The morning wind slipped in through the crack in the window.
Dorm Seven was quiet.
Wang Sheng and the others were still only half-awake, with the sounds of turning over and rustling blankets coming and going.
Xiao Wu sat on the edge of her bed.
She lowered her head, holding the Carrot Wooden Hairpin in her hand, but didn't put it in her hair for a long while.
Su Chen leaned by the window, holding a cup of warm water.
He glanced at her.
"Not doing your hair today?"
Xiao Wu's ears warmed.
She looked up and glared at him.
"I can do it myself."
Her words were firm.
But her voice was quiet.
Su Chen didn't call her out. He walked over to the table and set down a paper package.
"I passed a breakfast stall and picked this up."
Xiao Wu paused.
She opened the package.
Inside were steaming carrot-filled dumplings, white vapor rising from them, the wrappers still damp from the steamer.
Xiao Wu blinked.
"For me?"
"Who else? Wang Sheng?"
Wang Sheng poked his head out from under the covers, then immediately ducked back in.
"Boss, I'm not worthy."
A few muffled laughs came from Dorm Seven.
Xiao Wu couldn't help laughing too.
She picked up a dumpling and took a small bite. The juice spread across her tongue, and her eyes lit up.
"You've got a pretty good memory."
Su Chen picked up his outer robe and draped it over his shoulders, unhurriedly.
"You said 'carrot' three times yesterday."
Xiao Wu still had food in her mouth as she replied indistinctly.
"That just means you have good hearing."
Su Chen hummed.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
Xiao Wu rolled her eyes, though she couldn't hold back a smile.
She put the hairpin back in her hair and lowered her head to tidy her Scorpion Braid.
"You're not allowed to bring up what happened yesterday."
"Which part?"
"Just... whatever. Don't bring it up."
Su Chen looked at her.
"Fine. I won't."
Xiao Wu looked up and stared at him for two seconds.
"You agreed awfully fast."
"You gave the order. I had to show Sister Xiao Wu some respect."
Xiao Wu snorted.
"That's more like it."
Suddenly, hurried footsteps sounded outside.
Wang Sheng sprang up and ran to the door.
As soon as he cracked it open, a Work-Study Student slipped inside, still catching his breath.
"Boss, someone's waiting for you by the back hill."
Su Chen fastened his cuff.
"Who?"
"Tang San."
The dorm fell silent in an instant.
The dumpling in Xiao Wu's mouth paused too.
She furrowed her brow.
"He really dared to come?"
The Work-Study Student nodded.
"He said the three days are up."
Su Chen's expression didn't change.
He simply finished the water on the table, the bottom of the cup tapping lightly against the wood.
"Let's go."
Xiao Wu stood up at once.
"I'm coming too."
Su Chen looked at her.
"To watch the show?"
"To keep an eye on you, so you don't go too hard on him."
Su Chen smiled.
"Sure."
The back hill of Nuoding Academy wasn't very high.
A dirt path wound into the woods, with dew still clinging to the blades of grass.
The breeze carried the earthy smell of soil and the scent of plants, mingling in the damp air.
Tang San stood in the middle of a clearing.
He wore an old school uniform, its cuffs pulled low.
Although his severed fingers had been reattached, his movements were still noticeably stiff.
His complexion was poor, and there were dark circles under his eyes.
He clearly hadn't slept much these past three days.
At the sound of footsteps, he slowly turned around.
His gaze first fell on Su Chen, then swept over Xiao Wu beside him, lingered for half a second, and finally returned to Su Chen's face.
"You came."
Su Chen stopped five paces away.
"You're the one who called me here."
Tang San stared at him.
"You're confident."
"You only have this one chance. I couldn't leave you waiting for nothing."
Tang San fell silent for two seconds.
The woods were quiet.
Only the leaves stirred gently.
Xiao Wu stood to one side with her arms crossed, her tone sharp.
"Say what you have to say. Stop acting all mysterious."
Tang San didn't look at her.
His right hand slowly rose, his sleeve hanging down.
"Su Chen."
"You ruined both my hands and cut off my future."
"Today, we settle the score."
Su Chen looked at him.
"So what are you planning to settle it with?"
Tang San's Adam's apple bobbed.
He didn't answer.
Suddenly, he shifted his footing and slid half a step forward to the side, his shoulder dipping as his sleeve flicked at almost the same moment.
No shout.
No warning.
Three cold glints silently shot from his sleeve.
Their angles were vicious.
One shot toward Su Chen's throat, one toward his chest, and one toward his abdomen.
Xiao Wu's expression changed.
"Trying this again?"
She was just about to move.
Su Chen had already raised his hand.
He didn't dodge.
He pressed down.
His palm pushed forward, and the air seemed to suddenly grow heavy.
The three short arrows stalled midair, trembling faintly as though they'd struck an invisible curtain of water.
The next instant—
Smack, smack, smack.
All three short arrows dropped to the ground at once.
They sank into the mud, leaving only their darkened tails exposed.
Tang San's pupils contracted.
"Impossible."
Su Chen didn't look at him.
He merely glanced down at the arrows on the ground.
"The arrowheads are blue."
"You really did manage to make the poison."
Xiao Wu stepped forward twice, staring at the three short arrows, her face cold.
"You've got some nerve."
"You can't win, so you resort to poison."
Tang San's face was taut.
"When facing an enemy, you should use any means necessary."
Xiao Wu laughed in anger.
"You really can come up with any excuse for yourself."
Only then did Su Chen look up.
"Keep going."
Tang San didn't move.
But his temples were already taut.
He had prepared for three days.
He'd brewed the medicine, coated the arrows, practiced the angles, and even planned his escape route.
Yet when he finally made his move, all he got was a casual "Keep going" from his opponent.
The crushing disparity weighed on his heart like a stone, sinking lower and lower.
Tang San's breathing tightened.
"What exactly did you do?"
Su Chen took a step forward.
His shoe pressed down on the grass, stirring up a hint of dampness.
"It's not about what I did."
"It's that you never understood where the gap lay in the first place."
Tang San clenched his fist.
The bandages wrapped around his knuckles tightened, turning them faintly white.
"Hidden weapons rely on catching the opponent off guard. As long as they hit—"
"Hit whom?"
Su Chen cut him off.
"Someone whose defenses you can't even break?"
Tang San's expression darkened.
Su Chen continued, his pace unhurried, yet every sentence weighed heavily on Tang San.
"You spent all your time these past three days betting on a few arrows."
"You think that as long as the poison is potent enough and your aim is precise enough, you can turn things around."
"But you're wrong about even the most basic things."
"When the gap in strength is too wide, skill is just skill. It isn't a trump card."
Tang San stared at Su Chen, his breathing growing heavier.
"You're only relying on Spirit Hall."
"If you didn't have all these resources, all these guards—"
Su Chen smiled.
"Then try me now."
As soon as the words fell, Su Chen planted a foot.
He was already in front of Tang San.
He moved so fast it didn't look like a charge. It was as if he'd somehow shortened the distance between them.
Tang San's expression changed dramatically. His body instinctively recoiled, and he immediately used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to put distance between them.
His figure flickered through the woods, leaving behind several afterimages.
But Su Chen didn't chase the shadows.
He simply raised a hand and grabbed at empty space to his left.
His fingers closed around Tang San's wrist.
Tang San was yanked back by force. He stumbled, his shoulder dipping, and nearly fell to his knees.
"Your footwork is pretty good."
Su Chen's tone was calm.
"Too bad your breathing gives you away before you make a move."
Tang San's face went pale. He abruptly raised his other hand, and another mechanism clicked inside his sleeve.
This time, Su Chen gave him no chance.
He twisted his wrist.
Crack.
He hadn't broken it.
He'd simply redirected the force.
Tang San felt his entire arm go numb. The mechanism in his sleeve slipped right out of his hand and fell into the grass.
Su Chen brought his foot down.
Metal snapped sharply beneath his shoe.
The newly made Sleeve Arrow was reduced to a pile of parts.
Tang San looked down at the fragments on the ground, his eyes reddening at once.
"You—"
Su Chen let go.
Tang San stumbled back two steps, barely managing to stay upright.
Su Chen didn't press him any further.
He simply stood where he was and looked at Tang San.
"I gave you three days."
"Not because I was waiting for you to beat me."
"I wanted you to see for yourself."
"All the things you've gone to such lengths to protect can't save you from the situation you're in now."
Tang San's chest heaved.
"Then what do you want?"
"It's simple."
Su Chen lowered his voice a little.
"From now on, don't target the people around me."
"And don't use things like this to test me again."
"Otherwise, next time, it won't just be the mechanism that breaks."
Xiao Wu stood off to the side. At the words "the people around me," her rabbit ears twitched slightly. She turned her gaze away and said nothing.
Tang San looked up, resentment, frustration, and fury all tangled in his eyes.
But in the end, he didn't make another move.
There was no point.
His poisoned arrows were useless.
His footwork was useless.
Even when he got in close, Su Chen had taken him apart like a toy.
That feeling of helplessness was worse than being beaten head-on.
The woods fell quiet for a long while.
In the end, Xiao Wu spoke first.
"Are you done?"
She looked at Tang San, her tone blunt.
"If you're done, move."
Tang San's lips tightened.
In the end, he still stepped aside.
Su Chen didn't look at him again. He turned and walked away.
Xiao Wu followed. After a few steps, she glanced back and added,
"Next time, do it properly and openly."
"Always sneaking around gets old."
Tang San remained where he was.
He didn't answer.
The wind swept through the treetops, and the grass brushed lightly against his trouser legs.
He looked down at the pile of broken Sleeve Arrow fragments, then slowly crouched and picked them up one by one.
His fingertips were still wrapped in bandages, and his movements were slow.
As if he were picking up something that had already been shattered long ago.
On the mountain path,
Xiao Wu walked beside Su Chen and glanced at him.
"Why didn't you just kick him out of the academy?"
Su Chen didn't slow his pace.
"If we kick him out, he'll just hide somewhere."
"Keeping him where we can see him is less trouble."
Xiao Wu thought it over and nodded.
"True. He's got a belly full of schemes. He'd be even more of a nuisance if we let him loose."
Su Chen turned his head to look at her.
"You've got a pretty clear view of him now."
Xiao Wu lifted her chin.
"I'm not stupid."
After saying that, she paused.
"But what you said just now...'the people around me.'"
Su Chen looked at the path ahead.
"What about it?"
Xiao Wu pressed her lips together.
"Nothing."
She kicked a little stone out of her way, her voice softening.
"Anyway, it sounded nice."
Su Chen smiled but didn't respond.
Just as they left the woods, Wang Sheng came running from the direction of the dormitories, panting heavily.
"Boss, we've got trouble."
Su Chen stopped.
"Go on."
Wang Sheng braced his hands on his knees and took a couple of breaths.
"A new teacher's arrived at the academy gate."
"He says he was transferred from Suotuo City."
"As soon as he came in, he asked to see you and Xiao Wu by name."
Xiao Wu frowned.
"Why does he want to see us?"
Wang Sheng wiped the sweat from his brow and lowered his voice.
"He said Nuoding Academy is too small to keep real geniuses."
"And he also said...the Martial Soul Hall Holy Son shouldn't be staying in a place like this."
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