As soon as the diary was written, Tang Hao couldn't sit still anymore.

Tang San retracted his Blue Silver Grass and stood up from the muddy ground.

His sleeves were torn in two places, and snake blood splattered his pant legs, leaving even the soles of his shoes caked in corrosive black mud.

He raised his right hand, and the Blue Silver Grass sprouted once more from his palm.

Across several blades of grass, dark green venomous patterns crisscrossed in an irregular distribution. In some areas, they were clustered so densely that they stifled the natural resilience of the grass itself.

Yu Xiaogang walked over to his side, first checking the state of his spirit ring, then examining the Blue Silver Grass.

"The direction is correct; the control path has been opened."

"After you return, spend two hours every day practicing Bind. The venomous patterns will gradually consolidate."

Tang San did not reply.

He flicked his wrist, and the Blue Silver Grass coiled toward a piece of gravel nearby.

As soon as the blades touched the stone, the venomous patterns surged along the veins. A layer of black spots corroded the surface of the stone, but the binding force of the Blue Silver Grass was clearly a beat slow, as if it lacked a breath of energy.

More troublesome was the stinging numbness from the venomous backlash, which shot from his fingertips all the way to his forearm.

Tang San let his right hand drop and curled his fingers.

The numbness remained.

On the high ground, Xiao Wu saw these details clearly.

"Brother Su Hang, his hand shakes every time he moves."

Su Hang stood by the edge of the rocky slope, his hands on his hips.

"Originally, the toxicity, resilience, and binding force of this snake were all perfectly matched for the Blue Silver Grass, with all three aligned."

"Now that I've dismantled the core, the venom surges outward, and the resilience can't keep up."

"If he wants to use his spirit skill, he has to endure the backlash of his own spirit ring first."

Xiao Wu let out a low hum.

"It was a perfect score, but now he's just barely scraping by."

Su Hang tapped her on the head.

"Did you memorize it?"

"I did."

Xiao Wu clutched her bundle and glanced down at the low-lying ground.

Tang San was currently retracting his Blue Silver Grass.

Yu Xiaogang was still talking beside him about "adaptation periods" and "more practice."

Tang San only nodded twice, then adjusted the cloth bag at his waist and walked toward the forest path alone.

On the way back to the academy, the four of them kept their distance.

Tang San walked in the lead, not initiating any conversation.

Every so often, he extended his right hand, urging the Blue Silver Grass to coil around roadside branches to test the binding speed and the distribution of the venom.

Each time, a brief paralysis appeared at the end of his arm.

He released the Blue Silver Grass and shook his wrist twice.

Yu Xiaogang followed behind, with Luo Sanpao dozing on his shoulder.

He wanted to speak several times, but watching Tang San urge his spirit skill over and over, and seeing the repeated shaking of his hand, the words stuck in his throat.

"Teacher."

Tang San suddenly stopped.

"Hmm?"

"After the Blue Silver Grass absorbed the Mandala Snake, the venomous power should have operated in sync with the binding force."

"But now, every time I urge my spirit skill, the venomous power rushes out first, and the binding force only follows afterward."

"Is this a normal reaction during the adaptation period?"

Yu Xiaogang paused for two breaths.

"The initial absorption still requires adaptation."

"Your physical foundation is solid; after practicing for a period of time, the venomous patterns will naturally stabilize."

Tang San turned around and looked at him.

The glance was very brief.

Then, he continued walking forward without asking further.

Yu Xiaogang's hand clenched inside his sleeve before relaxing.

Tang San had asked very straightforwardly, yet he could only use the word "adaptation" to cover it up.

Because he knew the real answer in his heart.

This soul ring had been sabotaged by Su Hang; its core compatibility was severed, and its toxicity and resilience were disconnected.

Practice alone could not fix it.

Su Hang and Xiao Wu walked at the very back.

Xiao Wu hadn't said a single word to Tang San the entire way, only nearly slipping on a wet stone while crossing a small stream before Su Hang caught her by the arm.

"Watch your step."

"I was thinking about something."

"Thinking about what?"

Xiao Wu lowered her voice.

"I was wondering if he'll come looking for you to settle the score once he realizes you ruined his soul ring."

Su Hang stepped onto the stone bridge.

"Let him try."

"I have more accounts to settle than he does."

High above the Soul Hunting Forest, hidden between several broad leaves, Yue Guan and Gui Mei followed them until they reached the forest exit before stopping.

Yue Guan took a thin jade slip from his robes and traced his fingertips across it rapidly.

Structural characteristics of Tang San's Sleeve Arrow. The timing of his hidden weapon deployment. The entire process of his first soul ring being intercepted.

Everything, including the soul skill backlash, the distribution of the Blue Silver Grass's poison veins, and the positioning and coordination between Su Hang and Xiao Wu, was etched onto the jade slip in minute detail.

Gui Mei added a few points from the side.

"The snake-type soul beast's aggro shift was abnormal."

"Su Hang likely possesses some ability within his body that alters the ownership of destiny."

Yue Guan tucked the jade slip away.

"Return to Spirit City."

"His Holiness the Pope is waiting to see these."

Notting Academy, Xiao Chenyu's courtyard.

The night was deep.

Xiao Wu washed her face, hugged her pillow, and crawled into the soft bed by the window, pulling the quilt up to her nose.

Su Hang waited until her eyelids closed before summoning the Dark Gold Diary from his system space.

The quill descended.

[Douluo Calendar 2637, late night.]

[Intercepted Tang San's first soul ring in the Soul Hunting Forest today. Too lazy to review the specifics of how I did it.]

[The point is, after that kid forcibly absorbed the crippled ring, he didn't say a word, but his hands have already started to go numb. The poison vein distribution in his Blue Silver Grass is a complete mess; his binding strength can't keep up with the toxicity, and every time he activates a soul skill, he has to endure a wave of backlash first.]

[And that "Grandmaster" Yu Xiaogang? He just kept Tang San quiet with a single line: "It takes time to adapt to your first absorption."]

[That sounds familiar. Back when I failed exams, teachers used to comfort parents with the same line.]

Su Hang paused his pen, then continued writing.

[However, Tang San has more than just one stubborn teacher backing him.]

[In that run-down blacksmith shop in Notting City, there's a man who drinks himself into a stupor every day.]

[His name is Tang Hao.]

[The youngest Title Douluo of the current Clear Sky Sect, and the greatest trump card behind that "trash" Tang San.]

[He looks like a complete wreck on the surface, but in reality, he has been secretly guarding Tang San from near the blacksmith shop every single day at Notting Academy. As long as Tang San encounters a threat, this Clear Sky Douluo can arrive within half an incense stick's time.]

[It's a pity, though; Tang Hao's greatest weakness has always been the same person.]

[The hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor, A Yin. Tang San's mother.]

[For Tang Hao's sake, she gave up two hundred thousand years of cultivation, took human form, and married into the Clear Sky Sect, only to be hunted to a dead end by Spirit Hall and eventually sacrifice herself for Tang Hao.]

The nib stopped.

Su Hang stared at the word "sacrifice" for a moment before closing the diary.

A system notification chimed in his mind.

[Ding! Diary updated. Copy distributed.]

Spirit City, Pope Palace.

On the amethyst desk, the diary copy automatically flipped to a new page.

Bibi Dong was halfway through reading the intelligence on the hidden weapons sent back by the Chrysanthemum and Ghost Douluo. When the diary updated, she set the intelligence aside and opened the diary first.

A few breaths later, her finger stopped on the two characters: "A Yin."

The hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor.

Sacrifice for Tang Hao.

She lowered her head and read this passage over twice.

The Chrysanthemum-Ghost Dispatch that had just been received lay at the very bottom of the pile on her desk.

Footsteps sounded outside the hall doors.

Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan and Ghost Douluo Gui Mei had just returned from Notting City, and they dropped to one knee before they had even entered.

"Your Holiness the Pope, the full record of the Soul Hunting Forest has been compiled."

Bibi Dong did not reply, only raising the copy of the Diary and flipping to the passage about Tang Hao.

"Tang Hao is hiding in Notting City."

Yue Guan and Gui Mei looked up in unison.

"Do not touch Tang San for the time being."

Bibi Dong's fingers tapped against the desk.

"First, investigate Tang Hao's whereabouts."

"Then, pull the Spirit Hall's main archives and check all records regarding the old Blue Silver Emperor case."

The two accepted the order.

"As you command!"

Notting City, blacksmith shop.

The dilapidated wooden door stood ajar, and there was no light inside.

An overturned wine jar sat on the table, and iron filings covered the floor.

Tang Hao sat in the corner, a bowl of cold, dregs-filled wine before him.

He hadn't touched a drop of alcohol all day.

The power fluctuation he had sensed in the direction of the Soul Hunting Forest during the day had yet to dissipate.

Tang San's fortune had been tampered with. And it had been done quite cleanly.

A newly enrolled work-study student had the ability to change his son's first soul ring opportunity?

Tang Hao stood up and took a gray, worn cloak from the wall.

After the tattered fabric covered half his body, he pushed the door open and stepped into the night.

The blacksmith shop's door creaked once before being blown shut by the wind.

Tang Hao took a few steps, burying the aura of a Title Douluo deep within himself.

On the surface, he looked like the most common down-and-out drunkard in Notting City.

Yet, the direction his feet were pointed was directly toward Notting Academy.

Xiao Chenyu's courtyard.

Su Hang had just tucked the Diary into his system space and was leaning against the headboard, closing his eyes for a moment.

Outside the courtyard, the shadows of the trees suddenly shrank by half.

A hand gripped his sleeve tightly.

"Brother Su Hang, there is someone outside."