Black Bear Demon Tang San

After leaving the shop, he did not go looking for Zhu Zhuqing.

On his way back, after crossing several streets,

he arrived at a shop whose sign bore a strange circular pattern.

It had three special symbols: a sword, a hammer, and a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.

They were the same symbols found on Spirit Hall tokens.

The shop had no business and seemed utterly out of place amid the bustling district.

Its storefront was not decrepit, yet it always gave people the impression that it had not been maintained for decades. From outside, it was impossible to tell what it sold.

Even if one recognized the Spirit Hall insignia, one still would not know what it sold.

Coming alone and pretending to browse casually would make buying the Dragon Beard Needle crystal easier.

Two people would be more likely to give themselves away.

Lu Shi entered and swept his gaze across the place. The interior was incomparably messy, with all kinds of bottles, jars, jewelry, skulls, bows, candles, and things whose shapes could not even be described—simply random objects pieced together—strewn from the floor to three of the walls.

They all looked older than the shop itself.

If he could not sense the special energy fluctuations emanating from them, he would have taken them for junk.

These were all Soul Tools.

There were many types of Soul Tools. More precisely, they were divided into combat, defensive, and functional types.

Storage Soul Tools belonged to the functional category.

These Soul Tools did not look like much now, but twenty thousand years later, Douluo Continent would be the domain of Soul Tools.

Directly opposite him, a man lay on a wooden recliner with his eyes closed, swaying along with it as it creaked.

It sounded a little like screaming.

It seemed it was an old fellow too.

The man had a hooked nose, a thick black goatee, and wore a gray robe. Even black square crystal glasses could not conceal the crafty air about him.

Even with customers entering, he remained unmoved.

Flender.

The headmaster of Shrek Academy and the owner of this shop.

Lu Shi ignored him and wandered around aimlessly, though he was actually searching for a crystal containing Dragon Beard Needles.

With a two-thousand-year Thunder Pattern Sacred Tiger, a thousand-year Mandala Snake, and a Fire Spirit Eagle, he could absolutely defeat a Man Faced Demon Spider.

For one thing, since he was already in Suotuo City, there was no reason not to take the Dragon Beard Needles.

For another, a two-ring Soul Grandmaster could use Dragon Beard Needles to injure a Soul Sage renowned for defense.

Even if that two-ring Soul Grandmaster was Tang San, and the Soul Sage had not gone all out,

it was still enough to show how formidable they were.

Compared with other hidden weapons, Dragon Beard Needles only needed Soul Power infused into them to be used, making them extremely convenient.

Lu Shi tapped the skull on the counter, picked up a longsword and swung it twice, then pretended for his gaze to accidentally land on a yellow crystal the size of a human head.

The crystal itself was transparent, but it contained a great many dark yellow impurities, making the entire thing look yellow.

He asked, "Boss, how much is this?"

This crystal contained more than twenty thousand Dragon Beard Needles. Once coated with the corrosive and neurotoxic venom of a Mandala Snake, they would become twenty thousand poisonous fangs.

Physical and magical damage together—it was terrifying just to think about.

Flender's lazy voice came over. "Not expensive. One hundred Gold Soul Coins."

He did not even turn his head.

Lu Shi placed his money pouch beside him. "I'll take it."

He had just spent nearly four hundred Gold Soul Coins, and now another hundred. Money really flowed away like water.

He sighed inwardly.

From Soul Master to Soul Grandmaster, the Empire's subsidy rose to ten Gold Soul Coins a month. It looked like a lot, but it could not withstand spending. Relying on subsidies alone, saving five hundred Gold Soul Coins would take fifty months—more than four years.

This trip had spent it all.

He would have to sell venom again...

Continuing to milk the Mandala Snake like this felt a little embarrassing.

Fortunately, since venom was also protein, even extracting it frequently would not cause any harm.

It certainly would not leave it weak.

Holding the crystal, he was about to leave when he bumped into two new customers who had just entered. The already cluttered shop instantly felt even more crowded.

A boy and a girl.

The girl was about 1.7 meters tall and looked twelve or thirteen. Her fair skin had a rosy glow, while her large watery eyes and delicate oval face made her beautiful and playful. Her smooth, petite collarbones were hidden beneath her pink clothes, and her figure was nearly perfect. Though she was still young, her round, perky butt already possessed a certain charm.

Below her soft, slender waist, which seemed too delicate to bear a grasp, her long, taut legs were wrapped in white trousers. Anyone who saw them would feel the urge to play with them for an entire year.

The moment she entered, the shop seemed much brighter.

She was simply far too pretty.

As for the person beside her...

He was half a head shorter than the girl. His complexion was not as dark as charcoal, but it was not much better. Wearing dark blue clothes, he looked especially rustic and ugly. His body proportions were uncoordinated, his limbs short and thick, and he was somewhat hunched over. His face in particular was inexplicably swollen, giving him an overall frail appearance.

To say he was ugly was true enough; anyone who saw him would show him a sympathetic look.

To say he was not ugly was also true enough; compared with his future self, at least his current appearance was still bearable.

This appearance... could only be said to have enormous potential.

There was no need to wonder how shabby he would look in the future.

Acquaintances: Xiao Wu and Tang San.

As for why Tang San, who had originally looked ordinary, had become like this, Yu Xiaogang was naturally inseparable from it.

After meeting Lu Shi, Yu Xiaogang had brainwashed Tang San, repeatedly stressing the tremendous benefits of adding a poison-element attack Soul Ring and how correct his master theory was.

Tang San believed him.

For his second Soul Ring, he absorbed a five-hundred-year Bone-Eroding Poison Snake.

It successfully gave Blue Silver Grass a trace of corrosive venom. As long as the barbs on the Blue Silver Grass scratched an enemy's skin, poison could be injected and poison them.

Even the Blue Silver Grass vines had mutated, developing raised snake-scale patterns.

Yu Xiaogang was delighted, believing he had taken another step toward success.

But Tang San had it rough.

His Martial Soul was not poison-elemental, yet he insisted on adding poison-element Soul Rings, all from the same category of Soul Beasts. Fortunately, Blue Silver Grass was highly adaptable, so no rejection reaction occurred.

Forcing the absorption without his Martial Soul going wrong did not mean his body was fine.

The price was that he became short, ugly, dark, and swollen.

And it was permanent.

Even Xiao Wu, who was as close to him as a sister, now looked at him with utterly pure eyes, filled only with familial affection.

There was not the slightest trace of any extra emotion.

To the point that she considered Tang San's care for her completely natural.

We're siblings. Is there anything wrong with an older brother treating his younger sister well?

What is wrong with shielding his younger sister from enemies? What is wrong with giving his younger sister gifts?

Wasn't that perfectly normal?

Of course it was normal. Tang San also believed he was perfectly normal.

So what if I'm dark? So what if I look like a black bear demon? What I want is strength. Under Teacher's guidance, I will definitely astonish everyone at the Continental Soul Master Tournament.

I'll let you know who is right!

I'll make everyone who once mocked Teacher kneel and apologize.

As a spectator, Lu Shi could only say: wonderful, absolutely wonderful!

It was simply worthy of applause!

Inside the shop, Xiao Wu had merely been wandering around out of boredom, but the moment she saw Lu Shi, she immediately perked up, her beautiful eyes lighting up.

"Xiao Shi, I finally found you!"

The three were in the same grade, so they naturally knew one another. Tang San did not like Lu Shi, mainly because Xiao Wu kept clinging to Lu Shi while he liked Xiao Wu.

He had also whispered in Xiao Wu's ear more than once, telling her to stay away from Lu Shi, but Xiao Wu had not listened to him.

Her relationship with Lu Shi was quite harmonious.

Three years ago, she had gone out alone and been surrounded by a group of hooligans. In her helplessness, Lu Shi had been the one to save her.

He had even treated her injuries.

How could someone like that possibly be the ill-intentioned bad person Tang San claimed he was?