Yu Xiaogang: Bibi Dong, I am the man you will never have.

Tang San wiped the mud and water from his face and continued walking toward Holy Soul Village, step by step.

His mind was filled with only one thought now.

As long as he reached that place, he would be able to see the person he missed.

Before the sun set, the entrance to Holy Soul Village finally appeared in his line of sight.

Tang San took a deep breath, straightened his clothes, and tried his best to look less disheveled.

As long as he returned home and ate a meal made by his father... er, his father didn't seem to know how to cook.

It didn't matter.

As long as he could see his father's back as he worked the forge, all the grievances and humiliations he had suffered outside would mean nothing!

However.

The moment he stepped into the village, he instantly sensed that something was wrong.

It was too quiet.

At this hour, there should have been wisps of cooking smoke rising, the aunties should have been gossiping at the village entrance, and Old Jack should have been wandering around leaning on his cane.

Now, let alone people, he didn't even see a dog at the village entrance!

Tang San's heart tightened, and he quickened his pace, rushing into the village.

Along the way, he saw that every household's door was wide open, the courtyards were in disarray, but there wasn't a single soul to be found.

Could the village have encountered bandits, or perhaps an attack by soul beasts?

Tang San panicked completely and bolted toward his home.

He pushed open the dilapidated wooden door of his house, and a long-forgotten smell of mildew rushed to meet him.

The room was empty; there wasn't even a ghost in sight.

His father was not there.

Tang San's heart raced. He turned and ran out of the blacksmith shop, heading straight for the village chief Old Jack's house.

"Grandpa Jack! Grandpa Jack!"

Tang San shouted several times, but there was still no response. In Old Jack's courtyard, only a broken winnowing basket remained, with dried radishes scattered all over the ground.

Suddenly, his peripheral vision caught a layer of glaring white lime painted on the old locust tree in front of Old Jack's house.

He leaned in abruptly to look and saw a few crooked characters written on it: "The whole village has packed up and run away, do not miss us."

At the very bottom, there was even a smiley face drawn.

Tang San stood frozen in the courtyard, his brain buzzing.

The whole village ran away? Then what about my father?

He ran back to the blacksmith shop and screamed Tang Hao's name hysterically near his home.

Still, there was no response.

Tang San felt a surge of blood roil in his chest, a sweet taste rising in his throat, and he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

His teacher had been castrated, he had become a laughingstock, and he hadn't even managed to keep his pants intact.

Now, he had returned home only to find his home gone, the whole village gone, and his father gone too.

The grievances, frustration, and humiliation of this past year erupted completely at this moment.

Just then, the sky suddenly clouded over, and a light rain began to fall.

"No!!!!"

His knees went weak, and he fell to his knees in front of his house with a thud.

Snowflakes drifting, the north wind whistling~.

The world is vast and boundless~

A single plum blossom stands proudly in the snow...

"Father!!!!"

Tang San let out a long, mournful howl toward the sky. The sound was so wretched that it would break the hearts of those who heard it and move them to tears.

"Father! How am I supposed to live without you, Dad!"

"Why didn't you take me with you when you ran away...!?"

"Why on earth is this happening!!!?"

He pounded the ground frantically with both hands, his shrill cries echoing through the empty village, carrying the sorrow of being abandoned by the entire world.

Having lived two lives, he had finally managed to have a father in this one, only for his father to run away in the middle of the night.

He had actually become an orphan once again!

Why did the heavens have to toy with him like this?

Just as he was crying his heart out, nearly to the point of fainting.

Suddenly.

His keen gaze caught a letter pressed down on the dilapidated table in his home.

Tang San scrambled over, grabbed the letter, and began to read.

It had been left for him by Old Jack.

"Little San, your father left a letter for me to pass on to you before he departed. Since our village came into a small fortune, we've moved away collectively, so I tucked the letter under the stove for you."

Signed: Your Grandpa Jack.

Tang San dove headfirst into the stove, digging out a tattered envelope covered in soot.

On the envelope was Tang Hao's chicken-scratch handwriting.

Tearing it open, Tang San scanned the contents quickly.

The message was simple.

Tang Hao said he had a major task to attend to and could not stay by his side for the time being, urging him to study hard at the academy and promising they would meet again when the time was right.

Finishing the last line, Tang San shed tears of excitement.

So, his father hadn't abandoned him.

He had simply gone off to handle important business.

Tang San pressed the letter to his chest, his sense of purpose restored.

With his father gone, his only remaining pillar of support was his teacher, Yu Xiaogang.

"Teacher, Little San only has you now..."

Gurgle.

At that moment, Tang San's stomach let out an uncooperative growl.

Having just gone through such intense emotional highs and lows, his energy had indeed been depleted quite rapidly.

He searched his home from top to bottom but couldn't find even a single grain of rice.

He had no choice but to scavenge some rice from the neighbors' house.

Fortunately, when Old Jack and the others moved, they hadn't practiced a scorched-earth policy.

After filling his stomach, Tang San went to the well and scrubbed himself thoroughly to wash away the stench.

He washed his clothes at the same time, then lay down naked on the wooden bed where Tang Hao used to sleep.

Here, he could still smell the scent his father had left behind.

He secretly swore that he would return to Nuoding City first thing in the morning to find his teacher and head to that advanced academy where everyone was a monster, so he could become stronger!

Nuoding City.

At a street food stall.

Su Chen was gnawing on a skewer of grilled gluten when he suddenly let out a massive sneeze.

"Achoo!"

He rubbed his nose and grinned. "One thought, two curses, three a cold—I reckon it's Little San cursing me behind my back again."

Xiao Wu, standing nearby holding a cup of fresh juice, rolled her eyes prettily. "Boss, you castrated his dad and dug up his mom; how could he not curse you?"

"You talk too much. Let your food plug that mouth of yours."

Su Chen flicked her on the forehead.

Xiao Wu covered her head and muttered, "You're just full of bad intentions anyway."

"What's wrong with being devious? To deal with those sanctimonious hypocrites, you have to fight magic with magic." Su Chen took a bite of his gluten, looking completely indifferent.

Notting Academy.

In Yu Xiaogang's office.

He had just sent off a letter to Flender, but upon returning, he was shocked to find an unsigned sheet of paper sitting on his desk.

He walked over, picked it up, and took a look.

At first, his mouth spread into a grin, blooming like an old chrysanthemum.

Immediately after, his aged face darkened like the bottom of a pot.

The letter had been left by Tang Hao.

It stated that Su Chen had an expert protecting him from the shadows. He had fought that person for eight hundred rounds, a battle so fierce it darkened the sky and eclipsed the sun, yet in the end, neither could gain the upper hand.

He had been forced to make a "tactical retreat."

Tang Hao speculated that Su Chen might well be a core seed secretly cultivated by Spirit Hall.

He also instructed him to teach Little San well and to avoid any conflict with Su Chen for the time being.

Yu Xiaogang's hands began to tremble; he crumpled the letter into a ball and slammed it fiercely onto the ground.

Spirit Hall, Spirit Hall, that damned Spirit Hall.

"Bibi Dong!" Yu Xiaogang's eyes turned bloodshot, his fists clenching until they cracked.

His unique, eccentric brain instantly pieced together a logically consistent, melodramatic tragedy.

Back then, Bibi Dong had abandoned him, and now that she knew he had taken a peerless genius as his disciple, her jealousy had flared up, leading her to send people from Spirit Hall to suppress them from the shadows.

Otherwise, who else in this world, besides Spirit Hall, could casually dispatch an expert capable of fighting the Clear Sky Douluo to a standstill?

"Do you want to possess me again that badly?"

Yu Xiaogang tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling at a forty-five-degree angle, muttering to the empty air.

His raspy, duck-like voice was laced with three parts mockery, three parts coldness, and four parts indifference.

"If you can't have me, you have to destroy my hope?"

"Woman, you are playing with fire!"

The more he thought about it, the more he felt he had seen through the truth.

Yu Xiaogang sneered, subconsciously reaching down to touch his empty crotch.

He froze for two and a half seconds, then continued to let his imagination run wild.

"Setting aside the facts, even if I am not a complete man now, I will never let you have so much as a single hair of mine!"

"Do you think that because you are high and mighty, you can control everything?"

"Sending people to target my disciple, and even destroying my manhood—isn't it just to make me give up all hope and return to your side obediently?"

"Don't dream! Although I, Yu Xiaogang, am a piece of trash, I have backbone!"

Yu Xiaogang clenched his fists tightly, a startling fighting spirit erupting in his eyes.

"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river; do not bully a man in his middle age!"

"Besides, my heart has long since been given to Er Long!"

"Bibi Dong, your despicable schemes will never succeed!"

Yu Xiaogang adjusted his collar; although he had to keep his legs spread wide to walk, his spine was held straight.

He looked as if he were a brave hero standing against a demon king.

Then, he turned around quickly and began to pack his luggage in a frantic rush.

As soon as Tang San returned, he would bolt!

If he couldn't afford to offend them, couldn't he at least run away?

Once they reached Shrek Academy, and once Tang San had fully matured, he, Yu Xiaogang, would personally lead his disciple to trample Spirit Hall and make Bibi Dong pay a painful price for her actions!

Meanwhile, in the shadows.

Tang Hao, who had been listening to everything in secret, was quite impressed by Yu Xiaogang's train of thought.

It was for the best that they leave Nuoding City; that evil little brat was truly too wicked.

His gaze shifted into the distance. That rabbit—if he could not have her, that evil little brat should not think of having her either.