Back at Shrek, Tang San watched Er Ming and Xiao Wu getting closer every day due to their joint training for Soul Duels. Despite the constant advice from the Shrek Trio to be more tolerant, Tang San still found the sight a bit too eye-piercing.
The one who should be beside my dear Xiao Wu is me—Tang San!
With that in mind, Tang San adjusted his strategy: he'd win her over by dominating in the Soul Arena. One brilliant victory after another would show off his strength and masculinity.
What was Tang San best at? Hidden weapons.
In one match, he easily took down his opponent using hidden weapons. Elated, he rushed to Xiao Wu, expecting praise.
But instead, she frowned.
"Ah-San giegie… Can't you stop using such underhanded tricks to win? Can't you fight with a little more honor—like Dai Mubai and Er Ming gege?"
Tang San: @#%￥%%!!!
Fine. If hidden weapons weren't allowed, he'd just seal them away for now. But that didn't mean he was out of options.
Still, those flashy wins didn't quite satisfy him. Xiao Wu's gaze always lingered on the ones with the flashiest soul skills—Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, Er Ming.
That stung.
Then he thought of his Eight Spider Lances—his ultimate flex tool from earlier days. If he had those, he could definitely grab her attention.
And then, he thought of his master. The buzz-cut man.
Just thinking about that guy made Tang San furious again.
Yu Xiaogang, you bastard! You got your external soul bone—now hurry up and come back already! Do you even know how much showing off time you've cost me?!
What Tang San didn't know… was that at this very moment, Yu Xiaogang was also thinking longingly of him.
That day, after completing their training at the Soto City Great Spirit Arena, the students of Shrek Academy were making their way back to the school.
Along the road, Xiao Wu was chatting and laughing with Er Ming while holding hands. Not far away, Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and Oscar surrounded Tang San.
Tang San, watching Xiao Wu holding hands with Er Ming, was seething inside. Rage surged through him. But to avoid ruining the image Xiao Wu had of him, he had no choice but to suppress the intense jealousy in his heart.
Just as they were about to enter the village, a filthy little beggar with a crew cut, reeking of rot and looking grimy all over, suddenly leapt out from behind a rock at the village gate and pounced straight onto Tang San.
Caught off guard, Tang San found himself smothered in the beggar's horrible rotten-osmanthus-flower stench, and his mood worsened instantly.
Without hesitation, Tang San threw the beggar to the ground and started punching and kicking him viciously.
"Stop hitting me! Stop! I'm your teacher!" the crew-cut beggar pleaded while hugging his head, but his jaw had dislocated and his voice was hoarse—his words were barely intelligible.
But Tang San, as if he hadn't heard a word, beat the beggar until his face was black and blue, and only stopped when—
Flender recognized the beggar's identity as Yu Xiaogang and hurried over to stop him:
"Enough, Tang San! That's your teacher!"
Tang San "paused in surprise," then examined him carefully. Suddenly "shocked," he quickly helped the crew-cut beggar up and said with guilt,
"Teacher?! You're my teacher? I'm sorry… I didn't recognize you."
In truth, Tang San had recognized Yu Xiaogang from the very beginning.
But he had used the excuse of "not recognizing him" to vent the grievances and frustrations he had bottled up over Xiao Wu and Er Ming—directly onto Yu Xiaogang.
Flender summoned a healing-type soul master to treat Yu Xiaogang.
After his treatment, Yu Xiaogang said nothing in response to Flender's questioning. That memory was far too humiliating for him. He didn't want any third party to know.
Later, in private, Tang San knocked on the door of Yu Xiaogang's study and entered.
"Xiaosan…" Yu Xiaogang looked away awkwardly. He had dearly missed his obedient disciple on the way back, but now that they were face to face, he hesitated—because he hadn't completed the task Tang San had given him.
"Teacher," Tang San asked with a façade of politeness, "I came to ask—did you retrieve my external soul bone?"
Knowing there was no way to dodge it, Yu Xiaogang tried to divert the topic:
"Xiaosan, even without that soul bone, your twin martial spirits are still extraordinary talents, aren't they?"
"Yu Xiaogang—" Tang San's face changed instantly. He gritted his teeth and growled,
"So in other words, you didn't manage to get my soul bone back from Bibi Dong, did you."
"Xiaosan, you're calling me by name? You won't even call me teacher anymore?" Yu Xiaogang clutched his chest in pain,
"You once said—'a teacher for a day, a father for life'…"
"I said—" Tang San's eyes turned bloodshot as he roared like a bull,
"I said if you brought back my soul bone, then you would be my teacher for life. Did you do that?!"
"But… but 'a teacher for a day, a father for life'... no matter what, I'm still your teacher!" Yu Xiaogang tried to cling to that phrase, thick-skinned enough to force the title of "father" onto Tang San.
"You? Worthy of that title?" Tang San raised his hand and slapped Yu Xiaogang hard across the face.
"Xiaosan, you hit me? You actually hit your teacher?" Yu Xiaogang looked at him in heartbroken disbelief.
"I'm not just going to hit you… I'm going to beat you."
To outsiders, Tang San had to maintain a polished, respectful image. He had to act like he honored his teacher.
But in private, there was no need to pretend. Especially not in front of Yu Xiaogang—he wasn't even worth it.
Tang San immediately started pummeling him. After all, his level now surpassed Yu Xiaogang's. He could completely reverse the power dynamic.
"Urghhhh—AHHHHHHHH—!"
Yu Xiaogang's painful wails and cries for mercy echoed from the room.
When Tang San had finally vented enough, he asked:
"Yu Xiaogang, didn't you say you had history with Bibi Dong? Why couldn't you even complete such a simple task?"
He thought back to how much the timeline had shifted… how, even when he invoked Yu Xiaogang's name in front of Bibi Dong, it had been completely useless. She had still forcibly taken the soul bone.
And this time, when he asked Yu Xiaogang to go to Spirit Hall to retrieve it, the guy came back like this.
Tang San was now beginning to doubt whether Yu Xiaogang had any remaining value.
Maybe his connection with Bibi Dong wasn't as strong as Tang San had assumed.
If that was the case, then this chamber pot could be thrown away.
Yu Xiaogang rubbed his crew cut and said,
"Xiaosan… I didn't even get to see Bibi Dong. I was stopped at the entrance to the Pope's Hall by two guard hounds raised by Spirit Hall. They said my Pope's Token was invalid and detained me."
"Invalid Pope's Token???" Tang San was stunned.
"I only learned this after arriving—Spirit Hall has restructured the upper clans and recalled all previously issued Pope's Tokens. They've re-cast new ones. The old tokens floating outside, like the one from the Clear Sky Sect, are now useless.
Going to Spirit Hall with mine was like walking into a trap. Before I could even meet Dong'er, I was already imprisoned and tortured for a month."
Yu Xiaogang looked at Tang San with a pitiful expression, hoping to gain some comfort.
But Tang San ignored his look and muttered to himself,
"So that's it… makes sense now."
In his previous life, Yu Xiaogang's Pope's Token had worked wonders. Just flashing it could get him respect from any Spirit Hall elder below the elder level. Even Salas had to show him courtesy.
As for the lower-tier dogs, if you told them to kneel, they knelt; told them to scram, they scrammed. It was a highly effective tool.
Tang San had admired Yu Xiaogang during that time.
But later, he learned from his father that the token actually belonged to the Clear Sky Sect.
All his admiration evaporated.
So it wasn't even Yu Xiaogang's own achievement. He had been posturing with Tang Hao's item.
Was it fun for him to show off with my father's belongings?
Still, having lived a second life, Tang San understood: the Pope's Token's maximum value could only be realized in Yu Xiaogang's hands.
He just hadn't expected that the token itself would be the issue this time.
"So, in that case—" a glint flashed through Tang San's eyes.
His sharp mind began calculating rapidly.
This must mean there's a reborn person inside Spirit Hall interfering with the established trajectory.
If someone from the future was trying to prevent Spirit Hall's inevitable fall, then recasting the Pope's Tokens was definitely their move.
This move was indeed brilliant, but—hmph—Tang San snorted coldly.
I, Tang San, am the favored son of destiny in this era, the boy chosen by the Asura God. Everything you've done is just a futile attempt to block a chariot with your bare arms. Utterly overestimating yourself.
"Gangzi," Tang San said with disdain, glancing at Yu Xiaogang. "You just said that you were arrested by Spirit Hall and thrown into their prison under the charge of espionage. Yet after just a month, they let you go?"
Hearing Tang San once again call him Gangzi, Yu Xiaogang felt a fresh stab of pain in his heart. His face immediately twisted into a look of anguish as he replied,
"Your master suffered so much this past month, Xiao San~"
"Then why didn't you use that so-called 'brilliant mind' of yours to think about why Spirit Hall only locked you up for a month?" Tang San snapped.
"Ah—" Yu Xiaogang was stunned for a moment. Then, with a look of betrayal, he pointed at Tang San and cried out,
"Xiao San, are you saying that Spirit Hall should've locked your master up even longer?! I'm your teacher, at least! Can't you wish me a little better?!"
"That's not what I meant," Tang San said impatiently. He didn't care in the slightest about what had happened to Gangzi in Spirit Hall's prison.
To him, this man was just a chamber pot—only useful when needed. He continued,
"What I meant was: You were arrested as a spy. Do you really think they'd only detain you for one month?"
Suddenly, Yu Xiaogang came to a realization.
Right—when he was released and hurried back to find his dear disciple for comfort, he had never considered this point.
In the Douluo Continent, no faction would ever be lenient to a spy. They would either be executed or imprisoned for life.
So why would Spirit Hall let him out after just one month?
"There's only one explanation then," Tang San looked at Yu Xiaogang and said calmly.
"Dong'er..." Yu Xiaogang's eyes lit up. "It must've been Dong'er who let me out!"
Tang San nodded.
In his past life, he remembered that internal power struggles between the Worship Hall and the Pope's Hall in Spirit Hall were fierce—especially when it came to Yu Xiaogang.
If that reincarnator had used the Pope's Decree to get Yu Xiaogang locked up, then the one who released him must have been Bibi Dong of the Pope's Hall.
This indicated deep internal conflict within Spirit Hall.
This useless Gangzi... still has some value left.
"So that means—" Yu Xiaogang murmured.
"Yes. It means," Tang San said, eyes flashing with hatred, "When you were released, if you had just stuck around a bit longer, you might have seen Bibi Dong. You could've begged her to return my external spirit bone. Maybe at that point, she hadn't fully fused with it yet."
"But you didn't. Gangzi—you crawled back like a disgusting insect."
Tang San's eyes turned bloodshot, nostrils flaring. He grabbed Yu Xiaogang by the collar of his tattered tunic and roared,
"That means—you are a useless waste, good for nothing but screwing things up! I completely lost my Eight Spider Lances external spirit bone—and it's ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!"
Even if he'd managed to deduce internal strife within Spirit Hall from this incident, so what?
From the moment Bibi Dong took the spirit bone until now, it had probably long since fully fused with her.
That meant he, Tang San, had permanently lost that precious external spirit bone.
Xiao Wu doesn't like my hidden weapons or any of those "dishonorable" tactics.
My Blue Silver Grass has also grown weak after absorbing three poison-type spirit rings, and it won't regain strength until I awaken the Blue Silver Emperor and gain the Ice-Fire immunity trait...
Which meant: Without the external spirit bone, I have far fewer ways to impress Xiao Wu.
If only, after getting out of prison, Yu Xiaogang had had the shamelessness to go find Bibi Dong…
Maybe, just maybe, the fusion wasn't complete yet, and he could've gotten it back!
Gangzi, do you have any idea how many chances to act cool you cost me?!
You are truly guilty of the worst kind of crime. You deserve death.
"This... This... It's not me! It has nothing to do with me! How was I supposed to know..."
Yu Xiaogang's eyes were glassy, pupils unfocused.
"It was you. It was you. It was you."
Tang San casually tossed Yu Xiaogang to the floor like trash and walked out.
Though Tang San loathed him for being a worthless fool who failed at a critical moment, he also knew: this trash still had some use.
He couldn't afford to completely fall out with him.
This entire scene had been staged to plant guilt deep in Yu Xiaogang's heart.
As long as Gangzi felt guilty, he would eventually work for Tang San willingly, desperate to make up for his mistake.
However—Tang San miscalculated one thing.
That is: Our dear Gangzi was never the kind of person who engages in self-reflection.
By the time Yu Xiaogang snapped out of it, Tang San had already disappeared.
He recalled all the disrespect Tang San had shown him—the beatings, the refusal to call him "teacher", always just calling him "Gangzi"… and he felt deeply aggrieved.
Then, Yu Xiaogang remembered Tang San's amazing talent—even without the external spirit bone, he still had his natural gifts, his twin spirits including the mighty Clear Sky Hammer, and the noble bloodline of the Clear Sky.
If he could use Blue Silver Grass as a stepping stone to cultivate a spirit ring starting at ten thousand years, and eventually collect multiple hundred-thousand-year spirit rings...
Tang San's potential could even surpass his father, the great Douluo Tang Hao.
Thinking about being the one to mentor such a peerless figure, Yu Xiaogang felt ecstatic.
But based on Tang San's behavior, it was obvious he had no respect for Yu Xiaogang and was keeping him at arm's length.
This made Yu Xiaogang feel an overwhelming sense of crisis.
He had a feeling—any day now—Tang San might abandon him entirely.
That could not be allowed!
Tang San was his one and only chance to rise again!
The more Tang San defied him, the more Yu Xiaogang's need to control him grew.
"Xiao San... how could you blame all of this on your master?"
"There are no wrong parents in this world."
"When something goes wrong, how can you blame your teacher?"
"You should reflect more on yourself."
"I went to Spirit Hall for you! Do you know how much I suffered? And yet you show me no sympathy!"
"Xiao San, you've forgotten the most basic principle of being a good person: respecting your teacher!"
"As your master, I now realize—it is more important for me to teach you how to be a human being than to teach you cultivation."
"I have a duty to correct your attitude, to teach you proper values."
"To help you understand the importance of respecting your teacher and valuing moral principles."
"You must comprehend this truth: Once a master, forever a father. This is the fundamental rule you must abide by in life."
Yu Xiaogang clasped his hands behind his back and spoke with deep gravity.