Chapter 100: Tang God King's Return to His Old Trade
Unlike before, this time, when Yu Xiaogang offered his encouragement, Tang San didn't respond with the usual scene of harmonious master-disciple camaraderie.
After consuming the pill, Tang San's heart was already in turmoil, completely ignoring Yu Xiaogang's motivational speech.
As a disciple of the Tang Sect, Tang San was different from the other Shrek members who were busy checking their cultivation after taking the pill. Through the effects of the pill and his observations of it beforehand, Tang San made a surprising discovery.
Immortal herbs.
The pill contained the unique medicinal power of immortal herbs. Based on the effects, it must have included traces of Qirong Tongtian Chrysanthemum and Eight-petal Immortal Orchid. However, the amount was extremely low, likely just some powdered flower stamens. If not for Tang San's keen attention to detail, he might not have noticed at all.
With this discovery, Tang San, now the Tang God King, couldn't be as optimistic as Yu Xiaogang. Reflecting on Xiao Yu's strength, Tang San deduced that Xiao Yu must have consumed a whole, high-quality immortal herb, meaning he would never face the bottleneck in cultivation that Yu Xiaogang predicted. Instead, as the medicinal power of the immortal herb fused further into his body, his future cultivation would far exceed that of ordinary soul masters with similar talents.
Damn it.
Immortal herbs are treasures born from the heavens and earth, blessed by nature's creation. They rightfully belong to me. How could such a precious thing fall into the hands of that despicable Xiao Yu?
In his heart, Tang San was already screaming hysterically.
"Xiao San, Xiao San!"
Seeing that Tang San had been silent for too long, Yu Xiaogang couldn't help but put on a stern face.
After several calls, Tang San finally snapped back to reality and quickly apologized to Yu Xiaogang, "Teacher, I'm sorry, I was distracted!"
To Yu Xiaogang, Tang San still respected him as much as a father. Although Yu Xiaogang's analysis of Xiao Yu was entirely wrong, it was only because he didn't know about the immortal herbs. In Tang San's view, only someone like himself, armed with the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record from his past life, could truly understand the full effects of these immortal herbs.
That's right.
Suddenly, Tang San had an epiphany. The Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record was a cultivation manual from his previous life in the Tang Sect, and the herb compendium it contained was unmatched on this continent. Even if the Nine Stars Palace occupied some treasure land, they certainly couldn't fully recognize all the immortal herbs, giving him an opportunity to exploit.
The Qirong Tongtian Chrysanthemum and Eight-petal Immortal Orchid may be easily identifiable for their effects and likely unattainable now, but herbs like the Fierce Fire Apricot Grove and Eight-cornered Mystic Ice Grass, which are essentially poisonous, wouldn't be easily harvested by the Nine Stars Palace without understanding how to consume them properly.
Yu Xiaogang, of course, knew nothing of Tang San's plans.
But seeing that, even after taking the pill and reaching a soul power level of 37—nearly ten levels ahead of himself—his disciple still remained respectful, Yu Xiaogang, ever self-conscious and sensitive, couldn't help but feel satisfied.
After reminding Tang San to consolidate his soul power and not rush his progress, Yu Xiaogang left.
There was less than a year before the Soul Master Tournament began. Our Master Yu, who previously only knew the tournament by name, still had to carefully study the rules, processes, and regulations to avoid making a fool of himself when the time came.
After Yu Xiaogang left, the eager-to-enhance-his-strength Tang San immediately set his sights on Ning Rongrong. Among the group, only Ning Rongrong, as the successor of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, had some knowledge of the Nine Stars Palace—its location, internal layout, and other relevant details.
Our Tang God King was dirt poor, unable to afford even pills, let alone immortal herbs. To advance his cultivation, he had only one option: returning to his old trade. He had done it so many times in his past life that he was extremely familiar with the process.
"Immortal herbs are born of heaven and earth; they aren't the private property of the Nine Stars Palace. Why should they monopolize them? Moreover, the Fierce Fire Apricot Grove and Eight-cornered Mystic Ice Grass that I need are poisonous. The people of the Nine Stars Palace don't understand their medicinal properties, and blindly harvesting them would only harm their disciples. By taking them, I'll be preventing such tragedies. They should be thanking me!"
With this self-rationalization, Tang San quickly justified his actions as righteous.
A little over a month later, on a dark and windy night, in the Sunset Forest.
Using the cover of night, the agile Tang God King extended his Sky-Claw, hooking onto a branch ahead as he swiftly moved through the forest, maneuvering between trees, steadily approaching the Nine Stars Palace branch.
Although Ning Rongrong was the young sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, she was still young and hadn't visited the Nine Stars Palace many times. She hadn't paid much attention to the internal layout and design of their sect.
However, Tang San didn't come away empty-handed. From Ning Rongrong, he learned that the soul tools were produced at the Nine Stars Palace headquarters in Sil City, while the pill business was handled by the branch in Heaven Dou City, sparing him a trip to the headquarters.
The Nine Stars Palace branch was located deep within the Sunset Forest, though they didn't restrict soul masters from entering the forest to hunt for spirit rings. In fact, if a soul master found the difficulty of acquiring a spirit ring too great, the Nine Stars Palace would assist for a reasonable price.
Over the past month, Tang San had used various pretexts to enter the Sunset Forest and observe the situation at the Nine Stars Palace branch.
To his surprise and delight, the branch's security was extremely lax. After several observations, he confirmed that at night, only a small squad was responsible for patrolling the perimeter.
The branch of the Nine Stars Palace covered a vast area, and Tang San had calculated that the time it took for the patrol team to return to the same spot exceeded an hour. With his skills, this long window was more than enough for a round trip.
"I thought the Nine Stars Palace was some impressive sect, but their vigilance is even worse than the Tang Sect!"
Leaping from a tree branch, a look of disdain crossed Tang San's face. In the next instant, he landed steadily on the wall of the Nine Stars Palace castle.
Suddenly—
Woooooo!
To his shock, the moment his feet touched the ground, urgent and piercing alarms erupted from all directions, echoing through the silent night like a grim reaper's call, filling the air with an oppressive urgency.
The mocking expression on Tang San's face hadn't even faded when the sharp alarm pierced his ears, freezing his expression in place. His face flushed red, then turned pale, creating a rather striking look.
What Tang San hadn't realized was that the reason the Nine Stars Palace only had a small squad patrolling at night wasn't due to lax security. Instead, the sect had installed a large number of alarm-type soul tools throughout the premises. As soon as they detected an intruder, the alarm would immediately trigger, alerting the entire sect. This setup meant they didn't need to waste manpower on patrolling the outer perimeter.
(End of chapter)
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