"Leave?"
Tang San stared at the dark red grass stain on the back of the letter, pinching its edge as he reopened the belt he had been about to fasten.
Xiao Wu leaned over from the bedside, her expression still shaken by the words Star Dou Great Forest. The moment she saw that crooked character, she frowned. "Your father left it?"
Tang San did not answer immediately.
The character was badly skewed, and its color was abnormal, like a trace left by grass juice seeping into the paper.
Yet it had appeared on the back of the letter Tang Hao had left behind.
Hearing the commotion, Yu Xiaogang pushed open the door. Seeing the letter in Tang San's hand, his face darkened. "Let me see."
Tang San handed him the letter. "Teacher, I don't know when it appeared."
Yu Xiaogang held the letter for a long while, then placed it beneath the lamp and rubbed the dark red mark with his thumb.
The color did not fade.
He returned the letter to Tang San. "Don't mention this for now."
Xiao Wu immediately said, "And we're supposed to keep quiet? A word grew on Tang San's father's letter by itself!"
Yu Xiaogang glanced at her. "If this is a hidden mark left by Senior Tang Hao, making a fuss will only harm Tang San."
Xiao Wu bit her lip and did not argue further.
Tang San tucked the letter back into his clothes, his voice taut. "Teacher, do you think Father wanted me to leave?"
Yu Xiaogang rolled up the map and handed it to him. "Whether that is the case or not, this journey cannot be delayed."
Hidden in the compartment beneath the sole of the shoe, Ji Yuan withdrew the last trace of dark red juice back into his body.
That word had certainly not been left by Tang Hao.
If Tang San did not move, he would have no new blood bag.
If Tang San went to Star Dou, the risk would be too great.
So the route had to change.
They would go to Soto first, then enter Shrek Academy.
There were denser concentrations of talented Soul Masters there, young bodies better suited for spreading his net, and a group of living nourishment who would push Tang San forward in the future.
Tang San would only think fate was pushing him onward.
Three days later, citing poor health, Yu Xiaogang did not accompany them personally. He only gave Tang San the route, medicinal powders, spare money, and several letters of introduction.
"Xiao San, there is an academy outside Soto City called Shrek Academy."
Yu Xiaogang pressed the final letter into Tang San's palm. "I know the dean there. Go and settle down there first. Once I have dealt with the academy's affairs, I will come find you."
Tang San froze. "Teacher, you are not coming with me?"
Yu Xiaogang avoided his gaze and lowered his head to organize the medicine packets. "Your body needs to adapt alongside people your age, and it needs the stimulation of real combat. If you remain in Notting, you will only be trapped by my theories."
Xiao Wu stood in the doorway with a bundle in her arms. "Master, that doesn't sound like you."
Yu Xiaogang looked up. "Then keep an eye on him. Don't let him use his left hand recklessly."
Xiao Wu slung the bundle over her shoulder. "You don't need to tell me."
Tang San accepted the letter and bowed solemnly. "Teacher, I will be careful."
Ji Yuan siphoned away the blood-tonifying medicinal aura leaking from the medicine packet through the sole of Tang San's shoe.
Careful?
The more careful, the better.
Only by reaching Soto alive would Tang San be qualified to continue supplying him with blood.
After several days of travel, Soto City's towering gates appeared at the end of their view.
The moment Xiao Wu entered the city, her eyes never left the shops lining both sides of the street.
"Tang San, they have sugar cakes over there."
Tang San looked at the sky. "Let's find somewhere to stay first."
"Buy sugar cakes first."
"Xiao Wu."
"I've walked this far, and you won't even let me eat a sugar cake?"
Tang San could only give in and buy her a packet of hot sugar cakes.
Xiao Wu took a bite and was about to speak when she suddenly spotted a lavishly decorated hotel on the street corner.
A rose-shaped sign hung before its entrance. The guests entering and leaving were elegantly dressed, and even the greeters stood perfectly straight.
Xiao Wu's eyes lit up. "We're staying there."
Tang San looked at the sign and hesitated. "Won't it be too expensive?"
Xiao Wu was already walking forward. "Don't you have a subsidy? Besides, after traveling for so many days, we deserve a good bed."
Ji Yuan extended his senses through the gaps in Tang San's shoe sole.
Soto City held far denser Soul Master auras than Notting City.
Among the ordinary people passing through the streets were quite a few fluctuations of Soul Power.
He did not spread his awareness too far. He merely pressed the consciousness of his roots against the ground and seeped inward along the carpet at the hotel entrance.
The moment they entered the lobby, Tang San slowed his steps.
Marble floors, red drapes, and the air was scented with incense and wine.
Xiao Wu, however, strode straight to the front desk without ceremony. "Get us a good room."
The receptionist glanced at their ages, his smile turning somewhat stiff. "Two guests, there is only one Red Sea room left today."
Tang San asked, "How much is it?"
Before the receptionist could answer, a soft laugh came from the sofas in the lobby.
"I'll take that room."
Tang San and Xiao Wu turned at the same time.
A blond youth sat on the sofa, tall and powerfully built, with an identical-looking girl in each arm.
He rose lazily, his shirt collar open and a trace of impatience in his eyes.
Xiao Wu frowned. "Were you here first?"
The blond youth smiled. "I stay here regularly."
Xiao Wu shoved the bag of sugar cakes into Tang San's hands. "So regular guests get to cut in line?"
Tang San pressed a hand to her shoulder. "Xiao Wu."
The blond youth pushed the two girls beside him away and walked up to the front desk. His gaze swept over Tang San's face before settling on Xiao Wu.
"Find another place."
Xiao Wu exploded on the spot. "Why should we?"
The blond youth raised his hand, and his knuckles cracked as he flexed his wrist. "Because Dai Mubai doesn't like yielding."
Deep beneath the shoe sole, Ji Yuan tightened the Demon Vine.
Dai Mubai.
Evil Eye White Tiger.
The instant that name left his mouth, Ji Yuan sensed the surging vitality and blood within him.
Hot, dense, violent.
This was not the vitality and blood of an ordinary young Soul Master.
It was the powerful origin brought by a top-tier Beast Martial Soul, flesh-and-blood fertilizer that could make the Demon Vine's bony matter another layer harder.
Dark red patterns surfaced along the edges of Ji Yuan's leaf veins, only to be forcibly suppressed.
Blood Bag Number Three.
He had to secure it.
Tang San stepped forward and shielded Xiao Wu. "Friend, surely there should be a first-come, first-served rule."
Dai Mubai stared at him. "You want to talk rules with me?"
Xiao Wu sneered. "If you won't follow rules, then let's fight."
The receptionist was sweating anxiously. "Everyone, fighting is prohibited inside the hotel."
Dai Mubai ignored him. Soul Power was already spreading from his body, making the vase beside the sofa tremble as water spilled across the floor.
Tang San's gaze darkened.
The Mysterious Heaven Skill began circulating within him, and his fingers touched the hidden weapons tucked inside his sleeve.
Taking advantage of that surge of inner force, Ji Yuan siphoned off a portion and condensed it into a tiny sub-Spores.
This Spores differed from the scattered nets before.
Its outer layer was wrapped in Tang San's inner force, its core concealed Demon Vine poison, and its surface was coated with a trace of Iron Mother aura to withstand the scouring force of the White Tiger's vitality and blood.
Dai Mubai pressed forward, and the phantom of the White Tiger Martial Soul emerged behind him.
The twin girls retreated to the wall in fright.
Xiao Wu lifted a leg, ready to charge, but Tang San stopped her with an outstretched arm.
"I'll do it."
Dai Mubai snorted. "A Blue Silver Grass Soul Master?"
Tang San raised his right hand. Blue Silver Grass sprang from his palm, and a yellow Soul Ring rose around him.
Quite a few guests in the lobby stopped to watch.
The contempt on Dai Mubai's face lessened somewhat. "A hundred-year first ring. Interesting."
Ji Yuan pressed the Spores to the edge of Tang San's shoe sole, waiting for their first exchange.
He did not care whether Tang San won or lost.
What he wanted was the gap in Dai Mubai's meridians when he unleashed the White Tiger Martial Soul.
Tang San settled into his stance, his voice calm. "Please."
Dai Mubai's smile vanished. He stomped down and shot toward Tang San.
Xiao Wu shouted from behind, "Tang San, be careful!"
But in the shadows, Ji Yuan opened every feeding pore.
With the White Tiger blood bag delivered right to his mouth, how could he not bite?
Dai Mubai's fist wind was already bearing down on Tang San's face. Ji Yuan's sub-Spores slid along the ground, boring toward the sole of the boot that had just landed.
But in the next moment, the White Tiger phantom behind Dai Mubai suddenly lowered its head, its tiger eyes sweeping toward Tang San's shoe sole.
All of Ji Yuan's roots tightened at once.
That beastlike Martial Soul instinct had actually detected the scent of the Spores.
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