Holy Light Ao swished its tail, a long cry rumbling from its throat like muffled thunder.
A milky-white glow gathered in its throat, then condensed into a Holy Light Torrent, poised to burst forth.
Meanwhile, Li Hanqiu stepped through the Rose Hotel's front door.
The hotel was a complete wreck. The counter had overturned, an oil lamp lay in a corner, and a pink lantern had been smashed in half.
Several guests who had stayed to watch huddled beside the stairs, not daring even to breathe loudly.
A raw, astringent odor of constricted vegetation still lingered in the air.
In the middle of the lobby, Tang San stood on the cracked floor, fierce killing intent churning in his eyes.
His right hand reached forward, and a twisted bundle of Blue Silver Grass was slowly cutting into Dai Mubai's neck.
Xiao Wu clung desperately to Tang San's arm from behind, her face deathly pale. "San! Let go! Let go!"
Tang San ignored her, power gathering in his fingertips as he prepared to finish Dai Mubai off with Blue Silver Spider Silk. At that moment, with Dai Mubai's life hanging by a thread-
"San!" Li Hanqiu called coldly.
Hearing that familiar voice beside him, Tang San abruptly froze. The cold gleam in his eyes faltered, and he stood rooted to the spot, at a loss.
At the same time, Holy Light Ao raised its head, and a milky-white stream of light erupted from its throat. Holy Light Breath!
The stream crossed the air and enveloped the space between Tang San and Dai Mubai with pinpoint accuracy.
The instant the Blue Silver Grass touched the light, it curled and melted strand by strand like snow meeting boiling water, white smoke rising with a sizzling hiss.
As the bindings loosened, Dai Mubai lost his footing and dropped to one knee.
"Cough, cough-" Dai Mubai coughed, struggling to spit out a mouthful of bloody phlegm. His golden hair was disheveled, and beads of blood seeped from the livid red marks around his neck.
"Hmph... damn it!"
A moment later, he raised his head, his eyes filled with shock and fury. The next instant, Soul Power erupted around Dai Mubai, and brilliant golden light blazed from his body.
"Third Soul Skill, White Tiger Vajra Transformation!"
A pale-gold phantom of a white tiger rose behind him.
His hair, nails, and pupils all took on a brighter golden sheen, as though he had donned a suit of vajra armor, imposing and majestic.
Yet after activating White Tiger Vajra Transformation, Dai Mubai darted backward and stopped against the wall, both claws guarding his chest as he stared fixedly at Tang San.
Li Hanqiu stared in bewilderment. He had thought this young man refused to accept defeat and wanted to keep fighting, only for him to unleash his ultimate move and retreat into a corner.
"But a white tiger Martial Soul, the Rose Hotel... could this young man be... Dai Mubai?" Li Hanqiu finally caught on, the questions in his eyes clearing away one by one.
Tang San came back to his senses as well.
He lowered his head, looking at his half-outstretched hand, then at the severed strands of Blue Silver Grass scattered across the floor. His fingertips trembled slightly.
What... have I done?
"San."
Li Hanqiu shifted his gaze away from Dai Mubai and walked up to him, his tone betraying neither anger nor pleasure.
"Do you realize you nearly killed him just now?"
Tang San's slender body trembled, his eyes brimming with tears.
"I, I didn't... he started it!"
"We'll set aside what he did for now. But no matter what, you should never have tried to kill him," Li Hanqiu interrupted sternly.
"Every living being has a life, San. If you act solely on your instinct to kill, you will eventually lose your reverence for life. As your teacher, I hope you understand that."
Tang San hung his head, tears swimming in his eyes.
He knew Li Hanqiu was scolding him for his own good.
Yet for some reason, tears of grievance kept streaming down his face, and his heart remained bitter and sore.
Seeing Tang San's misty eyes and utterly pitiful appearance, Li Hanqiu softened, and his voice grew gentler.
"San, I taught you to fight, not to strangle someone to death in the street over a few angry words."
Tang San's eyes reddened at once.
He slowly lowered his head, tears pattering onto the floor.
"Teacher... I was wrong..."
Li Hanqiu looked at him. His anger rolled in his throat, but ultimately turned into a barely audible sigh.
In the end, he couldn't bring himself to give Tang San a harsh scolding or beat him.
Instead, Li Hanqiu began making excuses for Tang San in his heart.
San was a disciple of the Tang Sect in his previous life. That instinct to kill in his very bones wasn't something he could shed in a day or two.
As his teacher, I need to give him more care and attention. Ultimately, Tang San is like this because I haven't disciplined him properly.
If the fault is mine, what right do I have to scold Tang San?
Li Hanqiu raised his hand and rubbed Tang San's head.
"Don't do this again, understand?"
Tang San sniffled and nodded firmly.
Across the room, Dai Mubai had already dispelled his Soul Skill. It wasn't that he no longer feared Tang San; his Soul Power had simply run dry, leaving him unable to maintain White Tiger Vajra Transformation.
Tang San's Blue Silver Grass inherently devoured Soul Power. After only a few moments of Entanglement, Dai Mubai had felt as weak as though his entire body had been drained beyond its limits.
Dai Mubai leaned against the wall, panting, his neck burning with pain.
When he looked up, he happened to see the two boys behind Li Hanqiu.
Dai Mubai froze. "Hongjun? Aozi? What are you doing here?"
At the entrance stood a white-haired boy holding a small pot and a round-faced boy holding a chopping board, both looking timid.
They were none other than his close friends, Oscar and Ma Hongjun.
"B-Brother Dai?" Oscar called.
Dai Mubai's expression darkened instantly, as though he had misunderstood something.
He straightened with his arms crossed and gave Li Hanqiu a cold once-over. "You're their teacher?"
Li Hanqiu nodded, then inclined his head slightly. He raised his right hand to the left side of his chest, rested his palm lightly against it, and bowed smoothly from the waist, neither servile nor arrogant.
"Yes. My name is Li Hanqiu, and I am the master of this unworthy disciple, Tang San. Please accept my apologies. I hope you can forgive us, sir. I'm willing to compensate you..."
Before Li Hanqiu could finish, Dai Mubai interrupted him. "Forget the compensation! Nothing but a pretty face. I really do hate you."
He looked down his nose at Li Hanqiu in disgust, then swept his gaze over Oscar and Ma Hongjun, curling his lip.
"In no time at all, you've lured away two more young boys-and my close friends, at that. You've certainly got some tricks."
Tang San snapped his head up. "Shut your mouth!"
"Why should I?" Dai Mubai sneered.
"You sent your own male student to book a room at a couples' hotel while you sneaked out to buy that stuff.
"Then you came back after tricking two idiot boys from our academy into following you from who knows where. And you call yourself a 'teacher'?"
The cold gleam Tang San had just suppressed flared in his eyes again. Then he keenly noticed something in Dai Mubai's words that he had overlooked.
Two boys?
Tang San looked behind Li Hanqiu.
At the entrance, a timid little white-haired boy carried an iron pot on his back, while another cute, adorably clueless round-faced boy held a piece of tofu in his small hand and kept chewing away.
Tang San's chest ached, as though a hand had seized his heart and squeezed.
He clenched his fists, his nails almost digging into his palms.
"Teacher..." he called softly.
An obsessive, lovesick possessiveness churned in Tang San's eyes. He shook his head fiercely and stared fixedly at Li Hanqiu.
"Who are they?"
Before you continue