Douluo V: Daily Intelligence - I Want All of Tang San's Opportunities

Back in his room, Su Yuntao closed the door, sat on the edge of the bed, and with a thought, the pale golden intelligence interface reappeared before his eyes.

The unchanging intelligence report ① was still there, and his gaze skipped over the first report, landing on the intelligence reports that followed.

[Intelligence ②: In the central-eastern part of the Soul Hunter Forest, on the shady side of a cliff, grows a Blood Bone Vine Fruit. This fruit has remarkable effects on meridian damage and bone healing, and is especially effective for Su Yunfeng's injuries. The fruit will reach full maturity in one month. If harvested prematurely, its medicinal power will be greatly reduced; if harvested too late, it will be devoured by nearby soul beasts. One month is the optimal harvesting window.]

Su Yuntao's eyes lit up.

He had been thinking about how to treat his older brother's injuries, but he never expected that the system would directly provide him with the answer.

Blood Bone Vine Fruit! It's a miracle cure for meridian damage! This is a remedy specially made for his elder brother.

Su Yuntao perked up and continued reading.

[Intelligence ③: After the Blood Bone Vine Fruit ripens, it will attract a Giant Armored Lizard with approximately 1,500 years of cultivation to guard it. The Giant Armored Lizard is a defensive soul beast with tough scales that are difficult to penetrate with ordinary attacks, but it is relatively slow in movement. Its soul ring attributes are biased towards defense and health, and its fusion degree with the host's Lone Wolf Martial Soul is estimated to be 70%, making it a potential candidate for the third soul ring.]

Su Yuntao silently memorized the information about the 1,500-year-old armored giant lizard, then glanced at the last piece of intelligence.

[Intelligence 4: Xiao Huaiyuan, the lord of Notting City, is married to Zhou Mulan, the only daughter of the former Grand Duke Zhou of the Heavenly Dou Empire. The Zhou family has a lineage of a wolf-attribute exclusive meditation technique called the "Silver Moon Concentration Technique." Xiao Huaiyuan married into the Zhou family with the sole purpose of obtaining this technique. For many years, he repeatedly tried to subtly inquire, but Zhou Mulan always refused, citing family precepts that it should not be passed on. A year ago, the Grand Duke Zhou passed away, and Xiao Huaiyuan, now without restraint, imprisoned Zhou Mulan in a secret room in the backyard of the city lord's mansion. For the past year, he has used various methods to interrogate her about the whereabouts of the "Silver Moon Concentration Technique," but Zhou Mulan has remained silent.]

Su Yuntao stared at the intelligence report, his eyes widening in disbelief.

Xiao Huaiyuan.

The Lord of Notting City, who was just smiling and inviting him for tea, patting his chest and promising to take good care of Tang San, and the middle-aged civil official who spoke politely and treated people like a gentle breeze, was actually a beast in human clothing who married into his family for the sake of martial arts, and when things didn't work out, imprisoned and tortured his own wife.

Su Yuntao recalled every detail of what had just happened in the main hall of the city lord's mansion, and felt a chill run down his spine.

Therefore, the book "Silver Moon Concentration Technique" was not Xiao Huaiyuan's collection at all; it belonged to Zhou Mulan.

It must have been after she realized that Xiao Huaiyuan harbored ill intentions that she hid the cultivation technique in the corner of the front yard wall beforehand.

No wonder such a top-notch wolf-attribute meditation technique was placed in such an inconspicuous corner.

Su Yuntao slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, leaned back in his chair, and tapped his fingers on the armrest.

Meanwhile, deep within the backyard of the Notting City Lord's Mansion, in a dark room where no one sees the sun, the atmosphere was far less peaceful than in the Baron's territory where Su Yuntao was located.

The dark room was not large, about ten feet square.

The walls were made of rough bluestone, and in the corner stood a narrow bed covered with a thin, old mattress, next to which sat a bowl of cold rice porridge.

There were no windows, and a dim oil lamp overhead barely illuminated the cramped space.

A gaunt woman, around forty years old, leaned against the headboard, wearing a faded, plain-colored dress.

Although she was in a prison cell, her posture remained upright, her back straight, as if an indelible nobility was etched into her very bones.

She wore iron shackles on her wrists, the chains hanging over the edge of the bed and tangled with the iron bed railings.

She is Zhou Mulan.

The door to the dark room was pushed open from the outside, and Xiao Huaiyuan walked in.

He changed into a dark gray casual suit, and the warm smile he had shown when he met Su Yuntao was gone, replaced by a cold and irritable expression.

He walked to the bedside and stood there, looking down at Zhou Mulan. His first words were devoid of any warmth:

"Zhou Mulan, it's been a year, aren't you going to say anything?"

Zhou Mulan raised her eyelids and glanced at him. Although her eyes were sunken due to long-term imprisonment, her gaze remained cold and clear.

She didn't speak, but instead shifted her gaze back to a certain spot on the wall, as if the rough stone wall was more interesting than the man in front of her.

Xiao Huaiyuan's lips twitched slightly upon seeing her reaction:

"Your father is dead. Who do you think will remember you? Hand over that 'Silver Moon Concentration Technique,' and I'll still be Xiao Huaiyuan's wife. If you don't..."

Zhou Mulan finally reacted.

She turned her head to look at Xiao Huaiyuan, her voice slightly hoarse from years of taciturnity, but her enunciation remained clear:

"I told you, I don't have it. The Zhou family's martial arts techniques are passed down only to men, not women."

Xiao Huaiyuan sneered and took half a step forward:

"You think you can fool me? You're your father's most beloved daughter. I don't believe he didn't leave you something. Besides, without that meditation technique, how could your soul power level possibly surpass mine?"

Zhou Mulan was silent for a moment, then calmly spoke:

"My soul power is higher than yours because I work harder than you, not because of any particular cultivation technique."

Xiao Huaiyuan seemed to have been touched on a sore spot by these words, and his face instantly darkened.

He suddenly reached out and grabbed Zhou Mulan's wrist, the iron chain rattling loudly as he pulled it:

"Let me tell you, I am determined to obtain the Zhou family's 'Silver Moon Concentration Technique.' My patience is limited. If you don't tell me now, don't blame me for disregarding our years of marriage."

Zhou Mulan felt a sharp pain as he gripped her wrist, but the corners of her mouth curved into a smile, as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Husband and wife? Xiao Huaiyuan, you're talking to me about marital affection? When you married into the Zhou family, you said you didn't care about their power, only about me. I believed you. But less than half a year after my father died, you locked me in this dark room. Husband and wife? Do you even deserve to say those words?"

Xiao Huaiyuan's face was so gloomy it was almost dripping with water.

He held Zhou Mulan's wrist in silence for a long while before finally letting go, taking two steps back, and looking at her coldly.

"Stubborn to talk, huh?" He straightened his cuffs, his tone regaining its cold impatience. "You really think I'll keep you around forever? This time, a young man with awakened twin martial souls and innate full soul power has appeared in my territory. Do you know what that means?"

Zhou Mulan slightly raised her eyes to look at him.

"It won't be long before I'm promoted." Xiao Huaiyuan looked down at her, his voice filled with an arrogant sense of certainty. "I don't have much time left for you. If you're smart, hand over the stuff while I still have some patience. Once I'm really transferred, there won't be any living people left in this dark room."

After saying that, he turned around and strode out of the dark room. The iron door slammed shut behind him with a loud bang, the sound of the lock clicking shut deep and clear.

Silence returned to the dark room.

Zhou Mulan leaned against the headboard, the iron chains rattling softly with her slight movements.

She closed her eyes, her lips moved slightly, as if she were talking to herself, or as if she were just exhaling.