San managed to persuade Xiao Wu to stay there long-term. They'd go to class at the academy during the day and come back to sleep at night.
It was a shame they were still too young.
But Qian Renyu still didn't leave them alone. Every day, he brought Zhang Zhuan and Yang He to their thatched cottage. They didn't beat them up; they just made the two of them kowtow, then slapped each of them twice.
Tang San and Xiao Wu got used to it, but they were running out of money. Rent was expensive there, and Xiao Wu was always buying things. She wanted to eat everything she saw.
With no other choice, Tang San went to work at a blacksmith's shop.
One day, after school, Tang San and Xiao Wu were on their way back to the thatched cottage when they saw an old man selling carrots.
The moment Xiao Wu saw him, she went over and took two bites.
"Little girl, are you buying those? You can't just start eating them."
"Of course I'm buying them. I'll take all of these. Xiao San, come pay."
She wanted to buy the whole pile of carrots. Tang San had no choice. The blacksmith's shop had paid him that day, so he could at least afford to buy Xiao Wu a carrot. He walked over to pay.
"Boss, we'll take all of these. How much?"
"One hundred Gold Soul Coins."
"What!" When Xiao Wu heard the price, her rabbit ears shot straight up. "You want one hundred Gold Soul Coins for that whole pile of carrots?"
"Little girl, you must have misheard me. When did I say the whole pile cost one hundred Gold Soul Coins?"
"I said each carrot costs one hundred Gold Soul Coins." As he spoke, the old man pointed to the price sign beside him.
"My prices are clearly marked. If you can't afford them, you don't have to buy any. But you started eating my carrots without asking. Did you even consider whether that was against my wishes?"
"Isn't that just robbery?" Xiao Wu said angrily.
"Sorry, we don't want them after all." Tang San took Xiao Wu by the hand and tried to leave.
"You think you can just leave? What about the carrots she bit into? Pay up before you go."
"You're asking for it!" Xiao Wu released her Yellow Soul Ring, ready to attack.
Tang San also released his Soul Ring and put his hand on the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges, the Soul Tool Yu Xiaogang had given him.
"You're the ones asking for it." The old man calmly released his own Soul Rings.
One white, three yellow, and one purple—five Soul Rings. He was a Soul King.
What happened next was this:
A male and a female Soul Master bullied an old man selling carrots in the street.
Before you continue