Never mind. Dad should be getting off work and coming home around now.
Tang Heng moved the last of their belongings from their old home to the new one, then exited My World.
The afterglow of sunset faded beyond the horizon, and a silver moon hung high in the sky.
When he got home, Tang Ziran was sitting at the dining table, eating and praising his wife Lang Yue's cooking from time to time.
"Dad, I've got something to tell you..."
Tang Heng kept it brief, telling Tang Ziran what had happened at school that day and what Tang Wulin wanted to do.
Tang Ziran listened patiently until his son had finished, then glanced at Tang Wulin, who was crouched nearby, gazing at him with hopeful eyes.
"Ah, Wulin, I'm glad you feel this way, but forging is a very dull and monotonous trade, and it's tiring too. Are you sure you can stick with it?"
Tang Wulin nodded and spoke in his childish voice. "I want to learn forging not just for myself, but to lighten the burden on our family. No matter how hard or tiring it gets, I'm willing to do it."
"Dad, why not take him to Uncle Mang Tian and let him give it a try? If he takes a liking to Wulin, that'll prove he has a knack for it."
"One more skill means one more way forward. I think you know that better than I do."
Tang Ziran shook his head. Listening to Tang Heng, he sighed from the heart. "You're just too sensible. Sometimes you make me wonder if you're some great master reincarnated from a novel."
Tang Heng smiled. He could only say he'd been lucky—his Meng Po Soup must have been past its expiration date.
"Dad, you're always joking. Just say yes to Wulin~"
Na'er ran over too, tugging on one of Tang Heng's sleeves while he tugged on the other. In her sweet, childish voice, she pleaded, "Please, Dad! Grant Brother Wulin's heartfelt wish~"
Faced with his son and daughter's combined "spellcasting," no father worth his salt could hold out. Tang Ziran promised to contact Mang Tian as soon as they finished eating.
"Woohoo! Thanks, Dad~"
"Stop shaking me. I'm still eating."
The family finished dinner in high spirits. Tang Ziran went to call Mang Tian, while Lang Yue and Wulin tidied the table and washed the dishes.
Meanwhile, Tang Heng took Na'er to the little park outside for a walk.
Under the moonlight, they strolled hand in hand through the quiet little park.
There were plenty of trees and flowers here, and the air was much cleaner than in other parts of the city. With hardly anyone around at night, it was a good place to stretch their legs and clear their heads.
But Tang Heng hadn't come here just for a walk.
"Na'er, can you sense that special connection between us?"
Na'er tilted her head, closed her eyes, and tried to feel it. Then she nodded. "Mm, I can't really describe it... I just want to get close to Brother!"
"Good. In a moment, I'll send a little Soul Power into you. Don't try to resist it, okay?"
Na'er nodded obediently. She felt an instinctive closeness to Brother Heng and never once thought he would hurt her.
With her agreement, Tang Heng began to channel the Soul Power of his Gold Dragon King Martial Soul, sending it through Na'er's smooth, delicate hand.
"It's warm. It feels so nice."
The instant the Soul Power entered her, Na'er felt as though she had suddenly found herself on a beach, basking in the gentle sunshine and enjoying the salty sea breeze.
Without realizing it, a silver-white Soul Power welled up inside Na'er and flowed back into Tang Heng.
As the Silver Dragon King Martial Soul Origin absorbed this silver-white Soul Power, the stable balance between the two Martial Souls was broken.
Seizing the opportunity, Tang Heng hurriedly guided the two forces inside him to merge. They gathered in his dantian, forming a vortex the size of his thumb, where the Gold and Silver Dragon Kings' Origin powers intertwined.
At the center of the vortex, a glimmer of nine-colored light flickered. Under his control, the two Dragon Kings' Origin powers transformed into Dragon God Origin.
It was faint and scarce, but enough to prove this path could work.
Nourished by the Gold Dragon King Origin, the Silver Dragon King inside Na'er remained asleep and sealed, yet still greedily drew upon this portion of the Origin by instinct.
Gradually, the warmth made both of them drowsy.
Na'er's legs suddenly gave way, and she fell into Tang Heng's arms.
They were pressed close together, close enough to feel each other's heartbeats.
"Na'er, get u—"
Before he could finish, a wave of sleepiness washed over Tang Heng. The vortex had consumed a great deal of his mental energy, leaving him too weak to push Na'er off him.
Just before closing his eyes, Tang Heng wrapped his arms tightly around Na'er, then toppled onto the grass beside them, cushioning her fall with his body. Na'er lay on top of him.
He had no idea how much time passed before the sound of crying by his ear woke him.
Tang Heng rubbed his bleary eyes and realized he was no longer in the park. He was back in his familiar bedroom.
His worried parents sat beside the bed, along with Tang Wulin, whose face was already streaked with tears.
"Mom, Brother's awake!"
Lang Yue hurriedly grabbed Tang Heng's hand and asked anxiously, "Are you all right, son? How did you end up sleeping somewhere like that with Na'er? We couldn't wake either of you. We were worried sick!"
Tang Heng shook his head and reassured her. "I'm fine. My Martial Soul and Na'er's just resonated somehow."
He focused inward and saw the tiny wisp of nine-colored Origin in his dantian.
He had just exhausted his mental energy gathering that thing, which was why he had suddenly fallen asleep.
The Tang Ziran couple had no idea how to deal with this situation. Lang Yue wasn't a Soul Master, so she could only turn to her husband for help.
Tang Ziran shook his head. Clearly, he had never encountered anything like this either.
Tang Wulin, however, already had a rough idea.
"Don't worry. Na'er and I are both fine. You and Mom should hurry back and get some rest."
Since their son had said so, Tang Ziran and Lang Yue could only choose to trust him. They left the bedroom together.
Tang Heng's fingertips brushed through Na'er's fragrant silver-white hair. Seeing her peaceful sleeping face, he couldn't bear to disturb her, so he quietly climbed out of bed.
"We'll share the bed tonight."
"Okay, Brother."
After washing up and changing into pajamas, Tang Heng climbed into bed.
Tang Wulin lay on his left, staring at the ceiling as he pondered. "Brother, is there a Low-Level Dragon Beast inside Na'er too, like there is inside me?"
"Mm, you guessed right."
Tang Heng didn't intend to hide it from his younger brother. The two of them would meet again later anyway, and by then they would sense the attraction between their Martial Souls.
His arrival had merely brought that moment much closer.
"If that's the case, once Na'er's Martial Soul Awakening is over, could the three of us cultivate together?"
"In theory, yes, but there's still a risk."
Tang Heng said this.
The risk he meant was Tang San's divine consciousness hiding in Tang Wulin's Sea of Consciousness.
Sometimes he really wondered whether Tang San cared about this son of his at all—or whether he even saw him as a father would.
A wisp of divine consciousness inside Tang Wulin had been damaged by the turbulence of space and time, yet it could still cross countless distances and black holes to communicate in real time.
And here was the most important point: Sea God Divine Power possessed powerful purifying abilities.
When his parents were struck by the Blood Demon Curse, Sea God Divine Power could have purified the curse and followed it back to kill the Blood Demon. But Tang San had chosen the much more cumbersome option of teleporting their bodies instead. Wouldn't that have allowed him to leave behind "Old Tang," that wisp of divine consciousness, as an extra safeguard?
Here was the crux: if Tang San could really teleport across black holes and vast distances, then after they escaped the black hole, he could have sensed Tang Wulin's presence and crossed space again to bring him over. So why hadn't he?
None of it made sense. The explanation was full of holes.
Steady breathing gradually sounded beside him. Tang Wulin had fallen asleep without even realizing it.
Tang Heng stared at the ceiling, already thinking of a way to deal with Tang San's divine consciousness.
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