When Tang San saw the beautiful black-haired girl, an unusual feeling stirred in his heart, making him pause.
It was not love at first sight. Rather, he had sensed something special about her.
The girl's bangs were long, almost covering her entire forehead.
She was strikingly beautiful, with a noble air about her-an icy beauty.
"Hey, hey, Third Brother, don't tell me you've fallen in love at first sight?"
Ma Hongjun nudged Tang San with his elbow and grinned wickedly. Why else would he stare at her for so long?
Then Ma Hongjun took a good look himself. Wow, curves in all the right places, and she looked about his age too. Was she really twelve?
The beautiful black-haired girl was also drawn to Tang San.
Of course, it was not love at first sight either. She had seen something special.
It was something called an aura.
Everyone possessed an aura, but most were extremely faint. Only the powerful and extraordinary could possess strong auras.
Among them, some had distinctive auras. Those who possessed such auras would surely become towering heroes or supreme powers in their own right.
For instance, she saw a vortex within the blue-haired boy before her, embracing a hundred rivers like the sea, its depths unfathomable.
The girl's mind was almost drawn into it.
But soon, another gaze reached her, one that made her somewhat uncomfortable.
It pulled her back.
It came from the fatty beside the blue-haired boy. He had handsome features, but his lecherous expression ruined everything.
This fellow isn't simple either, the girl thought, not underestimating him merely because of his vulgarity.
She saw a strange bird blazing with roaring flames, like the great sun in the heavens, yet carrying traces of black energy. She could not tell whether it was righteous, evil, or both.
"Um, miss, could you please get into the carriage?"
The coachman gave the black-haired girl an apologetic smile. She was a noble Soul Master, but the people behind her did not look easy to cross either.
"Mm..." The girl nodded without putting on much airs, then replied to Tang San, "I'm Zhu Zhuqing. We'll leave right away."
"Thank you for understanding."
That settled the matter, but Tang San had a feeling their paths would not stop crossing here.
"Zhu Zhuqing, surname Zhu... combined with her appearance during martial soul possession just now... she might be a noble from the Star Luo Empire."
Grandmaster murmured to himself.
"Huh? What's a noble young lady doing coming all this way to Suotuo City in the Heaven Dou Empire?"
"I'm not sure. Xiao San, did you sense anything special about her?"
"She seemed to have... one more gaze than an ordinary person." Tang San pondered for a moment before describing what he had sensed.
"Huh? Doesn't that mean she has three eyes? What a deformity."
"The Dai Family and Zhu Family of the Star Luo Empire frequently intermarry, so they're all related. Marriages between close relatives can easily produce children with deformities."
Grandmaster seemed to recall something and spoke with a touch of bitterness.
"However, those abnormalities can also bring special abilities, just like your mutated martial soul, the Evil Fire Phoenix, Fatty."
"It could even be a body martial soul. If Zhu Zhuqing doesn't have twin martial souls, she might possess an innate companion talent."
Innate companion talents were special abilities granted to certain Soul Masters during martial soul awakening. They came in all sorts of strange forms.
Some people gained stronger intuition, while others had martial souls consisting of a matched pair of weapons.
Some were of little use, merely granting better eyesight, like the Dai Family's double pupils.
Someone had once suggested that the Dai Family had developed less than fifty percent of the Evil-eyed White Tiger's potential. He had nearly been beheaded and was eventually barred from the Star Luo Empire forever.
That very person now said, "The Hell Spirit Cat. Legend has it that this soul beast can bridge yin and yang and enter the netherworld. Its eyes can see far more than others."
"But the Zhu Family has developed it primarily as an agility-attack martial soul that supports the Evil-eyed White Tiger."
"That's rather like squandering a heavenly treasure."
"Teacher, if they followed your idea, the Zhu Family wouldn't be able to develop at all."
Tang San smiled as he challenged Grandmaster's criticism.
After all, bridging yin and yang and entering the netherworld would involve spatial and mental attributes, and soul beasts with either attribute were exceedingly rare.
Besides, what direction would that development even take?
Control? Agility attack?
Thus, turning the Hell Spirit Cat into a capable agility-attack martial soul with high burst damage was already an advanced level of development for ordinary people.
"Hehe, Grandmaster's just a little idealistic. Not everyone's as talented and lucky as Third Brother and me."
"Still, that Zhu Zhuqing does have something special about her. When our eyes met just now, I felt like she'd seen through me."
"No way. That chick's that impressive?"
Ma Hongjun knew that Tang San concealed his true abilities at all times, apparently practicing something called unity of heaven and man.
Grandmaster had said it was extremely powerful. He had once found a related secret manual in a cave on Snow Mountain.
If Zhu Zhuqing could make even Tang San feel as though she had seen through him, she clearly had some skill.
"No, it just felt like she saw something else, something akin to my essence..." Tang San immediately sank into thought. He wanted to know what she had seen then, and a word hovered on the tip of his mind.
"Wait, Fatty, you didn't sense it?" Suddenly, Tang San's gaze sharpened as he fixed it on Ma Hongjun.
"Looks like your mental strength training still isn't enough."
"Ack! Third Brother, I just wasn't paying attention."
"Tonight, you'll practice the Asura Bewitching Heart Curse until you've mastered it."
"No!!"
"Saying no won't help. You were definitely too busy staring at her figure."
Amid their teasing and banter, the group reached Suotuo City, even overtaking Zhu Zhuqing's carriage along the way.
After entering the city, Grandmaster went to handle the necessary formalities, while Tang San and Ma Hongjun began wandering the streets.
"Stinky tofu~ Grilled sausages~"
A cloyingly sweet hawking cry, sounding almost like a eunuch's voice, rang out. Tang San and Ma Hongjun looked toward it.
They saw a scruffy, bearded man who looked middle-aged, but upon closer inspection, Tang San realized he was only a little older than himself.
The fellow was pushing a simple Fast-food Cart, constantly calling out to passersby.
But those foods gave off waves of foul stench or pungent odors. They certainly catered to some heavy tastes!
"Ack! It's the [Food God]! We can't stay on this street!"
Some passersby who had lived in Suotuo City for a long time recognized him and promptly urged everyone else to keep their distance.
"Sniff, sniff. Is it really that bad? The smell's just a little strong."
Watching the passersby panic, Ma Hongjun felt rather baffled.
"Practice reveals the truth. Come on, let's test the depths of this [Food God]."
Tang San's curiosity flared. Meeting all kinds of Soul Masters was also one of the goals of his journey.
He stepped forward first. The closer he got, the stronger the odors became.
Stinky and fragrant, numbing and spicy, sweet and fishy...
The smells were a bewildering assortment, almost throwing his sense of smell into chaos.
An ordinary person exposed to them for too long would end up fainting, their senses knocked into utter disarray.
This was Tang San's first time seeing a Soul Master who hurt people with food.
"Wow! Third Brother, this guy's really good at cooking."
Ma Hongjun followed him over. As a veteran foodie who had also studied cooking for a year, he could naturally recognize the mysterious bearded fellow's skill.
"Oh my~ Young customers, these skewers are ten for one Silver Soul Coin. How many would you like?"
Seeing that Tang San and Ma Hongjun had not backed away and were approaching instead, Oscar's eyes lit up.
He thought he might be able to fool... no, recruit them into the academy and earn their tuition... rather, train them into monster Soul Masters.
"Let's start with twenty skewers. Ten stinky tofu and ten grilled sausages, freshly made."
Hoping to reduce his mental strength training that night, Ma Hongjun stepped forward and spoke up.
He had recognized that these two foods were soul skills of a food-type Soul Master.
Tang San had noticed it too. Both were curious about exactly what Oscar's martial soul was.
Normally, a food-type martial soul should produce only one specific food.
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