As for his goal for an advanced Soul Master Academy...
If he could get into Heaven Dou Royal Soul Master Academy, then naturally, that was where Lin Mo wanted to go.
For one thing, the academy had abundant teaching staff and cultivation resources.
Though Lin Mo couldn't make much use of those Mimicry Cultivation Environments, Heaven Dou Royal Academy was backed by the imperial family, and its other types of cultivation resources were far superior to those at other academies.
Of course, the main reason he had set his sights on it was the Immortal Herbs in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
If he wanted to get in touch with Dugu Bo and seek out the Immortal Herbs, then Heaven Dou Royal Soul Master Academy was undoubtedly the most suitable stepping stone.
Still, as far as Lin Mo was concerned, he would let things take their course.
After all, he had neither inherited the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record nor knew anything about an illustrated guide to Immortal Herbs.
In this situation, if he dared to casually point out that Dugu Bo was poisoned without being able to give a reasonable explanation...
The consequences of blurting out that information would be no different from suicide.
There was another reason he wasn't set on going there: Heaven Dou Royal Academy mainly enrolled the children of nobles.
People like Yu Tianheng, who came from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and Dugu Yan, whose grandfather was a Titled Douluo...
They didn't usually admit students from commoner families.
So for Lin Mo, Heaven Dou Royal Academy was a place he would attend if he could. If he couldn't, he didn't mind going to another academy.
Heaven Dou Royal Academy's greatest advantage was its vast number of Mimicry Cultivation Environments, which covered almost every type of Martial Soul.
The key problem, however, was that his Martial Soul was a Body Martial Soul, which didn't demand much from its training environment.
But before Lin Mo could say anything, Tang San beside him had already grabbed his arm. His voice suddenly grew urgent, and he asked without thinking:
"Lin Mo, if you're only trying to move up to learn more about Soul Masters, then isn't studying with Teacher enough?"
Tang San gripped him tightly. Even through his clothes, Lin Mo could feel the strength in his fingers.
"The teachers at the academy might not be able to teach you anymore, but my teacher definitely can! There's no need to rush into a higher-level academy, is there?"
Tang San spoke much faster than usual. There was even a note of panic in his voice that he himself hadn't noticed.
Hearing Tang San's urgent words, Lin Mo was momentarily taken aback. He didn't know why Tang San was reacting like this.
He looked down at Tang San's hand gripping his arm, then looked up at Tang San.
Tang San's brows were faintly furrowed.
What Lin Mo didn't know was that Tang San's state of mind had undergone a major change after this trip back to Holy Soul Village.
During this vacation, Tang San hadn't found his father at home. He had only found a letter his father had left behind.
The letter merely encouraged him to cultivate diligently and told him there was no need to go looking for him.
That day, Tang San had stood in the empty wooden hut for a long time, a sheet of paper clenched in his hand.
His father's departure had dealt Tang San a heavy blow.
Now he'd learned that Lin Mo, someone he was on good terms with, also planned to leave and transfer to another academy after the school year ended. For a moment, Tang San's state of mind had become unbalanced.
After all, to Tang San, during that past year at Notting Academy, Lin Mo had been like an older brother who looked out for him at every turn, caring for him in countless ways.
Whether it was Lin Mo's formidable strength in the Soul Hunting Forest, or the help and concern he had shown Tang San from time to time over the past year...
It had all made Tang San feel the warmth of home.
Tang San had rarely experienced family affection or care. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he had felt the warmth of home for the first time through Lin Mo and Xiao Wu.
And now, Tang Hao was gone, and Lin Mo was leaving too.
Tang San suddenly felt as though he had been abandoned, even though he knew the feeling made no sense.
But he couldn't stop himself from feeling it.
Lin Mo looked at Tang San and fell silent for a while before speaking.
"You don't want me to leave?" Lin Mo asked, his tone strange.
"Not really."
Tang San let go. He realized he had lost control of himself, and drew his hand back.
"It's just that I finally made two friends at Notting Academy—you and Xiao Wu—and now you're leaving. I guess I can't help feeling a little reluctant."
"Besides, if you stayed, we could keep sparring. I've improved quite quickly from sparring with you and Xiao Wu."
Tang San's words didn't match what he really felt.
Hearing him, Lin Mo's expression grew even stranger.
He had more or less guessed the reason behind it. Was Tang San that starved for affection?
At the thought, Lin Mo couldn't help recalling the year he had spent at Notting Academy.
Since the only work-study students in Dorm Seven who were new first-years were him, Tang San, and Xiao Wu, it was only natural that the three of them had grown a little closer.
But if he remembered correctly, he had treated Tang San no differently from his other classmates.
Take sparring, for instance. When Wang Sheng and the others asked to spar with him, Lin Mo had always agreed just as readily.
He had never deliberately favored anyone or gone out of his way to look after anyone.
He treated everyone the same. Whoever came to him with a question got an answer, and whoever asked him to spar got his agreement.
That was all.
Lin Mo found the situation increasingly strange.
But when he recalled how Tang San treated Tang Hao, he understood.
If he remembered correctly, during the six years Tang San and Tang Hao lived in seclusion in Holy Soul Village, Tang Hao had only taken care of Tang San for the first three years, when Tang San couldn't cook for himself.
Once Tang Hao realized Tang San could cook on his own, the adult Tang Hao had, in the latter three years, become the one being looked after by three-year-old Tang San.
Judging by the six years Tang Hao had spent as Tang San's father, he had more than earned the title of "biological dad."
A three-year-old child had to stand on a stool to reach the stove, yet was responsible for cooking for his own father.
How much fatherly love could a childhood like that offer?
Thinking about it, whether it was Tang San in his previous life, raised as an assassin by the Tang Sect, or Tang San in this life, the son of Tang Hao, both had been starved for love.
In his previous life at the Tang Sect, he had been raised as a tool.
In this life in Holy Soul Village, he still hadn't received much warmth.
No one had taught him how to get along with people. No one had told him what love was.
So when Lin Mo treated him like an ordinary friend, Tang San saw it as a warmth greater than anything in the world.
Because he had never received anything like it before.
Realizing this, Lin Mo shook his head helplessly, but he also felt a little more at ease.
At last, he understood why Tang San had reacted so strongly.
To Tang San, he and Xiao Wu might be the first true friends he had ever had in all his years across two lives.
And to Tang San, who was starved for love, a friend's departure was just another kind of abandonment, no different from his father leaving without a word.