Quiet Cultivation of the Hidden Dragon, Sharpening the Blade in the Dark Night

The dormitory building gradually fell silent. Night draped the entire Shrek Academy Outer Academy like a soft veil.

Gu Yue returned to her room and gently leaned against the door only after closing it.

Her fingertips seemed to retain the warmth of his palm, while the corner of her lips still held the faint sensation of that fleeting touch.

She lowered her gaze. Ripples stirred in her silver-gray eyes, only to be swiftly covered by a layer of coldness.

She was unaccustomed to such restless emotions, and even less accustomed to having her heart so easily disturbed.

Yet she had to admit that, in that moment, she had felt no disgust at all—only an unfamiliar panic and fluttering excitement.

Gu Yue slowly closed her eyes and stopped thinking about it.

She was the Silver Dragon King. She had her mission and her people. She should not be bound by such romantic entanglements.

Yet deep in her heart, the image of that young man refused to fade.

At the same time, in the neighboring room.

Tang Wulin sat cross-legged in meditation, yet he was unable to enter a cultivation state for a long while.

It was not because of that kiss just now, but because of fear.

The more tangible the joy brought by rebirth was, the more piercing his fear of the future became.

He closed his eyes, and scenes from his previous life flooded uncontrollably into his mind.

The darkness of the Holy Spirit Cult had shrouded the continent. Evil soul masters ran rampant, and countless innocents had died miserably.

Shrek Academy had been attacked. Explosions had shattered the sky, leaving the once-indestructible academy in ruins.

Family, friends, companions... one after another, they had fallen before his eyes.

And in the end, Gu Yue and he could only walk down the path of dying for love together.

Those scenes were too real, too tragic, making his heart clench again and again.

"Holy Spirit Cult..."

Tang Wulin murmured the three words, his fingers abruptly curling into fists.

More than anyone else, he knew just how great a disaster that evil organization lurking in the shadows would bring.

Not only would they seek to overturn the human world, they would also drag every person he cherished into hell, one by one.

Di Tian's threat was only the beginning.

The true nightmare was the Holy Spirit Cult.

He drew a deep breath. There was no longer any trace of youthful immaturity in his golden eyes, only the composure and resolve forged through life and death.

He could not wait any longer.

He could not allow everything to unfold according to the trajectory of his previous life.

If he wanted to protect Gu Yue, protect Na'er, protect Shrek Academy, protect his parents, protect everyone he did not want to lose...

Then he had to possess sufficient strength.

Strength enough to crush every conspiracy, strength enough to confront the entire Holy Spirit Cult, strength enough to rewrite everyone's fate.

Tang Wulin no longer hesitated and immediately circulated his soul power.

The experience from his previous life surfaced clearly in his mind like the most precious treasure.

He knew how to condense soul power most efficiently, how to guide the Golden Dragon King's power most safely, and how to avoid every detour and hidden danger in cultivation.

Golden bloodline energy slowly rose from within him, but it was no longer as restless, violent, and difficult to control as before.

After being reborn, his state of mind far surpassed those of his peers, and his control over power had reached unprecedented heights.

The Golden Dragon King's terrifying power was firmly restrained within his meridians, obediently following a specific path as it circulated, tempered, and settled.

His soul power rose at a terrifying speed.

With every breath, he grew stronger.

With every heartbeat, it condensed further.

His formerly restrained aura became increasingly profound, like a giant dragon hidden beneath an abyss—silent when still, but destined to shake the heavens once it moved.

Moonlight spilled in through the window, illuminating the young man's resolute profile.

He was not merely cultivating. He was atoning, preparing for battle, and defying fate to change his destiny.

"This life..."

Tang Wulin silently murmured in his heart, his voice low and firm.

"I will never let the tragedy repeat itself."

"Whether it is the Holy Spirit Cult or fate itself, no one will take a single person from my side."

His aura suddenly condensed.

The barrier to the next level of soul power quietly loosened.

He was one step closer to a breakthrough.

Gu Yue, in the neighboring room, suddenly opened her eyes.

Her brows furrowed slightly, and a trace of surprise flashed through her silver-gray eyes.

The steady yet rapidly rising aura from next door clearly entered her senses.

That was not the cultivation fluctuation of an ordinary youth, but a terrifying foundation as deep as the sea and as blazing as the sun.

"He..."

Gu Yue softly murmured to herself, a faint, nearly imperceptible surprise in her cool voice.

"His rate of improvement is actually this fast."

She could clearly feel it. The young man who had smiled gently before her during the day was now growing stronger at an unreasonable pace.

It was as though something heavy was driving him to climb upward at all costs.

Gu Yue fell silent for a moment, then closed her eyes again.

But this time, her heart could no longer become completely calm.

She did not know what he carried, nor did she know what he had experienced.

Yet she vaguely understood.

This young man named Tang Wulin was far from as simple as he appeared.

The night deepened, and an extremely faint pale glow appeared on the horizon.

Tang Wulin slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath of impure air.

That breath was not murky. Instead, it carried a faint golden glow, curling lightly through the air before vanishing without a trace. Its purity was startling. After a night of quiet cultivation, not only did he feel no fatigue whatsoever, he was full of vigor. His blood and vitality had reached their peak, and his entire body seemed to have been reforged. Even beneath his skin shimmered a faint layer of golden light.

He slowly raised his hand and gently clenched it.

Strength.

An unprecedented sense of solidity surged through his limbs and into his heart.

In his previous life, even though he possessed the Golden Dragon King's origin, he had often felt that his power was unstable and difficult to control. A single lapse could cause him to suffer backlash from its violent force. But after this precise guidance following his rebirth, his control over the Golden Dragon King's power had reached the point where it moved as naturally as his own limbs.

Though his soul power had not truly broken through, its density, purity, and foundation surpassed those of soul masters at the same level by several grades.

His bloodline strength had surged, his muscle density had greatly increased, and his body's endurance, explosive power, and recovery ability were all quietly rising.

Even without using soul power, he could now easily crush several elite students of the same year with physical strength alone.

This was the advantage of a reborn person.

A path that others needed years of stumbling exploration to traverse, he could walk steadily in a single night.

Tang Wulin rose to his feet and stretched his limbs. A series of faint crackles came from his bones. Every inch of muscle and every meridian brimmed with explosive power, yet none of it leaked outward. He still looked like that gentle, clean young man, but only he knew that he had already been completely transformed within.

"Still not enough."

He murmured softly, his gaze calm yet resolute.

This improvement was more than enough to deal with ordinary students, but before the Holy Spirit Cult's evil soul masters, the Spirit Pagoda's Titled Douluo, and beings on the level of the Beast God Di Tian, it was still far from enough.

He had to become faster, stronger, and more flawless.

Just then, extremely light footsteps sounded outside the door.

The rhythm was steady and the aura cool. There was no need to guess who it was.

The resolve in Tang Wulin's eyes instantly softened. Putting on his usual gentleness, he quietly opened the door.

Gu Yue stood silently outside.

She still wore that cold and detached expression. Her simple clothes hung neatly upon her, silver-gray hair falling over her shoulders. Her brows and eyes were indifferent, her lips lightly pressed together, revealing no emotion, as if she had merely happened to pass by. Yet only she knew that she had been drawn here by the thoroughly stabilized yet powerful aura next door.

In a single night, the change in Tang Wulin's aura had become startlingly great.

It no longer carried the faint immaturity of the youth he had been before last night. It was deep, steady, solid, and profound.

Like a bottomless ancient well, calm on the surface yet concealing terrifying power within.

Gu Yue lifted her eyes and gave him a faint glance. Her gaze rested on him for an instant before quickly withdrawing. Her tone remained cool and even, without the slightest fluctuation:

"It's time for morning training."

Five simple words. There was no extra concern and no extra question, maintaining her lofty pride.

But Tang Wulin understood.

The faint trace of surprise in her eyes had already betrayed her true thoughts.

She had noticed his change, and she was shocked by the speed of his growth.

Tang Wulin nodded lightly, a gentle smile rising at the corner of his lips. "All right. Together."

The two walked side by side through Shrek Academy in the early morning. The mist had yet to disperse, and the grass and trees smelled fresh.

Students continually cast glances their way, but Gu Yue kept her gaze straight ahead, cold and proud, as though nothing in the world could enter her eyes. Only the young man at her side occasionally made her slow her pace to maintain just the right distance.

Tang Wulin did not deliberately move closer, nor did he say much.

He understood her personality too well—cold, proud, and unwilling to draw attention. All he needed to do was quietly remain by her side.

But he did not know that, from angles he could not see, Gu Yue's gaze had lightly fallen upon his profile several times.

Just one night.

Just one session of quiet cultivation.

His aura, foundation, and eyes had all undergone a qualitative transformation.

Steady, resolute, and restrained, yet containing an edge that could erupt at any moment.

Such a rate of growth had long surpassed the realm of genius. It was more like...

He carried some kind of obsession, desperately chasing after something.

Gu Yue's heart stirred softly once more.

Her expression remained unchanged, and she was still cold as frost, yet in that corner of her heart that had been sealed for countless years, this young man beside her—constantly growing stronger, constantly transforming—had quietly awakened a trace of concern that even she could not understand.

Feeling the cool aura beside him, Tang Wulin became even more determined.

He had to continue growing stronger.

Strong enough to support a peaceful world, strong enough that she would never again have to face the oppression of fate, strong enough to keep all darkness beyond the places they could see.

The morning breeze swept past, lifting the hems of their clothes.

The young man's eyes concealed a determination that spanned two lifetimes, while beneath the young woman's cool exterior, her heart gently rippled.

A peaceful and tender stretch of time was quietly unfolding.

And neither of them knew that beneath this tranquility, the shadow of the Holy Spirit Cult was already slowly gathering in the distance.