Flexible Survival Philosophy, Tang Sect's Best Actor

"You saw it just now. Your teacher knelt."

Yu Xiaogang spoke calmly, without feeling ashamed in the slightest.

"An Emperor Soul Master's pressure came down on me. Your teacher is merely a rank twenty-nine Grand Soul Master, completely powerless to resist."

"I knelt because I knelt. That is a fact."

Tang San listened quietly.

"But let me tell you this."

Yu Xiaogang raised one finger. "Kneeling is not shameful."

"Because after kneeling, you can still stand back up. You can still keep leading the way. You can still teach you things."

"But what if your teacher had stubbornly refused to kneel?"

He looked into Tang San's eyes.

"If we angered her, a single glance from her would have made it impossible for the two of us to leave this forest alive today."

Yu Xiaogang patted Tang San's head and said earnestly, "Remember this: only by staying alive can you have a future."

"A true man can bend and stretch. When faced with power far beyond your own, preserving yourself is the first priority. Everything else can be discussed later."

"Where there is life, there is hope."

Tang San listened carefully to every word.

Then he nodded. "This disciple understands."

His tone was respectful, his attitude proper, and his gaze clear.

It was the standard answer of an exemplary student, without a single fault to pick at.

Satisfied, Yu Xiaogang patted his shoulder again.

What he did not notice was that

at the instant Tang San lowered his eyes, what surged in the depths of his gaze was not the feeling of having been taught.

Tang San had taken it in.

He understood the need to bend and stretch.

That principle also had a place in the Tang Sect's philosophy of conduct in his previous life.

He understood even better that only by staying alive could one have a future.

Having lived two lives, he understood the meaning of "staying alive" better than anyone.

But he also knew another saying: a man's knees are made of gold.

Kneel to heaven, kneel to earth, kneel to one's parents.

Other than those three, a Tang Sect disciple's knees should never bend.

He remembered this kneeling today.

His teacher's instruction came from concern. He could tell the difference.

Qian Renxue's lofty contempt hurt even more than deliberate disdain.

Tang San silently sealed those two figures deep within his memories.

The golden-haired masked woman, and the white-haired child.

He did not know who they were, where they had come from, or where they were going.

But a gentleman's revenge could wait ten years.

He was in no hurry.

He had endured for so many years in the Tang Sect in his previous life. He had patience to spare.

One day, he would stand at the same height as them.

And when that day came...

Tang San raised his head. The undercurrent in his eyes flashed away, and his face became tranquil once more.

"Teacher, let's keep going."

Well-behaved, obedient, harmless.

A compliant good disciple, a sensible good child.

Tang San had always been skilled at playing such a role.

After all, he had played it for an entire lifetime in the Tang Sect in his previous life.

The master and disciple gradually calmed down.

Yu Xiaogang composed himself and began reassessing their surroundings.

Then his gaze fell upon the severed snake corpse on the ground.

His pupils suddenly contracted.

"Wait!"

He hurried over, crouched down, and used both hands to push aside the fallen leaves around the snake's body as he examined it carefully.

The emerald-green scales glimmered with an eerie sheen beneath the dim forest light. Its patterns were dense and regular, and its head was triangular.

Even though it had been separated from its body, the fangs in its gaping mouth still gleamed coldly.

Yu Xiaogang's breathing quickened.

"A Mandala Snake!"

He reached out and touched the snake's scales, sensing the remaining warmth and spiritual power fluctuations on its surface.

In his mind, he rapidly compared it against the soul beast records he had accumulated over the years.

Its scales were richly colored, indicating that it was not young.

Its markings were dense, meaning it was at least three hundred years old.

Its head was somewhat oversized in proportion. This was a Mandala Snake of around four hundred years.

"A four-hundred-year Mandala Snake, poison attribute, snake-type soul beast..."

Yu Xiaogang's eyes shone brightly enough to serve as lightbulbs.

The Mandala Snake was a poison-attribute snake soul beast, vicious by nature and incomparably venomous.

An individual at the four-hundred-year level was already quite rare.

If Tang San's Blue Silver Grass could absorb this snake's soul ring, the poison-attribute enhancement would greatly increase the Blue Silver Grass's combat power!

The Blue Silver Grass was itself a control-type martial soul. Adding a deadly poison effect after binding an enemy would be a nightmare-level combination!

This snake was practically a first soul ring tailor-made for Tang San!

Yu Xiaogang was so excited that his hands trembled slightly.

But his excitement lasted only two seconds.

His expression quickly fell.

The snake was already dead, thoroughly dead.

The cut was smooth as a mirror. Its body had stiffened, and the life force within had long since dissipated.

A dead soul beast could produce a soul ring, but it could not be absorbed by anyone other than the person who had killed it.

This was the most basic common knowledge on the Douluo Continent.

"Ah, what a pity..."

Yu Xiaogang rose to his feet and let out a long sigh.

Such a perfect soul beast for Xiaosan's needs had been killed by someone else first.

And the person who killed it clearly had not done so to obtain its soul ring.

That golden-haired woman had merely casually cleared away an annoying thing blocking her path.

A four-hundred-year Mandala Snake had been wasted just like that.

In the eyes of a powerhouse at that level, this snake was worth less than a stone by the roadside.

But in Yu Xiaogang's eyes, it was the best candidate for the first soul ring he had carefully planned for Tang San.

What a terrible waste!

Still unwilling to give up, Yu Xiaogang carefully searched the snake's corpse.

He found nothing.

That sword strike had been too decisive. Sword qi had pierced straight through the snake's body, shredding most of its organs and even rupturing its venom sac.

Other than its skin, the entire snake had left behind nothing of value.

Helplessly, Yu Xiaogang wiped the snake blood from his hands.

Tang San stood quietly to the side, watching Yu Xiaogang's entire inspection without offering a single opinion.

"What a pity about this snake."

Yu Xiaogang shook his head. "If it were still alive, it would be perfect as your first soul ring."

Hearing this, Tang San glanced at the snake corpse on the ground and nodded slightly.

"It truly is a pity."

His tone was calm, revealing little emotion.

But his gaze lingered for a moment on the clean, decisive cut across the snake's body.

The strength and precision of that sword strike once again confirmed the terrifying power of the golden-haired masked woman.

Tang San stored this information away in his memory as well, then looked away.

Yu Xiaogang straightened his robes and glanced in the direction Qian Renxue and She Xian had departed.

They had headed deeper into the forest, so they could not go that way.

Wandering along the route of powerhouses at that level was equivalent to putting one's head on the line.

He decisively chose the opposite direction.

"Come, Xiaosan. We'll head that way."

He raised a hand and pointed toward the other side of the forest.

"That senior headed deeper in, so we'll search around the outskirts."

"We'll avoid her route, lest another conflict arise."

Tang San nodded in response. "All right, Teacher."

Yu Xiaogang led Tang San in the opposite direction.

Amid the cover of the trees, the master and disciple's backs grew smaller and smaller until they finally vanished into the layers of green shade.

Only a severed Mandala Snake remained on the ground, lying alone amid the fallen leaves.

It might originally have become Tang San's first soul ring.

It might have bestowed the Blue Silver Grass with deadly venom.

It might have become one piece of the puzzle in Tang San's future victories over powerful enemies.

But all those possibilities had been ended by Qian Renxue's careless sword strike.

The butterfly of fate had already fluttered its wings.