The elusive golden scales

Xie Xie stayed quiet the whole way.

It wasn't that he didn't want to speak. His face was so swollen that moving the corner of his mouth hurt. But that only made the frustration inside him weigh even heavier.

The first time he lost to Tang Wulin, he could convince himself that the dorm room had been too cramped and that he really had been careless.

But the second time?

The second time had been in Eastsea Park. There had been plenty of room, and he hadn't underestimated his opponent again. Yet when the fight ended, he had still lost—and for no reason he could understand.

Especially that final punch.

At that thought, Xie Xie suddenly raised his head. His voice was muffled, but he insisted on forcing out the question:

"Just now... what exactly was that?"

Tang Wulin kept walking.

"What was what?"

"The golden light coming out of you," Xie Xie said through clenched teeth. "And those things on your right hand. Don't tell me I imagined them."

Tang Wulin fell silent for a moment.

He actually wanted to know what they were, too.

But he hadn't figured it out himself. How could he answer Xie Xie?

"If I said I didn't know either, would you believe me?" That was all he finally said.

Xie Xie sneered.

His meaning was obvious.

No.

Tang Wulin didn't explain any further.

His shoulder was still burning in waves, but the heat was completely different from what he had felt during that eruption in the park. Back then, it had felt as though something was pushing out through his flesh, making his entire right arm grow stronger beyond his control. Now there was only an aching tightness, along with a faint emptiness left after the strength had ebbed.

When they returned to the dorm, Yun Xiao and Zhou Changxi were still awake.

As the door opened, both looked over almost simultaneously.

Then both froze.

"You two..." Zhou Changxi spoke first, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Xie Xie's swollen face and the torn clothing over Tang Wulin's shoulder. His expression grew complicated. "Finished fighting again?"

"Yeah," Tang Wulin answered, setting Xie Xie down on the lower bunk. "He passed out for a bit."

The corner of Zhou Changxi's mouth twitched.

"And you carried him back?"

"I couldn't just leave him in the park." Tang Wulin said it naturally, as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world.

Xie Xie was already simmering with anger, and that made him angrier still. But his face hurt, and he didn't want to speak, so he could only glare fiercely at Tang Wulin.

Yun Xiao adjusted his glasses, looked from one to the other, and finally couldn't resist asking:

"So... you won again this time?"

Tang Wulin thought about it.

"I guess."

At those words, Xie Xie's expression darkened further.

Zhou Changxi sucked in a breath. As he stared at Tang Wulin, his gaze had changed completely.

He could just about explain yesterday's dorm-room fight as Xie Xie suffering from the cramped surroundings. But today, the two had clearly gone out for a rematch, only to return with the same result. Luck could no longer explain it.

Tang Wulin clearly wasn't in the mood to explain any of this, either.

He had barely settled Xie Xie onto the bed when his stomach obligingly growled.

It wasn't a soft little noise.

It was the kind of unmistakable growl that could be heard from several steps away.

The dorm fell silent.

Even Tang Wulin froze for a moment. Then he looked down and pressed his stomach, his expression turning slightly miserable.

"Is dinner over?"

Yun Xiao instinctively checked the time.

"Not yet, but almost."

The next instant, Tang Wulin grabbed his jacket and rushed out.

Zhou Changxi stared at the doorway for a long while before murmuring:

"Did he go out to fight, or to move a mountain...?"

Leaning against the head of his bed, Xie Xie rubbed his swollen face and said coldly:

"About the same thing."

But as soon as the words left his mouth, he fell silent himself.

He had suddenly remembered that when he pinned Tang Wulin's shoulder, his Dagger had definitely pierced some way into it. On the way back, while Tang Wulin carried him, he had even reached out to feel the other boy's shoulder.

The tear in the clothing was still there.

But he couldn't find the wound.

It hadn't merely stopped bleeding. It was as though he had never been injured at all.

At that thought, Xie Xie's expression grew uglier.

That guy definitely had a secret.

When Tang Wulin rushed into the cafeteria, only a few people remained at the C Cafeteria Meal Window.

The cook paused when he saw him, then couldn't help laughing.

"You again?"

Tang Wulin nodded, looking a little embarrassed.

"I came late today."

"You didn't just come late. You waited until we were about to close, didn't you?" The cook pushed a large bowl of noodles toward him. "Yesterday it was steamed buns, today it's noodles. Where do you little Soul Masters keep your stomachs?"

Tang Wulin was ravenous. He took the bowl and began eating immediately, even mumbling his thanks through a mouthful.

Today's fight with Xie Xie had drained him more than he had expected. Those few moments at the end, when the Golden Scales erupted, had especially felt as though they had hollowed him out completely. On the way back, he had only felt tired. Now, the smell of food seemed to set his hunger fully ablaze.

One bowl of noodles only took the edge off.

He soon went back for a second bowl, a third, a fourth...

The cook had been watching from the side at first, but eventually the sight made him laugh.

"Did you skip lunch today?"

Tang Wulin paused.

"I actually did."

Cen Yue had taken him for testing that afternoon. After returning, he had run into the opening ceremony and class assignments, then gone off to fight Xie Xie. He really hadn't found time for lunch.

"No wonder." Shaking his head, the cook brought over an insulated basin from nearby. "There's some stewed meat and noodle broth left at the B Cafeteria Meal window. It'll just sit there otherwise. Take it all."

Tang Wulin's eyes lit up.

"Can I?"

"Go ahead." The cook waved a hand. "Just don't waste any."

Now Tang Wulin was truly delighted.

He carried the large basin over as well and buried himself in eating again. The meat had been stewed until tender, and its flavor was richer than the C Cafeteria Meals. It also carried a distinct warmth. After he ate it, the frighteningly hollow feeling in his stomach quickly subsided, and even the aching tightness in his shoulder and right arm eased somewhat.

Only as he ate did he finally have time to think back over those last moments in the park.

Golden Scales.

His right arm.

And that punch.

What exactly was that thing?

Was it something about my Martial Soul? That ant-type Soul Spirit? Or something that had hidden inside my body even earlier, during awakening?

He couldn't figure it out.

But there was one thing he was certain of now—that power wouldn't emerge on its own for no reason.

There had to be some condition.

He simply hadn't found it yet.

By the time Tang Wulin drained the last of the noodle broth, there were even fewer people in the cafeteria. Looking at his empty basin and bowls, the cook wore an expression of almost numb admiration.

"Come earlier tomorrow," he couldn't help saying. "Otherwise, I'm really afraid you'll eat every last scrap we have left."

Tang Wulin smiled shyly.

"I'll try."

When he returned to the dorm, Xie Xie was gone.

Most likely, he had gone to get his facial injuries treated.

Yun Xiao sat on his bed meditating, but Zhou Changxi was still awake, leaning over the edge of the upper bunk to look down. The moment Tang Wulin entered, he lowered his voice and asked:

"How exactly did you win?"

Tang Wulin paused in the act of closing the door.

"I don't know either."

"Who do you think you're fooling?" Zhou Changxi clearly didn't believe him. "That guy's rank eighteen, and you're only rank eleven. Yesterday, when you beat him up like that, I could say he was unlucky. But you won again today, and you're telling me you don't know?"

Tang Wulin hung up his jacket, thought for a moment, and still shook his head.

"I really don't know what happened at the end."

Because he really didn't.

How the heat had risen, how the scales had appeared, why his strength had suddenly become so immense—he couldn't explain any of it.

Zhou Changxi stared at him for a good while. Only after deciding that he didn't seem to be playing dumb did he curl his lip.

"You're a strange one."

"Didn't you already know that?" Tang Wulin replied.

Zhou Changxi froze for a moment, then couldn't help laughing.

"True."

The dorm soon grew quiet again.

After washing up, Tang Wulin sat back on his bed, but didn't begin meditating immediately. His mind was full of those Golden Scales, and the more he thought about them, the more unsettled he felt. Finally, he simply rummaged through the daily necessities he had brought and found a sewing needle.

Since he couldn't figure it out, he would experiment.

The change in the park had happened only after Xie Xie's Dagger pierced his shoulder. Did that mean he needed to be injured?

He looked down at his finger, gritted his teeth, and gently pricked it with the needle.

"Hss—"

It hurt.

A bead of blood welled up.

But nothing else happened.

No heat, no scales.

Tang Wulin frowned and tried again.

The result was the same.

There was no reaction at all.

He stared at the tiny wound for a long while, then had no choice but to set the needle down.

Could injury not be the trigger?

Was it because Xie Xie's strike carried Soul Power?

Or because I was pushed to my limit then?

No matter how he turned it over in his mind, he couldn't grasp the key.

Finally, Tang Wulin simply sat cross-legged and began meditating.

If that thing really was inside him, surely he could find some trace of it while meditating.

His Soul Power circulated slowly along the most basic route, completing one circuit after another.

But everything was normal.

The Star-Sinking Hammer rested quietly within him, his Soul Ring showed no unusual movement, and the fluctuations of his ant-type Soul Spirit were especially steady, no different from usual. As for the heat that had surged up in the park yesterday, he couldn't find the slightest trace of it.

Tang Wulin opened his eyes and couldn't help letting out a long breath.

He couldn't find it.

He really couldn't find it.

It felt as though a door inside his body had cracked open by the rarest chance, let him glimpse what lay beyond, then immediately closed again. Now he stood outside that door, knowing full well that something was inside, yet unable to find the handle no matter what he tried.

He looked down at his right hand.

It was still the same hand. His skin was unbroken, his knuckles looked just as they always did, and there wasn't the slightest trace of the Golden Scales.

If Xie Xie's face hadn't been so undeniably swollen, he might even have wondered whether the fight had left him dazed, too.

Thinking of Xie Xie's face made Tang Wulin feel a little guilty again.

He had clearly held back on that final punch.

If I really hadn't managed to hold back...

He didn't let that thought continue.

Whatever this was, he couldn't let too many people know about it yet. Never mind anyone else—even he still didn't understand it at all.

The dorm was quiet, with only the steady breathing of Yun Xiao and Zhou Changxi.

After an unknown stretch of time, the door made a soft sound.

Xie Xie had returned.

The swelling on his face had gone down considerably, though some traces remained. His expression was still icy as he walked, making it clear that no one should provoke him.

Tang Wulin merely glanced up at him, then looked away and closed his eyes again.

Xie Xie said nothing either, simply returning to his bed and sitting down.

After a while, he finally spoke in a low voice:

"Don't use what you did today on anyone else."

Tang Wulin opened his eyes and looked at him.

Xie Xie did not look back. He only stared at a point in the empty space ahead, his voice cold.

"Something you haven't figured out yourself is the most likely to go wrong."

Tang Wulin froze for a moment.

He had thought Xie Xie would keep pressing him, forcing him to explain what that layer of Golden Scales really was.

He had never expected those to be the first words out of his mouth instead.

"...I know." In the end, that was all he said.

Xie Xie said nothing more. He simply lay down and closed his eyes.

But Tang Wulin knew he was not actually asleep either.

Because Xie Xie kept his hand pressed against the spot on his own face where the swelling had not quite gone down.

Paying for a beating.

That really was not something so easy to get over.