In an instant, Xiao Mu burst through the surface, gasping for breath. The sunlight stung his eyes, and the sea breeze blew across his soaked skin, salty against it.
Then a thought suddenly popped into his head.
Decompression sickness.
He had shot up from the depths without stopping to decompress. Nitrogen would come out of solution in his blood vessels, forming bubbles like the fizz in a shaken soda bottle when you popped it open.
The bubbles could clog his joints, block his blood vessels, and cut off his brain—at best, he'd be wracked with pain; at worst, he'd die right there on the surface.
Even Cheng Long could control this thing for a while. He couldn't afford to be careless.
He immediately activated his first Soul Skill.
He examined his body inch by inch, adjusting its functions.
"Good thing I learned a few basics."
In the distance, Mu Ye slowly rose from the sea, standing on a mass of dark-gold Soul Power. He looked at Xiao Mu like a salted fish who'd nearly drowned after just learning to swim.
"How do you feel?"
Xiao Mu gave a simple answer. "Not bad, except it would've been better if I hadn't needed to surface so fast. No matter how strong the body is, the internal organs are still fragile."
At that moment, he finally understood why the Body Sect had such a high death rate in this era. Surfacing too quickly was one of the conditions that could trigger death.
Mu Ye stood on the sea, a thin plate of dark-gold Soul Power beneath his feet, holding him perfectly still. He carried several deep-sea fish in his right hand. Their bodies were long and slender, their scales glinting cold blue in the sunlight.
After hearing Xiao Mu's words, he nodded without arguing.
"Don't move around yet," Mu Ye said. He raised his left hand, and a stream of Soul Power flowed from his palm, lifting Xiao Mu up from the sea.
A layer of dark-gold light wrapped around Xiao Mu, as if he'd been enclosed in a warm blob of jelly. He floated beside Mu Ye.
"I'll take you back. There's a second stage of the secret method I need to perform on you."
Mu Ye carried the fish and Xiao Mu, flying just above the sea. The small island soon came into view in the distance, with a tiny silver-white dot moving on its sandy beach.
As they drew closer, the dot gradually came into focus.
Na'er was pacing in circles on the beach, anxiously tracing a perfect ring. Her footprints were so deep in the sand, you could've planted flowers in them. Little Red stood to one side like a spectator at a ping-pong match, its eyes darting back and forth.
"Why haven't they come back yet... What if something happened... No, my brother's amazing... How could anything happen to him..."
She kept pacing and muttering to herself, talking at least three times faster than usual.
The mecha let out a short beep and pointed toward the sea. Na'er stopped abruptly and looked up. Mu Ye's mass of dark-gold Soul Power was flying toward them.
"Brother, are you all right?"
She ran to the water's edge, then suddenly skidded to a halt. She tidied her hair, which the sea breeze had blown into a mess, and struck a pose as if she'd been standing there calmly waiting the whole time.
Mu Ye landed and tossed the deep-sea fish into a small pool nearby.
The Soul Power around Xiao Mu faded. He stepped barefoot onto the beach and glanced at the suspiciously deep ring of footprints.
"Missed me?"
"No!" Na'er replied, keeping a straight face.
Suddenly, Little Red played back a holographic recording at just the right moment—a little figure turning in circles, with a note that read: "Ongoing for twenty-seven minutes."
Na'er immediately covered the holographic projection with both hands. "Brother, you didn't see anything. You didn't see a thing."
"I had no idea you were such a little tsundere."
"Mm, I just didn't want you to see." Na'er puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. She simply didn't want Xiao Mu to see how ridiculous she'd looked just now.
Xiao Mu grinned at Little Red. "Remember to send me the recording. My email is ****@**.***. I've got to save this one."
Mu Ye didn't give Xiao Mu time to catch his breath.
"There's no time for chatting." He took a dark-colored bottle from his robes and pulled out the stopper. A pungent medicinal smell immediately spread through the air, overwhelming even the salty sea breeze.
The medicine pooled in his rough palm, gleaming dark gold. It was so thick it looked like melted amber.
"Lie down. There's more to do."
Xiao Mu had just sat down on the beach when Mu Ye pressed him onto a flat rock before he could react. He lay face down, his back exposed to the sea breeze. The wind ran cool along his spine.
"This will hurt. Bear with it."
Mu Ye's hands pressed against his back.
The first time he pushed down, Xiao Mu nearly thought his spine had snapped.
This was the secret method.
Each of Mu Ye's fingers felt like a pair of red-hot iron pincers. The medicine came alive the instant it touched Xiao Mu's skin, burrowing in through his pores.
Skin, muscle, bone—Mu Ye kneaded through each layer with a special technique, as if working a lump of dough that hadn't risen properly.
"His—" Xiao Mu gritted his teeth.
"Bear with it." Mu Ye's hands didn't stop. "You can't endure even this little pain?"
Na'er crouched beside the rock, watching dark-gold patterns slowly emerge across Xiao Mu's back. The lines spread along the path of Mu Ye's fingers, like a web being woven. She reached out and poked Xiao Mu's shoulder. He let out a muffled groan.
"Brother, does it hurt?"
"...What do you think?"
"Then should I tell you a joke to distract you?"
"I don't know any."
Elsewhere, Gu Yue hadn't gone to take the last day of exams.
She walked alone through the streets of Eastsea City in the early morning. The sea breeze swept in from the harbor and tousled the ends of her hair.
The buildings of the Spirit Pagoda gleamed with a cold, hard sheen in the morning light. She entered a hotel within the East Sea Spirit Pagoda's grounds, went up to the third floor, and pushed open a carved wooden door.
It was a private room, its curtains half drawn and the light soft. The air held the faintest scent of tea.
Someone sat in a chair.
Her waist-length red hair fell smoothly over the armrest, like silk warmed by the sun.
She wore a modified ivory-white qipao, adorned with crimson feather patterns at the collar, chest, and hem. The garment was tailored just right, following the curves of her body without clinging. A matching shawl rested in the crook of her arm, hanging down as quietly as two folded clouds.
She sat with her legs together and angled slightly to one side. One hand rested on the armrest, while the other held a cup of tea. The cup hovered by her lips, untouched, as if she were deep in thought.
Light slipped through a gap in the curtains and fell into her red eyes, lending them a warm glow.
Gu Yue paused in the doorway for a second, then spoke. "Teacher, I'm here."
Leng Yaozhu set down her cup and looked up. Gu Yue's reflection appeared in her red eyes. Her gaze was gentle, yet carried a quiet scrutiny. "Good. You're here."
Gu Yue sat across from her. A server poured her a cup of tea, unhurried and steady. The sound of the tea filling the cup was especially clear in the quiet room.
Then Leng Yaozhu suddenly spoke.
"I heard you have a classmate named Xiao Mu. Do you know him?"
Gu Yue's hand paused slightly as she lifted her teacup. Why was she asking about Xiao Mu? Just how much had he done in the Federation?
"He's good at using Soul Tools, and his fighting style is very strange."
"He doesn't have much team spirit. He'll abandon people who can't keep up. His strength is leagues above that of his peers."
Leng Yaozhu listened without commenting. The only information she had about Xiao Mu was that he was a scientific researcher for the Federation, apparently working in communications.
In fact, Xiao Mu had left his mark on the Federation's breakthroughs in satellite technology, materials science, ballistics, and other fields.
Unfortunately, Xiao Mu still wanted to study nuclear physics. After all, taking everyone down with you was a necessary option too.
You didn't have to use it, but you couldn't afford not to have it.
As for the risk of failure, the Federation's strongest could bear the brunt of it.
Meanwhile, Xiao Mu's training had only just begun. Every quantum that made up his Martial Soul was about to reveal its true ability.