"Bang bang... bang bang..."
Tang Hao swung the hammer and appeared in front of the bleeding Tang San, raising it high.
"Ahh... wuwu..."
Tang San kept screaming and howling.
After a while, his head was covered in blood, his face a mix of blue and red, swollen like a pig's head.
"Woo woo..."
Tang San cried out, his heart filled with despair. Was his father crazy? Why was he beating him so mercilessly?
Tang Hao noticed he'd beaten him enough and put away the Clear Sky Hammer.
"In the future, when you see my son, you must treat him with courtesy!"
He finished speaking and vanished into the night like a black shadow.
Tang San sobbed pitifully, feeling extremely wronged. Was his father out of his mind? He treated him like an outsider, beat him up, and then told him to treat him politely when they met.
Completely speechless, he kept crying, "Woo woo..."
When Zhang Fan heard Tang San's crying, he couldn't help but laugh.
"You reap what you sow. Let your father be so arrogant!"
Zhang Fan sneered, then quickly returned to his bed to sleep.
As soon as he returned, Xiao Wu jumped into his arms.
The feeling was really nice—soft and warm.
"Master!" Xiao Wu whispered.
"What's the matter?" Zhang Fan groggily asked, almost asleep when Xiao Wu woke him.
"Shall we go out and look at the stars?" Xiao Wu asked, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder.
"Hmm... you want to spar with me, right? Were you dissatisfied with our previous match?" Zhang Fan looked at Xiao Wu and asked.
"I think Master's strength is impressive. I came here to learn and become stronger, of course, I want to spar with Master more!" Xiao Wu pouted.
"Alright, I'll indulge you." Zhang Fan said, then stood up and led Xiao Wu outside the seventh dormitory.
The sky was filled with stars.
"Wow, I didn't expect to see the Milky Way tonight!" Xiao Wu pointed to the distant stars and jumped for joy.
"Yeah, it's my first time seeing it too!" Zhang Fan replied. He had come from Blue Star to Douluo Continent and was also seeing the Milky Way for the first time. With much less light pollution here, there were more chances to see it at night.
They arrived at the playground.
"Here I come!"
Xiao Wu rushed at Zhang Fan and attacked with a rabbit-kick-eagle move. Her wrestling skills were skillful and precise.
From time to time, she would wrap her legs around his neck, trying to throw him backward, and she kept using different throws, both from behind and front.
Zhang Fan effortlessly countered every move.
Xiao Wu, panting and drenched in sweat, was speechless as each of her attacks was easily countered.
"Xiao Wu, seems like you can't keep up!"
"I can't keep up? Then let's see if I can!" Xiao Wu grinned and attacked again, but was knocked back by Zhang Fan.
"Master, I want more! Let's go again..."
Soon, they sparred across the entire playground. A female teacher passed by and scolded them.
"What are you doing? You can't be flirting here!"
The female teacher couldn't take it anymore when she saw them hugging each other.
"We're sparring!" Xiao Wu's face turned red as she tried to explain.
"Sparring? Sparring while lying on the grass? You're so young, what will you be like when you grow up?" The teacher scolded.
...
Since the explanation didn't work, they resorted to force and dealt with the teacher.
Zhang Fan and Xiao Wu then returned to the dormitory.
"Master, you were so amazing just now... you're really strong!" Xiao Wu said, admiring him after their match.
"..." Zhang Fan couldn't help but feel that Xiao Wu's words had a different meaning now.
He shook his head.
Meanwhile, Tang San, whose face was still swollen from the previous beating, had sneaked out to watch their sparring session.
He was both amazed and terrified by Zhang Fan's skills. Xiao Wu was already strong, yet every single one of her attacks had been effortlessly countered.
Of course, Tang San was also very envious. He couldn't help but feel jealous that Zhang Fan could be so close to a lovely beauty like Xiao Wu.
He couldn't help but feel envy, jealousy, and hatred.
...
The next day.
After breakfast, Tang San called Zhang Fan over.
Zhang Fan was stunned when he saw Tang San's swollen face.
"What happened to you?" Zhang Fan asked in surprise.
"I was beaten up by a drunkard last night!" Tang San sighed helplessly.
"You're really unlucky!" Zhang Fan held back his laughter, his face twisting.
They arrived outside Notting College.
"Zhang Fan, come on board the carriage. Let's head to the Soul Hunting Forest!" Yu Xiaogang smiled.
"Okay, but I'll pay for the carriage!" Zhang Fan immediately pulled out five silver soul coins and handed them to the coachman. Of course, he wouldn't let Yu Xiaogang cover it for him.
A gold soul coin is worth ten silver soul coins, and one silver soul coin equals one hundred bronze soul coins. One gold soul coin was the equivalent of Tang San's three years of work at Notting College.
"Okay!" Yu Xiaogang noticed Zhang Fan paid himself and assumed their relationship was strong enough that he didn't need to pay.
Zhang Fan sat at the back, while Yu Xiaogang and Tang San sat across from each other.
The coachman drove the carriage forward.
"Tang San, summon your Blue Silver Chicken!"
Yu Xiaogang looked at Tang San, surprised.
"Why are you swollen like a pig's head? What happened?"
"I was beaten up by my alcoholic father!" Tang San muttered, feeling embarrassed.
"Your father really knows how to drink!" Zhang Fan grinned.
Tang San rolled his eyes at Zhang Fan, raised his hand, and a blue light flashed. "Haha..."
A blue-silver chicken appeared on his right hand, curiously looking around.
"Pah..."
The chicken tried to fly off Tang San's hand but was caught by Yu Xiaogang.
"The Blue Silver Chicken is quite soft... it has no rigidity!"
Yu Xiaogang grabbed the chicken by its head and tail, pulling it out half a meter long.
"Good resilience. It could develop into a control-type spirit!"
"Control-type?" Tang San frowned, surprised. "How do I control this? Does it stretch and wrap around enemies?"
"Yes, exactly!" Yu Xiaogang nodded seriously.
"Then let's give it a try!" Tang San agreed.
Zhang Fan looked at the Blue Silver Chicken, which Tang San had been training with for two and a half years. His expression was strange.
He hadn't expected the chicken to be this resilient.
It was truly an eye-opener.
"This time, we're heading to the Soul Hunting Forest, 400 miles northeast of Notting City, to find a suitable soul beast for you." Yu Xiaogang, dressed in black, had a stiff face that didn't match the situation.
"We categorize soul beasts into ten-year soul beasts, hundred-year soul beasts, thousand-year soul beasts, ten-thousand-year soul beasts, and hundred-thousand-year soul beasts. The soul rings are white for ten years, yellow for a hundred years, purple for a thousand years, black for ten thousand years, and red for a hundred thousand years. Most of the soul beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest are ten to a hundred years old, with very few thousand-year soul beasts."
"Oh, damn... I mean, wow, teacher is awesome!" Tang San muttered, but his admiration turned into a strange look.
"How many years of soul rings do I need to absorb?"
"As a level 10 soul warrior, you can only absorb a hundred-year soul beast at most. If you try to absorb a thousand-year soul ring, your body won't be able to handle it and will be torn apart by the soul power. When absorbing a soul ring, no external force can assist you—you'll have to rely on yourself."
Yu Xiaogang said confidently, looking at Zhang Fan, hoping to see admiration in his eyes. After all, Zhang Fan was only six years old. How could he not admire someone as knowledgeable as Yu Xiaogang?
But when he looked at Zhang Fan, there was no admiration. Instead, he saw contempt.
"Zhang Fan, why don't you agree with my perspective?" Yu Xiaogang frowned and asked.
"No reason!" Zhang Fan shook his head. He planned to separate from Yu Xiaogang and the others once they entered the Soul Hunting Forest. He would hunt soul beasts on his own, looking for a thousand-year-old one. If he couldn't find one, he would settle for a hundred-year-old and then modify the soul ring's age using the system.
(End of this chapter)