Deep in the alley.
Xiao Wu leaned dazedly against the cold wall.
Xue Yao's final words had been like a beam of light, tearing its way through the darkness for her.
The fear in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by a clarity she had never known before and extreme wariness toward Tang San and his father.
"He doesn't covet my Soul Ring... He was only warning me..."
Xiao Wu murmured to herself.
In this human world, where people everywhere wanted to kill her and take her bones, this noble and mysterious young man had shown her such rare kindness.
To Xiao Wu, who had just suffered a mental collapse, it was as if she had grabbed hold of a lifeline.
"Xue Yao..."
Xiao Wu bit her lip hard, etching his name deep into her soul.
In her heart, this young man who had revealed the heavenly secret with a single sentence had become an unfathomable benefactor, almost touched with holiness.
After leaving the alley, Xue Yao returned straight to the assembled group by the street.
"Viscount, the supplies have all been loaded. We're ready to depart at any time." The knight captain stepped forward and reported respectfully.
Xue Yao glanced at the purple-gold carriage parked by the roadside and furrowed his brow slightly.
After being cooped up in the carriage for several hours, and then exhausting himself sensing the whole city with the wind element, he felt a little stifled inside it.
"Bring me a horse," Xue Yao ordered.
"Yes!"
The knight captain didn't dare delay. He immediately had someone bring over the finest spare mount in the group.
It was a tall, mighty white stallion with a faint bloodline of wind-type Soul Beasts. Its coat was pure, without a single stray hair.
Xue Yao swung into the saddle in one fluid motion, displaying every bit of a nobleman's bearing.
Seated upright on the tall horse, he wore moon-white brocade robes, and his peerlessly handsome face gleamed in the sunlight.
Fifty knights of the Heaven Dou Royal Knights, clad in silver heavy armor, surrounded him at the center like stars around the moon.
An indescribable air of nobility and bloodlust instantly spread through the area.
"Move out. Leave the city."
Xue Yao's cool voice rang out.
The fifty armored knights answered in unison. Their iron hooves struck the bluestone pavement with a thunderous, perfectly synchronized clatter.
Along the way, commoners and merchants hurried to the sides of the street, watching the luxurious procession head toward the city gates with deep awe.
At the same time.
Outside Nuoding City's gates, two bedraggled figures leaned on each other as they limped toward the entrance.
They were Tang San and Yu Xiaogang, returning after obtaining their First Soul Ring in the Soul Hunting Forest.
The pair of master and disciple were in a truly wretched state.
To protect Tang San, Yu Xiaogang had released his Mutated Martial Soul, Luo Sanpao, which was less useful than a pig. The result had been a vicious assault by the Datura Snake.
Not only had he been poisoned, but Luo Sanpao's side effect—"farting like thunder"—had left him covered in grime.
Yu Xiaogang's cloth robe was now shredded by thorns, leaving him barely covered.
His face and body were smeared with dark brown mud and dried blood, and he even gave off a nauseating, fishy stench.
His hair was a bird's nest, and his complexion was sallow. If Tang San hadn't been holding him up, he probably wouldn't even have been able to stand.
Tang San wasn't faring much better.
His clothes were in tatters, and his face was drawn with exhaustion. His already unremarkable features were now caked in grime, making him look like a little beggar who had just escaped a refugee camp.
"Teacher, just hang on a little longer. We're almost inside the city. Once we reach the academy, I'll brew you medicine to counter the poison," Tang San said softly, supporting Yu Xiaogang and reassuring him.
Yu Xiaogang panted weakly, a trace of arrogance flashing in his murky eyes.
"Xiao San, what's a little hardship? You successfully absorbed a century-old Datura Snake Soul Ring, proving that my Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul are absolutely correct! Cough, cough... Once you grow strong, the whole continent will have to bow to me!"
The two of them trudged to the city gate, reeking as they went.
The merchants and commoners coming and going saw them and pinched their noses, darting away in disgust for fear of catching their stench.
Just then.
A sudden, heavy clatter of hooves came from inside the city gate.
It was accompanied by the cold shouts of royal knights driving back the crowd: "The Heaven Dou Royal Knights are passing through! All bystanders, clear the way at once!"
Hearing the iron hooves rumble like muffled thunder, Tang San's heart jolted. His keen instincts kicked in, and he immediately pulled Yu Xiaogang to the edge of the gate passage, beside the drainage ditch.
"Teacher, some important people are leaving the city. Let's get out of their way," Tang San said quietly, secretly circulating his Mysterious Heaven Skill as he watched the city warily.
The next second.
A force of silver-armored cavalry radiating bloodlust appeared at the city gate like an iron torrent.
And at the very center of the cavalry formation.
A peerlessly fine white horse carried a young man seated upon it, as if he were an immortal banished from heaven.
The fifty elite knights surrounding him like stars around the moon only made his status seem more exalted.
At that moment.
The scene at the city gate seemed to split into two utterly different pictures.
At the center was Xue Yao, lofty and radiant, like a royal scion born to the imperial family.
Beside the roadside ditch stood Yu Xiaogang and Tang San, caked in mud, dressed in rags, and reeking like beggars.
The contrast between them was as stark as the difference between clouds and mud—a gulf in both status and appearance!
From the roadside, Tang San looked up at Xue Yao on horseback, and an intense sense of shock and inferiority rose within him.
Though he had lived two lives, he had never met anyone his age with such extraordinary bearing and such an imposing entourage.
Yu Xiaogang, leaning against the wall, also raised his head without thinking.
When his gaze passed through the crowd and landed on the young man on horseback,
Yu Xiaogang's sallow, weakened face froze.
Then his pupils contracted sharply, and a surge of uncontrollable, raging blood rushed to his head!
He recognized him!
Even if Xue Yao turned to ash, Yu Xiaogang would still recognize that face!
Two years ago, right outside the City Lord's Manor in Falake's Wangge City!
It had been that brat who, in front of everyone, trampled his cherished theories underfoot and called him, a Grandmaster from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, a complete and utter "good-for-nothing"!
He even remembered clearly the vicious taunt Xue Yao had thrown at him:
"Come back when you've broken through level thirty!"
It was the most humiliating moment of Yu Xiaogang's life—the unbearable disgrace of having his already fragile, sensitive pride ground mercilessly into a cesspit!
Now, old and new grudges erupted in Yu Xiaogang's chest like a volcano.
Seeing Xue Yao's lofty, revered figure surrounded by people, then looking at himself—reeking from head to toe and treated like a beggar—twisted jealousy and humiliation consumed Yu Xiaogang's reason.
"It's you... You insolent little bastard who has no respect for his elders and dares to run his mouth!!!"
Yu Xiaogang somehow found a burst of strength and wrenched himself free of Tang San's support.
His eyes instantly bloodshot, he pointed furiously at Xue Yao on horseback.
"Stop! I said stop!"
"You little bastard, you've finally fallen into my hands!"
The shout instantly shattered the solemn atmosphere at the city gate.
All the commoners stared in terror at the "beggar" who had gone mad.
Tang San was even more horrified. He didn't understand why his teacher, who always prided himself on his aloofness, had suddenly lost control like this. Even so, he instinctively reached for the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges at his waist.
At the center of the procession.
Hearing the venomous curse, Xue Yao gently tightened the reins in his hand.
He lowered his head and looked coldly at the stench-ridden man by the roadside.
Foes had crossed paths.
The corner of Xue Yao's mouth slowly curled into a mockery as cold as ice.
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