Early the next morning.
Xiao Lin and Tang San set off together for Nuoding City.
This time, the two traveled together without asking Grandpa Old Jack to guide them.
Even though they were only six years old, as soul masters, their strength far surpassed Old Jack's. Xiao Lin and Tang San didn't think they would encounter any danger.
On the road.
Tang San took out a piece of dried beef and started chewing on it with relish.
"Lin-ge, aren't you going to eat? With our pace, we won't reach Nuoding City until evening at the earliest," Tang San said, his words slightly unclear as he chewed on the beef.
"Not yet. I'm thinking about something."
Seeing Xiao Lin's serious expression, Tang San shook his head slightly. When Xiao Lin was deep in thought, he really hated being disturbed. So, Tang San simply focused on eating his beef alone.
At that moment, Xiao Lin was staring thoughtfully at a soul tool on Tang San's wrist.
That soul tool was a storage-type soul tool given to Tang San by Tang Hao. Although it wasn't of high quality, it could still store some items.
Now, the things Xiao Lin carried with him were also stored in Tang San's soul tool.
What Xiao Lin was considering was whether he should find a way to earn money and buy a soul tool for himself.
Storage-type soul tools were quite expensive in the Douluo Continent. Given Xiao Lin's current abilities, the only way he could earn money was by writing down his ideas and theories about martial souls and selling them.
After all, in the Douluo Continent, people didn't seem to think much.
Most of the time, they just cultivated step by step, absorbed soul rings, and then fought...
Had they ever considered where soul power actually came from?
What was the essence of a soul ring?Why was a soul ring necessary to break through in soul power?
If Xiao Lin published theories that were much more accurate than Grandmaster's, then he would become the true "Grandmaster."
Making money would be inevitable.
However, Xiao Lin was still too weak right now. He was afraid that if he revealed his talent as a martial soul researcher, he might attract danger.
At this stage, Xiao Lin did not want to place his safety in the hands of others.
Tang San and Tang Hao were fine, but as for anyone else, Xiao Lin wasn't willing to take that risk.
Were the people of Spirit Hall truly good?They sent people to remote places to awaken children's martial souls.
But what did that have to do with the higher-ups of Spirit Hall?The ones doing the hard work were low-level members like Su Yuntao.
And the subsidies Xiao Lin and Tang San received—those allowed low-level soul masters to cultivate in peace.
That seemed like a great act of kindness. But where did Spirit Hall get that money?Xiao Lin had even heard that Spirit Hall's funding came from the treasuries of the two great empires.
Wasn't that essentially forcing the two empires to provide for the commoners?
So, should Xiao Lin be grateful to Spirit Hall?Should he trust Spirit Hall unconditionally?
Xiao Lin shook his head. If he developed a positive filter for Spirit Hall's higher-ups because of this, he might not even realize how he would end up dead in the future.
After a long while, seeing that Xiao Lin was still caught up in his thoughts, Tang San finally asked:
"Lin-ge, what exactly are you struggling with?"
Tang San was puzzled. In his eyes, Xiao Lin had always been a very clear-headed person, someone with a well-thought-out plan for his martial soul and future.
Seeing Xiao Lin hesitate like this was completely unexpected for Tang San.
"It's nothing."
In the end, Xiao Lin decided to tell Tang San about his concerns.
He asked Tang San if he was interested in earning some money from writing articles so they could buy a storage soul tool.
"You can just use mine. You'll definitely have your own soul tool in the future," Tang San replied, not thinking much of it. They were brothers, after all—sharing a soul tool was completely normal.
But because of Xiao Lin's questions, Tang San realized that Xiao Lin wasn't as clear-headed as he had thought.
At least, when it came to interpersonal relationships and understanding people, Xiao Lin was still lacking compared to him, even though he himself was just someone who played with hidden weapons.
Tang San had originally thought Xiao Lin could get along with anyone and make friends easily, but that wasn't quite the case.
In reality, Xiao Lin wasn't naturally sociable—it was just that he had a slight filter in his mind when it came to certain characters from the original story. It was only after slowly getting to know them that he became close with them.
Take Tang San, for example. Xiao Lin hadn't read the latter half of Soul Land 2, nor Soul Land 3 or Soul Land 4.
He had no idea why Tang San was later criticized by so many people, being called a hypocrite with double standards.
Some of the things "God Tang San" did were so ridiculous that Xiao Lin had only come across them online.
It was absurd—so absurd that it made him wonder if Tang San had become a completely different person.
But based on what he had read, Tang San in the first part of the story didn't seem to have many problems.
So, after transmigrating, Xiao Lin slowly got to know Tang San and found that he wasn't as bad as some people had claimed. He even understood principles like loyalty and duty. That was why Xiao Lin and Tang San became close brothers.
Later on, Xiao Lin made sure Tang San never got involved with Yu Xiaogang and his ridiculous group.
Yu Xiaogang? Just thinking about him made Xiao Lin laugh.
Even without netizens pointing it out, Xiao Lin had already realized Yu Xiaogang was useless when he read the novel the first time.
A 29th-rank Grandmaster getting killed by a Mandala Snake?
And those so-called "Ten Core Theories of Martial Souls"? They were completely meaningless.
When training Tang San and the others, instead of using Zhao Wuji's gravity ability, he made them run with heavy stones on their backs.
Truly a "brilliant" training method.
And then there was the Shrek crew—each of them managing to shatter Xiao Lin's worldview.
For example, Ma Hongjun, a 12-year-old who had already been visiting brothels for years. That completely broke Xiao Lin's perception of reality.
Dai Mubai abandoned his fiancée, Zhu Zhuqing, to escape his family obligations, only to end up fooling around with twin sisters.
And that ridiculous statement: "Anyone who doesn't dare to cause trouble is useless."
Xiao Lin had always been taught not to cause trouble, but also not to fear it.
So what was the logic behind deliberately causing trouble just because you had a powerful backer?Xiao Lin shook his head, deciding not to think about these pointless things anymore.
He would go along with Tang San's suggestion for now and just use his storage soul tool.
As for publishing his theories, he would wait until he had read more books and conducted more experiments.
And most importantly, he would wait until he had a real backer before releasing them.
Right now, Tang Hao didn't count as a real backer in Xiao Lin's mind. The man disappeared frequently.
Sometimes, even when Tang San was in danger, he didn't show up.
So, for his own safety, Xiao Lin decided he needed a reliable backer. A bodyguard.
A Titled Douluo would be best.A Soul Douluo would also be acceptable.
"Wait, I got it! We'll disguise ourselves and publish anonymously to make a fortune!"
Suddenly, Xiao Lin thought of a classic protagonist move and blurted it out.
He had already planned to make money and slap Yu Xiaogang in the face.
How could he back down just because he was afraid?
At worst, he could just disguise himself.
"Anonymous? Disguises?"
Tang San muttered. They were just kids—how were they supposed to disguise themselves?
The next second, he saw Xiao Lin squint and grin, looking as sly as possible.
"Lin-ge… what are you planning?"
"Jie jie jie... You have no say in this, little San."
The next moment, Xiao Lin pounced on Tang San, forcibly pulling out a huge black cloak from the storage soul tool.
"Look, this is it! We'll wear these cloaks. When we go to Spirit Hall to submit our paper, we won't say a word—just pull the paper out of our soul tool."
"So… I just have to stand there and hold you up?"
Tang San looked at Xiao Lin, feeling like crying.
What if Spirit Hall asked for identification?
(End of Chapter)