Decisive Action

Huo Yuhao tapped the hammer against his palm for a full minute, but there was no response at all.

Huo Yuhao put the hammer away. "It seems Tang Hao is still with Tang San."

His gaze fell on Xiao Wu not far away, settling on her face. At this time, Xiao Wu was still in her childhood, and there was little resemblance to the face in his memories. She would probably look more like her once she grew up a little.

Thinking of those two identical faces from his memories, Huo Yuhao's heart tightened uncontrollably.

For all those years, he had lived in a daze, tangled up over nothing more than one sentence.

The schemes had been real, but so had the feelings.

Wang Dong'er had been born because of a scheme, yet he could feel the sincerity of those feelings. In Cosmic Love Inquiry Valley, Dong'er had willingly chosen death. It was precisely because of that willingness that she had vanished completely.

As for Qiu'er's death, Tang San's scheme had been only part of it. The greatest reason had been his own greed. If he had not greedily wanted to establish an attribute connection with Qiu'er, her Sea of Spirit would not have been breached, giving Tang San an opening to exploit.

Lost in his memories for a moment, Huo Yuhao could not help staring blankly toward the horizon.

Several miles away, a battle with no suspense was underway.

Tang San had eaten a Mushroom Sausage, so his flying speed was naturally not slow. But the terrain of the Star Dou Great Forest was incredibly complicated, and he naturally could not catch up to Er Ming.

But that was not his objective. With Er Ming there, Xiao Wu was safest anywhere in the entire Star Dou Great Forest.

Soon, his target appeared: a gigantic spider with a body over one and a half meters long, legs exceeding three meters, and a ferocious ghost-face marking on its abdomen.

The instant Tang San saw it, he was overjoyed. The Eight Spider Spears he had waited so long for had finally returned.

Tang San decisively summoned the Clear Sky Hammer, combining the Tang Sect movement technique with the Dragon Beard Needle. Then came a full eighty-one strikes of the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer, his movements clean and decisive.

Very soon, a purple thousand-year spirit ring formed above the Man Faced Demon Spider's corpse.

Tang Hao, hidden in the shadows, was filled with gratification. He had not expected that after such a short time apart, his son could already execute all eighty-one strikes of the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer so effortlessly in battle. With such combat talent, even he had been inferior to Tang San at that age.

With the experience from last time, Tang San naturally would not recklessly absorb the spirit ring as he had in his previous life.

Only after adjusting himself to his best condition did Tang San retrieve the curled-up External Soul Bone—the Eight Spider Spears—from the Man Faced Demon Spider's corpse.

He then stored it in Twenty-Four Bridges Under Moonlight. With the Eight Spider Spears already in hand, whether he obtained this spirit ring or not made little difference to him.

At that moment, the three members of the Peerless Dragon Snake family were finally drawn over by the commotion.

When Meng Yiran saw the Man Faced Demon Spider on the ground, reduced to what looked like a pile of mush, she was practically furious enough to explode.

Then she saw a familiar figure standing nearby. In three days, the two spirit beasts she had pursued had both been snatched away by the same person. Meng Yiran could no longer keep her rationality.

"It's you again!" Meng Yiran raised her hand and struck at Tang San with her first soul skill—Snake Blade. With both her grandfather and grandmother present, she had nothing to fear.

Tang San's response, however, was beyond her expectations. He merely extended two fingers and effortlessly crushed the Snake Blade spat out by her Serpent Cane between them.

Seeing that her strike had failed, Meng Yiran wanted to continue fighting, but her grandfather stopped her.

"Brat, did you kill this Man Faced Demon Spider by yourself?" The Dragon Duke looked extremely old, but his eyes gleamed sharply. There was even a trace of excitement in the way he looked at Tang San.

"Yes," Tang San said calmly.

"Young man, I'll give you one more chance. As far as I know, your martial soul is not some heavy tool martial soul like a hammer." The Dragon Duke pointed at the Man Faced Demon Spider that had clearly been smashed apart by a hammer.

"That is none of your concern," Tang San said coldly.

Teacher Zhao, Dai Mubai, and the others were not far away. Besides, his father should be nearby as well. It was only in his previous life, when Xiao Wu returned to the Star Dou Great Forest and he followed his father to train, that he learned this: before he had fully grown, especially when he went to dangerous places like the Star Dou Great Forest, his father had never truly strayed far from him.

"You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit." The Dragon Duke had been famous for many years. This was the first time a junior had dared speak to him like that.

Just as he was about to make a move, a deep voice rang out from behind Tang San.

"Dragon Duke, do not act rashly." Zhao Wuji arrived with the rest of Shrek.

Everyone still wore panicked expressions, while Dai Mubai's face was especially pale.

Tang San naturally knew why. Once he found Dai Mubai a Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum in the future, improving his aptitude and allowing him to cultivate an indestructible diamond body, he would understand that one Zhu Zhuqing was nothing worth mentioning. But now was clearly not the time to say such things.

Tang San wore a pained expression as he stared only at the spirit ring before him.

"Third Brother, Xiao Wu and Zhu Qing... they..." Dai Mubai stepped forward, his face pale as he looked at Tang San, seemingly unable to continue.

"I haven't caught up to them yet. They'll definitely be fine!" Tang San decisively cut him off.

Over there, Zhao Wuji quietly revealed Tang San's background to the Dragon Duke. The Dragon Duke had not expected Tang San to be the disciple of Grandmaster. A useless man who could never break through level thirty was nothing on his own, but that man happened to have a father whom everyone could only look up to: a level ninety-five assault-system Titled Douluo, someone he could never hope to reach in his lifetime.

Still, a powerful official was not as important as the official in charge. The Dragon Duke could not quite bring himself to let the matter go.

"How about this? You fight my granddaughter. If you win, we'll admit our bad luck. If you lose, treat this spirit ring as though it never existed," the Dragon Duke said with a smile.

"What will they compete in?" Zhao Wuji asked. A peaceful resolution would be best. Shrek's losses on this trip had already been far too severe.

Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing had little chance of surviving, and Dai Mubai had lost all heart.

If Tang San were lost as well, then thinking of the protective Clear Sky Douluo, Zhao Wuji felt that his entire life would become pitch-black.

"Soul Power," Meng Yiran immediately said. This man had just killed the Man Faced Demon Spider, so he must have expended a tremendous amount. In any case, she could no longer absorb this spirit ring. Preventing him from absorbing it would count as revenge.

"Fine." The moment Tang San spoke, he attacked without hesitation.

With no time to react, Meng Yiran was sent flying several meters and only stopped after crashing into a large tree behind her.

No one had expected Tang San to act so decisively. He was practically a different person from his usual self. Yet the Shrek students could understand. Everyone had seen the relationship between Tang San and Xiao Wu. Now, anyone who stood in his way of pursuing Xiao Wu was his enemy!