Looks like I'll Have to Be Stubborn Again

"I was wondering what took them so long!"

"So Yu Xiaogang got hurt in the Soul Hunting Forest!"

"What a useless fool. He even got injured hunting for a First Soul Ring!"

Standing in a secluded corner, Tang Hao kept a secret watch on the two of them. He took a swig of cheap ale, then bit into the chicken leg in his hand.

Searching for Yu Xiaogang and Tang San these past few days had worn out even a Titled Douluo like him!

He had combed through not only the Soul Hunting Forest but every road along the way.

Yet he had not found a single clue.

How could Tang Hao have had any appetite?

If he lost his son, how would he take revenge on Spirit Hall?

Just as he was about to despair, he finally spotted the two of them in a town on the forest's outskirts.

He watched them emerge from a clinic, apparently headed back to Nouding Academy.

"But if they aren't renting a carriage, how do they plan to get back?"

When they built a crude four-wheeled cart instead of renting a carriage, Tang Hao was baffled.

Still, he held back, deciding to watch a little longer.

Then, to his disbelief...

Yu Xiaogang sat down on the bare-bones cart, while Tang San stepped in front and slipped the ropes over himself.

"Yu Xiaogang, you're asking to die!"

"You dare make the son of the mighty Clear Sky Douluo serve as your beast of burden and pull your cart, you worthless fool!"

At the sight, Tang Hao's eyes turned bloodshot. Breathing like an enraged bull, he nearly rushed out and punched Yu Xiaogang. The chicken leg was still in his hand.

Yu Xiaogang had crippled himself hunting a mere Hundred-Year Soul Beast, and he still had the gall to make Little San pull his cart?

"Little San, you've suffered so much!"

"If my Martial Soul hadn't undergone a malignant mutation, leaving my Soul Power stuck at level twenty-nine forever, you'd never have had to..."

Even someone as thick-skinned as Yu Xiaogang could not help looking ashamed just then.

After all, here he was in public, a Soul Grandmaster in his fifties letting a six-year-old child pull his cart.

The strange looks from the Soul Masters around them left the sensitive, insecure Yu Xiaogang unable even to raise his head.

"Teacher, don't mind what the people around us think!"

"I told you before: a teacher for a day is a father for life!"

Tang San shook his head firmly and set off, tugging on the ropes.

Traveling from the Soul Hunting Forest to Nouding Academy usually took half a day even by carriage.

At their current pace, they would not reach Nouding Academy until at least the beginning of next month.

And all that time, Little San would have to see to Yu Xiaogang's every need, from food and drink to using the latrine.

What the hell kind of apprenticeship was this? He had practically gone and found himself another father!

"A teacher for a day is a father for life!"

"Yu Xiaogang, you've taught him well. Very well. Exceedingly well!"

Tang Hao cast a cold glance at Yu Xiaogang's back, crunched the chicken bone between his teeth, and swallowed it. He would have to find time to make Yu Xiaogang understand his place.

Just as Tang Hao turned to leave, he overheard people talking nearby.

"Ah, that poor child!"

"Tell me about it. Stuck with a useless teacher like that—he even botched a hunt for a Hundred-Year Soul Beast."

"I heard Mandala Snake venom splashed into his eyes. If they hadn't treated him in time, he could've lost his sight!"

What?

Mandala Snake venom had gotten into his eyes too?

Tang Hao stopped in his tracks, fury roiling in his eyes.

"From how Little San looked just now, his eyes should be fine."

"But a little snake dared to bully my son?"

Tang Hao's face darkened, but the conversation was not over.

"Why was a hundred-year Mandala Snake on the outskirts of the Soul Hunting Forest, though?"

"Apparently, a Ghost Vine over six hundred years old appeared in the forest's core and set the Soul Beasts rampaging."

"So that's what happened. We'd better be careful for a while."

The Soul Masters near the clinic were still shaken.

Tang Hao's fists were already clenched tight enough to crack. "A vine and a little snake dared to bully the son of Tang Hao!"

With that, Tang Hao hefted the Clear Sky Hammer, pulled up his hood, and headed straight for the core of the Soul Hunting Forest.

Oblivious to all this, Yu Xiaogang was still boasting about his theories.

"Little San, my meticulous research tells me that the Ghost Vine in the Soul Hunting Forest is no ordinary specimen!"

"Uh, Teacher, aren't Ghost Vines all the same? Can Soul Beasts of the same kind really differ that much?"

Tang San pulled Yu Xiaogang's four-wheeled cart toward Nouding Academy, the ropes looped around his body.

"Of course they can!"

Yu Xiaogang immediately objected. "According to the research I conducted at Spi—my own research, Soul Beasts of the same kind can possess different Soul Skills."

"Take the Swamp Poison Frog, for example. They're generally weak; even one with a thousand years of cultivation is nothing to speak of."

"But some exceptionally gifted Swamp Poison Frogs develop a terrifying Soul Skill called the Corpse Explosion Technique!"

"With the Corpse Explosion Technique, even a thousand-year Swamp Poison Frog has a chance of killing a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast!"

Tang San sucked in a sharp breath.

There was a Soul Skill that defied the heavens to that extent?

Wouldn't that be like a human Soul King challenging a Titled Douluo above level ninety and winning?

"Teacher, is there something special about the Ghost Vine in the Soul Hunting Forest too?"

"That's right. That Ghost Vine wields its Parasitic Soul Skill with exceptional mastery, far beyond other Ghost Vines on record!"

"And according to Soul Masters who came out of the Soul Hunting Forest, there's a great deal of Blue Silver Grass around it!"

"That means it's highly compatible with Blue Silver Grass!"

As Yu Xiaogang spoke of it, the corners of his mouth curled upward.

Finding such a compatible Soul Ring was no easy feat!

"If I'd encountered such a suitable Soul Ring back then, how could Luo Sanpao's Soul Skills have ended up as nothing but farts?"

Yu Xiaogang's smile gradually faded, leaving him looking dejected.

Noticing the change in Yu Xiaogang's mood, Tang San's eyes shifted. He thought the time was about right.

"Teacher, have you ever heard of the Wish-Granting Tree Martial Soul?"

"The Wish-Granting Tree Martial Soul?"

Yu Xiaogang looked up in puzzlement. "What's special about that Martial Soul?"

Since leaving Spirit Hall's library, the most he had been able to study was the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul.

He had no access to other kinds of Martial Souls to study.

"It belongs to a work-study student in our dormitory named Xu Yuan!"

"He has Innate Full Soul Power, and once a month, his Martial Soul can make someone's wish come true!"

Tang San chose his words carefully as he described Xu Yuan's Martial Soul ability.

"What? Make wishes come true?"

Yu Xiaogang, lying on the cart, sat bolt upright as though he had just heard of a secret technique of the Clear Sky Hammer.

"Yes, Teacher!"

"Xiao Wu, who lives in our dormitory, even made a wish in front of everyone!"

Before Tang San could finish, Yu Xiaogang asked, "And what happened?"

"Judging by Xiao Wu's expression at first, it should have worked."

"But Xu Yuan's Wish-Granting Tree Martial Soul is unusual."

"If I had to sum it up in one sentence, it would be: the wish comes true, whether you live or die!"

"When a wish comes true, there's a good chance you'll have to pay a price!"

Tang San then told Yu Xiaogang the stories Xu Yuan had once related.

"As for Xiao Wu... I could tell she paid a price too, but I don't know exactly what it was."

Having said that, Tang San fell silent.

But everything went just as he had expected.

"If that's the case, it looks like I'll have to be stubborn again."

Yu Xiaogang began plotting how to get Xu Yuan to become his disciple.