Tragedy

As night fell over the land, Lu Yang and the others returned to their dormitory to rest. Tang Hao, who had secretly watched Xiao Wu all day, found no signs of anything unusual between her and Lu Yang or the other residents of Dorm Seven. Only then did he leave Nuoding Academy with peace of mind and head for the Soul Hunting Forest.

By Tang Hao's reckoning, it would already be close to evening when Yu Xiaogang and Tang San reached the Soul Hunting Forest. Given Yu Xiaogang's abilities, he should have taken Tang San to rest outside the forest for the night before entering. While they rested, Tang Hao would have just enough time to catch up.

What Tang Hao had not anticipated was that Yu Xiaogang had absolutely no sense of his own limitations. After arriving at the Soul Hunting Forest, they merely replenished their supplies in town before Yu Xiaogang led Tang San into the forest.

By now, the two had already begun searching the Soul Hunting Forest for a suitable soul beast for Tang San.

Not long after entering the Soul Hunting Forest, Yu Xiaogang and Tang San discovered that ten-year solitary bamboo.

"Little San, this is a ten-year solitary bamboo. Its defining trait is toughness, which makes it quite compatible with your Blue Silver Grass martial soul," Yu Xiaogang said, pointing at the lone bamboo.

"Then should I hunt this lone bamboo, Teacher?" Tang San asked.

Having only just begun learning about soul master cultivation, Tang San had no idea how important soul rings were to a soul master. The first soul ring, in particular, could very well lock in a soul master's upper limit.

"Not yet. If we can't find a soul beast better suited to you, we can choose this lone bamboo then," Yu Xiaogang said.

Tang San was the Dream-Inspired Divine Disciple he had waited over a decade for. He had sworn to raise Tang San into the strongest Titled Douluo, so naturally, he was unwilling to let him simply absorb a ten-year soul ring.

Tang San knew none of this, however. He merely obeyed Yu Xiaogang instinctively. Ever since Yu Xiaogang's knowledge had won him over, he had settled on this man as his teacher. To Tang San, "a teacher for a day, a father for life" was no empty saying.

As the two ventured deeper into the Soul Hunting Forest, they finally encountered animal-type soul beasts for the first time. It was a small pack of Netherworld Wolves with ten years of cultivation, and before they knew it, the wolves had surrounded Yu Xiaogang and Tang San.

Yu Xiaogang snorted coldly. "A pack of little ten-year wolves dares to bother me? Sanpao!"

At Yu Xiaogang's call, Luo Sanpao leaped out from beside him and aimed his rear at the Netherworld Wolves.

Immediately afterward, two yellow soul rings appeared beneath Yu Xiaogang's feet, and he chanted, "Fart like thunder, Earth-Shattering Luo Sanpao!"

As Yu Xiaogang's words fell, Luo Sanpao swelled like a balloon. Then a blast of foul-smelling gas erupted from his asshole and swept toward the pack of Netherworld Wolves.

Caught in Luo Sanpao's fart, the Netherworld Wolves were hurled away by the tremendous force and landed in the distance. By the time they got back to their feet, they had lost all desire to continue hunting Yu Xiaogang and Tang San. They tucked their tails between their legs and fled into the dense woods.

Once it was over, Yu Xiaogang snorted coldly again. A level twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster, he had actually found his confidence by beating these ten-year soul beasts.

Watching from the side, Tang San had initially found it rather strange that Luo Sanpao attacked by farting. But after seeing the power of that fart, he was still astonished.

So this is a martial soul. How amazing.

And Teacher truly deserves to be called a grandmaster of theory. Even with a trash martial soul like Luo Sanpao, he managed to develop it into something this powerful. Choosing Grandmaster as my teacher was the right decision!

Yu Xiaogang clearly caught the look that flashed through Tang San's eyes. At that moment, his heart practically overflowed with satisfaction!

Although the Soul Hunting Forest was much safer than forests of wild soul beasts, he had initially still been somewhat worried about taking Tang San into it at night.

But after dealing with the Netherworld Wolves, he seemed to have found his confidence and led Tang San farther into the forest.

Along the way, the two encountered several other kinds of ten-year soul beasts. Yu Xiaogang explained facts about soul beasts to Tang San while directing Luo Sanpao to deal with them.

That night, Luo Sanpao ate dozens of white radishes alone, so many that even this piglike creature felt something was wrong with his belly. But to make him fart, Yu Xiaogang continued forcing him to eat.

Tang San, meanwhile, was utterly won over by Yu Xiaogang's calm composure throughout their journey.

Only in the latter half of the night did Yu Xiaogang's frail body finally begin to give out. He and Tang San lit a campfire and prepared to rest for a while.

Just then, a Mandala Snake over four hundred years old darted out and attacked them.

Faced with the Mandala Snake's attack, Yu Xiaogang still shielded Tang San behind him. He directed Luo Sanpao to fight the snake, but the fart attacks that had swept away every obstacle along their journey failed to inflict any meaningful damage on it.

This was not merely because Luo Sanpao's offensive power had never been particularly impressive, but also because he had farted far too many times along the way. Even after eating so many white radishes, the power of his farts had weakened considerably.

Indeed, because he had farted so many times, Luo Sanpao's fart attacks even expelled some filth from his asshole.

Luo Sanpao's attack thoroughly enraged the Mandala Snake. After enduring his attack, it twisted its body around him and trapped him in its coils. As it tightened its body to crush Luo Sanpao, it opened its jaws and bit down at the base of his hind legs.

That bite sank straight into Luo Sanpao's QQ. He let out a shrill cry of pain before his body dissolved into motes of light and merged into Yu Xiaogang's body.

For some unknown reason, this detached martial soul of Yu Xiaogang's could not perform martial soul possession. Yet when the martial soul was injured, it directly affected him.

After Luo Sanpao returned to his body, Yu Xiaogang immediately felt a heart-piercing pain in his crotch. He let out an agonized scream, then passed out and collapsed to the ground.

At the sight, Tang San panicked. He was just about to step forward to help Yu Xiaogang when he caught sight of the Mandala Snake approaching him out of the corner of his eye.

Fortunately, Tang San had been an assassin in his previous life and quickly regained his composure. He raised his hand, activated the Sleeve Arrow strapped to his wrist, and fired at the Mandala Snake.

But he had underestimated the defensive strength of this hundred-year soul beast's scales. The bolt from his Sleeve Arrow failed to penetrate them and bounced straight off instead.

Tang San's heart jolted at the sight. He had yet to make any of those more powerful hidden weapons. If his Sleeve Arrow could not kill the Mandala Snake, death would be his only path.

But how could Tang San surrender to fate so easily? He seized an opening and shot the Mandala Snake in the eye with his Sleeve Arrow, killing the hundred-year soul beast.

Only when he saw that yellow hundred-year soul ring emerge above the Mandala Snake's corpse did Tang San breathe a sigh of relief. But when he turned to look at the unconscious Yu Xiaogang, his gaze grew much graver.