A Mutated Martial Soul?

The courtyard fell silent for a moment.

The night breeze swept over the wall, slowly scattering the lingering resonance of that hammer strike. Mang Tian did not speak at once. He simply looked down at the iron billet on the ground, with its deep hammer impression, his brow faintly furrowed as though weighing something over and over in his mind.

Tang Wulin stood where he was, still holding the Star-Sinking Hammer. His palm felt warm, and his heart hung in suspense.

He could tell that his teacher's test had not merely been intended to see his first Soul Skill.

It had felt more like he was confirming something.

"Withdraw your Soul Skill," Mang Tian finally said.

"Yes." Tang Wulin immediately complied. As he reined in his Soul Power, the faint dark-gold patterns on the hammer receded, and the white Soul Ring slowly sank into his body.

The oppressive feeling in the courtyard immediately eased.

Mang Tian held out a hand to him.

"Give me the hammer."

Tang Wulin handed over the Star-Sinking Hammer.

This time, Mang Tian did not activate a Soul Skill. He simply gripped the handle, his wrist dipping slightly and his gaze deepening. He hefted it twice, then held it level for a moment before turning his eyes back to Tang Wulin's face.

"Did your Martial Soul look like this on the day you awakened it?" he asked.

"Yes." Tang Wulin nodded. "It's always been like this. It's just... it feels a little heavier now."

"Not just a little," Mang Tian said evenly.

As he spoke, he raised his hand and returned the hammer.

"Before you fused with your Soul Spirit, it was merely heavy. After the fusion, it began to 'sink.'"

Tang Wulin froze for a moment.

Sink.

The moment that word fell, his heart gave a faint jolt.

His teacher had described it too precisely.

At first, the Star-Sinking Hammer had indeed felt only extraordinarily heavy. But since last night, especially after his first Soul Skill took shape, that feeling had quietly changed. It no longer merely had weight in his hand. Instead, the hammer's very silhouette seemed to tug constantly downward, as though something deeper and heavier than iron lay compressed within it.

Mang Tian's gaze remained calm as he continued:

"When an ordinary tool Martial Soul absorbs its first Soul Spirit, it usually gains a Soul Skill, with the Martial Soul itself becoming a little stronger along the way. But your hammer isn't like that."

"It's as though this Soul Spirit hammered a bone into it."

At those words, not only Tang Wulin but even Tang Ziran froze.

"Brother Mang, do you mean..." Tang Ziran asked instinctively.

Mang Tian was silent for a while before slowly uttering two words.

"Beneficial mutation."

The courtyard fell silent again.

Lang Yue's eyes were still red, but when she heard those words, she suddenly forgot to wipe away her tears and merely stared at Mang Tian.

Of course she had heard of mutated Martial Souls.

But a term that only ever appeared in legends, stories, or the lives of other people's children had suddenly landed on her own son. For a moment, she almost dared not believe it.

"Teacher," Tang Wulin said, also a little dazed, "I mean... my Martial Soul mutated?"

"It didn't only start mutating now." Mang Tian glanced at him. "This hammer of yours never resembled an ordinary hammer-type Martial Soul to begin with. All we can say now is that your first Soul Spirit pushed it another step forward."

He paused slightly at that point.

"What that Little Jun Ant brought you wasn't anything flashy. It hammered out a little of this hammer's true nature first."

"Heaviness. Stability. Pressure. Descent."

"These things should have belonged to it all along. They were simply buried deep before. Now, your first Soul Spirit has hammered open the outermost layer."

Tang Wulin looked down at the Star-Sinking Hammer in his hand.

Pitch-black and small, it remained unremarkable.

Yet somehow, after hearing his teacher's words, he had the vague feeling that he was truly coming to know it for the first time.

It was not without an edge.

It had simply hidden all its sharpness within its weight.

"Then... is this a good thing?" Tang Wulin's voice was a little tight as he asked.

Mang Tian looked at him and finally gave a slight nod.

"Of course it's a good thing."

"Soul Rings matter, and Soul Spirits matter too. But what matters most is whether your own Martial Soul has a path forward."

"From what I can see now, not only do you have that path, it's a little broader than I originally thought."

At that, his gaze settled on the Star-Sinking Hammer in Tang Wulin's hand, and his voice lowered slightly.

"From now on, don't use it like an ordinary tool Martial Soul."

"It isn't suited to fancy tricks, circling around, or those airy approaches. What suits it best is to keep hammering straight down."

"Whether you're forging or fighting, the principle is the same."

"When your hammer falls, you have to make the other side understand what true weight means."

Those words were spoken softly, yet in Tang Wulin's ears, they were like several steady hammer blows, flattening the last traces of insecurity in his heart.

From last night until now, a small part of him had remained suspended in uncertainty.

Even with a Soul Ring and a Soul Skill, he still could not help wondering—his first Soul Spirit was only a white ten-year one, after all. Would it ultimately fall short?

But Mang Tian's words seemed to tear that deeply hidden sliver of doubt out by the roots.

It was not inferior.

Its path was different.

At that thought, the light in Tang Wulin's eyes finally began to brighten.

"Teacher, then in the future... can I still become stronger?"

Mang Tian looked at him and, for once, did not immediately throw cold water on him.

"Of course you can," he said. "Otherwise, do you think I got my four rings for nothing?"

With those words, the tense atmosphere in the courtyard finally loosened.

Lang Yue was the first to smile. Tears still glistened in her eyes, but her smile was wonderfully gentle. Tang Ziran let out a long breath, only now truly setting down the stone that had weighed on his chest.

Tang Wulin burst out laughing.

He had never been someone who lingered long in the shadows. As long as there was a road ahead, as long as that little spark of hope still shone, he could always find his way back, step by step.

Just then, Mang Tian suddenly added in his usual even tone:

"You missed the workshop today without cause. I'm deducting a day's wages."

Tang Wulin froze, then his eyes went round.

"Teacher!"

Mang Tian gave a cold snort.

"You're fine. Whose pay should I dock if not yours?"

That was what he said, but everyone could hear that there was little genuine reproach left in his threat to "dock his wages."

Tang Wulin tried and tried to hold himself back, but in the end, he could not. He took two steps forward and threw his arms around Mang Tian's waist.

"Teacher, you're the best."

Mang Tian's whole body stiffened, and his face instantly darkened.

"Let go."

"No."

"If you don't let go, I'll dock tomorrow's wages too."

Tang Wulin immediately released him, moving so quickly that it was as though he had never hugged him at all.

The sight made everyone in the courtyard laugh. Even Na'er's eyes, which had remained somewhat unfocused, curved slightly.

After Mang Tian left, the Tang household finally recovered completely from the day's fright.

The food was reheated.

Tang Wulin sat at the table, his head lowered as he earnestly shoveled down his meal. He relished every bite, as though trying to replenish all the strength he had lost over the previous night and day. Lang Yue glanced up at him from time to time. Only as his complexion grew rosier did the lingering fear in her heart truly begin to fade.

"I'm sorry, Dad, Mom." Halfway through the meal, Tang Wulin suddenly put down his chopsticks and spoke softly.

Lang Yue paused.

"Why are you apologizing all of a sudden?"

Tang Wulin lowered his head and said quietly:

"I made you worry last night."

Tang Ziran said nothing. He simply reached out and gently rested his hand on Tang Wulin's head.

"If you feel unwell like that at night again, call someone right away," he said. "Don't try to tough it out alone."

"Okay." Tang Wulin nodded at once.

Na'er sat beside him, listening quietly. Her fingertips secretly brushed the edge of her clothes, as though she had something to say, but in the end, she remained silent.

Everyone in the family went to bed early that night.

Lang Yue and Tang Ziran were truly exhausted. Their hearts had been in their throats all day, and only now had they finally settled. Na'er was quieter than usual too. She lay down shortly after returning to her room, but although her breathing was soft, she did not seem truly asleep.

Only Tang Wulin tossed and turned, unable to sleep no matter what he tried.

Everything that had happened during the day replayed in his mind.

The Soul Ring, the Soul Skill, Mang Tian's assessment, his teacher's words "beneficial mutation"... each seemed to retain a lingering warmth, crowding his chest and stirring him up until he could not settle down at all.

In the end, he simply slipped quietly out of bed, put on an outer garment, and crept out the door.

The night outside was quiet.

The moon hung high overhead, its light falling across the ground like a thin layer of frost. Following the familiar path, Tang Wulin slowly made his way to the little garden.

It was here that he had truly stabilized his level-ten Soul Power that night. It was here, too, that he had first seen that little procession of ants quietly carrying things beneath the moon.

Now that he had returned, the garden was still the same garden. The grass held the night's chill, and occasional faint insect calls rose from the cracks between the stones. Nothing had changed. Yet Tang Wulin knew that he was no longer the same as he had been that night.

He walked to the edge of the lawn and sat cross-legged.

With a slight stirring of his thoughts, the Star-Sinking Hammer appeared.

Then a tiny dark-gold shape slowly crawled along the edge of the hammer and into his palm.

It was Little Jun Ant.

The ant was still so small, small enough to escape notice. Yet as the ant rested in his palm, there remained a steadiness wholly out of proportion to that tiny body.

Tang Wulin lowered his head and watched the ant for a long time before suddenly giving a soft smile.

"I still haven't properly talked to you today."

Naturally, Little Jun Ant could not answer, but those antennae stirred as though listening.

Tang Wulin extended a finger from his other hand and gently touched the ant's shell.

"Thank you."

"You chose me."

As he said those words, a faint warmth rose in his own heart.

In truth, ever since he had walked out of the Spirit Pagoda, everything had still felt like a dream. Only now, with this tiny, quiet Soul Spirit in his palm, did he truly feel that none of it was a dream.

Little Jun Ant slowly crawled a couple of steps along his fingertip, then stopped again, resting as steadily as before.

Watching the ant, Tang Wulin suddenly remembered the gray-robed Spirit Transmitter at the Spirit Pagoda saying that there was a trace of the Thousand-Jun Ant lineage within that little body. Then he thought of that dark-gold shell and that aura of weight so unlike a tiny insect, and inspiration suddenly stirred in his heart.

"Let me give you a name," he said softly.

"I can't keep calling you Little Jun Ant forever."

After saying that, he paused to think.

Moonlight fell directly onto Little Jun Ant's back. Illuminated by it, the fine dark-gold sheen looked like extremely delicate golden threads, quietly shimmering.

"You've got gold on you, and you're so heavy," Tang Wulin murmured, then suddenly smiled. "Then how about Golden Jun?"

Naturally, Little Jun Ant could not object.

Those tiny antennae merely lifted slightly, as though in response.

Tang Wulin immediately brightened.

"You think it's good too?"

His eyes curved despite himself, and his voice grew lighter.

"Then it's settled. From now on, your name is Golden Jun."

The moonlight was clear, the grass cool, and the night breeze brushed gently over his palm. Tang Wulin looked down at the tiny Soul Spirit and felt the tangle of emotions that had churned inside his chest since yesterday finally begin to settle.

From great joy, to a shocking upheaval, to seeing hope once again.

That day and night had felt so long that it was as though he had walked the road of the past three years all over again.

But thankfully, at the journey's end, there was still a hammer in his hand and light in his heart.

He sat quietly for a while before returning Golden Jun to the hammer's silhouette. The Star-Sinking Hammer dispersed without a sound, and the darkness closed in again, slowly enveloping the little garden.

Tang Wulin looked up at the moon and suddenly felt that he could finally get a good night's sleep.