Two years passed in the blink of an eye.
Looking at Suotuo City before them, Du Hao and the others were practically on the verge of tears!
"We finally escaped that hellhole! We're finally free!!!" Du Hao shouted in anguish, dropping to his knees.
He struck a pose straight out of The Shawshank Redemption.
Tang San, who had climbed down from the carriage with him, also sighed with feeling and took a deep breath.
"The scent of freedom!"
Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu were the last to get down. They looked at the two men with the eyes of people staring at lunatics.
"Xiao Wu, let's go. Don't mind those two lunatics." With that, Zhu Zhuqing led Xiao Wu toward the gate of Suotuo City.
She seemed unwilling to have even the slightest connection with these two deranged oddballs.
"Xiao San, we finally escaped that place." Du Hao grabbed Tang San beside him in a tight hug, his face full of relief at having survived a calamity.
The things they had experienced over the past few years were one of a kind, even among people who had crossed into another world.
The Soul Masters Du Hao had hypnotized had spread it from person to person like a plague. Now, over in Suotuo City, everyone was one of the comrades.
The city was the very picture of harmony and friendship.
The only exception was the students at the school.
Ever since Suotuo City had been unified, the easygoing days of daily study periods had vanished without a trace. Even some of the free periods had been turned into mandatory lessons on Martial Soul knowledge.
You'd think the Red Army had marched in and was carrying out some grand reform and development campaign.
"Hao-ge, I feel like I never want to go back there again for the rest of my life. What do you think?" To be honest, Tang San was on the verge of breaking down too.
The relentless pressure to study had grown so brutal that even he, who had been hammering metal since childhood, couldn't take it.
Every day, once he finished studying one thing, he had to study something else. His head was about to explode.
If Heaven gave him two choices, one was Suotuo City and the other was attacking Spirit Hall,
Tang San would choose to attack Spirit Hall without the slightest hesitation. He wouldn't hesitate for even a second!
"Alright, alright." Du Hao gently patted Tang San on the back. "It's all behind us now. At worst, we'll take a detour when we go back to Holy Soul Village in the future."
"Mm." Tang San looked as aggrieved as a three-hundred-pound child. Just imagine what he had been through these past few years.
The endless drone of lessons every day... the awful food he had to eat every noon... the mountain of homework assigned every afternoon.
You'd think they were at Hengshui No. 3 Middle School in the modern world. It was enough to take years off your life.
"Alright, let's hurry into the city. Otherwise, I'm afraid we'll be sleeping on the street tonight." Du Hao glanced at the sky and figured it was getting late.
He immediately pushed Tang San toward the city gate.
The wall towered into the clouds, its stones fitted so tightly together that it looked as if it had formed naturally.
As for the gate, carriages came and went, and even in the afternoon, the crowds had hardly thinned at all.
"Hey, hey, hurry up!!"
Xiao Wu was hopping up and down in the distance, waving and urging the two of them to pick up the pace.
"Coming, coming. Don't rush us."
Once the two caught up, Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing entered the city alongside them. The lively rabbit bounced off toward a nearby vendor.
Before long, Xiao Wu came hopping back, this time with two candied hawthorns in each hand.
"Here, one each for Xiao San and Sister Zhuqing!" The little rabbit's innocent smile left them unable to refuse, so each took a candied hawthorn.
Once the two of them had their treats,
Xiao Wu hopped over to Du Hao. Then, she took a bite from each of the two remaining candied hawthorns.
"I bought four candied hawthorns. Guess who didn't get one?" Xiao Wu asked with a grin, speaking in a teasing, impish voice.
Du Hao slowly withdrew his outstretched hand and fixed the reckless rabbit before him with a dangerous stare.
"Looks like you haven't been taught a lesson in days. You're getting so bold, picking a fight with me right to my face. Have you got a death wish?"
As he spoke, Du Hao didn't hesitate. He planted both hands on Xiao Wu's cheeks.
Then, after prying open her rabbit mouth,
he reached in with his index and middle fingers and fished out both candied hawthorns.
"Nice, two with a bite taken out of them. I'll take these." Just as expected, he stuffed both candied hawthorns into his mouth.
Tang San and Zhu Zhuqing were both dumbstruck. They even forgot to eat the candied hawthorns in their hands.
They stood frozen in place like statues.
"Alright, quit standing around." Du Hao let go of Xiao Wu's cheeks and strode ahead toward the hotel a short distance away, leaving them behind.
"Sister Zhuqing, look at him..." The little rabbit came to Zhu Zhuqing to complain as soon as she recovered.
"Alright, quit complaining."
Zhu Zhuqing reached out and straightened the two rabbit-ear hair ornaments atop Xiao Wu's head, speaking gently. "You shouldn't have teased him in the first place. Be more careful next time."
Meanwhile, after coming back to himself, Tang San looked at Du Hao walking away in front of him, then at Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing.
He pondered for a moment, then sighed with deep admiration.
"Hao-ge really is Hao-ge. I'll have to spend my whole life learning that move..." With that, he followed without another word and left them there.
When Du Hao reached the street corner and saw that the other three still hadn't caught up, he simply waited where he was.
While he had a moment, he opened his status panel.
[Name: Du Hao.] [Martial Soul: Green Onion.] [Soul Power: Level 29.] [Soul Rings: Purple (5,010-year Emerald Green Onion) Purple (9,421-year Sunshine Mushroom)] [Skills: Omitted...] [Items: Omitted...]
Over the years, through a number of choices here and there, Du Hao had raised his First Soul Ring to five thousand years.
Its boost had gone from 12% to an astonishing 500%.
In fact, the abilities of his First Soul Ring could now rival those of some Soul Ancestor support types.
It could even surpass them.
The only pity was that he alone could receive the full effect of the Soul Skill. If he used it on someone else, it could only boost all their attributes by at most 150%.
That left people completely baffled.
"Hao-ge, we found a hotel! Come on..." Xiao Wu came to Du Hao's side and dragged him toward a luxurious hotel.
"The Rose Hotel?"
Looking at the familiar name, Du Hao was pulled along, the corners of his mouth twitching. Even so, he was quickly dragged inside.
He barely had time to protest.
As soon as they entered the lobby, waves of floral scents flooded their nostrils, making them feel completely at ease.
"Welcome to the Rose Hotel. How may I..." The receptionist greeting them was a black-haired young woman. Seeing the three of them, she began reciting her lines warmly.
But Xiao Wu wasn't that patient. She immediately raised a hand to cut her off. "Skip it. We want two rooms!"
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