Tang San, Where Did You Get a Dad? You Only Have a Drunken Mom!

And Yu Xiaorou. His teacher from his previous life, Yu Xiaogang, had become a woman in high heels and gold-rimmed glasses in this life.

Although Teacher Yu's theoretical knowledge was still so profound that Tang San could not find fault with it, every time he saw that beautiful face and that focused expression, Tang San felt an indescribable absurdity in his heart.

But the one who truly shattered his defenses was Xiao Wu.

That night in the cafeteria, Xiao Wu held a metal tray bigger than his face and wolfed down five roasted chicken legs, three huge bowls of rice, and a heap of miscellaneous dishes. Then he patted his swollen belly and grinned at Su Yang.

"Boss, can we get some pickled radish tomorrow?" Rice grains still clung to the corners of his mouth. With that foolish grin and those bulging muscles, he looked exactly like a sturdy country lad who had just finished a day of farm work.

Tang San sat not far away at the time, his chopsticks suspended in midair as his knuckles turned white from gripping them.

He remembered the girl beneath the moonlight in his previous life, wearing a pink dress and tilting her head as she called him "Xiao San." His chest clenched with pain.

That night, Tang San tossed and turned in bed, grinding his teeth until they creaked. Only when the moon had tilted westward did he abruptly sit up and slam a fist into the bedboard, startling the student in the lower bunk into turning over.

He panted heavily in the darkness for a long while, then slowly swallowed down the emotions clogging his chest.

He whispered to himself, "Tang San, you've lived two lives. You can't lose your footing like this."

In the darkness, he gradually sorted through his thoughts. There were many variables in this world, but the underlying logic of cultivation had not changed. The strength of martial souls had not changed, and those opportunities were probably still out there. First, he had to continue cultivating and build a solid foundation.

Then he needed to find a way to reach Sunset Forest early and locate the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well—that place contained an enormous number of Immortal-Grade Herbs and had been the most important foundation of his rise in his previous life.

As long as he got his hands on those herbs, any talent bottleneck could be smashed open with their medicinal power. After that came the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Spirit Bone his mother had left him.

That Spirit Bone was hidden in a cave behind Holy Soul Village, and it was his father Tang Hao's greatest unresolved burden in this life.

In his previous life, he had not obtained it until much later. Since he had returned with his memories this time, he had to retrieve it early. But to obtain that Spirit Bone, there was one person he could not avoid—Tang Hao.

When Tang San thought of his parent, his expression became complicated. That unshaven, hopelessly drunken woman would probably still be the same in this life, but she was ultimately his greatest support in the early stages.

How many storms could a Titled Douluo-level mother help him weather? But this world had already become such a mess. Bibi Dong could become a man, Qian Xunji could become a woman, and Qian Daoliu could become a woman... Could something have happened to his burly mother, Tang Hao, as well?

Probably... probably not. Most likely... not, right?

Tang San thought about it all night and still decided he should give it a try.

He had been reborn into this world for almost a month. During that month, he had desperately gathered intelligence, chewing over and swallowing every piece of information he could uncover.

Bibi Dong was a man, Qian Xunji was a woman, Qian Daoliu was also a woman, and even the teacher from his previous life, the one hailed as "unrivaled in theory," had changed from a grown man into a beauty in high heels.

He had gritted his teeth and accepted all of that. But what about Tang Hao? His Titled Douluo mother, whose hammer could split mountains—surely she had not changed too, right?

Tang San tossed and turned for most of the night. In the end, he sat up, lit an oil lamp, spread out a sheet of paper, and wrote a letter to Old Jack, the village chief of Holy Soul Village.

The letter was simple. He said that he had settled down at Nording Academy and wanted to see his family. He asked Old Jack to pass along a message and have Tang Hao come over.

This was what he thought: if his mother was still the same mother, then perfect. They could acknowledge each other as parent and child and reveal their trump cards early. She was a Titled Douluo!

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had poured the strength of its entire sect into supporting a single Ning Fengzhi, while Tang San's biological mother alone was worth an entire armory.

As long as Tang Hao was willing to help, rare metals, heavenly treasures, protectors, and guards for his path would all be just a word away. The sooner he piled up his strength, the sooner he could plan for the opportunity at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

He had even drafted in his mind how he would speak after meeting Tang Hao and how he would explain the reason for his "early maturity."

Early the next morning, Old Jack's reply arrived.

The letter paper was wrinkled, and the handwriting crooked and uneven. At a glance, he could tell Old Jack had personally written it hunched over his kang table.

Tang San unfolded the letter. He first saw the opening words, "My nephew Xiao San," but the next line turned his entire body to stone.

"Xiao San, have you cultivated yourself stupid? Where did you get a dad? Ever since you were little, all you've had was your drunken mom, Tang Hao. When you wrote that you wanted to see your family, I was stunned for quite a while.

"You know your family situation perfectly well. Your mother does nothing but drink. When you were little, you grew up eating meals from every household in the village."

Old Jack rambled on for a long while in the letter before finally adding the crucial line: "But I've already passed the message to her. She happened to be going to Notting City to handle some business, so she said she'd stop by and see you on the way. She's already on the road."

Tang San clutched the letter, his fingers trembling slightly. He stared at the words "drunken mom Tang Hao" for the time it took half a cup of tea to brew, his head buzzing.

Tang Hao... Tang Hao was his mother?

He forced himself to calm down and search through this body's original memories. Those long-sealed fragments seemed to be violently torn open by a giant hand, flooding out all at once.

At the eastern end of Holy Soul Village stood a crumbling mud house. Its threshold was crooked, the door planks were cracked, and the courtyard was overgrown with weeds.

A disheveled woman lay on an old recliner in front of the door, one leg crossed over the other. She held a wine gourd in her hand, her cheeks flushed red from drinking.

When she was happy, she hummed a few off-key mountain songs. When she was unhappy, she pointed at the sky and cursed, starting with "those sons of bitches at Spirit Hall" and going all the way to "the whole damned world has wronged me."

In Tang San's memories, the original owner of this body had practically been raised like a stray child. When he was hungry, he dug up a few sweet potatoes from the fields or mooched a meal from the aunties next door.

The stove in that shabby mud house had never once been lit. That drunken mother had never cooked him a single meal and probably could not even remember his birthday clearly.

Sometimes, the village aunties could not bear to watch and would pull him aside to say:

"Xiao San, your mother used to be very beautiful, famous throughout all the nearby villages. What a pity. No one knows what kind of shock she suffered later, but she became like this, drinking all day long." The original owner had been too young to understand back then. He had only nodded.

Now Tang San understood. He understood everything completely.