Rending

The Clear Sky Hammer's hum was like a heavy blow, striking Tang San directly in the heart.

That power was far too familiar, yet far too strange. Familiar because it had always belonged to him, something in his bloodline, the only inheritance Tang Hao had left him. Strange because ever since coming to Shrek, he had nearly forgotten it existed. Yu Xiaogang had told him to seal the Clear Sky Hammer and focus on developing his Blue Silver Grass, telling him, "The optimal solution for twin martial souls is alternating development, not simultaneous advancement."

He had believed him.

He obediently locked the Clear Sky Hammer deep within his dantian and had not touched it for three years.

But now, the hammer that had lain dormant for three years woke up on its own.

Not because he had summoned it, but because of rage. It sensed the Blue Silver Grass being eroded and replaced. It sensed that "impostor" from the will of the world defiling the Tang Clan's bloodline. As the greatest tool martial soul under heaven, it would not permit such a thing to exist within its host.

Boom—

An indescribable wave of soul power, carrying the pure aesthetics of violence, erupted from Tang San's body.

Every shard of stone, speck of dust, and fallen leaf on the training ground was blasted away in that instant. Flender and Yu Xiaogang both staggered back three steps, nearly dropping the smoking pipe and notebook in their hands. Xiao Wu was directly overturned by the shockwave, her back slamming into the brick wall hard enough to make her curl into a ball from the pain.

Chen Xuan did not retreat.

He stood where he was, his right hand pressed against Tang San's shoulder, Five Elements Flow fully activated. Earth-element gravity firmly pinned Tang San's lower body down, wind-element softness buffered the erupting shockwave, and wood-element vitality continuously flowed into Tang San's nearly depleted meridians.

Yet even so, Chen Xuan could feel his suppressive force being torn apart by two powers at once.

One was the strand of deep-purple Fake Blue Silver Grass around Tang San's wrist. Like a venomous snake, it clamped down on Tang San's meridians and refused to let go. The edges of its metallic leaves gleamed coldly, carrying the arrogance of higher laws.

The other was the Clear Sky Hammer awakening deep within his dantian. Like a ferocious tiger imprisoned for far too long, it roared to burst free and tear every invader to pieces. That power was tyrannical, brutal, unreasonable, carrying the Tang Clan's trademark resolve to shatter jade rather than remain whole as tile.

The two forces collided inside Tang San's body.

Pfft—

Tang San spat out a mouthful of black blood. Tiny dark-blue scale fragments were mixed within it. His body was like prey being fought over by two monstrous beasts, torn apart from the inside.

"Stop..."

Tang San's voice was so weak it was nearly inaudible. He knelt on the ground with his head hanging low, his fringe stuck to his forehead with cold sweat and blood. His entire body shook like a leaf in the autumn wind. Yet he was still struggling, still trying to suppress the two powers with his will.

Not to protect himself.

But to protect Yu Xiaogang's theory.

If the Clear Sky Hammer awakened now, if it could suppress the mutated Blue Silver Grass, then it would prove—Master was right. The pairing of twin martial souls truly was the optimal solution. The Blue Silver Grass crisis could be resolved with the Clear Sky Hammer. There was no need to rely on Chen Xuan, no need to acknowledge that so-called "evil art."

He was still struggling.

Even though his body was about to be torn apart, he was still trying to defend that crumbling belief.

Chen Xuan looked at him, his gaze incomparably complicated.

He had seen many people give up in desperate situations. He had seen many kneel and beg for their lives. But he had never seen someone who, while nearly being torn apart by his own martial souls, was still thinking, I can't overturn my teacher's theory.

What kind of obsession was that?

It was an illness. An illness of being brainwashed and conditioned for more than ten years, one that had seeped into his bones.

"Tang San." Chen Xuan crouched down and met his eyes, lowering his voice so only the two of them could hear. "Are you still thinking about how to prove your teacher was right?"

Tang San's eyelashes trembled, but he did not raise his head.

"Do you know what is happening inside your body right now?" Chen Xuan continued. "Your Blue Silver Grass is betraying you. Your Clear Sky Hammer is going berserk. They aren't helping you—they're fighting over your body. You're trapped in the middle, being torn apart like a piece of meat. And all you can think is, 'Master was right'?"

"Shut up..." Tang San squeezed the words through clenched teeth, his breath reeking of blood.

"I won't." Chen Xuan's tone turned cold. "Because in another minute, you won't have the chance to hear me speak. You know exactly how tyrannical the Clear Sky Hammer is. Once it fully awakens, the first thing it will crush is that strand of grass around your wrist. If those two forces clash head-on, your meridians will explode. Then you won't die from the mutation. You'll die from your own two martial souls tearing each other apart."

"And your teacher's theory of 'alternating development' cannot solve this problem at all. Because from the very beginning, he never considered what would happen if both of your martial souls lost control at the same time."

Tang San's body jerked violently.

That sentence was like a blade, stabbing precisely into his most vulnerable place.

Yu Xiaogang's theory indeed had no provision for "both martial souls losing control simultaneously." Because what he had taught Tang San was, "Develop the Blue Silver Grass first, seal the Clear Sky Hammer and leave it unused." If it was sealed, it would not lose control. If it would not lose control, there was no need for a contingency plan.

But now, the seal had broken on its own.

"Teacher..." Tang San instinctively turned his head toward Yu Xiaogang, who stood not far away.

The old man remained standing there, his back hunched as he gripped that worn-out notebook. He had heard Chen Xuan's words, and he had seen Tang San's pleading gaze. He wanted to step forward, wanted to say something, but his feet felt as though they had been filled with lead.

Because Chen Xuan was right.

His theory had no answer for this. He did not know what to do. He had taught Tang San for three years and devoted all his energy to developing the Blue Silver Grass. He had not even considered a plan for unsealing the Clear Sky Hammer. Now he was expected to improvise on the spot? He could not do it.

"Master?" Flender nudged him and urged in a low voice, "Little San's about to die. Think of something!"

Yu Xiaogang opened his mouth. A few broken syllables escaped his throat, but in the end, he said nothing. He could only watch helplessly as his prized disciple knelt on the ground, his body ripped apart by two forces, while he... could do nothing.

At that moment, the dignity of "Master" that he had maintained for thirty years shattered completely.

Tang San looked at his teacher's face. The face that had once seemed unfathomable and omnipotent was now filled with confusion and helplessness. It felt as if someone had fiercely clenched his heart in their hand, squeezing until he could barely breathe.

He finally understood.

It was not that Chen Xuan was too strong. It was that his teacher truly had limitations.

"I..." Tang San's lips trembled. His gaze moved away from Yu Xiaogang's face and returned to Chen Xuan. In those eyes, usually full of indifference and mockery, there was now only a calmness bordering on cruelty.

"Help me." Those two words were even harder to say than last time, yet even softer, as light as a feather falling onto water.

But Chen Xuan heard them.

He stood up, no longer crouching to meet Tang San's eyes. From above, Tang San had no choice but to raise his head to see his face.

"Say it clearly." Chen Xuan's voice carried no emotion. "I can help you. But you have to say something yourself."

Tang San's throat bobbed.

"Say... what?"

"Say, 'My teacher's theory cannot explain my current situation.'" Chen Xuan enunciated every word as if reading out a verdict. "Say, 'I need your method.' Say, 'I admit that what I worshipped as truth does not hold true for you.'"

Each sentence was like a needle piercing Tang San's weakness.

The training ground was terrifyingly silent. Flender, Yu Xiaogang, Xiao Wu—everyone held their breath, watching Tang San kneeling on the ground, watching his pale face, trembling lips, and eyes gradually losing focus.

"I..."

Tang San opened his mouth.

The Fake Blue Silver Grass around his wrist suddenly erupted. Its metallic leaves bit fiercely into his flesh, while dark-blue scales spread madly from his back, already reaching his neck. The Clear Sky Hammer in his dantian let out an even angrier hum. A black hammer phantom flickered behind him, carrying a pressure powerful enough to destroy heaven and earth.

The agony of the two forces clashing swept through his entire body. His consciousness began to scatter, and black mist crept across the edges of his vision.

"My teacher's theory..."

He spoke. His voice was hoarse and broken, as though forced out from the depths of his throat.

"Cannot explain... my current situation."

After saying the first sentence, he paused for a long time. So long that Chen Xuan thought he could not hold on any longer. But Tang San gritted his teeth and forced out the rest.

"I need... your method."

"I admit..."

He raised his head and looked toward Yu Xiaogang. The old man stood there like a statue on the verge of collapse. Tang San's eyes reddened, but he did not cry. He simply looked, then turned back and met Chen Xuan's gaze directly.

"I admit that what I worshipped as truth... does not hold true for you."

The moment the final word fell, Tang San's body went limp and pitched forward.

Chen Xuan reached out and caught him.

At that instant, the Fake Blue Silver Grass around Tang San's wrist suddenly let out an incredibly piercing hiss with a metallic edge. It writhed violently, as if protesting the words Tang San had just spoken. The arrogance originating from the will of the world suffered some sort of impact at the level of law the moment it heard the words "I admit."

Because it realized that its host had betrayed it.

"Too late." Chen Xuan looked at the wildly struggling blade of grass, his gaze turning cold. "You thought you had successfully parasitized him, but he doesn't acknowledge you at all. Being abandoned doesn't feel good, does it?"

He raised his right hand. Five gray Light-Shadow Stones appeared in his palm. This time, they were no longer dull, lightless stones. A faint five-colored glow flowed over them. Earth, wind, wood, water, fire—five energies circulated endlessly among the five stones, forming a perfect closed loop.

Chen Xuan pressed his palm against the center of Tang San's back.

Five Elements Flow activated at full power.

Earth gave rise to metal, metal gave rise to water, water gave rise to wood, wood gave rise to fire, fire gave rise to earth. Using Tang San's body as a vessel, the five energies formed a rapidly rotating vortex of energy. That vortex produced no destructive force. It produced only one thing—order.

What Fake Blue Silver Grass feared most was not power, but order. Because it was a product of chaos, a bug created by worldline correction. When an absolutely ordered force intervened by force, it had nowhere to run.

Screech—

The grass let out a shrill, inanimate scraping sound. It desperately tried to sink its roots deeper, but the orderly power of Five Elements Flow was like a comb, forcibly "combing" it out of Tang San's meridians.

Its deep-purple metallic sheen rapidly dimmed. The sharpness along its leaves vanished, and that arrogant aura from the higher laws was utterly crushed. It returned to being ordinary, soft Blue Silver Grass. Though its color remained somewhat dark, it no longer carried its earlier aggression.

At the same time, the humming of the Clear Sky Hammer deep in his dantian gradually settled. It sensed the intervention of external order and felt that "impostor" being expelled, so it returned to silence. But it did not seal itself again—it remembered what had happened today, remembered the Blue Silver Grass's betrayal, and remembered its host's weakness.

Before Tang San's consciousness sank fully into darkness, the last thing he saw was Chen Xuan's face looking down at him, and those eyes devoid of any warmth.

Then he passed out.

Chen Xuan withdrew his hand, and the faint glow of Five Elements Flow slowly faded from his palm.

He looked down at Tang San unconscious in his arms and remained silent for a long time.

"You won," he said softly, though he did not know who he was speaking to. "You protected your pride. Even when you were about to die, you still had to protect your teacher's reputation first. I respect you as a man."

"But you lost even more thoroughly."

"Because you finally admitted that what you had always believed in was wrong."

He turned his head toward Yu Xiaogang, who stood not far away. The old man was still standing there, clutching the notebook in his hand, his face expressionless. But Chen Xuan knew that was not calmness. It was emptiness.

"Master." Chen Xuan spoke, his voice especially clear across the silent training ground. "Your theory officially lost a student today."

Yu Xiaogang's body swayed.

He did not refute it, did not defend himself, and did not even get angry. He merely stood there like an abandoned statue, watching the masterpiece he had spent three years carving crumble into dust before his eyes.

Flender sighed and walked over to support him. "Xiaogang, let's go back first. Leave Little San to Chen Xuan. I think... he should be able to handle it."

Yu Xiaogang did not move.

He looked once more at Tang San, then at the strand of Blue Silver Grass that had become soft again. Then, slowly, step by step, he turned and headed toward the dormitories.

His back was hunched, his steps unsteady.

Xiao Wu climbed up from the corner by the wall and staggered over to Tang San. She looked at Chen Xuan, her gaze complicated beyond measure. There was gratitude, fear, and a trace of... dependence that even she herself was unwilling to admit.

"Will he be okay?" she asked quietly.

"For now." Chen Xuan handed Tang San over to her. "The Purifying Erosion Dew will last another twelve hours. After twelve hours, that thing will come back. And next time, it will be even worse."

Xiao Wu's face went pale. "Then what do we do?"

"Wait for him to wake up." Chen Xuan turned and walked toward the recliner beneath the old elm tree. "He'll come looking for me. This time, I'm not forcing him. He chose it himself."

He lay down and closed his eyes.

The night wind passed over the training ground, carrying the chill of early autumn.

In the darkness where no one could see, the fifth Light-Shadow Stone in Chen Xuan's palm flickered faintly.

It was dim, weak, like the light of a firefly.

But it was glowing.