Finals Approaching, Tang Hao Departs

"Ginseng skin?"

When Tang San rushed to the auction house's back courtyard, the guard soul master was clutching the brocade box and trembling.

Inside lay an intact blood ginseng. Its shape remained, but its color had darkened. It felt unnaturally light when picked up, and its root hairs crumbled at the slightest touch.

The auction house manager's face turned green. "Who touched it? Who handled the box just now?"

The guard soul master said anxiously, "No one touched it. Really, no one!"

Xiao Wu leaned over for a look, then stepped back in disgust. "This can be auctioned?"

The manager's hands shook with anger. "This is a century-old blood ginseng! It was brimming with spiritual energy when it arrived!"

Yu Xiaogang pinched off a bit of ginseng skin and held it to his nose.

The medicinal fragrance was so faint that only the smell of an empty husk remained.

Tang San looked around. "Did anyone enter or leave the back courtyard?"

The manager immediately replied, "Only the guard, the deliveryman, and the accounting clerk who registered it."

Xiao Wu narrowed her eyes. "Don't tell me you're going to blame Tang San again?"

The manager choked on her words and hurriedly shook his head. "I wouldn't dare. I wouldn't dare."

Ji Yuan hid beneath Tang San's sole, slowly digesting the blood ginseng's essence.

A century's worth of medicinal power was not top-tier, but it was pure, making it perfect for replenishing the depletion from his recent large-scale web-spreading.

The blood ginseng had been drained dry from underground without even opening the box.

No one could trace it.

Yu Xiaogang stared at the bottom of the brocade box, his brow furrowing tighter and tighter.

"There's no damage and no residual soul power, yet the roots have been hollowed out."

Tang San said quietly, "Teacher, it's like last time."

Yu Xiaogang did not reply.

Xiao Wu folded her arms and looked at the manager. "The stuff in your black market is really strange. Your own medicine vanishes, and don't go making some note to scare people again."

At the mention of a note, the manager's expression turned even uglier. "Young lady, the black market does business on reputation. I will investigate this matter."

Tang San did not linger any longer.

On the way back, he asked Yu Xiaogang, "Teacher, what do you think did this?"

Yu Xiaogang remained silent for a long time before speaking. "It may be some lingering ability left behind by a parasitic soul beast. Or perhaps someone used a special martial soul to draw out the medicinal power from a distance."

Ji Yuan drew in his roots, and the dark-red patterns sank into the interior of the wooden spike.

Go ahead, guess.

As long as they did not suspect the sole of a shoe, they could guess all the way to the heavens for all he cared.

Xiao Wu kicked at a pebble by the roadside. "Anyway, Tang San didn't do it."

Tang San glanced at her. "How are you so sure?"

Xiao Wu replied with perfect confidence, "If you had that kind of ability, would the master still have to force you to drink bitter medicine every day?"

Tang San gave a wry smile.

Yu Xiaogang did not smile.

He increasingly felt that some indescribable interference existed around Tang San.

Yet every time he investigated to the end, it could all be explained away by the twin martial souls and the mutated Blue Silver Grass.

The most frightening part was that the explanation held up.

As final exams drew closer day by day, the uproar over the academy tournament gradually died down.

Xiao Chenyu had become much more restrained. At least on the surface, he no longer caused trouble for Tang San.

Only older students like Liu Qiang felt drained and weak after training every day, yet no cause could be found.

Ji Yuan's dark web had stabilized.

Low-level soul masters in Notting City, academy teachers, shop owners, guards of the city lord's manor—every one of them had left traces along the edges of his spores.

He was in no hurry to devour them.

These people were merely fertilizer for the outer ring. The true main blood pack was still Tang San.

The day the vacation notice went up, Seventh Dormitory erupted.

Wang Sheng packed his bundle, stuffing in clothes as he shouted, "I can finally go home! If I don't go back soon, my mother will think the academy sold me off."

Xiao Wu sat on her bed swinging her legs. "I'm not going back. I'm going with Tang San."

Tang San was sorting through the components of his hidden weapons. His hands paused. "Xiao Wu, I'm going back to Holy Soul Village."

Xiao Wu raised a brow. "Can't I go to Holy Soul Village?"

"It's not that you can't."

Tang San hesitated. "It's just my father at home, and the place is run-down."

Xiao Wu hopped off the bed. "It's not like I mind."

Wang Sheng waggled his brows at the side. "Boss, Sister Xiao Wu has already said so. What are you still refusing for?"

Tang San shot him a glare. "Pack your things."

Xiao Wu leaned close to Tang San. "Then it's settled."

Tang San looked at her bright, sparkling face and finally nodded. "Alright."

Ji Yuan had no interest whatsoever in this little bit of warmth.

Back to Holy Soul Village.

The back mountain.

The place where he had buried the first section of root could still be used.

More importantly, Tang Hao was there.

The moment that thought surfaced, Ji Yuan suppressed all the spores in the outer ring by another layer.

Tang Hao was an axe hanging over his head.

As long as that man remained, Ji Yuan could not devour without restraint.

At dawn on the first day of vacation, Tang San and Xiao Wu left Notting Academy with their bundles on their backs.

Yu Xiaogang saw them to the entrance and handed Tang San a small packet.

"Take the medicine on the road. Do not stop."

Tang San accepted it. "Rest assured, Teacher."

Xiao Wu held out her hand as well. "Is there any candy? The medicine's too bitter. He definitely won't like drinking it."

Yu Xiaogang glanced at her, then actually took a small packet of candied fruit from his sleeve.

Xiao Wu was satisfied. "That's more like it."

Yu Xiaogang reminded Tang San, "After you return, do not stimulate your left hand, and do not cultivate alone for extended periods. If anything abnormal happens, come back immediately."

Tang San nodded seriously. "I'll remember."

Ji Yuan had already memorized the scent of the medicine packet from inside the sole of the shoe.

That medicine would all enter his roots along the way.

The two returned to Holy Soul Village.

When Old Jack saw Tang San at the village entrance, he did not even bother steadying himself with his cane before hurrying over. "Little San, you're back!"

Tang San felt warmth in his heart. "Grandpa Jack."

Old Jack saw Xiao Wu and froze again. "And this is?"

Xiao Wu waved cheerfully. "Hello, Grandpa. My name is Xiao Wu. I'm Tang San's classmate."

Old Jack grinned from ear to ear. "Good, good, a classmate is good. With someone looking after Little San at the academy, I can rest easy."

Tang San felt a little embarrassed. "Grandpa Jack, I'll go home and see my father first."

Old Jack's smile gradually faded. "Go on."

Tang San did not miss that slight change.

His heart sank, and he quickened his pace toward the blacksmith shop.

The blacksmith shop door was unlocked, but the place was empty.

The forge was cold.

The hammer by the wall was gone.

Only a letter lay pressed beneath something on the table.

Tang San walked over. When his fingers touched the envelope, they stopped, as though he did not dare open it.

Xiao Wu fell quiet as well. "Tang San?"

Tang San opened the letter.

Tang Hao had not written much.

Little San, I've left. There are things I must do. Don't look for me.

Take care of yourself, and remember what I told you.

Tang San finished reading the letter and stood motionless before the table.

Xiao Wu asked carefully, "Your father left?"

Tang San's throat tightened. "Yes."

Old Jack had somehow appeared at the doorway. He sighed. "I came by this morning. Your father was already gone. I was afraid you'd worry on the road, so I didn't tell you."

Tang San folded the letter and placed it against his chest. "He'll come back."

Xiao Wu walked to his side. "Tang San, I'll go with you."

Tang San lowered his head to look at her, pain suppressed in his eyes. "Thank you."

Ji Yuan unfurled dark-red roots from the soles of his shoes.

He was gone.

That axe had finally left.

He neither cheered nor relaxed enough to lose control. Instead, he immediately pushed the spores deeper toward Tang San's heart meridian.

Tang San's emotions had collapsed now, and his guard was at its weakest.

His heart meridian, dantian, and the edges of his bone marrow—all reinforced.

Tang San's chest tightened, and he braced himself against the corner of the table.

Xiao Wu hurriedly supported him. "What's wrong?"

Tang San shook his head. "Nothing. I might just be tired from the journey."

Ji Yuan casually siphoned away half of his inner power as a farewell gift for Tang Hao's departure.

Tang San only felt hollow inside, attributing it to grief and exhaustion.

Old Jack looked at him, his eyes full of heartache. "Little San, now that your father's gone, you need to work even harder. Our Holy Soul Village finally produced a Soul Master like you."

Tang San looked up. "Grandpa Jack, I'll work hard."

Old Jack tapped the ground with his cane. "It's not that I'm forcing you to do it for the village. Grandpa just hopes you'll rise high and go far, instead of staying trapped in this lousy blacksmith shop."

Tang San clenched the letter in his hand. "I understand."

Ji Yuan watched coldly from the sidelines.

Hope, family, responsibility.

Humans always found ways to bind themselves with invisible ropes.

But as long as those ropes could drive Tang San forward, they were useful.

Xiao Wu tidied up the room a little, still grumbling about Tang Hao. "What kind of father leaves without even saying goodbye in person?"

Tang San said softly, "Father must have had his reasons."

Xiao Wu snorted. "You always speak up for him."

Old Jack left with a sigh, leaving only Tang San and Xiao Wu in the blacksmith shop.

After night fell, Tang San sat on the threshold, reading that letter over and over again.

Xiao Wu sat beside him and did not disturb him again.

Under the cover of night, Ji Yuan extended a strand of roots from his shoe soles into the ground.

The scent of Holy Soul Village's soil surged toward him.

Familiar, barren, yet clean.

From the back mountain came intermittent plant-sense signals from the patch of Blue Silver Grass where he had once grown.

Ji Yuan did not respond in a hurry.

First, he buried a dormant spore beneath the blacksmith shop. Then he compressed the impurities that had spilled out after Tang San was drained today into a clump of poison, preparing to bring it to the back mountain.

That place could become a retreat.

Or a new web.

Late at night, Tang San finally put away the letter and sat down cross-legged.

Xiao Wu immediately became alert. "You're still cultivating?"

Tang San closed his eyes. "I want to clear my head."

Xiao Wu watched him for a while. She did not stop him, merely sitting beside him to keep watch.

The moment the Mysterious Heaven Skill began to circulate, Ji Yuan tasted the flow of pure inner power.

He did not siphon too much this time, only intercepting a portion so Tang San could maintain the illusion of cultivation.

Tang San's furrowed brows gradually relaxed.

Ji Yuan, however, shifted his attention toward the back mountain.

The Blue Silver Grass swayed gently in the night. The tips of several blades had already been stained dark red.

But just as Ji Yuan was about to sever his senses, Old Jack's urgent knocking suddenly sounded outside the blacksmith shop.

"Little San, something's happened at the back mountain. Someone said that patch of Blue Silver Grass is bleeding at night."