"Then tomorrow, I'll be in charge of keeping an eye on him!"
Xiao Wu immediately raised her little hand, looking full of energy.
"If he dares to sneak off, I'll call you."
Su Hang glanced at her.
"Get yourself properly rested first."
Xiao Wu sat on the soft bed by the window, hugging a pillow as her toes swung back and forth.
"I'm a really light sleeper. I wake up at the slightest sound."
Wang Sheng poked his head out from the side room.
"Sister Xiao Wu, you call that being a light sleeper? You're just afraid Boss Su will leave you behind."
Xiao Wu grabbed the pillow and hurled it at him.
"Shut up!"
Xiao Chenyu huddled by the doorway and hurriedly picked up the pillow, patting the dust off it.
"Don't be mad, Sister Xiao Wu. Wang Sheng's got a big mouth. I'll make him eat half a bun less tomorrow."
Wang Sheng immediately panicked.
"Xiao Chenyu, are you in charge of the food now?"
Xiao Chenyu straightened up.
"I'm paying for the room and the food. Ever heard of good service?"
Su Hang waved a hand.
"Everyone, go to sleep."
The room soon fell quiet.
Xiao Chenyu was sent to the outer room, while Wang Sheng and the others squeezed into the side room.
Only Su Hang and Xiao Wu remained in the main room.
Xiao Wu lay on the soft bed by the window, the blanket pulled up to her chin.
She closed her eyes for a while, then opened them again and looked toward Su Hang.
Su Hang sat by the table, tapping the rim of his cup with one finger.
Xiao Wu spoke softly.
"Brother Su Hang, you really won't leave me behind, will you?"
Su Hang didn't turn around.
"You're so good at mooching food and lodging that even if I threw you out, you'd come running back on your own."
Xiao Wu immediately felt much more at ease and pulled the blanket higher.
"Then I'll take that as a promise."
Su Hang couldn't be bothered to call her bluff.
Once things had quieted down on Xiao Wu's side, Su Hang focused his thoughts.
The Dark Gold Diary appeared on the table.
A virtual quill descended.
[Douluo Calendar, 2641. Night.]
[Today, I got to witness an iconic scene. Tang San had just arrived at Notting Academy, and he turned around and became Yu Xiaogang's disciple.]
[It makes sense for those two to end up together.]
[Tang San looks like he respects his teachers, but in truth, he's best at riding on others' coattails. Whoever can benefit him and pave the way for him, he knows how to keep up a convincing show of deference.]
[Yu Xiaogang looks like a talent scout, but in truth, he's desperate to grab someone who can prove his theories. Tang San has Twin Martial Souls and Innate Full Soul Power. Even his Trash Martial Soul, Blue Silver Grass, comes with strange potential. He's just what Yu Xiaogang needs to make a comeback.]
Su Hang paused, his fingers still, as he reached this point.
He looked up at Xiao Wu.
She was already asleep, but both hands still clutched the edge of her blanket, and her body leaned toward Su Hang's side. She was clearly still afraid he'd sneak off in the middle of the night.
Su Hang refocused and continued writing.
[Put simply, one wants a backer, and the other wants a test case.]
[The Ten Core Competencies Yu Xiaogang is always going on about sound impressive. But much of the material comes from public and semi-public Spirit Hall records.]
[He spent years going in and out of Spirit Hall's archives back then. How many records did he get to see through Bibi Dong's connections? Did he really have no idea?]
[Actual verification? Very little.]
[There's nothing wrong with organizing information and calling it theory. The problem is that he packaged it as his own secret knowledge and made a name for himself as the Grandmaster with it.]
[Even more outrageous, there's a good chance he'll take Tang San to the Soul Hunting Forest tomorrow to get his First Spirit Ring.]
[If things follow the original course, that Mandala Snake will become Tang San's first ring for Blue Silver Grass. From then on, Blue Silver Grass will take the control route, and Tang San's fortunes will soar right from the start.]
[Too bad I'm here this time.]
[If Tang San wants to follow the old path and reap the benefits, he can ask me first whether I agree.]
The final strokes settled.
The diary closed.
The system prompt didn't sound for now.
Su Hang wasn't in a hurry.
The more those people investigated things for themselves, the greater the aftershock would be.
At the same time.
Spirit City, Pope Palace.
Bibi Dong sat on the throne as the gold-embossed diary on her desk turned a page by itself.
She had originally been reading the report sent back by the Chrysanthemum and Ghost Douluos.
But when the diary updated, she still opened it at once.
[Tang San had just arrived at Notting Academy, and he turned around and became Yu Xiaogang's disciple.]
Bibi Dong's scepter paused in her hand.
[Yu Xiaogang looks like a talent scout, but in truth, he's desperate to grab someone who can prove his theories.]
Bang!
The scepter slammed into the corner of the amethyst table.
The corner cracked, and chips scattered across the floor.
Every attendant in the hall lowered their head. Not one dared to speak.
Bibi Dong stared at the words in the diary, the anger in her chest tightly suppressed.
She could insult her all she wanted.
But if she insulted Yu Xiaogang, Bibi Dong would still be furious.
Even though she hadn't seen that man in many years, even though that past hurt so much she didn't want to mention it again.
But the next lines made her stop.
[Much of the material comes from public and semi-public Spirit Hall records.]
[He spent years going in and out of Spirit Hall's archives back then. How many records did he get to see through Bibi Dong's connections? Did he really have no idea?]
Bibi Dong didn't strike the scepter again.
The pressure in the hall was so heavy that no one could lift their head.
Back then, Yu Xiaogang had indeed often visited Spirit Hall's archives.
Many records were off-limits to ordinary Soul Masters.
But she had given him access.
She had even personally granted him permission to consult many of them.
At the time, she had simply thought Yu Xiaogang loved research and had ambitions.
Now, looking at these lines, certain old memories suddenly stung.
Two figures entered from outside the hall.
Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan and Ghost Douluo Gui Mei dropped to one knee.
"His Holiness the Pope, news from Notting Academy has arrived."
Bibi Dong raised a hand slightly.
"Speak."
Yue Guan lowered his head, his usual flamboyance gone.
"Su Hang, six years old, has already absorbed his First Spirit Ring. The ring is confirmed to be purple, with an age of at least a thousand years."
Gui Mei followed up.
"His Martial Soul appears to be a top-grade dragon type, of extremely high quality. Yue Guan and I tested him from a distance. His body automatically retaliated with a force, so we didn't continue."
Bibi Dong tapped the scepter with her fingertips.
"Automatically retaliated?"
Yue Guan immediately added, "That suppressive force was stronger than the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. Also, a girl in pink appeared beside him. Her aura bore the characteristics of a Soft Bone Rabbit."
The temperature in the hall dropped a few degrees.
Soft Bone Rabbit.
A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in human form.
According to Spirit Hall's rules, such a being should be captured as soon as it was discovered.
Bibi Dong didn't give the order right away.
The diary had said that Xiao Wu would sacrifice herself to Tang San.
Daming and Erming would also become Tang San's Soul Rings and Soul Bones.
If she moved against Xiao Wu now, she might set things in motion for Tang San ahead of time.
More importantly, Su Hang had already taken Xiao Wu under his protection.
Even she couldn't see through the power behind this young man.
Bibi Dong flipped through the diary, her fingers stopping beside the words "Mandala Snake."
"Keep watching them."
Yue Guan hesitated for a moment.
"What about the Soft Bone Rabbit?"
Bibi Dong raised her scepter.
"Without my order, no one is to touch her."
Gui Mei immediately bowed his head.
"Understood."
Bibi Dong closed the copy of the diary and suddenly spoke.
"Are there still records of which documents Yu Xiaogang consulted in Spirit Hall's archives back then?"
Yue Guan looked up, then quickly lowered his head again.
"The old files should still be there. It's just been a long time, so they'll need to be retrieved."
Bibi Dong rose from the throne.
Her purple-and-gold gown trailed across the steps.
She walked slowly toward the front of the hall, her scepter striking the ground with each step, making the attendants' backs tense.
"Retrieve them."
"Check the public records, the semi-public records, and the borrowing logs for restricted documents. Check everything."
"I want a complete list."
Yue Guan and Gui Mei answered in unison.
"Understood!"
Heaven Dou Empire, Crown Prince's Eastern Palace.
Qian Renxue wore her disguise as Xue Qinghe and sat in her study.
A copy of the diary lay open on her desk.
After reading the passage about Tang San becoming Yu Xiaogang's disciple, she tapped the tabletop several times.
"Becoming the disciple of a Grandmaster at level twenty-nine?"
"The son of Tang Hao has that kind of taste?"
Snake Lance Douluo stood motionless in the shadows.
Qian Renxue continued reading.
[There's a good chance they'll go to the Soul Hunting Forest tomorrow.]
She stopped.
Su Hang had even written down Tang San's plans for tomorrow with such certainty.
It was difficult to explain that away as a guess.
Qian Renxue closed the diary and picked up the tea, which had gone cold long ago.
"Snake Lance, send someone to keep a close eye on the Soul Hunting Forest outside Notting City."
Snake Lance Douluo acknowledged the order.
"Should we capture Su Hang?"
Qian Renxue set the teacup back on the table.
"No."
"I want to see exactly how he cuts Tang San off from his opportunity."
Spirit City.
Inside the Pope Palace, the Chrysanthemum and Ghost Douluos were about to leave.
Bibi Dong stood on the dais as the copy of the diary in her hand opened again.
Tang San, Yu Xiaogang, old Spirit Hall archives.
Those words together made it impossible for her to dismiss them as nonsense.
Years of old affection weighed on her heart.
But the future of Spirit Hall weighed even more heavily on her shoulders.
After a long silence, her command rang through the great hall.
"Investigate. Look into every document Yu Xiaogang read in Spirit Hall back then."
"I want to know how much of what the diary says is true."
Before you continue