Tang Hao was furious.
In his eyes, Spirit Hall was simply steeped in evil.
They had actually dared to hunt him and Ah Yin down.
And they could still enjoy such a good reputation?
Hadn't they merely handed out a few more Gold Soul Coins? What was so impressive about that?
Tang San really wanted to echo his father's words.
But he was a beneficiary himself, after all, and had collected quite a few Gold Soul Coins.
By a rough count, he had spent three years at the Soul Master stage and collected about 36 Gold Soul Coins.
During his three years at the Soul Grandmaster stage, he had collected nearly 360 Gold Soul Coins.
Besides, he would soon become a Soul Elder and receive 100 Gold Soul Coins every month.
That was no small sum to him either.
It was far more than he earned working as an apprentice at the smithy.
Among the Shrek Seven Devils, aside from filthy rich people like Ning Rongrong, who hadn't collected those Gold Soul Coins? Zhu Zhuqing, who had left her family, Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun and Oscar, who came from ordinary backgrounds, and even Xiao Wu, who might have a grudge against Spirit Hall-all of them had.
As the saying went, taking another's gifts softened your tongue, and eating their food weakened your hands.
At that moment, they all remained silent.
The world of Douluo II.
"Was the era ten thousand years ago really that wonderful?"
Huo Yuhao had escaped from the White Tiger Duke's Mansion and was heading toward the Star Dou Great Forest.
He bit into the baked flatbread in his mouth.
The cold flatbread was hard to swallow, but it could fill his stomach.
He thought of his deceased mother, Huo Yun'er.
A whole day of hard work in the Duke's Mansion had earned his mother just one baked flatbread.
So, however hard the bread was, he, Huo Yuhao, would gnaw it down bite by bite.
He had thought that this was simply how the world worked.
But ten thousand years ago, when Spirit Hall still existed, commoners could actually collect subsidies after becoming Soul Masters?
He was already at rank ten. Once he obtained a Soul Ring, he would be a true Soul Master.
If he had lived ten thousand years ago, he could have collected one Gold Soul Coin every month. How many flatbreads could that buy?
How many days would his mother have had to toil to earn that one Gold Soul Coin?
Huo Yuhao couldn't help feeling a deep pang of sorrow.
And everyone had actually had the right to awaken their Martial Soul.
Although he didn't want to acknowledge the White Tiger Duke as his father, without that father, even awakening his Martial Soul would not have been easy for him.
Perhaps something had gone wrong with this world.
He couldn't help thinking:
I must become a powerful Soul Master. I must avenge my mother! Change this world!
Shrek Academy.
Tang Ya looked at Bei Bei and said in surprise:
"So Soul Masters could actually collect subsidies ten thousand years ago."
"And once they became Soul Elders, they got 100 Gold Soul Coins!"
Bei Bei couldn't help smiling bitterly too.
The contrast was simply too stark.
Even now, students at Shrek Academy received subsidies issued by the three great empires-no, those couldn't be called subsidies. They were wages.
After all, subsidies came with no strings attached, while wages required something in return.
But even those wages were meager, nowhere near as generous as they had been ten thousand years ago.
On top of that, the purchasing power of Gold Soul Coins was completely different now from ten thousand years ago. Who knew how many times prices had risen?
The Divine Realm of Douluo II.
Watching Tang Wutong being suppressed into speechlessness by Qian Renxue, Xiao Wu couldn't help aching for her.
"Third Brother, is the lower realm really that bad now?"
Tang San couldn't help sighing too:
"Our Tang Sect has declined, and Shrek no longer has the influence it once did."
"I'm afraid it would be difficult to force through a subsidy policy the way Spirit Hall did."
He was deeply displeased as well. If the God of Destruction hadn't kept such a close watch on him, how could the Tang Sect and Shrek have fallen into this state?
He had originally intended to send Xiao Qi down to the lower realm and have her lure away the Child of Destiny along the way. Now even Xiao Qi herself was gone.
He had a headache over how to arrange his plans for the lower realm next.
The space-time of Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King.
"To think that our lord really studied this human knowledge."
"Our lord has sacrificed so much for the revival of the Soul Beasts."
Di Tian's feelings were even more complicated.
Their lord had clearly done her homework, yet who could have expected her to end up inside that Sky Screen?
In his view, if their lord had entered the human world directly, the Soul Beast Clan might really have had a chance at revival. Now everything was hard to say.
Aolai City.
Tang Wulin couldn't help looking at his father, Tang Ziran, in surprise.
"Daddy, was it really that good twenty thousand years ago?"
"A Soul Master could actually receive a subsidy of one Gold Soul Coin a month, a Soul Grandmaster got ten Gold Soul Coins, and a Soul Elder actually got 100!"
"And there weren't even any talent restrictions!"
Never mind Tang Wulin.
Even Tang Ziran was deeply envious.
After all, with his average talent, he had never enjoyed any academy subsidies or financial aid.
Had he been born ten thousand or twenty thousand years ago, perhaps he could have gone further.
How would he have ended up hiding here and there as he did now?
The modern world.
The animation continued playing.
First, Tang San helped Xiao Wu deal with Xiao Chenyu, the city lord's son, who had come to provoke the work-study students.
Then he went to the Spirit Hall Branch to have his Martial Soul tested and collect his subsidy. Afterward, to earn money as an apprentice at the smithy, he even demonstrated the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer.
Just like that, a year passed.
Tang San brought Xiao Wu back to Holy Soul Village to visit his father, Tang Hao.
But to his surprise, Tang Hao had already left without saying goodbye.
Tang San was deeply saddened. He had no family left.
"Dad is my only family. Without him, home is no longer home."
Xiao Wu said:
"Without your dad, don't you still have me as a friend? If you insist on finding a family member, I'll be your big sister."
"Come on, call me Sister Xiao Wu. Let me hear it."
Tang San retorted, "You seem to be a year younger than me. If you're willing to be my little sister, I have no objection."
Xiao Wu huffed, "Dream on. I'll only be a big sister, not a little sister."
Faced with Xiao Wu's refusal, Tang San took her to a patch of flowers on the hill behind the village.
Tang San said earnestly, "Xiao Wu, this is where I used to train. I have a question for you, and I hope you'll answer me seriously."
Xiao Wu said, "Mm, do you know how much you look like those old men at the academy right now?"
Tang San said, "Xiao Wu, would you be my little sister? I'll always protect my little sister. I won't let her suffer the slightest harm."
But Xiao Wu said sadly, "What if one day, lots of people want to kill me, and they're all people you can't beat?"
Tang San said firmly, "Then they'll have to step over my corpse."
Hearing Tang San's answer, Xiao Wu stood there, lovely and graceful, and softly called out, "Brother."
Watching the two amid the flowers, like a golden boy and jade maiden, Tang Wutong couldn't help her eyes reddening:
"Damn it, I never thought Dad was already such a flirt at that age."
Lin Hao teased:
"As the saying goes, first a friend, then a sister, and finally a little darling."
"Don't forget that your dad has lived two lives."
Tang Wutong: "..."
Little darling, my ass.
She still wanted to argue that her father definitely hadn't been thinking that way.
She had always firmly believed that her parents shared pure love. How could there possibly have been so many little schemes involved?
But at that moment, Lin Hao added:
"Still, master hunters often appear in the guise of prey."
"Xiao Wu is over a hundred thousand years older than Tang San."
"Who do you think was the prey? And who was the hunter?"
Gu Yuena blinked her large purple eyes at Lin Hao.
She felt that remark was very rude.
Wasn't it normal for Soul Beasts to be a little older?
She seemed to be caught in the line of fire too.
Qian Renxue said disdainfully:
"Who cares which one was the prey and which was the hunter?"
"Anyone can make promises like Tang San's."
"They're weightless words, anyway. They don't cost anything."
But Tang Wutong said unhappily, "My dad is different."
Both of them looked at Lin Hao at the same time, seemingly wanting him to act as referee.
Faced with the two women's gazes, Lin Hao couldn't help feeling a little torn.
As a little hater of God King Tang, he could find fault with anything else.
But when it came to pure love, Tang San's reputation was universally acknowledged, especially with his peers making him look better by comparison.
It was just that by the time of Douluo II, perhaps after gaining power, God King Tang had become a different person, vastly different from God King Tang in Douluo I.
So Lin Hao said:
"Leaving everything else aside, Tang San really did stand in front of Xiao Wu in the end."
Hearing that, Tang Wutong couldn't help proudly puffing out her chest.
The wheel of fortune turned.
This time, it was her turn to look down upon Qian Renxue from above.
Qian Renxue couldn't help pressing her lips together.
She held nothing but disdain for so-called love, because she had never seen any love between her parents.
The world of Douluo I.
Shrek Academy.
"Damn this Sky Screen!"
Tang San had just been clamoring to attack and destroy the Sky Screen; it already had a way to court death.
But now, he blushed instead.
He hadn't expected such embarrassing lines to be exposed by the Sky Screen.
And what the hell was all that Lin Hao had said?
First a friend, then a sister, and finally a little darling?
It was rather catchy?
But afterward, Lin Hao had also said something about master hunters always appearing in the guise of prey.
Could Xiao Wu have been the hunter?