In the end, Han Xing failed to make it to the geniuses’ meeting.
On second thought, the meeting barely held any meaning anyway because he somehow realized that he had already been strapped on to Tang Ling’s battleship crew.
Aside from Ro Xin and Ro Li’s attitude towards him, the fact that he was currently staying in Dvesha Moha had solidified his stand in this matter. Dvesha Moha was a good place.
Han Xing was not an idiot. Although he had only been feeding Monty for three days, his sword techniques had improved greatly. He even gained a more direct feeling of the sword intent.
No matter how smart Monty was or how much it had evolved, it would never know how to fight with a sword, or at least systematically. It parried with Han Xing with only its natural instinct, which ended up undoubtedly greatly beneficial to his learning of true sword intent.
“Whatever. Maybe I’ll go check up on Tang Ling.”
When he recalled the encounter between Tang Ling and Tang Long and Higan, Han Xing really felt pitiful and sad for Tang Ling.
…
Tang Ling was meticulously sculpting the leftover bits from his hand. He had asked Boss Huang for the leftover materials and even a set of sculpting tools.
For once, Boss Huang had been quite generous as he gave the materials and tools to Tang Ling. He said it would be good for Tang Ling to test his hands with Iron Sculpting.
Tang Ling had Precise Instinct, so the control he had over his body was unusually strong and he certainly had a pair of delicate and meticulous hands.
He asked Han Xing as he continued to sculpt, “Didn’t you go to the geniuses’ meeting?” Soon, a tiny umbrella the size of a thumb was born under his sculpting knife. It looked rather delicate and cute.
“Nah, I’m not going. It’s meaningless. I’m no longer a free genius. I’m yours, Bro,” Han Xing said as he pocketed the little umbrella that Tang Ling sculpted. He did not know what Tang Ling was sculpting, but it looked cute and he planned to use it to woo girls in the future.
“Can you not say something that disgusting? What do you mean you are mine?” Tang Ling saw Han Xing’s little action, but he did not care because it was just a leftover that he used as practice.
“Ah, whatever, you know what I mean. Oh yeah, Bro, Ro Li and Ro Xin didn’t go either,” Han Xing said casually.
“They aren’t exactly geniuses yet,” Tang Ling said. However, he knew that once Ro Li freed himself from the shackles of his bloodline and Ro Xin achieved something in her learning, they would be just as talented as the geniuses out there.
“Bro, what do you think the geniuses are doing together? Who hosted the meeting? What was the purpose?” The sleazy Han Xing fished a cigarette from Tang Ling’s pack on the table and lit it up.
Although Han Xing had a vague answer in his heart, he wanted to listen to Tang Ling’s opinion.
“The purpose? To start the Life Or Death Ring and recruit a crew to sail the seas. All those big factions out there will never really stay put. I don’t know who hosted the meeting, but I know the host is warning the other bigger factions to keep their hands off me and Tang Long’s little game. The game is set for teenagers only.” Tang Ling made it sound so easy and casual because he really did not care about the game from the bottom of his heart. No matter how fiercely the situation of the world had changed, Tang Ling was Tang Ling. Ever since that ominous night, he had gotten used to fighting indomitable forces alone.
Han Xing’s eyes gleamed.e He then frivolously spat a cloud of smoke out. He realized that the more he knew Tang Ling, the more outstanding he sensed Tang Ling was.
Tang Ling was not just smart. He also had wisdom of his own. At least, he could see things clearer than Han Xing did. Maybe his way of dealing with Higan was also part of his unique wisdom.
With that in mind, Han Xing continued with a question, “Bro, what do you think they are doing, meeting up like that?”
“Since they are all geniuses, they will surely participate in the process of setting the rules. You have the answer in your heart, so why are you asking me?” Tang Ling stretched his body and tidied up the bits and fragments on the table by throwing them into the garbage can. He already had some necessary materials for drawing a simple body array ready in his drawer.
Tang Ling asked the two little plump ladies to get them for him because he could no longer delay his practice of body array anymore.
Having a few more trump cards before the Life Or Death Ring was always a good thing. If he restarted his practice of body array, his days of having enough sleep would come to an end.
“Is there anything else?” Tang Ling asked, wanting to start his practice on body array.
“I guess that’s it.” Han Xing also wanted to return to his training.
As a matter of fact, every single genius out there had to put in 120% effort to reach where they were now.
“Hold on,” Tang Ling called out.
When Han Xing turned around, a glimmering item flew across the air in an arch, landing in his hand. He fixed his eyes on the shiny thing in his hand. It was a Black Sea coin.
“Bro, what’s this for?” Han Xing was rather moved. Of course, the value of a single Black Sea coin was not enough to bribe him, but it was rather about how the coin was given and the attitude of the person when the coin was given.
“Stop stealing my cigarettes,” Tang Ling said.
Han Xing curled his fist over the coin and walked out of Tang Ling’s room. His feelings for Tang Ling could no longer be put into words. While Han Xing might be a lively and cheerful person, he barely had any friends. Geniuses were lonely, and even he could not escape such reality.
After Han Xing walked out, Tang Ling took the piece of Horror Lullaby List out from his drawer. Every time when Han Xing appeared, the paper would react strangely. The strange thing was that it only reacted to his presence but did not show Han Xing’s name at all, unlike Ro Li’s name which was displayed on it.
What caused it?
Tang Ling suddenly thought of something that Ro Yan had told him before: the real Horror Lullaby List was a book.
…
The meeting of the geniuses ended and Darkness Port went back to a strange peaceful period.
As though nothing dramatic had happened, there were no astonishing battles twice in two days in the Desperado Ring, or a meeting between Tang Ling and Tang Long that started the game of Life Or Death, or a meeting among the geniuses in the Dreamy Visitor. There was simply nothing at all as everything returned to normal.
Tang Ling also got a lot busier. He smithed, cultivated, practiced his body array, read and even squeezed out some time to sculpt the leftover materials.
No one knew why or what Tang Ling was sculpting, but the two little plump ladies benefited from it because they collected a lot of little umbrellas from Tang Ling and had a lot of fun with it.
In the past few days, Tang Ling only went out once to find Zero.
However, the meeting with Zero ended strangely and left Tang Ling in confusion. He met Zero as planned. He was a stranger that looked a little brutal and prestigious, but Zero had told him that it was not time and they had no reason to meet.
What did that mean? Tang Ling was forced to accept the result because Su Siao did not tell him why he should meet Zero. He had only told him to find Zero.
It was the main reason Tang Ling was in Darkness Port, but now, after he had completed his mission, he was forced to stay because many different things had caught up with him and bound him down.
He spent his days in peace as he worked every single day and poured in more effort than anyone else, hence his improvements skyrocketed.
In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed and he had reached the strength of nine bulls. He was only a little shy from merging his strength thoroughly.
He also got to know a little more about drawing body arrays. He even helped Han Xing draw several ad-hoc body arrays on him and allowed Han Xing to shine in the ring. At the same time, he would bet on Han Xing and earn some money.
The two of them were known as the Sleazy Duo, but they were never as sleazy as Boss Huang since the boss made up tons of excuses to exploit them and squeeze money from their pockets.
However, they also gained something from all of Boss Huang’s exploitation. At least, Han Xing was given a manual about sword technique, which Boss Huang had highly boasted how exclusive it was and how he would never find a second manual of the same kind in the world.
As for Tang Ling, Boss Huang had granted him the so-called Level 2 reading access, which allowed him to read some books about talents although they only covered the basics.
Tang Ling did not know why he had to understand all kinds of strange talents. Boss Huang advised him that it was important to understand all the talents.
The days flew by decently. Higan felt nothing like a comet grazing the night sky. It felt like she had never appeared in Tang Ling’s life.
As for Ro Xin and Ro Li, the siblings had visited Dvesha Moha a few times now and got to know Boss Huang, Ding Ling, and Ding Dong better.
It was peaceful in Darkness Port.
No one mentioned anything about the Life Or Death Ring anymore as though everyone knew a dark current was getting stronger in the dark and would erupt eventually. Still, no one was bothered as they were only waiting for the current to arrive.
When would it arrive then?
Many people guessed that it would be on Medley Sea Day if things went smoothly.
Medley Sea Day was the most important festival in Darkness Port. If the duo started the Life Or Death Ring on that day, what kind of explosive effect would it bring?
The celebratory atmosphere in Darkness Port was getting stronger as it was only two days away from Medley Sea Day.
Higan sat quietly on the edge of the roof like how she had sat on the edge of the castle back in Starstay City, gazing into the sunset.
Ten days later, Higan looked a little exhausted, but the more she was worn down, the more people would pity her. She was part of the scenery. Even though many labeled her as Tang Long’s woman, it did not stop the teenagers in their puberty from peeking at her from both close and afar.
Nevertheless, Higan did not care about their admiring gazes. She just knew that she missed Tang Ling a lot. She had been counting the days that she missed Tang Ling and it was already the 12th day, which meant that she had been accompanying Tang Long for 12 days.
Was the calculation a little too harsh for her?
She was already at her limit and she could feel herself withering like the scab over the wound on her palm. It was recovering but it looked like a withered petal.
“Are you really leaving?” Tang Long had gotten up to the roof some time ago and he sat down beside Higan.
“Mm-hmm.” Higan nodded.
“I guess that’s also good for you.” Tang Long did not feel dismal about it. He felt relieved instead. It was better for Higan to stay away from Darkness Port since the game of Life Or Death with Tang Ling was just around the corner. He was afraid that the slightest commotion would invoke her feelings for Tang Ling again.
What he did not know was that in the past 12 days, Higan’s heart was not what he thought. In his opinion, she was grinding away her feelings for Tang Ling. On quite the contrary, on the days when she could not see him, the feelings multiplied and became an awl that tormented her heart.
Higan, of course, wanted to leave. She had her own plans and she was done waiting.
Tang Long thought everything was moving towards the better. He believed that after Higan left Darkness Port, she would have nothing to do with Tang Ling anymore. When the wagon arrived, she would board the wagon to the port of Darkness Port and the speedboat from the Stardust Council would be waiting to take her away.
“Let’s go. I’ll see you out.” Tang Long’s smile was as kind and tender as ever.
After everything wrapped up in Darkness Port, he would travel back to Starstay City without pause.
His plan was to never be away from Higan’s side after he returned to Starstay City. Then, he would seek permission from his godfather and propose to her.
