Tang San Thought He Had Discovered the Truth

Tang San stood outside the courtyard gate for a while.

He had originally come to find Xu Zhou.

After the awakening ceremony ended, the calmer Xu Zhou acted, the more Tang San felt something was off.

No Soul Power.

A useless Martial Soul.

If an ordinary child encountered something like this, going home and crying would already count as being broad-minded. Yet Xu Zhou had nearly failed to suppress the corners of his mouth when he left, as if Su Yuntao had not sentenced him to death, but secretly slipped him a lottery ticket.

Now, it seemed there really was a problem.

Tang San stared at the Black Ancient Book through the crack in the gate, and his breathing slowed.

A Spatial Gate.

Innate Soul Power hidden behind the gate.

It might even be connected to another world.

How was that a useless Martial Soul?

It was clearly even more absurd than his Twin Martial Souls!

[Tang San made an incorrect judgment.]

[An Important Character's Cognitive Bias has been collected.]

Xu Zhou, inside the house, suddenly felt a warm current.

He lowered his head and looked at the Black Ancient Book.

Who had guessed wrong again?

Xu Yan was gnawing on a chicken wing, while Yu Xiaogang circled the Martial Soul and observed it. Luo Sanpao squatted by the wall, busily stuffing a carrot stained with chicken soup into his mouth.

None of them seemed to have said anything.

As Xu Zhou was wondering about it, the courtyard gate suddenly made a soft sound.

Creak—

A pair of eyes appeared behind the crack in the gate.

The two sides looked at each other.

Tang San fell silent for a moment, then slowly pulled his head back.

"Dad, someone's outside the gate."

"I saw him."

Xu Yan set down his chicken wing, grabbed the hunting bow from the table, and walked out of the house. In just a few strides, he reached the courtyard gate and yanked it open.

Tang San did not have time to leave.

"Listening at the door?"

"No."

"Then why was your ear pressed against the gate?"

"I was about to knock."

"With your ear?"

Tang San had no answer for a moment.

Xu Yan stared at him twice, then stepped aside.

"Come in. Otherwise, if someone sees this, they'll think I'm bullying a six-year-old."

Tang San really wanted to remind him that although this body was only six years old, his mental age was not young.

After thinking about it, he decided to let it go.

There were no real six-year-olds in Holy Soul Village.

Yu Xiaogang saw him in the courtyard as well.

That face, which usually showed little expression, became noticeably more serious.

He had come to Holy Soul Village for Tang San in the first place.

Blue Silver Grass could not possibly possess Innate Full Soul Power.

There were only two explanations for such a situation.

Either the Blue Silver Grass had undergone some special mutation, or Tang San had another Martial Soul.

With his knowledge of the original work, the answer was naturally the latter.

But before he could find an opportunity to approach Tang San, Xu Zhou had entered his field of vision first.

A person who did not exist in the original work.

A special Martial Soul whose Soul Power could not even be detected by a crystal ball.

Compared with Tang San, whom transmigrators across the continent had already studied to death, Xu Zhou clearly held far more unknowns.

"Master."

Tang San took the initiative to greet him, but his gaze fell on the paper in Xu Zhou's hand.

"You just said his Martial Soul is a Spatial Gate?"

"That's right."

Yu Xiaogang nodded slightly.

"That is not a book. It merely resembles one in appearance. Every page may be an unopened layer of space."

Xu Zhou's eyelid twitched.

Just now, it had only been a door.

In such a short time, it had already developed into several layers of space?

The master's theory was quite flexible.

"What evidence do you have?"

Tang San asked.

Yu Xiaogang pointed at Luo Sanpao.

"It can sense the spatial fluctuations within Xu Zhou's Martial Soul."

Tang San turned to look.

Luo Sanpao was sitting on the ground, enthusiastically gnawing on a carrot. Seeing everyone looking at him, he paused, then slowly hid the carrot behind his back.

"Luo luo?"

Tang San was silent for a moment.

"Can it speak?"

"I can understand what it means."

"What did it say just now?"

"It asked why you were looking at it."

"What about the spatial fluctuations?"

Yu Xiaogang lowered his head and looked at Luo Sanpao.

"Sanpao, did you sense a spatial aura from Xu Zhou's Martial Soul?"

Luo Sanpao blinked.

"Luo luo!"

"See?"

Yu Xiaogang raised his head again.

"It admitted it."

Tang San always felt that this proof was rather hasty.

But Luo Sanpao really was different from the original work.

Those wings were not decorations, and the scales on its neck did not look dyed on. The fact that it could undergo such changes meant that Yu Xiaogang before him had at least some real ability.

Most importantly, Xu Zhou's Martial Soul had never been normal to begin with.

"Xu Zhou, did you know all along?"

Tang San asked.

"Know what?"

"That your Martial Soul isn't a useless Martial Soul."

"I didn't know."

"Then why did you smile in the awakening room?"

Xu Zhou's expression stiffened.

Had it been that obvious?

Xu Yan said he had smiled, and Tang San said he had smiled too.

The next time something good happened, he really needed to restrain himself.

"I was upset."

"You smiled when you were upset?"

"Everyone has different ways of being upset."

Tang San clearly did not believe him.

He had known Xu Zhou for more than a day or two. When this guy had been chased and beaten by Xu Yan as a child, he cried more normally than anyone.

So why had he smiled abnormally after awakening a useless Martial Soul?

Unless he had already received some kind of prompt at the time.

A system!

Tang San suddenly recalled their conversation in the awakening room.

Xu Zhou had once asked him whether he thought he had a system.

Now that he thought about it, that had not been a casual question at all. He had been testing him.

"I understand."

"What do you understand?"

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Tang San took two steps forward and lowered his voice.

"If the people in the village learn that you have a special opportunity, they'll definitely come to investigate. When that happens, some will ask to draw your blood, some will want you to acknowledge them as your godfather, and others will want to send you to Spirit Hall in exchange for a reward."

"I really don't have—"

"I know. You don't."

Tang San's tone was extremely serious.

Xu Zhou's remaining words were forced back down his throat.

That bastard clearly had not believed a single word.

The Black Ancient Book lightly flipped open.

[Tang San formed an incorrect judgment about you.]

[Cognitive Bias has been collected.]

The Soul Power within his body increased by a notch.

Feeling that warm current, Xu Zhou suddenly felt that not explaining himself was not so bad.

Some misunderstandings only became more troublesome the more they were explained.

Better to let them grow healthily.

"You can keep it secret for me?"

"Of course."

Tang San nodded.

"We've known each other for six years, after all."

"Then don't tell Old Jack either."

"Don't worry."

"You can't tell Niu Dali, either."

"He talks too much. I wasn't planning to tell him anyway."

"And your dad."

At those last three words, Tang San hesitated.

"He probably doesn't care about that sort of thing."

This time, the Black Ancient Book did not react.

Clearly, Tang San's understanding of Tang Hao was fairly accurate.

As long as Xu Zhou did not burn down the Clear Sky Sect, Tang Hao would probably be too lazy to leave the blacksmith shop.

Yu Xiaogang, who had been listening nearby for quite some time, gradually frowned.

"You think Xu Zhou has a system?"

Tang San countered, "Master, don't you think so?"

"I can't rule out that possibility."

"Then why did you say his Martial Soul is a gate?"

"A system and a Martial Soul do not conflict."

Yu Xiaogang answered naturally.

"Some powers hide their own existence and disguise special abilities as Martial Souls. It is also possible that the system itself is the consciousness of that gate, responsible for guiding Xu Zhou to open each layer of space."

Xu Zhou nearly sucked in a cold breath.

He could even explain it like that?

As expected of someone who studied theory. Since there was no evidence at present, he could explain it however he liked.

[Yu Xiaogang formed a new incorrect judgment.]

[Cognitive Bias has been collected.]

Unfortunately, the effect of the same person providing experience repeatedly had already begun to diminish.

The warm current appeared for only a moment before vanishing.

Xu Zhou felt somewhat disappointed.

It looked like Yu Xiaogang had been picked clean for the time being. He needed to spread his theories around.

One master being wrong was nowhere near as profitable as an entire village being wrong together.

"Master, before we go to the Spirit Hall Branch tomorrow, could you put up the appraisal at the village entrance first?"

Xu Zhou picked up the sheet of paper.

Yu Xiaogang looked slightly puzzled.

"Is that necessary?"

"Of course it is."

Xu Yan took over.

"The village just arranged for my son to become a live-in son-in-law today. If you don't put it up soon, they'll have the bride price settled by tomorrow."

Tang San froze.

"Whose family?"

"The tofu seller at the west end of the village."

"Isn't their daughter only five?"

"They said they were just making the arrangement first."

Tang San opened his mouth, unsure where to even begin cursing.

With so many transmigrators around, the entire village's mental state had become somewhat abnormal.

Yu Xiaogang thought for a moment before finally agreeing.

"Fine."

"But with just one appraisal, people may not believe it."

"It doesn't matter."

Xu Zhou smiled.

"As long as they see it."

It would be best if they believed it.

If they didn't, that was fine too.

No matter how they guessed, he would have a chance to gain Cognitive Bias.

At that moment, Luo Sanpao suddenly put down its carrot.

It twitched its nose twice, then the fleshy wings on its back snapped open as it growled lowly toward the other side of the courtyard wall.

"Luo luo!"

Yu Xiaogang's expression changed slightly.

"Someone's approaching."

Xu Yan immediately gripped his hunting bow, while Tang San slipped his right hand into his sleeve.

The next second, something rolled into a ball of paper flew over the courtyard wall and landed between them.

A small stone was tied to the paper ball.

Xu Yan did not reach for it. Instead, he used the tip of an arrow to unfold the paper.

Only one sentence was written on it.

"Don't believe Yu Xiaogang. His Soul Power was still rank twenty-nine last night, but today it's already rank thirty-three."

The courtyard fell silent.

Xu Zhou slowly turned his head.

Yu Xiaogang's expression had become rather ugly.

Tang San, meanwhile, stared at the ground beneath his feet.

No one had noticed it earlier.

But now that they looked, three faint Soul Ring phantoms truly shimmered around Yu Xiaogang's body.

Xu Yan tightened his grip on the hunting bow.

"Master."

"Your rank has risen even more freakishly than my son's."