Tang San: I respect Master Gang!

Tang San recovered his wits and looked down.

Yu Xiaogang was deeply poisoned, his lips turned purple, his breathing grew faint, and he was on the verge of death.

"Teacher! Hang in there!"

Tang San hoisted him up in a single fluid motion, pressing his palm against Yu Xiaogang's back to circulate his inner energy and force out the poison.

He had managed to start over with great difficulty; he couldn't have this teacher kick the bucket the moment he landed, as that would be far too unlucky.

He truly did have feelings for Yu Xiaogang, having thought of him a few times even after becoming a god.

He swore it.

Ugh... although he hadn't brought the teacher up to the God Realm.

Even so, he, the God King Tang, could thump his chest and swear an oath.

He held Yu Xiaogang in high reverence.

A teacher for a day is a father for life; he wasn't just saying those words for fun.

If he had also brought the teacher up to the God Realm back then, perhaps there would have been a few fewer regrets.

Perhaps he would have even gotten to witness precisely what kind of a fart that Luo Sanpao could blast out?

Sigh, what a pity.

He never got to see just what kind of commotion Heaven-Splitting Luo Sanpao at divine-level might could unleash.

Reverence was reverence, however, but the accounts that needed to be settled still had to be settled.

Flender and Liu Erlong from the Golden Triangle, along with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan, all had to be reached through Yu Xiaogang as a bridge.

This could save him a tremendous amount of trouble now that he had returned through rebirth.

With the poisonous Qi mostly suppressed, Tang San released his grip, leaned his back against the tree trunk, and caught his breath.

This body was far too weak.

It was truly wretched.

The timing of his rebirth was also troublesome, right at the bottleneck of absorbing a spirit ring; the disturbance to his mind had caused a backlash from the spirit ring, leaving him with quite heavy injuries.

He sat cross-legged to regulate his breathing for a while, and only after his internal injuries stabilized did he begin to plot his path forward.

The God Realm had been swept away by the Spacetime Turbulence.

In his previous life, the combined forces of Destruction and Life had failed to block the Spacetime Turbulence, though he hadn't found that surprising.

On the other hand, looking back at it now, the expansion plan previously proposed by the God of Destruction didn't seem quite so outrageous after all.

Since he was playing this game over again, he could make his own moves.

He would first propose expanding the God Realm and lead the deities to withstand that catastrophe; as long as he succeeded, no one would ever be able to challenge the prestige of the God Realm.

As for the God of Destruction...

Being swept away by the Spacetime Turbulence was an outcome that suited everyone.

Surely living a second life wouldn't turn out worse than the previous one, would it?

Surely not, surely not?

The matter of a divine seat had made him hesitate for a moment. Both paths of the Sea God and the Asura God could be walked with his eyes closed, being as steady as could possibly be.

Yet since he had lived an extra time, he naturally wanted to try other possibilities.

Taking down both Destruction and Life together?

The thought took root the moment it popped up, and he could no longer stamp it out.

He remembered very clearly the might when the two origins intertwined when Destruction and Life joined forces that day.

The Goddess of Life was reasonable and knew right from wrong, so obtaining her divine seat inheritance would be relatively simple.

The difficulty lay in the fact that this fellow Destruction was greedy for power; forcing him to let go would probably take a fair bit of effort.

God King Tang subconsciously slapped a label onto Destruction first.

Yu Xiaogang's groans interrupted his train of thought.

"Little San... have you finished absorbing the spirit ring?"

Though the poison was mostly cleared away, Yu Xiaogang's voice remained weak.

Yet he was still concerned about Tang San.

This was the experimental subject he used to verify his theories, as well as a blade he would use in the future to deal with the Rose Boy Band.

According to the intelligence he had gathered by dangling bait, the forces of the Rose Boy Band were not weak.

Those three fellows from before were already Spirit Elders.

Moreover, there were quite a few Spirit Kings and Spirit Ancestors within their Rose Boy Band.

Yet they specifically sought out people like him, with flat-tops and stubble beards.

Damn it, he had no idea what kind of mindset those fellows even had.

For that day and night, he had been tainted by all of their auras.

He and Sanpao had suffered inhuman torture together.

On top of that, Sanpao was a detached martial soul, so all the trauma it suffered would be fed back to him as the spirit master.

He had endured a double layer of severe trauma out of nowhere.

Damned if he didn't.

Every time he recalled it, he gnashed his teeth in hatred.

The damned Rose Boy Band!

He knew deep down that with just his meager bit of strength, he could forget about ever turning the tables for the rest of his life.

As for going to look for his good brother Flender and Erlong, er, he couldn't afford to lose that face.

Therefore, nothing must go wrong with this disciple.

"It went quite smoothly." Tang San displayed his Blue Silver Grass martial soul, and a yellow spirit ring slowly rotated around it.

The moment the words left his mouth, his expression suddenly turned unsightly.

Crap.

He had originally intended to walk the path of Destruction and Life, but now his Blue Silver Grass had actually been fed poison.

Damn it.

If only he could have been reborn a couple of days earlier.

Hailing from the Tang Sect in his past life, he harbored a certain obsession with poisons.

Coupled with his lack of understanding of this world back then, he had trusted Gangzi's theories a whole 10 parts out of 10.

It wasn't until later, as his strength grew and the Blue Silver Grass evolved into the Blue Silver Emperor, that he realized his earlier choices of spirit rings had massive problems.

Fortunately, back then he had taken advantage of the opportunity to resurrect Xiao Wu to swap out all of those inferior spirit rings.

Only now, having stirred up thoughts of the divine seat of Life, the poisonous Blue Silver Grass would still bring about no small amount of trouble.

"What's wrong? Little San, did something go wrong?" Noticing Tang San's ugly expression, Yu Xiaogang asked nervously.

"It's nothing, it went very smoothly." Tang San pulled back his expression.

Having been a god king for so many years, he knew very well in his heart that Yu Xiaogang's horizons were only that vast.

His theories were riddled with errors and omissions, and he didn't even know that ten-thousand-year spirit rings possessed soul shocks until Xiao Wu told him later.

"There are no trash martial souls, only trash spirit masters."

Nor could he truly understand how anyone could manage to insult themselves twice in a single sentence.

He had stared down at the lower realm from the God Realm for tens of thousands of years, and the only one who could truly live up to that line was Ji Juechen.

As for Yu Xiaogang?

He hadn't broken through to level 30 before turning 50.

If he hadn't given him an Immortal Herb, he probably wouldn't have broken through to level 30 before turning 70.

Tang San sighed inwardly.

Recalling the path he had walked in his previous life, it truly was beyond words.

If it weren't for the fact that he persevered, persevered, and persevered again...

Along with that outrageously absurd destiny, he would have long since been led astray into goodness knows what ditch.

Yet in this lifetime, his Blue Silver Grass was still tainted with poison.

Never mind, though.

That path of Destruction and Life, if he could walk it he would; if he couldn't, it didn't matter much either.

The two paths of the Sea God and the Asura God were still clearly remembered in his mind, and he wouldn't stray even with his eyes closed.

Yu Xiaogang breathed a sigh of relief, leaning back against the tree trunk, a hint of smugness returning to his tone.

"See that? What I, Yu Xiaogang, have studied for half a lifetime—how could those mediocre people possibly understand it!

Little San, since you've taken me as your master, just follow my lead.

Sooner or later, this set of theories of mine will lead you to stand at the pinnacle of this continent!"

Facing Gangzi's self-aggrandizement, Tang San casually echoed, "Teacher speaks the truth."

Just how much water those theories of his contained was something he knew clearly in his heart; there was no need to argue over mere words.

Right now, he was still in the development stage.

And he couldn't be bothered to argue with this fellow either.

"Good child."

For a time, master and disciple each harbored their own thoughts and took what they needed, truly making for a scene of harmony and earth-shattering emotion.

The two set off on their return journey.

Yu Xiaogang walked in the front, his steps somewhat unsteady, occasionally raising a hand to press against his side.

Tang San glanced at him without pressing further.

His mind was entirely occupied by another matter.

Xiao Wu, his Xiao Wu.

She was the lover who had accompanied him for so long, his nearest and dearest [maid, star-beast, scabbard].

He still had the chance to start over, but the others might not.

Xiao Wu had once borne him a pair of children; no matter what, he could not let her get caught up in the Spacetime Turbulence again this lifetime.

He walked faster and faster.

Then he halted abruptly midway.

Wait, where was Xiao Wu?

He flipped through the memories of this body over the past few days.

Entering the city, registering, taking a master, collecting bedding...

Every single event was there, exactly the same as in his memories.

Except for the absence of one person.

The girl who should have appeared in the dormitory was not there.

He searched every corner of his memories, and found nothing.

Moreover, for some reason, he always felt an empty sensation in his chest.

As if he would never have the chance to see Xiao Wu again?

Tang San hurriedly shook his head. Impossible, impossible. At most, because of a slight change after rebirth, she'll just arrive a few days later.

Right, that must be it!

Compared to Tang San comforting himself on one side, Beiming Lieyang had it much more comfortable over here.

Pillowing his head on Mother Xue's soft thighs, he rode in a carriage all the way back to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.