Bei Bei, Do You Think the Tang Sect Is Your Dating Game?

No wonder he was practically an "adult." Those little legs of his could really move.

Tang Qi straightened the warning sign he had knocked askew, looked around the lush green forest, and finally let out a long sigh.

"I'm not waiting here anymore. I'll look farther in."

Two days later.

At the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest.

"Why did I suddenly start craving grilled fish as soon as we entered the Star Dou Great Forest?"

A girl with a high ponytail tilted her head and murmured to herself.

Her dark purple hair swayed gently with the movement. A pale yellow butterfly bow nestled in it, lending her a lively, endearing air.

But though the girl was only in her teens and should have been full of energy, she carried a weariness and desolation far beyond her years.

"Xia... Ya... Sect Master Xiaoya, I can make it for you."

Tang Ya had spoken softly, but the blue-haired boy ahead of her still heard.

Bei Bei stopped and turned back, a cautiously eager look on his refined face.

Tang Ya looked at him, managed a bitter smile, and shook her head. "Don't trouble yourself, Bei Bei. We have more important things to do."

She paused, loneliness touching her eyes. "And call me Xiaoya. I really am grateful that you're willing to help the master of a fallen sect hunt for her third Soul Ring."

"Don't say that, Xiaoya."

Bei Bei patted his chest, his expression solemn. "The Tang Sect was once the World's Number One Sect! It may have fallen now, but I want to join it. For... for the Tang Sect, I'd give everything!"

Tang Ya parted her pink lips as if to speak, but in the end, all that came out was a sigh.

Give everything? What a joke...

Loneliness flickered through her beautiful eyes. Then, as though gathering her courage, she looked straight at Bei Bei.

"Bei Bei, are you really just an ordinary student of Shrek Academy's Outer Court?"

The smile on the boy's face visibly froze for an instant.

His gaze drifted away despite himself, but he soon put on his familiar refined smile again and said gently:

"Of course, Xiaoya. It's precisely because I'm only an ordinary Outer Court student that I can want to join the Tang Sect without any reservations."

Tang Ya watched him in silence.

The last trace of hope vanished from her eyes.

When the Tang Sect had fallen, both her parents had died at the hands of the Iron Blood Sect.

To this day, Tang Ya did not know how she, a mere child, had ended up at Shrek Academy.

It was there that she had first met Bei Bei, who was staying at Dean Yan Shaozhe's home.

She had once naively believed that the foremost academy on the continent, that towering institution with such deep ties to the Tang Sect, would help her take revenge and see justice done.

Reality had taught her a harsh lesson.

Yan Shaozhe, dean of Shrek's Martial Soul Department, had told her himself that as the fairest academy on the continent, Shrek could not interfere in feuds between other powers.

She could still remember his righteous expression.

She had felt resentment and confusion, but in the end, the girl had accepted reality.

If she could not rely on outsiders, then as the Tang Sect's last surviving heir, she had to shoulder the burden of reviving it and avenging her parents herself.

Her talent was unremarkable. Tang Ya did not expect to become a Deity like her Tang Sect ancestor Tang San. She had never even imagined becoming a Titled Douluo. If she could reach Soul Emperor, she was confident she could destroy the Iron Blood Sect.

But reality had slapped her hard. With ordinary talent and an ordinary Martial Soul, her cultivation progressed painfully slowly.

Just when Tang Ya had no one to turn to, Bei Bei had come to her and declared that he wanted to join the Tang Sect.

At first, Tang Ya had thought Shrek could not act openly without compromising its appearance of "fairness," so it had secretly sent Bei Bei to help the Tang Sect by a roundabout route.

She had even felt grateful for it.

But after spending time with him and watching him closely, she had noticed something wrong.

Shrek had not sent Bei Bei at all.

He had joined the Tang Sect of his own free will. Or rather, he had come for her.

Tang Ya had sounded him out indirectly, but Bei Bei's answer was the same every time.

He insisted he was merely an ordinary student of Shrek Outer Court.

An ordinary student?

Tang Ya trembled with anger and felt a chill.

Bei Bei's Martial Soul was the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.

It was the inherited Martial Soul of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, the foremost Beast Martial Soul sect ten thousand years ago.

Although Spirit Hall had destroyed the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, its bloodlines had survived—and in more than one branch.

One was the present-day Heavenly Dragon Sect. Another was the line descended from Yu Xiaogang, the Master of the Gods, within Shrek Academy.

Even if his Martial Soul had mutated into the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, how would that explain his staying in the home of Yan Shaozhe, dean of the Martial Soul Department?

No matter how he explained it, Bei Bei could not possibly be an "ordinary student."

Bei Bei, what do you take the Tang Sect for? A dating game where you chase after a girl?

"Xiaoya, what's wrong?"

A soft voice called to Tang Ya as she sank into painful memories.

Tang Ya opened her eyes and sighed, looking at Bei Bei with mixed feelings.

After a moment's silence, she finally made up her mind and spoke calmly.

"Bei Bei, I've decided. Once you've helped me obtain my third Soul Ring, I'll teach you every secret art of the Tang Sect, including the Mysterious Heaven Skill, to repay you."

Her talent was ordinary, and she had barely obtained her first two Soul Rings even with Shrek's help.

"Really, Sect Master Xiaoya?"

But Bei Bei did not hear the resolve or sorrow in Tang Ya's voice.

He thought his persistence, day after day, had finally moved Tang Ya. At last, he had passed the Tang Sect's test and become one of its members.

Watching him nearly beside himself with joy, Tang Ya gave a bitter smile.

"Let's go. I can hardly wait."

Bei Bei waved a hand and strode toward the Soul Beast Gathering Ground marked on the Intelligence Map.

As the two ventured deeper, the trees grew denser, and even the air seemed fresher.

"Xiaoya, will this thousand-year Mandala Snake do?"

Bei Bei crouched in the bushes and pointed ahead.

In a clearing lay a large pink snake three meters long. A small flower-shaped bump rose from its forehead: a Mandala Snake.

A Mandala Snake?

The girl could not help poking her head out, her beautiful eyes fixed on the enormous snake.

She wanted a thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spider, but considering Bei Bei's strength, she decided against it.

Tang Ya turned toward Bei Bei beside her and gave him a rare, playful smile.

"I'm counting on you, Bei Bei!"

Bei Bei's whole face flushed red in a flash, and a rush of heat shot straight to the crown of his head.

He breathed heavily through his nose like a steam engine, his eyes bloodshot.

Dean Yan always said Bei Bei was a bit too eager to please. But as Bei Bei saw it, keep at it long enough, and everything you wanted would be yours!

"All right!!"

He nodded firmly, lightning crackling around him.

With a whoosh, Bei Bei burst from the bushes, his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul taking hold.

Without a second thought, Bei Bei raised his right hand and unleashed a Thunder Dragon Claw.

"Hiss—?"

The Mandala Snake froze for a beat. Then, seeing Bei Bei charging toward it, its pupils narrowed to slits and gleamed scarlet. It opened its mouth and spewed a cloud of pink poison mist.