Recently, due to the appearance of the Fallen, Nuoding City had fallen into a state of panic.
Tang San returned to Holy Spirit Village for a while, gave Old Jack a few instructions, left behind protective equipment and weapons, and stayed for nearly half a month.
After confirming there were no problems, he returned to Nuoding City.
Blood Sword Norman had vanished, as if he'd disappeared into thin air after killing Yang Long.
In the original work, this Evil Soul Master didn't appear at all.
Tang San couldn't make a precise judgment about him, but if the world continued to follow the original storyline, then Blood Sword Norman would most likely be arrested by Spirit Hall in Nuoding City.
Now, however, the reality had deviated.
That same Blood Sword Norman had killed a transmigrator and vanished without a trace.
There was a possibility he would stir up more trouble in the near future.
Still, Tang San didn't feel it had much to do with him.
That was, until he returned to the Spirit Hall in Nuoding City and was summoned by Ma Xiunuo. The Pope, fearing Tang San might die unexpectedly during his growth, had sent a Soul Saint to protect him.
Lin Yuhan—a Soul Saint who had never appeared in the original work.
Tang San remembered that in the anime, she might have been a minor supporting character who "received her lunch box" rather quickly. Was she even a Titled Douluo?
"You are Tang San?" Lin Yuhan asked upon seeing him. She held a portrait of Tang San from before he had absorbed his first spirit ring. As she compared it to the real person, her brows raised slightly, her thin lips moved, and curiosity flickered in her eyes.
"That's me," Tang San said with a nod. "Back then, I was still pretty skinny."
Lin Yuhan looked again at the painting, where Tang San resembled a bamboo stick, and remained silent for a moment. Then she said plainly, "Indeed, you were very thin."
Seeing she didn't get the joke, Tang San pursed his lips. "It's fine. My martial soul mutated too much... made me more and more handsome."
Lin Yuhan calmly put away the portrait and said, "The Pope ordered me to protect you—but don't expect me to follow you around all the time. Aside from hunting spirit beasts, I won't involve myself in your affairs."
"I understand." Tang San had no desire to be shadowed constantly by a Soul Saint. He had many secrets, and it was obvious that Lin Yuhan had no intention of studying or analyzing him.
A simple mutual understanding would suffice.
Seeing Tang San was easy to speak to, Lin Yuhan didn't waste any more words. She turned and left the office without even greeting Ma Xiunuo.
The strong always had their privileges.
Ma Xiunuo didn't mind. Instead, he said warmly to Tang San, "Little Tang, Her Majesty the Pope thinks very highly of you. Don't disappoint her expectations."
"I'll do my best. After all, it's not every day you see a Soul Saint in Nuoding City."
After chatting a bit more with Ma Xiunuo, Tang San left the office. He didn't see Lin Yuhan in the corridor or the hall outside, but he didn't mind.
Tang San's perception was sharp. With some focus, he could sense the area within a hundred meters around him. He noticed Lin Yuhan was standing atop the Spirit Hall building, gazing down over the entire city.
"Soul Saint. Martial Soul: Wind Chime Bird. Wind attribute. Agile movement type... Definitely not easy to detect."
Tang San evaluated her mentally.
"But this Wind Chime Bird soul beast doesn't have much offensive power, so she's most likely an agility-attack type Soul Master. Based on my classification, she'd be a reconnaissance-focused agility attacker."
"She's already reached the Soul Saint level, so aside from her Martial Soul True Body, I estimate the other six soul skills are primarily attack-type. There might be one or two with reconnaissance capabilities, but it's unlikely she chose speed-boosting skills. Most of her techniques probably involve wind-based attacks."
When it came to spirit ring choices, even those in Spirit Hall usually chose based on prior experience and martial soul compatibility, not meticulous long-term planning.
Only the strongest Titled Douluo—especially those above level 95—like those in the upper echelons of Spirit Hall, were cultivated from a young age with meticulous soul ring combinations.
Even most of Bibi Dong's followers had reached Soul Douluo or Titled Douluo levels on their own before joining Spirit Hall.
At least, according to the original work, Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo had been such examples—joining the Hall later in life in pursuit of status and honor.
"So be it," Tang San thought. "Having a Soul Saint bodyguard on the surface will let me act more boldly. But I must be careful—not so bold that the favor becomes a debt I can't repay."
Weighing the pros and cons, Tang San made his way to the Spirit Hall's backyard and resumed his daily cultivation routine: training soul power, refining his control, studying martial soul theory, and forging iron.
In addition to Xiao Wu, Guang Ling would also come every day after school to train and study. She practiced basic physical exercises and followed Tang San to learn theory from the Spirit Hall.
Xiao Wu, as always, had little interest in martial soul theory but was very enthusiastic about human lifestyle habits.
To entertain her during downtime, Tang San began teaching her how to write stories, drawing from his past life experiences.
Xiao Wu thought it was a great idea and actually wrote a novel titled A Girl from the Great Forest. It told the story of a young girl born in a rural village on the edge of an unknown soul beast forest. After awakening her innate full soul power, she left her backward countryside to explore the big city and start a new life.
Tang San read it. He found the sections before the age of six surprisingly authentic and refreshing. It had a kind of wild, primitive charm.
But everything past age seven?
Hard to read. The tone completely shifted into a generic romance novel. Even the male lead was named "Little Tang," and the female protagonist was "Little Guang"...
What exactly are you trying to imply?
"What do you think?" Xiao Wu's face turned red, but her large pink eyes sparkled with anticipation.
"I think... it'll flop."
Tang San shook his head. "You'd do better making the protagonist a soul master who knows a lot about soul beasts. The main story could focus on studying the various soul beasts living in the Star Dou Great Forest—observing their habits, mating behaviors, even emotional patterns."
"But you'll need to change the martial soul. Make it something that allows communication with soul beasts. You can be creative with it. Don't take the setting too seriously."
Xiao Wu nodded thoughtfully. "Good idea. Then I'll give the protagonist a mutated Soft Bone Rabbit martial soul—one that lets her understand soul beast speech."
A month later, Xiao Wu completed and published her first soul beast-themed novel in Nuoding City: Little Rou's Fantastic Adventure.
This was done for safety reasons, to prevent her identity from being discovered by the Spirit Hall upper ranks.
Moreover, Ma Xiunuo himself had no desire to report the book. Little Rou's Fantastic Adventure seemed like a girl's whimsical daydream. Some of the described soul beast behaviors even contradicted the official Soul Beast Encyclopedia.
In Ma Xiunuo's opinion, the error margin was too high. It was fine as a children's book, but if he reported it, his colleagues would likely laugh at him.
As such, the novel was only sold locally in a Nuoding City bookstore.
Unexpectedly, it became popular among children who didn't possess soul power. Even many students at Nuoding Academy loved it.
After all, most of them had limited talent. Many would never reach level ten soul power, or might struggle their whole lives to become a Soul Elder.
This story allowed them to immerse themselves in the fantastical world of magical soul beasts—and that alone was enough to stir their imaginations.