Early the next morning.
Xiao Lin and Tang San set out together for Nuoding City.
This time, the two traveled as a pair, without asking Old Jack for guidance. Despite being only six years old, having become Soul Masters, their strength far surpassed Old Jack's. Neither Xiao Lin nor Tang San believed they would encounter any danger.
Along the road.
Tang San took out a piece of beef jerky and began chewing it with relish.
"Brother Lin, aren't you going to eat? At our pace, it will take until evening at the earliest to reach Nuoding City," Tang San said, his words slightly muffled by the beef in his mouth.
"I'll eat later. I'm contemplating something."
Seeing Xiao Lin's serious expression, Tang San gave a subtle shake of his head. He knew that when Xiao Lin was deep in thought, he truly detested being disturbed.
Tang San simply continued eating his beef in silence.
At that moment, Xiao Lin was staring at a Soul Tool on Tang San's wrist, lost in thought. This was the storage Soul Tool Tang Hao had given Tang San; although it wasn't of a high grade, it could store a fair amount of items.
Currently, Xiao Lin's personal belongings were also kept inside it.
Xiao Lin was wondering if he should find a way to make money to buy his own Soul Tool.
Storage Soul Tools were quite expensive in the Douluo Continent. With his current abilities, the only way to earn significant money was to write down his ideas and Martial Soul theories and sell the manuscripts.
In his view, many people in the Douluo Continent lacked critical thinking.
Most of the time, they simply followed a set routine: cultivate, absorb Soul Rings, fight... and repeat. They never seemed to ask: where does Soul Power come from? What is the essence of a Soul Ring? Why is a Soul Ring mandatory to break through cultivation ranks?
If Xiao Lin published theories that were far more accurate than those of "Grandmaster," he would become the true authority.
Making money would be a certainty.
However, Xiao Lin's current strength was too weak.
He feared that exposing his talent as a Martial Soul researcher might invite danger. While he was vulnerable, he was unwilling to place his safety in the hands of others. He could trust Tang San and Tang Hao, but as for anyone else, Xiao Lin couldn't make such guarantees.
Were the people of Spirit Hall "good"? They did send people to remote villages to awaken the Martial Souls of children.
But what did that have to do with the high-ranking officials of Spirit Hall? The ones doing the hard work were low-level members like Su Yuntao.
Furthermore, Xiao Lin and Tang San were going to collect a stipend that allowed low-level Soul Masters to cultivate in peace. This seemed like a great act of benevolence, but where did Spirit Hall's money come from?
Xiao Lin had heard that the funds were actually taken from the treasuries of the two Great Empires—essentially forced out of the empires to be given to the commoners. Should they then be grateful to Spirit Hall? Should they trust them unconditionally?
Xiao Lin shook his head. If he looked at the high-ranking members of Spirit Hall through a rose-tinted lens, he might not even know how he eventually died.
After a long while, seeing Xiao Lin still brooding, Tang San asked, "Brother Lin, what exactly are you agonizing over?"
Tang San was perplexed.
In his eyes, Xiao Lin had always been a very clear-headed person with a distinct plan for his Martial Soul and his future.
Seeing him like this was truly beyond Tang San's expectations.
"It's nothing."
Ultimately, Xiao Lin shared his situation with Tang San, asking if he wanted to earn some manuscript fees to buy storage Soul Tools.
"You can just use mine. You'll definitely get your own eventually," Tang San replied casually.
To him, they were brothers; sharing a Soul Tool was perfectly normal.
However, due to Xiao Lin's hesitation, Tang San realized that his friend wasn't always so decisive. At least regarding interpersonal relationships and judging human hearts, Xiao Lin seemed less experienced than someone like himself, who only knew about hidden weapons.
In reality, it wasn't that Xiao Lin was extroverted; rather, he had a slight "meta-knowledge" bias toward certain characters from the original story, which allowed him to become familiar with them more easily.
Take Tang San, for instance—Xiao Lin hadn't read the latter half of Soul Land 2, nor parts 3 or 4. He didn't know why Tang San would eventually be criticized by many as a "double-standard hypocrite."
He had only seen some of the more outrageous rumors about the God-level Tang San online—things so absurd he doubted if it was even the same person. So, Xiao Lin still harbored some disbelief.
Based on what he had read, the Tang San at the start of the first story didn't have many major flaws. Thus, after transmigrating, Xiao Lin slowly got to know him and found that he wasn't so unreasonable; he even understood the principles of loyalty and filial piety.
Because of this, they had become good brothers.
Later, Xiao Lin made the active choice to prevent Tang San from coming into contact with "Grandmaster" Yu Xiaogang.
To Xiao Lin, people like Yu Xiaogang were a joke. Even without the help of internet netizens' explanations, Xiao Lin had realized Yu Xiaogang was a waste during his first reading.
A Rank 29 Soul Grandmaster who almost got killed by a Datura Snake?
Those "Ten Core Theories of Martial Souls"—total nonsense that stated the obvious. In training the Shrek Seven Devils, Yu Xiaogang ignored the much more useful gravity control of Zhao Wuji and instead made them run while carrying rocks.
Truly a "brilliant" training method!
Beyond that, the people of Shrek Academy consistently challenged Xiao Lin's values.
When he read the book, seeing Ma Hongjun—a boy around twelve—already frequenting brothels for years was mind-boggling. Dai Mubai escaped his clan's fate only to abandon Zhu Zhuqing and indulge in twin sisters.
Even more laughable was the slogan: "One who does not cause trouble is a mediocre talent."
Xiao Lin had been raised to believe one should never start trouble, but never fear it if it came.
Actively seeking out trouble just because one has a powerful backer? That was just being a bully.
Xiao Lin shook his head, pushing these thoughts aside.
He would do as Tang San suggested and use his storage Soul Tool for now. As for the research, he would wait until he had read more books and conducted more experiments before slowly publishing them—ideally after he had found a real backer.
To Xiao Lin, Tang Hao didn't count as a reliable backer because he was too elusive; in the original story, he didn't even show up sometimes when Tang San was in mortal danger. Therefore, for his own safety, Xiao Lin planned to find a reliable "bodyguard."
A Titled Douluo would be best, but a Soul Douluo would be acceptable.
"Wait, I've got it! We can use a disguise and publish the papers anonymously to earn big money!" Xiao Lin blurted out, thinking of a classic protagonist trope.
He had planned to make money and slap Yu Xiaogang's face long ago.
How could he let fear stop him? If push came to shove, he'd just use a disguise.
"Anonymous? Disguise?" Tang San muttered.
They were children; how were they supposed to disguise themselves?
The next second, Tang San saw Xiao Lin narrow his eyes and grin.
His expression was as devious as it could possibly be.
"Brother Lin, what are you planning to do?"
"Jie jie jie... you don't have a choice in this, Little San!"
In an instant, Xiao Lin tackled Tang San and forcibly pulled a massive black cloak out of the Soul Tool.
"Look, this is it! We'll put on this cloak. When we go to Spirit Hall to submit the research, we won't say a word—we'll just pull the manuscript out of the Soul Tool."
"So... I have to be the one on the bottom holding you up?" Tang San looked at Xiao Lin, caught between laughter and tears.
What if Spirit Hall demanded identification?