The morning mist had yet to lift.
The dense woods on the back mountain of Holy Soul Village were wrapped in a damp gray-white haze, with visibility under three meters.
The branches of the old pines appeared and vanished in the fog, like the faintest brushstrokes in an ink painting.
Tang San had just finished practicing Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. He leaned against an old pine, panting heavily.
His five-year-old body's meridians had yet to fully develop. Every round of training felt like using an ox cart to haul a mountain.
As he wiped away his sweat, he absentmindedly rubbed a pebble in his hand.
It was a habit from his previous life.
Whenever he tired of training, he liked to touch something, as if the feeling beneath his fingertips could take him back to the familiar Tang Sect.
It was very quiet around him.
There was only the chirping of insects and the rustle of wind through the leaves.
Everything seemed wrapped in a layer of damp cotton, hazy and indistinct, cut off from the world.
For Tang San, this morning mist was the perfect cover.
He never needed an audience when he practiced.
If the villagers saw a five-year-old child climbing the mountain to train before dawn every day, they would inevitably gossip.
Tang Hao had never bothered to stop him.
But Tang San knew that keeping a low profile was the greatest protection.
However, he didn't notice the person crouching on a branch a hundred meters above his head, watching him for a full stick of incense.
Xiao Chenyu gripped the little cloth pouch in his hand, a dangerous excitement flickering in his eyes.
Inside the pouch was the Potent Hallucinogenic Powder his father, Xiao Chengkun, had secretly kept.
Before he left, his old man had said, "If you run into bad people while you're out, just scatter a handful and run."
At the time, Xiao Chenyu had grumbled, "Are you a city lord or a con artist?"
Now it seemed his father's life experience really was extensive.
"Tang San, Tang San. Don't blame me."
Xiao Chenyu murmured to himself, then took a deep breath.
Soul Power wrapped around his voice, which suddenly boomed out.
"Tang San!"
The icy voice pierced the morning mist, crushing down from every direction at once.
It carried an unquestionable authority, as if it came from some lofty judge.
"Do you think jumping off a cliff can wipe clean the sins of stealing secret manuals and betraying the Tang Sect?"
Tang San's whole body suddenly stiffened.
It was as if a basin of ice water had been poured over him from head to toe; even his blood froze in an instant.
The pebble in his hand dropped to the ground with a clack.
Tang Sect! Secret manuals! Betrayal! Jumping off a cliff!
Each of those four phrases struck the deepest, never-healed wound in his soul.
Memories of his previous life surged like floodwaters bursting through a dam,
the Tang Sect Law Enforcement Hall's order to hunt him down, the elders' utterly disappointed eyes, the cold wind howling beside the Ghost Sorrow cliff, and the heart-shattering resolve with which he had leapt.
It had been a long time since he'd thought about any of this.
After transmigrating to Douluo Continent, he had deliberately buried those memories in the deepest recesses of his heart.
He had numbed himself with chopping wood, cooking, and training every day.
He had thought he'd forgotten.
But now, this voice told him—you can't forget, and neither can the Tang Sect!
Now!
The instant Tang San's mind faltered,
Xiao Chenyu covered his nose and mouth with one hand and gently sprinkled the powder from the pouch with the other.
The white powder, fine as flour, mixed into the morning mist. Colorless and odorless, it drifted silently toward the ground on the mountain breeze.
They said his old man had picked up this Potent Hallucinogenic Powder from a down-and-out Soul Master.
Xiao Chengkun had said, "Even a Hundred-Year Soul Beast would collapse and start dreaming after one whiff. A person would see their great-grandmother."
Xiao Chenyu had doubted whether his old man's "great-grandmother" had any quantifiable pharmacological significance.
But if even a Hundred-Year Soul Beast couldn't withstand it, then it should be more than enough for a five-year-old Tang San.
The powder silently melted into the morning mist and drifted around Tang San.
Tang San was in a daze, his breathing ragged.
He gulped down mouthfuls of the damp air.
He didn't notice in the slightest that the colorless, odorless powder was entering his body with every breath.
Xiao Chenyu put away the pouch, the corner of his mouth curling into a dangerous smile.
He knew the Hallucination Powder alone wouldn't be enough.
Tang San was a transmigrator, after all. A soul with two lifetimes behind it was far more resilient than an ordinary five-year-old child's.
To completely shatter his defenses, he had to turn up the heat.
And the Tang Sect was the sharpest thorn in Tang San's heart.
"Tang San!"
Before Tang San could come to his senses, Xiao Chenyu spoke again.
Soul Power amplified his voice. His tone was even colder and harsher than before.
"Are you deaf?"
"Or do you think you can play dead just because you jumped off a cliff?"
"!"
Tang San shuddered violently.
"I..."
His lips moved, but no sound came out.
His pupils began to dilate, and his breathing grew rapid and ragged.
The Hallucination Powder was taking effect.
Fear was eating away at his reason.
Caught between the two, his mental defenses had already begun to crumble.
Xiao Chenyu knew the time had come.
He shook out a loose gray robe, pulling its hood low enough to hide his entire face in shadow.
The flight Soul Bone Skill of the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone activated silently, and his body slowly descended through the morning mist.
His robes fluttered. The moment his toes touched the ground, he didn't even disturb a fallen leaf.
He was like a figure taking shape out of the mist.
Under the combined effects of the hazy morning mist and the Hallucination Powder, the figure didn't look as though it had walked out of the fog to Tang San. It had simply appeared from thin air.
"Tang San! You've seen an elder of the Tang Sect, so confess your crimes at once!"
Xiao Chenyu came to a stop.
Soul Power wrapped around his voice, making it sound old and imposing.
It was as if it had crossed time and space from his distant past life to crush down upon him.
"Grand Elder..."
Tang San raised his head and looked at the gray-robed figure before him.
The Hallucination Powder had fully taken hold. His pupils had dilated even further.
The scene before him began to overlap with the memories of his previous life.
The gray robe became the standard robes of a Tang Sect Elder.
The blurry figure in the morning mist became the stern faces from his memories.
And that icy voice... That was the voice of the Law Enforcement Hall's Grand Elder. He could never mistake it.
It was him!
It really was him!
The Tang Sect had come for him!
The sins of his previous life, the loneliness of this one, and all the fear and guilt he had buried came together in a twisted torrent, sweeping away every last defense.
"Thump."
Tang San's legs gave way, and he fell to his knees.
His five-year-old body trembled uncontrollably.
Cold sweat poured down his forehead, and his voice was thick with tears.
"Elder, spare me! This disciple knows he was wrong! This disciple really knows he was wrong!"
Xiao Chenyu looked down at Tang San, trembling on his knees before him, and the corners of his mouth beneath the gray robe curled wildly upward.
Good grief. So even the chosen one could be this pathetic on his knees.
He had lived two lifetimes, yet here he was, still kneeling before Xiao Chenyu—the "Tang Sect Elder"—and blubbering.
But Xiao Chenyu quickly suppressed his laughter and kept his voice cold and authoritative.
It wasn't time to laugh yet.
His prey had only just entered the net. He had to pull it tight.
"You know you were wrong?"
He gave a cold snort, his voice so frigid that it seemed icicles might form.
"Tang San, an outer disciple of the Tang Sect, stole the sect's highest secret, the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, and secretly crafted Hidden Weapons. Tell me, did you do it?"