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**
Recalling his conversation with the Bishop of the Nuoding City Spirit Hall Sub-Hall just moments ago, Ling Xiao let out a soft laugh.
In truth, the name Nuoding City sounded incredibly familiar to him. Of course, it wasn't because he had heard of this place from Spirit Hall after arriving on the Douluo Continent.
Rather, it was because he knew from his past life that Tang San attended the Nuoding Primary Soul Master Academy. For a Primary Soul Master Academy, a student could theoretically graduate as long as they attained a single ring and became a Soul Master.
Not long after entering the academy, Tang San had hunted a Datura Snake to serve as his first soul ring, breaking through to become a one-ring Soul Master and meeting the requirements for graduation.
On this journey to Heaven Dou, the very first city he encountered upon entering the borders directly under the Heaven Dou Empire's jurisdiction happened to be Nuoding City. This truly surprised him.
Because of this, he had intentionally asked the Sub-Hall Bishop about Tang San.
Naturally, he didn't bring up Tang San's name directly. That would have seemed too deliberate and strange; after all, at this point, he and Tang San should be complete strangers who didn't know each other. Instead, he made some indirect inquiries.
Regrettably, Tang San had already left Nuoding City a month ago.
Yu Xiaogang had done the same, and their current whereabouts were unknown.
This information was provided by the Bishop of the Nuoding City Spirit Hall Sub-Hall.
Although Tang San hadn't joined Spirit Hall and had instead enrolled in the Nuoding Primary Soul Master Academy to take Yu Xiaogang as his master, his Martial Soul talent was still an exceptionally outstanding existence.
In the eyes of the Sub-Hall Bishop, Tang San's Martial Soul was Blue Silver Grass, yet his cultivation speed was remarkably fast. Given the Bishop's experience, he could naturally deduce that Tang San's innate soul power must be extremely high.
As such an incredibly talented genius with phenomenal Martial Soul aptitude was studying at a Primary Soul Master Academy in the very same city, the Bishop naturally paid close attention to him.
Furthermore, Tang San went to the Spirit Hall Sub-Hall every month to claim his Soul Master stipend, so the two were quite familiar with each other. Before leaving, Tang San had collected that month's stipend of ten gold soul coins.
The Bishop had asked a casual question and thus learned of Tang San's departure from Nuoding City. However, it didn't matter that Tang San was gone. Ling Xiao understood very clearly that knowing these things about Tang San didn't actually serve a massive purpose.
Aside from being slightly helpful for a few of his plans, speaking more deeply, there wasn't much room for manipulation. For instance, even though he knew Tang San had stayed in Nuoding City for over five years, he had no way to find an opportunity to kill him.
Although Tang Hao had lived like a walking corpse before Tang San's Martial Soul awakened, once Tang San awakened his Martial Soul and revealed his innate full soul power and twin Martial Soul talent, Tang Hao had ultimately broken out of his previous decadent state.
Presumably, before Tang San obtained protection from another source with sufficient strength, Tang Hao wouldn't truly leave his side, but would instead protect him from the shadows. As for passing information about Tang San and Tang Hao to Spirit Hall, that was even more ridiculous.
Putting aside whether Spirit Hall would believe it or not, the first problem—how he knew this information and how he would explain it—stumped him completely. If people ended up believing he had been possessed by some soul, it would be a tragedy.
Even if Tang San were still in Nuoding City right now, or if Ling Xiao intentionally guided Chrysanthemum Douluo to lead this challenge team through Soto City to encounter Tang San, it would be useless.
This was because they lacked a righteous cause; there was no reason to kill him. Spirit Hall would not, and should not, randomly murder a Soul Grandmaster for no reason, even if Tang San was an existence with extremely high innate soul power who had not joined Spirit Hall.
The core issue was that to Spirit Hall, while someone with innate full soul power was precious, it wasn't to the extent that Spirit Hall would throw away its dignity to hunt down geniuses who refused to submit.
Doing so would only yield short-term benefits, while in the long run, Spirit Hall's reputation would be severely damaged. It would run completely counter to the purpose of their current challenge journey.
Once they actually did something like that, it would only backfire in the end.
Furthermore, he would find it difficult to make anyone believe that Tang San was the son of Tang Hao. Even if they used the matter regarding Zhao Wuji to make trouble for Shrek Academy, it wouldn't have much of an impact on Tang San.
As for capturing Xiao Wu, in his view, there wasn't much of an opportunity either.
The moment they moved against Xiao Wu, it would be no different from moving against Tang San; Tang Hao would still intervene. He deeply suspected whether Tang Hao was intentionally letting Xiao Wu, a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, stay by Tang San's side.
If Tang San didn't develop feelings for Xiao Wu, then in the future, Tang Hao would likely kill Xiao Wu to provide Tang San with a hundred-thousand-year soul ring.
Therefore, regarding how to prevent Tang San from ultimately destroying Spirit Hall, although Ling Xiao had formulated some schemes, he had never once considered the path of assassinating Tang San.
In his eyes, as long as Tang San couldn't become a God, no matter how much he played around with his hidden weapons or messily cultivated his Martial Souls, even if he returned to the Clear Sky Sect that would be the extent of it.
He might become a high-level powerhouse, but he absolutely could not become the kind of peerless powerhouse capable of shaking the entirety of Spirit Hall. To take it a step further, as long as Tang San couldn't become a God, then avoiding the destruction of Spirit Hall no longer depended on Tang San.
Instead, it lay in Spirit Hall's future decisions and development path, as well as the relationships between Spirit Hall, the major sects, and the two great empires.
His current thought process was to prevent Tang San from becoming a God while simultaneously steering Spirit Hall away from the idea of seeking continent-wide hegemony.
This would force Spirit Hall to abandon its development route from his past life and focus solely on being the overlord of the soul master world.
When that time came, Spirit Hall would still remain the orthodox authority of the soul master world, wielding formidable strength and naturally standing in an invincible position.
Even if Tang San ran off to ally with the two great empires, it wouldn't matter. Spirit Hall would not be in that state from his past life where it opposed the entire continent and made enemies of the whole world.
Not only would the major sects of the soul master world refuse to lend their aid, but the two great empires would also absolutely never work together with one mind to help Tang San.
"Tang San, oh Tang San. It seems now is not yet the time for us to meet."
"According to my calculations, you should be a little over eleven years old by now, and your current cultivation level is either Rank 28 or Rank 29. Having left a month ago, you've likely followed Yu Xiaogang's words and headed to Suotuo City to find that Shrek Academy."
"Our true encounter should still take place four years from now, during the Continental Elite Young Soul Master Tournament. I hope by then, you can let me witness your strength. Though, I truly wonder if your power will really be as formidable as I understood it to be in my past life."
Ling Xiao fiddled with the cup in his hand and spoke to himself.
Within his gaze, there was not a single trace of fear toward Tang San; instead, he seemed rather curious. After all, from his current perspective, Tang San's strength appeared somewhat weak when compared to others in the same cultivation realm.
Yet, based on his understanding from his past life, Tang San would often rely on so-called counters to defeat his opponents—his hidden weapons were invincible the moment they were unleashed, and the Tang Sect secret techniques countered everything under heaven.
It was truly bizarre and beyond his understanding.
Coupled with the fact that in his memories, it was Tang San who became a God and destroyed Spirit Hall, Ling Xiao still held him in slightly higher regard deep down. He truly wanted to compete against him personally to see if he was truly as powerful as the memories suggested.
**
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