Tang San put away his Blue Silver Grass and stood up from the mud.
Two spots on his sleeves were torn. Snake blood had splattered across his trouser legs, and even his soles were coated in black, corroded mud.
He raised his right hand, and Blue Silver Grass sprouted from his palm again.
Dark green Poison Patterns crisscrossed several blades of grass, spreading in a haphazard pattern. In some places, they clustered so densely that they directly weakened the grass blades' resilience.
Yu Xiaogang walked over to him, first checking the condition of his Spirit Ring, then looking at the Blue Silver Grass.
"The direction is right. You're on the control path now."
"When you get back, practice Entangle for two hours every day. The Poison Patterns will gradually settle into place."
Tang San didn't respond.
He turned his wrist, sending Blue Silver Grass coiling toward a nearby piece of rubble.
The moment the blades wrapped around the stone, the Poison Patterns surged outward along their veins. Black spots corroded the stone's surface, but the Blue Silver Grass's grip clearly slowed for half a beat, as if it had run out of breath.
Worse, a tingling backlash from the poison shot from his fingertips all the way to his forearm.
Tang San lowered his right hand and flexed his fingers.
The tingling was still there.
From the high ground, Xiao Wu saw every detail clearly.
"Brother Su Hang, his hand shakes every time he uses his power."
Su Hang stood by the rocky slope, his hands on his hips.
"Originally, this snake's poison, resilience, and entangling power all suited Blue Silver Grass. All three worked toward the same goal."
"Now that I've broken its core, the poison surges outward, and the resilience can't keep up."
"If he wants to use his Spirit Skill, he'll have to endure the backlash from his own Spirit Ring first."
Xiao Wu gave a low snort.
"He was supposed to get full marks. Now he barely scraped by."
Su Hang tapped her on the head.
"Got it?"
"Got it."
Hugging her bundle, Xiao Wu glanced down into the low ground.
Tang San was retracting his Blue Silver Grass.
Yu Xiaogang was still talking beside him, saying things like "adjustment period" and "practice more."
Tang San only nodded twice before tightening the cloth bag at his waist and heading down the forest path alone.
On the way back to the academy, the four of them fell into a spaced-out line.
Tang San walked at the front and didn't initiate conversation.
Every so often, he reached out his right hand and urged Blue Silver Grass to coil around a branch by the roadside, testing its speed and the distribution of its poison.
Each time, a brief numbness spread through his forearm.
He released the Blue Silver Grass and shook his wrist twice.
Yu Xiaogang followed behind him, with Luo Sanpao dozing on his shoulder.
Several times, he wanted to speak. But whenever he saw Tang San activate his Spirit Skill, then shake his hand, the words caught in his throat.
"Teacher."
Tang San suddenly stopped.
"Hmm?"
"After Blue Silver Grass absorbs the Mandala Snake, the poison should work in sync with its entangling power."
"But whenever I use my Spirit Skill now, the poison surges out first, and the entangling power only catches up afterward."
"Is that normal during the adjustment period?"
Yu Xiaogang fell silent for two breaths.
"A first absorption always takes time to adjust to."
"You have a strong foundation. After you practice for a while, the Poison Patterns will naturally stabilize."
Tang San turned and glanced at him.
It was a brief look.
Then he continued walking, without asking anything more.
Yu Xiaogang clenched his hand inside his sleeve, then relaxed it.
Tang San had asked him directly, but all he could offer was those two words: "adjustment period."
Because he knew the real answer.
Su Hang had damaged the Spirit Ring. Its core compatibility was broken, and the poison and resilience had fallen out of sync.
Practice alone couldn't fix that.
Su Hang and Xiao Wu walked at the back.
Xiao Wu didn't say a single word to Tang San along the way. Only when they crossed a stream did she step on a wet stone and nearly slip. Su Hang caught her in one swift motion.
"Watch where you're going."
"I was thinking about something."
"Thinking about what?"
Xiao Wu lowered her voice.
"I was thinking, if he finds out you ruined his Spirit Ring, will he come after you?"
Su Hang stepped onto the stone bridge.
"Let him try."
"I've got more on my plate than he does."
High above Soul Hunting Forest, between several broad leaves, Yue Guan and Gui Mei followed them all the way to the forest path's exit before stopping.
Yue Guan took a thin jade slip from his robe and quickly traced his fingers across it.
The structural features of Tang San's Sleeve Arrow. The timing of his Hidden Weapon attacks. The full process of his First Spirit Ring being stolen from under his nose.
Everything had been carved onto the jade slip in meticulous detail, including the Spirit Skill backlash, the distribution of the Blue Silver Grass's Poison Patterns, and the way Su Hang and Xiao Wu worked together.
Gui Mei added a few points.
"The snake-type Soul Beast's hostility was redirected in an abnormal manner."
"Su Hang may possess some kind of ability to alter the ownership of opportunities."
Yue Guan put away the jade slip.
"Back to Spirit City."
"His Holiness the Pope is waiting to see this."
Notting Academy, Xiao Chenyu's small courtyard.
It was late at night.
Xiao Wu washed her face, hugged her pillow, and climbed into the soft bed by the window. She pulled the blanket up to her nose.
Only after her eyelids had closed did Su Hang summon the Dark Gold Diary from the system space.
The feather pen touched the page.
[Douluo Calendar 2637, late at night.]
[Today I intercepted Tang San's First Spirit Ring in Soul Hunting Forest. I can't be bothered to go over the details.]
[The important thing is that this kid swallowed a damaged Spirit Ring. He doesn't say anything, but his hand's already going numb. The Poison Patterns on his Blue Silver Grass are a complete mess. Its entangling power can't keep up with the poison, and every time he uses a Spirit Skill, he has to endure a wave of backlash first.]
[And that Grandmaster, Yu Xiaogang? He shut Tang San down with one line: "A first absorption always takes time to adjust to."]
[That sounds familiar. When I used to fail exams, my teachers said the same thing to my parents.]
Su Hang paused, then continued writing.
[But Tang San has more than one stubborn teacher behind him.]
[There's a run-down blacksmith shop in Notting City, with a man who drinks himself into a stupor every day.]
[His name is Tang Hao.]
[The youngest Titled Douluo in Clear Sky Sect's history, and the biggest trump card backing that good-for-nothing Tang San.]
[He looks like a complete wreck, but he's secretly been guarding Tang San every day he's been at Notting Academy, staying near the blacksmith shop. The moment Tang San faces a threat, this Clear Sky Douluo can be there in half a joss stick's time.]
[Unfortunately, Tang Hao has always had the same greatest weakness.]
[The Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor, Ah Yin. Tang San's mother.]
[For Tang Hao, she gave up two hundred thousand years of cultivation, took human form, and married into Clear Sky Sect. In the end, the Spirit Hall hunted her until she had nowhere left to run, and she willingly sacrificed herself for Tang Hao.]
The pen stopped.
Su Hang stared at the words "sacrificed herself" for a while, then closed the diary.
The system notification rang out in his mind.
[Ding! The diary has been updated. A copy has been issued.]
Spirit City, Pope Palace.
On the purple crystal desk, the diary copy automatically opened to a new page.
Bibi Dong was halfway through the Hidden Weapon report Yue Guan and Gui Mei had sent back. When the diary updated, she set the report aside and opened the diary first.
A few breaths later, her finger stopped on the words "Ah Yin."
The Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor.
She had sacrificed herself for Tang Hao.
She lowered her head and read those lines twice.
The newly received Chrysanthemum-Ghost Dispatch beside her was buried beneath everything else.
Footsteps sounded outside the palace doors.
Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan and Ghost Douluo Gui Mei had just returned from Notting City. They dropped to one knee before they even entered.
"Your Holiness the Pope, we've finished compiling the full record of what happened in Soul Hunting Forest."
Bibi Dong didn't respond. She only raised the diary copy and turned to the passage about Tang Hao.
"Tang Hao is hiding in Notting City."
Yue Guan and Gui Mei looked up at the same time.
"Don't touch Tang San for now."
Bibi Dong tapped her fingers on the desk.
"First, investigate Tang Hao's whereabouts."
"Then search the Spirit Hall's central archives for every record of the Blue Silver Emperor case."
The two accepted their orders.
"Understood!"
Notting City, blacksmith shop.
The battered wooden door stood half-open, and there was no light inside.
An overturned wine jar sat on the table, with iron scraps scattered across the floor.
Tang Hao sat in a corner, a bowl of stone-cold leftover wine before him.
He hadn't touched a drop all day.
The fluctuation of power he'd sensed in the direction of Soul Hunting Forest that afternoon still hadn't faded.
Someone had tampered with Tang San's fortune. And they'd done it cleanly.
A work-study student who'd only just enrolled had the ability to change his son's First Spirit Ring opportunity?
Tang Hao stood and took a worn gray cloak off the wall.
After draping the ragged cloth over half his body, he pushed open the door and walked into the night.
The blacksmith shop door creaked once, then the wind pushed it shut.
Tang Hao took a few steps, suppressing the aura of a Titled Douluo deep within him.
On the surface, he looked like any other down-and-out drunk in Notting City.
But his path led straight to Notting Academy.
Xiao Chenyu's small courtyard.
Su Hang had just put the diary away in the system space. He leaned against the headboard and closed his eyes for a moment.
Outside the courtyard, the shadows of the trees suddenly sank halfway down.
A hand suddenly grabbed the hem of his clothes.
"Brother Su Hang, someone's outside."
Before you continue