Early the next morning, Tang Hao brought A Yin to Holy Soul Village.
They stayed on the western side of the village, where three mud-brick houses stood at the entrance, the most dilapidated in the entire village. On the roof of the main house, there was a wooden sign about a meter in diameter, depicting a crude hammer.
"This is where you live?" A Yin exclaimed in surprise as she looked at the shabby little house. The house was merely constructed of dirt walls covered with thatch.
It was so rudimentary it couldn't get any more basic!
Moreover, right in front of A Yin, there was a small puddle. She looked up and saw a hole in the thatched roof, from which some accumulated water was slowly dripping down.
"Yes," Tang Hao replied awkwardly.
Ever since A Yin had left, he had spent all his time here drowning his sorrows. He hadn't even bothered to care for his son, let alone the state of his living environment.
Seeing Tang Hao's embarrassed expression, A Yin felt her impression of him drop even further.
Recalling how he had looked when she first met him yesterdayโsleazy and unkemptโnow to see the state of his living place was just as dirty and chaotic.
A Yin wasn't the type to care about a person's financial status. However, all women have a cleanliness instinct, especially beautiful ones. She could overlook a person's poverty, but excessive messiness was definitely unappealing.
Furthermore, he didn't even bother to fix the broken house or get rid of the mountains of empty bottles cluttering the place. Even outside, she could smell a mix of mildew and alcohol.
This was more than enough! A Yin couldn't help but complain in her heart.
Lazy, dirty, shabby, sleazy!
This was A Yin's true impression of him.
This stood in stark contrast to Zhao Ming in her mind, who was kind, simple, intelligent, and cultured, the embodiment of greatness.
Since being summoned by the system, A Yin's memories prominently featured only three people: Zhao Ming, Xiao Wu, and Tang Hao. Among them, only Zhao Ming and Tang Hao were men.
A Yin couldn't help but compare Zhao Ming with Tang Hao in her heart. The comparison was shocking.
In contrast, the two were like the heavens and the earthโone in the sky and the other underground. The gap between them was as vast as the clouds and the mud, simply incomparable.
Tang Hao didn't even have the qualification to be compared with the Young Master. A Yin felt a pang of guilt in her heart. Comparing Tang Hao with Zhao Ming felt like a desecration of Zhao Ming.
"A Yin, come in. We'll return your soul ring here," Tang Hao said, pulling a slightly moldy chair from the house.
"Forget it. The air is quite fresh here. Let's stay outside," A Yin quickly declined, feeling a shudder at the sight of the already moldy chair.
"Alright then, let's go over there. It's quieter and we won't be disturbed." Tang Hao quickly suggested, feeling a bit frustrated. He knew A Yin had a cleanliness obsession. He should have come back yesterday to clean the place up! Now that she had seen this scene, it would surely leave a bad impression on her.
For now, the only thing he could do was to actively return the soul ring to her, showing her his concern.
Tang Hao and A Yin walked to a small hill. It was surrounded by tall trees and was quite secluded.
A Yin and Tang Hao sat cross-legged, adjusting their breathing to ensure their spirits were at their best.
A faint layer of precious light emerged around A Yin, and her skin glowed with a soft golden hue.
Simultaneously, a dark aura appeared around Tang Hao, and the shadow of the black Haotian Hammer manifested in the air. His spirit and energy had reached an intimidating height.
One by one, the soul rings appeared around Tang Hao. When the last ten-thousand-year soul ring appeared, both of them shuddered.
A Yin had a strong sensitivity to that ten-thousand-year soul ring, and it sensed A Yin's aura, continuously swirling around Tang Hao as if celebrating.
Gradually, the ten-thousand-year soul ring became more active.
Tang Hao clenched his fists, and every strand of Blue Silver Grass emanating from A Yin was trembling slightly.
Not long after, a blue-gold radiance enveloped both A Yin and Tang Hao. This golden light exuded a strong, gentle aura. Influenced by this light, the two quickly calmed down, and even the ten-thousand-year soul ring settled down.
Suddenly, Tang Hao exerted a force, and the ten-thousand-year soul ring shot up, hovering above his head. The instant he lost the soul ring, the pain surged through him, causing him to cough up blood. The agony of the sudden separation made even his resilient body erupt in a thick mist of blood.
Yet, Tang Hao's gaze remained resolute!
Because he knew that A Yin was more important than anything!
Once the ten-thousand-year soul ring detached from Tang Hao, it swiftly floated toward A Yin, gradually merging into her body.
A Yin radiated a blue light, enveloping her in a cocoon of brilliant blue.
Tang Hao, too, formed a cocoon around himselfโa blood cocoon formed from the mist of blood he had released.
A Yin's aura surged rapidly, quickly reaching the level of a Soul Saint. After she split off another ten-thousand-year soul ring, her aura continued to rise until it stabilized at the level of a seventy-third-level Soul Saint.
Originally, A Yin's cultivation had been close to that of a Spirit Douluo before the sacrifice. However, after experiencing the sacrifice and losing her soul bone, her physical state had greatly deteriorated. Even with the retrieval of her soul ring and soul bone, she still faced significant loss. For her to recover to this level was already remarkable.
In contrast to A Yin's soaring cultivation, Tang Hao's aura was faint. With the loss of his ninth soul ring and the inability to bear his full cultivation, combined with the toll of separating the soul ring, he rapidly fell to the level of an eighty-eighth-level Spirit Douluo.
Yet, he smiled!
He smiled with unrestrained joy!
He laughed with abandon!
He knew that although he had suffered a huge loss, he had once again won A Yin's affection. Knowing A Yin's personality, she would surely be touched by his actions!
To even enhance the tragic image he presented, he had deliberately injured some of his meridians while separating the soul ring, hoping to evoke a sense of compassion in A Yin.
Now, at least half of the injuries on him were self-inflicted. Yet, he didn't feel the pain; instead, he felt a sense of pride. Because he knew, from now on, he would receive A Yin's tender care!
---
๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ค๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐จ๐จ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐ค๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ค ๐จ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ ๐ข๐ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ฃ๐๐ฎ. ๐๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐๐ช๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐ข๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐๐!
๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ธ๐ ๐๐ผ:
โข ๐ฝ๐ค๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐จ๐๐ช
โข ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ
โข ๐ผ๐๐ข๐๐ง๐๐๐๐
๐๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป, ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ป๐น๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ:
โข ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐: ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฏ๐ฑ+ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐จ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ๐ค๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ก๐จ๐.
โข ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ผ๐๐-๐ข๐๐: ๐๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐จ๐๐ค๐ช๐ฉ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐๐จ ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐จ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ!
๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐น๐ ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐บ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐. ๐๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐'๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐, ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ท๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐!
๐ ๐ ๐ค๐๐ฃ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฌ: ๐๐๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ค๐ฃ.๐๐ค๐ข/๐๐ค๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ง