His Melancholy Surpassed Mine

The Ghost Bride slowly raised her hand.

Her fingers were pale, but the next second, both hands suddenly curled into claws.

Her ten nails shot out at a visible speed, long and sharp.

Tang San's scalp tingled.

Without a second thought, he summoned the Clear Sky Hammer and held it across his body.

The red figure let out a "heh" and pounced on him.

The claw wind arrived first, and Tang San raised his hammer to block.

The claws scraped across the hammer's surface, producing an ear-piercing screech of metal on stone.

Sparks flew everywhere.

Tang San was forced backward, his body tilting as grass and dirt churned beneath his feet.

He gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, and did not give an inch.

But the red figure drifted far too quickly, claw after claw striking at him.

Tang San blocked left and right, his hammer winds flattening the surrounding grass, yet he could not hit her body at all.

Every collision felt like striking steel—cold and hard.

"Tang San, aren't you the best at spotting weaknesses?"

The red figure pressed close to his ear and laughed again. "My weakness is right behind you."

Tang San's heart tightened. Just as he turned around, a foul wind rose behind him.

"Bang—!"

The Large Serpent's tail swept across and struck squarely against his lower back.

Tang San flew seven or eight steps like a kite with its string cut, slammed into a tree root, rolled halfway over, and only then propped himself up with his hammer.

"Third Brother—!" Xiao Wu cried.

Tang San did not get up immediately. Half-kneeling on the ground, he slowly reached for his lower back.

There was no blood, no wound, not even a tear in his clothes? That blow had been so heavy that he thought his spine was about to snap.

Yet now, there was no injury there at all. It did not even hurt anymore.

Tang San was puzzled, then suddenly understood!

So that was it. This was all an illusion after all! Luo Yan, Luo Yan, in the end, you were one move short~

Leaning on the Clear Sky Hammer, he slowly rose to his feet. Morning light shone from behind him, outlining his entire figure in a brilliant glow.

He stopped dodging. He did not even look at the Large Serpent. Raising his head, he watched the red figure drifting toward him, and his smile deepened.

He stood perfectly straight, his hands hanging naturally at his sides. He even put away the Clear Sky Hammer.

The red figure floated straight toward Tang San, her red skirt billowing with a rustle. Behind him, Xiao Wu shouted, "Third Brother! What are you doing?! Dodge!"

Tang San did not dodge. He even closed his eyes.

Luo Yan, your attack is fake—

"Slap—!"

A loud, crisp slap landed squarely on his left cheek.

Tang San's whole body lurched sideways. His vision went dark with a buzz, his feet stumbled, and he nearly fell into the grass.

Countless birds seemed to be screeching inside his head. His cheek burned and swelled as he covered it, unable to recover for a long while.

The Ghost Bride was still standing before him, her hand suspended in midair. She looked stunned as well. The Large Serpent stopped flicking its tongue, while Xiao Wu stood with her mouth open in disbelief.

Third Brother... had turned stupid?!

In the shadows, Luo Yan was stunned too.

He sat cross-legged in the mist, still holding a pebble in his hand.

At the sight, he immediately pushed his mask up to his forehead. "Bruh, my man? You didn't even dodge? What was that supposed to mean? Were you provoking me?"

Tang San slowly turned back around. A red mark on his face was visibly swelling.

His gaze was vacant, and his dumbfounded expression could not have been more textbook.

"You..." he muttered. "Wasn't this fake?"

"When did I ever say it was fake?"

Luo Yan's voice drifted out from the mist, filled with unconcealed bewilderment. "My cultivation is limited, and I couldn't actually hurt you guys, so of course I held back. But you seriously didn't even dodge?! Are you an idiot?!"

Xiao Wu finally snapped out of it. She rushed over, angry yet wanting to laugh. "Third Brother, you big idiot! Who offers up their face to get slapped?!"

Tang San covered his face. The red mark stretched from his cheekbone all the way to his ear, hot and swollen.

He half-knelt in the grass, with only one sentence repeatedly echoing in his mind: How the hell could that have been real?

Xiao Wu had already run to his side and crouched down to inspect him.

At first, she wanted to laugh, but then she felt that her Third Brother was simply too miserable. She could only bite her lip, her shoulders shaking. "Third Brother... are you, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Tang San said, though his voice was a little numb.

He slowly raised his head. The five finger marks on his left cheek were shockingly clear.

"You're fine?!"

Xiao Wu finally could not hold it in anymore. "You got slapped until your face looks like a monkey's butt!"

"I..." Tang San opened his mouth as if he wanted to argue, but the moment he tugged at the corner of his lips, pain made him hiss.

That slap had not been particularly forceful, but it had landed too crisply and too accurately, like a public execution.

In the mist, Luo Yan pulled his mask back down, but the visible eye had already narrowed into a smiling slit.

"San, I'm not trying to say anything, but with that whole 'I've seen through everything' look just now, I thought you were about to pull out some ultimate move."

As he spoke, he slowly walked out from behind the slope, still spinning the pebble in his hand. "Instead, you raised your face and closed your eyes. Even my creation froze. Do you know she couldn't stop herself in time?"

"Cut it out!"

Xiao Wu turned and glared at him. "You did it on purpose! Don't give me that nonsense about not stopping in time! You had probably calculated exactly where she'd hit him!"

"On my honor."

Luo Yan raised both hands. "I really wasn't aiming for his face. I originally planned to pat his shoulder, but who knew Third Brother would stand so straight and so... fearless? That slap found him on its own."

The Ghost Bride floated over to Luo Yan's side, looking aggrieved as she lowered her head and twisted her fingers together.

Her dark-red bridal gown fluttered softly in the morning breeze, its hem never touching the ground. The red figure who had just had blades for fingers and nearly slapped Tang San's face off now looked like a little girl who had made a mistake.

She glanced up at Tang San, then quickly lowered her eyes again, twisting her sleeves into knots.

"I didn't mean to..."

She spoke softly, her voice thin and gentle. "He... he brought his face over himself..."

Xiao Wu's eyes widened. "You can talk? Weren't you so fierce just now? Why are you acting pitiful now?!"

The Ghost Bride shrank back and hid farther behind Luo Yan.

Luo Yan laughed awkwardly and raised a hand, putting on an "I'll handle this" expression. "Alright, alright, calm down. My creation has... a bit of emotion."

"It's her first time coming out, so she was bound to get excited. San, it really isn't her fault. When you closed your eyes like that, who wouldn't get confused? She thought you were going to kiss her."

"Luo Yan!" Tang San and Xiao Wu shouted at the same time.

Luo Yan instantly crouched down and pulled the Ghost Bride down in front of him as a shield. "Don't hit me, don't hit me! Big Sis Xiao Wu! She's still young! She's only one year old!"

"One year old?"

Tang San covered his face and laughed in anger. "One swipe from her claws just now made sparks fly from my Clear Sky Hammer! And you're telling me she's one year old?!"

"She was only born recently~" Luo Yan said with a grin, casually waving his hand as the mist slowly dispersed.

Morning light fell once more, bathing the back mountain in warmth.

The black-gray Large Serpent no longer held its body taut.

It slid along the grass and slowly made its way to Luo Yan's side.

Then it nudged Luo Yan's hand with its head.

The motion was gentle. Luo Yan smiled and reached out to stroke its head.

Its snake scales felt like paper, yet carried a faint warmth. It rubbed against his palm, like a huge creature that had suddenly become very obedient.

Tang San and Xiao Wu both stared in astonishment.

"It... was made by you too?" Xiao Wu asked in a lowered voice, as if afraid of startling the snake.

"Yeah, I made it today." Luo Yan nodded and stroked it twice more. "It doesn't bite people. At least, not for now."

Tang San crouched down and watched the snake for a while. The snake "watched" him too. Its gray eyes resembled two thin sheets of mist, neither fierce nor evasive.

"What exactly is your second Spirit Skill?" Tang San asked.

Luo Yan did not answer right away. He withdrew his hand from the Snakehead, and the snake slowly coiled up. "Floating Life Like a Dream. Simply put, it collects emotions, then uses emotions to create things."

"Emotions?" Xiao Wu blinked.

"That's right. When others laugh, fear, cry, or get so angry they stomp their feet, I absorb those emotions."

Luo Yan spread out his hand. There seemed to still be a trace of undispersed gray in his palm. "The more I absorb, the more real the things I create can become. Snakes, brides, Paper Dolls—all of them are made that way."

Tang San fell silent for a moment. "So the more you make people afraid, the more real your snake becomes?"

"More or less."

Luo Yan smiled. "But it isn't only fear. Laughter works too, and the louder the better. That's why I always like making a scene."

Xiao Wu was at a loss for words. "Your Spirit Skill is ridiculously unfair."

Luo Yan shrugged and gestured. The Ghost Bride and the Large Serpent "drilled into" the purple Soul Ring.

"Actually, it's not that great. All my life, I may look carefree and unrestrained, but in truth, I've had to tread carefully every step of the way."

"I don't have absurd stats like you guys. I only have this ordinary, unremarkable ability..."

"Ah—!"

Luo Yan clasped his hands behind his back, tilted his head up at forty-five degrees, and filled his eyes with melancholy.

Tang San and Xiao Wu: ...