A Little Secret

Xie Xie had been pestering Tang Wulin for three whole days.

Ever since the day of the gauntlet match, he had become a tail Tang Wulin could not shake off—following him to meals, following him after class, even intercepting him on the way to the Forging Association to turn in his work. "How exactly did you create those two soul skills? Where on the dragon head did that lightning from Golden Dragon Skybreak strike down from? Show me again—I was too busy dodging last time to see clearly—"

Tang Wulin's ears were practically growing calluses from all the questions.

That evening, just after First-Year Class Zero's training session ended, Xie Xie came over again, carrying two skewers of grilled squid he had snagged from behind the cafeteria. Tang Wulin took the squid and decided to plug his mouth with an even bigger secret.

"Didn't you want to see what other soul skills I have?"

Xie Xie's eyes lit up.

"My third soul skill," Tang Wulin said in a low voice, "I've been working on it for nearly two months. I discussed the name with the Golden Dragon King for a long time. As for my fourth soul skill—even Gu Yue hasn't seen it."

The squid skewer in Xie Xie's hand stopped dead in midair. He turned to look for Gu Yue—she was sitting on a bench by the field, flipping through an old book, her black hair draping over her shoulders and her expression cool, as though she had heard nothing.

"You heard right." Tang Wulin chuckled, then raised his voice toward the bench. "Gu Yue! You haven't seen my fourth soul skill either, have you? I'll show you today."

Gu Yue lifted an eyelid. "What about your third soul skill?"

"You'll see that too."

Gu Yue closed her book and rose to her feet, walking over to stand at the edge of the field without another word. But Tang Wulin knew that, for her, this already counted as being very interested. Xie Xie knowingly stepped back to the sidelines, shoved his daggers into the straps around his calves, and prepared to catch every detail.

Tang Wulin walked to the center of the training ground and came to a stop. The sunset slanted in through the high windows, enveloping him in a faint golden glow. He closed his eyes and raised his right hand.

First soul skill—Golden Dragon Head.

A golden pillar of light rose from beneath his feet, instantly condensing in midair into the phantom of an enormous dragon head. Its horns were fierce, its eyes blazed, and its mouth opened wide in a deep Dragon Roar. The Class Zero students at the edge of the field all staggered back a step from the roar, but Tang Wulin did not call it back. He allowed the Golden Dragon Head to remain suspended in the air. His left hand rose another inch and pressed against the center of his chest—the place where the seal of the Golden Dragon King's Divine Core had sunk deepest into his bloodline.

The Golden Dragon King's voice echoed within his sea of consciousness, deep and resonant, carrying a hint of lazy satisfaction. "Your third soul skill is ready already?"

Tang Wulin answered within his sea of consciousness, "It's ready. I'm using the name you chose." Then he opened his eyes.

In that instant, his pupils turned an utterly pure gold, deeper and brighter than when he used his first soul skill—as if a molten sun had been compressed into a pair of human eyes. A ring of golden light burst outward from his heart, instantly spreading across his entire body. Faint golden dragon-scale patterns surfaced on his skin—not as a covering, but as luminous markings shining up from the depths of his bloodline. They spread from his fingertips to his wrists, from the nape of his neck to his spine. Xie Xie clearly saw the golden pattern circle Tang Wulin's wrist bones. Every patch of exposed skin looked as though it had been branded with some living rune.

Tang Wulin stepped forward. The tiles beneath his feet gave a heavy, muffled boom, and cracks radiated outward from his toes in a half-foot circle. The power behind that step was nothing like the level of a three-ring soul master restraining his cultivation—it was a pure eruption of physical strength without relying on cultivation. Enhanced by those golden dragon-scale markings, every step felt like a dragon's skeleton turning over deep beneath the earth.

"Third soul skill—" Tang Wulin raised his right hand. Golden scales filled the air, peeling away from his arm before gathering anew in the sky. Within the golden light, the bones in his fingers clenched one by one. The dragon patterns across his fist abruptly lit up, not with ordinary gilded gold but with a darker, heavier shade like cooled lava. Sharp ridges spread from his wrist across his entire body. "Undying Dragon God Body."

The Golden Dragon King had originally been an ageless, immortal, indestructible existence. Having inherited the Golden Dragon King's power, Tang Wulin possessed extraordinarily powerful vitality. The inspiration for this third soul skill came from that—according to the Golden Dragon King, immortality was not about passively taking hits. It was about being able to stand there and let others hit you without dying. Thus, this was neither an attack skill nor a defensive skill, but a state skill. The instant it activated, all the sealed Golden Dragon King blood essence within his body was awakened at once, granting his flesh an almost invincible regenerative power for several breaths—like a sustained super-armor state. Any attack from an opponent of the same level would begin healing the instant it tore open a wound, while broken bones would reconnect the moment he landed.

When Tang Wulin named the skill, the Golden Dragon King's original suggestion had been "Golden Dragon Immortal Body." Tang Wulin thought about it for a long time and decided it was not imposing enough. The two had argued in his sea of consciousness for nearly half a month—the Golden Dragon King insisted that it had to include the words "undying," while Tang Wulin insisted on adding "Dragon God." In the end, the Golden Dragon King gave in. "Call it Undying Dragon God Body—the word 'body' sounds more solid than 'form.' As long as the body remains, the Dragon God can rise again." Tang Wulin rolled the words "Dragon God Body" over his tongue—body, the dragon's backbone, the central axis of an immortal form. Then he nodded.

There was no opponent on the training field. Tang Wulin simply conjured a Blue Silver Grass vine with his left hand. The vine's tip straightened like a blade, and with a backhand motion, he sliced open his own right arm. Blood appeared at the wound, but before it could even flow out, the cut automatically closed in the next instant—the flesh healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. Before the blood at the tip of the Blue Silver Grass vine could drip to the ground, the wound had already become a faint golden line. Two breaths later, even that line had vanished.

Xie Xie stood at the edge of the field with his mouth open, unable to force out a single word.

He jabbed Gu Yue beside him hard with his elbow. "Did you see that? That cut he just made disappeared in five seconds? How are you supposed to fight that? You hit him for half the day, then he activates his soul skill and all his wounds heal up. That means you fought for nothing!"

Gu Yue swayed slightly from his elbow, but did not dodge. Her black eyes remained calmly fixed on the boy stretching his right arm in the field. In a flat voice, she said, "I told you it was a bug. This is a bug."

Tang Wulin curled his lips into a smile and dismissed Undying Dragon God Body. The golden dragon-scale markings slowly faded from his skin. He turned to glance at Xie Xie and Gu Yue at the edge of the field. Their reactions could not have been more different—Xie Xie was so shocked he practically looked ready to embed himself in the cracks between the training-ground tiles, while Gu Yue still wore that eternally indifferent face, as if she had only seen an ordinary beam of light.

"My fourth soul skill," Gu Yue suddenly said. "You said you would show it to me."

"Right, we're not done yet." Tang Wulin raised his left hand and clenched it in the air.

Fourth soul skill—Dragon Spear Summoning.

Spiritual light exploded before Tang Wulin, and a long golden spear silhouette solidified from the column of light. The spear was five meters long, brilliant pure gold from end to end, with faint dark dragon-shaped patterns floating across it—not scale patterns, but spiraling golden dragon totems. A pair of dragon wings spread from either side of the spearhead, forming barbed handguards. Three golden dragon scales dangled from the end of the shaft, chiming with a clear metallic hum when they struck each other. This was the Golden Dragon Spear—the transformed forty-ninth rib of the Golden Dragon King. It could pierce anything and absorb an enemy's life energy to nourish its wielder.

Tang Wulin gripped the shaft with his right hand and held the spear diagonally across his body. A faint golden trail lingered in the air where the Golden Dragon Spear had passed.

Then he raised his left hand, clenched it into an empty fist, and spread his fingers again in the air.

A second beam of golden light exploded from his palm—another Golden Dragon Spear. It looked nearly identical to the first, but the dragon-shaped dark patterns on its shaft spiraled in the opposite direction, and instead of three dragon-scale pendants, five hung from its tail. The twin spears crossed before his chest. Their lengths differed slightly, yet each fit his left and right hands perfectly. At the point where the two dragon spears intersected, the air warped under the heat.

"Twin spears." Tang Wulin lightly spun the second spear in his left hand through an arc, crossing both spears before his chest as he looked at Gu Yue. "Fourth soul skill—Dragon Spear Twin Blades. It briefly summons a second Golden Dragon Spear, forming a dual-wielded offensive and defensive style with the original spear."

Gu Yue stepped forward several paces, circled to the side of the twin spears, studied them for a moment, and asked, "How did you do that?" There was only one Golden Dragon Spear, and only one forty-ninth rib of the Golden Dragon King—this was an acknowledged fact throughout the entire dragon lineage. How could a second one appear out of thin air?

Tang Wulin chuckled. "The Golden Dragon King forced me into it. He said that if he originally had forty-nine ribs, and the forty-ninth became the Golden Dragon Spear, then the forty-eighth had not grown there for nothing either. He wanted me to train the spear's form until I could use his remnant soul to replicate another one. The two spears can attack and defend independently."

Xie Xie muttered to himself at the edge of the field, "Dragon Spear Twin Blades... dual-wielding dragon spears... that name's cool enough. Twin spears are already this ridiculous. There can't be anything even more ridiculous, right?"

Tang Wulin heard that and the corner of his mouth lifted. He glanced at Gu Yue, who happened to be looking at him as well. In the instant their eyes met, Tang Wulin gave a tiny nod—a movement so slight that it seemed to say: There's more.

"Today's demonstration ends here." Tang Wulin withdrew both spears. The two dragon spears turned into golden light and disappeared into his palms. He brushed away the lingering golden arcs on his hands and gave Xie Xie a standard smile that clearly said, "That's all." "Come on, come on. Let's go save seats in the cafeteria."

Though Xie Xie still wanted more, the words "cafeteria" made him move on reflex. As he headed for the door, he called back, "I'll go grab seats first—there are braised pork ribs today. If we're late, they'll be gone!" With that, he darted out of the training field.

Tang Wulin watched Xie Xie disappear through the doorway, and the training ground fell quiet. The setting sun slanted through the high windows, spreading golden light across the floor. Only he and Gu Yue remained.

Gu Yue stood at the edge of the field with her arms folded, her black eyes level on him. "He didn't notice. The true name of your fourth soul skill isn't Dragon Spear Twin Blades."

"That's right." Tang Wulin raised his right hand and spread his fingers. The Golden Dragon Spear emerged from his palm once more. At the same time, his left hand clenched, and the second dragon spear solidified again. Under the sunset, the tails of the two dragon spears gleamed with dark golden patterns flowing in different directions. He crossed his wrists and slammed the spear tails together—the golden impact rang out, making the training ground's protective barrier hum. Two distinct golden spear auras exploded from the point of impact into a blaze of searing golden light. It was so bright that Gu Yue narrowed her eyes, but she did not retreat. She saw the two dragon spears merge into one within that golden radiance.

There was no seam at the joint, no trace of a connection, as though they had always been meant to join together. The fused spear was three-point-six meters long, slightly shorter than the original Golden Dragon Spear, but the density of its gilding was deeper than when the two spears were wielded separately—it changed from bright gold to dark gold. The two spiraling dragon totems merged into one complete dragon pattern. The dragon's head locked together at the spear tip, while its tail converged at the shaft's grip. The spearhead no longer had a single-layered barbed handguard. Instead, double layers of dragon wings spread out in an interlocking formation, their tips slightly flared outward as if they might take flight at any moment. The three dragon scales and five dragon scales at the tail overlapped after the fusion, forming a complete triple-layered dragon-scale ring. Every scale trembled on its own, producing an extremely low, heavy hum.

Tang Wulin held the fused dragon spear in one hand. The shaft spun once in his palm before stopping steadily at his side. Dark golden light reflected against his profile, and his golden pupils mirrored the flowing dragon patterns on the spear.

"This is the true fourth soul skill—Dragon God Armament · Golden Dragon Spear."

Gu Yue remained where she was, looking at the dark golden dragon spear, the complete dragon totem along its shaft, and his eyes illuminated by the spear's glow. When she spoke, her voice was softer than usual, as if confirming a mark she had awaited for far too long. "Dragon God Armament. He named it."

"He did. He said—" Tang Wulin lowered his head to look at the dragon spear in his hand. The Golden Dragon King's remnant soul was silent in his sea of consciousness and did not interrupt, so Tang Wulin repeated exactly what he had heard that night. "'When the Dragon God was still in the God Realm, the spear was not used as two separate weapons—he had one true Golden Dragon Spear. The dark patterns on the two spears run in different directions because they were never replicas. They are two forms of the dragon spear. Only when they are joined together do they become the spear's true form.'"

Tang Wulin lowered the dragon spear to his side, using the motion to step half a pace closer to her. When he raised his face, the golden gleam in his eyes had not entirely faded, but his tone no longer carried the formal air he had used while demonstrating for the whole class. "Only you know this name. To everyone else, it's still Dragon Spear Twin Blades—but after they fuse, it becomes Dragon God Armament. He said you had seen the Golden Dragon Spear's true form. So I'll only tell you what form it takes after fusion, and what it's called."

Gu Yue fell silent for a moment, then reached out and lightly touched the shaft of the dragon spear with her fingertips. The fused spear gave a deep hum the instant she touched it—not rejection, but recognition. The aura of a dragon could not lie. "He finally paid back what he owed you." She withdrew her fingers, her tone returning to its usual coolness, though her gaze remained on the dark golden dragon pattern as she continued, "In the future, stay in the twin-spear state for a few more breaths before fusing them. Your enemy will think they have caught an opening when you switch."

Tang Wulin froze for a moment, then smiled. He withdrew the dragon spear, reached over to grab the cup of soy milk by the bench that had long since gone cold, and took a gulp. He lowered his voice and said something to Gu Yue. From outside the training ground came Xie Xie's distant shout: "Are you two coming or not—the ribs are almost gone!!" Tang Wulin called back, "Coming!" He shoved the cup of soy milk into Gu Yue's hands and took off toward the cafeteria. Gu Yue held the half-finished cup of cold soy milk. The lingering resonance of the dragon scales at the spear's tail when the Golden Dragon Spear fused still clung to her fingertips. Dragon God Armament—after wandering within that remnant soul for so many years, he had ultimately chosen Tang Wulin to bear that name. She casually set the cup beside the bench and headed toward the cafeteria.