Morning Light Honed the Edge, One Kiss Threw Hearts into Chaos

The two remained silent along the way and soon arrived at the Outer Academy training grounds.

The training grounds were already crowded with students who had risen early to cultivate. Shouts, the clashes of soul skills, and the sounds of circulating soul power intertwined, filling the place with vibrant energy. Shrek Academy students were all geniuses chosen from tens of thousands, and every one of them understood the importance of strength. None dared slack off in the slightest.

Tang Wulin and Gu Yue walked to a quiet corner at the edge of the training grounds and stopped.

"Are you going to cultivate?" Gu Yue finally spoke again. Her voice remained calm, though there was a faint, nearly imperceptible note of inquiry in it.

"Mm." Tang Wulin nodded. "Just in time to test the results of a night's cultivation."

As soon as he finished speaking, he said nothing more. He slowly closed his eyes, adjusted his breathing, and gradually released his aura.

There was no violent outpouring, no exaggerated display. Only a gentle yet weighty force of blood and qi rose slowly like the morning sun, enveloping his entire body. A faint golden glow flowed beneath his skin, restrained yet powerful, steady yet vast.

Gu Yue stood quietly nearby. She neither approached nor left, simply remaining there with an indifferent expression while her gaze never left him.

She was observing him.

Observing just how far this young man, whom she found herself caring about more and more, had grown.

Tang Wulin slowly raised his right hand, palm upward. He did not activate any soul skill, merely mobilized the blood and qi and soul power within his body. In an instant, a terrifying force burst from his palm. The air warped slightly, and the gravel on the ground trembled gently, yet none of it rose into the air or caused any damage.

He could release and withdraw it at will, as naturally as moving an arm or finger.

This was the mark of having pushed one's control over strength to the extreme.

In his previous life, his power had been violent and difficult to control. Even the slightest movement would create a massive spectacle. But now, he had already honed his control over power to the utmost limit. Strong without being violent, fierce without being rash, building deeply before striking, concealing his strength.

He slowly stepped forward and threw a simple straight punch.

No soul ring lit up, and no soul skill was activated. It was merely the most basic, purest physical strength.

Yet as the force of his punch tore through the air, it produced a low, muffled boom. Air currents spread steadily outward from his fist, and the dust on the ground was gently swept up, but did not whirl wildly. It merely scattered meekly.

Several students cultivating nearby inadvertently sensed the fluctuation of that power, and all their expressions changed as shock filled their eyes.

"Such powerful physical strength..."

"Is that really a basic fist technique? The pressure from that punch alone already surpasses a full-force attack from someone at our level!"

"What kind of monster is he? It's only been one night. How did he become so much stronger again?"

Quiet discussions arose, and everyone's gaze converged on Tang Wulin, filled with shock and disbelief.

Yet Tang Wulin seemed not to hear a thing, remaining immersed in his own rhythm.

Step by step, he practiced the most basic Body-Tempering Fist Technique. Every punch, every kick, every movement was simple, precise, and efficient, without a trace of unnecessary flair. Yet they brought the strength within his body to its fullest potential. His blood and qi surged like rivers, his soul power flowed like drifting clouds, and his physical strength, control over soul power, and coordination of spiritual power were all constantly being refined and improved.

He could clearly feel every inch of muscle growing stronger, every meridian widening, and every strand of soul power becoming purer. The coordination of strength that had required tremendous effort in his previous life now came as naturally to him as breathing.

This was the absolute advantage brought by rebirth.

Experience, state of mind, technique, and foundation—he stood at the very peak of the pyramid in all of them.

Gu Yue stood at the side, and the ripples in her cool eyes became increasingly apparent.

She could clearly perceive the essence of Tang Wulin's strength. There was no external enhancement and no secret technique draining his potential. It was all solid, accumulated strength built step by step. Such growth was terrifyingly stable and astonishingly rapid, as though it had no end and no bottleneck.

She had once believed that her strength already stood above everyone else's, enough for her to look down upon all things.

But as she watched Tang Wulin constantly transform, she experienced a subtle realization for the first time—

This young man would one day stand at a height that even she would need to look up to.

The time for morning practice passed slowly. Tang Wulin withdrew his fist and stood still, then slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.

The golden force of his blood and qi withdrew completely into his body, and his aura returned to calm. He looked no different from an ordinary youth, but only a true powerhouse could sense that the strength hidden within him had already become unfathomable.

A night of arduous cultivation and a session of morning practice had once again brought his strength to an entirely new level.

He turned around and looked at Gu Yue, who stood quietly some distance away. A gentle smile returned to his face. "I'm done."

Gu Yue withdrew her gaze and resumed her detached, indifferent appearance. She nodded lightly and turned to leave.

She was not accustomed to lingering, to watching, or to having her heart in such turmoil.

But the instant she turned around, an uncontrollable impulse suddenly surged up in Tang Wulin's heart.

The regrets of his previous life, its losses, and its partings in life and death swept through his mind like a tidal wave.

The Holy Spirit Cult's schemes, the Spirit Pagoda's calculations, the entanglement of fate, the threats lurking in darkness... all his fear and unease transformed at that moment into an utmost cherishing of the girl before him.

He was terrified.

Terrified that this hard-won peace would shatter in the next moment. Terrified that she would disappear from his life once again. Terrified that after waiting through two lifetimes, it would all still come to nothing.

This impulse overwhelmed all restraint and reason.

"Gu Yue."

Tang Wulin called to her softly.

Gu Yue paused, then slowly turned back and lifted her eyes to him. Her silver-gray eyes were calm and undisturbed, carrying a trace of cool confusion. "What is it?"

Her voice remained proud, cold, and crisp.

But in the next instant, Tang Wulin stepped forward without the slightest hesitation.

His movements were not particularly gentle, yet they were absolutely not rough. His left hand lightly clasped her slender wrist, while his right hand firmly supported her lower back. With a faint exertion of strength, he drew her close before him.

The two of them were suddenly pressed close together, breathing the same air.

Gu Yue stiffened sharply.

She was the Silver Dragon King. She controlled elemental power and possessed terrifying strength capable of killing everything in an instant. If she wished, she could send Tang Wulin flying with a single thought, even gravely injure him. This was power etched into her bones and blood, an innate and absolute dominance.

But at this moment, she did not move.

She used not even a trace of strength and offered not the slightest resistance.

Her pupils contracted slightly. For the first time, clear surprise and panic appeared in her cool eyes, and the calmness and pride accumulated over countless millennia collapsed in an instant.

"Tang Wulin..."

She spoke, her voice still carrying the cold pride of the Silver Dragon King, but its ending trembled faintly beyond her control, stripped of its usual composure.

Before she could finish, Tang Wulin lowered his head slightly and bent down to kiss her.

It was not the light kiss from the previous night, as soft as a snowflake and gone at the slightest touch.

It was a deep kiss carrying the longing of two lifetimes, the utmost cherishing, and the affection and resolve he had suppressed through countless years.

It was neither domineering nor plundering, yet it was resolute enough to leave her nowhere to escape.

Gu Yue froze completely in place.

Her eyelashes trembled violently, and her mind went blank. All her elemental power, all her soul skills, all her calm restraint vanished without a trace. She stared with those beautiful silver-gray eyes at the young man so close before her, forgetting to resist, forgetting to keep her distance, forgetting that she was the lofty Silver Dragon King.

Only her uncontrollable heartbeat remained, pounding wildly in her chest.

Time seemed to stop at that moment.

The morning breeze passed by, stirring their hair. Sunlight fell gently upon them, freezing this scene into eternity.

The kiss ended.

Tang Wulin slowly released her and stepped half a pace back. He looked at her with deep, earnest eyes, his voice low and firm as he spoke word by word like an oath:

"I won't let you leave."

"Not fate, not Di Tian, and certainly not the Holy Spirit Cult."

"No one can separate us."

As his words fell, the entire place sank into dead silence.

Gu Yue remained frozen in place, completely motionless.

Across the face that was always cool, always indifferent, always undisturbed, a delicate and burning blush spread at a visible speed. From her cheeks to the roots of her ears, then down to her slender neck, all of it was stained with a faint pink, like peach blossoms newly blooming in spring—so beautiful it made one's heart tremble.

Her eyes, usually cool as mist and devoid of emotion, shimmered with moisture. Panic, shock, shyness, helplessness... all the emotions she never revealed were now impossible to hide, written clearly in her gaze.

Her lips trembled lightly. She wanted to say something, wanted to maintain her pride, wanted to rebuke him coldly, but her throat seemed blocked, and she could not utter a single word.

The lofty, solitary, proud Silver Dragon King, who had never allowed anyone near her,

was, at this moment, utterly and completely shy.

She quickly turned her face away, avoiding Tang Wulin's gaze. Her long eyelashes lowered tightly, concealing all the panic in her eyes. Her fingertips clenched the corner of her clothes, and even her breathing became light and hurried, losing its usual steadiness.

She was not angry, not furious, and did not strike him. She was merely quietly, intensely, helplessly shy.

This was the first time in her countless millennia that she had been so disheveled, so defenseless, so utterly at a loss.

Tang Wulin watched her cold exterior crack apart completely, her face flushed crimson and even the roots of her ears burning red. His heart instantly softened into a pool of warm water, tender and aching. He knew he had acted impulsively just now, but he never regretted it.

He reached out and, with the utmost lightness and gentleness, touched her burning cheek. His fingertips brushed against that smooth, scorching skin.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, his voice so gentle it seemed ready to drip with water. "I couldn't hold back."

Gu Yue's shoulders trembled lightly, and at last she recovered her voice from the chaos.

That voice was soft and hoarse, filled with intense embarrassment and irritation, yet it could no longer sound fierce or cold. All that remained was a panic she could not conceal even from herself:

"...Tang Wulin!"

Just three simple words, yet they contained all her broken defenses and racing heart.

The morning breeze swept across the training grounds, carrying the quietly warming feelings between the young man and young woman into the distance.

Tang Wulin's strength grew rapidly beneath the morning light, while Gu Yue's heart was thrown completely out of rhythm by a single kiss.

The peaceful, gentle passage of time seemed to stretch long, longer still, at that moment.

Neither of them yet knew that the dark shadow of the Holy Spirit Cult was slowly gathering in the depths of the continent.

Neither of them yet knew that the threads of fate had already tightly entwined them, impossible to sever again.

They only knew that on this tranquil morning, the young man had protected his obsession, while the young woman had lost the defenses around her heart.

And this hard-won warmth would become the toughest armor against all darkness in the future.