As Tang San thought back, his hands unconsciously straightened his slightly wrinkled clothes. After a long moment, he apologized awkwardly.
"Sorry, I think I've forgotten your name."
Forgotten?
How could this guy have forgotten?
I'd gone out of my way to talk to him several times, and he still didn't remember me at all.
Did extras not deserve names?
Did being the protagonist make him so special?
Xiao Yun was furious!
Just then, the system's blue screen suddenly popped up.
[Congratulations, host! You've made a top-tier friend. Friendship Points from Tang San +10] [Congratulations on making your first top-tier friend! You've received 1 Top-Tier Martial Soul Lottery Ticket.]
?????
!!!!!
The moment Su Yun read the words on the screen, all the anger in his mind vanished. He was completely stunned.
His first thought was, As expected of the protagonist. He gave me 10 Friendship Points all at once, more than all the other children in the village combined.
Then something felt off. They hadn't even said much to each other, so how had they become friends?
After all, the other boy had been lukewarm toward him just two days ago. What exactly had changed?
As Su Yun pondered this, his gaze inadvertently fell on the river. Seeing the exquisite little girl reflected in the water reminded him that he was dressed as a girl.
The thought of his cross-dressing being exposed filled him with shame.
For a moment, the scene fell into an eerie silence.
Tang San, however, subconsciously let his gaze settle on Su Yun's little face. There were still droplets of water on it from where she had just washed, and her slightly damp strands of hair made her look rather pitiful.
Perhaps because she noticed him watching, she felt shy. Her cheeks turned faintly red, and even her fair skin took on a delicate pink hue.
So cute...
The thought popped into Tang San's mind, and he hastily looked away, like a guilty thief.
Taking several deep breaths, Su Yun struggled to calm himself. He crouched down and began packing his toiletries into his little bag. He wanted to act as if nothing had happened, but he just couldn't.
A person could die, but they couldn't survive social death!
After packing everything away, Su Yun gave Tang San a long look, then left without a word.
Seeing Su Yun leave, Tang San instinctively wanted to stop her, but his hand halted halfway.
Watching the direction the girl had gone, Tang San felt regretful. It wasn't because of the girl, but because of himself. He had nearly let her fall into the lake, and on top of that, he couldn't remember her name.
While Tang San was feeling bereft, Su Yun, in his haste, had failed to close his bag. A gust of wind blew a handkerchief out of it, sending it fluttering away.
By the time Tang San reacted, the handkerchief was about to fall into the river. Almost by instinct, he put all his strength into Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. Every stride carried him nearly two zhang.
"Splash!"
Just as the handkerchief was about to hit the water, Tang San leaped into the river and caught it. By the time he climbed ashore, soaked from head to toe, and wanted to return it to Su Yun, the girl had already disappeared.
Tang San felt his heart skip a beat. The handkerchief in his palm was as light as gauze and transparent as a cicada's wing, cool to the touch. A few pale green orchids were embroidered on it, and its material matched the girl's clothes exactly. He seemed to catch a faint, delicate fragrance lingering on it.
Tang San folded the handkerchief and carefully tucked it into his clothes.
"She should be from Holy Soul Village too. I'll have another chance to meet her!
"Right!
"Today's Martial Soul Awakening. She'll definitely be there. I can return the handkerchief then and apologize properly."
Muttering to himself, Tang San began washing up by the river too. For some reason, though, the image of the girl's adorable, flushed cheeks kept appearing in his mind.
Meanwhile.
[Friendship Points from Tang San +10.]
??????
"Seriously, dude, what's wrong with you?"
Staring at the 10 additional Friendship Points, Su Yun was dumbfounded. This made absolutely no sense!
By the time he returned to the village chief's house, Old Jack had already prepared the meal. Seeing Su Yun come back, he said warmly, "Xiao Yun, you're back? Come eat!"
"Okay, Grandpa."
Su Yun answered and raised the little bag in his hand.
"I'll put this in my room and come right over."
Back in his room, Su Yun casually tossed the little bag onto the table and eagerly opened the system.
Ignoring the spicy strips and Happy Fat Man Water in his inventory, Su Yun looked at his latest reward: a golden lottery ticket marked [New].
[Top-Tier Lottery Ticket Description: Use this to draw once in the top-tier lottery.]
The description was simple, but powerful.
Su Yun rubbed his hands together and said eagerly, "Use it!"
As soon as he spoke, the [Top-Tier Lottery Ticket] disappeared.
Nine cards appeared in front of Su Yun.
[Body Martial Soul: Superman Physique] [Body Martial Soul: Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan] [Tool-type Martial Soul: Heartsteel] [Tool-type Martial Soul: Hubris] [Beast Martial Soul: Vermilion Bird] [Plant-type Martial Soul: Hollow Willow] [Support-type Martial Soul: Jade Purifying Bottle] [Food-type Martial Soul: Mixue Bingcheng] [Special Martial Soul: Five-Colored Divine Light]
Looking at the one top-tier Martial Soul after another, Su Yun's mouth began watering uncontrollably!
Good heavens! This top-tier Martial Soul lottery was amazing!
There was no need to say much about the two Body Martial Souls. One came from the BC Universe, was omnipotent, and could grow stronger just by lying in the sun. The other came from Naruto, and its three Bloodline Limit abilities—Infinite Tsukuyomi, Amenominaka, and Yomotsu Hirasaka—were each more ridiculous than the last.
The two Tool-type Martial Souls came from League of Legends. Both were items that could grow without limit.
The Vermilion Bird, one of the Four Divine Beasts, corresponded to Li among the Eight Trigrams and belonged to the element of fire. It symbolized the elder yang among the Four Symbols and the summer season, and was also known as "the Southern Continent of Heaven" and "the Southern God"!
The Hollow Willow was the original form of the Immortal Yang Mei, who wielded the laws of the Great Dao of Space.
Jade Purifying Bottle: Guanyin's treasure. Its interior had limitless storage space and contained immortal dew that could bring the dead back to life. It could draw on the waters of the four seas to extinguish the Samadhi True Fire, while three strands of life-saving hair transformed from its willow branch contained special powers.
Mixue Bingcheng? It seemed like something strange had gotten mixed in. What on earth had it done to deserve a place here?
Whatever. There was still the last one: Five-Colored Divine Light, Kong Xuan's innate divine ability, which could sweep away any magical treasure or weapon belonging to the Five Elements.
This was no exaggeration: aside from Mixue Bingcheng, obtaining any one of the others and unleashing its full power would let him fight his way into the Divine Realm and become a God King himself.
Su Yun took a deep breath and selected [Begin Lottery].
The neatly arranged cards gathered together and began to shuffle wildly, moving so fast that Su Yun couldn't make them out.
Five seconds later, the nine cards were arranged in a 3×3 grid before Su Yun, all face down.
Rubbing his hands together, Su Yun picked the card in the very center, his heart pounding with anticipation.
"Not Mixue Bingcheng!
"Not Mixue Bingcheng!"
Clutching his chest, Su Yun prayed frantically. At that moment, it felt as if his heart were about to leap out of his chest.
Before you continue