Just as Tang Wulin was immersed in gratitude and sadness, Tang Ziran and Lang Yue interrupted her thoughts with their words.
And unsettled her heart.
"Selling me to Brother Zhou Yang or something..."
Tang Wulin waved her hands, wanting to protest, but some scene seemed to occur to her, leaving her unable to get the words out. Then a blush slowly crept onto her face.
She soon realized what she was thinking and hurriedly shook her head to cast out those stray thoughts, at the cost of her cheeks burning even hotter and turning redder.
With Tang Wulin being a girl, Lang Yue worried that she might be taken advantage of.
Naturally, Lang Yue had taught Tang Wulin some things girls needed to know early on, letting her understand the differences between men and women.
"Dad, Mom, you keep laughing at me! I'm not talking to you anymore!"
"Hmph!"
After sulking at her parents, Tang Wulin took the Spirit Soul storage sphere and returned to her room, her face red.
Lang Yue chuckled merrily, watching her daughter with the expression of someone who had been there before.
It was best to let things between young people take their natural course.
Inside her room, Tang Wulin opened the Spirit Soul storage sphere, released the Jade Spirit Ink Bamboo, and began absorbing the Spirit Soul.
Naturally, the school had already taught them all the relevant knowledge.
Absorbing a Spirit Soul involved two aspects: first, physical constitution, as vast amounts of Soul Power required a strong body to bear them; second, the level of spiritual power.
On the Douluo Continent, spiritual power was divided into six realms: Spirit Origin, Spirit Connection, Spirit Sea, Spirit Abyss, Spirit Domain, and Divine Origin.
Spirit Origin ranged from 1 to 100 and allowed one to absorb a single Spirit Soul of a hundred years or below.
Although Tang Wulin's 58 points of spiritual power were not particularly outstanding, they were still quite excellent among her peers.
Absorbing a hundred-year Spirit Soul naturally posed no problem, but her physical constitution was something she had to consider.
After all, she had no idea what her body's limits were, and the Spirit Soul before her, over six hundred years old, undoubtedly exceeded the usual five-hundred-year level.
Every additional hundred years meant a potentially fatal gap in the physical constitution required. How could Tang Wulin not worry?
Holding the letter Zhou Yang had written, she read its contents and could not help giving a wry smile.
"Brother Yang, aren't you giving me far too much credit?"
Just as she was fretting, moonlight streamed through the window and fell onto the letter. The shadows showing through the paper drew her attention to something different.
Only upon closer inspection did she discover another section of the letter, containing information about her Soul Ring absorption, along with Zhou Yang's analysis and advice.
The whole passage came down to one word: trust.
Tang Wulin had always remembered something Zhou Yang once said.
"Belief needs no reason."
At last, Tang Wulin stopped hesitating and directly began absorbing her first Spirit Soul.
Her big brother had told her to absorb it, so what else could she say? She was going with it!
Everything went very smoothly-so smoothly that comfortable was the word for it, as though she were soaking in warm lake water.
Before she knew it, drowsiness crept into her mind, and Tang Wulin could not resist falling asleep.
Just then, a faint golden scale shimmered with a weak glow on her forehead.
But a moment later, it was replaced by an azure trident.
Within her sea of consciousness, Tang San's divine consciousness took form. Dressed in blue, his expression gentle, he looked like a refined gentleman as he stared directly at the enormous golden dragon sealed into a mass before him.
"Golden Dragon King, don't even think about hurting my child!"
An immense golden dragon coiled around a dragon core, locked within layer upon layer of sealing barriers, its slit pupils holding a distinctly human mockery.
"Tang San, stop putting on that hypocritical act. It only makes you look ridiculous to me!"
"You? Protecting your child?"
"I think you're trying to trap me here so you can seize the Dragon God's power! Dream on!"
The Golden Dragon King gave a cold, feminine shout, staring fixedly at the being before her.
"Hmph, foolish soul beasts. How could the likes of you possibly disrupt my ten-thousand-year plan?" Facing the Golden Dragon King's impotent rage, Tang San revealed a mocking expression.
"Hahaha, a ten-thousand-year plan! What a fine ten-thousand-year plan!"
Yet the Golden Dragon King threw back her head and roared, as though she had heard something utterly hilarious.
"By your ten-thousand-year plan, do you mean how you were beaten into such a sorry state ten thousand years ago, scurrying into the God Realm Center like a stray dog? Hahaha!"
"I'm waiting to see you flee in panic again, just like you did ten thousand years ago!"
As though knowing exactly where to strike a venomous snake's vulnerable spot, certain that this was where Tang San would lose his composure, the Golden Dragon King finished her tirade, promptly muted her mic, turned off voice chat, and blocked him out, leaving Tang San outside to rage helplessly alone.
"Shut up!" At those words, Tang San could no longer maintain his calm expression. On what should have been a handsome face, his eyes bulged hideously with rage and turned crimson, his breathing gradually growing heavy until he panted like an ox.
Recalling that "disaster" ten thousand years ago, which could only be described as miserable, and the nightmarish figure of that red beetle made him wish he could devour its flesh.
Because of that fellow of unknown origin, he had actually suffered nightmares for three thousand years.
"That fellow wasn't a god and is long gone from this world. No one can shake my plan!"
Eastsea City of the Sun Moon Federation was a special district at the heart of the federation's economy, a key hub supplying its development.
Thanks to the advantages of maritime trade, its urban development ranked in the upper-middle tier among cities.
At a secluded harbor in Eastsea City, a woman in palace attire led a lovely young girl off a ferry.
The silver-haired girl displayed an appetite far beyond ordinary imagination. Both hands were crammed full of grilled seafood caught from the ferry, and she opened her mouth to bite off a huge chunk, chewing with her mouth full.
The woman beside her glanced at the lovely girl, looking somewhat helpless.
"Na'er, Eastsea has plenty of these. You don't need to worry about running out of good food."
"But this ish really sho yummy." She chewed. "Try it if you don't believe me, Teacher Yali."
Na'er raised the skewer in her hand and offered it to Yali, making Yali press a hand to her forehead. She had been eating for nearly a hundred years; how could she not know what tasted good and what did not?
This girl she had picked up by chance had an astonishing appetite, far beyond that of ordinary people.
Her talent was top-notch as well. With a top-tier tool Martial Soul and innate full Soul Power, even major powers would cherish her like a treasure.
But who could have imagined that someone like her would be a little foodie through and through?
Had she not sensed a faint connection and closeness to Na'er within her mind, she might have missed the chance to take this disciple.
"Teacher, what are we here for?"
Every year at this time, Yali would visit Eastsea City, but in previous years, Na'er had always happened to be left in the care of Yali's subordinates to cultivate.
This year, after her persistent wheedling, Yali had finally agreed to bring her along.
"Just to pay respects to someone who passed away." Yali's voice was steady, as peaceful and gentle as ever. There was no joy or pleasure to be heard in her words, yet for some reason, Na'er sensed sadness.
It was sadness coming from her teacher.
Although she was part of the Silver Dragon King's emotional side, having only just entered human society, she could not understand what meaning there was in such things.
Still, she obediently stayed beside Yali and followed her through it all.