"Yin, let's eat at this hotel. We'll rest up before entering the Star Dou Great Forest."
Tang Hao spoke gently, like a loving father.
The hotel before them was ordinary and looked rather unremarkable.
But back in the day, the young Tang Hao and his two companions had often eaten here. It was a place filled with memories.
Tang Yin could not have cared less. A meal was a meal, wherever they ate it.
Tang San Niang could not help asking, "Dad, we're still over a hundred kilometers from the Star Dou Great Forest, aren't we? Why build an adventurers' town so far away?"
"Little San Niang, most soul beasts are animals that survive on instinct. They even attack human villages of their own accord, so people generally avoid building settlements too close to the Star Dou Great Forest," Tang Hao explained.
Tang San Niang nodded inwardly. So not all soul beasts were gentle and kind like her mother. Some were vicious and brutal.
The hotel had only two floors, with a restaurant on the first and guest rooms on the second.
It was noon, and the bustling dining hall rang with the endless clinking of cups as patrons drank together.
Tang Hao found a table, and the three of them sat down.
"Old man, you look pretty familiar with this place. You order."
Tang Yin pushed the menu over.
Tang Hao had long since experienced his son's keen, hair-fine powers of observation. Without saying much, he took the menu and smiled.
"I've been here..." Before Tang Hao could finish, a voice suddenly came from beside them.
"Dean, that chick's gorgeous. I want to have some fun with her." The childish voice carried a lechery wholly out of keeping with its owner's age.
Tang Yin's expression instantly darkened, and he looked toward the voice.
A little fatty with pudgy features and eyes narrowed to slits was staring straight at Tang San Niang with a lecherous expression, practically drooling with desire.
Ma Hongjun was ravenous! He had never expected to come across such prime merchandise while accompanying the dean to hunt for a soul ring.
Two middle-aged men and a little old man with white temples also sat at that table.
The little old man, Li Yusong, frowned. "Ma Hongjun, don't be rude. These aren't the commoners of Suotuo City."
He was not particularly fond of the little lecher the dean had brought back.
After all, Flender had harmed quite a few commoner women to help suppress his evil fire. Though he paid them compensation afterward, it was hardly anything to be proud of.
At this point, Ma Hongjun had yet to receive any education and was utterly unruly.
Relying on Flender's favor and his own status as a soul master, he frequently ran wild.
"What's there to fear? The dean said anyone afraid to stir up trouble is mediocre, and I'm a monster!" Ma Hongjun curled his lips disdainfully. "A soul master hiding his face, dragging around two burdens-what's scary about that?"
Though Flender and Zhao Wuji said nothing, their expressions were equally dismissive.
Zhao Wuji was known as a devil incarnate. He had committed plenty of wicked deeds in his youth and had a fearsome reputation. A mere verbal insult was no more than children playing house to him. It was nothing at all.
Behind his black-rimmed glasses, Flender's eyes shone with wisdom. Ma Hongjun was still young, after all, and was bound to speak without thinking. Surely the other party would not make too much of it.
After all, if they really insisted on pursuing the matter, they would only be inviting humiliation.
In this town, a party of two Soul Saints and one Soul Emperor could walk all over everyone.
Naturally, Tang Yin recognized Ma Hongjun at a glance.
After all, this guy was the most sexually frustrated being on the Douluo Continent. Together with Dai Mubai and Oscar, he enjoyed the illustrious reputation of being one of Shrek's Three Whoremongers.
Put it this way: if a sow walked past Ma Hongjun, he would give her private parts a thorough eye-fucking. Even a horny toy poodle would have to kowtow and call him its ancestor.
If Tang Yin could swallow such a verbal humiliation of the little sister he had raised with his own hands, he might as well be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
With a flick of his wrist, two chopsticks shot out like lightning, flying straight toward Ma Hongjun's eyes.
Ma Hongjun was merely a rank-ten Soul Scholar and could not possibly react in time. His expression changed dramatically as he cried, "Dean, save me!"
"You little beast! So vicious at such a young age!"
Zhao Wuji snorted coldly and reached out, catching the chopsticks in his hand.
"The weak should know their place! If you dare resist, you must pay the price!"
Cruelty and savagery surfaced in Zhao Wuji's eyes. The devil incarnate whose name could stop a child from crying had returned.
Just then, an enormous shadow abruptly engulfed him.
An iron-tower figure stood over him like a mountain, radiating overwhelming pressure.
A chill surged in Tang Hao's eyes as he asked in a sinister voice, "Who are you calling a little beast?"
As he spoke, nine soul rings rose beneath him, one after another.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
His immensely powerful aura instantly shattered the hotel's doors and windows.
Terrifying fluctuations of soul power spread outward. Even the surrounding air seemed to freeze, leaving everyone struggling to breathe.
Every soul master in the hotel was cowed by that pressure. None dared move or utter a sound, terrified of bringing disaster upon themselves.
If even the soul masters caught in the spillover were like this, how much worse was it for Flender and the others, who faced Tang Hao's pressure directly?
Like insects confronting their natural predator, they trembled all over, their earlier arrogance long gone.
Tables and chairs clattered as Flender and the other two men fell prostrate on the floor. As for Ma Hongjun, that terrifying aura had already knocked him unconscious.
Flender forced out the words, "We did not know Your Eminence was here. Please forgive our offense."
Zhao Wuji, who had been so savage moments earlier, now cowered like a quail, lying prone without daring to lift his head.
Nine soul rings! This was a Titled Douluo!
In the eyes of ordinary soul masters, such a person was practically a god!
Countless soul masters went their entire lives without ever seeing one, let alone offending one to his face.
At that moment, Zhao Wuji wished he could immediately strangle Ma Hongjun, that little troublemaker. Regret had twisted his guts green.
"Slap yourself ten times! Cut off one arm!"
Tang Hao could not be bothered to waste words on trash like this and simply gave his orders.
After all, the Spirit Hall still had a warrant out for his arrest. He could not reveal his martial soul lightly, lest he implicate his son and daughter.
Hearing the mysterious Titled Douluo's command, Flender and the others were both shocked and delighted. Their delight, naturally, came from the unexpected chance to escape with their lives.
Zhao Wuji in particular was moved to tears of gratitude. He knocked his head against the floor several times with resounding thuds. "Thank you for your magnanimity, Your Eminence! This lowly one will obey at once."
Without another word, he viciously slapped himself across the face ten times.
His face swelled into a pig's head, blood streaming down it.
But that was not the end. Zhao Wuji drew a short blade, gritted his teeth, and slashed savagely down at his left arm!
"Aaaaaaah!!!!!"
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