"Yes, I'm a woman." Bibi Dong lifted off the bamboo hat and pulled away the mask, revealing a face of breathtaking beauty underneath.
"I don't understand." Liu Erlong looked from Bibi Dong to Xiao Se, utterly lost.
Since Bibi Dong rarely set foot outside Wuhun City, and this was Liu Erlong's first visit here, she had no idea she was standing in front of the very woman most of the continent would have recognized on sight.
Xiao Se gave a helpless little smile. "Dong'er, why don't you explain it to her. I'm going to step out for a bit."
"All right." Bibi Dong nodded, took Liu Erlong's hand, and sat her down.
—
Meanwhile, at the Shrek Academy's lodgings, in Xiao Wu's room—
Xiao Wu stood by the window, staring out at nothing in particular, her expression heavy with worry. "Is this really it? Am I finally going to be found out?" she murmured to herself.
A dark shape flickered past her.
She spun around to find a stranger had appeared in her room without a sound.
He looked to be in his fifties—tall, powerfully built, his tattered robe hanging open to reveal bronzed skin underneath. His face was sallow, drawn with exhaustion, his hair a wild, unkempt mess, his eyes clouded and dull. The smell of liquor clung to him.
"You've got some nerve," the man said slowly, an overwhelming aura rolling off him. "A transformed soul beast that hasn't even reached full maturity, wandering around out in the open—even daring to set foot in Martial Soul City. Do you have a death wish?" Nine spirit rings—yellow, purple, black, and red—flared to life around him, blazing with light.
A Title Douluo. Xiao Wu's hair and dress whipped violently in the gale of his pressure. Terror dropped her straight to the floor, one hand clamped over her mouth, her face drained of all color. The thing she'd dreaded most had finally caught up to her.
Watching the color drain from her face, Tang Ritian let out a quiet sigh. "Get up. If I wanted you dead, you already would be."
"You…" Fighting down her fear, Xiao Wu rose slowly, her voice unsteady. "Who are you?"
"Tang Hao."
Those two words alone flooded her with relief. "You're Xiao San's father?"
Tang Ritian neither confirmed nor denied it. Instead, he said, "I have some questions. I need you to answer honestly."
"Go ahead," Xiao Wu said, swallowing hard.
"You've been at Xiao San's side since you were six. In those eight years together, did he ever have a teacher besides Yu Xiaogang?" Tang Ritian's voice was low and heavy.
Ever since Xiao Se had told him two years ago that his son's body had been possessed, this question had haunted him more than anything else. His wife had given her life to save him and their child. If the son he had now was an imposter—if his real son's soul had already been consumed and lost forever—how could he ever face her again?
Xiao Wu shook her head. "No. I've been with him almost every single day. Besides Grandmaster, he's never had another teacher."
Tang Ritian's chest tightened, but he pressed on. "Then where did the hidden weapons come from? And those soul skills he invented himself?"
"I don't know either. He never told me, and I never asked. It felt like he already knew all of it the very first day we met," Xiao Wu admitted, helpless.
Tang Ritian went quiet. Xiao Wu had known his son since age six—and before that, Tang San had lived his whole life within Holy Soul Village, with no possible way to have crossed paths with any other Soul Master. People underestimated him because of how listless and withdrawn he'd seemed during those years in the village, but the truth was he'd valued his son's safety above his own life. If anyone had so much as approached the boy, Tang Ritian would have known.
Which left only one possibility: those strange, self-taught soul skills and impossible hidden weapons hadn't been learned at all. They'd been there from birth.
The more he thought back, the more it clicked into place—how unnervingly mature and meticulous Tang San had been, even as a small child. How, when practicing the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique, his hands had never once blistered, never once shown a mark of injury. That, too, was likely thanks to whatever strange skill let him turn his hands to cold jade at will.
"Uncle? Are you all right?" Xiao Wu asked timidly, noticing how pale Tang Ritian had gone.
"You're calling me uncle now?" His mouth twitched. Being addressed as "uncle" by a hundred-thousand-year soul beast was a strange sensation—though the memory of his late wife, herself a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, softened the blow.
"Then what should I call you?" she asked, nervous.
"Never mind. Uncle's fine." He gave a bitter smile and produced an unfamiliar flower, holding it out to her.
"What's this?"
"It belonged to Xiao San's mother. It'll hide the soul beast aura you're giving off—temporarily. Don't damage it, and don't lose it, or it'll stop working." By now, Tang Ritian had made peace with the uncertainty. Whether Tang San was truly his son or not no longer mattered as much as it once had. What he wanted now was vengeance against Spirit Hall.
He could also see plainly how much Tang San treasured the family he had finally built for himself—and after years under Yu Xiaogang's influence, the boy already carried a deep hatred for Spirit Hall. Once he learned that Ah Yin had died at their hands, that hatred would only deepen.
Tang Ritian hated the old man who had stolen his son's body. But he hated Spirit Hall more. So he would bide his time—say nothing, reveal nothing—and let Tang San, with his rare twin martial souls, tear Spirit Hall apart from within. When both sides had bled each other dry, he would step in and reclaim what was his.
"Thank you, Uncle." Xiao Wu took the flower, the weight on her shoulders lifting at once. Sure enough, her spirit beast aura had vanished—she felt no different now from an ordinary person.
Tang Ritian gave a small nod and vanished from the room.
—
On the hotel rooftop, Xiao Se watched Tang Ritian's figure disappear below, a faint smile tugging at his lips, before he, too, slipped away without a trace.
"Was Xiao Se really that funny, back in the day?"
"Who ever said he wasn't?"
By the time he made it back, night had fully fallen, the lights inside already glowing warm. The moment he stepped through the door, he caught the sound of Bibi Dong and Liu Erlong laughing together.
"You're back!" Bibi Dong crossed the room to him easily, brushing a bit of dust from his shoulder.
"So, what's going on with you two?" he asked, genuinely puzzled.
Bibi Dong turned to Liu Erlong with a smile, and the two of them answered in perfect unison: "We're sisters now."
"Sure. Whatever you two want." He gave a small shrug, then turned his attention to Liu Erlong. "Dean Liu Erlong—I'd appreciate it if you kept what you know about Dong'er and me to yourself."
Right now, the world saw him as close to "Xue Qinghe." If word got out about his relationship with Bibi Dong, it would only create trouble—trouble that could jeopardize everything she and Qian Renxue were working toward in unifying the continent.
"Mm." Liu Erlong nodded firmly, casting one more lingering look his way. She seemed to want to say something more, but in the end she said nothing, turning instead and slipping out of the room.
The moment the door shut behind her, Bibi Dong turned back to Xiao Se, already working deftly at his clothes. "So, Dong'er—what exactly did you tell her?" he asked, almost as an afterthought.
She smiled. "Nothing much. Just told her how things were, back then."
As she said it, she reached over and switched off the light.
(End of Chapter)
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