At the thought of Cuihua wailing as the Evil Fire burned through her, Ma Hongjun's eyes reddened further. His fists clenched with an audible crack.
Tang San heard it and glanced down at his clenched fists. "What?" he said with a cold laugh. "You want to fight me?"
"I wouldn't dare." Ma Hongjun kept his head down as he answered. He drew a deep breath, raised his head, and met Tang San's gaze. "Third Brother, I want to deal with the Evil Fire as soon as possible. Do you have another way?"
"Fatty, why should I help you?"
"Aren't we friends?" Ma Hongjun asked. "In our last lives, we—"
"Stop!"
Tang San raised a hand and cut him off. "Fatty, ask yourself honestly. Without me in your last life, could you have become a Titled Douluo and inherited Godhood?"
"Without me, could you have married Bai Chenxiang? Become a hall master of the Tang Sect?"
"Fatty." Tang San seized Ma Hongjun by the collar and stared at him coldly. "Our goal of becoming gods hasn't changed. But you'd better keep doing as you're told. Without the opportunities I gave you, you'll never become a god!"
Ma Hongjun's eyes dimmed. He bit down hard on his lip.
"Think it over, Fatty." Tang San turned away without looking back at him. "Cuihua is nothing but a village girl. She isn't worthy of you. And you'd better keep what you said today buried in your gut."
"The choice is yours."
With that, Tang San walked away.
He hadn't expected that, even after living a second life, nothing would go according to his plans.
First he had run into Zhang Sanwei of the Shu-region Tang Sect, then that damned Wang San. Now even Ma Hongjun, that fool, had turned against him.
It made Tang