Meditation Seal Teaches You How to Behave!

The air on the mountain path was so thick it was hard to breathe.

Chen Xuan slipped the pebble back into his pocket, tucked both hands into his clothes pockets, and looked at the person across from him.

Tang San's thumb, hooked over the trigger mechanism, froze for a full three seconds.

During those three seconds, countless thoughts raced through Tang San's mind.

How much did Chen Xuan actually know?

Was that line—"Is this its evolutionary path?"—mocking Yu Xiaogang's theory, or hinting at the Clear Sky Hammer in his left hand?

He could not take that gamble.

Yu Xiaogang's theories were the truth and could not be casually trampled by some crude blacksmith. The secret of his twin martial souls was even more of a trump card. Once exposed, the consequences would be endless.

Tang San took a deep breath.

He slowly raised his right hand from his side and forcibly squeezed a faintly apologetic smile onto his face.

"Chen Xuan, you misunderstood." Tang San took half a step back, widening the distance between them. "I merely wanted to test your reaction speed. Since you do not wish to spar, then forget it."

He changed faces quickly enough.

Chen Xuan looked at Tang San's face, so full of apparent sincerity, and curled his lips.

"Is that so?" Chen Xuan turned around, putting his back to Tang San as he prepared to continue forward. "I thought you were about to silence me."

The instant Chen Xuan turned around.

The fallen leaves beneath Tang San's feet silently shattered.

Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track activated instantly.

Tang San's body slid half a meter to the left at an incredibly strange angle. Borrowing the force of his twisting waist, he violently flicked his right hand forward.

There was no whistling through the air.

No fluctuation of soul power.

Not even the click of a trigger mechanism.

A slender Bone-Piercing Nail shot from Tang San's sleeve.

The needle tip glimmered with a ghostly blue sheen.

Mandala Snake venom!

This was the deadly poison Tang San had just collected yesterday in the Spirit-Hunting Forest. As long as it broke even a little skin, the toxin would instantly numb the central nervous system through the bloodstream.

It was aimed directly at the major artery in the back of Chen Xuan's neck.

A killing move.

A pure killing move.

Tang San had calculated Chen Xuan's blind spot when turning around. He had also calculated that after dodging the iron caltrops earlier, Chen Xuan would relax his guard.

This strike would cripple Chen Xuan completely.

The Bone-Piercing Nail streaked through the air at the utmost speed.

But Chen Xuan did not turn around at all.

With the system's enhancement, Chen Xuan's perception had long surpassed that of ordinary soul masters. When that faint sense of danger came from the back of his neck, his expression darkened completely.

A poisoned hidden weapon?

A sneak attack from behind?

Trying to play dirty with me?

Chen Xuan had no intention of turning around to dodge.

He stopped directly, pulled both hands from his pockets, and sharply brought them together in front of his chest.

His fingers interlocked.

His thumbs pressed together.

One-third of the level-nine soul power in his body was drained in an instant.

Meditation Seal.

Chen Xuan silently recited those three words in his heart.

Buzz.

An incredibly strange, high-frequency ripple exploded outward with Chen Xuan at its center.

There were no dazzling lights or visual effects.

At that instant, the entire world lost all color.

The withered yellow leaves, the reddish-brown soil, the deep blue sky—all of it vanished.

Everything within sight became nothing but pure black and white.

Time stopped.

A leaf falling through the air froze dead still half a foot above the ground.

The sound of wind sweeping through the canopy came to an abrupt halt.

Chen Xuan turned around.

The Bone-Piercing Nail coated in Mandala Snake venom hovered less than three inches from the tip of his nose.

The ghostly blue sheen on its needle tip looked especially jarring in the black-and-white world.

Chen Xuan could even see the tiny ripples formed in the venom by air resistance.

He stepped forward.

He stretched out his right hand.

His index and middle fingers steadily pinched the tail of the Bone-Piercing Nail and plucked it from midair.

Holding the poisoned needle, Chen Xuan walked over to Tang San.

Tang San remained in the posture of having thrown the hidden weapon.

His body leaned forward, his right arm stretched straight out. The false apology on his face had long vanished, replaced by an exceptionally cruel viciousness.

Such an expression on the face of a six-year-old child was jarring to the extreme.

Chen Xuan looked at Tang San's face and shook his head.

"Your teacher taught you martial soul theory, but he never taught you how to behave."

Chen Xuan flicked his wrist.

The Bone-Piercing Nail spun once between his fingers.

Its needle tip turned around, pointing directly at Tang San.

Chen Xuan extended his hand and lightly pressed the ghostly blue needle tip against the skin on the side of Tang San's neck.

It was only one millimeter from the major artery.

The 0.5 seconds were up.

The black and white instantly collapsed.

Color flooded back into view.

The dead leaf landed on the ground with an extremely faint rustle.

The wind once again swept through the treetops.

Tang San's vision blurred.

A moment ago, he had clearly seen the Bone-Piercing Nail closing in on the back of Chen Xuan's neck. He had even rehearsed in his mind how he would interrogate Chen Xuan after the poison dropped him to the ground.

The next moment.

Chen Xuan was gone.

The person who had just been facing away from him had vanished from sight as if into thin air.

Then an extremely faint prick of pain came from the side of his neck.

A lethal warning shot up his spine straight to the top of his head.

Every hair on Tang San's body stood on end.

He sharply turned his head.

Chen Xuan stood less than half a step away at his side.

He held the Bone-Piercing Nail that should have already been fired.

Its needle tip was pressed against the major artery in Tang San's neck.

Tang San's breathing stopped instantly.

His heart pounded madly in his chest, battering against his ribs with deafening force.

Cold sweat rolled down his forehead in huge drops, splashing onto the dirt.

What was going on?

What had just happened?

Tang San could not understand the situation before him at all.

There had been no soul skill effects, no evasive movement, not even an afterimage.

Chen Xuan had simply teleported to his side without warning and even taken hold of the hidden weapon he had fired?

This had already surpassed the scope of the Tang Sect's secret arts.

"Mandala Snake venom." Chen Xuan held the Bone-Piercing Nail, his wrist perfectly steady. "Break a little skin, and a person is crippled. Right?"

Tang San froze in place, not daring to move.

As long as Chen Xuan pushed his fingers forward by half an inch, the venom would enter his bloodstream directly.

"Chen Xuan..." Tang San's voice was terribly dry, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Who exactly are you?"

"Who I am is not important." Chen Xuan looked into Tang San's eyes, his tone calm. "What matters is that you just tried to kill me."

"I did not." Tang San instinctively retorted. "I only wanted to subdue you. You are prejudiced against Teacher's theory, so I had to find out what you were really capable of."

Chen Xuan laughed.

"Subdue me?" Chen Xuan lightly dragged the Bone-Piercing Nail across Tang San's neck, leaving behind a faint white mark. "Sneaking up from behind with a hidden weapon coated in deadly poison is called subduing me?"

Tang San gritted his teeth and said nothing.

"Tang San, your logic is really interesting." Chen Xuan's smile disappeared, and his voice lowered.

"As long as it is something you do not agree with, as long as it threatens your secret, you can use lethal force."

"And then you can find yourself some high-sounding excuse—for your teacher's theory, for justice?"

Chen Xuan's wrist shifted slightly.

The needle tip of the Bone-Piercing Nail edged closer again.

"Your teacher told you there are no useless martial souls. Why did he not tell you not to be such a hypocrite?"

Tang San stared at Chen Xuan, both hands clenched tightly into fists at his sides.

The Mysterious Heaven Technique circulated wildly through his meridians.

He was searching for an opportunity to counterattack.

As long as he could pull half a body length away, every hidden weapon in his belt could be unleashed.

Chen Xuan saw through Tang San's movements.

"Do not waste your strength." Chen Xuan held the Bone-Piercing Nail. "Those hidden weapons you are so proud of, those techniques of yours—they are too slow in front of me."

So slow they were like they had stopped moving.

Tang San's pupils contracted violently.

He suddenly remembered the terrifying feeling in Dorm Seven last night, when even his thoughts had seemed frozen.

Could it be...

That suppression last night had not come from a passing Titled Douluo, but from Chen Xuan standing before him?

The instant that thought surfaced, Tang San felt cold all over.

If it really had been Chen Xuan.

Then what kind of monster was he facing?

Everything Yu Xiaogang had taught him about martial souls, soul rings, and soul power was utterly worthless in the face of Chen Xuan's completely inexplicable power.

Just as the two remained locked in a stalemate.

A rustling sound came from the woods beside them.

Old Jack emerged from the bushes, leaning on his cane.

As he straightened his clothes, the old man let out a long breath.

"Oh, that feels much better." Old Jack raised his head and looked at the two standing in the middle of the road.

From Old Jack's angle, Chen Xuan and Tang San were standing extremely close, practically pressed together.

"Why are you two standing so close?" Old Jack walked over with a chuckle. "What game are you playing?"

Chen Xuan flicked his wrist.

The poisoned Bone-Piercing Nail instantly disappeared into his palm, stored away in the system's storage space.

He took a step back, widening the distance between himself and Tang San.

"We were not playing anything." Chen Xuan turned to Old Jack, a brilliant smile appearing on his face.

"Classmate Tang San was just teaching me how to 'hurt people with hidden arrows.'"

Old Jack did not understand.

"Hurt people with hidden arrows? What kind of game is that?" Old Jack waved a hand. "All right, all right, stop playing. Hurry up and get moving. We still have to return to the village before dark."

Leaning on his cane, the old man continued leading the way ahead.

Chen Xuan turned his head and looked at Tang San, who was still frozen in place.

Tang San's face was deathly pale. The faint white mark on the side of his neck was especially glaring under the sunlight.

"Come on, classmate Tang San." Chen Xuan tucked both hands back into his pockets and leisurely walked forward.

As he passed Tang San, Chen Xuan lowered his voice and left him with one sentence.

"You had better pray that your teacher's bullshit theories can really protect you for the rest of your life."

"Otherwise, next time, this needle will go into your major artery."