Chapter 18: The Decision

Just as he returned to his room, Su Tang suddenly felt the world spinning. He did not know what happened and tried to struggle outside to seek help, but a sudden burst of brilliant light in his mind woke him up. He hurriedly sat on the soft couch, calmed his mind, and began to breathe deeply.

Su Tang already possessed two Spirit Souls. The Spirit Soul condensed from the Broken Sword remained unchanged, but the Spirit Soul condensed from the Mask grew larger and more dazzling, slowly rising in his mind like a bright moon.

Su Tang could still receive data. In about two minutes, that Spirit Soul rose to level one.

From level one to level two took seven or eight minutes; from level two to level three took about twenty minutes; from level three to level four took around one hour; and from level four to level five took nearly two hours.

Su Tang felt that the Spirit Soul stopped changing. He circulated his inner breath dozens of times before slowly opening his eyes.

After refining the Spirit Souls, he had persisted in practicing his inner breath every day, but the Dragon Soul had never shown any change. Why did that Spirit Soul rise five levels in such a short time? Could it be… the effect of the Magic Orchid? Did that mean he had not wasted it?

As Su Tang pondered, he stood up, sat in a chair, and gently poured himself a cup of tea. Just then, Shang Bin, Zhu’er, and Ke’er walked in one after another.

Shang Bin and the others had returned long ago. Seeing that Su Tang was in Cultivation, they did not disturb him. They only dared to enter just now after hearing the clinking sound of the teacup.

“Young Master, did they… did they teach you a Martial Formula?” Shang Bin’s voice trembled slightly, and his face was full of joy. He knew very well that his own skills were poor and the Martial Formula he taught Su Tang was low-grade. If Su Tang could receive guidance from that noble person, it would absolutely be a great blessing.

Su Tang smiled. Although no Martial Formula was taught, the other person had given him a bottle of extremely precious Magic Orchid, which was also a kind of favor.

“Mm…” Su Tang replied vaguely.

Shang Bin and Zhu’er looked at each other and smiled. What a noble person gave must be a high-grade Martial Formula. If nothing else, Su Tang’s position as the Castle Lord should be secure.

After dinner, Su Tang found an excuse and went to bed to rest early. He tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Should he stay or should he leave?

The more Su Tang thought about it, the more he felt that the words of the Grand Exalted made a lot of sense. Little Forest Castle was just a chicken coop; living and growing here forever would lead to no great success. He had practiced for many days without seeing results, but today, after being forced to drink a bottle of Magic Orchid, that Spirit Soul rose five levels in a row. Although he was not sure how much of an improvement a level five Spirit Soul would bring, the effect was clearly there.

The outside world should be very exciting. Besides the Magic Orchid, there must be many other things that could help him.

Also, he did not know when he would open his third Spirit Aperture. If he chose to stay, opening other apertures would be useless because he could not find any Spirit Tools to refine.

However, with his current strength, could he handle the storms outside?

After a sleepless night, just as the sky began to turn gray, Shang Bin suddenly knocked on the door and said urgently from outside, “Young Master, something happened! Something terrible happened!”

“Come in.” Su Tang sat up and asked nervously, “What happened?!”

“Black Wind Castle is finished…” Shang Bin shouted as he stepped into the room.

Through Shang Bin’s account, Su Tang understood what happened at Black Wind Castle! After nightfall, Black Wind Castle suffered a sudden attack. The attacker was just one person. Without saying a word, he first killed the servants blocking the castle gate, and then killed his way inside. By coincidence, because they were preparing to welcome guests, the Castle Lord of Black Wind Castle, Liu Jinlong, along with brothers like Liu Mingsheng and others, were all in the castle. Furthermore, Liu Jinlong managed the place well, and Black Wind Castle had great financial strength, maintaining over sixty servants. Upon hearing that an enemy had invaded, the men of the Liu family led the servants to fight back, but in the end, they were all slaughtered.

The messenger was an old man from Black Wind Castle. He had a daughter married into Little Forest Castle. Seeing the Liu family suffer such a catastrophic disaster, he was frightened out of his wits and dared not stay in Black Wind Castle. He packed his things overnight and came to seek refuge with his son-in-law.

According to the old man, the murderous demon did not kill everyone. He only killed the men; the women and children of the Liu family were not harmed. At first, the old man did not know what had happened, but when he went to look, he found that the Liu family home was already a river of blood.

Hearing this, Su Tang’s body became stiff. A chill that could not be described in words rose from the bottom of his heart and slowly spread, making him unable to move.

He could understand why the men of the Liu family were all killed. They had time to grab weapons and rush out to resist, but they absolutely had no time to escape, because the gap in power between the two sides was too vast. The slaughter broke out in an instant and ended in an instant.

Using Liu Mingsheng to kill with a borrowed knife was indeed something Su Tang had done. But he thought that Zhou Jin would find Liu Mingsheng, either give him a light punishment or kill him on the spot, and then warn the Liu family a few times, and that would be the end of it.

Su Tang never expected that Zhou Jin would start a massacre without caring about right or wrong. With the Liu family’s many members and their servants, were they all killed? Why? Was it because he felt questioning them was too troublesome, or…

The difficult problem he could not solve after thinking all night suddenly became crystal clear at this moment.

He must leave Little Forest Castle and go outside!

The teachings and upbringing he had received since childhood were all overturned at this moment. The Principality had laws that all citizens, including nobles of all ranks, had to follow strictly. His father was honest and had never used violence against the farmers in the castle, and his mother often taught him to be kind to others.

These things became absurd in the face of a massacre. Today, because of his provocation, this Grand Exalted let someone destroy the entire Liu family. Tomorrow, perhaps another noble person would destroy Su Tang’s Little Forest Castle for some other reason.

Laws? If the power possessed by this Grand Exalted far exceeded that of the Principality, what use were the laws?!

If he stayed in Little Forest Castle and waited for a disaster to fall from the sky one day, it would be too late to regret. He had to seize this opportunity no matter what. Su Tang made up his mind.

“Young Master?” Seeing that Su Tang was dazed, Shang Bin thought he was frightened and called out hurriedly.

Su Tang let out a long breath and said to Shang Bin, “Uncle Shang, go call Zhu’er and Ke’er. I have important words to tell them!”

“Now?” Shang Bin asked, as the sky was not yet bright.

“Now. Any later and it will be too late,” Su Tang said.