Bibi Dong had never imagined that her reluctance to let a talented person slip away today would prove to be a single misstep that brought an eternity of regret.
She turned her back and quickly returned to the dais without a word.
As one of the two guardians who knew Bibi Dong quite well, Yue Guan roughly guessed how embarrassed she was. He took the initiative to step down and lead Tang Mo out of the Pope Hall.
"Don't speak. Follow me." As Yue Guan passed Tang Mo, he deliberately transmitted his voice through soul power to give him a warning.
After leaving the Pope Hall, Tang Mo immediately spotted Hu Liena leaning against a pillar.
Hu Liena was dressed in a close-fitting outfit, her black hair falling over her shoulders. She looked somewhat like a lone wolf poised to strike.
Seeing her outfit, which allowed for easy movement, along with the air she gave off, Tang Mo had a vague guess. The girl felt that some of Bibi Dong's attention had been diverted to him, so she had come to stake her claim.
Although foxes were canines too, this instinct to guard her food was rather excessive.
As for how Hu Liena had learned about Tang Mo, he discreetly glanced at Yue Guan beside him.
In a sense, Yue Guan served as Hu Liena's guardian on her path of cultivation, so on the way to Spirit City, he had taken the opportunity to write her a letter while also telling Tang Mo to prepare himself mentally.
With Tang Mo capable of instantly killing a Soul Ancestor above level forty facing Hu Liena, who was currently only level twenty-seven, was the outcome really in doubt?
Yue Guan's warning had not been for Tang Mo to take blows without fighting back or insults without answering. It was for him to exercise restraint and not actually kill Hu Liena, the Saintess, in Spirit City.
"Grandpa Yue Guan." Hu Liena gave Yue Guan a sweet smile. Her attitude toward him held exactly the warmth a granddaughter ought to show upon seeing a grandfather she had not seen in a long time.
The moment Yue Guan saw Hu Liena's smile, he guessed what she wanted to do next. He had intended to advise her against courting death, but swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue.
As the saying went, people could teach someone without their learning a thing, but one lesson from experience was enough. Hu Liena's reaching level twenty-seven at eleven years old was sufficient proof of her talent.
After all, even Tang San had only reached level 30 at twelve. By a simple calculation, Tang San's soul power cultivation at eleven would have been around level twenty-seven.
In other words, if Tang San had not obtained his other opportunities later, he would actually have fallen somewhat short of Hu Liena in cultivation speed alone.
This showed just how talented Hu Liena was, but that very talent had made her somewhat inclined to look down on others. Otherwise, her defeat by Tang San at the Soul Master Tournament would not have stayed on her mind all this time.
In Yue Guan's view, even if Tang Mo wanted to kill Hu Liena, he could stop him in time. Letting her suffer a little and run into a wall would therefore do her some good. At the very least, it could help her set her attitude straight.
"Are you the new little junior brother?" After greeting Yue Guan, she turned her gaze to Tang Mo.
"I haven't taken a master. I'll just be cultivating with you," Tang Mo said succinctly.
At his words, Hu Liena's eyes shifted, clearly catching what he had left unsaid.
Even if Bibi Dong gave them the same cultivation resources, as long as that master-disciple relationship was absent, there would ultimately be differences in certain things.
Thus, she realized that Tang Mo would not compete with her for Bibi Dong's attention at all. A trace of relief flashed through her eyes, but a mischievous smile soon appeared on her lips.
"Hello, my name is Hu Liena." As she spoke, she extended a hand to Tang Mo, clearly intending to shake hands with him.
"Tang Mo." After shaking Hu Liena's hand, Tang Mo briefly introduced himself.
Just as he was about to end this useless social courtesy and withdraw his hand, Hu Liena suddenly tightened her grip on his palm.
The next instant, Hu Liena's black hair turned red, and fox ears and a fox tail appeared atop her head and behind her respectively. The instant she activated Martial Soul Possession, two yellow soul rings appeared by her feet.
The two soul rings flashed, and a force of charm suddenly surged toward Tang Mo's mind.
Hu Liena's hostility toward Tang Mo had indeed vanished like smoke and scattered clouds, but her desire to play a prank on him had not diminished in the slightest. Instead, the disappearance of her hostility had made it somewhat stronger.
Her martial soul was a fox, and its development had been directed entirely toward charm. The soul skills granted by the two soul rings she had added were essentially all related to charm.
Thus, her surprise attack was only meant to make Tang Mo embarrass himself. She had no intention of directly causing him any actual harm.
Had Tang Mo not sensed no malice from Hu Liena, and had he himself not been unafraid of mental attacks, she would already have been lying on the ground, her fate unknown.
Yet when the charm skill Hu Liena had been certain would succeed landed on Tang Mo, it was like a clay ox entering the sea, stirring not the slightest ripple.
As the Guan Zizai Heart Method steadily exerted its power, Tang Mo's gaze remained clear, showing no sign whatsoever that Hu Liena had successfully charmed him.
Behold freedom, behold freedom; see the true self and find freedom, shut out external things and only then be free.
The simple phrase "unaffected by outside interference" was enough to demonstrate the worth of the Guan Zizai Heart Method.
In his previous life, Tang Mo had tempered his soul and body together to a remarkably advanced level. Even after dying and arriving on the Douluo Continent, without the soul and body he had once tempered through a thousand hammerings and a hundred refinings, he still retained some qualities of his soul.
He had very little soul power, but its substance was exceedingly resilient. Never mind that Hu Liena was merely a level twenty-seven Soul Grandmaster-even if she had been a Titled Douluo, she would have been unable to shake Tang Mo's rock-solid soul.
"Having fun?" Tang Mo suddenly asked.
Hu Liena's expression stiffened before she gave an awkward smile. Looking elsewhere, she muttered, "Today's sun sure is sunny."
At this moment, besides the guilty unease of having her prank discovered, she also felt an indescribable sense of defeat and a measure of curiosity.
Against Soul Masters who lacked a method of cultivating the soul, her charm could be called an attack from a higher dimension.
Generally speaking, Soul Masters could be divided into the Agility Attack System, Power Attack System, Control System, Support System, Defense System, and Food System according to the categories and characteristics of their martial souls.
Soul Masters of these six major systems essentially trained only their martial souls and bodies. Some even neglected physical training, focusing single-mindedly on cultivating their martial souls.
If even the simplest physical training could be overlooked, how could anyone think of cultivating the soul?
Apart from Soul Masters with special martial souls that made them naturally suited to training their souls, the vast majority could only rely on increases in their strength to bring about increases in their soul's power.
Thus, against Soul Masters at the same stage, Hu Liena's charm was practically an attack from a higher dimension.
Yet today, her unfailingly effective ability had met its broken-halberd defeat before Tang Mo, and her arrogance shattered in an instant.
Once a person's arrogance had been shattered, time could naturally fill the void in their heart, but there was a condition: no interference from outside forces.
When a powerful person shattered that arrogance, awe and an impression of invincibility would replace it in the heart.
When someone of the same age shattered it, the void left by its disappearance would most likely be filled by curiosity, refusal to admit defeat, and similar emotions.
Hu Liena secretly gritted her teeth. After bringing herself back to her senses, she tried to withdraw her hand.
Just as she began to move, Tang Mo suddenly moved as well. His other hand reached out before Hu Liena could act, his index and middle fingers coming together into sword fingers before sweeping over several acupoints on her body.
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