An hour later.
The three walked along the stream and entered a bamboo forest.
"Growing in clusters, lush green like ink, these are bamboo spirit beasts, Ink Bamboo," the coachman observed the bamboo forest, explaining to Tang San and the other person.
"Don't be fooled by the size of this bamboo forest; most of the Ink Bamboo here are less than ten years old."
"The deeper we go into the bamboo forest, the higher the cultivation of the Ink Bamboo."
"Judging by the scale of this bamboo forest, there should be Ink Bamboo with four hundred years of cultivation at the deepest part."
As expected, deep within the bamboo forest, Tang San and his group found seven or eight Ink Bamboo with cultivation around four hundred years old.
The coachman observed them carefully and selected an Ink Bamboo with the highest cultivation. He then cleared away all the surrounding Ink Bamboo.
Next, the coachman handed Tang San a lit fire starter and said, "Only by killing a spirit beast yourself can you absorb the spirit ring it produces."
"Throw this fire starter over and slowly burn this Ink Bamboo to death."
Tang San did as the coachman instructed, throwing the fire starter in his hand onto the bamboo stalk of the Ink Bamboo.
Soon, the flames consumed the entire Ink Bamboo. The fierce fire burned for several hours before the tenacious Ink Bamboo finally died.
A dark yellow spirit ring materialized above the nearly extinguished flames.
Seeing this, Tang Yuehua lowered her head and instructed Tang San, "Go ahead, Little San. Do as I taught you."
"Okay," Tang San replied. He then walked to the spirit ring and sat down, circulating the Mysterious Heaven Skill to begin absorbing this Ink Bamboo spirit ring.
In the shadows.
Tang Hao silently watched Tang San absorb the spirit ring. Seeing that no further accidents would occur, he quietly left the Spirit Hunting Forest and headed in the direction of Holy Spirit Village.
Titled Douluo moved extremely fast. Even though Tang Hao was not an Agility Attack Titled Douluo, he could travel from the Spirit Hunting Forest back to Holy Spirit Village in less than a day at full speed.
Several hours later.
"Huh?"
Tang Hao, passing by Nuoding City, seemed to have seen something incredible. He, who had always kept his emotions hidden, let out a surprised sound.
On the street of Nuoding City, a six-year-old girl with a long braid trailing on the ground was skipping her way to Nuoding Academy, completely unaware that a Titled Douluo was watching her from the shadows.
"A ten-thousand-year transformed spirit beast actually appeared here. Is this fate?"
If Tang Yuehua hadn't sought him out, Tang San would have gone to Nuoding Academy to study and become a work-study student there, just like this rabbit. This was how Tang San and Xiao Wu's destined connection began.
Tang Hao was conflicted, but in the end, hatred took precedence.
"Since Little San left with Yuehua, he and this rabbit will ultimately only have a destined connection without fate."
"Ah Yin, I'm sorry. This rabbit could provide great help to Little San. Spirit Hall is too powerful an enemy; I can only do this."
Having made up his mind, Tang Hao acted swiftly, abducting the braided girl on the street.
His speed was so great that no passerby could see him clearly.
Thus, the onlookers suspected they were hallucinating, as a little girl had clearly been walking on the street just moments before.
Outside Holy Spirit Village, in a certain cave.
Tang Hao looked at the unconscious girl and comforted himself, "It's only natural for Spirit Masters to hunt spirit beasts. Although you, like Ah Yin, have transformed into human form, you haven't reached maturity, so you aren't truly human."
"I didn't intend to do this, but you appeared before me yourself. You can't blame me."
"When Little San obtains your spirit ring and spirit bone, it will also fulfill the destined connection between you and Little San."
With that, Tang Hao put the girl into a spirit tool that could store living beings and gazed into a certain direction for a long time before finally leaving the cave.
…
Nuoding Academy.
Today was the day the academy began its term.
A middle-aged man with a decadent aura stood at the academy entrance. For some reason, he felt as if he had lost something important.
"Is this just my imagination?"
Yu Xiaogang whispered almost imperceptibly, then gave a bitter smile and mocked himself, "What was I expecting, anyway?"
Somewhere in the academy, an ordinary-looking middle-aged man secretly watched all of this.
Shortly after, high above the clouds, a Sharp-tailed Swift with a cultivation of just over a hundred years flew rapidly.
If anyone could see this scene, they would notice that a letter was tied to the Sharp-tailed Swift's leg, and its flight path was towards Heaven Dou City.
A few days later.
Lin Clan Duke's Mansion.
Lin Rong put down the secret letter in his hand. A surge of spirit power appeared in his palm, and the next moment, the secret letters turned into dust and scattered in the wind.
"Grandpa Yu, instruct the sentries to keep a close watch. If there are no urgent developments, they only need to report once a month."
"Also, train more Sharp-tailed Swifts."
"The Agility Clan is destined not to be used by me, so I must put more effort into this."
"For any force, having a developed and complete intelligence network is crucial."
"This old servant understands. Please rest assured, young master." The old butler replied and immediately set about arranging these matters.
The Sharp-tailed Swift is the fastest flying Spirit Beast known on the Douluo Continent, without exception.
Even the Emerald Bird, famed for its speed, is far inferior to the Sharp-tailed Swift at the same cultivation level.
However, there are always trade-offs. Unlike the Emerald Bird, which possesses extreme speed along with formidable offensive power, the Sharp-tailed Swift's ultimate speed comes at the cost of offensive lethality.
And the Agility Clan, possessing the Sharp-tailed Swift Martial Soul, consists entirely of pure agility-type Spirit Masters.
Although they lack offensive capabilities, they are excellent scouts.
It can only be said that the thinking of people in this era is too limited, as no force on the entire continent has realized the strategic value of the Agility Clan.
The Agility Clan has immense potential value, but Lin Rong has no intention of recruiting them.
This is because the Agility Clan's patriarch, Bai He, is Tang San's grand-uncle, and he is still connected to the Clear Sky Sect by blood.
The Single Attribute Four Great Clans: Strength, Control, Breaking, and Agility.
The Strength Clan's patriarch, Titan, is a loyal follower of Tang Hao, and the Agility Clan's patriarch is Tang San's grand-uncle.
Thus, two of the four are immediately out.
Furthermore, Titan has a very deep friendship with the Control Clan's patriarch, Niu Gao, and Bai He is good friends with the Breaking Clan's patriarch, Yang Wudi.
If Lin Rong were to successfully recruit the Control and Breaking Clans, it would be fine as long as he didn't oppose Tang San. But if they did oppose him, due to Titan and Bai He, there's a high probability these two clans would harbor rebellious intentions.
Therefore, Lin Rong has no intention of recruiting any of the Single Attribute Four Great Clans.
However, not recruiting them doesn't mean he can avoid dealing with them.
If nothing else, there is something on Bai He that Lin Rong is determined to obtain.
Additionally, there are the Breaking Clan's medicinal herb lists, their detoxification pills, and so on. This is related to the plans for the peerless treasure land, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye.
The remaining Strength and Control Clans have much less value.
The Strength Clan excels at forging, and the Control Clan excels at construction. These skills are not exclusive to these two clans; they are simply outstanding, but not unique.
-----------
Machine Translation by: https:// beta.randomtranslator.com/
Read 999+ original & fanfic translations in English, Español, Português, Deutsch, Français, or Русский at: https:// beta.randomtranslator.com/
Join our Discord: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------