Master and disciple, father and son??

When Tang San opened his eyes again, it was already the following morning.

He first looked down at himself, feeling the strength that absorbing the soul ring had brought to his body. Once he gathered his wits, he glanced around, and the first thing he saw was two figures sleeping back-to-back.

"Qin Chao?" Tang San's brow furrowed slightly.

Thanks to his Purple Demon Eye, he had seen everything that happened last night clearly. Who else could the "expert" who released the Heaven and Earth Tower to rescue him have been but Qin Chao?

Remembering the tremendous suction he had felt inside the Heaven and Earth Tower last night, Tang San was secretly alarmed. In just over three short months, had he already become this powerful?

Hearing someone call his name, Qin Chao finally woke from his dreams. He was about to get up when he discovered that Hu Liena still had her head tilted against his shoulder.

Girls generally developed a little earlier than boys, so Qin Chao was considerably shorter than Hu Liena. Yet Hu Liena slept soundly against him, as though his shoulder gave her an immense sense of security.

After gently waking the sleeping Hu Liena, Qin Chao looked up and pulled Tang San aside.

"What happened to my teacher?" Seeing Grandmaster lying unconscious nearby, Tang San's expression changed drastically.

Qin Chao patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Don't panic. Grandmaster was poisoned last night, but luckily, we found him in time. Besides..."

Qin Chao took the aromatic silk beauty out of his robes, a hint of slyness in the smile tugging at his lips. "Before we left, my teacher gave me this..."

"An aromatic silk beauty?!" Tang San's pupils abruptly contracted.

Having come from the Tang Sect, his knowledge of medicinal herbs was naturally exceptional. He identified the large flower at a single glance.

"This is an immortal-grade medicinal herb! It only grows in places where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathers. It's a treasure you can only stumble upon, never seek out, and your teacher just gave it to you so casually?!"

Tang San's throat felt dry, and he swallowed with difficulty.

"Is this thing really that precious? My teacher never said..." Qin Chao deliberately played dumb, putting his mastery of the humblebrag to full use.

Tang San desperately suppressed the jealousy in his heart. Having lived two lives, he considered himself very good at controlling his emotions, but now, for once, he had lost control...

There was no hurt without comparison.

Qin Chao's teacher could casually produce a precious immortal-grade medicinal herb without even telling Qin Chao how valuable it was. And then there was his own teacher.

Although Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang claimed to be unrivaled in theory, his soul power was only rank twenty-nine. If accompanying him to hunt for his first soul ring had already been this dangerous, what about the future?

Why could Qin Chao enjoy his teachers' protection so easily, while the only person Tang San could rely on was himself?

Taking a deep breath, Tang San forced down the turmoil in his heart and changed the subject with feigned casualness. "Why are you in the Soul Hunting Forest? Are you here to hunt for soul rings too?"

"Not really..." Qin Chao shook his head and held out his right hand.

As his soul power circulated, the golden Heaven and Earth Tower appeared again. Its two soul rings, one yellow and one purple, bobbed around it, looking particularly conspicuous.

"We just came here to have a look around. As for my soul rings, my teachers already took us to hunt for them in the Star Dou Great Forest..."

"The Star Dou Great Forest..." Tang San quietly repeated Qin Chao's words.

He had heard Grandmaster say that the Star Dou Great Forest was a paradise for soul beasts. The soul beasts there were all wild, and both their ages and their strength far surpassed those in the Soul Hunting Forest. To take Qin Chao there to hunt soul beasts, his teacher would have to be at least a Soul Elder...

Wait! Tang San's gaze abruptly froze.

"The ages of your soul rings!!" He stared fixedly at the two bands of light bobbing around the Heaven and Earth Tower, his eyes filled with shock.

Seeing that Tang San had finally noticed the unusual nature of his soul rings, Qin Chao withdrew his martial soul in satisfaction and scratched his head, pretending to be embarrassed.

"My teacher said my innate soul power was rank twenty, so he took me straight out to hunt for my second soul ring. Their ages are admittedly a little high, but you know how it is. I've always been lucky..."

Listening to Qin Chao, Tang San's eyes nearly split at the corners.

Luck? Was this a matter of luck?

According to Grandmaster's theories, the maximum age for a first soul ring was four hundred and twenty-three years, while the maximum for a second soul ring was seven hundred and sixty-four years. Yet Qin Chao's soul rings far exceeded those limits.

Fine, even if Qin Chao was exceptionally gifted, with a physique far beyond ordinary people that let him absorb older soul rings than others, killing a thousand-year soul beast was still no easy task. A single Mandala Snake barely four hundred years old had nearly killed both him and his teacher on the spot. Just how terrifying would a thousand-year soul beast's attacks be...?

"Qin Chao, what rank is your teacher?"

Tang San's lips quivered. In the end, he could not hold back the question.

"I really don't know their exact ranks, but they both have their own titles, so they should be Titled Douluo..." Qin Chao's tone was bland, yet his words drove a knife straight into Tang San's heart.

"Titled... Douluo..." Tang San felt suffocated. They stood at the very pinnacle of all Soul Masters! And they had actually accepted a six-year-old child like Qin Chao as their disciple?!

Wait, had he overlooked something?

"Did you say... they?" Tang San asked again, his voice trembling slightly.

"That's right. His Holiness the Pope thought I had good potential, so he assigned me two teachers. One is Chrysanthemum Douluo, and the other is Ghost Douluo. They're both very good to me, just a little fierce during lessons..."

Qin Chao was not exaggerating about that. Even Yue Guan, who had accepted gifts and was thus beholden to him, held him to high standards in his studies. Otherwise, he would not have prepared medicinal powders in advance and had Hu Liena help him conduct a surprise test...

Qin Chao spoke lightly, but his words stirred towering waves in Tang San's heart.

Looking at Grandmaster, who was still unconscious beneath the tree, he regretted his decision for the first time.

Had taking Grandmaster as his teacher really been the right choice? Were those theories of his truly reliable?

Countless tangled thoughts filled Tang San's mind, yet his expression remained calm. Only the faint tremor in his voice betrayed his emotions.

"Strict teachers produce outstanding disciples. It's good for a teacher to be a little fierce..." After offering a couple of perfunctory remarks, Tang San excused himself to look after Grandmaster and walked aside on his own.

The system's notifications sounded in Qin Chao's mind one after another.

"Congratulations to the host on successfully seizing protagonist halo. You have gained five points of luck value..."

"Congratulations to the host... You have gained five points of luck value..."

"Congratulations... five points..."

Three notifications in a row gave Qin Chao a total of fifteen points of luck value.

Watching Tang San cast glances his way, whether deliberately or unconsciously, Qin Chao knew he had achieved his goal.

Perhaps Tang San would still remain by Grandmaster's side, serving as his obedient disciple and test subject, but Qin Chao had already planted a seed of doubt in Tang San's heart.

One day, that seed would break through the soil and flourish. When that happened, whether their bond as master and disciple, as father and son, would endure was anyone's guess...