Back at the security team, Guang Long took out his soul tool communicator and dialed a number.
Waiting for the other side to connect, he asked:
"Brother, do you have time to meet?"
"I'm a bit busy right now, I don't have time. I'll see you in the evening. You kid, why did you remember me? Are you causing trouble again?"
"How dare I? This is the work of the Spirit Pagoda." Guang Long put the soul tool communicator to his ear and smiled helplessly.
"You chose it yourself, you have to pay it back, but you have to pay it back with your job. It's too late to regret it now."
Guang Long glanced out the window, looking at the distant lights.
His expression was a little complicated, but his tone was firm. "I have no regrets."
The type of work assigned by the Spirit Pagoda depends on the strength of the subsidized soul master.
After all, it would be a waste to let a high-level soul master do spirit transmission work, and the soul master wouldn't be happy with that meager salary.
However, the number of jobs within the Pagoda is limited, so sometimes, after communicating with the Federation, some positions are arranged for such people.
Guang Long belongs to this category.
The members of the security team are usually ordinary people equipped with soul tools.
They can handle low-level soul masters causing trouble, but against stronger soul masters, these people are ineffective.
Powerful soul masters or mecha masters are needed to suppress them.
Even though the salary for this kind of job isn't low, why would Soul Ancestor and Soul Kings be willing to do such work?
The contract between the Spirit Pagoda and civilian soul masters comes into play here, allowing some personnel to be assigned to these positions.
However, this situation is relatively rare, as at this stage, most soul masters can repay their soul debt.
It's just that... Guang Long wants to do it.
"That's just how my life is. I can't compare to you, big brother. At least doing this kind of work reminds me of how I rose in the first place and keeps me from being jealous of you."
"..."
There was silence on the soul tool communicator for a moment, followed by a cold snort from Guangbiao. "It's not that you haven't worked hard enough."
"I don't have your talent." Guang Long smiled.
"But if you really do it, it feels good to enjoy the residents' looks of worship and trust."
"...Hmph, as long as you're satisfied."
As the conversation was winding down, Guangbiao's voice suddenly turned serious:
"I want to remind you of one thing. Be careful lately. If you encounter someone whose aura seems off, stay away immediately. Notify the mecha team as soon as possible, and don't rush forward recklessly."
Guang Long was puzzled. "What's wrong?"
"An evil soul master was caught during my patrol, but I'm not sure if he still has companions."
Guang Long's eyes widened in shock.
...
At night, Tang Wulin recalled everything he had encountered that day.
He was so excited that he tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
By the time he finally fell asleep, it was already midnight.
He lay on the bed, feeling a faint burning sensation enveloping his body. He involuntarily trembled slightly, his brows tightening as he felt that inexplicable throbbing again.
When Tang Wulin opened his eyes, he found himself no longer in the dormitory.
Instead, he had entered a black world, surrounded by pitch darkness, unable to see anything clearly.
Suddenly, a dazzling golden light lit up in the distance, catching his attention.
The golden light quickly approached, growing larger as it drew nearer.
When Tang Wulin saw the true form of that light, he couldn't help but be shocked, it was a massive golden dragon!
"You've finally arrived, and it seems your body is ready to withstand this power."
At that moment, Tang San's divine sense appeared before Tang Wulin.
His expression was complicated, but he quickly masked it, pretending to have lost his memory.
He claimed to be a wisp of divine consciousness meant to help Tang Wulin unlock the seal of the Golden Dragon King and began explaining the situation to him.
Children of this age, if they were to discover an extra presence within their body, would undoubtedly be frightened and even wary.
Tang Wulin was no exception.
When he learned that he carried the essence of the Golden Dragon King within him and that he needed to gather three specific items to unlock the seal, or face death, he was stunned.
He had friends, Spirit Pagoda that had high expectations of him, and parents and a teacher waiting for his return... He didn't want to die!
"I'll definitely collect them all!"
Seeing Tang Wulin's determination, Tang San's divine sense didn't immediately release him. After a moment of silence, he asked, "How do you plan to collect them? These things aren't easy to obtain."
Although Tang San hadn't paid much attention to the prices of goods in the Federation, he knew that the soul beasts in the two major gathering places and the Spirit Pagoda were colluding, and the number of soul beasts elsewhere had drastically declined.
Under these circumstances, among the three required items, the ten drops of blood from a dragon-bloodline soul beast would be extremely difficult to acquire and undoubtedly expensive.
Tang Wulin's family couldn't even afford the cost of a soul, how could he possibly afford such a pricey item?
"I..." Tang Wulin was momentarily speechless.
"Don't think about asking for help from major factions. If the matter of the Golden Dragon King is exposed, you might attract dangerous individuals."
"Huh?" Tang Wulin, who had just considered seeking help from the Spirit Pagoda, was stunned.
Before he could speak, Tang San's divine sense sent him away.
During their first meeting, Tang San couldn't reveal too much.
He could only offer this warning and couldn't explicitly mention the Spirit Pagoda.
After all, he couldn't just say, Wulin, you're the son of the Sea God, right?
Not only would Tang Wulin find it unbelievable, but even Tang San himself struggled with the idea in this situation.
Without a foundation of trust, some things simply couldn't be said.
"It's a pity. If I had known it would come to this, it would have been better to send Wulin to the Clear Sky Sect for training, like 10,000 years ago. Now, it's much harder."
Tang San frowned inwardly.
There were challenges ahead, and he needed to earn Tang Wulin's trust before he could guide him with the right values.
Fortunately, he already had a detailed plan in mind.
He reflected on his past education, from Tang Sect to Tang Hao to Shrek, and ultimately concluded that Shrek was the most suitable.
After all, Shrek had stood on the continent for 20,000 years, a testament to the correctness of its educational philosophy!
"Wulin, only by accepting my teachings can you survive in this challenging era!"
Whispering to himself, Tang San glanced slightly at the outside world, wanting to take another look at Tang Wulin.
However, he noticed that Tang Wulin's luck had diminished, and his expression turned gloomy.
He had long been prepared for such a situation and was about to withdraw his divine sense when he suddenly sensed something amiss.
Carefully probing Tang Wulin's body, he discovered a faint spiritual imprint attached to him, which was glaringly obvious to Tang San's divine senses.
Tang San quickly erased the mark, his expression darkening.
"Who's targeting Wulin?"
...
In the dormitory, Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow slightly, sensing the feedback from his soul technique.
He woke from his meditation and opened his eyes.
Elder Yi hadn't alerted him, and there was no way to detect the presence of the spirit beacon within the academy.
It could only be Tang San. "Is he awake? And with the ability to observe the outside world...?"
The spirit beacon, a soul technique he had created himself, operated on a principle similar to Tang San's divine consciousness but was a simplified version.
It allowed him to sense the location of the person marked within a certain range and would provide feedback if the mark was destroyed.
He had placed one on Tang Wulin out of concern that an unexpected situation might arise, such as Tang Wulin suddenly deciding to go to Shrek Academy for some reason.
He hadn't expected Tang San to take action and remove it.
Huo Yuhao's expression turned peculiar.
Logically, it would have been better to leave it, right?
By removing it, didn't that just reveal his awareness?
Is Tang San still in his right mind?
On the other side, Tang San's divine sense also reacted after erasing the spirit beacon.
Leaving it in place could have allowed him to quietly catch the person behind the scenes.
He shouldn't have removed it.
By doing so, he had alerted the other party to the presence of dangerous individuals around Wulin.
Now, they might avoid approaching Wulin altogether, and Tang San couldn't determine their intentions or eliminate the threat preemptively.
After all, the constant setbacks had affected his emotions and judgment, and this wisp of consciousness was flawed, unable to remain as calm and wise as his main body.
"Damn it, the Spirit Pagoda, the failures from 10,000 years ago, the one who stole luck, Rong Nianbing who secretly schemed behind my back to abandon the Emotional God position and flee, the God King of Destruction, the Golden Dragon King, and the Abyss Saint Monarch who pursued me...You all deserve to die!"
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that there were too many who deserved such a fate.
Even if some were already dead, Tang San's mood remained foul…