[However, this time, Tang San is not Xiao Wu's brother like in the original story. Now that Xiao Wu and I have been captured together, will Tang San still follow us like before?]
[In the original, after Xiao Wu was taken, Tang San asked Oscar for his Flying Mushroom Sausage, and with Ning Rongrong's speed boost, he desperately tried to find the Titan Giant Ape, determined to find her, dead or alive.]
The female leads were somewhat skeptical. Was Tang San really that devoted? It didn't seem to match Su Ming's earlier descriptions of him. After all, they had just escaped danger, and for Tang San to rush back alone to save Xiao Wu, given his current strength, would be suicidal. A single blow from the Titan Giant Ape could easily kill him!
At this moment, Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing saw Tang San in the distance, flying through the air after consuming Oscar's Flying Mushroom Sausage, just as Su Ming had predicted! Su Ming couldn't have guessed that even now, when Xiao Wu wasn't Tang San's sister, he still harbored such hidden feelings for her.
What would Su Ming do about this situation?
Even if Su Ming had known, he wouldn't have been overly concerned. He already knew that when Tang San first saw Xiao Wu, he had developed an inexplicable attachment to her. At the time, Tang San didn't understand this emotion, but now that Xiao Wu had been captured, he had suddenly awakened to it. Su Ming wasn't surprised. If Tang San dared to confess his feelings to Xiao Wu, Su Ming would have confronted him, asking, "Why did you take so much time absorbing a Man-Faced Demon Spider while on your way to save Xiao Wu?"
If Tang San kept his feelings hidden, Su Ming would regard him with contempt but still keep a watchful eye, ready to defend himself if necessary.
At this point, Tang San's strength wasn't something that worried Su Ming too much. What concerned him more were Tang San's skills in crafting and using hidden weapons. Su Ming knew that one day he might have to cripple Tang San's hands, rendering him unable to use intricate weapons like the Buddha Fury Tang Lotus or the Guanyin's Tear.
As for Tang San's later creations, like mechanized weapons, Su Ming wasn't too worried. Only the top three hidden weapons posed a real threat, and they were difficult to make. Tang San was lucky to have had the help of Master Lou Gao, who sacrificed his life to create them. Without Lou Gao, Tang San would have struggled to make high-end weapons.
Su Ming figured that if he could recruit Lou Gao to his side or eliminate him, Tang San's chances of making advanced hidden weapons would plummet. The Zhuge Crossbow alone wouldn't be enough to threaten Su Ming.
As the women pondered these developments, Su Ming's diary continued, giving them a glimpse of Tang San's so-called "devotion."
[However, the ridiculous thing is that on his way to save Xiao Wu, Tang San encountered a 2,000-year-old Man-Faced Demon Spider. He engaged it in battle, even resorting to using his second martial spirit, the Clear Sky Hammer, because his Blue Silver Grass lacked the necessary attack power, and its control abilities weren't very effective against the spider.]
[After a fierce struggle, Tang San finally killed the Man-Faced Demon Spider. At that moment, I thought he would continue flying toward the Titan Giant Ape, since the spider's age exceeded the typical limit for a spirit master's third spirit ring.]
[But to my surprise, Tang San stopped and decided to absorb the spirit ring from the Man-Faced Demon Spider. Ridiculous! With his level of perception, he should have known that this spider exceeded his limits, yet he still chose to absorb it. He was confident in his physical strength, thinking that absorbing the spirit ring would restore his energy and increase his chances of saving Xiao Wu.]
The women reading were speechless.
[Killing the spider on the way could be understandable, as leaving it could cause more trouble, but Tang San choosing to absorb the ring? That was truly outrageous!]
They reasoned that while killing the Man-Faced Demon Spider made sense—since it could interfere with his mission—taking the time to absorb the spirit ring during an urgent situation was absurd. Tang San had already wasted time fighting the spider, and in the meantime, a ten-thousand-year soul beast could have easily killed Xiao Wu.
Even Bibi Dong found this decision absurd. A 2,000-year-old Man-Faced Demon Spider was too dangerous to absorb for anyone except someone like Su Ming, who had system-enhanced abilities. Why did Tang San think he could handle it? Was it his Mysterious Heaven Technique or his years of blacksmithing that gave him confidence?
As it turned out, Bibi Dong's guess was correct. Tang San believed that with his cultivation in the Mysterious Heaven Technique, his expertise in the Tang Sect's secret techniques, and his dual martial spirits, absorbing a spirit ring that exceeded the usual limits was within his capability.
[What I don't understand is why Zhao Wuji and the others arrived only after Tang San had finished off the Man-Faced Demon Spider. They all had Oscar's Flying Mushroom Sausage, and Ning Rongrong was providing speed boosts. Why did they take so long?]
[Maybe it's because Oscar was low on spirit power at the time, having just acquired his third spirit ring. He could probably only make a dozen Flying Mushroom Sausages before running out of energy. So, I suppose it's understandable that they were delayed. Still, it seemed like quite a long time.]
[But this time, if things go as they did in the original, Ning Rongrong's third spirit skill should allow them to quickly catch up to Tang San by boosting spirit power. If they still can't catch him, then something's off.]
The women agreed with Su Ming's assessment. Given Tang San's strength, he would have needed significant time to defeat the Man-Faced Demon Spider. With Ning Rongrong's new ability, they should have been able to catch up by now.
Of course, if it had been any other spirit master, facing a 2,000-year-old Man-Faced Demon Spider at the Spirit Elder level would have been a death sentence.
As Su Ming's diary foretold, Tang San did intend to chase after the Titan Giant Ape alone. However, Oscar had run low on spirit power after continuously making his sausages, and he had barely managed to give Tang San three Flying Mushroom Sausages before his energy was nearly depleted.