Ancestor

" Tang Chen..."

The name struck Tang San's spine like a bolt of lightning. His entire body stiffened, and the scales on his back trembled violently under the stimulation of the five-colored light, producing faint metallic scraping sounds.

The founding ancestor of the Clear Sky Sect. His great-grandfather, Tang Chen—the man known alongside Qian Daoliu, the Great Offering, as "the two insurmountable peaks of the Soul Master world." The Ultimate Douluo described in Spirit Hall records as having "fallen during the Soul Hunt operation."

He had come here too?

Chen Xuan stood at the center of the altar. All five Light-Shadow Stones had fallen into their grooves. Five-colored light raced wildly along the carved patterns, illuminating the entire altar until it seemed transparent. His expression was calm, as though he had known this name would appear.

"Thirty-seven thousand years ago, Tang Chen was the first to step onto the Light-Shadow Path." Chen Xuan spoke, his voice carrying a strange echo amid the resonance of the five-colored light. "He bore four Light-Shadow Stones and failed before the fifth."

Among the skeletons surrounding the altar was one clad in dark golden armor, far more intact than the others. It knelt in a direction more devout than any other corpse, both hands stretched forward as if embracing something—or rejecting something.

Tang San's gaze fell upon that armored skeleton, and his heart suddenly clenched.

"That was him?" Tang San's voice trembled.

"Yes." Chen Xuan nodded. "He died before the fifth stone. Not because his body perished, but because his consciousness was completely crushed, leaving behind only an empty shell. The Light-Shadow Path does not accept those with impure convictions, and Tang Chen..."

Chen Xuan paused and looked at Tang San. "Tang Chen had selfish desires in his convictions."

"What selfish desires?"

"He wanted to become a god, not to protect anything, but to prove that the Clear Sky Sect was the strongest in the world. He wanted to use the power of the Light-Shadow Path to surpass Qian Daoliu, the Great Offering of Spirit Hall, and crush every opponent." Chen Xuan's voice was indifferent. "His conviction was firm, but not pure. What the Light-Shadow Path demands is 'the path for the path's sake,' not 'the path for victory's sake.'"

Tang San fell silent.

He thought of himself. He trained desperately and protected those around him desperately—but what was it all for? To protect Xiao Wu, protect the Seven Monsters, protect the Tang Sect? Or to prove that he, a "transmigrator," could live better than anyone else in this world? Or to avoid disappointing Yu Xiaogang's expectations and his father's instructions?

How much of his conviction was pure, and how much was selfish desire?

"Now it's your turn." Chen Xuan turned around. The five Light-Shadow Stones had fully locked into their grooves, and the altar's glow had stabilized. He looked at Tang San with no encouragement in his eyes, only an almost cruel calmness. "Tang Chen failed. What makes you think you can succeed?"

Tang San did not answer. He stepped onto the altar, every footfall landing on stone slabs engraved with runes. A numb, tingling sensation rose from beneath his feet, as if currents of electricity were climbing up through his soles.

Xiao Wu tried to follow, but Chen Xuan raised a hand to stop her.

"She can't go up," Chen Xuan said. "Only one person can walk the path of the Light-Shadow Path's inheritance. Everyone else can only wait outside the altar."

"What about me?" Yu Xiaogang spoke, his voice hoarse. He stood at the altar's edge, still clutching his notebook, his gaze fixed tightly on the five-colored light at the altar's center.

"You can't either." Chen Xuan glanced at him. "Your trial is already over. Surviving the illusion of the Light-Shadow Beasts proves that you passed the first test. But the inheritance of the Light-Shadow Path itself only recognizes its bearer. You are not the chosen one."

Yu Xiaogang's fingers tightened, his knuckles turning white. He wanted to say something, but in the end, he merely nodded and stepped back to the edge of the altar. He had spent thirty years studying the Soul Master system, only to find that he did not even qualify to step onto another path. That gap was more despairing than Chen Xuan slapping him in the face.

Tang San walked to the altar's center and stood opposite Chen Xuan. The five fully embedded Light-Shadow Stones lay between them, their five-colored light flowing back and forth like an impassable barrier.

"What do I do next?" Tang San asked.

"Stand still." Chen Xuan took a step back and withdrew from the circular area at the altar's center. "The fifth stone will find you on its own. It's already glowing."

Tang San lowered his head and looked at his palm.

The fifth Light-Shadow Stone—the gray stone that had previously given off only a firefly-like glimmer—was slowly emerging in his palm. It was no longer dull and lightless. Instead, it gave off an extremely faint, almost invisible golden sheen. That glow was strange. It was not the shine of metal, but more like... divine radiance.

The stone rose.

It slowly lifted from Tang San's palm and hovered in midair, echoing the other four stones on the altar from afar. The five stones began to rotate in unison, faster and faster, their five-colored lights intertwining to form a massive, dazzling vortex above the altar.

Tang San felt his body becoming lighter.

Not physically lighter—his consciousness was lightening. He felt his soul being drawn bit by bit out of its shell, drifting upward along the vortex of light. He could see himself below the altar—the boy in the Shrek Academy uniform standing there with his eyes shut tight, his face pale, the scales on his back completely flared open and spreading over his shoulder blades.

He could also see Xiao Wu and Yu Xiaogang outside the altar. Xiao Wu had her head tilted up, her hands clasped together, her lips trembling as though she were praying. Yu Xiaogang was crouched on the ground, his face buried in his notebook, his shoulders shaking.

Then a voice came from within the vortex.

It was not Chen Xuan's voice, nor Tang Chen's. It was an incomparably ancient voice, as though it had crossed tens of thousands of years to reach him.

"Descendant of Tang Chen."

The voice resounded directly in Tang San's consciousness, devoid of emotion, as if reading out a verdict.

"His ambition flows through your bloodline. His desire is reflected in your eyes. You wish to protect, to prove, to surpass. You are exactly like him back then."

Tang San's consciousness trembled within the vortex. He wanted to argue, to say that he was different from his ancestor, to say that his convictions were pure. But the voice continued.

"But in your bloodline, there is also something he did not possess."

"What?" Tang San asked instinctively.

"Weakness."

The voice paused, as though savoring the word.

"Tang Chen never doubted himself. He believed that he was the strongest in the world. He believed that the Clear Sky Hammer could smash through every obstacle. He failed because he was too unyielding—so unyielding that he refused to bend, refused to compromise, refused to acknowledge his own limits."

"But you, Tang San, doubt."

"You doubt your teacher's theories, doubt your father's choices, doubt your own path. You even doubt whether you are worthy of the title 'descendant of Tang Chen.' To Tang Chen, such doubt was weakness. But to the Light-Shadow Path..."

For the first time, the voice carried a trace of something close to approval.

"It is honesty."

Tang San's consciousness jolted violently.

Honesty.

He truly was weak. He truly had doubts. On countless sleepless nights, he had asked himself, What am I doing? Is the road I'm walking really right? He had never believed as unwaveringly as Tang Chen that he was the chosen one.

Yet it was precisely this weakness and doubt that kept him from becoming an obsessed madman like Tang Chen.

"The fifth Light-Shadow Stone is called 'Honesty,'" the voice continued. "It does not require you to be powerful. It does not require you to be steadfast. It only requires you to face yourself honestly. Tang Chen could not do that, because he would not allow himself to be anything but strong. You can, because you have already acknowledged your weakness."

Tang San's consciousness slowly descended through the vortex and returned to his body.

He opened his eyes and saw the fifth Light-Shadow Stone slowly falling toward his palm. The golden gleam across its surface grew brighter and brighter. It stopped three inches above his palm, as though waiting for something.

"Accept it." Chen Xuan's voice came from beside him. "Hold it with your hand. Do not control it with soul power. Do not suppress it with your will. Use your hand and hold it honestly."

Tang San raised his hand.

His palm trembled. Not from fear, but excitement. He recalled that throughout his journey, he had never truly faced himself honestly. He told himself, I'm doing this to protect Xiao Wu, yet deep down, he craved power and longed to prove himself. He told himself, I trust Master's theories, yet every time he encountered something they could not explain, doubt arose within him.

He had been deceiving himself all along.

And now, this stone demanded that he stop.

Tang San closed his eyes, drew a deep breath, then reached out and grasped the fifth Light-Shadow Stone hanging in midair.

Bzzzz—

The instant the stone fell into his palm, the entire altar erupted with a deafening roar. Five-colored light shot into the heavens, turning the entire forest as bright as day. Tang San felt an unprecedented power surge through his palm and flood his body. It was not soul power, nor inner force, but something older and purer.

The power of the Light-Shadow Path.

The power of rules.

A tearing pain burst from his back. Under the wash of five-colored light, the dark blue scales peeled away one by one, falling to the ground like charred sheets of iron and ringing out with crisp impacts. Wherever a scale fell away, a new layer of skin grew in its place, glimmering with five-colored radiance.

The Blue Silver Grass was changing as well. It slowly emerged from Tang San's wrist, no longer bearing a dark purple metallic texture. Instead, it turned a strange color somewhere between blue and gold. The edges of its leaves were no longer sharp, but had become soft—yet that softness contained a terrifying resilience.

Tang San could feel the corrosive force from the world's will being completely purified.

Not suppressed—purified.

The fifth Light-Shadow Stone, "Honesty," had solved the most difficult problem in the simplest way. Because it demanded that Tang San honestly face himself, and when a person was honest enough before the rules, the rules would let him go.

The light gradually faded.

Tang San stood at the altar's center, five Light-Shadow Stones resting in his palm. They were no longer dull gray stones, but glimmered with flowing five-colored light like five miniature stars.

He raised his head and looked beyond the altar.

Xiao Wu was looking up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks, but she was smiling. Yu Xiaogang crouched on the ground, still clutching his notebook, staring blankly at Tang San in the center of the altar. His expression was impossibly complicated.

Chen Xuan stood at the altar's edge, looking at Tang San. The familiar curve of his lips appeared again—that infuriating smirk.

"Congratulations," he said. "You've become the second person to bear all five Light-Shadow Stones."

"The first was Tang Chen. He failed. You are the first to succeed."

Tang San lowered his head and looked at his palm. The five stones gave off faint warmth. He could feel that he had changed, yet he could not say exactly how. It was not that he had grown stronger, but that something deeper had been remolded.

"What happens next?" Tang San asked.

"What happens next?" Chen Xuan jumped down from the altar and dusted off his hands. "Next, you go back. Did you think inheriting this power would let you become a god immediately? The Light-Shadow Path is different from the Soul Master system. It needs time to settle. You need to return to your old life and slowly digest this power over the days ahead."

He turned and walked toward the edge of the forest.

"Besides, you still have a mess to clean up."

"What mess?"

"Your teacher." Chen Xuan did not look back. "Yu Xiaogang's theories have shattered, but he hasn't found a new path yet. Do you think he'll be willing to return to Shrek with you and keep living as a useless man?"

Tang San looked at Yu Xiaogang. The old man was still crouched there, clutching his notebook and staring blankly toward the altar. His back was hunched like a boiled shrimp, looking especially desolate in the morning light.

Tang San stepped down from the altar, walked to Yu Xiaogang, and crouched before him so that they were eye to eye.

"Teacher," he called softly.

Yu Xiaogang raised his head and looked at Tang San. His eyes were bloodshot, but no longer empty. He looked at the five Light-Shadow Stones in Tang San's palm, then at the notebook in his arms, where he had filled only half a page with new notes. His lips moved.

"I..." he began, his voice so hoarse it was nearly inaudible. "Can I still continue researching?"

Tang San was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"You can," he said. "But you'll have to do it in a new way."

Yu Xiaogang's eyes brightened for an instant, then dimmed again. He knew he had lost the right to call himself "Master." He was no longer that all-knowing authority, only a fifty-year-old man who had just died once inside an illusion.

"I want to follow you," Yu Xiaogang said. His voice was soft but firm. "Not as your teacher, but as your student. I want to see where this road you walk truly leads."

Tang San looked at him for a long time, then nodded.

"Alright."

The four of them regrouped and headed out of the forest.

This time, no one walked at the back. Yu Xiaogang walked second, tightly gripping his notebook, his steps much steadier than before. Tang San and Xiao Wu walked side by side, while the five Light-Shadow Stones slowly rotated in Tang San's palm, giving off faint five-colored light.

Chen Xuan walked at the front, still wearing that indifferent expression, but Tang San noticed that his back seemed somewhat more relaxed than before.

"Chen Xuan," Tang San called from behind.

"Hmm?"

"Why did you help me?"

Chen Xuan stopped and turned around to look at Tang San. Morning light shone from behind him, outlining his figure in gold.

"I wasn't helping you," he said. "I was helping myself."

"What do you mean?"

"The Light-Shadow Path needs an inheritor. Tang Chen failed. If I fail too, this path will end here." Chen Xuan's gaze was calm. "You are the most suitable person I found. Not because you have great talent, not because you have good luck, but because you are honest enough. Only an honest person can walk this path to the end."

He paused and looked at the five stones in Tang San's palm.

"Besides, I have my own wager."

"What wager?"

"I'm betting that when you completely master the Light-Shadow Path, your teacher's theories will become nothing but waste paper." Chen Xuan smiled. "And I like watching waste paper get torn apart."

Tang San fell silent.

The four continued onward.

Behind them, on the altar deep within Sunset Forest, the Light-Shadow Stones in the five grooves had vanished, leaving only five empty hollows like five opened eyes, silently watching their retreating backs.

And in a place far more distant, inside the Papal Hall of Spirit Hall, a woman dressed in a purple robe suddenly raised her head and looked toward Sunset Forest, her brows drawing together slightly.

"What is this?" Bibi Dong muttered. "That aura... is it the fluctuation of an ancient deity?"

She rose to her feet and walked to the window, gazing at the faint trace of five-colored light on the distant horizon.

"Tang San... what surprise have you brought me this time?"

End-of-chapter hook:

News of the four returning to Shrek Academy spread faster than they had expected. When they pushed open the academy gates, Flender stood in the courtyard with a grave expression. Behind him stood three people dressed in Spirit Hall attire, and the leader wore the badge of a chief inquisitor on his chest.

"Tang San." Flender's voice was heavy. "Spirit Hall's tribunal has come to arrest someone."