Notting's Dark Web, Spores Everywhere

Yu Xiaogang held the Gold Soul Coin, rubbing its edge with his thumb for a long while.

The Gold Soul Coin was genuine.

The serial number matched, too.

Tang San had only handed his stipend to Xiao Wu for safekeeping that afternoon, and she had tucked it back into his belt in front of everyone in Dorm Seven.

The apothecary stood in the doorway, looking anxious. "Grandmaster, I wouldn't dare make anything up. The boy never showed his face. A runner brought the money and said he urgently needed a century-old Blood Ginseng."

Yu Xiaogang stared at him. "Where's the runner?"

"Liu Er, from the south of the city. He delivers things for people. I've already sent an assistant to find him."

Xiao Wu's temper flared as she listened. "Tang San's laid up in bed. How could he possibly have gone to buy medicine?"

The apothecary wiped his forehead. "Young lady, I didn't say he came himself. It's just that this coin really did come from the same batch as his stipend."

Tang San leaned against the headboard, his face still pale. "Teacher, my belt wasn't stolen."

He took off the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridge. Not a single Gold Soul Coin inside was missing.

Ji Yuan stayed still and silent inside the sole of the shoe.

That Gold Soul Coin certainly hadn't come from Tang San.

During the day, he had attached spores to one of Xiao Chenyu's attendants, then used the money pouches circulating through the city to swap in an old coin from the same batch.

The gold coins Spirit Hall issued as stipends had similar batch numbers. Nothing could have been more convenient for muddying the waters.

Yu Xiaogang returned the coin to the apothecary. "Don't spread word of this yet."

Xiao Wu bristled. "Why not? Someone bought medicine in Tang San's name. They're obviously trying to frame him."

Yu Xiaogang looked at Tang San. "You can't get dragged into any more trouble right now."

Tang San shook his head. "Teacher, I want to know who did it."

Xiao Wu nodded at once. "So do I!"

Yu Xiaogang's face darkened. "You two stay at the academy. I'll investigate."

Ji Yuan had no interest in whom they investigated.

What he really wanted was to spread his spores through the city by way of money, medicine, runners, and guards.

That century-old Blood Ginseng was only bait.

Night had just fallen when Liu Er was brought to the academy from the south of the city.

He was short and scrawny, with bits of medicinal dregs still stuck to his clothes. A teacher from the academic affairs office pressed him into a chair, and his legs trembled.

"I really don't know who it was!"

Xiao Wu stood beside the table with her hands on her hips. "You took the money and still don't know?"

Liu Er looked ready to cry. "The person wore a bamboo hat. How would I dare ask? They gave me two Copper Soul Coins to run the errand and told me to take the Gold Soul Coin to the apothecary to buy century-old Blood Ginseng."

Tang San asked, "Where's the Blood Ginseng?"

Liu Er hurried to answer. "They took it. I didn't touch it!"

Yu Xiaogang fixed his eyes on Liu Er. "Which way did they go?"

"Toward the black market."

The teacher's expression changed. "The academy shouldn't get involved in black-market affairs."

Xiao Wu slapped the table. "So we just let someone frame Tang San?"

The teacher looked embarrassed. "That's not what I meant."

Tang San turned to Yu Xiaogang. "Teacher, I'll go take a look."

"No."

Yu Xiaogang's refusal was immediate. "You haven't recovered, and the black market is full of all sorts. You can't go."

But Xiao Wu had already snatched up Tang San's coat. "I'll go with him."

Yu Xiaogang's temple twitched. "Xiao Wu."

She glared back. "Can you stop me?"

Tang San took the coat from her and said quietly, "Teacher, I'll only look around the outskirts. I won't fight."

Yu Xiaogang fell silent for a moment before finally yielding. "I'm coming too."

Ji Yuan stretched his roots inside the shoe sole.

Good.

Once Tang San moved, the lines came alive.

Notting City's night market was still bustling, its streets crowded and oil lamps hanging outside the shops.

As the three of them walked down the street, Ji Yuan's spores drifted from the shoe sole and settled on vendors' cuffs, bookkeepers' abacuses, and guards' boots.

Every Gold Soul Coin that changed hands opened a new path.

Every bout of haggling provided cover.

Yu Xiaogang walked cautiously. "Don't touch anything a stranger hands you."

Xiao Wu curled her lip. "Do you think we're three years old?"

Tang San stopped outside an ironware shop. The shopkeeper was talking to a guard from the City Lord's Manor.

A wolf-head badge hung from the guard's waist. He was one of the Xiao Family's men.

Tang San's gaze chilled.

Xiao Wu saw him too. "Xiao Chenyu's family again?"

Yu Xiaogang held her back. "Don't alert him."

Ji Yuan had already acted.

Spores clung to the sole of the guard's boot, slipped into a seam in the leather, entered his pores with his sweat, and hid in the meridians of his calf.

A crack had opened in the City Lord's Manor's defenses.

After the guard left, Tang San and the others continued toward the black market.

Its entrance lay at the end of a narrow alley. Two burly men guarded it, but neither stopped them after seeing Yu Xiaogang's Soul Master badge.

The light inside was dim, and stalls stood packed together. Medicinal herbs, beast bones, and damaged Soul Tools lay piled side by side.

Xiao Wu covered her nose. "This place stinks."

Yu Xiaogang lowered his voice. "Talk less."

Tang San scanned the stalls, then his eyes suddenly settled on a wooden box.

Its lid was half open, revealing a shriveled piece of red ginseng.

The century-old Blood Ginseng the apothecary had mentioned had lost its spiritual essence. Only the husk remained.

The stallkeeper was a short, plump middle-aged man. When he saw them stop, he immediately smiled. "Looking for medicine? This is quality stock."

Xiao Wu pointed at the box. "Quality stock? It's dried up."

The stallkeeper's expression changed. "Don't talk nonsense about things you don't understand, little girl. It's been dried and prepared."

Tang San reached for it, but Yu Xiaogang stopped him.

Yu Xiaogang looked at the stallkeeper. "Where did this Blood Ginseng come from?"

The man's eyes darted. "A customer left it here to sell."

Xiao Wu sneered. "Where's the customer?"

"Gone."

Yu Xiaogang set his Soul Master badge on the table. "Explain yourself."

The stallkeeper's smile vanished. "Grandmaster, the black market has its rules."

Before he had finished speaking, a commotion broke out at the alley entrance.

A drunk knocked over a nearby stall, scattering beast bones across the ground. Several stallkeepers started arguing on the spot.

The burly guards rushed over to pull them apart, and the black market descended into chaos.

Ji Yuan used the confusion to drive roots from Tang San's shoe sole into a crack between the paving stones. They burrowed through the damp earth beneath the ground until they reached the wooden box.

He had drained the Blood Ginseng's essence after it changed hands at the apothecary.

Now he merely absorbed its lingering scent, erasing traces that could be followed.

Tang San caught the stallkeeper's wrist. "Was the person who sold it wearing a bamboo hat?"

The man grimaced in pain. "Yes, yes, a bamboo hat!"

"Man or woman?"

"I don't know. Their face was wrapped in cloth."

Yu Xiaogang pressed him. "A Soul Master?"

The stallkeeper shook his head. "I couldn't sense any Soul Power."

Xiao Wu flipped open the wooden box. "Tang San, there's paper inside."

Half a sheet of oilpaper lay beneath the box. Only one crooked line was written on it.

If you want to investigate, stop letting Tang San take Spirit Hall's money.

Tang San's face darkened.

Yu Xiaogang picked up the oilpaper. His first thought was that someone had noticed the tug-of-war between Spirit Hall and Tang San.

Xiao Wu snapped, "Who would do something so rotten?"

Ji Yuan withdrew his roots, coldly drawing his net tight.

Rotten?

As long as it worked.

The note wasn't meant to help them discover the culprit. It was meant to drive Yu Xiaogang and Tang San farther from Spirit Hall.

Tang San said quietly, "Teacher, could it be Su Yuntao?"

Yu Xiaogang shook his head. "Su Yuntao has no reason to use methods like this."

Xiao Wu said, "Then it's Xiao Chenyu!"

Yu Xiaogang didn't dismiss it. "The Xiao Family is possible too."

Tang San looked toward the City Lord's Manor. "I'll get to the bottom of this."

Ji Yuan wound lightly around his Heart Meridian and released a little toxin that stirred agitation.

Tang San's chest felt tight, and what little goodwill he held toward Spirit Hall faded further.

Yu Xiaogang said nothing on the way back to the academy.

Xiao Wu couldn't help asking, "Grandmaster, have you thought of something?"

Yu Xiaogang put away the oilpaper. "Someone doesn't want Tang San getting close to Spirit Hall. They don't want him cultivating in peace, either."

Tang San asked, "Could they be after my Twin Martial Souls?"

Yu Xiaogang slowed.

"Possibly."

Ji Yuan found that pleasing to hear.

Yes.

Keep thinking.

The higher your thoughts climb, the less you'll see beneath your feet.

For the next few days, Ji Yuan caused no more major disturbances.

When Tang San went to buy materials for Hidden Weapons, spores attached themselves to Gold Soul Coins, Copper Soul Coins, cloth bags, and wooden crates.

When Xiao Wu went out to buy sweet cakes, Ji Yuan marked the pastry-shop owner.

Academy teachers went into town on errands, guards from the City Lord's Manor patrolled, and the smithy made deliveries. Ji Yuan connected every thread to his underground web of roots.

One node after another gradually lit up across Notting City in his perception.

Three Soul Masters frequented a tavern in the east of the city.

A batch of well-aged medicinal herbs was hidden in the back courtyard of an apothecary in the west.

Two squads of guards took turns along the outer wall of the City Lord's Manor. Security was loosest at night.

The Soul Power fluctuations around the Spirit Hall Branch were the steadiest and the most dangerous. He planted only a few shallow spores on the outskirts and never ventured deeper.

Tang San knew nothing of it.

Every day, he attended classes, forged iron, cultivated, and occasionally let Xiao Wu force him to rest.

After tucking the black-market note into his notebook, Yu Xiaogang began observing Tang San's Blue Silver Grass more often.

Each time, Ji Yuan kept the signs of mutation within the range Yu Xiaogang could accept.

A little stronger.

A little weaker.

Then a little more residual toxin.

The theorist would fill in the gaps himself.

A month later, word spread through Notting City's black market once more.

Someone had sent a century-old Blood Ginseng to auction, and it was in better condition than the last one.

Yu Xiaogang's face immediately darkened when he heard.

Xiao Wu slapped the table. "Again?"

Tang San rose. "This time, I'll keep watch."

Yu Xiaogang was about to stop him, but Tang San had already fastened his belt.

Deep within the shoe sole, Ji Yuan unfurled dark-red roots. Across the entire city, his spores awakened at once.

In the auction house's back courtyard, the genuine Blood Ginseng was being placed into a brocade box, its roots still flecked with damp soil.

Ji Yuan's underground roots had already reached the bottom of the box.

The brocade box made a faint sound. The Soul Master guarding it looked down, and his face changed on the spot. "Why is there nothing left in the box but a layer of ginseng skin?"