The Next Morning,
Zhu Zhuqing, who was lying in bed, slowly opened her eyes, her expression still a bit dazed.
"You're awake?"
Yu Xiaowei's voice came. She was startled and immediately woke up fully.
Realizing this wasn't her usual room, she sat up straight and looked down to check if her clothes were still intact.
"Don't look at me. I'm already engaged, and I'm not interested in you."
Yu Xiaowei said unhappily, "Thanks to you, I got a room and had to sleep on the sofa."
Zhu Zhuqing blushed instantly, lifted the blanket, and jumped out of bed.
"Come here, breakfast is ready. Eat something before you leave."
Smelling the aroma of food, Zhu Zhuqing stepped out slowly while looking at Yu Xiaowei hesitantly.
"I'm not going to charge you. Just eat."
Hearing that, Zhu Zhuqing's face turned even redder, and she spoke in a low voice,
"Thank you."
"What did you say? Speak up."
Yu Xiaowei said impatiently, "Eat quickly, don't dawdle. You can go after you finish. I've still got things to do."
Zhu Zhuqing said nothing more, picked up the chopsticks, and began eating in large bites.
Last night, a servant had seen Yu Xiaowei carrying a woman back, so today's breakfast was particularly lavish.
The hungry boy and girl silently looked at each other and soon devoured all the food.
Yu Xiaowei sat sideways on a chair, picking his teeth with a toothpick while watching Zhu Zhuqing.
He hadn't seen her for three months. Her clothes were more worn now, but it was clear she still cared about her appearance. However, the tattered patches on her clothes couldn't hide the hardships she had endured over the past few months.
After eating, Zhu Zhuqing stood in front of Yu Xiaowei, looking a little lost.
"Why aren't you leaving? I didn't charge you for the food. If you don't go, I'll charge you."
Yu Xiaowei told her to leave without hesitation.
"Um. Um..."
Zhu Zhuqing fiddled with the corner of her clothes, too nervous to speak.
"Why are you so long-winded? If you've got something to say, say it. I won't bite you."
"Um... could you give me back my Soul Guide?"
Zhu Zhuqing pulled out two glowing gold soul coins from her pocket, handed them to Yu Xiaowei, and looked at him hopefully.
"I remember I said you owed me 10,000 gold soul coins, didn't I?"
Yu Xiaowei crossed his arms and rested his chin on his hand, looking at Zhu Zhuqing with a playful smile.
Hearing this, Zhu Zhuqing grew even more panicked and spoke with tears in her eyes.
"I tried my best. This is all I've saved."
"Alright, alright, I'm just messing with you. Here, I'll return it."
Yu Xiaowei hated seeing girls cry the most—and because of that, he'd been tricked countless times by Liu Erlong and Ning Rongrong.
He took a bracelet from the Soul Guide and tossed it over.
"Payment received, item returned. You can go now."
Zhu Zhuqing quickly took the Soul Guide, checked it, and confirmed everything inside was intact. She bowed her head and said again,
"Thank you."
"Heh, I just robbed you, and you're still thanking me. Go."
Zhu Zhuqing, as if pardoned, ran out swiftly.
"Tsk tsk, after all, she's just a 12-year-old girl."
Watching her panicked back, Yu Xiaowei sighed.
After instructing the servant to clean the room, he went out, preparing to leave. He had wasted the entire morning and had to rush to the city gate to keep watch.
Just as he reached the stairs, he saw Zhu Zhuqing standing at the stairwell corner, looking down with a complicated expression.
"Why are you still here?"
Zhu Zhuqing didn't turn around, as if she hadn't heard him.
Yu Xiaowei walked over in confusion and found her body trembling slightly, with two long tear streaks on her face.
He followed her gaze.
Two groups of people were arguing downstairs.
On one side was a boy in light blue clothes and a girl in a pink top with her long hair tied in a neat ponytail.
On the other side was a tall blond man with double pupils, accompanied by a pair of elegant twins around 17 or 18 years old.
Wow, it feels like searching all over and not finding anything, then stumbling upon it without even trying!
Yu Xiaowei was ecstatic.
Damn it, he didn't know when Tang San would enter the city, and afraid of missing him, he had been crouching at the restaurant every day to watch the city gate, nearly exhausting himself.
Now everything was great—everyone had arrived.
The First Fight Between Tang San and Dai Mubai
He happily sat on the stairs and tugged on Zhu Zhuqing's sleeve.
"Why are you crying? I just returned your Soul Guide. Shouldn't you be happy? Come on, sit here. Watching people fight is quite fun."
Zhu Zhuqing, with tears still on her face, hesitated a moment, wiped her tears, then sat beside him with her lips pursed.
The conflict downstairs escalated as both sides argued louder.
Manager Wang of the hotel rushed over from backstage. After saying a few words to calm them, the argument intensified.
Seeing Xiao Wu pointing at Manager Wang and scolding him, Yu Xiaowei licked his lips.
A hundred-thousand-year-old soul beast.
Right in front of him.
Then he laughed at himself—what was he thinking? If he tried absorbing a hundred-thousand-year soul ring now, wouldn't he just explode and die?
During this time, Tang San and Dai Mubai had already started fighting.
The moment the fight began, the two exchanged blows. Dai Mubai's strike was blocked, but Tang San retreated four or five steps.
In the first round, Dai Mubai won.
Seeing Tang San's jade-like right hand, Yu Xiaowei rubbed his chin in thought. He recognized it as the Xuan Yu Hand.
It was said to be immune to all poisons and as hard as stone.
But he wondered—whose fists were tougher?
Then the two began round two.
This time, things were more intense. Both used hands and feet, displaying various small techniques and movements.
This round ended when Dai Mubai was thrown five meters back, giving Tang San a slight edge.
Yu Xiaowei couldn't help but praise them in his heart.
Quite impressive, and the fight looked just like a martial arts film—very entertaining.
The close combat ended, and next was a contest between soul masters.
The trumpet of battle sounded as Dai Mubai activated his martial soul, and Tang San revealed his Blue Silver Grass.
"Tsk tsk, Blue Silver Grass, looks lame. And the other is a White Tiger? Interesting."
Yu Xiaowei commented coldly, not noticing Zhu Zhuqing crying again when she heard "White Tiger."
"Dai Mubai, Martial Soul: White Tiger. Battle Soul Master, level 37. Please advise me."
"Tang San, Martial Soul: Blue Silver Grass. Tool Soul Master, level 29. Please advise me."
The hotel fight grew even more intense.
Tang San displayed the traits of a control-type soul master excellently, while Dai Mubai showed the overwhelming force of a power-type soul master (ridiculously so).
After seeing Tang San entangle Dai Mubai, Yu Xiaowei curled his lip and sneered.
"Idiot. That guy's using Blue Silver Grass and he's still not treating him like a human. If he doesn't have extra soul skills, it'd be strange if he didn't get slaughtered like a pig."
When Dai Mubai's third soul ring lit up, he used White Tiger Vajra Transformation.
After his second transformation, he turned the tide instantly. But after defeating Tang San, he didn't press the attack. Instead, he waved to the twins and walked out.
Yu Xiaowei's comment on their fight was:
"All those fancy moves are useless."
A suppressed sob came from beside him. Yu Xiaowei turned to see Zhu Zhuqing. Though he knew why, he still asked smugly,
"Why are you crying again? Is your lover one of them?"
Zhu Zhuqing didn't want to answer at first, but then she thought about how Dai Mubai was openly embracing those twins, while she had been sleeping rough and dodging danger for the past two years. Her sadness overwhelmed her.
"Yeah, the blond one is my fiancé."
"Ohhhh——"
"This scumbag sure knows how to play!"
Dai Mubai, who had just exited the hotel, suddenly turned back for some unknown reason.
When he saw Zhu Zhuqing sobbing and Yu Xiaowei sitting next to her, he inexplicably became furious, pointed at Yu Xiaowei, and shouted.
"You! What are you looking at? You wanna get beat up?"
Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Manager Wang, who were checking in, all looked over curiously.
They saw a young man about the same height as Dai Mubai walking down the stairs, clenching his fists as he went.
"This is the first time I've seen someone walk into my place just to get beaten up."