[The system has matched a suitable task for the Sub-System host according to the host's desired reward!] [After the Sub-System obtains its reward, the host can receive a reward: one 450-year Soul Ring (from a Soul Beast of the host's choice)!]
"The task's been issued. Now we'll see whether Yu Xiaogang can deliver!" Li Ping'an thought.
Li Ping'an didn't take it too seriously. If Yu Xiaogang couldn't complete the task, he still had a backup plan.
He could hunt a Soul Beast himself and obtain a Soul Ring, or assign a task to Tang San or Xiao Wu.
But if he assigned a task to Tang San or Xiao Wu, their cultivation was lower, so the reward might be a tier worse.
That would make it difficult for Li Ping'an to get a 400-year First Soul Ring.
"No rush. Even without absorbing a Soul Ring, I can keep cultivating!"
"And I still need to train my body, in case I can't withstand the pressure of a 400-year Soul Ring!"
Of course, Li Ping'an knew the shortcuts to improving his physical fitness: consume Whale Rubber or absorb a Soul Bone.
But neither of those was something he could afford right now.
Unless he could assign a task to a powerful Soul Master and have them work for him.
"I wonder if Tang Hao will still keep Ah Yin's Soul Bone in that hidden chamber in the cave?"
It was a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, incredibly precious, and it was compatible with his Martial Soul, too. Li Ping'an wanted it as well.
"Should I find a way to lure Tang Hao away?" Li Ping'an wondered.
Without drawing the tiger away from the mountain, going to that waterfall valley to take the Blue Silver Emperor's Soul Bone himself would be far too dangerous.
Who knew how fast a Title Douluo could move, or how long it would take to get back from Nuoding City to the outskirts of Holy Soul Village?
"Getting Tang Hao out of the way won't be hard!" Li Ping'an thought.
Tang Hao was hiding in the shadows. He was either watching over Tang San or keeping an eye on Xiao Wu.
Wouldn't it be enough to get both Xiao Wu and Tang San away from Nuoding City?
Tang San was Level 18 now. In less than a year, he could break through to Level 20. Then Li Ping'an could send him to a more distant Soul Beast forest.
Xiao Wu was in the process of condensing a Soul Ring, but she had the Breath Concealment Technique and could hide her Soul Ring and cultivation.
When the time came, he could have Xiao Wu pretend to break through to Level 20 as well, then ask the academy for leave to go to a Soul Beast forest.
If Tang Hao really cared about Xiao Wu as a spare Soul Ring and Soul Bone, he ought to follow along and keep an eye on her, just in case she ran away.
"I still don't know what kind of task the system gave Yu Xiaogang, or how difficult it is," Li Ping'an thought.
He had only specified the reward he wanted. The system would automatically assign Yu Xiaogang a task.
The system's principle was that the better someone's relationship with him, the easier the task would be.
For anyone who held ill will toward him, the task would be more difficult.
Yu Xiaogang had pointed at Li Ping'an and cursed him not long ago. His task probably wouldn't be easy.
Li Ping'an opened Yu Xiaogang's task and couldn't help being stunned.
"Isn't this task a bit too much for Yu Xiaogang?" Li Ping'an's eyelids twitched.
Yu Xiaogang prided himself on being a master of Martial Soul Theory. Would he really swallow his pride and perform an erotic dance at a brothel?
"Alas, I'd better prepare to hunt a Soul Beast in the forest!"
"If all else fails, I'll just find a Hundred-Year Solitary Bamboo to absorb!" Li Ping'an thought.
In a quiet alley not far from Notting Academy,
Tang San was returning from the blacksmith's when he suddenly froze. He felt he'd just caught sight of a familiar figure.
"Why did that person walk so much like the teacher?"
"The teacher said he had to take care of something lately. Could this be it?"
"I wonder what it is. Should I follow him and take a look?" Tang San thought.
Although the system had made him act like a dutiful son to Yu Xiaogang, after a year together, he felt Yu Xiaogang had treated him pretty well.
So he didn't resent Yu Xiaogang all that much anymore.
If not for the system, he might even have truly regarded Yu Xiaogang as his father.
"I'd better follow and see."
If Yu Xiaogang ran into danger and something happened to him, what would happen to Tang San's task?
He didn't want to lose a task target just like that and miss out on the chance to freeload one-fifth of a level's worth of Soul Power every month.
Tang San used the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track and quietly followed Yu Xiaogang.
After a long while, the two crossed half of Nuoding City, one behind the other. Only then did Tang San finally see Yu Xiaogang stop in an empty alley.
"What is this place? A brothel?"
Tang San had been a martial artist in his previous life. How could he not know what places like this were for?
"Could the teacher have come here to relieve his loneliness?"
Tang San considered himself pure and untainted and wouldn't visit such places, but he didn't really mind if someone around him did.
"So when the teacher said he had something to take care of, he meant he was coming here to relieve his loneliness!"
Tang San shook his head and turned to leave.
But just as he was about to go, he saw Yu Xiaogang take several items out of his bundle.
There was a red dress, a wig, and a few cosmetics.
"What's the teacher doing?" Yu Xiaogang had caught Tang San's attention.
"The teacher's actually putting on women's clothes? Is he planning to disguise himself and take care of some difficult business?"
"What could it be that's making the teacher sacrifice so much?"
Tang San's heart stirred. He gave up on leaving for now and decided to watch a little longer.
Yu Xiaogang changed into women's clothes, fixed his makeup, then winked at himself in the mirror.
"With how I look now, no one should be able to recognize me, right?"
"No, something still seems a little off! I need to put this on!"
Yu Xiaogang put on a veil and thinned his thick eyebrows considerably.
Once you put on a veil, who couldn't be a beauty?
"From now on, I'm Tang Xiaoyu! Tang Xiaoyu, famous throughout Nuoding City!" Yu Xiaogang murmured.
Of course, he couldn't use the name Yu Xiaogang and invite trouble, so he'd come up with an alias.
Tang San followed him into a dance hall. In his previous life, a place like this had been called a brothel.
"The teacher's actually dancing?"
Tang San rubbed his eyes, unable to make sense of it.
And Yu Xiaogang didn't seem to be struggling at all. On the contrary, he seemed immersed in his art.
It was a sword dance, performed amid the rouge and powder, with a charm all its own. The spectators burst into cheers.
Before long, people were asking who the sword dancer was and how much it cost to book her.
"Uh..."
Tang San didn't know what to say.
Even though he'd been a martial artist in his previous life and hadn't been corrupted by those sanctimonious scholars, he still couldn't accept this sort of thing.
Tang San turned and left the dance hall.
With his skills, no one noticed that a child had slipped inside and quietly left again.
On the other side of the dance hall, Li Ping'an and Xiao Wu were disguised as customers, watching the performer onstage.
Xiao Wu had finished condensing her Soul Ring and was now a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster.
"Li Ping'an, you said you were taking me somewhere. You meant here?"
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