Chapter 30: Living Off a Soft Rice—But Eating It Hard | The Ignored Tang San
She stretched out her hand and passed over a smaller jade bottle.
"What's this?" Lin Yuan asked, a little surprised.
"Oh, don't worry about what it is."
Xiao Wu's gaze drifted away as she avoided looking him in the eyes.
"I… um… picked this up by chance. It's a good thing, supposedly helps a tiny bit with cultivating mental power."
"Since you treated me to candied hawthorn yesterday and took me out to have fun, this young lady is rewarding you with a little!"
Lin Yuan took the jade bottle and pulled out the stopper.
A refreshing, faint fragrance instantly rushed into his nose. Just one whiff, and the stabbing pain in his spiritual sea immediately eased, becoming cool and soothing!
"This is…" Lin Yuan's pupils shrank slightly. This aura—there was no doubt about it. This was a top-tier mental power supplement!
And he had already noticed the additional ring on Xiao Wu's left hand.
It seemed the system's reward to this girl last night had been extremely generous.
"A ten-thousand-year–grade medicinal liquid?"
Lin Yuan looked at the emerald-green liquid inside the bottle. There was nearly half a bottle left.
Had this girl actually given half of it to him?
In that instant, a warm current surged through Lin Yuan's heart.
Honestly—
The feeling of being "kept" by a rich woman wasn't bad at all.
Even if this "rich woman's output" was just a little on the small side.
At the same time, he mentally raised his middle finger at that damn system and complained inwardly:
"System, take a look at Xiao Wu!"
"You give other people medicine to boost mental power, but not your own host?"
"I have to rely on my wife—ahem, rely on my friend—to subsidize me. Aren't you ashamed?"
[Heh. Eating soft rice but doing it proudly? You've got nerves. If you don't like it, return the mental power cultivation technique—I'll give you the medicine instead?]
Lin Yuan didn't bother with false modesty. He put away the jade bottle and looked seriously at Xiao Wu.
"Thanks."
"This thing is very important to me."
"In the future, if you want to eat candied hawthorn, unlimited supply."
Xiao Wu snorted proudly.
"Who wants your candied hawthorn… I want to eat at the most expensive restaurant in Nuoding City!"
"No problem. Consider it arranged!"
...
That afternoon.
The usually calm Nuoding Academy exploded with excitement.
Wang Sheng came sprinting into Dorm Seven, panting heavily, his face flushed red, eyes burning with gossip-fueled excitement.
"Boss! Boss!"
"They're back! They're back!"
Lin Yuan, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed refining the medicinal liquid, opened his eyes.
"Who's back? Why are you making such a fuss?"
"Who else could it be? Of course, it's Grandmaster and Tang San!"
Wang Sheng swallowed hard and gestured wildly.
"You didn't see the scene—too miserable!"
"That Grandmaster was carried back on a stretcher by several teachers!"
"He was lying face-down on it, his butt—his butt was swollen like a millstone! His pants were split open!"
"I heard he insisted on showing off in the Soul Hunting Forest and ended up getting bitten on the ass by a soul beast. He was poisoned badly!"
"If the poison hadn't been treated in time, that Grandmaster probably wouldn't have made it back to the academy at all!"
"Hahahaha!"
The working students nearby burst into laughter as soon as they heard this.
'This is the so-called Grandmaster? Just this? Doesn't he know his own strength?'
'He went alone into the Soul Hunting Forest with Tang San? That's basically courting death!'
Xiao Wu sat on the bed, swinging her legs. Hearing this, she couldn't help but glance at Lin Yuan.
So what Lin Yuan wrote in his diary was all true!
Just yesterday, the diary said Yu Xiaogang would get bitten on the butt—today he really came back with a swollen ass!
[Ding! Xiao Wu's trust in the host's diary content has reached over 60%. An additional reward will be granted.]
[This reward will be issued five days later in the form of a first guaranteed critical-trigger payout.]
However, at that moment, Tang San had already returned to Dorm Seven.
The others immediately stopped laughing.
After all, Yu Xiaogang was Tang San's teacher, and since they had returned safely, it meant Tang San had already obtained his first soul ring.
He was now a proper one-ring Soul Master!
That wasn't someone mere Soul Warrior like them could afford to offend.
Right then, as if by coincidence, Wang Sheng tried to liven up the atmosphere and curiously asked Tang San:
"Tang San, what kind of soul ring did you get this time? Care to tell us?"
"You know, those noble students led by Xiao Chenyu keep picking on us."
"Now that we working students have three one-ring Soul Masters, Xiao Chenyu probably won't dare stir up trouble anymore!"
Tang San nodded calmly. His gaze flicked briefly toward Lin Yuan and Xiao Wu, then he raised his right hand.
In the next moment, his Blue Silver Grass martial soul appeared in his palm.
However, after absorbing the Datura Snake's soul ring, his Blue Silver Grass had undergone a clear change.
The leaves had grown larger, and most importantly, dark spots had appeared on them—clearly poisonous at a glance.
His soul ring slowly rose as well.
"Holy crap! Tang San! Your first soul ring is actually a yellow hundred-year ring!"
Tang San nodded. "Yes. My first soul ring comes from a four-hundred-year-old Datura Snake. The soul skill is Entanglement."
Wang Sheng swallowed. "When you get time, go register at the Spirit Hall. You can also check what level your soul power is now. And once you're officially a Soul Master, you'll receive a monthly subsidy of one gold soul coin."
Tang San nodded lightly, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
"Mm. Congratulations on getting an Entanglement soul skill."
Lin Yuan said blandly.
Then he closed his eyes and resumed cultivation, with Xiao Wu beside him doing the same.
After all, Xiao Wu had already known from Lin Yuan's diary what soul skill Tang San would obtain—there was nothing fresh or exciting about it.
She even felt the skill was pretty mediocre, not as good as her own first soul skill, Waist Bow.
Instantly increasing waist strength by 100%, flexibility by 50%, and after reaching Soul Power Rank 10, gaining an additional 1% increase per level—this was the foundation for executing her Instant Kill Eight Stage Drop.
Tang San had originally felt a bit smug.
But seeing that the two geniuses he cared most about seemed completely uninterested in his soul skill, he suddenly felt an indescribable sense of discomfort.
His brows furrowed slightly.
Still, he didn't dwell on it for long and soon left Dorm Seven.
He needed to find work as a blacksmith in the city.
That was not only to earn money, but also to practice the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Technique his father had taught him—and to prepare materials for crafting the Godly Zhuge Crossbow.
He would also register at the Spirit Hall along the way.
Soon, five days passed in the blink of an eye.
On this day, it was the seventh day since Lin Yuan and the girls had obtained their diaries.
Aside from the first two days—when Lin Yuan revealed some original-plot information—the remaining five days were routine daily life.
After all, a diary records daily events.
During these days, he wrote about his cultivation, what Tang San and Yu Xiaogang had been up to, and his interactions with Xiao Wu.
That way, others wouldn't suspect that he knew they possessed diary copies, and his entries would feel more believable!
Lin Yuan waited for five long days—
And finally, he sensed something stirring…
…
End of Chapter