Chapter 174 — Section 176: The Way to Solve It [Second Update]

Tang Tang said, "Oh," and turned his gaze to the girl, a little surprised. "Don't tell me you don't know what a martial soul contract is?" He turned to Bing. "Uncle, explain the martial soul contract to her."

Bing was laughing so hard he could barely stand. "Boy, who ever called you dumb? This is brilliant! Haha! Why didn't I think of it — a martial soul contract! Once it is signed, she absolutely cannot go back on her word!"

Alarm showed on the girl's face. "A martial soul contract... I don't know how..."

Bing roared with laughter and thumped his chest. "No problem, I'll teach you!"

Tang Tang knew what Bing was laughing at; Ling Yan did not. The two looked at each other.

Tang Tang asked Ling Yan, "You be the teacher, or me?"

Ling Yan shook his head without hesitation. "I have not the slightest interest in playing teacher to a snot-nosed brat."

"Fine, then I'll do it," Tang Tang said carelessly.

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A short while later, when Zhai Hengzhan slowly came to, he heard Bing talking on and on.

"The contract is established. Mm, he will accompany you in exploring Mount Buzhou, and throughout the whole journey he will protect your safety. Mm, from this day on, he is your teacher. From this day on, you will treat him with the courtesy a disciple owes a master — one day as teacher, a lifetime as father!"

The young lady's face drooped, thoroughly displeased.

Zhai Hengzhan's vision went black, and he nearly fainted again.

From the moment he was taken captive he had been perfectly calm. For one thing, he could see that Tang Tang and the others were kind at heart and bore them no great malice. For another, he trusted in the power of the Martial Marquis Manor to rescue them soon enough.

When he heard the princess propose the trick of taking a teacher, Zhai Hengzhan had privately praised her quick wit.

Only he had never imagined that the other side would also know the martial soul contract!

Once both parties signed a martial soul contract, it meant it could not be altered at all — not even if the Martial Marquis himself took a hand in it!

He pictured what awaited him back at the manor: inevitably, the heaven-high fury of the Martial Marquis.

His heart turned to ashes, and his whole body shook. How had things come to this...

The princess's teacher — how harsh, how fastidious the Martial Marquis was about the princess's teachers — Zhai Hengzhan, who had always lived at the manor, knew all too well. He could even clearly recall the wretched fates of those celebrated masters who had failed to satisfy the Martial Marquis.

Apart from his doting on the princess, the Martial Marquis was exceedingly strict with everyone else.

Every one of the princess's current teachers had passed layer upon layer of screening, chosen from tens of thousands to be the finest scholars and grandmasters!

If it had been merely a stopgap, the Martial Marquis would not have cared. Perhaps the whole business could have been glossed over; they, the guards, would be punished, but their lives would not be at risk.

But a martial soul contract...

The Marquis absolutely could not tolerate a fellow of such wretched ability actually signing a martial soul contract with the princess and becoming her teacher!

In Zhai Hengzhan's mind rose the Marquis's face, all rage and roaring, a terrifying wrath vast enough to tear everything apart. But with the martial soul contract in place, the Marquis absolutely would not move against Tang Tang; that fury would inevitably be poured out upon them, the guards who had failed in their duty to protect her.

How had it come to this...

Zhai Hengzhan wore a vacant, bewildered look; his future stretched before him in utter darkness.