"Please accept Tang San's bow!"

Something subtle changed in Jiang Ci'an.

There were no dazzling effects, no sounds, no conspicuous signs. It was simply that his presence was quietly concealed in that moment.

Jiang Ci'an calmly sensed the state of his body, then raised his eyes. His golden pupils flickered as he activated Perspective and swept his gaze across the surroundings.

He quickly locked onto his target.

Beneath a large tree not far away stood a figure in a black robe, broad-shouldered and slightly burly. Blue Silver Grass subtly clustered around him, helping conceal his form as he stood there in silence.

Tang Hao.

As a Titled Douluo—and not an ordinary one, at that—Tang Hao could remain completely undetected by everyone at Notting Academy, as long as he wished.

But under the effects of his supercharged Perspective, nothing could hide.

Jiang Ci'an strode forward.

He walked at an unhurried pace, his steps making a faint rustling sound as they fell on the Blue Silver Grass.

Under normal circumstances, with the perception granted by Tang Hao's Titled Douluo cultivation, the moment Jiang Ci'an turned his gaze toward him, Tang Hao would have noticed.

Tang Hao might even have attacked outright.

After all, a sudden, unidentified presence that could see through his disguise was not to be taken lightly, even if it looked like a child.

Jiang Ci'an had already tested this trait several times before: dying in this world would not affect reality.

Now, Jiang Ci'an easily walked to within four or five steps of Tang Hao.

The black-robed Titled Douluo remained leaned against the tree trunk, his gaze passing through a distant window to watch Tang San talking with a middle-aged man inside.

Tang Hao acted as if the boy standing right in front of him did not exist.

"Indifference."

Jiang Ci'an repeated the name to himself without thinking.

Clearly, his Soul Skill had received the same supercharge in this Virtual World as Perspective.

Here, Indifference could work even on experts at the Titled Douluo level.

That opened up plenty more possibilities.

Jiang Ci'an looked away, unwilling to waste much time on Tang Hao.

He turned and walked toward the building opposite, pushed open the door, and entered a room.

As soon as he stepped inside, a voice that still held a hint of childishness reached his ears.

"...Please accept Tang San's bow."

Then Jiang Ci'an watched Tang San bow his head to the middle-aged man—and to him, who had just entered—before knocking it against the floor three times with a series of thumps.

Jiang Ci'an: "..."

An unexpected bonus?

Jiang Ci'an raised an eyebrow and leaned to one side. Light flowed through his golden pupils as he watched the famous scene of Tang San becoming a disciple with keen interest.

He watched Yu Xiaogang help Tang San to his feet, then continue saying something. Jiang Ci'an's gaze lingered on Yu Xiaogang for a moment.

He was quite interested in the Grandmaster—not in his theories, of course, but in his Martial Soul.

After all, it was an external Martial Soul, an extreme rarity across the Douluo Continent and well worth studying.

But there was something more worthy of his attention right now.

Jiang Ci'an's gaze settled on Tang San. His sight passed through flesh and bone, directly capturing the strands of Soul Power flowing through his meridians.

That was the path taken by the naturally circulating Mysterious Heaven Skill.

After confirming the many traits of this Virtual World, Jiang Ci'an's first thought had been how to make the most efficient use of it.

He couldn't take anything tangible out of this world.

So there was no need, for now, to pursue the relatively easy-to-obtain opportunities that came in the form of physical objects, such as Ah Yin's Soul Bone or Xiao Wu's Soul Ring and Soul Bone.

After all, there was no use taking something he couldn't bring out.

The only thing he could take out of this Virtual World was knowledge.

And there wasn't much knowledge from the Douluo I timeline that would be useful to later generations.

If this had been the timeline of Douluo III, he would definitely have found a way to acquire knowledge about Soul Spirits, forging, Battle Armor, and Soul Tools.

But this was ten thousand years in the past, before Tang San had become a god.

So the first thing that came to mind was the Tang Sect Secret Arts.

Or, to be more precise, the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

There were plenty of things to criticize about the Mysterious Heaven Skill, but there was no denying that the authentic version in Tang San's hands was genuinely good.

It could strengthen one's power, speed, and defense, improve the body's resilience, heal injuries and cure illnesses, improve the quality of Soul Power, speed up its recovery, and lower the risks of absorbing a Soul Ring.

Once cultivated to the ninth level, it could even reach the state of the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown and the Five Energies Returning to the Origin.

As an authentic, superior Daoist internal cultivation method, the Mysterious Heaven Skill was so well-rounded that it was almost absurd.

It was hard to understand why the Shu Tang Sect, a sect that specialized in Hidden Weapons, had an authentic Daoist internal cultivation method as its core inheritance.

But there was no denying that in the Douluo Continent, where cultivation methods had yet to form a system, the Mysterious Heaven Skill was a whole level above everything else.

Even during the Peerless Tang Sect era he came from, when the cultivation system had advanced compared to ten thousand years earlier and many different meditation methods had appeared, cultivation methods still lacked a coherent system. People still relied mostly on their Martial Souls and Innate Soul Power.

Of course, that might have been because Tang San had never passed down the orthodox Mysterious Heaven Skill.

In any case, there was plenty to work with in the authentic Mysterious Heaven Skill Tang San possessed.

His original plan had been to use Perspective to observe the path of the Mysterious Heaven Skill as Tang San cultivated it, then make use of the fact that he could die freely in this world and learn it through trial and error.

After all, dying here wouldn't mean actually dying, so the cost of trial and error was practically zero. It was worth a shot.

But after obtaining Indifference, he realized he could make things simpler.

After all, the greatly enhanced Indifference in this Virtual World wasn't limited to its use on himself.

Watching the Grandmaster and Tang San still talking, Jiang Ci'an walked straight up to them.

Under the effects of Indifference, neither of them noticed him.

Then Jiang Ci'an placed his hand on Tang San's head.

He channeled Indifference.

The first thing it concealed was Tang San's presence.

Yu Xiaogang, who had been speaking animatedly with Tang San, excitement in his eyes as he enthusiastically shared his insights into Martial Soul Theory, suddenly paused.

Then confusion rose in his eyes.

He looked at the empty space before him, his brow creasing slightly as he tried to think.

What had he been doing just now...?

Yu Xiaogang rubbed his forehead, momentarily unable to make sense of what had happened.

He had forgotten who he was talking to, why he was standing here, and even what he had just been saying.

At that moment, Yu Xiaogang wasn't merely ignoring Tang San. Everything in his mind related to Tang San had also been quietly concealed by Indifference, sinking into the depths of his consciousness and vanishing from notice.

Tang San, who had been speaking with Yu Xiaogang, immediately sensed something was wrong.

He saw his teacher suddenly fall silent, his gaze turning blank and unfocused, as if he were staring at empty air.

Puzzled, Tang San parted his lips, about to call out to his teacher and ask what was happening.

But the next moment,

Confusion began to rise in his eyes, too.

At that moment, Tang San's consciousness was also concealed.