Heaven Dou Royal Academy, three days after the cafeteria incident.
The uproar over "a freshman beating up his upperclassmen" hadn't died down with time. Instead, it had only grown more intense. With certain people fanning the flames, Yu Tianyu's nickname, "Blue Lightning Abandoned Disciple," had taken on an almost mysterious, violent aura.
At that moment, Yu Tianyu, the center of the controversy, was lounging in a crooked tree on the hill behind the academy. A blade of grass dangled from his lips as he looked down at the figure who had been standing there for a full hour.
"Miss Dugu, if you came to spar with me, today might not be a good time." Yu Tianyu spat out the blade of grass and dropped lightly to the ground, as nimble as a leopard on the prowl. "I'm grouchy when I've just woken up, and I don't know how to hold back."
Dugu Yan turned around, her dark green hair swaying gently in the breeze. Compared with her arrogance three days ago, her eyes now held a deep weariness and the desperate resolve of someone staking everything on one last chance.
"What you said that day... what did you mean?" She stared fixedly at Yu Tianyu. "What did you mean by saying I 'can't control my own poison'?"
The past three days had been agonizing for Dugu Yan.
Whenever night fell and she circulated her Soul Power as her grandfather had taught her, the Jade Phosphorous Toxin that had once obeyed her every command seemed to stir with a will of its own, threatening to turn on her. The stabbing pain in her fingertips was especially telling. Just as Yu Tianyu had said, the numbness was creeping through the gaps beneath her nails and into her bones.
"It means the way