Chapter 87

Behind the Teaching Building was a Small Garden. Several old locust trees had been planted there for many years, their canopies blocking most of the sunlight and casting scattered leaf shadows across the ground.

Few people came here normally, and it was even quieter at this hour.

Tang Ya stood before Xue Lingyun, clutching a book so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.

She opened her mouth, then closed it again. It felt as though something was lodged in her throat, the words stuck at the tip of her tongue.

Xue Lingyun did not urge her on. He leaned against the trunk and waited for her to speak.

After a long while, Tang Ya finally took a deep breath, her voice hoarse. "That mark... is gone."

The mark had been planted three months ago.

She had thought it would last longer, but a month and a half ago, she had already felt it—the gentle warmth, like being soaked in warm water, fading with each passing day.

She told herself it might just be an illusion, that perhaps it would get better in a few days.

But one day, two days, one week... by the tenth day, she had no choice but to admit that the mark had stopped working.

Her cultivation speed had fallen back to its original level.

Slow. Extremely slow.

Like a snail crawling, like water seeping into sand. No matter what she did, she could not get herself going.

It was not as though Tang Ya had never considered coming to Xue Lingyun again.

But three months ago, she had already brought out everything the Tang Sect could offer.

The hidden weapon blueprints had been given.

The secret techniques had been demonstrated.

What else could she give? The Tang Sect had fallen into decline. As its