Douluo Dalu: I Can Become Stronger by Pitfalling Yu Xiaogang

Tang San woke shortly afterward. The moment he saw the scene before him, he was so shocked he could not speak, a chill of horror rising in his heart!

Outside that circle of insect repellent were countless snakes!

The snakes came in all sizes and colors, their bodies twisted and tangled together. Bright and dull patterns constantly shifted across them, and the heavy stench was enough to make one vomit!

Those sticky scraping sounds were made by their bodies rubbing and writhing together!

Yu Xiaogang trembled all over in terror!

The sight before him was enough to make anyone's skin crawl! It was utterly horrifying!

Yu Xiaogang had never been particularly afraid of snakes, but from this day on, they became the shadow haunting his middle age!

Yu Xiaogang's hands and feet went numb as he swallowed hard.

Luoshanpao shot into the air and let out a thunderous fart, blasting all the snakes away on the spot.

"Now! Run!" Yu Xiaogang grabbed Tang San's hand and quickly fled.

They ran nonstop for more than ten li. Only after seeing that no snakes were pursuing them did they finally stop to catch their breath.

Yu Xiaogang still had not recovered. Whenever he thought of those countless snakes densely intertwined together, he could not stop shivering, goosebumps rising all over his body.

Tang San, on the other hand, was largely unfazed. In the Tang Sect of Bashu in his previous life, snakes had been abundant, and since the Tang Sect studied poisons, it could not do without them. He had long since grown accustomed to them and even felt a strange sense of familiarity when looking at those snakes.

"We must have been set up!" Yu Xiaogang said through gritted teeth. "Otherwise, something like this would never have happened! Back when I traveled and trained outside, I never saw or even heard of such a thing!"

Tang San thought so too, but he could not think of anyone who would set them up like this. Besides, he had secretly used his own methods to examine both himself and Yu Xiaogang, yet found no Snake Attracting Powder on either of them.

What puzzled him even more was who could possibly have it out for him. For the past six years, he had stayed in the village and hardly ever gone out. Everyone in the village got along peacefully, and he had never had any conflicts with anyone. Besides, no one in the village had such capabilities!

That meant it had to be one of Yu Xiaogang's enemies causing trouble in secret!

So he cautiously asked, "Teacher, have you made any enemies over the years?"

Yu Xiaogang instantly fell silent.

Who could walk the Jianghu without making enemies?

"I'll think carefully about who could possess such ability and use this kind of method to set me up," Yu Xiaogang said gravely.

All that could be said was that they were too young and too naive.

The world of the past had been one of love, hatred, grudges, and vengeance. Nearly every open conflict or secret scheme had been tied to such things—but that was the world of the past, and the world of novels.

In the real world now, many things had no logic at all. Some people even committed crimes simply because a random thought crossed their minds.

Just like now: Yu Xiaogang and Tang San both believed that one of Yu Xiaogang's enemies was setting them up. How could they have imagined that it was merely someone with no grudge against them, doing evil only to complete a system mission?

They could never have dreamed of it.

At noon, after dealing with several more batches of little snakes that came to die, the two finally began considering retreat.

They had only encountered small snakes so far. What if they ran into a large one later?

However, before they could head back the way they had come, Tang San sharply caught a sweet, fishy scent. He instinctively said, "There's something venomous! And it seems to be a big one!"

Yu Xiaogang's expression immediately turned panicked!

What the hell—what he feared had come true!

Tang San activated his Purple Demon Eye and looked toward the source of the smell. Faintly, he seemed to see a dark green triangular snake head raised within the bushes, a pair of tiny ruby-like eyes staring in their direction.

"Teacher, over there!" Tang San pointed toward where the snake head had risen.

Yu Xiaogang swiftly took out a firestarter from the Soul Tool on his wrist and threw it in that direction. When he saw the snake head, he sharply sucked in a breath. "Not good! It's a Mandra Snake! How could such a ferocious creature appear on the outskirts of the Soul Hunting Forest? I hope it's only a ten-year—"

Accompanied by a piercing hiss, the Mandra Snake rapidly slithered toward them.

The instant Yu Xiaogang saw its enormous body, tears streamed down his face in the wind!

Damn it!

A hundred-year one!

Four meters long—damn, it was four hundred years old!

"Run!" Yu Xiaogang let out a shriek like a woman spotting a cockroach. After commanding Luoshanpao to release a fart, he grabbed Tang San's arm, turned, and ran!

He had clearly never wanted to see another snake for the rest of his life!

Yet a four-hundred-year one had appeared right afterward!

And it was highly venomous!

Heavens, were you trying to kill him?!

Luoshanpao's fart was not particularly damaging, but it was extraordinarily insulting. The Mandra Snake was caught off guard and blasted away. Though it was completely unharmed, its rage instantly maxed out!

Its body curled, then it launched itself like a spring, its tail striking Luoshanpao in midair.

Luoshanpao was sent flying, and Yu Xiaogang let out a muffled groan as he was thrown to the ground.

The Mandra Snake normally would not have been this fierce, but the scent on Yu Xiaogang's body made it exceptionally excited. As if it had taken a stimulant, it unleashed two hundred percent of its speed and pounced through the air at Yu Xiaogang like a bolt of lightning.

Yu Xiaogang's eyes widened. At the critical moment, he suddenly shoved Tang San away.

Crack!

The Mandra Snake bit down on Yu Xiaogang's left arm.

In the novel, the Mandra Snake had only bitten Luoshanpao. Now, it had bitten the real body directly!

That was badass!

"Ah!" Yu Xiaogang let out a miserable scream!

Nuoding Academy.

With no work to do, Zhang Tianyu and Xiao Wu had much more free time. Aside from attending classes each day, they basically spent the rest of their time cultivating and sparring, or strolling around the city when they were free. Life was quite comfortable.

At this moment—

"Hey!"

"Ha!"

"Hiyah!"

Xiao Wu let out soft, crisp cries as her little fists and legs came flying at him. Zhang Tianyu did not use Huangquan, merely sparring with her using his fists and feet.

The little girl truly deserved to be called a hundred-thousand-year-old big sister. Her strength and speed were both impressive, but unfortunately, she could not contend with Zhang Tianyu's max-level Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. Seizing an opening, he grabbed her small wrist and flipped both hands.

Come here, you! Zhang Tianyu chuckled inwardly. Xiao Wu cried, "Ah!" as he pulled her in with both hands and caught her in his arms.

Her soft, delicate back pressed entirely against Zhang Tianyu's chest, while her smooth long hair brushed right against the tip of his nose.

Ah! It smelled so good!

Not just the fragrance of her hair, but the scent from her body as well. It smelled so good!

Having zero-distance contact like this was simply wonderful!

...Well, it did not exactly count as zero distance. There were clothes between them.

The distance between Xiao Wu and me is only a few millimeters!

"Notice: Good fellow, are you saying you're both wearing sheer gauze?"

"Fuck off, shut up! You ruined such a great atmosphere!"

Xiao Wu pushed herself free from Zhang Tianyu's embrace with her little arms.

She turned and glared at Zhang Tianyu, her little face flushed red and utterly adorable.

Zhang Tianyu put on a calm, composed expression. "You lost."

"Hmph, you don't even know how to go easy on me!" Xiao Wu pouted.

"Wasn't I already going easy enough on you, little sister?" Zhang Tianyu spread his hands.

If I'd used Huangquan, you might've reincarnated on the spot, you know?

"Don't call me little sister! Call me Sister Xiao Wu!" Xiao Wu said, hands on her hips.

"Alright, alright, Sister Xiao Wu." Zhang Tianyu raised both hands in surrender.

Xiao Wu smiled. "That's more like it."

"Notice..."

Zhang Tianyu said, "Are you going to ruin the mood again?"

"[An Old Friend Returns] quest complete."

An Old Friend Returns, Misfortunes Never Come Singly

"Oh, sorry, I misunderstood you." Zhang Tianyu immediately said.

A real man could take responsibility, admit his mistakes, and correct them.

"Notice: Reward Points +2. Current points: 5."

"Notice: Drawing a random Soul Ring... Draw complete. Congratulations, you have obtained a 26,000-year Soul Ring."

"First Soul Ring: Age 26,320 years. Obtained from the soul beast Blazing Mad Lion. Additional soul skill: Scorching Sun Verdict."

"[Scorching Sun Verdict]: Upon activation, swinging the sword releases a barrage of fireballs for long-range attacks. The fireballs possess tracking abilities and last for 3 minutes."

Holy shit, that was badass!

"Huh? What are you smiling about?" Xiao Wu asked curiously.

"Ah, I thought of something happy," Zhang Tianyu said.

"What happy thing?"

"My wi... ahem."

"Hm?" Xiao Wu looked suspicious.

"My grandma once told me a joke. It was really funny."

"What joke?" Xiao Wu's interest was immediately piqued.

"To be a person, you need not only an open mind, but an open heart as well," Zhang Tianyu said.

Xiao Wu frowned. "Is that supposed to be funny? Is that even a joke?"

"I think it is."

Xiao Wu rolled her eyes. "And here I was, looking forward to it for so long. It's still early. Come on, let's continue sparring."

Three days later.

Yu Xiaogang and Tang San finally returned to the academy.

Naturally, Zhang Tianyu personally brought Xiao Wu to greet them.

It definitely wasn't because he wanted to see how miserable they looked now. Absolutely not. As the boss, it was perfectly normal human interaction to show some concern for his little brother and his little brother's teacher.

Sure enough, they did not disappoint his expectations—no, rather, they greatly exceeded his expectations. Yu Xiaogang and Tang San both looked incredibly bedraggled.

Although they had changed into new clothes, their dusty faces, the exhaustion in their eyes and expressions, their awkward gait, and their grimacing faces all made it clear that the two of them were in a very bad state.

"Master, A San, you're back. So, how was it? What did you gain?"

Tang San: ...

What the hell was that "A San" supposed to be?

"So, did you get an insanely powerful Soul Ring?" Zhang Tianyu walked up to Tang San and patted him on the shoulder.

"Hiss!" Tang San sharply sucked in a breath on the spot!

"Ah... what's wrong with you?" Zhang Tianyu 'froze.'

"Nothing." Tang San moved away from Zhang Tianyu's hand. "I just got a few injuries. Anyway, I'll go back and rest first. You guys carry on. Goodbye."