The moment those words left his mouth, Tang Hao withdrew his oppressive pressure.
If that useless Yu Xiaogang had not still been of some use, he would have lost patience long ago and killed him outright.
After all, although Yu Xiaogang had hidden the resentment on his face quite well, Tang Hao was a Titled Douluo. How could he possibly fail to notice?
Still, let him resent him.
What could a piece of trash do? Overturn the heavens?
Forget overturning the heavens-he could not even stir up a ripple.
Then he might as well put him to use, recycling a piece of trash.
Any use he could get out of him was better than killing him for nothing.
Tang Hao's gaze fell on Yu Xiaogang before him.
Without the slightest ripple in his expression, he said calmly:
"I came to find you because there are two things I need you to do."
"First, there is a little girl named Xiao Wu in Dorm Seven. You must find a way to have Little San grow closer to her. If he can earn her trust, all the better."
"Second, I hope you will carefully nurture Little San's future cultivation. There are some problems with my body, and my identity now carries grave implications. Spirit Hall will not tolerate me and has placed me on its wanted list, so I should not remain in public view for long. Thus, I leave all of Little San's future care and upbringing in your hands."
At this point, Tang Hao reached into his clothes and took out a token. Without another word, he raised his hand and tossed it in front of Yu Xiaogang.
He spoke again:
"This is Spirit Hall's Pope Token. It is no longer of any use in my hands. Keep it, and if you ever have need of it, simply take it out and use it."
Yu Xiaogang stared straight at the Pope Token, his pupils contracting and his breathing quickening.
His previously bloodless face instantly flushed red.
The Elder Token was merely a low-grade trinket.
The Pope Token was what truly stood supreme.
A heavenly chasm lay between the two.
Now that he had the Pope Token, it was equivalent to possessing an extraordinarily exalted status.
With that, who would still dare bully him, Yu Xiaogang?
He began constructing his future days in his mind.
But he did not realize at all.
There had been no respect whatsoever in the way Tang Hao had tossed the Pope Token directly in front of him, without so much as another glance.
This was charity, like tossing something to a beggar.
"Your Excellency Haotian."
Yu Xiaogang's voice carried the utmost respect, and even a trace of ingratiation.
"I have committed everything you said to memory."
"I will make sure to nurture Little San well."
"And have Little San make a proper effort to get close to that little girl named Xiao Wu."
He made his promises word by word.
As his words fell, he immediately picked up the token before him, curling all ten fingers around it and cradling it like a treasure.
Hearing this, Tang Hao merely nodded lightly.
"I am in no hurry to leave right now."
"Is there anything else you wish to ask?"
"I could trouble myself to answer you."
At these words, the smile on Yu Xiaogang's face began to stiffen, though he had still been immersed in joy a moment before.
Lin Chuan's figure sprang into his mind, and a surge of fury rushed straight to his head.
A trace of killing intent flashed through his eyes. Gritting his teeth, he said viciously:
"Your Excellency Haotian, Little San's miserable condition is entirely thanks to that brat named Lin Chuan from Dorm Seven."
"That brat is far too arrogant. I dare to beg Your Excellency to act and slay this scourge outright."
"Moreover, Lin Chuan's first soul ring is a thousand-year one. If this boy is allowed to remain, there will be no end of future trouble. He beat Little San into this state, and I fear Little San will come to dread him. If that happens, Little San's future cultivation will surely become even more difficult."
Hearing this, Tang Hao smiled.
His gaze settled on Yu Xiaogang's face, filled with undisguised contempt.
Borrowing a knife to kill someone?
How interesting.
But kill Lin Chuan?
Tang Hao had no such intention.
He only wanted to teach him a lesson-ideally, to beat him into an obedient dog.
That would be best of all.
At this thought, Tang Hao shook his head and said calmly:
"I will naturally go and teach him a lesson, but I will not kill him."
"Wouldn't it be too much of a pity to kill a genius with such tremendous talent? I will train him properly and make him willingly become a dog at Little San's side."
The moment those words landed.
Yu Xiaogang's heart plummeted.
Disappointment.
Utter and complete disappointment.
Lin Chuan could not be killed.
Why couldn't Lin Chuan be killed?
The scenes in his mind rolled backward.
Those were the moments when Lin Chuan had humiliated him.
Yu Xiaogang trembled slightly, his eyes rapidly becoming bloodshot and scarlet.
But in just a few breaths, he forcibly swallowed that fury back down.
He forced himself to calm down.
The thoughts in his mind turned over and over.
If he couldn't be killed, then keep him.
A living Lin Chuan was worth more than a dead Lin Chuan.
If he could put a collar on someone like that, pull out his fangs, and turn him into the most obedient dog...
That wouldn't be bad either.
He, Yu Xiaogang, was Little San's teacher.
Since Lin Chuan was going to be Little San's dog, wouldn't that, in a roundabout way, make him Yu Xiaogang's dog too?
However he calculated it, this deal was no loss.
When that day came.
When Lin Chuan knelt on the ground.
He would trample back every shred of dignity he had lost, with interest.
And so.
Yu Xiaogang raised his head and laughed.
His laughter echoed through the dilapidated room, carrying a measure of morbid satisfaction.
"Your Excellency Haotian is right."
"If such a gifted genius can have his rough edges ground down and be trained into the most obedient dog, naturally, nothing could be better."
He spoke with undisguised flattery in his tone.
Tang Hao did not reply, merely nodding once.
His gaze fell on the bed.
Tang San lay there unconscious.
Tang Hao extended his large hand, covered in rough calluses, and pressed his palm against Tang San's chest.
Soul power flowed along his arm, pouring in without cease.
A short while later.
Tang San's previously faint breathing gradually steadied, and a trace of color finally rose to his deathly pale cheeks.
"You had best keep those two tasks I gave you firmly in mind."
After finishing all this, Tang Hao offered that calm reminder.
Then he stood up and left the dilapidated room without further ado.
Just then, Yu Xiaogang stood up.
He stared in the direction Tang Hao had left.
The muscles in his face twitched slightly, and a vicious look crept over his features.
Curses surged up one after another in his heart.
A dog that lost its home.
Spirit Hall has hunted you for half your life. What have you got to be so arrogant about?
For making me kneel just now, I will repay you a hundredfold someday.
This was Yu Xiaogang.
Tang Hao had given him the Pope Token.
He had accepted it.
But that did not stop him from hating him.
Benefits were benefits.
Resentment was resentment.
He drew a clear distinction between the two in his heart.
He was the Grandmaster, after all.
Yet his dignity had been crushed by sheer strength, and he had been forcibly made to bend his knees.
He could not swallow this debt.
Just as Yu Xiaogang's thoughts twisted through a hundred turns, and he cursed Tang Hao over and over in his heart.
On the bed.
Tang San's young, dark face began to contort.
Panic spread across his brows and eyes. His limbs twitched and flailed wildly as his body thrashed on the bed.
He also kept begging for mercy:
"Don't kill me..."
"I truly did not mean to secretly read the Tang Sect's secret manuals."
"With talent like mine, why wouldn't you teach me?"
"Now that I have come into my own, you cannot kill me."
"I am willing to bow my head and serve for life, to toil like an ox or a horse."