Staying in Suotuo City, Targeting the White Tiger

"Leave?"

Tang San stared at the dark red grass stain on the back of the letter. His fingers pinched the edge of the paper, and the belt he had been about to fasten was loosened again.

Xiao Wu leaned over from the bedside, her expression still not recovered from the words Star Dou Great Forest. The moment she saw that crooked character, she frowned. "Your father left it?"

Tang San did not answer at once.

The character was terribly crooked, and its color was abnormal, like a mark left by grass juice soaking into the paper.

Yet it had appeared on the back of the letter Tang Hao had left behind.

Hearing the commotion, Yu Xiaogang pushed the door open and entered. His face darkened when he saw the letter in Tang San's hand. "Let me see."

Tang San handed him the letter. "Teacher, I don't know when it appeared either."

Yu Xiaogang held the letter for a long time, then placed it beneath the lamp and rubbed the dark red mark with his thumb.

It did not fade.

He returned the paper to Tang San. "Don't say anything about this yet."

Xiao Wu immediately said, "And we're not supposed to say anything? A letter from Tang San's father grew words by itself!"

Yu Xiaogang shot her a look. "If this is a hidden mark left by Senior Tang Hao, shouting about it will only endanger Tang San."

Xiao Wu bit her lip and did not argue further.

Tang San tucked the letter back into his clothes, his voice tense. "Teacher, do you think Father wants me to leave?"

Yu Xiaogang rolled up the map and handed it to him. "Whether that's the case or not, this trip cannot be delayed."

Ji Yuan hid in the hidden compartment beneath the sole of a shoe and drew the last trace of dark red juice back into his main body.

That character had not been left by Tang Hao, of course.

If Tang San did not move, he would have no new blood bag.

But if Tang San went to the Star Dou Great Forest, the risk was too great.

So the route had to change.

First Suotuo City, then Shrek Academy.

There were denser concentrations of talented soul masters there, younger bodies better suited for him to spread his net, and a group of living nourishment who would push Tang San forward in the future.

Tang San would only think that fate was driving him onward.

Three days later, citing poor health, Yu Xiaogang did not travel with them personally. He merely gave Tang San the route, medicinal powder, spare money, and several letters of introduction.

"Little San, there is an academy outside Suotuo City called Shrek."

Yu Xiaogang pressed the final letter into Tang San's palm. "Its dean is an acquaintance of mine. Go there and settle down first. Once I finish dealing with the academy's affairs, I'll come find you."

Tang San froze. "Teacher, you're not coming with me?"

Yu Xiaogang avoided his gaze and lowered his head to arrange the medicine packets. "Your body needs to adapt alongside peers, and it needs the stimulation of real combat. If you remain in Notting, you'll only be trapped by my theories."

Xiao Wu stood at the doorway with her 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 swung the bundle onto her shoulder. "You don't need to tell me that."

Tang San accepted the letter and bowed solemnly. "Teacher, I'll be careful."

Ji Yuan drew away the blood-tonifying medicinal vapors leaking from the medicine packets beneath Tang San's feet.

Careful?

The more careful, the better.

Only by reaching Suotuo alive would Tang San be qualified to keep supplying him with blood.

After several days of travel, Suotuo City's towering gates appeared at the end of the road.

The moment Xiao Wu entered the city, her eyes never left the shops lining both sides of the street.

"Tang San, they have sweet cakes over there."

Tang San glanced at the sky. "Let's find a place to stay first."

"Buy sweet cakes first."

"Xiao Wu."

"I've walked all this way, and you won't even let me eat sweet cakes?"

Tang San sighed helplessly and had no choice but to buy a packet of hot sweet cakes for her.

Xiao Wu took a bite and was just about to speak when she spotted a lavishly decorated hotel at the street corner.

A rose-shaped sign hung before its entrance. The guests entering and leaving were impeccably dressed, and even the greeters stood ramrod straight.

Xiao Wu's eyes lit up. "We're staying there."

Tang San looked at the sign hesitantly. "Won't it be too expensive?"

Xiao Wu was already walking over. "Don't you have your stipend? Besides, after traveling for so many days, we should at least sleep in a good bed."

Ji Yuan extended his senses through the gaps in Tang San's shoe soles.

The aura of soul masters in Suotuo City was far denser than in Notting City.

Among the ordinary people passing through the streets, quite a few carried fluctuations of Soul Power.

He did not spread his senses too far. He merely pressed his root consciousness 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 carried the scents of incense and alcohol.

Xiao Wu, however, marched straight to the front desk without hesitation. "Get us a good room."

The receptionist looked at their ages, her smile turning a little stiff. "Guests, only one Red Ocean room remains today."

Tang San asked, "How much?"

Before the receptionist could answer, a soft chuckle came from the sofas in the lobby.

"I'll take that room."

Tang San and Xiao Wu turned their heads at the same time.

A blond youth sat on the sofa, tall and broad, with an identical-looking girl tucked under 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'm a regular."

Xiao Wu shoved the bag of candied pastries into Tang San's hands. "Being a regular means you can 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 over to the front desk. His gaze swept over Tang San's face before settling on Xiao Wu.

"Go somewhere else."

Xiao Wu exploded on the spot. "Why should we?"

The blond youth raised his hand. His joints cracked as he flexed his wrist. "Because I, Dai Mubai, don't like yielding."

Deep within the sole, Ji Yuan tightened his demonic vines.

Dai Mubai.

Evil Eye White Tiger.

The instant that name left his mouth, Ji Yuan sensed the surging vitality within the other's body.

Hot, dense, violent.

This was not the vitality 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 harden the demonic vine's bones another layer.

Dark red patterns surfaced along the edges of Ji Yuan's leaf veins, only to be forcibly pressed back down.

Blood Bag Number Three.

He had to get him.

Tang San stepped forward, blocking Xiao Wu. "Friend, surely there should be some respect for first come, first served."

Dai Mubai stared at him. "You want to talk rules with me?"

Xiao Wu sneered. "If we're not talking rules, then let's fight."

The receptionist sweated anxiously. "Everyone, fighting isn't allowed in the hotel."

Dai Mubai ignored him. Soul Power was already pushing outward from his body. The vase beside the sofa trembled, spilling water across the floor.

Tang San's eyes darkened.

The Mysterious Heaven Skill began circulating within him, and his fingers found the hidden weapons in his sleeves.

Taking advantage of that surge of inner force, Ji Yuan casually siphoned off a portion and condensed it into a tiny spore.

This spore differed from the scattered networks from before.

Its outer layer was wrapped in Tang San's inner force, its core concealed the demonic vine's toxicity, and its surface was coated with a trace of iron mother aura to withstand the scouring force of the White Tiger's vitality.

Dai Mubai pressed forward, the phantom of a White Tiger martial soul emerging behind him.

The twin girls retreated to the wall in fright.

Xiao Wu lifted her leg, ready to charge, but Tang San stopped her with his outstretched arm.

"I'll do it."

Dai Mubai scoffed. "A Blue Silver Grass soul master?"

Tang San raised his right hand. Blue Silver Grass sprouted from his palm, and a yellow soul ring rose around him.

Quite a few guests in the lobby stopped to watch.

The disdain on Dai Mubai's face lessened slightly. "A first ring of a hundred years. Interesting."

Ji Yuan pressed the spore against the edge of Tang San's shoe sole, waiting for the two to clash for the first time.

He did not care whether Tang San won or lost.

What he wanted was the gap in Dai Mubai's meridians when his White Tiger martial soul erupted.

Tang San took his stance, his voice steady. "Please."

Dai Mubai's smile vanished. He stomped down and charged straight at Tang San.

Xiao Wu shouted from behind, "Tang San, be careful!"

Yet Ji Yuan opened every feeding pore in the shadows.

With a White Tiger blood pack delivered right to his mouth, how could he possibly not take a bite?

Dai Mubai's fist wind had already borne down on Tang San's face. Ji Yuan's offspring spore slid along the ground, drilling toward the sole of the boot that had just landed.

But in the next instant, 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 spore.