"May I ask which senior is here? Would you please show yourself? This junior wishes to thank you in person for saving my life!"
Grandmaster stood and gave a slight cupped-fist salute toward the direction from which the steel nail had flown.
Tang San also looked over curiously. That attack just now didn't seem like something a Martial Soul could produce. It had looked more like a siege crossbow—or a Hidden Weapon.
Could this world also have a faction like the Tang Sect, one that studies mechanisms and Hidden Weapons?
That was what he thought.
"I'm no senior."
The childish voice rang out again. Grandmaster and Tang San then saw a White Tiger, two or three meters tall, slowly appear on a nearby hillside. Its fur rippled in the wind, and its tiger eyes gleamed with a cold, fierce light.
It merely stood there, yet it gave off an imposing air that commanded respect.
What surprised the two of them was that a child was riding on the tiger's back.
The child looked about ten years old, with sharp features and a dignified bearing.
His clothes were plain, but the finely crafted jade plaque inlaid with gold at his waist offered some hint that his family was certainly no ordinary household.
This person-and-tiger pair was none other than Xu Bai and First, who had followed them here.
"I'm Grandmaster. Thank you, young friend, for saving my life."
Suppressing the amazement and curiosity in his eyes, Grandmaster spoke sincerely. "There's no way I can repay you for saving my life. If you ever need anything, just say the word. I'll do everything I can."
Xu Bai glanced at Grandmaster but didn't reply. He simply beckoned, and the space behind him rippled faintly. The Blue Silver Grass restraining the Datura Snake began slowly withdrawing, as if it had received an order.
Only then did he speak calmly:
"I didn't save you in hopes of being repaid. It was simply a matter of seeing injustice and drawing my sword to help."
Hearing this, Tang San, who had been quietly observing, let his eyes flicker.
In his previous life, he'd once heard someone say, "When you see injustice, draw your sword to help. That is the righteous duty of a hero."
As a man of the martial world, he'd naturally once entertained a few fantasies about championing justice and roaming the land with sword in hand.
But alas, he'd lived in the Tang Sect. Perhaps if he'd been an inner disciple, he might have had the chance. But he'd been an outer disciple, and the things he dealt with most often were Hidden Weapon assassinations—deeds scorned by the martial world.
As time passed, his youthful zeal for acting as a hero gradually faded. The only things that interested him were the Tang Sect's various Hidden Weapons and cultivation techniques.
He hadn't expected that, reborn in this unfamiliar world, he would hear someone say something so similar to what that person had said.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be on my way. We'll cross paths again someday. Until then."
Once Little Blue had withdrawn its vines, Xu Bai replied, then patted First to signal that they could leave.
His manner was just like that of the kind of hero who, having done his deed, brushed off his sleeves and departed, leaving no trace of his achievement.
Yeah, that was exactly the feeling he wanted.
After all, if he wanted to earn Tang San and the others' trust in a short time, saving their lives alone wasn't quite enough. Xu Bai needed to give himself another persona.
That of a chivalrous hero.
Because anyone with even a little conscience would feel warmly toward someone like that.
And once they felt warmly toward him, earning their trust would become very easy.
As for leaving just like that and Grandmaster not calling after him, Xu Bai wasn't worried about it at all.
Grandmaster genuinely wanted what was best for Tang San. Whatever his motives, even if he only wanted to prove himself, after seeing Little Blue he couldn't possibly stand by and watch Xu Bai leave.
Of course, nothing in this world was certain. If Grandmaster really had no intention of stopping him, Xu Bai would accept it and think of another way.
If all else failed, he could always risk venturing into the Sunset Forest or the Star Dou Great Forest. The living could always find a way out.
First turned around and walked away at an easy pace, while Xu Bai silently counted down in his heart.
Five, four, three, two, one. I'm off the clock, Mr. Krabs... Cough, cough, cough—wrong channel.
But Grandmaster didn't disappoint Xu Bai. First had barely taken a few steps when his voice called out, a little urgently: "Young friend, please wait!"
First paused. Xu Bai glanced over. "What is it?"
Grandmaster hesitated for a moment before asking, "There's something I'd like to ask, if you don't mind. Have you found a cultivation method for Blue Silver Grass?"
"What do you want to know that for?" Xu Bai furrowed his brow deliberately.
"I mean no harm."
Grandmaster hurriedly replied, then drew Tang San in front of him and explained:
"This is my disciple, and his Martial Soul is also Blue Silver Grass. You should know that Blue Silver Grass is universally recognized in the Soul Master World as a Trash Martial Soul. But just now, I saw that your Blue Silver Grass was far stronger than ordinary Blue Silver Grass. I was curious, and I also wanted to find a path forward for my disciple, so I asked."
"I see."
Xu Bai nodded in understanding, gestured for First to turn around, then smiled and said:
"But I'm afraid I'll disappoint you. My Martial Soul isn't Blue Silver Grass. What you saw just now was my Beast Tamer's Soul Beast. You can think of it as a Soul Beast I raised."
So it was a Soul Beast he had raised...
Grandmaster was astonished. Blue Silver Grass was regarded as a Trash Martial Soul in the Martial Soul world, and it fared no better in the Soul Beast Realm.
The clearest sign was that Soul Beasts of this kind could hardly ever reach a hundred years. But that Blue Silver Grass just now had restrained the Datura Snake, so its age was at least a hundred years—possibly even a thousand.
That was far more astonishing than cultivating a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul to such a level.
But after his brief astonishment, disappointment rose in his heart.
There was no longer any chance to learn from him. Little San's Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul would have to keep feeling its way across the stones to cross the river.
Thinking this, Grandmaster let out a quiet sigh. "I'm sorry, young friend. Though your Martial Soul isn't Blue Silver Grass, you should know what standing a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul has in the Soul Master World.
"When I saw your Blue Silver Grass easily subdue a four-hundred-year-old Datura Snake, I got too excited. I didn't look closely, and mistook what I was seeing. I hope you'll forgive me."
"It's all right. It just shows how much you care about your disciple."
Xu Bai shook his head slightly and said leisurely, "Besides, your disciple's Blue Silver Grass isn't ordinary Blue Silver Grass."
"What do you mean, young friend?" Grandmaster furrowed his brow, but a glimmer of hope flashed in the depths of his eyes.
Though he considered himself widely read and had strong insights into Martial Soul Theory, compared with all the knowledge in the world, what he knew was still only the tip of the iceberg.
Perhaps this young friend in front of him knew some secrets about Blue Silver Grass that he didn't.
After all, he had a Blue Silver Grass Soul Beast at least a hundred years old with him.
Tang San, standing nearby, also looked curious.
Could there be another possibility for his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul? But when his father had seen it back then, he'd clearly been disappointed.
"It seems you haven't noticed."
Xu Bai nodded and patted First on the back.
Thanks to the Contract Mark, First moved at once. It leaped down and, in a few strides, came to a stop in front of Grandmaster and Tang San.
For Soul Beasts below the third ring, First's hundred years of cultivation still carried a powerful sense of oppression—especially when they were almost face-to-face with it.
The aura that came naturally to a tiger-type Soul Beast stirred a primal fear in Tang San, who wasn't even a Soul Master yet. If he hadn't been a transmigrator, he probably would've wet himself by now.
Even Grandmaster, a Soul Grandmaster, had turned slightly pale.
"Young brother, what's your name?"
Xu Bai swung down from First's back and revealed a smile as warm as a spring breeze.
"Tang San..."
Tang San was sparing with his words, but it wasn't because he was aloof. He was mainly trying to hold back his fear. He was afraid that if he said more, his voice would tremble.
Xu Bai nodded, then got straight to the point without any preamble: "If it's all right with you, could you give me a drop of your blood?"
At this request, Grandmaster and Tang San were merely puzzled. But Tang Hao, hidden in the distance, watched Xu Bai with a gaze that slowly grew dangerous.