Tang San Finally Reached Level Twenty-Eight

"Practice this first. Bring all your claw marks within an area the size of a fist. Come find me when you can do that."

Zhu Zhuqing stood where she was, running through every word Yu Xiaogang had said.

She looked down at her hands and curled her fingers slightly, as though calculating something.

"I understand."

Flender led Ye Lin across the Training Ground to a sparse grove behind the academy.

Few people came here. The trees were not especially dense, but they were enough to block the view from the Training Ground.

Flender stopped, turned around, planted his hands on his hips, and looked Ye Lin up and down. "Take off your clothes."

Ye Lin froze. "Huh?"

Flender pushed up his glasses.

"You don't have to pretend with me. Grandmaster already told me."

"We came here to train alone so nobody else would find out."

"Bring out your Eight Spider Lances."

Ye Lin finally understood. He nodded, took off his outer robe, and draped it over a nearby branch. Then he drew a deep breath and sank his Soul Power into his spine.

Eight purple spider legs slowly emerged from either side of his back and spread behind him.

Flender examined each of the eight legs, then nodded. "Not bad. Eight Spider Lances—an external Spirit Bone from a Man Faced Demon Spider. Excellent quality."

He looked away, took a thin slip of paper from his robe, and held it out to Ye Lin.

"This is the training formula for the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart. The method used to be widespread across the continent, but knowledge of it gradually faded. Now only the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has preserved it in full."

He pressed the paper into Ye Lin's hand. "The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul requires its wielder to use different spirit skills on different people at the same time. That's why the sect's disciples practice Heart Separation Control from childhood."

"You have eight spider legs now. The same principle applies. You need to practice it too."

Ye Lin took the paper and read through it.

The formula was not long, but each step was laid out in detail, progressing from two simultaneous tasks to three and then more.

"You only need to reach the point where you can control those eight legs in pairs."

Ye Lin blinked. "In pairs? I have eight. Why not train until I can control each one independently?"

"Think, will you? How do you use your hands? One holds a bowl while the other scoops up food. Do you need to think about two separate things to make them work together? No."

"That's because your body is used to treating them as a pair."

"Your eight spider legs are the same. Pair them up and make each pair work together like your hands. That'll be enough."

Ye Lin lowered his head in thought. "Wouldn't it be better if I could control each one independently?"

Flender rolled his eyes.

"If you insist on controlling each one separately, how much time would you have to spend practicing?"

"If you spent all your time on that, when would you work on combat skills, physical conditioning, Soul Power cultivation, and Soul Power control?"

"A barrel holds only as much water as its shortest stave allows, not its longest. What did Grandmaster teach you? Have you forgotten everything?"

Ye Lin gave an awkward laugh and scratched the back of his head.

"If it were my teacher, he'd probably say, 'With your talent, a few days should be enough. Go practice until you can control every leg independently.'"

Flender's mouth twitched.

"That's exactly what Grandmaster said."

"Xiaogang said to give you three months. At the very least, you need to reach the level I described."

He waved a hand, stepped back toward the edge of the grove, and leaned against a thick tree trunk with his arms folded.

"All right, you have the formula. Practice here on your own. My main job is to keep anyone else from finding out."

"Just focus on your training. I won't disturb you."

Ye Lin nodded and silently recited the formula once more. Then he sat cross-legged in the middle of the clearing, closed his eyes, and directed his Spiritual Power into his spine.

The eight spider legs slowly drew together behind him, then spread again, like eight lances pulled by an invisible string.

He tried splitting his Spiritual Power in two, using one part to control the four legs on his left and the other to control the four on his right, making them perform the same movement.

On his first attempt, the legs on the left rose while those on the right pressed down. His whole body nearly tipped sideways.

He steadied himself and tried again.

This time was better, but the legs were still half a beat out of sync, like two people carrying something without matching their steps.

Flender leaned against the tree and watched from a distance as Ye Lin rose and lowered himself again and again in the clearing, his purple spider legs opening and closing among the shadows.

Three months passed in training.

Every morning, Ye Lin arrived on time at the sparse grove behind the academy.

Flender leaned against the same thick tree as always. Sometimes he ate dry rations; sometimes he rested with his eyes closed. But he never left the grove.

At first, Ye Lin staggered even when raising and lowering the legs in pairs. Later, he could use them to support his body steadily through all kinds of movements. Eventually, he could coordinate them with his hands to perform simple tasks.

For those three months, he practiced Heart Separation Control here by day and cultivated Soul Power in his dormitory by night. Occasionally, he and Zhu Zhuqing discussed things late into the night.

At last, he could divide his attention five ways: his right hand controlled one brush, while his eight spider legs formed four pairs, each controlling another. Together, they wrote five characters on the ground at once.

Up, down, left, right, center.

Five sets of strokes appeared on the ground simultaneously, each forming its own character without interfering with the others.

Practicing Heart Separation Control had also given Ye Lin greater control over his Soul Power, vitality, Spiritual Power, physical coordination, and more.

Flender crouched and studied the five characters for a long while. Then he stood and clapped his hands. "There. You've achieved the paired control Grandmaster asked for. Well done."

Ye Lin retracted his spider legs and looked down at the five crooked but distinct characters on the ground. He could not help smiling.

If I could've done this in my last life, wouldn't copying classical Chinese passages and their translations have been five times faster?

He had not had the ability back then. Now that he did, he had no use for it.

Ning Rongrong was making quick progress too.

She had been holding on to her anger.

Whenever she wanted to stop, she remembered what Tang San had said to insult her and immediately gritted her teeth and pushed through.

After a month, she too could divide her attention five ways.

Zhu Zhuqing found an old wall and struck it with her claws every day.

At first, her Netherworld Hundred Claws left a chaotic spread of marks across the wall. Deep and shallow cuts crisscrossed in every direction.

She did not rush. She struck again and again, adjusting her angle and the rhythm of her strikes each time. She kept Ye Lin's words in mind: Control your Soul Power.

By the second month, the scattered marks on the wall had begun to converge into a dense area at the center.

By the end of the third month, the marks she left on the wall had shrunk to the size of a fist, every claw mark overlapping the others.

Her attacks were now concentrated on a single point as much as possible.

Tang San had not practiced Heart Separation Control during those three months. He already knew it, and he knew what he lacked.

He left early and returned late every day, either shutting himself in his dormitory or going alone to a secluded place outside the academy to cultivate Soul Power, while pretending he was practicing Heart Separation Control.

He needed to raise his level as quickly as possible and catch up to where he had been in his previous life.

Three months passed.

Tang San let out a long breath.

"Finally, level twenty-eight! I'm still a little behind,"

"but there's no need to worry. Once I take the immortal herb and have Xiao Wu sacrifice herself for me, I'll make up those missing levels in no time!"