Tang Wulin dropped onto his backside.
The Star-Sinking Hammer leaned at an angle beside his knee, faint golden patterns still lingering on its head. The Little Ant soul spirit lay along the edge of its handle, its antennae trembling gently, as though the battle had drained its strength too.
Overwhelming exhaustion welled up from every limb and bone.
It was not the ordinary fatigue that followed a run.
It was a hollowness deep within his body after his soul power had been all but squeezed dry.
Thousand Jun Suppression, the Star-Sinking Hammer's repeated battlefield control, the final burst of Golden Dragon Claw, and Gu Yue's ice and spatial pull—all of it had seemed like one brief strike, but to Tang Wulin, it had felt as though every ounce of strength in his body had been compressed into that single instant.
He closed his eyes briefly.
That feeling was still deeply branded into his consciousness.
It was not merely the satisfaction of killing a soul beast.
It was control.
From the moment the Man Faced Demon Spider began setting up its venomous silk cage, to its first spray of webbing, to Wang Jinxi baiting its attack, Xie Xie breaking through its back, Gu Yue opening a gap, and finally his own dive beneath its abdomen to unleash his claw.
Each step had been like a hammer strike falling onto a forging platform.
Not too early.
Not too late.
Not off target.
If Tang Wulin had previously stood at the forefront simply through strength, then this battle had given him his first true understanding that a captain was not the one who charged hardest, but the one who saw the whole battlefield, shouldered the risks, and placed everyone where they belonged.
Nothing could replace that sense of fulfillment.
But he also knew