"Dad, don't panic. Let me explain."
Xiao Xuan took a deep breath and briefly recounted how he had turned the tables and killed Ma Xiu.
Naturally, he left out the fact that Ma Xiu had possessed a Soul Bone, lest the explanation grow more confusing.
Cold sweat poured down Xiao Wuyong's back as he listened. He was so nervous that his heart nearly leaped out of his throat!
Lingering fear, horror, disbelief...
Even he, a veteran Soul Grandmaster, wouldn't have dared thump his chest and claim he could beat that desperado for certain, yet his son had... executed him on the spot?!
Once the shock passed, however, Xiao Wuyong came to his senses and immediately understood what his son intended.
No one knew a son better than his father.
"Whew..."
Xiao Wuyong let out a long breath, the shock in his eyes swiftly giving way to gravity and pride.
He turned around and said solemnly, "Xuan'er, I understand what you mean!"
"Don't worry! I'll take this head to Spirit Hall and claim the bounty for you. I'll say I ambushed him in the mountains and chopped him down!"
At that, Xiao Wuyong lowered his gruff voice and leaned close to Xiao Xuan's ear to warn him:
"But about this... when we get home, don't tell your mother! If she finds out you risked your life fighting a wanted criminal like him on the back mountain, the fright will make her sick!"
Xiao Xuan grinned and nodded vigorously.
"Don't worry, Dad. I know!"
"That's my boy! You've got guts, just as a child of the Xiao family should!"
Xiao Wuyong said no more. A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes as he raised his blade and brought it down.
He cleanly severed Ma Xiu's head, then tore a large piece of thick, coarse cloth from the black robe and wrapped the head securely in layers upon layers before gripping it firmly in his hand.
"Come on! We're going back to Nuoding City right now!"
Father and son made it back to Nuoding City before the gates closed, then headed to Spirit Hall.
Inside Spirit Hall, the atmosphere was somewhat oppressive.
Su Yuntao was slumped in a leather chair, rubbing his aching temples with both hands and sighing incessantly.
What a headache!
He was so worried his scalp was tingling!
Ma Xiu, the desperado roaming around Nuoding City, had been wanted from late autumn all the way to the turn of winter and spring. He had caused trouble for nearly three whole months!
To root out this blight, Su Yuntao had even borrowed two Soul Elder deacons from a branch hall in a neighboring high-ranking province to personally take part in the manhunt.
He had thought catching Ma Xiu would be as easy as reaching out and grabbing him. Who would have guessed the man was as slippery as an oiled loach? Though the two Soul Elders had joined forces and injured him, he had fucking escaped again at the last moment!
Now the two Soul Elder deacons he had called in had gone back, and the pressure was on Su Yuntao once more.
"What a disaster! If that old bastard recovers from his injuries and comes back, how the hell am I supposed to clean up the mess in Nuoding City?!"
Just then.
"Knock, knock, knock."
A moment later, an extremely familiar, somewhat youthful voice drifted in from outside the door:
"Lord Deacon, are you in there?"
Su Yuntao froze for a moment.
He opened the door and peeked out, spotting a middle-aged man standing beside Xiao Xuan.
"Xiao Xuan?!"
Su Yuntao paused and instinctively glanced at the darkness outside the window.
It's already so late. What does this kid want with me?
He couldn't have come to look at the cultivation manuals again, could he?
At the thought of the manuals, Su Yuntao couldn't help muttering to himself inwardly.
After Xiao Xuan had gone through the manuals at his place last time, Su Yuntao had thought he would come looking for him again. Instead, he hadn't shown his face for a full two or three months.
Could he really have memorized them all after reading them once?
Unaware of Su Yuntao's thoughts, Xiao Xuan pointed to Xiao Wuyong beside him and said:
"Lord Deacon, my dad... killed a wanted criminal in the mountains today."
"I think... his name was Ma Xiu."
"Pfft-what did you say?!"
Su Yuntao jolted as if he had been struck by lightning, his eyes instantly widening bigger than copper bells.
"You... who did you just say?! Ma Xiu?!"
After hearing their account, Su Yuntao quickly accepted that the Xiao father and son had joined forces to kill Ma Xiu.
After all, the matter that had troubled him for months had finally been settled today, and he was happier than anyone.
Su Yuntao then turned, took a black card from a cabinet, and handed it to Xiao Wuyong.
"The bounty is on this card: five thousand Gold Soul Coins in total."
"F-five thousand?!"
At the amount, Xiao Wuyong's hand shook, and he nearly dropped the card.
"D-didn't the bounty notice say only one thousand?"
"Hahaha! There's something you don't know, brother!"
Su Yuntao smiled, then picked up a brand-new bounty notice from the table.
"You're in luck. The bounty was just increased today, and you took Ma Xiu out right after that, so you've earned the extra four thousand!"
Hearing this, Xiao Xuan and Xiao Wuyong exchanged a glance, happy smiles appearing on both their faces.
An extra four thousand for nothing-this trip had been worth it!
After they left Spirit Hall, Xiao Wuyong promptly pressed the black card into Xiao Xuan's hand.
"Xuan'er, take this money and decide how to use it yourself."
Xiao Xuan was momentarily taken aback. "Dad, this is five thousand Gold Soul Coins. You're giving it all to me?"
"Of course! You're the one who killed him, and you risked your own life to earn it. Naturally, you're the one who should manage the money!"
Xiao Wuyong widened his tiger-like eyes and lowered his voice. "I'm a rough man. All I know is how to handle blades and spears; I can't manage a large sum of money."
"You've been mature beyond your years since you were little, and you're more methodical than I am. Now that you have strength too, those five thousand Gold Soul Coins will be more useful in your hands than mine!"
Looking into his father's eyes, free of any ulterior thoughts, Xiao Xuan felt a warm current flow through his heart.
In two lifetimes, how fortunate he was to have such a protective and selfless close relative!
Xiao Xuan didn't stand on ceremony. After pondering briefly, he already had a clear plan in mind.
"Keep the card for now. Tomorrow, withdraw a thousand Gold Soul Coins from the bank to expand the business. That way, you won't have to risk your life out in the wilderness with the mercenary group anymore."
"As for the rest, use another five hundred Gold Soul Coins to ask someone to help find information on Lone Bamboo over a thousand years old."
"Thousand-year Lone Bamboo?!"
Xiao Wuyong's expression shifted. Though he couldn't conceal his doubts, he thought of Xiao Xuan's Mutated Martial Soul and tactfully swallowed his questions.
Ordinary people didn't need to understand the world of geniuses. Supporting them wholeheartedly was the right thing to do!
"Don't worry, Xuan'er! Leave it to me!"
"Okay!"
Xiao Xuan grinned.
After spending fifteen hundred Gold Soul Coins, he would still have thirty-five hundred left. That was enough to buy Whale Rubber and Flender's slab of crystal!
The short winter break of just over a month soon came to an end.
On the day before the break ended, Xiao Xuan said goodbye to his parents and returned to Nuoding Academy.
School life was as monotonous and fulfilling as ever.
Spring passed into autumn, and the cold and heat took turns.
Before he knew it, three years had passed just like that.
During those three years, Xiao Xuan synthesized three pieces of Thousand-Year Whale Rubber into one piece of supreme-grade Whale Rubber and completed his third round of body refinement.
Those three rounds of body refinement had improved Xiao Xuan's physique tremendously, which also meant that any further gains from using Whale Rubber to refine his body would be greatly reduced.
Fortunately, Xiao Xuan's current physique was already capable of bearing a Thousand-Year Soul Ring, and his Soul Power was now only one level away from level twenty.