Tang Hao's Three Siblings

In the blink of an eye, a few days passed.

"Is that Heaven Dou City?"

Deng Tianxin looked toward the distant Heaven Dou City, curiously asking Liu Erlong behind him.

Liu Erlong was riding on the bear's back, one hand resting on Deng Tianxin's waist, the other shielding her eyes from the sun as she gazed in the direction of his finger.

On the horizon, a towering city shimmered under the afternoon sun, its walls stretching endlessly.

"Yes, that is Heaven Dou City." There was a hint of anticipation in Liu Erlong's tone.

She had long wanted to see the most prosperous imperial capital on the continent, though she never expected to arrive in this manner.

Riding a seven-thousand-year-old One-Eyed Violent Bear, with a little brat who had snuck a kiss on her cheek held in her arms.

Thinking of that sudden kiss from a few days ago, the tips of Liu Erlong's ears grew slightly warm again.

She had deliberately avoided mentioning it over the past few days, but that didn't mean she had forgotten.

The little brat's courage was growing bolder by the day; he actually dared to use his lips.

Yet, he would run away the moment he finished, hiding faster than a rabbit, leaving her with no suitable opportunity to vent her frustration.

"Let's go, enter the city." Liu Erlong patted the bear's back, temporarily pushing the thought aside.

She was keeping a tally of this debt, anyway; there was no rush.

The One-Eyed Violent Bear stretched its limbs and bolted toward the city gate. Pedestrians and merchant caravans on the main road scattered in haste, and the city guards, seeing a mountain-like giant bear charging toward them from afar, were so frightened they nearly sounded the alarm.

Fortunately, Liu Erlong displayed her Spirit Master badge in advance and offered an explanation, allowing them to enter the city under the soldiers' wary and uncertain gazes.

Once inside, Deng Tianxin and Liu Erlong rode the One-Eyed Violent Bear into the city proper.

Entering the city, the two wandered aimlessly.

Passersby on the road saw Deng Tianxin and Liu Erlong riding the One-Eyed Violent Bear and began to whisper among themselves.

"Brother Xiao, Brother Hao, look, there are two people riding a spirit beast."

Just then, a young girl's voice rang out.

Deng Tianxin followed the sound and saw a young girl looking at them.

The girl was quite beautiful—a bit less so than Liu Erlong or Bibi Dong—but her temperament surpassed Liu Erlong's and could stand on par with Bibi Dong's.

Standing beside her were two burly men. One of them looked quite handsome, appearing to be in his twenties, yet his build was exceptionally tall and sturdy.

The other man was over two meters tall, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, with a majestic presence and a face as if carved by a knife and axe.

Deng Tianxin sensed a fragment of the God of Love within the girl, though it was significantly smaller than the fragments within Liu Erlong and Bibi Dong.

From the girl's address just now, Deng Tianxin guessed their identities: Tang Yuehua, Tang Hao, and Tang Xiao.

Given their current appearance, they must be out for training.

Deng Tianxin recognized them, but the gazes of Tang Hao and Tang Xiao did not land on him at all.

The brothers' eyes were fixed squarely on the One-Eyed Violent Bear, a look Deng Tianxin knew all too well.

It was exactly the same look Liu Erlong had when she first discovered that holding him could accelerate her cultivation—burning and focused, as if appraising a rare treasure.

He paused, his gaze finally shifting from the violent bear to the little boy with dragon horns on his head sitting on the bear's back, a flash of undisguised astonishment crossing his eyes.

He had assumed that whoever could tame such a spirit beast must be a high-level senior expert; he never expected it to be a child who looked no older than seven or eight.

Although the young woman behind the child possessed a not-insignificant aura, with Tang Hao's discernment, he knew she could never have forced a nearly eight-thousand-year-old violent bear into such submission through strength alone.

"Interesting," a look of keen interest appeared on Tang Hao's face. "Taming a nearly eight-thousand-year-old violent bear is not something an ordinary person can do. Little brother, how did you get this mount?"

If possible, he wanted to get one for himself to play with.

Deng Tianxin scratched his head and said, "I got lucky, I just fed it some food."

Tang Yuehua's thoughts, however, were quite different from her two brothers.

After her gaze lingered on the violent bear for a moment, it drifted involuntarily toward Deng Tianxin, who was sitting in front on the bear's back.

The child had a pair of smooth, small dragon horns on his forehead that glowed with a warm luster in the sunlight. He was exquisite and cute, but that wasn't what caught her attention.

From the first moment she saw this child, an indescribable feeling welled up in her heart, as if something were gently plucking the softest string within her, making her inexplicably want to look at and get closer to Deng Tianxin.

This feeling came very suddenly and was very strange; in her eighteen years of life, she had never experienced such an emotion toward any stranger.

Tang Yuehua frowned slightly, calmly suppressing this inexplicable emotion, and stepped forward to perform a standard aristocratic salute to the two on the bear's back.

Tang Yuehua's movements were elegant and proper, every detail impeccable, and her voice was gentle and pleasant: "My name is Tang Yuehua, and these two are my brothers, Tang Xiao and Tang Hao. We are from the Clear Sky Sect, out on a journey for training. May I ask how you two are called?"

Deng Tianxin said, "My name is Deng Tianxin, from the Martial Soul Hall. She is Liu Erlong, my friend."

The relationship between the Clear Sky Sect and the Martial Soul Hall during this period was still quite decent.

This was mainly due to Tang Chen and Qian Daoliu, though the relationship between the two factions would sour after Ah Yin's sacrifice.

"Martial Soul Hall?" Tang Hao's rugged brows arched slightly, his gaze sweeping over Deng Tianxin once more, his tone carrying a hint of undisguised surprise. "When did the Martial Soul Hall produce someone like you? To be able to tame a nearly eight-thousand-year-old One-Eyed Violent Bear at seven or eight years old—if this got out, those spirit masters who fancy themselves geniuses would probably want to crawl into a crack in the ground."

Although his tone was casual when he said this, the gravity in his eyes was not feigned.

The Clear Sky Sect was the world's number one tool-spirit sect, and he, Tang Hao, was one of the most outstanding twin stars of this generation. There were few people he deemed worthy of his attention, but this little one before him truly made him consider building a connection.

To make a Violent Bear with nearly eight thousand years of cultivation act as docile as a watchdog, it was impossible to explain away with just a few feedings.

"Luck, it was truly just luck." Deng Tianxin waved his short little hands, his expression looking incredibly sincere, while he inwardly grumbled to himself.

He couldn't very well tell them that this stupid bear had mistaken him for its dead mate and licked him for over an hour, only to inexplicably pledge its loyalty once it was finished.

If he said that out loud, he wouldn't have a shred of dignity left to show his face.

Tang Yuehua stood before her two brothers, her gaze shifting from the Violent Bear to Liu Erlong, and then back to Deng Tianxin.

From start to finish, her attention had never been fully captured by the imposing, majestic bear; that little boy was the one she truly cared about.

The closer she got, the clearer that inexplicable sense of intimacy became, like an invisible thread tugging gently at the bottom of her heart, making her want to look at him more, speak a few words to him, and understand him better.