Wind-Enchanted Godly Zhuge Crossbow, Tang Hao Secretly Lets Go of His Killing Intent

The Talisman Paper turned to firelight and sank into the crossbow.

The next instant, a thin halo of flame spread over the Godly Zhuge Crossbow. The spring mechanisms along its arms glowed orange-red.

Xiao Wu leaned in. "Oh my god, it really works!"

Tang San stared at the burning crossbow and swallowed.

"It... it actually worked?"

Lin Xuan raised the crossbow, aimed at a waist-high slab of granite over ten meters away, and pulled the trigger.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Sixteen bolts flew out at once, each trailing a streak of fire.

The moment they struck, stone chips exploded outward. Sixteen holes sank deep into the granite, their edges scorched black by the heat. Cracks spread in every direction.

A fissure split the slab down the middle.

The three of them stared at the cracked stone. No one spoke.

Tang San recovered first, his voice tight.

"Lin Xuan, with your Talismans added, that could easily kill a Soul Ancestor. Even a Soul King would have trouble escaping!"

Lin Xuan didn't answer. He had noticed a problem.

The Godly Zhuge Crossbow was growing hot in his hands.

Its arms began to redden, and thin wisps of smoke rose from the gaps in its mechanisms. The enchanted flames were eating through the metal from within.

"Little San, the flames are burning the crossbow."

Tang San saw it too, and his expression changed.

Within moments, the iron plates at the front of the arms began to warp. Something snapped inside the trigger mechanism. A crucial part had burned out.

Lin Xuan hurriedly set the crossbow on the ground.

The flames slowly died, but the crossbow had twisted out of shape. It was ruined.

Tang San crouched to inspect it, then sighed. "Refined Iron can't withstand that heat."

Beside him, Xiao Wu sucked in a pained breath. "Oh my god, a whole crossbow, just gone?"

Lin Xuan stared at the wreck, his mind racing. If fire damaged the Godly Zhuge Crossbow, ice probably would too. But what about wind?

He spoke up.

"Little San, fire won't work, but what if we try another element?"

Tang San looked up, his eyes brightening.

"My Gale Talisman enchants with wind. It increases speed and penetration without producing heat. It shouldn't burn out the crossbow."

Tang San considered it. "That makes sense. Wind doesn't generate heat. The metal should hold up."

Xiao Wu immediately thrust her Godly Zhuge Crossbow at Lin Xuan.

"Lin Xuan, Lin Xuan! Try mine!"

"This is for you."

Lin Xuan took the crossbow, and his second Soul Ring lit up.

He drew the Gale Talismans faster than he had drawn the Blazing Fire Talismans.

He applied one to himself and one to the crossbow.

A cyan glow sank into the weapon. Faint patterns of flowing air appeared across its surface, and a soft wind whispered along either side of its arms.

Lin Xuan waited several moments. The crossbow stayed cool, and the metal showed no signs of warping. The wind enchantment was safe.

"No problem."

He aimed at a tree trunk as thick as a bowl in the distance and pulled the trigger.

Sixteen bolts shot out wrapped in wind blades.

They flew faster than the flaming bolts. His eyes could barely follow them.

The bolts slammed into the trunk, shaking the entire tree. Their tips emerged from the other side.

They had pierced straight through.

A trunk as thick as a bowl, shot clean through.

Tang San walked over and pulled out a bolt to examine it. Both tip and shaft were undamaged.

"That's a big increase in penetration, and the crossbow's fine."

Xiao Wu rubbed her hands together. "Lin Xuan, you're a genius!"

Tang San returned the bolt to its magazine, turned to Lin Xuan, and said, "This one's yours."

Before Lin Xuan could respond, Tang San took out thirty neatly stacked bundles of bolts from Twenty-Four Bridge Moonlit Night.

"Four hundred and eighty. Enough for ten reloads. Don't touch the poison on them. Come to me when you run out."

Lin Xuan accepted the bolts and put them in his Soul Tool Ring.

Dean Reck had given him the ring when he reached level thirty. It held only ten cubic meters.

That was enough for Lin Xuan. He had already crammed in thousands of Fireball Talismans and over a thousand Great Fireball Talismans. Now he added a Godly Zhuge Crossbow and four hundred and eighty poisoned bolts.

Tang San turned to Xiao Wu, looking a little regretful.

"Xiao Wu, I don't have another Godly Zhuge Crossbow right now. I'll give you one when I make more."

Xiao Wu lifted her chin and patted her slightly rounded chest.

"It's fine, Little San. I'm not a support type. I have Teleportation, so I can protect myself. Give Lin Xuan any spares you have. He's our strongest support!"

Lin Xuan looked at the two of them.

Everything Tang San had arranged just now had been for his sake.

Xiao Wu had been even more straightforward. She had given up the crossbow for him without a second thought.

They truly considered him one of their own.

An emotion he couldn't name rose in Lin Xuan's chest.

His opinion of Yu Xiaogang hadn't changed.

But Yu Xiaogang was Yu Xiaogang, and Tang San was Tang San.

After six years together, Lin Xuan genuinely had no complaints about Tang San.

As for the future...

He would take it one step at a time.

"Little San, thank you," Lin Xuan said solemnly.

Tang San smiled. "We're friends, and we come from the same place. You don't need to thank me."

He had barely finished speaking when a sudden weight landed on Lin Xuan's back.

Xiao Wu had jumped up behind him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs swinging in the air.

"Lin Xuan, Lin Xuan! Why aren't you thanking me?"

Her grip nearly choked him. Lin Xuan reached back and gave her bottom a pat. Hm, nice bounce.

"All right, all right. Thank you too. Now get down."

"No! Carry me for a while!"

"Aren't you too old to be carried?"

"So what if I'm twelve? Can't a twelve-year-old get a piggyback ride?"

Tang San watched them bicker, shook his head, and walked on ahead.

After six years, he was used to it.

Still, Tang San couldn't help thinking how close Lin Xuan and Xiao Wu were.

Lin Xuan followed with Xiao Wu on his back. Her braid swung against his face, tickling his nose.

"Can you keep your braid out of my face?"

"Nope."

The three followed the main road west.

Before they knew it, the sun was sinking. Xiao Wu lay against Lin Xuan's back, her braid swaying across his chest, her head resting on his shoulder as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

Tang San walked ahead, glancing back now and then.

None of them knew that deep in the woods beside the road, a figure had followed them the whole way, always staying a hundred zhang back.

Tang Hao.

Clear Sky Douluo neither showed himself nor let a trace of his presence escape.

His gaze rested on Tang San in front, then shifted to Lin Xuan carrying Xiao Wu behind him.

Lin Xuan patted Xiao Wu's leg. "Don't drool on my clothes."

Half asleep, Xiao Wu mumbled, "I'm not... You're making it up..."

Tang Hao looked away.

He had been watching from the shadows for six years.

Lin Xuan truly treated Tang San well.

Tang San had used plenty of Clear Mind Talismans during his training. Even Tang Hao had been amazed by how much they helped refine Soul Power.

And Lin Xuan was a support-type Soul Master at level thirty-five, only twelve years old. There wasn't another like him on the entire Douluo Continent.

Lin Xuan also had a mind of his own.

He was good to Tang San but avoided Yu Xiaogang whenever he could. Some of the things Lin Xuan had said had even shaken Tang San's trust in Yu Xiaogang.

Tang Hao was no saint. He had considered killing Lin Xuan.

More than once.

After all, Lin Xuan was far too close to Xiao Wu.

In Tang Hao's view, if Xiao Wu developed feelings for Tang San, she might become a powerful ally to him one day.

But Xiao Wu was clearly more attached to Lin Xuan.

On several late nights, Tang Hao had seriously considered disposing of Lin Xuan without a sound.

Lin Xuan was only a Soul Elder. Tang Hao wouldn't even need to lift a hand. The pressure of his presence alone could kill him.

But Tang Hao hadn't done it.

As he watched the three children train together, bicker together, and crouch in Old Jack's yard eating sweet potatoes, he suddenly remembered long ago.

Back then, he too had two people beside him.

One was Ah Yin. The other was Tang Xiao.

The three had traveled together, laughing and squabbling, just like the children before him.

The only difference was that Tang San didn't feel that way about Xiao Wu.

That boy's head was full of his strange weapon and Martial Soul training. What he felt for Xiao Wu was the loyalty of a companion.

Lin Xuan, on the other hand, always complained that Xiao Wu was a nuisance, yet whenever she came close, he never truly pushed her away.

Tang Hao stood in the treetops for a long time.

At last, he sighed, his voice so low only he could hear it.

"Let it be. A bond like that is hard to find. I only hope you can protect her in the future."