The Spirit Master's sudden show of respect took Tang Ziran by surprise.
He immediately realized that the boy before him, who looked about ten years old, was most likely a key figure the Spirit Pagoda was grooming.
But Tang Wulin, his face shrouded in gloom, didn't want to stay here any longer, much less get entangled with the other party.
The Dragon Emperor glanced at the Grass Snake hatchling, then at Tang Wulin's ashen face. He already knew what was going on: Were they trying to use a defective failure like this to create a breach in the Golden Dragon King Bloodline?
But he needed to verify this theory through action and find out what that wisp of the God King's soul fragment was really after.
So the Dragon Emperor pretended not to know anything. He questioned the Spirit Master who had just finished bowing beside him, putting on a concerned expression toward the newcomer.
Tang Wulin, however, had no expectations. What good news could someone like "Bad Guy Huang"—a spoiled brat who had an old grudge against him and bullied the weak in broad daylight—possibly bring him?
Maybe he was just waiting for a chance to make things difficult for him and his father.
At the thought, Tang Wulin was overcome by a sense of foreboding. He hurriedly took Tang Ziran's hand, eager to leave the shadow of the building.
"Dad, let's hurry home."
But although Tang Ziran stumbled when Tang Wulin tugged at him, he didn't follow. Because...
Following his father's gaze, Tang Wulin looked back—
The "Bad Guy Huang" who had nearly strangled him was slowly reaching a hand toward them.
"Take this hand, and I'll give you another chance."
"A chance to draw a Soul Spirit and change your life."
Tang Wulin and Tang Ziran both narrowed their eyes, their faces betraying doubt and disbelief.
The father and son looked to the Spirit Master, but all they got in reply was a hesitant expression, followed by a slight nod with his eyes closed.
Tang Wulin still didn't believe it.
He couldn't believe the other party would spend thirty thousand just to help someone he had a grudge against.
Maybe this was just a joke. Once Tang Wulin took his hand, the other party would fling it away and burst out laughing. Hahaha! You really believed me? You country bumpkin, you ill-mannered yokel.
But when Tang Wulin met "Bad Guy Huang's" eyes, those clear, beautiful Pure Gold Eyes were reflected in his own...
As if possessed, Tang Wulin timidly placed his fingers in the other boy's palm.
The fates of the Purple-Gold Twins finally touched once more, intertwining again.
An unfamiliar yet familiar feeling swept over Tang Wulin once again, after three years, leaving him bewildered. It was like coming across one of the adults at home he feared.
The other boy's golden eyes closed, then opened again, as if he had received a definite answer.
The next moment—
"Huh?" Tang Wulin was led away in a daze, toward the small hall he had just left.
The instant their bodies touched, the Amethyst Dragon Emperor used their twin bond to see through the Eighteen-Layer Seal and the God King's soul fragment that even his Will of Destruction couldn't penetrate.
He also learned everything about the state of the Golden Dragon King Bloodline inside its host: it was beginning to assimilate Tang Wulin.
Now he could verify whether the God King's soul fragment was up to what the Dragon Emperor had predicted...
Back in the small hall.
The huge machine was still glowing, making the Soul Guidance balls inside shine white.
The Dragon Emperor led Tang Wulin into the hall.
Along the way, Tang Wulin had tried to resist being pulled along, but it seemed there was another presence inside him, making him fear and obey the purple-haired bad guy.
That presence was like another Tang Wulin living inside him.
Beneath the lottery machine, the Holy Dragon King, dressed in white with golden hair, had been waiting for some time.
With the gray-robed Spirit Master no longer blocking him, Tang Ziran had planned to follow them inside. But a line of Sun Soul Masters stopped him at the entrance.
When he saw the eye-catching, golden-red sun crest on the Xu Family Sun Soul Masters' chests, Tang Ziran froze in place, his lips trembling violently.
These people represented the "Sun" of the Sun Moon Federation.
And Tang Ziran's long-hidden true identity was that of a core mecha designer within the Sun Moon Federation's forces, who had gone into hiding years ago.
Now his former employer, the very people hunting him, had him surrounded. How could Tang Ziran possibly remain calm?
The Dragon Emperor led Tang Wulin to a stop in front of the lottery machine.
He casually snatched away the Soul Power ball containing the Grass Snake, tossed it to the Holy Dragon King, and ordered him in the language of dragons, "Restore the ball to its original state."
"Yes." The Holy Dragon King took the Soul Guidance ball.
After examining it for just a few seconds, he saw through its inner workings. Then, using the Quasi-God cultivation he could bring to bear, he restored the Soul Guidance ball to perfect condition.
At a gesture, the Holy Dragon King returned the ball to the lottery machine.
Only then did the Dragon Emperor release Tang Wulin's hand. He turned and pointed to the green and red buttons beside them. "Go on. Turn it."
Tang Wulin finally snapped out of it, his eyes filled with doubt.
Today, he had just fallen from the clouds of happiness into a dark abyss. Now the person before him had yanked him back to the ground.
Tang Wulin felt as though the world before him was unreal. But when he met those Pure Gold Eyes, the unease in his heart eased somewhat.
Driven by his dream of becoming a Soul Master and his family's dire circumstances, Tang Wulin didn't refuse this gift from fate. He stepped forward and pressed the green start button with all his might.
The tiny lights lit up as usual, and the Soul Spirit balls sped along their predetermined tracks toward their fated positions.
But Tang Wulin no longer watched with his eyes. During the three years he had spent forging, he had learned to listen and feel the metal, to feel all things.
At one moment, he once again heard a call from somewhere beyond, the same subtle feeling he'd had when his Soul Power broke through to level ten.
Within half a second, a hand abruptly covered the red stop button and pressed down.
The machine stopped spinning at once, and a Soul Spirit ball dropped from the exit with a thump.
No one came to retrieve it. Tang Wulin glanced around, then gripped the opening tool and stepped forward to cradle the Soul Spirit ball in his arms.
But when he opened the Soul Spirit ball with practiced ease...
The Dragon Emperor shook his head slightly, as if he had expected this.
The next moment—
A ring of white light flashed into existence, and the same earthy-colored Grass Snake lifted its head once more from the half of the Soul Spirit ball.
Tang Wulin froze on the spot. He went from doubting his luck to doubting his entire life.
He stiffly turned to look at the hundreds of Soul Spirit balls inside the machine.
At that moment, Tang Wulin began to wonder if every ball in the machine came from the same batch of defective failures.
Could all of this be nothing but a prank? "Bad Guy Huang" had seen him coming toward the Spirit Pagoda from his perch atop the tower and had arranged this whole trick just to mess with him?
Under Tang Wulin's increasingly sharp gaze,
the Dragon Emperor scoffed and, as if reading his mind, cut to the chase. "You think I made this big a fuss just to hold your hand and tease you again?"
Tang Wulin stared back without blinking, clearly clinging to his suspicions.
The Dragon Emperor laughed, then turned and ordered, "Old Di..."
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