The Intercepted Secret Letters

After taking Tang San as his disciple, a genius with Innate Soul Power at full capacity and twin martial souls, Yu Xiaogang no longer seemed as dejected as before. The rare warmth on his face was no longer quite so cold, and he no longer looked down on those of low status as he once had. It was as if he had become a different person, his entire demeanor growing more refined.

In a secluded, rundown tavern somewhere in Notting City, the air was thick with a grim, murderous tension. Even the spiders had stopped spinning webs and hunting, retreating early into their nests. The tavern held only the sounds of increasingly faint breathing and cries for help, along with the drinking of a drunken man.

The man was extraordinarily burly, standing like an iron tower. His rugged features seemed carved by knives and axes, while an icy chill leaked from his eyes, as though it could freeze the surrounding air. The killing intent radiating from him was so dense it was nearly tangible, enough to make anyone shudder. His clothes were tattered from head to toe, not a single garment intact, as if weathered by the years. He looked no different from a beggar.

He was the youngest Title Douluo in history, the legendary figure who had once hammered the previous Spirit Hall Pope to death—Tang Hao. At that moment, Tang Hao held a bowl of wine in one hand and poured it down his throat like a beast drinking, as if the liquor were the source of his life. In his other hand, he tightly gripped two letters—the two of Gu Hengzhi's three secret letters to Spirit Hall.

The first secret letter had detailed Tang Hao's seclusion in the blacksmith shop of Holy Soul Village, Notting City, Fasino Province, as well as Tang San's awakening with full Innate Soul Power and possession of two martial souls. The other was a report exposing Xiao Wu, the hundred-thousand-year transformed soul beast Tang Hao had only recently begun to notice.

Although Tang Hao lived in seclusion in Holy Soul Village and spent every day with wine, seemingly indifferent to the world of Soul Masters outside, ever since Tang San had awakened with full Innate Soul Power and displayed two top-tier martial souls, he had begun paying greater attention to both his son and the outside world.

To Tang Hao, with Tang San's talent, becoming a Title Douluo in the future, rising into a peerless powerhouse, even avenging his mother Ah Yin and restoring the family honor, would not be difficult. The only obstacle was that Tang San needed time to grow. To gain that time, Tang Hao had to find a way to reduce the interference caused by Spirit Hall, his enemy.

Thus, Tang Hao had set out ahead of time, arriving in Notting City several days before Tang San and Old Jack. Naturally, his first target was Spirit Hall. After some investigation, he had unexpectedly discovered two secret letters among the correspondence about to be escorted back to Martial Soul City—letters reporting him and his son, as well as Xiao Wu, the hundred-thousand-year transformed soul beast.

After learning this shocking news, Tang Hao immediately strangled it within the Spirit Hall Branch in Notting City. Apart from the first secret letter, which had already been sent out and contained little information, the other two had long since been intercepted by Tang Hao.

Staring at the two secret letters before him, Tang Hao examined them carefully once more, yet no matter how he looked, he could not find the slightest clue. Judging by the envelopes, the paper was the most ordinary, common kind. The two letters even used different materials, both sold in nearly every shop in Notting City that dealt in such goods. As for the handwriting, the two letters were uglier than his great-aunt's. There was even less chance of finding anything from that.

If Gu Hengzhi had known what expression Tang Hao wore at that moment, he would probably have laughed himself to death. He had written both letters with his left hand, and the paper used for them was the two most common varieties available. There was naturally nothing to discover.

Tang Hao had continued staking out Spirit Hall for several more days and spent a long time investigating all across Notting City, but he never discovered who had done it or what that person's purpose was. He had considered Su Yuntao, the Spirit Hall deacon who had helped awaken his son's martial soul, first. Yet Su Yuntao's background was far too simple, and he did not even know what Tang Hao looked like. Besides, Tang San had promised him that no one except himself knew about his twin martial souls.

Then Tang Hao thought of the only person in Notting City with a significant background—Yu Xiaogang. As a direct descendant of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, although he possessed only half a level of Innate Soul Power and had awakened a pig as his martial soul, making him a "good-for-nothing," he could certainly know some information about Tang Hao through his status and his once-close relationship with the current Pope, Bibi Dong. But with Yu Xiaogang's twenty-ninth level soul power, he certainly could not have discovered that Xiao Wu was a hundred-thousand-year transformed soul beast. Even if he had known, he should have informed his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, not the Spirit Hall that had thrown him out. Furthermore, Yu Xiaogang appeared determined to devote himself to training Tang San, making him even less likely to be the culprit.

After eliminating the two most likely suspects in succession, Tang Hao once again had no leads. Although his son was more important to him than all of Notting City, Tang Hao still did not dare massacre the city. Doing so would be equivalent to telling Spirit Hall that he was in Notting City. Besides, he could not be sure whether the person who wrote the secret letters was still in Notting City, nor whether Xiao Wu, the hundred-thousand-year transformed soul beast, would flee in fright and leave his control.

Ever since sending out the three secret letters, Gu Hengzhi had seen no movement from either Notting City or Spirit Hall, and he had more or less guessed what had happened. Given Bibi Dong's desire for hundred-thousand-year soul beasts, if she knew that a transformed soul beast had appeared in Notting City, there was no way there would be no reaction at all. Even if the letter had been intercepted by other higher-ups, faced with a hundred-thousand-year soul ring and a hundred-thousand-year soul bone, they certainly would not have resisted the temptation and would have taken action.

Yet now, there was nothing happening in either Notting City or the Spirit Hall Branch. It was almost certain that the person who had intercepted the secret letters was Tang Hao. Tang Hao was probably still in Notting City, working hard to find him.

Meanwhile, at Notting Junior Soul Master Academy, in Dormitory Seven...