Chapter 49: Tang San: Are You Going to Steal My Chance to Shine Too?

Tang Wulin worked extremely hard to earn money, going to the forge room to forge every day, then taking the metal to the Blacksmith Association to turn in missions, so exhausted each day that he would collapse on his bed the moment he returned to the dormitory, unconscious.

Is it love?

Is it responsibility?

Perhaps both, but Tang Wulin felt the core reason was — he was poor!

"Poverty makes people progress; the teacher's words in class today really made a lot of sense."

Walking on the road to the Blacksmith Association, Tang Wulin muttered to himself, then discovered his Soul Guide Communication Device was ringing — it was his parents calling — and he answered happily.

"Hello, Dad, Mom, are you coming to East Sea?"

On the other end, Tang Ziran and his wife looked at each other and laughed lightly; Tang Ziran said with a smile, "Wu Lin, we have a home in East Sea now. Although it's just rented for now, we already have a place to stay in East Sea."

"Really?" Tang Wulin was overjoyed. "Where's the home? I'll come find you."

Tang Ziran: "It's right at……"

Hearing the location Tang Ziran gave, Tang Wulin discovered it was surprisingly a place he had been to before.

It was near that Snack Street he and Xie Xie had gone to before!

Dad and Mom probably chose to settle there because they felt safe with a Four-ring Soul Ancestor guarding the place, right?

Thinking this, Tang Wulin said he'd be right there, put away his Soul Guide Communication Device, and ran happily toward Snack Street.

In East Sea, he had a home too!

……

"This child, really so impatient."

Looking at the hung-up Soul Guide Communication Device, Tang Ziran glanced at his wife and smiled helplessly.

"He misses us a lot too."

Lang Yue said with a smile.

—Ding-dong!

The doorbell suddenly rang for no reason, startling both of them; they looked toward the doorway in puzzlement.

Who is it? Did Wu Lin get here this fast?

Tang Ziran frowned, stood up, walked to the doorway, and looked outside through the peephole.

Outside stood a tall, sturdy man wearing a black cloak; the cloak's hood concealed his face, only a pair of deep eyes faintly visible.

When Tang Ziran saw him, he only felt his whole body turn cold, as if falling into an ice cellar; the entire room seemed to turn gloomy along with it.

Tang Ziran's pupils contracted; he hurriedly turned back to Lang Yue's side. "Run, they've come."

Panic flashed through Lang Yue's eyes, but thinking of Tang Wulin, she barely calmed down. "If we leave, what about Wu Lin? If they go after Wu Lin……"

Tang Ziran's movement paused, his expression likewise turning complex.

Right, if they just leave, what about Wu Lin?

The doorbell rang incessantly by their ears like a death-summoning talisman, throwing Tang Ziran's thoughts into chaos.

Finally, he took a deep breath, still gave up the idea of leaving, turned around, and opened the door.

"We'll go with you."

The black-robed man's mouth corner revealed a trace of a smile; he turned to lead the two away, but his gaze suddenly sharpened, looking toward the shadowed corner. A scepter appeared in his hand, and four soul rings gradually emerged around his body.

Two yellow, two purple; the soul rings' outer layers even carried faint green mist.

"Come out!"

Seeing he couldn't stay hidden, Light Dragon walked straight out from the corner, his whole body covered in gray scales, four optimally configured soul rings likewise circling him; at the same time, a lizard and a Giant Python Soul Spirit emerged, turning into yellow and purple light spheres floating beside him.

"Are you rats from the sewers stupid? Wearing black robes wandering around in broad daylight — nearby residents have all come to report you."

Looking at the black-robed man before him, Light Dragon mocked with his mouth, but his eyes were very solemn.

This kind of cold, yin aura — without a doubt, he wasn't an ordinary Soul Master, but an Evil Soul Master!

Evil Soul Masters' methods are bizarre; even though both were four-ring, he couldn't guarantee victory, so he could only release his soul spirits to help.

This approach isn't actually advocated; under a Spirit Soul Contract, if a soul spirit dies in battle, it needs a very long time to nurture and revive inside the Soul Master's body, affecting soul skill power and feeding back injuries to the Soul Master — the stronger the Soul Master, the less they'd choose this method, especially Mecha Masters and Battle Armor Masters.

But Light Dragon wasn't a powerful Soul Master, let alone a Mecha Master or Battle Armor Master; the combat power provided by soul spirits wasn't weak and could significantly raise his win rate — he had no reason not to use them.

"Captain Light Dragon?!" Tang Ziran, seeing Light Dragon, was momentarily overjoyed, but glancing at the unmoved Evil Soul Master beside him, he opened his mouth yet dared not say more, merely pulling Lang Yue to retreat backward as much as possible, trying to distance themselves from the battlefield.

The Evil Soul Master paid no mind to the two's small movements, only coldly laughing at Light Dragon: "Ironclad Dragon martial soul? Your brother I'd still be wary of three parts; what are you?"

Light Dragon: "Heh, judging by your lack of a soul spirit, you couldn't restrain your martial soul's ability even before the assessment and became an Evil Soul Master, right? Not a shred of self-control — trash!"

The Evil Soul Master's eyes widened fiercely at those words, staring fixedly at Light Dragon, his gaze gloomy to the extreme.

As Light Dragon said, he hadn't held back.

Before obtaining his First Spirit Soul, he had already used Evil Soul Master abilities; from then on it was unstoppable, immersing himself in the pleasure of rapidly advancing his cultivation, until he came to his senses and found himself at a point of no return — he simply didn't dare go to the Spirit Pagoda, and naturally lost the chance for sponsorship.

From then on he lived drifting days, until joining the Holy Spirit Cult……

Discovering he seemed to have struck a nerve, Light Dragon didn't stop talking, continuously attacking his opponent's mindset: "Now the only Spirit Beast Habitat you can roam is the ocean; hunting soul beasts for soul rings in the Far Sea — the taste isn't pleasant, is it? Taking this long to reach just four rings at your age — spent quite a bit of time, didn't you?"

"Heh, what do you know? The Holy Religion has its own methods."

The Evil Soul Master took a deep breath and said sinisterly: "You're trying to stall for time, waiting for the Mecha Battalion people to arrive, right? Too bad, you miscalculated."

The moment his voice fell, a burst of intense green light exploded from his body.

The green light, like mist, instantly expanded, enveloping the surroundings.

"My martial soul can control plague. How long have you all been with me?"

Light Dragon and the Tang Ziran couple heard this, and their faces instantly changed.

……

By the time Tang Wulin happily returned home, what he saw were his parents collapsed on the ground with pained expressions, and Light Dragon seized in the Evil Soul Master's hand; his excited expression vanished, replaced by a blank look.

This is — what's going on?

"What a pity, the one you've been waiting for is just a brat." The Evil Soul Master glanced at Tang Wulin, sneered coldly, and threw the green-faced Guang Long onto the ground, then turned and walked toward Tang Ziran and his wife.

If not for him controlling the strength, these two ordinary people would have died long ago.

"Let go of my dad and mom!" Tang Wulin glared at the Evil Soul Master, a Yellow Soul Ring appeared beside him, and he lunged at the Evil Soul Master, but just as he entered the other's surroundings, he fell to the ground, his whole body powerless.

"Hehe." The Evil Soul Master glanced at Tang Ziran and his wife, "So you have a child too, truly unexpected."

"Please... spare Wu Lin, we... will go with you." Lang Yue looked at Tang Wulin struggling to come over, her heart ached, and she said in a halting voice.

"That won't do, with him around, you'll work for the Holy Religion more wholeheartedly." An evil smile appeared on the Evil Soul Master's face, his palm reached for Tang Wulin.

Tang San's Divine Sense perceived that Tang Wulin had encountered danger, he abruptly woke with a start, probed the situation outside, and his face revealed surprise.

Good, Evil Soul Master, you did well! But you've already courted death, now I'll use your life to exchange for Wu Lin's trust right away!

Bang!

A loud boom exploded out of thin air, a black Mecha suddenly descended from the sky, kicking up a cloud of smoke and dust, and both Tang San's Divine Sense and the Evil Soul Master's smile froze on their faces.

Damn, a plant!

(End of Chapter)