The Star Dou Great Forest, at the edge of the Core Area.
Huo Yuhao walked in the lead with Xiao Wu, while Tang Hao carried his Broken Iron Hammer and followed behind all the way.
Xiao Wu had that Aromatic Silk Beauty Companion Grass hanging around her waist, and she looked thoroughly relaxed.
She had long known that Tang Hao had seen through her identity as a Soul Beast, but with Huo Yuhao by her side, she did not panic at all.
Arriving at the Star Dou Great Forest was no different from returning to her own backyard.
Reaching the periphery of the Lake of Life, Huo Yuhao stopped in his tracks, turned his head, and said to Tang Hao:
"Uncle Tang, you should stay right here. Those two hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts in the Core Area have fiery tempers, and if your Titled Douluo blood Qi steps in, it's easy to drive them into a frenzy. Xiao Wu and I will go in and ask them for a favor, just to lure the Purple Spirit Civet out."
Tang Hao sat down leaning against a Large Bluestone, uncapped his Wine Gourd, and took a swig:
"Fine, I can't be bothered to talk nonsense with those two beasts. If you aren't out before dark, I'll haul the hammer in and fish you guys out."
"Got it."
Huo Yuhao acknowledged, taking Xiao Wu and heading straight into the Core Area.
Meanwhile, in the forest on the other side.
The Shrek group had actually entered the Star Dou Great Forest long ago.
Oscar had just reached Level 30, so Zhao Wuji brought Dai Mubai, Yu Tianheng, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ning Rongrong to sweat profusely in the nearby woods while helping Oscar encircle a Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent.
Tang San had also just broken through to Level 30 himself, but he had no intention at all of hanging out with the main force.
He casually found an excuse to leave the team and slipped alone into the depths.
Tang San sneaking away on his own mainly had two plans:
First, that two-thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spider from his past life was right around this area, and he had to intercept and kill it in advance to get his hands on the External Soul Bone Eight Spider Lances;
Second, he had turned Nuoding City upside down in this life and still hadn't found a single trace of Xiao Wu. He suspected that Xiao Wu might not have left the Star Dou Great Forest at all, so he wanted to try his luck and see if he could bump into her back home.
Walking through the woods, Tang San furrowed his brow tightly.
A God King reborn, yet the moment he opened his eyes he was twelve years old, lying directly in a run-down inn in Suotuo City.
The plot of this life was entirely shattered, damn it.
His father was nowhere to be found, and the old house in the Holy Soul Village had collapsed into ruins;
He had searched Nuoding City from top to bottom, and not a single rabbit hair of Xiao Wu's was to be seen;
Going to Shrek was even more absurd, as Yu Xiaogang had his nasal bridge broken by someone and lay stiffly on a bed;
Dai Mubai had been crippled by who knew which unprincipled scoundrel, and all day long he huddled together with Yu Tianheng, looking at each other with a gaze so sticky it made his scalp crawl;
Zhu Zhuqing was shrouded in killing intent, and Ning Rongrong watched the show all day long.
Where on earth did something go wrong...
Tang San gnashed his teeth, a cold glint welling in the depths of his eyes.
Yet as long as he obtained the Eight Spider Lances, coupled with his Twin Martial Souls and a full set of Tang Sect Hidden Weapons, he possessed absolute confidence to bulldoze his way through this lifetime.
As he pondered, Tang San habitually circulated his Purple Demon Eye to scan his surroundings.
At this sight, he slammed on the brakes with a violent start.
Through layers of bushes, sitting right beside a Large Bluestone two hundred meters ahead was shockingly a disheveled, shirtless, slovenly fellow.
That fellow was casually holding a coarse pottery Wine Gourd, taking sips of ale every now and then.
With a loud boom, Tang San's mind went completely blank.
That familiar figure... that weathered face...
It was his father!
The own father he had searched for for months without a single clue was actually sitting right ahead of him, alive and breathing!
"Dad!"
Tang San's eye sockets instantly turned crimson, and the composure of a God King from his past life vanished completely in this single instant.
He could no longer care about searching for any Man Faced Demon Spider; he violently shoved aside the blocking bushes, tumbling and crawling in a wild dash toward the Large Bluestone as he burst into a tearful wail at the top of his lungs:
"Dad! Your child has searched so bitterly for you, Dad!!"
Beside the large rock.
Tang Hao, who was cheerfully smacking his lips over his ale while basking in the sun, unexpectedly heard this frantic howl. A mouthful of liquor choked into his windpipe, nearly sending him straight to the afterlife.
"Cough, cough, cough! Cough! Who's there?!"
Tang Hao wiped away the alcohol foam on his beard and turned his head to look.
He saw only a thoroughly unremarkable, half-grown brat crying tears and snot all over his face, spreading his arms and lunging toward him like a madman, looking poised to latch onto his thigh no matter what.
Tang Hao's eyelids twitched wildly. Without a second thought, he grabbed the Broken Iron Hammer behind his waist and planted it heavily into the ground, directly blocking the path between them to intercept the other person while wearing a face full of vigilance and disgust:
"Stop! Cut it out! Where did this little bastard come from? Who the hell are you calling Dad! I only have one precious daughter, so stop trying to pull your scamming stunts here, damn it!"
Tang San, who was halfway through his lunge, froze in place, his crying abruptly cut off.
"Dau... daughter!"
Tang San widened his eyes, tears still clinging to his face, as his mind buzzed deafeningly and he felt as though he were about to snap:
"Dad! What kind of nonsense are you babbling! I'm Xiaosan! Your biological son, Tang San!!"
Tang San assumed that Tang Hao had spent years living under an alias and harbored excessive guard, so he hurriedly explained with a panicked voice:
"Dad, I really am Xiaosan! Holy Soul Village, remember? You drank and forged every day, and I was the one who cooked and washed your clothes at home. Old Jack brought me to awaken my martial soul when I was six years old, and I had Innate Full Soul Power-you've forgotten all of this!"
Tang Hao's gaze grew thoroughly cold.
Holy Soul Village, cooking, Old Jack, Innate Full Soul Power.
All of these were entirely correct.
Yet the person who had been doing these things for the past six years was clearly his daughter, Tang Sanmei. Where on earth had this brat before him dug up these details so clearly?
"Who on earth are you?"
Tang Hao hoisted the hammer in his hand slightly:
"Sent by Spirit Hall?"
Seeing that Tang Hao completely disbelieved him, Tang San gritted his teeth and simply raised both hands.
Blue light flashed on his right hand, a stalk of Blue Silver Grass emerging as two yellow soul rings rose beneath his feet.
Immediately following that, his left hand grew slightly heavy as a pitch-black, weighty iron hammer dropped into his palm.
"Blue Silver Grass and Clear Sky Hammer, Twin Martial Souls!"
Tang San looked at Tang Hao:
"Aside from the child of you and Mom, who else could possibly possess these two martial souls? Dad, you should finally believe me now?!"
Tang Hao gazed at that petite Clear Sky Hammer, his eyelids twitching fiercely.
The martial soul was real, and that bloodline aura could not deceive anyone.
Yet how could this be possible?
Back then, Ah Yin had given birth to only one child-a flesh-and-blood daughter he had delivered with his own hands.
Where on earth had this brat before him popped out from?
Far from feeling excited, Tang Hao gripped the iron hammer in his hand even tighter:
"Where did you steal this martial soul from?"
"How can something awakened on one's own be stealing!"
Tang San was going out of his mind, completely incapable of understanding Tang Hao's train of thought:
"What on earth is wrong with you? Why did you insist just now that the one you gave birth to was a daughter? What's that daughter's name?!"
Tang Hao looked at him expressionlessly:
"Tang Sanmei."
Tang San instantly stalled out completely.
Tang Sanmei?
Female?
Not only had she awakened identical Twin Martial Souls, but even her name differed by only a single character!
Tang San's mind went buzz.
He had indeed been reborn back to his twelfth year, but his original identity and even his entire life had been completely usurped by a woman named Tang Sanmei!
Just as the two of them were locked in a stalemate, the sound of brisk footsteps drifted from the forest in the Core Area behind them.
Before you continue