Hearing this, Ma Nuo hesitated. What Cheng Xiao said made sense. Although Tang San had killed the Mandala Snake in a panic, it also showed his extraordinary character.
Having him detoxify Master wasn't out of the question.
After hesitating for a moment, a glint appeared in Ma Nuo's eyes. He solemnly said, "Alright, Cheng Xiao, I'll do as you say. Let Master's disciple, Tang San, personally detoxify him."
Upon hearing this, a smile appeared on Cheng Xiao's face. Tang San, you've taken Master as your teacher, so you should be able to handle this small task of detoxifying your teacher, right?
Cheng Xiao's impression of Tang San had been quite good, but the previous escape had greatly changed that. Since you're being unkind, don't blame me for being unrighteous.
His current strength wasn't enough to kill Tang San, but when it came to making things difficult for him, Cheng Xiao considered himself to be quite capable. Since Master was his teacher, it wouldn't be too much for him to help detoxify a rather awkward area, would it?
Several hours later, Tang San slowly opened his eyes after absorbing the soul ring. Feeling the abundant soul power in his body, he couldn't help but smile. "Master's theory was successful. My Blue Silver Grass has gained a binding skill!"
When Tang San found Master with his gaze, his eyes widened immediately.
He saw Master leaning against a large tree, his body seemingly stiff and unmoving. His face was shrouded in black energy, clearly struggling to breathe.
"Poison!" Tang San blurted out upon seeing this.
"Tang San, you're awake!" Ma Nuo exclaimed with delight. "Quick, Xiao San, your teacher is poisoned! Hurry and use your soul power to force the poison out of him."
Tang San was momentarily dumbfounded. Seriously? You, as the headmaster, aren't helping your own teacher detoxify, and you're waiting for me to wake up and do it?
Ignoring Tang San's bewilderment, Ma Nuo grabbed his hand and explained the situation. Of course, he couldn't avoid mentioning the rather embarrassing location of the poisoning.
After listening, Tang San's initially joyful face became incredibly stiff. Looking at the unconscious Master, he suddenly felt the urge to kill someone. He was supposed to use his mouth to suck the poison out of Master? That was ridiculous!
However, Tang San was someone who revered his teacher and valued his principles. Since he had taken Master as his teacher, Master was like his second father. Now that his father was poisoned, how could he, as a son, not help?
Subsequently, Tang San, having made up his mind, resolutely tore open Master's clothes, exposing the deeply hidden, embarrassing area of the poisoning. He then held his breath, concentrated, gritted his teeth, and leaned in.
The instant he made contact, a wave of foul odor assaulted his senses. Tang San suppressed his physical discomfort, activated the Mysterious Heaven Skill within his body, and began to absorb the poison for Master.
As Ma Nuo had said, the location was too embarrassing; he couldn't use conventional methods to remove the poison. Out of desperation, he had no choice but to use his mouth.
As the highest inner cultivation method of the Tang Sect, the Mysterious Heaven Skill itself had a strong detoxifying effect. Because of this, Tang San dared to use his mouth to help Master absorb the poison. If it had been another spirit master, he probably would have been poisoned himself if he wasn't careful.
"Principal, didn't I tell you?" Watching the scene before him, Cheng Xiao suppressed the smile in his heart and whispered.
"That's right, Cheng Xiao. I didn't expect that you are young, yet your eye for talent is so sharp," Ma Nuo, the principal, stroked his chin as he watched Tang San wholeheartedly removing the poison for Master.
"Principal, let's go back after Master wakes up," Cheng Xiao said.
"But your spirit ring..." Ma Nuo said with an embarrassed expression.
"Principal, to be honest, just when we separated, I was fortunate enough to encounter a hundred-year-old spirit beast that was seriously injured by a Netherworld Demon Wolf. In order not to trouble everyone anymore, I absorbed it," Cheng Xiao said without blinking or showing any change in expression.
"Good kid, you're really lucky!" Ma Nuo patted Cheng Xiao's shoulder happily, without any suspicion about the truth of Cheng Xiao's words.
After a while, Tang San, who had sucked out the poison from Master's body, slumped to the ground. He looked at the poisonous blood he had vomited and finally breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the snake venom was eliminated, Master would be out of mortal danger.
Ma Nuo saw Master's complexion gradually return from a purplish-black to pale, and a look of joy appeared on his face. He looked at Tang San, who was gasping for breath, and said, "Xiao San, take a little break. We need to get Master back to Notting City quickly. Although you've absorbed the poison, it's best to have a healing-type Soul Master check his body."
"Master isn't strong, and I'm worried about leaving behind some aftereffects."
"Okay, Principal." Tang San's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and he nodded.
A moment later, Ma Nuo carried Master on his back and quickly left the Hunting Soul Forest with Cheng Xiao and Tang San.
Fortunately, Ma Nuo had recovered some of his strength, and they didn't encounter any strong Soul Beasts on their way out. Some ten-year Soul Beasts were scared and ran away the moment they saw the four of them, so it was a safe journey.
After leaving the Hunting Soul Forest, Ma Nuo rented a carriage at the market before entering the forest. After paying a few extra silver Soul coins, the driver drove the carriage towards Notting City.
After returning to Notting City, Principal Ma Nuo used his connections to find a healing-type Soul Master to treat Master. After treatment by the healing-type Soul Master, Master quickly woke up.
The happiest person after Master woke up was none other than Tang San. He looked at Master, who had opened his eyes, and was naturally overjoyed.
As for Cheng Xiao, who followed him back, he didn't immediately return to his dorm. Instead, he went to the back mountain of Notting Academy.
The forest was quiet, with no one else present besides Cheng Xiao.
Cheng Xiao looked at the dark purple soul ring swirling beneath his feet and fell silent. Although a thousand-year first soul ring, which was also a growth-type soul ring, sounded impressive, he knew that before he grew stronger, being too conspicuous could attract trouble.
And this trouble was precisely the slowly rotating dark purple soul ring beneath Cheng Xiao's feet. On the way back to Notting Academy, Cheng Xiao had been thinking: if people discovered that his first soul ring wasn't yellow but a thousand-year purple, would it invite a disaster that could cost him his life?
After all, the tree that stands out in the forest is the first to be felled by the wind. If possible, he didn't want to be too ostentatious. He couldn't even summon shadow soldiers yet. According to Cheng Xiao's plan, he would need to be at least level thirty, or even forty, before he could obtain his profession's exclusive skills.
Because he clearly remembered that when Cheng Xiaoyu completed his job transfer mission, his own strength was already quite formidable, and the shadow soldiers he summoned were much lower in level than him.
Although the shadow soldiers would improve with the King's strength, if Cheng Xiao summoned shadow soldiers now, wouldn't he be summoning a group of cannon fodder whose levels wouldn't exceed ten?
Of course, if Cheng Xiao summoned shadow soldiers at level forty, or even fifty, then their levels wouldn't be too low, even if they were lower. At most, when he was level fifty, the shadow soldiers would be level forty, or even higher.
The levels of the shadow soldiers would not exceed the King's own level. In other words, it wasn't that he couldn't summon shadow soldiers now, but that his strength was too low. Even if he summoned shadow soldiers, they would only be a group of cannon fodder constantly consuming his soul power, serving no purpose.
Cheng Xiao didn't plan to consider these things now. Summoning shadow soldiers was necessary, but not at this stage. The only thing he needed to do now was to find a way to conceal the color of his soul ring.
Just as Cheng Xiao was pondering how to solve the problem, a cold, emotionless female voice suddenly appeared in his mind.
[Detecting the Third Generation King's inheritor's strong desire, you have acquired the passive skill Camouflage. No one except you can see the true appearance of your spirit rings.]