Exploring the Belt, Crossing the Sea Under Camouflage

"Probe inside."

At Ji Yuan's command, the spores clinging near Tang San's fingertips immediately attached themselves to the edge of the jade piece and slipped through the tiny gap in the opened space.

Tang San was still lowering his head to study the belt.

Yu Xiaogang stood by the table, his tone carrying a rare seriousness. "Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridge has twenty-four jade pieces. Each one contains a storage space. Your soul power is still weak, so don't rush when using it. First, use your spiritual power to sense it."

Tang San nodded, running his fingers over the jade pieces one by one. "Teacher, this is too valuable."

Yu Xiaogang waved a hand. "Take it. Since you call me Teacher, I should at least give you something useful."

Tang San said softly, "I won't disappoint you, Teacher."

Listening from the shadows, Ji Yuan found it laughable.

Such a touching bond between master and disciple. Perfect.

The more earnest they were, the easier it was for him to make his move.

When the spore slipped into the first jade piece's storage space, it found only a few packets of rations, along with a firestarter, medicinal powder, and bandages.

Ji Yuan swept through them once and left them untouched.

Those things were useful to Tang San, but they held no value for him.

The second jade piece contained several old books. Their covers were badly worn, with slips of paper tucked between their pages.

Outside, Yu Xiaogang said, "Read those soul beast encyclopedias when you get back, especially the sections on plant-type soul beasts and snakes. Don't find them tedious. A soul master's first soul ring determines the foundation of their future."

Tang San's eyes brightened. "Teacher, have you already thought out a direction for me?"

Yu Xiaogang said solemnly, "Blue Silver Grass is weak. You must make up for it with external strength. Toughness, poison, and control—those are the three paths most suited to you."

Ji Yuan's spore paused beside the pages. Fine rootlets extended from the gaps in the book bindings, scanning the contents page by page.

Soul beast age limits, habits, weaknesses, compatible martial souls.

The knowledge Yu Xiaogang had accumulated over many years was effortlessly swallowed into his memory.

Ji Yuan thought coldly, even trash had its uses.

Tang San was taking a master in the open, while he was gathering information in the dark.

The third jade piece's storage space was piled with clothes.

The fourth contained water skins.

The fifth held a dagger, rope, and several bottles of antidote.

Only when the spore entered the seventh jade piece did Ji Yuan's rootlets suddenly tense.

There was a wooden box in the corner.

The box was wrapped in old cloth, and its lid was sealed with wax. It was clearly not an everyday item.

The scent of blood and vitality seeping from within made even Ji Yuan's main body hidden beneath the bedboards begin to burn.

Tang San's fingers remained on the belt, his brows faintly furrowed. "Teacher, I feel like it's a little cold in here."

Yu Xiaogang stepped closer. "The interior of a storage soul tool forms its own space, so it will feel different from the outside world. Don't get distracted. Try taking out something simple first."

Following the method Yu Xiaogang had taught him, Tang San circulated his soul power and took out a piece of ration from the first jade piece.

The ration dropped into his palm, and delight appeared in his eyes. "It worked."

Yu Xiaogang nodded. "Not bad. Your spiritual power is steadier than I expected."

Ji Yuan paid them no attention.

His spore had already pressed itself against the edge of the wooden box.

The wax seal was thin, but the blood-and-vitality scent within was sealed tightly enough that ordinary people would never detect it.

The spore split off fine roots and forced them inward through the pores in the wood grain.

The lid did not move, nor did the wax seal break. Only a gap on the inner side was slowly pried open.

A piece of dried, dark-red meat was revealed.

It looked hard and blackened, yet the essence of a soul beast within it had not fully dissipated.

Ji Yuan's rootlets pierced into it at once.

Hunger surged back from the spore to his main body. Beneath the bedboards, the leaves of Blue Silver Grass silently unfurled, dark-red patterns creeping through the depths of their veins.

Outside, Yu Xiaogang was laying down rules for Tang San.

"Don't casually use a soul tool in crowded places. Wealth should not be flaunted. You understand that principle."

Tang San replied seriously, "Don't worry, Teacher. I'll be careful."

Yu Xiaogang looked at him. "Also, I don't want what happened at the entrance today to happen a second time."

Tang San's fingers tightened slightly. The hidden weapons in his sleeve pressed against his skin, and he did not answer immediately.

"Teacher thinks I was wrong?"

Yu Xiaogang shook his head. "They humiliated you and shoved an old man. You weren't wrong to fight back, but you struck too heavily."

Tang San said in a low voice, "I couldn't control myself at the time."

Ji Yuan found that amusing.

Couldn't control himself?

His body had not even been under his own control. Of course he couldn't control it.

Yu Xiaogang stared at Tang San's face. "That method of exerting force just now isn't something an ordinary child could have trained."

Tang San looked up. "What does Teacher want to ask?"

The room fell silent.

Yu Xiaogang did not press him. He merely pushed the book on the table toward him. "I said before that everyone has secrets. What I want is a disciple, not a criminal."

Tang San felt relieved and lowered his head. "Thank you, Teacher."

Ji Yuan watched coldly from the sidelines.

This Yu Xiaogang was insecure and lacked opportunities to prove himself. So when he saw a talent like Tang San, he could not bear to let go.

He was far too useful.

As long as he wanted to cultivate Tang San into his own calling card, he would actively find excuses for the abnormalities surrounding Tang San.

Inside the wooden box, that piece of dried soul beast meat was growing lighter.

Ji Yuan's roots burrowed deep inside, draining its blood and vitality, extracting its lingering soul, and even leaving none of the ferocity hidden within its fibers untouched.

The essence flowed back through the spores into Tang San's body, then was transferred through the parasitic point near his heart meridian to the main body beneath the bedboard.

This route wound around several times, keeping the fluctuations in his meridians extremely low.

Tang San merely felt a chill at his waist and raised a hand to touch it.

Yu Xiaogang asked, "Feeling unwell?"

Tang San shook his head. "Maybe I used up some soul power earlier. I'm a little tired."

Yu Xiaogang glanced at the sky. "Go back and rest. Come find me tomorrow morning. I'll formally teach you martial soul theory."

Tang San fastened his belt. "Teacher, then I'll return to Dorm Seven first."

Yu Xiaogang gave a hum, then added, "Tang San, remember this. Blue Silver Grass is not the end. If you want to go far, you must be more enduring than others."

Tang San answered earnestly, "I can endure."

Ji Yuan tightened his leaves beneath the bedboard.

That's right.

The more you can endure, the more I can drain from you.

When Tang San left the office, the belt lay flat against his clothes, and the dried soul beast meat in the wooden box had already lost more than half its essence.

The spores did not greedily consume it out of control, instead slowing their pace.

The wooden box's appearance could not change too quickly.

Tang San could not be allowed to notice anything strange when he took something out.

Night settled in, and the children in Dorm Seven were already sleeping in disarray.

Wang Sheng snored loudly. Xiao Wu had claimed a bed farther inside, her scorpion braid hanging over the edge, its tip not far from Tang San's bunk.

Tang San slipped quietly into the room, removed Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridge, and set it beside his pillow before taking out the book Yu Xiaogang had given him and flipping through it.

When Tang San turned over, Ji Yuan's spores took the chance to continue devouring the flesh in the wooden box.

By the time the final trace of blood and vitality had been drained, the dried meat still looked intact on the outside, but its interior was already hollow.

The spores withdrew, and fine roots smoothed over the gaps in the wooden box again. The wax seal looked unchanged from the outside.

Tang San was reading about the classification of plant soul beasts when he suddenly frowned. "Why did it get cold again?"

Wang Sheng turned over and mumbled, "Maybe the window's letting in wind. Boss, you still not sleeping?"

Tang San closed the book. "In a moment."

Xiao Wu poked her head out from the other side. "Tang San, are you going to the Master's place again tomorrow?"

Tang San said, "Yes. Teacher is going to teach me theory."

Xiao Wu curled her lip. "What's so useful about theory? Wouldn't a fight tell you whether someone's strong or not?"

Tang San smiled. "It still has to be learned."

Ji Yuan sensed the spores on Xiao Wu's braid and suppressed the urge to immediately drain them.

A hundred-thousand-year origin lay right before him, but he could not touch it yet.

This rabbit was more sensitive than Tang San. Eating too hastily would cause problems.

Raise her first.

He sank the soul beast's blood and vitality that he had just devoured into his main body. In the cracks beneath the bedboard, the roots of that Blue Silver Grass quietly thickened, the dark red patterns along its leaf edges deepened, and the fibers within its stalk began to grow denser as well.

A new prompt surfaced deep within his consciousness.

Physical toughness increased.

Parasitic stability increased.

Ji Yuan did not get excited. He merely pressed the newly gained power into his roots, driving them deeper beneath Tang San's bed along the wooden boards.

After Tang San lay down, his belt was right beside him.

Ji Yuan's newly sprouted fine roots crept through the gaps in the bedboards, drawing close to the meridians at Tang San's waist. Borrowing the rise and fall of his breathing, they quietly established a new parasitic point.

Tang San did not sleep deeply. Halfway through, he rubbed his waist and murmured, "Strange. Why am I so tired today?"

Ji Yuan did not respond.

The dried soul beast meat had become an empty shell. Yu Xiaogang would not notice for the time being.

But the day he opened the wooden box, that confident face of his would surely turn ugly.

At the thought, Ji Yuan's leaves lightly pressed against the wood.

Yu Xiaogang guarded the treasure but dared not use it. Tang San treated the belt as a gift.

Yet in the end, the one who swallowed it was him.

Near dawn, Tang San had only just fallen asleep when footsteps sounded outside the door.

Yu Xiaogang's voice came through the wooden door.

"Tang San, come to my office once you're awake. Your first lesson begins today."

Tang San sat up. As he reached for his belt, his fingertips suddenly felt a trace of fine dust on the jade.

He lowered his head and saw that a smear of dark-red powder had somehow clung to the crevice of the jade by his pillow.