Mu Rong looked at the round, plump meatball on the plate, his cheeks twitching slightly.
After years of scraping by, he could finally enjoy a proper meal. It tasted especially delicious.
"Old Monk, have some too."
Mu Rong pushed the other meatball toward him.
"Old Monk's teeth aren't up to it. I don't like eating this kind of thing."
Old Monk stood up, pushed the meatball back toward Mu Rong, and said with a stern look, "Nonsense! You need to eat to have the strength to cultivate!"
Mu Rong stopped pushing it away and began eating in earnest.
Warmth spread through his stomach and flowed through his whole body.
"Old Monk, are you the only one at home?"
Mu Rong set down his bowl and asked casually.
Earlier, while cleaning up, he'd looked around the house. It was remarkably tidy, but there was only one of every household item.
Old Monk's hand paused as he picked up a piece of lettuce.
His hand, covered in age spots, hung in the air for a moment before he finally let the lettuce drop into the bowl.
"They're all gone."
Old Monk lowered his head and took a sip of porridge, his expression so calm that it seemed he was talking about someone else.
"My wife and children went to the other world years ago. They said they were going to explore some ruins, but they never came back. My grandchildren... Those poor children didn't live long, either."
The mountainside fell into a deathly silence.
Only the sound of chopsticks touching porcelain broke it.
In a world where people's lives were as fragile as grass, the deaths of ordinary people barely even warranted a mention.
Mu Rong set down his chopsticks, stood up, and walked over to Old Monk.
He reached out a small hand and patted the old man's back.
"Old Monk, I'm sorry."
Old Monk's body trembled slightly.
Then he lifted his head, a faint smile appearing on his wrinkled face as he patted Mu Rong's hand.
"Silly boy. What's there to be sorry about? Old Monk understood long ago. People are just passing through this world; there's no need to dwell on it."
He reached out and rubbed Mu Rong's head.
"Thank heaven you weren't taken away, too. Maybe it was you who were sent to me."
Mu Rong felt the warmth of the old man's rough, broad hand.
This kindness was certainly precious, but at this moment, he was alone and without support. It was his most precious comfort.
"Old Monk."
Mu Rong raised his head. His ice-blue eyes gazed straight at Old Monk.
"I want to enroll in the Demon Blade Academy. I want to become a true Demon Blade."
Only by becoming strong could he take control of his own fate.
Only by growing powerful could he make those who had once stood above him pay the price.
Old Monk froze for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"Good! That's the spirit!"
Setting down his bowl, Old Monk rummaged around and pulled out a cloth bundle. He opened it to reveal a Demon Blade Academy emblem, polished until it gleamed.
"Our Demon Blade Academy has fallen on hard times, but we can still afford to send one student. Old Monk will take you to register tomorrow."
"But..."
Mu Rong pretended to hesitate.
"Can I really get into the academy? Besides, I have a Spirit Seed."
In this world, people without martial spirits were considered worthless.
"A Spirit Seed? Even better!"
Old Monk slapped his thigh.
"Tomorrow morning, Old Monk will take you to register for the martial-spirit assessment in the capital."
"When it comes to entering the academy, there's no rush. We still have a month, so there's no need to worry!"
Night fell like ink.
The Demon Blade Academy was sunk in darkness, with only the occasional dog bark breaking the silence.
Mu Rong lay on the hard wooden bed, the familiar smell of damp wood filling his nose.
For the first time in years, he didn't have to worry about sneaking out in the middle of the night, or about being discovered and dragged away—or having his bones and marrow dug out.
A sense of safety.
A long-missed sense of safety slowly settled over him.
But he couldn't sleep.
He sat up and crossed his legs.
"Come out."
At the thought, spirit power stirred.
The temperature around him dropped sharply.
A gigantic snake, formed from ice crystals, appeared behind him. It coiled around his arm like a living creature, then finally settled across his shoulder.
"Hiss—"
The Ice Phoenix Snake spat out a letter, its blood-red eyes flashing with a cold light.
Mu Rong reached out and traced a finger over the snake's scales.
They felt cold and hard as iron.
A faint chill crept in through his fingertip, bringing a persistent numbness that was difficult to shake off.
"Poison."
Mu Rong looked at the faintly dark mark on his fingertip, thoughtful.
His martial spirit, aside from its ice-attribute nature, had also acquired a special poison.
If he used it on himself, it could dull pain and keep his body in a state of extreme cold during battle.
But if he used it on an enemy...
As long as someone was bitten by the Ice Phoenix Snake or exposed to the cold poison, they would gradually become numb, and the poison would disrupt the flow of their spirit power.
This was truly a talent for killing.
"Jade Little Blade is a rather peculiar creature. Its rank is low, but it has some extraordinary qualities."
Mu Rong looked at the Ice Phoenix Snake on his shoulder.
Ordinary snakes with martial spirits couldn't have such a powerful body, much less scales as clear and translucent as ice crystals.
That was clearly a characteristic of a true dragon-blooded creature.
At the moment a martial spirit awakened, the surge of dragon blood within it couldn't be faked.
But...
"Snake transforming into a dragon, ascending to heaven."
Mu Rong chuckled.
In this world, where martial spirits were divided into ranks, transcending them was no easy feat.
For an ordinary person with a martial spirit, even a trace of dragon blood in their lineage wasn't enough to turn them into a dragon. It would take at least five or six generations.
Each generation would need to absorb the Spirit Seeds of ice-attribute dragon-blooded beasts, gradually strengthening the bloodline.
And that was without considering the difficulty of finding such a rare dragon-blooded Soul Fragment.
It was a long process, enough to make any family's martial-spirit lineage fade into obscurity.
"But I can't wait five or six generations."
With his talent, he'd be lucky to become a Soul King or Soul Emperor.
And this world was no place for the weak. In a small city, that might be enough to live comfortably.
But once the later martial-spirit factions and the major powers erupted into conflict, even this little city would be swallowed up.
If he wanted to climb higher, he had to find another way.
"Herbs."
The word floated through the sea of thoughts.
Ice and fire, both in one body.
The golden dragon on the underside of that land, the Eight-Cornered Ice Grass, the Nine-Rank Purple Spirit Mushroom, the Ice Dragon King's remains... These were the key ingredients for a snake to transform into a dragon.
Fortunately, he'd arrived a full twenty-six years earlier than Tang San.
At this point in time, the place where Dugu Bo would later establish his home was still probably just an ordinary mountain valley.
"So this is the advantage of knowing what's coming."
A cold smile rose at the corner of Mu Rong's mouth.
These twenty-six years were more than enough for him to take Tang San's place and claim the treasures that should have belonged to him.
As for Tang San...
"Everyone admires Tang San. Everyone wants to be Tang San."
In this world, where the weak were prey, Tang San's way of surviving was certainly the clearest. He was also one of the few people who had seen through the whole world.
Those who followed me would prosper; those who opposed me would die.
If something could be taken, take it. If someone posed a threat, eliminate them.
That was the essence of survival. It was the shortcut to godhood.
"But I won't be as shameless as you, stealing someone else's life. I only have a grudge against Jade Little Blade. It's a clear-cut grievance, and I'm not going to let it go. The martial-spirit faction will have to pay."
Mu Rong drew back his martial spirit, and the chill dissipated.
He lay down again.
This time, he felt more at ease than ever.
Before you continue