"Then, then it's settled? Send it back to Sect Master Ning first and let him take a look. If he's satisfied, then..."
"Here's to a happy partnership!"
"Here's to a happy partnership!"
Ning Rongrong held out a small hand. Seeing this, Tang San reached out and shook it, and the two exchanged smiles.
When they returned to Oscar and Xiao Wu, Ning Rongrong had barely been about to say something when Tang San pulled Xiao Wu away. He had noticed everything just now. Xiao Wu would definitely let her imagination run wild after seeing that scene, so before that thought could take shape, he had to beat it to death with a single stroke!
Meanwhile, Ning Rongrong looked at Oscar's troubled face without saying anything. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's rules were very clear: her future husband could only be a Power Attack System Soul Master.
Time slowly slipped by, and before they knew it, it was late at night.
"Whew! That felt good! As expected of Teacher Changsheng. After soaking in his medicinal bath, I felt like I was about to ascend to heaven. That was amazing!"
At the entrance to the hot spring room, Ma Hongjun wore his short-sleeved shirt with a towel draped around his neck, his chubby little face flushed red.
This was essentially the boys' bathhouse. To avoid unnecessary trouble, the girls' bathhouse had not been built on this side.
"Fatty, look at you! You look just like a roast suckling pig! Hahaha!"
"Boss Dai, I don't like the sound of that. That's downright insulting!"
"Then what should I call you? Roast chicken?"
Ma Hongjun got angry for all of a moment. He knew Dai Mubai was joking and was not particularly upset.
Behind them, Tang San hummed a tune as he prepared to return to his dorm. That medicinal bath had truly felt wonderful, and he recognized the vast majority of its ingredients. They were all highly nourishing substances!
"L-Little San, can I talk to you?"
Off to the side, Oscar had a smile on his face, but no matter how Tang San looked at it, it did not seem willing. Instead, it looked terribly forced.
"Little Ao, are you all right? Why do you look so pale?"
"I'm fine. I just want to talk to you."
Tang San and Oscar walked into a small grove nearby. Only then did Oscar drop his smile, his eyes filled with anxiety and fear.
Seeing Tang San and Ning Rongrong laughing and chatting today had nearly scared him to tears. Hadn't Tang San promised to help his brother win over his goddess? Why was his goddess smiling at Tang San instead?
Those were Oscar's own thoughts. He did not know what Xiao Wu had thought at the time, but he had certainly felt awful, as though he had been NTR'd.
"Little San, we're brothers. Rongrong... has she fallen for you?"
"Uh, why would you think that?"
"She smiled at you! She even held your hand!"
The more Oscar spoke, the more agitated he became. He even unconsciously reached out and grabbed Tang San's clothes.
Looking at Oscar, who was on the verge of developing Tang syndrome, Tang San suddenly understood. So that was what this was about. He slowly pulled Oscar's hand away and straightened his clothes before saying with a smile:
"That? Don't worry. I was discussing a deal with Ning Rongrong. You know I can make little gadgets. Those are actually called hidden weapons, and they can be used for self-defense. That was what I was discussing with Ning Rongrong."
At those words, the anxiety and agitation on Oscar's face froze, then gave way to embarrassment.
After all that, he had only been scaring himself?
Tang San patted Oscar's shoulder, signaling that he did not need to worry. "Relax. Don't you know what kind of person I am?"
"Come on, it's getting late. Let's head back. We have to get up early tomorrow."
After saying goodbye to Oscar, Tang San returned to his own room.
"Whew-"
Tang San took a deep breath, and his gaze grew serious once more.
He took off his shirt, and with a thought, eight spider spears emerged from his back.
Unlike during the day, summoning the Life Spider Spear went surprisingly smoothly this time, without any signs of it going berserk.
"Good. Looks like I'm getting somewhere!"
Tang San nodded. His idea had been right. As long as he controlled the sequence in which he fed in Soul Power, the Life Spider Spear would not act up.
With the problem of extending and retracting it resolved, the next step was controlling its movements.
He slowly channeled Soul Power into one of the spider spears. Despite his best efforts to control it, the others still stirred to varying degrees.
But everything remained within his control.
At last, Tang San finished channeling a portion of his Soul Power. When he saw one spider spear moving up and down at his command, excitement finally appeared on his face.
It worked!
As long as I start by controlling one spider spear, everything can go very smoothly!
Next, two...
"Forget it. I'll retract them for now!"
Tang San shook his head. Such intensely focused control of his Soul Power was a little too much for him. The main problem was that he had already worked hard all day and truly had no strength left to experiment.
With that thought, Tang San flopped onto his bed and fell straight asleep.
Early the next morning.
Tang San was already sitting cross-legged on the roof, facing east, a faint purple light shimmering in his eyes.
Only after absorbing the first wisp of purple Qi of the morning did Tang San head toward the back mountain.
Li Changsheng had already told them yesterday that, starting today, they would have to prepare all three meals themselves.
"Little San! You're up early!"
"Not really. I went to bed very early yesterday."
He turned and saw Oscar. Their dorm rooms were relatively close, so they easily ran into each other.
The two arrived at the back mountain together. Someone was already busy there: Ma Hongjun was lighting the stove, continuously spitting lines of fire from his mouth.
This was training Li Changsheng had tailored for him. Ma Hongjun's Phoenix Fire Line was not concentrated at a single point, but instead formed a relatively broad pillar of flame.
This made it easy for the flames to fall short of their maximum temperature. Only by concentrating them into a single straight line could he maximize their damage.
"Hongjun, fire control is your first lesson, and your most important foundation. With proper control, your Evil Fire will no longer make you binge on food and drink. Instead, it can become a means of attack!"
Li Changsheng stood nearby, supervising Ma Hongjun as he breathed fire. The flames the latter spat out were not particularly large; in fact, they could be called tiny flames.
His task was also very simple: use his flames to light the dry firewood. They could not be so large that they burned it straight to ash, nor so excessive that they blew up the entire stove.
"I-I understand!"
Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, Ma Hongjun kept his mouth working, still laboriously breathing flames.
"Hmm? Little San and Little Ao are here? Hurry over to Mubai. He's kneading dough. Let's have porridge and steamed buns this morning. I've already cooked the porridge, so we're just waiting for your buns!"
"Understood!"
Tang San and Oscar hurried over to Dai Mubai.
Bang!
As an intact lump of dough was kneaded into fragments, Dai Mubai's eyes nearly turned red.
"Aaah! Why can't I control these hands?"
Looking at his flour-covered hands, Dai Mubai was on the verge of going mad. The slightest carelessness made him use too much force and crush the dough into fragments. He simply could not control them freely!
"Oh, Dai Mubai, can you do this or not? Let Sister Xiao Wu handle it!"
Seeing this, Xiao Wu, who had been chatting with Ning Rongrong, waved her little fists to signal that she wanted to show what she could do. Dai Mubai really had no ideas left, so he could only stand aside and let Xiao Wu try.