One Year Later

"Xiao Wu, what are you trying to do?"

Tang San did not get angry. Instead, he asked her in a calm tone.

"I... I saw that you were asleep, so I wanted to cover you with a blanket."

"Big Sister Xiao Wu is right, Tang San. She really was just trying to cover you with a blanket."

Wang Sheng stepped forward to smooth things over. He had actually seen killing intent in Tang San's eyes just now. That was simply outrageous.

Tang San had not actually let any killing intent slip just then. Perhaps it was because that had been Wang Sheng's first impression of him.

Some of his drowsiness faded, and Tang San could only begin making plans for the future in his mind.

First was what his father had said about taking him to the so-called Blue Silver Ancestral Land to evolve his martial soul. Now that his Blue Silver Grass had evolved into the Blue Silver Emperor, Tang San felt that whether it was cultivation or absorbing soul rings, he was only one step away from another evolution.

Then there was Heaven Dou Royal Academy. He would graduate early and go there to study. At the thought of it, Tang San inexplicably began to look forward to it.

Rather than living the same monotonous routine at Nuoding Academy, he might as well head for a broader stage sooner.

"And Mother!"

Thinking of Ah Yin, Tang San could not help worrying about whether she would be able to regain consciousness. She was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, after all. For her to possess her own consciousness, it would take at least tens of thousands of years.

"If only this world had the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well recorded in the medicinal tome. Its abundant spiritual energy would definitely speed up Mother's growth!"

"It's all that damned old thief Tang Hao's fault, dragging Mother around everywhere. I wonder what Mother looks like?"

Tang San pondered secretly. His biological father, Tang Hao, could not exactly be called handsome—he had nothing to do with the word handsome at all. Tang San had no idea how his mother had fallen for him.

"T-Tang San, aren't you going to sleep anymore?"

"What do you want?"

Tang San frowned. Xiao Wu had barely spoken to him before, but now that he had become handsome, she had started clinging to him. She was practically no different from a hooligan—and a female hooligan at that.

"I just wanted to ask whether you have time tonight. I want to go out for a walk with you."

Xiao Wu did not get annoyed. She merely kept twisting her body, staring at the floor with a flushed little face.

If Tang Chuan had been here, he would definitely have shouted that the Romance Continent was showing its power.

"Uh..."

Tang San was momentarily stunned. As the deeply conservative Xiao Chunan, even counting both his lives, this was the first time a girl had invited him out shopping.

He could recite the iron laws of the Tang Sect backward, yet at this moment, he did not know how to answer.

"Little San, Third Brother, can't I call you Third Brother?"

At that moment, Tang San suddenly remembered something his father had told him: "Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track cannot evade a beauty's fragrant kiss, and Mysterious Jade Hand cannot let go of a younger sister's jade-like hand."

What that meant was that when Meng Yiran kissed Tang San in the original story, and Ning Rongrong kissed him later on as well, how could someone like him, an assassin who possessed Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, have failed to react? He simply had not wanted to dodge.

"Father is simply a genius!"

"Of course. Actually, I really want to go shopping with you too, Xiao Wu."

His mind raced wildly, and in the end, Tang San squeezed out those words.

"Really? Then it's settled!"

Tang San nodded subconsciously. He suddenly felt that things continuing like this did not seem too bad. Xiao Wu actually had a caring side toward him.

One year later.

In Suotuo City of the Balak Kingdom.

A flat-headed man wearing a black scholar's robe stepped down from a carriage. He looked around at the surroundings and nodded. Not bad. It seemed his old friend Flender still had some taste.

Suotuo City was not only relatively close to the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, but it also had a Great Soul Arena within the city. Letting students engage in soul battles and actual combat here was absolutely the best training.

Not long after Yu Xiaogang began walking, a dilapidated signboard in the distance caught his attention.

At the entrance, which resembled the gate of a village, several large crooked characters hung overhead—Shrek Academy.

At the gate, an old man sat in a chair. The sign on the table, a box, and the parents lining up all made it clear that they were currently recruiting students.

"Coming early is not as good as coming at the right time. It just happens to be recruitment season."

Yu Xiaogang's heart stirred. After straightening his somewhat wrinkled clothes, he strode toward them.

"Unqualified. Next!"

"Um, our registration fee..."

"You fail every year and make the same mistakes every year! The sign says it clearly: once paid, fees will not be refunded!"

"Our Shrek Academy only recruits monsters. If your child isn't qualified, don't come here to register!"

Li Yusong's eyes widened as six soul rings—white, yellow, purple, purple, purple, and black—emerged beneath his feet. The dragon-patterned staff in his hand slammed heavily into the ground.

The aura of a Soul Emperor sent the parents in line retreating one after another. However, aside from a few parents who believed their children did not meet the requirements and left dejectedly with them, most still chose to register.

"Teacher, may I ask if it's possible to meet your headmaster?"

"Hm?"

Li Yusong looked up and saw a young man with a close-cropped haircut walking over to him, chest puffed out and wearing an arrogant expression.

"If you want to register, line up properly. Don't blame this old man for being rude!"

"I'm here to see Flender. My name is Yu Xiaogang!"

"Yu Xiaogang? Never heard of you. Irrelevant!"

"You!"

Yu Xiaogang had never expected anyone not to know his great name. By all rights, the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul should have spread across the continent long ago. In Yu Xiaogang's imagination, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan should have been regretting everything as a whole, while the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect cried, "He who gains the Master gains the world!"

"Ahem, then I'll have to trouble you to tell Flender that an old friend wishes to see him."

Intimidated by the other man's Soul Emperor cultivation, Yu Xiaogang could only awkwardly hand the letter from his robes to Li Yusong.

"Wait a moment. I'll finish the registrations first."

Seeing that the handwriting on the letter was indeed that of Flender, the academy dean, Li Yusong decided to complete the registration process first.

Yu Xiaogang could only squat off to the side and wait. That damned old man would not even give him a chair. When had he, the Master, ever suffered such humiliation?

It was not until the sun was nearly setting and dusk approached that Li Yusong dismissed the last parent with a simple, "Not qualified," before carrying his little box and the letter into the academy.

Yu Xiaogang shakily rose to his feet. After squatting for so long, his legs had gone completely numb.

Just as Yu Xiaogang sat down in a chair, a golden figure appeared before him. He had a tall, slender frame, striking golden hair, and handsome features.

"Are you still recruiting students?"

Yu Xiaogang froze, but he immediately recognized the youth's exceptional nature. Before he knew it, he asked:

"Martial Soul. Age."

"Dai Mubai, twelve years old. Martial Soul: White Tiger. Currently level twenty-five."

"Twelve years old, level twenty-five?!"

Yu Xiaogang's eyes lit up. This talent was not exactly top-tier, but with proper training, he was confident he could make this boy defeat Tang San!