Soul Land 5: The Rebirth of Tang San

Chapter 144: Still No Mei Gongzi

Du Bai quietly went to Tang San's room before Tang San could even inquire about the situation.

"Little Tang, do you know? Their training results are far from ours! Hehe," Du Bai said mischievously as he closed the door.

"Oh? How did the senior brothers and sisters' training go?" Tang San asked.

Du Bai explained, "They only killed a few low-order demonic beasts, the strongest just fourth-order. Not a single fifth-order. Far worse than us, I'd say. And I heard they even alarmed a group of demonic beasts. If it weren't for the teachers' intervention, they might have been completely wiped out. They couldn't even reach the designated destination or see the target demonic beast."

Tang San remarked, "Why do I feel like you're enjoying their misfortune?"

Du Bai immediately straightened his face, "I'm not~ I won't admit it~ How could I take pleasure in their misfortune? Even though everyone used to say I was just a mascot with no real use, I wouldn't be happy at their bad luck~"

"Alright, go back. The teachers are probably not in a good mood either, so don't show them this bad side of you," Tang San said somewhat helplessly.

Tang San had already guessed that the results of this second training batch wouldn't be as good as theirs. His power and Wu Bingji's were far greater than these children's, and his combat experience was far beyond theirs. Failure in their first external training was to be expected. However, if they could learn from this experience, they would surely gain something, and it wasn't all bad.

The training summary came the next day. Naturally, the students from the second batch who had gone for the training were severely criticized.

Listening to their recount of the entire process, Tang San thought that it wasn't actually that bad. Sadly, the difference compared to his batch was indeed stark.

They hadn't gained much or found the targeted demonic beasts. The students hadn't improved much after this outing either, but they had experienced quite a few scares. However, this was a real battle experience, and they did gain something from it. In Tang San's view, this was already a good outcome.

The third batch would continue—it was only fair to give everyone a chance. The only difference for the third batch was that these six students knew they would be accompanied by teachers. This gave them a sense of security, which would surely affect their training results. But that couldn't be helped now; they needed to try multiple approaches.

Tang San had been keeping a low profile recently, earnestly completing the training and assignments set by the teachers, studying hard, and improving every day. He occasionally forged, and then creeped around the schools in succession.

To the teachers in the academy, he said he was going to the blacksmith's shop, which Zhang Haoxuan could vouch for, so no one asked further questions. Thus, he naturally had more time to go out.

However, Tang San was quite frustrated that he had gained no new information after staking out at several schools in succession.

He even began to doubt whether Mei Gongzi's mother had lied to him and Mei Gongzi wasn't actually attending school. But, judging from her mother's expression, it didn't seem likely, and there was no need to deceive a child like himself.

What to do? Continue the surveillance.

Time flew by, and even by the end of the third batch of students' training, Tang San had still not found the school where Mei Gongzi studied.

The situation of the third batch was somewhat better than the second. Knowing that teachers were accompanying them, the students were bolder and luckier in their actions, resulting in slightly better outcomes.

During this period, Wu Bingji's injuries healed, and he was training every day. Gu Li, Du Bai, and Cheng Zicheng also stabilized their cultivation levels.

It took a month for all the students to complete their training rounds. Although only the first batch had outstanding results, the teachers found upon evaluation that, as Tang San initially said, facing real and strong opponents in actual combat clearly yielded better results.

The next step was consolidation and cultivation, allowing the students to assimilate the gains from their real combat experiences.

Another month passed, and the most significant change for Tang San was his transition from nine to ten years old.

Over these two months, frequently eating demonic beast meat, along with his own self-care and cultivation, brought significant changes to his body. He grew considerably taller, no longer looked as thin, and became more pleasing to the eye.

There were also changes in his temperament.

Initially, his performance had been far too dazzling, but he became very low-key. Apart from attending classes, other students rarely saw him.

Through daily interactions with Du Bai, Gu Li, and Cheng Zicheng, Tang San gradually enhanced his bloodline imprints steadily and continuously.

Among these, Tang San had advanced his Golden Roc Transformation to the fourth order, occasionally venturing to the back mountain to experiment with its flying capabilities. Gu Li's Chrono Croc Transformation and Du Bai's Celestial Fox Transformation had both reached the peak of the third order.

At this level, Tang San realized that advancement was indeed not easy. The higher the bloodline imprint tier, the more difficult it was to advance. He couldn't devour and absorb too much of their bloodline power at once to avoid affecting them, so he had to progress gradually.

Either way, excluding the negligible Green Jade Vine, the other five imprints were doing rather well. After the fusion of the Winged Tiger Transformation and the Wind Wolf Transformation, Tang San named the new imprint the Wind Tiger Transformation, and it was well-established at the sixth order.[1] The Flash Leopard and Golden Roc Transformations were both at the fourth order, while the Celestial Fox and Chrono Croc Transformations were at the peak of third order.

As Tang San continually tempered his body, increasing its strength, his sixth-order cultivation gradually stabilized, and the sensation of overflowing energy gradually vanished. This was his most crucial change, laying the foundation for subsequent improvements.

However, Tang San's mood was not good, and he was not all that excited by the steady improvement in his strength. Not being able to find Mei Gongzi's whereabouts meant he could never be happy.

Moreover, as time passed, and the number of schools he watched over increased, his mood grew increasingly gloomy.

Today, it was the last of the middle schools he was guarding. Could it be that he had to go on to guard the elementary schools? That would take him a ridiculous amount of time!

If nothing else works, I'll just wait at Mei Gongzi's tea shop. She has to return there eventually, right? As long as she does, I'll definitely see her there.

No! Still no sign of her!

Even as the sky completely darkened, he still did not see the person he longed to meet. Tang San was truly disappointed.

Let's go back.

With dejection in his eyes, he headed back to the academy town.

Tang San kept pondering all the possibilities in his mind. Where exactly could Mei Gongzi be studying? He had staked out all twelve middle schools, and although he had only visited the last one once, given his keen observation skills, he was fairly sure that another visit would do him no good

In other words, either Mei Gongzi was attending an elementary school, or Mei Gongzi's mother had deceived him, and she was not studying at any academy but was doing something else or had gone somewhere else.

In the past month, he had visited the tea shop several times, yet he had never seen Mei Gongzi there.

Could there be any other possibility?

As Tang San pondered, he had already begun climbing the mountain. He was entering the vicinity of Kali Academy.

As he climbed upward, suddenly, his spirit jolted slightly, and a marvelous feeling enveloped his heart. His eyes grew warm, and this warmth seemed to carry a hint of strange excitement. Indeed, his emotions were involuntarily stirred.

What's happening? The Discerning Eye of Heaven?

Undoubtedly, this was a change brought about by the Discerning Eye of Heaven, and it was not a premonition of a crisis.

The Celestial Fox Vision could observe fate, but it was only after reaching the fourth order that it could, to some extent, control and guide fate.

1. The original here names the hybrid “Tiger Wolf Transformation,” but this is the only place it shows up. Every other mention of it in future chapters calls it Wind Tiger Transformation. Hence, we replaced the original Wind Tiger Transformation in ch125 with Winged Tiger Transformation and this one with Wind Tiger in order to maintain consistency. ☜