The dark figure outside the window did not open the door.
He merely stood there. None of the sleeping children in Dorm Seven woke, but Ji Yuan's true body, hidden in a layer of Tang San's shoe sole, had already begun to shrivel.
The first spore disconnected.
The second spore disconnected.
Ji Yuan forced the red dot at the roots of Xiao Wu's hair beneath her skin, and the Sub-spore in the blacksmith shop's hammer handle fell dormant.
He withdrew every extension of his senses. Only the few fine tendrils along the edge of Tang San's Heart Meridian remained, maintaining the barest disguise.
No.
Still not enough.
Without a moment's hesitation, Ji Yuan pulled even those last tendrils away from the surface of the meridian. He pressed them all against the outer wall of Tang San's Heart Meridian, disguising them as deposits of residual poison.
The Demon Vine's true body began to lose moisture.
Its dark purple skin lost its luster. Its barbs flattened, its venom channels contracted, and Ji Yuan compressed everything he had swallowed before—Mysterious Heaven Skill Inner Force, Datura Snake venom, Xiao Wu's vital essence—into his deepest core, allowing not the slightest ripple to escape.
A living thing would be found.
Then I'll become a dead thing.
The night wind lifted a corner of the window paper, and the black-robed man appeared inside without a sound.
Tang Hao looked down at Tang San.
He did not look at Wang Sheng or any of the other working students. His gaze rested only on his son's face.
Tang San's sleep was restless. His brow was furrowed, his wrist still ached from forging, and his lips were paler than usual.
Tang Hao reached out, his fingertips hovering above Tang San's forehead without touching it.
"You went to the Soul Hunting Forest and absorbed a Datura Snake."
He was not asking anyone.
No one in the room answered.
Tang Hao's Soul Power swept through Tang San's meridians. Ji Yuan made no move at all.
He compressed himself into a hard, dry splinter in the seam of the shoe sole, his consciousness sinking toward the edge of darkness.
When Tang Hao's Soul Power passed through Tang San's chest, it paused.
There were signs of depleted blood and vitality from coughing up blood, as well as traces left by the Datura Snake venom being forced out.
Tang Hao frowned.
"Yu Xiaogang."
The name left his mouth tinged with displeasure.
Tang San turned over and murmured in his sleep, "Dad."
Tang Hao's hand went still.
Xiao Wu was asleep nearby too. Hugging her quilt, she mumbled, "Stop making noise. Tang San, no practicing."
Tang Hao looked at her.
The Titled Douluo's senses swept over the edge of Xiao Wu's body. Her Soul Beast aura was tightly concealed; on the surface, there was only the fluctuation of a young female Soul Master's Soul Power.
Tang Hao did not probe deeper.
He had come today for Tang San alone.
That terrifying scrutiny continued downward, sweeping over Tang San's legs and ankles before finally reaching his shoe soles.
Ji Yuan sealed off his consciousness completely.
No pulling force.
No poison.
No growth.
Tiny dry cracks spread across the Demon Vine's outer layer, while all its energy remained locked inside.
Tang Hao's Soul Power passed through the layer in the shoe sole. It touched the withered, hard thorn and lingered for a moment.
During that pause, Ji Yuan suppressed even his instincts.
Pressure closed in from every direction. If he reacted in the slightest, this man would pluck him out and grind him to dust.
Tang Hao bent and gripped Tang San's shoe sole.
The withered thorn was wedged deep in the old cloth lining.
Tang Hao pressed with his fingertips, peeling up a corner of the sole.
Ji Yuan felt no pain.
He had severed his sense of pain too.
Tang Hao glanced at it, then let go.
A stray splinter picked up on the road was not worth another thought.
He turned his attention back to Tang San's left hand.
The hand rested quietly outside the quilt. Ji Yuan had long since pressed the source of the Clear Sky Hammer deeper within; only Tang San's own blood and vitality and traces of Blue Silver Grass Soul Power remained on the surface.
After a long silence, Tang Hao said softly, "Remember what I told you. Don't let anyone see it."
Tang San gave no answer in his sleep.
Tang Hao took out a scrap of coarse cloth and placed it beside Tang San's pillow.
There were no words on it, only a faint Soul Power imprint.
The imprint was weak. It was more warning than anything else.
If a high-level Soul Master tried to forcefully probe Tang San's left hand, the imprint would be triggered.
Ji Yuan did not look.
He could not look now.
Tang Hao turned away, his steps soundless against the floor.
But just as he reached the window, he suddenly looked back.
"Who's there?"
The words made the air in Dorm Seven tighten.
Wang Sheng rolled over in his sleep, muttering something.
Xiao Wu pulled her quilt over her head.
Tang San did not wake.
Tang Hao's gaze swept across the room and finally settled near Tang San's shoe sole.
More cracks opened across Ji Yuan's withered true body.
It wasn't me.
It was the Sub-spore at the blacksmith shop. Just before their connection broke, a trace of a vibration it remembered had rebounded along the old link.
It was faint.
But Tang Hao had caught it.
Tang Hao raised a hand. Killing intent spread through the room, sweeping every crevice.
The force washed over the withered thorn in the shoe sole again and again, stripping fine dust from its surface.
Ji Yuan did not move.
He even stopped maintaining his outer shell, deliberately shedding some of the dried vine skin so it looked like debris from a worn shoe sole.
Tang Hao returned to the bedside.
Tang San frowned, his breathing growing a little uneven.
Tang Hao looked at his son's gaunt face and finally withdrew his hand.
"Don't disappoint me."
The dark figure left Dorm Seven, and the window paper fell still.
The room remained dark.
Ji Yuan did not wake at once.
He did not believe Tang Hao had truly gone.
A man who had kept the Clear Sky Hammer's aura hidden in Holy Soul Village for so many years would not be satisfied with a single search.
Ji Yuan continued to play dead.
Time crept by. First, a student in Dorm Seven ground his teeth. Then someone kicked off a quilt, and Wang Sheng cursed Xiao Chenyu in his sleep.
When Tang San turned over, his shoe sole pressed against Ji Yuan's withered true body, nearly cracking its outer layer.
Ji Yuan still did not move.
Only when pale light appeared outside, the sound of an early-rising worker sweeping reached him from the academy, and Tang Hao's killing intent was nowhere to be felt did Ji Yuan slowly restore his consciousness.
First, don't reconnect the spores.
Second, absorb the blood and vitality Tang San gives off naturally.
The withered Demon Vine clung to a crack in the shoe sole and slowly drew in the warm energy. Dark purple returned to its skin.
This time, he did not dare gulp it down.
The imprint Tang Hao had left lay beside the pillow. Weak as it was, it irritated Ji Yuan.
The blade hanging over his head had finally fallen once.
Fortunately, it had missed.
Ji Yuan woke the Sub-spore at Xiao Wu's hair roots, but kept it dormant, drawing none of her vital essence.
He reconnected the Sub-spore in the blacksmith shop's hammer handle as well, but only enough to sense through it, not to transfer energy.
He needed to be more careful.
And he needed to grow stronger faster.
By the time Tang San woke, it was daylight.
He sat up and rubbed his forehead. "Why did I sleep so deeply last night?"
Xiao Wu sat beside him hugging her quilt, her hair a mess. "You're asking me? I watched you half the night. I'm exhausted."
Tang San looked a little guilty. "Thanks for the effort."
Xiao Wu promptly raised her chin. "Good. You're buying breakfast."
Tang San smiled. He was about to get out of bed when he noticed the scrap of cloth beside his pillow.
His hand stopped. He picked up the cloth and turned it over.
Xiao Wu leaned closer. "What's that?"
Tang San studied the faint aura on the cloth, and his expression slowly changed. "Dad left it."
Xiao Wu blinked. "Your dad was here?"
Tang San did not answer. Joy and disappointment mingled in his eyes.
He hurried out of bed and pushed open the door to look outside.
The corridor was empty.
No one was there.
Xiao Wu followed him out. "Tang San?"
Tang San gripped the cloth tightly and said in a low voice, "He came, but he didn't see me."
Hidden in the shoe sole, Ji Yuan drew his newly restored vine tip a little tighter.
Good that he came.
Better that he left.
As long as Tang Hao was not around, Ji Yuan could keep feeding.
That morning, Yu Xiaogang learned about the scrap of cloth beside Tang San's pillow, and his expression turned grave.
He did not ask much about Tang Hao. He only examined Tang San's left hand and let him leave once he was sure there was no sign of it slipping out of control.
Tang San said on his own, "Teacher, I'd like to go to the blacksmith shop again this afternoon."
Yu Xiaogang frowned. "You slept deeply last night, but your body may not have recovered."
Tang San shook his head. "I feel all right. Forging helps steady me."
Xiao Wu cut in from the side. "He just can't sit still."
Yu Xiaogang looked at the red marks on Tang San's wrist and finally said, "Don't push yourself. If anything feels wrong, stop at once."
Tang San nodded. "I understand."
Deep in the shoe sole, Ji Yuan slowly spread his rootlets.
Understand?
You don't understand a thing.
You'll march yourself up to the anvil and feed me the Clear Sky Sect's power, hammer blow by hammer blow.
That afternoon, Tang San arrived at the blacksmith shop.
Shi San was clearing material beside the furnace. He beckoned when he saw Tang San. "Kid, perfect timing. I've got something for you to try today."
Tang San approached and saw a dull-colored piece of metal beside the anvil. Its surface had no shine, but it looked dense enough to weigh heavily in the hand.
Shi San patted the metal. "Iron essence. Ordinary apprentices can't handle it. You had enough strength yesterday, so let's see if you can make a dent in it today."
Tang San's eyes lit up.
Ji Yuan's rootlets pressed toward a crack in the shoe sole.
There was something in that iron essence he had never eaten before.
Cold, hard, heavy—and carrying a metallic sharpness that made the vine's barbs itch.
Tang San reached for the hammer, but Shi San suddenly pinned the handle down and stared at him. "Kid, let's get one thing straight. You can't afford to pay for this if you ruin it. Still dare to hit it?"
Before Tang San could answer, Ji Yuan's rootlets had pierced the ground and were burrowing toward the anvil's base.
Iron essence had no blood.
But Ji Yuan wanted to know whether a plant could eat iron.
Before you continue