The setting sun melted into gold, weighing heavily on the horizon. It burned the clouds crimson, like splashed, thick blood—or like the lingering, leaden disappointment in Tang Wulin's heart.
The wind swept up old, withered leaves from a corner of the abandoned park. They spun past his feet with a dry, rasping rustle.
Dust and the scent of dying plants hung in the air, a desolation that cut to the bone.
There was no clamor of Soul Tool screens here, no curious or pitying stares from his peers. Only endless desolation and silence, enough to contain the shame and confusion churning inside him.
Blue Silver Grass...
Those three words were like icy vines, wrapped tight around his heart. Each beat brought a sharp stab of pain.
The glimmers that had flared up and quickly died during the awakening ceremony, the suppressed, complicated snickers around him, and the disappointment his parents had tried to hide but failed to conceal...
Every image sliced through his nerves again and again.
He kicked a loose stone at his feet. It rolled into the dry pool and rang out hollowly.
Why him?
Why did he have to awaken a useless Blue Silver Grass?
He had let down his parents' expectations, and betrayed the secret longing in his own heart.
A crushing sense of helplessness dragged at him, almost making it impossible to breathe.
Just then, something changed!
The air a few meters in front of him warped without warning. Light folded and stretched strangely, like ripples spreading across water after a stone was thrown in, yet accompanied by a shrill hum like tearing metal.
A rift in space flashed into being and vanished so quickly he could almost have mistaken it for an illusion.
But an indescribably heavy pressure, carrying the ancient might of a Ferocious Beast from the dawn of time, crashed down like a massive stone made real!
Tang Wulin's pupils contracted. Every hair on his body stood on end as an immense terror, rooted in the instinct to survive, seized him!
He didn't even have time to react...
His body stiffened. His thoughts froze.
A pinpoint of concentrated black-and-white light shot out from the center of the spatial ripples!
It wasn't pure light. It looked more like a strange Talisman, forcibly compressed and carrying endless fragments of space and time.
Its archaic patterns twisted and coiled, forming a twin-tiger crest, their heads and tails joined, yin and yang embracing. It radiated a cold, ancient, razor-sharp will that seemed intent on splitting everything apart!
The Tiger Talisman ignored the laws of physics and his feeble Soul Power barrier. Like a red-hot brand piercing thin paper, it plunged straight into the space between his brows with a soft pfft!
"Ugh—!"
Unimaginable agony exploded deep inside his skull!
It was as if two invisible giant claws, bearing the most primal law of tearing, had reached into his Spiritual Origin, seized the tiny spark at its core, then violently and inexorably wrenched it in two opposite directions—
The agony of having his soul torn apart was millions of times worse than being flayed alive!
His consciousness split in an instant. Pure black and white brutally divided his vision, then swallowed it whole.
He felt like a balloon inflated to its limit before suddenly bursting, its fragments scattering toward opposite poles.
The pain came fiercely, then vanished just as abruptly.
When the thought-erasing agony ebbed like a tide, Tang Wulin's consciousness sank into a chaotic Sea of Consciousness.
It was no longer a single, whole consciousness. It had been divided into two distinct sides.
Bai Lin stood on one side, feeling "light" in a way he never had before.
All the gloom, resentment, unwillingness, and malice...
Those heavy, gray emotions seemed to have been stripped away, leaving only pure confusion, helplessness, and a fragility so transparent it was almost visible.
The dull ache from the awakening ceremony still lingered in his chest, along with his deep guilt toward his parents.
Across from him, just a few steps away, stood another "him."
He was a boy named Hei Lin, with a form identical to Bai Lin's, yet he looked as if he had been fished out of the thickest ink. A lingering, icy aura curled around him.
His gaze was as sharp as a blade tempered in ice. His lips held an undisguised sneer and indifference, as if everything in the world were mere dust for him to trample beneath his feet.
He rolled his wrists slightly, as though curious about this "new" body. Then his gaze fell upon Bai Lin.
The two fragments of his soul stared at each other. A deep familiarity, rooted in their shared origin, instantly overwhelmed their initial shock.
No words were needed. Their fractured memories and the imprint of a shared life let them understand what had happened in an instant...
They were two halves of one being, split apart by that mysterious Tiger Talisman.
"I..."
Bai Lin spoke without thinking. His voice was choked and trembling, strange even to himself.
He looked at the version of himself across from him, seething with malice. Overwhelming hurt and guilt surged like a flood breaking through the last fragile dam he had tried to hold.
Tears welled up without warning, quickly blurring his vision. "Am I..."
"Am I really that useless?"
"Is that why I awakened..."
"Blue Silver Grass..."
Like a lost child, he sobbed and wrapped his thin arms helplessly around his shoulders. Tears rolled down in great drops. "Mom and Dad..."
"They must be so disappointed in me..."
"I've made them..."
"Lose face..."
"Lose face?" Hei Lin gave a derisive laugh. His voice was cold and cutting, like metal scraping glass; every syllable dripped with disdain.
"Only useless people care what others think!"
He folded his arms and lifted his chin, his gaze passing over Bai Lin as if it pierced the walls of the Sea of Consciousness and fixed on the mocking world outside.
"So what if it's Blue Silver Grass?"
"So what if my Innate Soul Power is meager?"
He strode forward, his invisible presence abruptly swelling with an almost tangible ferocity.
"Open your eyes and look!"
"This is the age of Soul Tools!"
"Soul Masters?"
"Hmph. Just an outdated road, doomed to be eliminated!"
A chilling glint flashed in his eyes, and his lips curved into a malicious smile. "Just wait. Once I've mastered the strongest Soul Tools, those who dared to mock us and look down on us today..."
"I'll make sure they die without a burial place!"
"I'll make them pay with their lives for every worthless word they uttered today!"
The brazen threat, drenched in the stench of blood, stabbed into Bai Lin's chest like an icicle.
He shuddered violently and stumbled back a step, shaking his head again and again. His voice was faint as a mosquito's, full of anxious protest.
"No..."
"We can't do that..."
"We can't be bad children..."
"Mom and Dad..."
"Wouldn't like us if we became like that..."
"Like us?" Hei Lin seemed to have heard the most absurd joke in the world. He let out a short, piercing laugh.
"What is that, some cheap trinket?"
"Can you eat it?"
"Can it stop a blade?"
"Or let you crush to dust the bastards who stepped on you?"
He looked the trembling Bai Lin up and down with contempt, as if he were nothing but an eyesore.
"Ha! Naive! Childish!"
"Only little kids go around saying they want to be 'liked'!"
"Listen—"
Before you continue