This Is Called Chapter Three

Tang Wulin was in a good mood today.

Actually, he was in a good mood every day, but today was especially good—because he had just passed Teacher Mang Tian's forging assessment. Although his soul power was still a pitiful Level 3, and although his martial soul was still that Blue Silver Grass that Red Mountain Academy had mocked for over half a year, at least when it came to forging, he finally felt he could hold his head high.

After leaving Mang Tian's workshop, little Tang Wulin headed home along East Sea City's old streets. The setting sun dyed the stone-paved road orange, while the sea breeze drifted in from the nearby harbor, carrying the salty tang of the ocean and the scent of grilled squid. Right on schedule, his stomach growled.

"So hungry..."

He felt around in his pocket. Inside were the twenty Federation coins Teacher Mang Tian had given him as an extra reward today.

Five minutes later, Tang Wulin held grilled squid in his left hand and candied hawthorn skewers in his right, walking with particular vigor.

"When I become an amazing forger someday—" He took a bite of squid and declared to the air, "I'll be able to buy food every day."

"Pfft."

A soft laugh came from above him.

Tang Wulin looked up.

A woman in a white coat was looking down at him.

He had not seen how she appeared in front of him. He had walked this old street hundreds of times. It had been empty just moments ago, yet now there was suddenly someone there. She was very tall; little Tang Wulin only came up to her waist. The collar of her white coat hung slightly open, revealing her collarbone and a sliver of lace; asymmetric white stockings wrapped around her long, smoothly shaped legs, making them especially eye-catching, while black stiletto heels tapped out a lazy rhythm against the stone road.

Her eyes were beautiful. Her amber pupils tilted upward like a fox's, half-lidded as they looked him over from above.

That look... how should he describe it?

Tang Wulin was six years old, and his vocabulary was limited. He could not think of anything too complicated. He only instinctively felt that the way this big sister looked at him was much like the way he looked at grilled fish in front of a grilled fish stall.

"Little friend," the woman said lazily, her voice carrying a faint trace of amusement, "not going home after school and eating all by yourself?"

Tang Wulin blinked.

"Who are you, big sister?"

The woman did not answer directly. She crouched down until her gaze was level with his, tilted her head, and narrowed those amber fox eyes a little further.

"Your name is Tang Wulin?"

"Y-yes."

"Your martial soul is Blue Silver Grass?"

"...Yes." This time, his response came a beat slower.

"Level 3 soul power?"

Tang Wulin stopped chewing his squid. It was not because he felt she had exposed an embarrassment—rather, every word this big sister spoke was too precise. He did not know her, yet she seemed as though she had read his file a hundred times.

He took half a step back and looked up at her warily. "How do you know that?"

Lu Menge did not answer that question.

She remained crouched there, staring at him with those amber eyes. This time, she was no longer looking at his face—but at something deeper. It was as though she were looking at the sleeping river within his body, at a spear that had yet to be polished, at a golden seal that even he himself could not touch.

Naturally, Tang Wulin had no idea what she was looking at. He only felt that this big sister's eyes had suddenly become very deep, as if they could contain his entire being.

Several seconds later, Lu Menge's M-shaped lips moved. That curve shifted from its earlier half-smile into an exceedingly dangerous, utterly delighted arc.

"So cute."

Tang Wulin: "..."

"It really is—"

Lu Menge reached out and, before Tang Wulin could react at all, pinched his cheeks.

Once on each side.

Her movements were lightning-fast, her strength precise, carrying some supreme cheek-pinching technique long lost to the higher soul master world. Tang Wulin nearly dropped his grilled squid.

"Mmff mmff mmff—!"

"The Golden Dragon King's bloodline." After pinching him, Lu Menge withdrew her hand and propped her cheek on one palm, sighing with the satisfaction of someone who had just appraised a priceless treasure. "Hidden inside a Blue Silver Grass plant—whoever came up with that idea was truly a genius."

Tang Wulin froze.

Golden Dragon King? Blue Silver Grass?

He recognized all of those words, but he could not understand them put together. He only instinctively felt that this big sister bore him no ill will. Though she had pinched his cheeks, her hands had been warm, and her eyes did not carry the pity or disdain others showed when they looked at him.

She looked at him as though he were some incredible treasure.

Tang Wulin was not very familiar with that feeling.

"Big sister," he said again as he rubbed his cheeks, "what is this Golden Dragon King you mentioned?"

Lu Menge did not answer. She rose to her feet and patted nonexistent dust from her white coat.

"Lead the way."

"Huh?"

"Your house," she said as though it were only natural. "Your teacher is having dinner at your house tonight."

"...Huh??"

Tang Wulin was completely dumbfounded.

He stood there blankly, his mouth opening and closing, with only one thought bouncing repeatedly through his mind: What exactly was wrong with this big sister?

Lu Menge looked down at him. Her fox eyes curved into two beautiful crescents, and her tone was like that of a teacher coaxing a slow-witted child.

"Don't worry, your teacher doesn't eat people—"

She paused.

"—unless you steal my food."

Tang Wulin had no choice.

No, to be precise—this woman had not given him any room to choose. Before he could even nod, she had already started walking. Her black stilettos tapped out a brisk rhythm on the old stone street, and the hem of her white coat fluttered in the sea breeze, revealing a stretch of calf wrapped in asymmetric white stockings. Every step was lazy yet unwavering.

After three steps, she turned around and tilted her head at him.

"Come on."

Tang Wulin opened his mouth. He wanted to say, "Who are you?" "Why should I?" "Just so you know, my parents might not cook meat tonight." But in the end, for some inexplicable reason, as though pushed by an irresistible force, he started walking.

Tang Ziran and Lang Yue really had cooked meat today.

More accurately, they had started cooking meat ten minutes ago. That was after Lu Menge stepped through their front door.

"Hello, Uncle and Auntie—sorry to disturb you."

Lu Menge stood in the somewhat cramped living room of Tang Wulin's home and gave a slight nod, her smile warm and proper. The alluring fox eyes had shed all their laziness, replaced by a virtuous and gentle expression. She looked every bit like an outstanding young teacher paying a home visit to a student.

Tang Ziran and Lang Yue exchanged a glance.

Who was this woman?

"This teacher is...?" Tang Ziran asked tentatively.

"Lu Menge, senior teacher at Eastsea Academy. Level 89 attack-type soul master." Lu Menge took out a teacher's ID from the pocket of her white coat and waved it in front of Tang Ziran, then swiftly put it away again, so fast that he could not make out a single word on it.

Tang Ziran was stunned by the words "Level 89."

What did Level 89 mean? It was the ceiling beneath a Titled Douluo. In all of East Sea City, it was said that Eastsea Academy's strongest expert, Wu Changkong, was a seven-ring Soul Saint, and that was already terrifying. Yet this woman, who looked to be in her twenties, casually claimed to be Level 89?

"I work at Eastsea Academy. A few days ago, I was reviewing new student files over at Red Mountain Academy and noticed your son at first glance." Lu Menge spoke without the slightest change in expression, her tone impossibly friendly. "Blue Silver Grass paired with innate Level 3 soul power may seem like an ordinary combination, but in my many years of teaching experience, it often conceals potential that others cannot see."

She paused and glanced sideways at Tang Wulin, her gaze carrying just the right amount of appreciation.

"I happened to be passing by today, so I wanted to come take a look. I never expected to run into little Wulin on the street. We chatted for a bit, and this child really has a wonderful personality."

Tang Ziran swallowed.

In truth, Lu Menge's explanation was highly convincing. Especially when she mentioned that Blue Silver Grass had potential. What Tang Wulin's parents feared most was hearing things like "Blue Silver Grass has no future," "His innate soul power is too low," and "Don't waste resources on him." They had heard enough of that—and what Lu Menge said was exactly what they most longed to hear.

Lang Yue was already heading for the kitchen.

"Teacher Lu, please sit, please sit... We don't have much good food at home... Old Tang, hurry and buy some meat—Wulin, pour Teacher Lu some water!"

Tang Wulin still had not recovered from the abrupt turn of events.

Holding a teacup, he stood there and watched the big sister in the white coat sit smilingly on his family's sofa, cross her legs, rest the stocking-clad one over the other, casually pick up a crayon drawing he had made in kindergarten from the coffee table, study it for a long while, and then let out a meaningful, "Wow."

Tang Wulin could not hold it in any longer. "You—"

"Wulin," Tang Ziran called from the kitchen, where he was urgently thawing a slab of pork belly. "What are you standing around for? Pour Teacher Lu some water!"

Tang Wulin: "..."

Silently, he placed the teacup on the coffee table in front of Lu Menge. She looked up and glanced at him, her fox eyes brimming with amusement she could not suppress. If that amusement could be translated into words, it would probably say—

First day's experience: Fun. Objective achieved.

"Oh, right." Lu Menge suddenly stood up and took an inconspicuous little box from her pocket. "Since it's my first visit, I brought Wulin a small gift."

Tang Ziran was just about to protest politely when Lu Menge had already opened the box.

Inside lay a bracelet strung with pale golden beads of an unknown material. The beads were not large, yet every one of them gave off a faint warm glow beneath the light. There were no dazzling effects, no oppressive aura that made one's knees go weak—only a pure, gentle warmth, like the lingering heat of a sunset.

"It's nothing valuable," Lu Menge said casually. "Just wear it with you."

Tang Ziran took it and weighed it in his hand. He was a forger and more sensitive to materials than ordinary people, yet even after examining it for quite some time, he could not identify what the beads were made of. It felt heavy, heavier than metal of the same volume, but its touch was not metallic coldness or hardness. Instead, it possessed a gentle warmth like a living body's temperature.

Even stranger, when the bracelet came near his arm, the soreness accumulated from years of forging seemed to ease a little in that instant.

Tang Ziran looked up and studied Lu Menge once more.

"This is...?"

"Just a little health-preserving trinket." Lu Menge elegantly tucked a strand of silver hair behind her ear and smiled at Lang Yue. "Teachers have stressful jobs, so I like to tinker with these things in my spare time. They're especially good for helping children strengthen their bodies."

Tang Wulin took the bracelet and put it on his wrist. The instant the beads touched his skin, an extremely faint current of warmth slipped from his wrist all the way to his heart—then vanished.

"How does it feel?" Lu Menge lowered her head to look at him, her amber fox eyes glimmering with a meaningful light beneath the lamp.

"Warm," Tang Wulin said seriously. "Like... being in the sun."

Lu Menge said nothing. She only bent down slightly again and smiled with particular brilliance.

Dinner was especially lavish. Lang Yue wanted to bring out every ingredient in the refrigerator, while Tang Ziran used every bit of his culinary skill to make six dishes. Lu Menge spoke appropriately throughout the meal, discussing everything from Eastsea Academy's teaching staff to the latest reforms in soul master competition assessments. Every sentence was perfectly placed to ease the Tang couple's worries over Tang Wulin's Blue Silver Grass martial soul.

"Little Wulin's foundation is actually excellent—you don't need to worry."

As she said this, her gaze casually swept over Tang Wulin. That look was much like someone eyeing a pot of ribs waiting to be stewed.

"As long as he studies properly under me."

Level 89.

Blue Silver Grass had potential.

A small gift.

Lu Menge ate this meal slowly, ate plenty, and left everyone thoroughly pleased. Before departing, she even packed a serving of braised pork. "Auntie's cooking is too good, so I won't stand on ceremony."

After Lu Menge left, Tang Ziran and Lang Yue sat at the dining table, staring at each other.

Tang Ziran spoke first. "What do you think of Teacher Lu...?"

Lang Yue thought for a moment. "She seems like a nice person. She just talks a little strangely."

"How so?"

"When she said Blue Silver Grass had potential," Lang Yue said, frowning as she tried to remember, "that expression she had... it was like she was talking about something else."

Tang Wulin did not take part in his parents' discussion.

He returned to his room, shut the door, raised his wrist, and looked at the pale golden beads.

"The Golden Dragon King's bloodline."

He silently repeated those words.

He did not understand what they meant. He only vaguely felt that the sudden encounter that afternoon had not been an accident.

On the other side of East Sea City, Lu Menge strolled leisurely toward Eastsea Academy beneath the streetlights. The thermos in her hand had been replaced with a takeout box, and the braised pork inside still gave off steam.

"...Blue Silver Grass."

She scoffed and shook her head.

"Such a massive golden dragon—"

"And they weren't afraid it would burst the grass apart."

After taking two steps, she suddenly stopped.

She lifted a finger and flicked it through the air. An invisible ripple spread from her fingertips. The Tiger Soul Sacred Seal's detection array crossed the entirety of East Sea City, sweeping precisely over the direction of Tang Wulin's bedroom. Several breaths later, feedback surged back like a tide—his heartbeat was steady, his blood and qi circulated normally, and that bracelet was quietly tempering the golden roots hidden within the grass leaves in a way no human instrument could detect.

"Not bad."

Her lips curved as she continued walking. Her stilettos tapped out a brisk echo beneath the streetlights.

"Little one."

"Your teacher has her eye on you now."

From that moment on, East Sea City gained an "ordinary teacher" at Level 89.

No one needed to know that the ink on the teacher's ID in her pocket had not yet dried. Nor did anyone need to know how long she had been waiting, or how long she had lain in hiding before finally receiving the first echo that belonged to this era.