She Won't Save Tang San

These words were like needles, pricking into his mind every now and then.

He looked at his father's disfigured face, at the wooden prosthetic arm, and at his father, who forever hid in the shadows, never daring to discuss the outside world with the villagers. More than once, he had secretly harbored doubts.

Could his own father be that traitor despised by the entire continent—Tang Hao?

Could he himself be that "abomination" they spoke of, born from the union of a human and a Soul Beast?

Reborn into this life, his identity was a catastrophic starting hand.

How was he supposed to deal with this?

The moment this thought emerged, it sent a chill through his entire body.

Yet, he quickly shook his head vigorously, forcefully casting the terrifying idea out of his mind.

Impossible, absolutely impossible.

That Tang Hao was a degenerate who betrayed the entire human race, a demon who colluded with Soul Beasts, and a wanted criminal whom everyone on the continent wished to see dead.

But his father, though he drank every day, never cared for him, and never gave him a kind look, was at least his biological father. He had never harmed him, nor had he ever done anything wicked; he was just a down-and-out, ugly blacksmith.

How could he be that heinous degenerate? And how could he himself be that despised abomination?

Tang San gripped the steamed bun in his hand, looked up at Old Jack, the light in his eyes startlingly bright, and nodded heavily: "Thank you, Grandpa Jack. I will definitely awaken my Martial Soul properly, possess Soul Power, and become a Soul Master!"

"Good, good lad! You have ambition, and you have spirit!"

Old Jack laughed heartily, patting him on the shoulder, his face full of gratification.

Tang Hao, standing to the side, kept his head lowered, downing his wine as if he hadn't heard a word of their conversation. Yet, his left hand, hanging by his side, was clenched into a tight fist, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

Soul Master? Martial Soul awakening?

Even if he felt uncertain and terrified of awakening some pathetic Martial Soul, this was his only chance.

After all, he wasn't even sure if Tang San was truly human or some kind of hybrid like the Wolf Bandits.

Old Jack gave Tang San a few more reminders about the precautions for the awakening ceremony, then scolded Tang Hao twice more before leaning on his cane and stomping away in a huff.

The blacksmith shop returned to silence, save for the glugging sound of Tang Hao drinking and the faint sound of Tang San nibbling on his bun.

Tang San carefully wrapped up the remaining half of the bun and the larger piece of cured meat, tucking them into his tunic to save for his father once he sobered up.

He looked out the window at the rolling green mountains in the distance. He did not know that the great battle six years ago, which had changed his life, had taken place just on the other side of those peaks.

He knew even less that in Martial Soul City, thousands of miles away, a child who looked exactly like him had just awakened the same Twin Martial Souls, held in the palms of the continent's top powerhouses, possessing the warmth and light he dared not even dream of in this life.

From the moment they were born, he and that brother of the same origin, whom he had never met, had already embarked on two diametrically opposed paths.

Tang Hao finished the last of his wine, stood up unsteadily, and walked to the entrance of the shop. He looked at the wanted poster on the village notice board—the edges curled by the wind, yet the image remained clear. It depicted his original appearance, with the words: "Human Traitor Tang Hao, bounty: one million Gold Soul Coins and two Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones."

The veins on his remaining left arm bulged once more, and his murky eyes ignited with monstrous hatred and malice.

Martial Soul Hall, Martial Soul Hall, damn the Martial Soul Hall, and all those who betrayed him and spat upon him... just wait, just wait...

One day, he would slaughter his way back to Martial Soul City and reclaim everything owed to him, with interest!

Back inside the shop, Tang San picked up a rag and began to wipe away the wine stains on the table.

He knew his father, Tang Hammer, would spend his time wandering out with a wine jar, and he would never return to this dilapidated shop until he was too drunk to walk.

In this large shop, whenever Tang Hammer was away, he was usually the only one left to guard it.

Just then, the broken door of the shop was pushed open gently, and a crisp, sharp female voice drifted in: "Tang San? Are you home? Is Uncle Tang here? I'm here to have some ironwork done."

Tang San looked up and saw a young girl the same age as him standing at the doorway.

The girl wore her hair in a high ponytail, tied neatly with a red ribbon. She was dressed in a clean, albeit faded, short martial outfit, with her pant legs tightly bound, revealing slender yet sturdy ankles.

Her eyes were large and bright, as if filled with sunlight, and her skin was a healthy wheat color. She exuded a brisk, capable air entirely different from the other girls in Holy Soul Village, lacking any trace of childish timidity.

Tang San knew this was Lin Yue. Unlike him, she was an orphan of Holy Soul Village, and like him, she possessed a maturity that did not belong to her age.

Her parents had died when Soul Beasts raided the village, and she had been raised by the villagers, who each contributed a bite of food to help her grow.

Yet, this child was born with a natural wit. She could speak clearly to adults at the age of one, and by three, she had used a few agricultural books she'd traded from a passing merchant to advise the village on improving crop seeds, composting, and irrigation. She had single-handedly tripled the village's vegetable yield, making it a famous and prosperous village, with restaurants from Nuoding City coming to collect produce regularly.

Everyone in the village loved this clever and sensible girl, treating her like their own daughter.

Lin Yue's gaze swept over the empty inner room and landed on Tang San, who was holding the rag, a flicker of imperceptible pity crossing her eyes.

She didn't know much about the so-called Douluo Continent plot, having only heard a vague snippet of information about "Tang San," and she never associated it with the thin, silent child before her.

She only felt that this child was too pitiful, saddled with a father who drank every day and never stayed home, forcing him to guard the shop and manage the household at such a young age, living a life even more exhausting than her own as an orphan.

Pitiful as he was, she had no intention of being the heroine of a redemption story; in her view, the male and female leads in such stories were the most disgusting.

To her, there were only two things in this world:

None of my business, and none of your business!

"Uncle Tang is out again?"

Lin Yue walked up to Tang San, handed over a rolled-up piece of paper, and said with a smile: "Then telling you is the same thing. I want to have a long spear forged. I've already drawn the blueprint. When Uncle Tang gets back, could you help me talk to him about it?"

Tang San took the parchment and unfolded it. Seeing the dimensions marked on it, his eyes widened instantly. He looked up at Lin Yue, his face full of disbelief: "A 100-jin long spear? Lin Yue, are you sure you didn't write that wrong?"

Setting aside his knowledge from his past life, he now helped out in the blacksmith shop every day and knew better than anyone what a 100-jin refined iron spear represented.

Forget a six-year-old girl; even the sturdiest farmhand in the village would struggle to swing this spear, let alone use it for martial arts practice.

"I didn't write it wrong, it's exactly 100 catties." Lin Yue nodded, tapping her finger on the blueprint and adding with a serious expression, "The shaft must be made of the hardest Green Vein Steel. The dimensions are all clearly marked, and since Uncle Tang has the best craftsmanship in our village, I believe he can definitely forge it."

Tang San set the blueprint down and looked at her with a frown, his face full of confusion: "This spear is taller than you are when stood upright, and it weighs more than your entire body. Why are you making such a heavy weapon? Can you even handle it? Even I, who spend every day at the forge, couldn't lift an iron spear this heavy."

PS: Little Yueyue will not be taking Tang San's side.