After more than an hour, with everyone well fed and satisfied, Tang San deliberately had Su Ling and the others leave first. Even Xiao Wu did not stay; he remained alone to settle the bill.
The payment took rather a long time, however. He only emerged after roughly an incense stick's worth of time, and, unexpectedly, Dai Mubai came out with him.
"Brother, what took you so long?" Xiao Wu approached Tang San and asked with a hint of reproach.
Tang San said, "I ran into Dai Mubai when you left. He was handling something here, so that held me up for a while."
Dai Mubai said, "I had a little too much to drink earlier. Don't get the wrong idea. I didn't do anything; those two women merely helped me upstairs. After I woke up and came down, I ran into Tang San."
"Really?" Xiao Wu looked Dai Mubai up and down, seemingly unconvinced.
"If you don't believe me, you can ask Tang San," Dai Mubai said, looking toward him.
Tang San immediately nodded. "Y-yes, that's right. We misunderstood Dai Mubai earlier. Those two girls had nothing to do with him."
Tang San lied without blushing or missing a breath. But once you accepted someone's favors, your hands were tied. If Dai Mubai had not appeared and covered the shortfall of several dozen Gold Soul Coins, he would have been in trouble today.
He had originally wanted to offer his hidden weapons as payment, but who could have known the restaurant manager would accept nothing but Gold Soul Coins?
Fortunately, Dai Mubai appeared in time and helped him cover the remaining several dozen Gold Soul Coins.
So he told Dai Mubai that they had seen him with two women when they came to eat, and Dai Mubai asked him to help tell this lie.
Xiao Wu trusted Tang San-unconditionally. "In that case, we misunderstood you."
Dai Mubai glanced at Su Ling. Zhu Zhuqing was actually standing beside Su Ling, quite close to him. An inexplicable anger rose within Dai Mubai, and he seemed to reach some sort of decision.
Dai Mubai walked straight up to Zhu Zhuqing and said, "Everyone, there's something I shouldn't keep from you. Actually, Zhu Zhuqing and I grew up together. She's my fiancée."
By saying this, he was undoubtedly staking his claim. Zhu Zhuqing belonged to him, and no one else should entertain any improper intentions.
His instincts as a man told him that Su Ling posed far too great a threat.
"What?"
"Zhu Zhuqing is actually your fiancée?"
Everyone looked at the two in astonishment. Dai Mubai continued, "With a fiancée as beautiful as Zhu Zhuqing, how could I possibly take an interest in other women? Isn't that right? Those women couldn't compare to her at all."
Dai Mubai went straight to Zhu Zhuqing's side and tried to take her hand, but she stepped back. "I have nothing to do with you," she said coldly.
"Zhu Zhuqing, I know you're still angry with me. This is all a misunderstanding. Please believe me," Dai Mubai said earnestly.
"I don't want to talk to you. You disgust me," Zhu Zhuqing replied coldly.
She did not want to bother with Dai Mubai at all. She had seen everything with her own eyes earlier and heard those words from his own mouth. How could any of it be false?
Seeing Zhu Zhuqing ignore him, Dai Mubai approached Su Ling, seemingly laying all his resentment at Su Ling's feet.
"Su Ling, Zhu Zhuqing is my fiancée. You'd better stay away from her."
Su Ling smiled, thinking that Dai Mubai really was getting rather flustered and his words sounded somewhat childish.
"Really? Then just how far away do I have to stay?"
Dai Mubai said, "You... leave..."
Dai Mubai realized that what he was about to say sounded wrong, too. "Hmph. Anyway, Zhu Zhuqing is my fiancée. Just don't entertain any improper intentions toward her."
With that, Dai Mubai went to Zhu Zhuqing's side and began apologizing, talking as they walked.
Su Ling and the others did not interfere. They simply followed behind and returned to the academy together.
The harder Dai Mubai tried to apologize and explain, the more Zhu Zhuqing loathed him.
In truth, to Zhu Zhuqing, Dai Mubai was a prince of the Star Luo Empire, a prince who was supposed to become emperor. It was not as though she could not accept him having other women.
After all, the Hell Spirit Cat clan was part of the Star Luo Empire's nobility. She had been taught about such matters since childhood and was not particularly opposed to them.
Although Zhu Zhuqing felt some distaste for Dai Mubai's behavior, that was not the main reason for her disappointment and disgust.
The crux of it was Dai Mubai's current depravity and cowardice.
So no matter how Dai Mubai explained himself, he never touched on what Zhu Zhuqing wanted to hear. However much he said, it was all wasted breath.
That night, Su Ling returned to his room!
He did not need to deliberately do anything about Zhu Zhuqing and Dai Mubai's entanglement. He only needed to build up her affection.
Once her affection reached a certain level, wouldn't the goddess be his?
There was no need to do anything that would not help build her affection.
Besides, right now, apart from raising the goddess's affection, he also needed to increase his soul power faster.
He still had three chests: two Yellow Chests and one Purple Chest.
"System, open the Purple Chest," Su Ling said quietly.
[Ding... Congratulations, host, on opening the Purple Chest. You have obtained the movement technique Carefree Journey.]
A movement technique?
Looking at the two Yellow Chests in the system, Su Ling did not rush to open them.
Instead, he first took out the other book, the Five Elements Breath Cultivation Method, and began leafing through it.
The Five Elements Breath Cultivation Method could draw the qi of the five elements from the world into the body for cultivation.
His cultivation path also involved evolving the Five Elements War Bow, so the Five Elements Breath Cultivation Method suited him perfectly.
Sitting cross-legged, Su Ling began cultivating according to the book's instructions.
The first step in drawing the five elements' qi into his body was to bring it into a certain balance within him. However, he had absorbed three Soul Rings with different attributes.
Those three attributes were water, wood, and fire, with water accounting for the majority. The three attributes had not reached a balance, which was also why his body's previous owner had failed to absorb the Soul Ring.
To achieve balance, he had to replenish the other two attributes, then let those two attributes generate and restrain one another until a certain balance was reached.
As he circulated the Five Elements Breath Cultivation Method, the Earth Attribute and Metal Attribute within Su Ling began to increase.
The five attributes gathered in Su Ling's dantian, each element restraining another. Fortunately, the Five Elements Breath Cultivation Method was wondrous. As the five elements' qi traveled through his dantian and meridians, it actually reached a certain state of balance on its own.
After a night passed, Su Ling's dantian already contained a considerable amount of the five elements' qi—or rather, he should call it Five-Element Soul Power.
Had he succeeded?
Only a small portion of Su Ling's soul power had been converted. Most of it had not transformed into Five-Element Soul Power.
After pondering for a moment, Su Ling reached a conclusion.
The Five Elements Breath Cultivation Method completed the five elements in his existing soul power and then converted it into Five-Element Soul Power, but it could not increase his soul power.
For now, if he wanted to increase his soul power, he still had to rely on cultivating with the Water Moon Bow to produce water-attribute soul power.
All things considered, the Five Elements Breath Cultivation Method was most useful when absorbing Soul Rings.
When the five elements fell into chaos, he could use the Five Elements Breath Cultivation Method to stabilize the soul power of several different attributes within his body and bring them into balance. At a critical moment, it could save his life.
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