Tang San's Resolute Choice

Bibi Dong glanced at Hu Liena.

Hu Liena's expression changed at once.

"I'm sorry, Teacher. I didn't mean to contradict you."

"Mm."

Bibi Dong nodded slightly. "Don't let it happen again."

"I understand, Teacher."

Hu Liena cautiously stepped aside.

Hu Liena was rarely this disrespectful.

Yet for Li Zha, she had actually gone against all reason.

Bibi Dong looked at Li Zha, then raised a hand after a moment and summoned an attendant from outside the hall.

"Go notify Gui Mei and have him make preparations."

"Tomorrow, he will take Li Zha to Star Dou Forest and help him hunt these three kinds of soul beasts."

"Thank you, Your Holiness."

Li Zha thanked her sincerely.

Although he knew Bibi Dong seemed like an emotionally unstable madwoman,

having Gui Mei help him hunt ten-thousand-year soul beasts showed that she had genuinely put some thought into it.

Naturally, he sincerely thanked anyone who helped him.

Bibi Dong looked at Li Zha and spoke coldly again.

"This is your own choice. You will bear all consequences yourself."

"I can give you resources, and I can send a Titled Douluo to help you hunt soul beasts."

"As for absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul ring, I do not think highly of your chances."

Li Zha was not offended.

This was the normal reaction anyone would have upon hearing that a Soul Master wanted to absorb a ten-thousand-year soul ring.

He nodded. "Mm, I don't have absolute confidence either."

"Then you still...!"

Hu Liena nearly questioned him.

After blurting out three words, she hurriedly covered her mouth.

"Still, I want to try. After all..."

Li Zha raised his head slightly and smiled at Bibi Dong.

"Your Holiness said I was a genius,

so naturally, I should do the things a genius would do."

A trace of dazedness passed through Bibi Dong's eyes.

That feeling of confidence and high spirits...

Xiaogang...

That sick woman had thought of the crew-cut Yu Xiaogang again.

Fortunately, Li Zha had no idea she was associating him with Yu Xiaogang.

Otherwise, he would have been angered into laughter.

What did he have in common with that crew-cut Yu Xiaogang, anyway?

Bibi Dong raised her scepter and lightly tapped its end against the floor.

"Li Zha, before you absorb the soul ring, Gui Mei will examine your body again."

"If even he believes you cannot endure it, will you still insist?"

"I will."

"Ten thousand years. If absorption fails, there is no chance you will survive."

"I won't fail. Although I don't have absolute confidence..."

Li Zha paused, then smiled shyly.

"I have one hundred and twenty percent confidence."

Bibi Dong had never expected that answer.

She raised her eyes and looked at him.

After a long while, she gave a soft snort. "Fine. Then go."

Li Zha was about to bow and leave.

Hu Liena grew anxious and immediately stepped forward to bow.

"Teacher, I want to go too!"

Bibi Dong looked at her. "What are you going for?"

"You told me to take care of Li Zha."

"If he is going to Star Dou Forest, I can't exactly stay behind at the academy."

"Besides, my Soul Power is already close to level twenty-five. Going out with Grandpa Gui will also let me gain practical combat experience."

Bibi Dong fell silent for a moment.

As she looked at Hu Liena before her, her vision blurred again.

This time, she did not see Xiaogang!

She saw her younger self!

That sick woman Bibi Dong was nearly losing her mind.

She gripped her scepter, then finally relaxed.

"You may go."

"But you are not to interfere with Li Zha's absorption of the soul ring."

"No matter what happens, you must follow Gui Mei's arrangements."

Hu Liena hurriedly agreed.

"Yes!"

Bibi Dong waved her hand.

"Go make your preparations."

After the two left Papal Hall, Hu Liena finally could not hold it in any longer.

"What kind of bewitching potion did you feed Teacher?"

Li Zha did not slow his pace.

"Today was only the second time I've met her."

"Then why did Teacher agree so readily?"

"You can go back and ask her."

Hu Liena looked back at the tightly shut doors of the hall and immediately abandoned the thought.

"Forget it. I don't want Teacher to scold me."

Still, it was strange. I interrupted Teacher like that today, yet she ultimately didn't blame me at all...

Inside the hall.

Bibi Dong remained seated where she was and did not summon anyone else.

Li Zha wanted to absorb a ten-thousand-year soul ring, and she had no intention of stopping him.

Li Zha's talent was too high, and his personality made him difficult to control.

When she had tried to take him as a disciple directly, Li Zha had refused.

Forcing the issue would only drive them further apart.

Since Li Zha believed he could absorb a ten-thousand-year soul ring, then she would let him try.

If he succeeded, it would mean fate had delivered this disciple to her.

If he exploded and died, that too would be an outcome decreed by fate.

She would regret the disappearance of a Twin Martial Souls genius.

But her regret would extend no further than his talent.

Li Zha was male.

That alone was enough to keep her on guard at all times.

What she had suffered back then had remained buried deep in her memories.

She could accept Gui Mei and Yue Guan being close to her.

But when facing other men, her body would always reject them before her mind could react.

Li Zha was still young, but that did not change his sex.

Bibi Dong raised a hand and closed the documents on the table.

"A ten-thousand-year first soul ring..."

"If you truly return alive, I will give you another choice."

Elsewhere.

Soul Hunting Forest.

Tang San sat cross-legged beside the Datura Snake's corpse.

As the final wisp of yellow Soul Power was drawn into his body, the soul ring circling him finally stabilized.

Blue Silver Grass emerged from his palm.

Its blades were much thicker than before, and fine patterns had appeared across their surface.

Tang San opened his eyes and sensed the changes brought by the soul ring.

"I succeeded!"

"I absorbed the first soul ring of my life!"

"A four-hundred-year Datura Snake!"

"Little San..."

A weak voice came from nearby.

Tang San immediately withdrew his Blue Silver Grass, rose to his feet, and ran over.

Yu Xiaogang leaned against a tree, his face purple and the wound on his leg already swollen.

The Datura Snake's venom was still spreading.

"Teacher, how are you feeling?"

"I won't die for now."

Yu Xiaogang took several breaths.

"The Datura Snake's venom is difficult to deal with. Help me leave this place first."

Tang San took out strips of cloth and wrapped them several times around Yu Xiaogang's leg.

As he looked at the wound, Li Zha's words suddenly flashed through his mind.

Level twenty-nine.

Wasting fifty years.

Without any ability, he could only cling to the academy and live off it for free.

Tang San's movements slowed.

Yu Xiaogang possessed the Luo Sanpao Martial Soul and was also a level twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster.

The Datura Snake was only four hundred years old.

Yet when they fought, Yu Xiaogang had actually been poisoned.

In the end, the two of them had only survived by relying on the Hidden Weapons from Tang San's previous life.

How could Teacher be this weak...

The moment the thought surfaced, Tang San shook his head hard.

No!

Teacher had been injured protecting him.

Without the soul-hunting route Teacher had provided, he would never have found a suitable Datura Snake!

A Soul Master's strength could not be judged solely by frontal combat ability.

Teacher's strength lay in theory.

Tang San tried to persuade himself inwardly.

"Little San, what's wrong?"

The Grandmaster noticed Tang San's shifting expression.

Coming back to his senses, Tang San hurriedly shook his head. "It's nothing."

He helped Yu Xiaogang up.

"I was feeling the changes brought by my first soul ring."

Yu Xiaogang revealed a satisfied expression.

"A four-hundred-year Datura Snake is already close to the limit I calculated for a first soul ring."

"The maximum age a Soul Master can endure for their first soul ring is four hundred and twenty-three years."

"Your physical condition is quite good. Being able to absorb it successfully was within my expectations!"

Hearing this, Tang San regained his confidence.

That's right. Why was I blaming Teacher?

This was a four-hundred-year Datura Snake!

It was close to the maximum age limit!

What did Li Zha have to compare with me?

Without a teacher's guidance, that guy Li Zha probably couldn't even judge a soul beast's age.

Let alone hunt one by himself!

At that thought, Tang San smiled in relief.

I actually wavered because of Li Zha's trash talk and doubted the teacher I chose.

How ridiculous.

Tang San raised his right hand.

Blue Silver Grass appeared once more, and a yellow soul ring rose from beneath his feet.

Looking at the slightly changed Blue Silver Grass,

the corners of his lips curled up faintly.

Li Zha, once I absorb my first soul ring, you'll never have another chance to beat me.

You've already lost.