Broken Vine and Torn Skin, Zhu Zhuqing Grew Suspicious

Zhu Zhuqing crouched down. Her fingertips did not touch the scrap of torn skin; she only used the toe of her shoe to pick it out of the mud.

The charred vine skin flipped over, and the small dark-red new sprout on its edge was smeared with wet soil, glaringly conspicuous in the morning light.

Tang San saw it too.

Xiao Wu stepped in front of him first and frowned. "What is this? Who threw it here?"

Ma Hongjun poked his head over for one look and immediately backed away. "Don't touch it. It's all black. For all we know, it's poisonous."

Oscar clutched his stomach, but still could not stop running his mouth. "Fatty, you say everything you see is poisonous now. Did your own evil fire smoke something wrong with you?"

Ma Hongjun glared at him. "Shut up. I'm sick of hearing the word poison right now."

Zhu Zhuqing ignored them.

She stared at that scrap of torn skin, and the foot she had been about to lift drew back again.

Dai Mubai walked to her side. "Zhuqing, what's wrong?"

Zhu Zhuqing looked up at him. "You don't smell it?"

Dai Mubai lowered his head and sniffed, his brows knitting. "A burnt smell, dirt, and a little blood."

"Not that."

Zhu Zhuqing shifted her gaze to the spot beside Tang San's foot. "It was next to his shoe just now."

Tang San's heart sank slightly, but no panic showed on his face.

"I walked all the way over here. It's not strange for some grass roots and mud to stick to my soles."

Xiao Wu immediately chimed in, "Exactly. This lousy road in the academy is all mud. You can't possibly be saying a grass root ran over to my brother's foot by itself, right?"

Zhu Zhuqing did not argue. She only looked at Tang San.

Her intuition told her that this thing was not right.

The Hell Spirit Cat was naturally sensitive to things in the shadows. That scrap of torn skin had already lost its vitality, yet the new sprout on its edge carried some kind of aura that chilled the back of her neck.

That aura was hidden deep, as if someone had deliberately pressed it into dead skin.

Ji Yuan withdrew the last bit of green pattern from the inner layer of the shoe sole.

The torn skin left behind from the self-healing test just now had not been fully devoured. The wind had flipped it out, and it just had to land right in front of Zhu Zhuqing.

Trouble.

He did not rush to deal with it.

Right now, everyone was staring at that thing. Any energy fluctuation would confirm Zhu Zhuqing's suspicion.

Flender walked over and swept a glance at the torn skin on the ground. "A piece of scorched vine is worth all of you crowding around to look at?"

Zhu Zhuqing said, "Dean, this thing has residual fluctuations."

Zhao Wuji also moved closer to look, then reached out to pick it up.

Tang San hurriedly said, "Teacher Zhao, be careful, it might be poisonous."

Zhao Wuji's hand stopped in midair, and he turned to look at him. "You're pretty cautious, kid."

Tang San cupped his hands. "I suffered for it in the Soul Hunting Forest before."

Zhao Wuji snorted, then used a tree branch instead to prod at the torn skin.

The torn skin was poked open, and the dark-red new sprout was crushed, oozing a little blackened juice.

Ma Hongjun immediately covered his nose. "It really stinks."

Oscar's expression also changed. "This thing couldn't have crawled out of my sausages, could it?"

Ning Rongrong looked at him in disgust. "Can you stop trying to connect every filthy thing to yourself?"

Oscar muttered, "My condition has been off these past few days."

Zhu Zhuqing suddenly asked Tang San, "Has your left hand often felt heavy lately?"

Tang San's heart tightened.

Xiao Wu also turned back to look at him. "Brother?"

Tang San withdrew his left hand into his sleeve. "It happened a few times after absorbing the spirit ring. Teacher said it was rejection from my Twin Martial Souls."

Zhu Zhuqing stared at his sleeve opening. "And weakness, coughing blood, dreams."

Xiao Wu's face darkened. "Zhu Zhuqing, what do you mean?"

Zhu Zhuqing did not back down. "I'm only asking."

Dai Mubai frowned. "Zhuqing, Tang San's situation has already been examined by Grandmaster."

"Examined doesn't mean nothing was missed."

As soon as those words came out, the atmosphere instantly cooled.

Flender pushed up his glasses. "Zhu Zhuqing, you need evidence when you speak."

Zhu Zhuqing pointed at the torn skin on the ground. "Does this count?"

Zhao Wuji impatiently tossed the twig away. "A bit of rotten vine. What does that prove? There are vines all over the academy grounds, and plenty of them have been burned by Fatty."

Ma Hongjun panicked. "Teacher Zhao, why are you dragging me into this again?"

Zhao Wuji glared at him. "Have you not burned plenty?"

Ma Hongjun shut up.

Ji Yuan listened to their arguing and coldly tightened his roots.

Zhao Wuji's carelessness had helped him once, but Zhu Zhuqing would not let this go so easily.

People like her did not like wasting words, nor did they like arguing.

She would only keep investigating.

Flender waved a hand. "Go eat first. The class at the spirit arena isn't canceled."

But Zhu Zhuqing said, "Dean, I'd like to spar with Tang San."

Tang San looked up. "Now?"

Zhu Zhuqing said, "Now."

Xiao Wu stepped forward at once. "I'll fight you in my brother's place."

Zhu Zhuqing did not even look at her. "The one I'm looking for is Tang San."

Xiao Wu's temper flared. "Why are you looking for him? His face is already like that. Can't you see?"

Zhu Zhuqing finally looked at Xiao Wu. "That's exactly why I want to see."

Tang San stopped Xiao Wu and said in a low voice, "Xiao Wu, I'll do it."

Xiao Wu said anxiously, "Brother!"

Tang San shook his head. "It's just a spar. Nothing will happen."

Ji Yuan did not stop it.

Refusing would only make Zhu Zhuqing more suspicious.

Fight.

Let her investigate.

Let her find nothing at all.

A space was quickly cleared in the middle of the field.

Flender did not call it off. He simply stood to the side and watched.

To him, suspicion between students was not frightening.

What was frightening was keeping that suspicion bottled up inside.

Zhao Wuji crossed his arms. "Stop when the point is made. Anyone who dares get vicious adds extra training tonight."

Zhu Zhuqing activated Martial Soul Possession. Cat ears emerged, and her figure became light and nimble.

Tang San raised his hand. Blue Silver Grass drilled out from his palm and spread around his feet.

Xiao Wu stood outside the field, biting her lip, her eyes fixed on Tang San's face the entire time.

Ning Rongrong said quietly, "In his current state, he can't beat Zhu Zhuqing."

Oscar whispered in response, "Should I give him a sausage?"

Ma Hongjun immediately shook his head. "Don't make things worse. If he eats your sausage right now, he might end up even weaker."

Oscar flew into a rage. "Fatty, say I'm weak one more time and I won't let you off."

In the field, Zhu Zhuqing moved first.

She did not take a straight line. Instead, she circled around Tang San's left side, striking several times only to stop short, yet the edges of her claws all pressed toward the area beneath Tang San's feet.

Tang San noticed it at once.

She was not trying to win.

She was looking at the soles of his shoes.

Blue Silver Grass rolled out along the ground, sealing off Zhu Zhuqing's landing points.

Zhu Zhuqing tapped the tip of her foot on a blade of grass, used the force to flip sideways, her claw shadow brushing past Tang San's shoulder while her other hand used the cover to press toward the ground.

A wisp of Nether Soul Power burrowed into the dirt.

Ji Yuan sensed it.

That Soul Power moved around the area beneath Tang San's soles, as if feeling through the mud for a living thing.

Ji Yuan immediately shrank his main body into a piece of dry, hard dead skin. All of his feeding pores closed, and the fiery red patterns and green veins sank deep into his fibers.

The Nether Soul Power swept over the soles of the shoes.

Mud, gravel, bits of grass, the smell of rubber.

No living thing.

Zhu Zhuqing's brow, however, did not ease.

She closed in again, Hell Hundred Claws lashing out, the shadows of her claws forcing Tang San to retreat again and again.

Several deep prints were stamped beneath Tang San's feet.

Using the claw shadows as cover, Zhu Zhuqing once again probed her Soul Power into the footprints.

Ji Yuan smoothly pushed a few snapped, ordinary grass roots in front of her Soul Power.

What Zhu Zhuqing touched was nothing but crushed grass roots.

Tang San's face went pale, sweat beading on his forehead.

This was not an act.

To make him look as if he fit a weakened state, Ji Yuan was drawing away the Mysterious Heaven Skill inner power he had just raised.

Xiao Wu could not stand it anymore. "That's enough, isn't it!"

Zhu Zhuqing did not stop.

Tang San did not concede either.

With a flip of his right hand, Blue Silver Grass coiled around Zhu Zhuqing's ankle from the side.

Zhu Zhuqing used the momentum to charge forward, her claw tips like short blades stopping before Tang San's throat.

Tang San's Blue Silver Grass had also wrapped around her wrist.

The two of them stopped at the same time.

Zhao Wuji clapped his hands. "All right, a draw."

Zhu Zhuqing withdrew her martial soul.

Tang San lowered his hand and coughed softly.

Xiao Wu immediately rushed over to support him. "Why are you trying so hard?"

Tang San shook his head. "I'm fine."

Zhu Zhuqing walked over to the piece of leftover skin, bent down, picked up a branch, and used it to lift the skin into a leaf, wrapping it up.

Dai Mubai looked at her. "You still want to investigate?"

Zhu Zhuqing said, "Tonight, I'll ask Tang San properly."

The moment Xiao Wu heard that, she blew up. "If you have something to say, say it now!"

Zhu Zhuqing tucked the leaf-wrapped bundle into her sleeve. "There are too many people now."

Tang San looked at her. "All right. Tonight."

Xiao Wu tugged at him anxiously. "Ge, why are you agreeing to her?"

Tang San said in a low voice, "She's just worried."

Zhu Zhuqing's footsteps paused for a moment, but she did not look back.

Hidden in the sole of the shoe, Ji Yuan slowly tightened his roots against Tang San's foot bones.

A showdown tonight.

She wanted to use that piece of leftover skin to force Tang San to admit there was something inside his body.

Then he would let her see a more reasonable answer.

Not parasitism.

Poison.