"What's there to be afraid of?"
Tang San stepped forward, his right hand hanging inside his sleeve as he pressed the torn cuff back into place.
The students gathered around the Training Ground immediately backed away.
Ning Rongrong crossed her arms, the Seven Treasures Token still resting on the stone table.
"Sure. Finally, there's something interesting to watch."
Xiao Wu immediately stepped in front of Su Hang.
"Tang San, don't do anything stupid."
Tang San glanced at her, then quickly looked away.
"Xiao Wu, this is between him and me."
Xiao Wu shot back at him.
"Don't call me by my name. We're not close enough for that."
Tang San's step faltered for half a beat. Then he raised his right hand.
A Yellow Soul Ring lit up.
Blue Silver Grass burst from the ground. Several blades, marked with Dark Green Poisonous Veins, curled around Xiao Wu and shot straight toward Su Hang's feet.
Yu Xiaogang stood nearby without intervening.
He needed Tang San to prove himself.
Su Hang's remark about the Verification Bureau had just put Tang San on the spot in the middle of the Training Ground.
The little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was watching, as were the students of Notting Academy. Even Xiao Chenyu and his crowd were watching.
If Tang San backed down again, he'd never be able to hold his head up at the academy.
Su Hang sat on the stone steps without even getting up.
Dark Purple Lightning spread along the soles of his shoes.
The instant the Blue Silver Grass touched the lightning, the edges of the blades charred black. The Poison Patterns were blasted apart.
Tang San's right arm went numb, but he didn't stop.
He shifted into a footwork pattern, circled around the side, and aimed the mechanism inside his sleeve at Su Hang's waist.
Su Hang hadn't been paying much attention at first.
Tang San was using Blue Silver Grass in plain sight, so Su Hang had treated it as a sparring match on the Training Ground.
But the mechanism in the Sleeve Arrow gave a faint click, and that changed everything.
Whoosh!
A short arrow shot out under cover of the Blue Silver Grass, skimming low toward Su Hang's ribs.
Xiao Wu was standing nearby. She heard the whistle of its flight first and immediately shouted,
"Brother Su Hang!"
Dark Purple Lightning abruptly surged.
An electric arc struck the short arrow out of the air. It sank into the dirt in front of the stone steps, its tip gleaming a ghostly green.
Xiao Chenyu sprang to his feet.
"Holy crap, he's using Hidden Weapons too?"
Wang Sheng was stunned as well.
"You call that a spar?"
Ning Rongrong stared at the short arrow on the ground, most of the ease fading from her face.
"Tang San, were you trying to kill him just now?"
Tang San withdrew his hand into his sleeve and planted his feet.
"In battle, everyone uses whatever means they have."
Su Hang finally stood up.
Xiao Wu immediately moved to his side, clutching his sleeve.
"Brother Su Hang, don't go through with the Verification Bureau."
Su Hang raised a hand and guided her behind him.
"No more verifying."
Ning Rongrong blinked.
"You're calling it off?"
Su Hang picked up the Seven Treasures Token from the table and tossed it back into Ning Rongrong's arms.
"The Verification Bureau is over."
"If someone can't even follow the rules, what the hell is there to verify?"
Yu Xiaogang immediately stepped forward.
"Su Hang, there's no explicit rule forbidding the use of objects in a Soul Master battle."
Su Hang looked at him.
"Grandmaster, your disciple's Hidden Weapon was poisoned, and he aimed for my ribs."
"You can justify that too?"
The students around the Training Ground could no longer hold back their chatter.
"That was way too underhanded."
"He was acting all composed just a second ago."
"Leaky Blue Silver Grass and a sneak attack with Hidden Weapons. Is that the new meta?"
Xiao Chenyu found it hilarious.
"I wouldn't dare try that meta. Boss Su would beat me to a pulp."
Tang San ignored the others.
He raised his hand and activated his Soul Ring again. Blue Silver Grass sprang up all around the Training Ground, its blades crisscrossing to block Su Hang's escape routes.
"Now that we've started, we're seeing this through."
"Entangle!"
The Blue Silver Grass snapped tight.
This time, Tang San held nothing back.
Sleeve Arrows hid behind the blades of grass, stones flew in from the other side, and Fine Needles skittered along the ground.
He threw everything at Su Hang—openly and by stealth.
Xiao Wu stood behind him, her face tense.
Ning Rongrong took half a step back too.
"How does this guy have so many tricks hidden up his sleeve?"
Su Hang stood amid the Blue Silver Grass, his expression unchanged.
His First Spirit Ring rose into the air.
The Deep Purple Soul Ring overpowered Tang San's dim, yellow ring.
The Dragon Might of the Chaos Thunder Shadow Dragon spread from the center of the Training Ground, flattening every blade of grass on the ground.
The Blue Silver Grass froze in midair.
Tang San's right hand stiffened. His Soul Power was forcibly suppressed back into his meridians.
Su Hang stepped forward.
"Tang San, I only wanted Ning Rongrong to see a few things clearly."
"But you just had to make this whole thing dirty."
"So I'll make sure you come to your senses."
The System Panel opened before Su Hang.
[Host detected Tang San deliberately breaking the rules of the Verification Bureau.] [Host detected Tang San ambushing the host with a Hidden Weapon.] [Luck Suppression available.] [Target: Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul.] [Effect: Strip away control of the Martial Soul.]
Su Hang activated it without hesitation.
Gray-gold motes spread from his fingertips and burrowed into the roots of the Blue Silver Grass.
Tang San's expression finally changed.
He channeled his Soul Power, but the Blue Silver Grass didn't respond.
The blades that had burst from the ground began to loosen, one after another. Their Dark Green Poisonous Veins faded, and then every last one turned toward Su Hang's feet.
The Training Ground erupted.
"Why is Tang San's Blue Silver Grass listening to Boss Su?"
"You can steal it too?"
"You can do that to a Martial Soul?"
Yu Xiaogang rushed forward half a step.
"Tang San, recall your Martial Soul!"
Tang San clenched his teeth and sent his Soul Power surging toward his right hand again and again.
It was no use.
His palm was empty.
The Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul was still there, but Su Hang had forcibly taken control of it.
Su Hang raised his right hand. A strand of Blue Silver Grass curled from his fingertips, its Dark Green Poisonous Veins kept firmly in check by the lightning.
He casually flicked his hand.
The strand of Blue Silver Grass whipped around Tang San's ankle.
Thud.
Tang San was yanked down onto one knee.
Several Hidden Weapons tumbled from his sleeve and scattered across the muddy ground of the Training Ground.
Ning Rongrong glanced down at the mechanisms and gave a soft click of her tongue.
"So this is the control-type Soul Master trained by the Grandmaster?"
Xiao Wu stood behind Su Hang, finally breathing a sigh of relief.
"Brother Su Hang, nicely done."
Xiao Chenyu immediately piled on.
"Boss Su is awesome! The enemy's Blue Silver Grass has defected!"
Wang Sheng clutched the wooden railing and laughed so hard he slapped his thigh.
"Now Tang San can't even control his own grass!"
Yu Xiaogang's face turned ashen. He tried to go help Tang San, but the lightning stopped him.
"Su Hang, that's enough!"
Su Hang looked down at Tang San, kneeling on the ground, and gently pressed his fingertip down.
The Blue Silver Grass around Tang San's ankle tightened another half-turn.
"Enough?"
"When he ambushed me, why didn't you tell him enough?"
Yu Xiaogang was at a loss for words.
Tang San raised his head. His right hand was still numb, and his Soul Power churned chaotically.
"What did you do to my Martial Soul?"
Su Hang drew the gray-gold motes back from his fingertips.
The Blue Silver Grass crumbled into blades of grass, and only then did Tang San feel a faint stir in his palm again.
But the feeling of having it taken from him had already been branded into his mind.
Su Hang turned and took Xiao Wu's hand, without looking at Tang San again.
"Consider this a lesson."
"Try another dirty trick next time, and I won't stop at taking a single blade of grass."
Xiao Wu followed Su Hang toward the exit of the Training Ground. When they passed Ning Rongrong, she paused.
"The Verification Bureau's over. Are you still coming with us?"
Ning Rongrong hugged the Seven Treasures Token and glanced at the Hidden Weapons on the ground, then at Tang San.
"I'm in."
"Now I'm even more curious about whose things Su Hang can take next."
Before you continue