Tang San's challenge match

News that Tang San had awakened the Clear Sky Hammer spread through Heaven Dou Royal Academy faster than the story of Yi Yun making Xue Beng call him Daddy. In less than half a day, the entire academy was talking about it.

That vegetable-growing kid actually had twin martial souls, and his second martial soul was the Clear Sky Hammer. The Clear Sky Hammer, the number one power attack system tool martial soul, the treasured foundation of the Clear Sky Sect.

"That vegetable grower, Tang San? The Clear Sky Hammer? Are you sure you haven't got it wrong?"

"It's true! I saw it myself! He smashed a huge crater into the training ground with one swing!"

"My heavens, that guy who squats in the vegetable patch pulling up radish seedlings every day is actually an heir to the Clear Sky Sect?"

"You really can't judge a person by their looks..."

Tang San squatted in the vegetable patch, listening to the distant chatter as he pulled up radish seedlings without expression. He had grown used to being talked about.

Before, they had mocked him; now, they marveled at him. But he knew their amazement wasn't because of his strength. It was because of the Clear Sky Hammer's reputation. Without the Clear Sky Hammer, he was still that Blue Silver Grass good-for-nothing, that pole-vaulting clown, the laughingstock of the whole academy.

Tang San tightened his grip on the radish seedling in his hand, its roots still carrying soil. He took a deep breath, put the seedling back into its hole, and buried it again. I've already pulled it up. Might as well plant it back.

He decided to challenge Yi Yun the day after awakening the Clear Sky Hammer. Tang San had spent the entire night thinking about Yi Yun's expression when he said, "Little Hammer, pound some rice cakes," and his tone when he said, "Nice hammer. Shame the person holding it isn't up to the job."

Every moment stabbed his heart like a needle. He needed to prove himself, not to Yi Yun, but to himself. He, Tang San, wasn't someone who couldn't wield a hammer.

"Brother Yun, I want to challenge you." Tang San stood before Yi Yun, the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand.

Yi Yun was having breakfast: an egg Xiao Wu had peeled for him, porridge Zhu Zhuqing had served him, water Shui Bing'er had poured for him, and a fan Ning Rongrong was fanning him with. Hearing Tang San's words, Yi Yun set down his chopsticks and looked up at him.

"Challenge me? With the Clear Sky Hammer?"

"Yes."

"You only awakened it yesterday, and you want to use it today?"

"I can't wait any longer."

Yi Yun looked into Tang San's eyes. There was no impulsiveness in them, no anger, only an almost obsessive seriousness. It was exactly the same look he had worn the first time he challenged Yi Yun, but this time there was something more: confidence. Confidence the Clear Sky Hammer had given him.

"All right." Yi Yun stood up. "The training ground."

The news spread quickly. Tang San was going to challenge Yi Yun with the Clear Sky Hammer. Before an incense stick could burn down, spectators had packed the edges of the training ground. Students poured out of the classroom buildings, teachers dropped their lesson plans and ran over, and the dean tottered over with his cane. Even Xue Beng had brought two guards to watch secretly from a distant classroom rooftop.

Xiao Wu stood at the edge of the training ground, her hands clenched, worry written all over her face. "Has Tang San gone mad? He only awakened the Clear Sky Hammer yesterday, and he's challenging Brother Yun today?"

"He hasn't gone mad. He wants to prove himself." Zhu Zhuqing stood beside her, her voice calm.

"Prove what?"

"That he isn't useless."

Xiao Wu fell silent. She knew Tang San had always been mocked: for his Blue Silver Grass, for his pole vaulting, for his radio calisthenics, for growing vegetables. He had been mocked countless times, but he had never argued back. He simply practiced in silence, planted in silence, vaulted in silence. Now that he had the Clear Sky Hammer, he finally had something with which to answer back. He had chosen to prove himself by challenging Yi Yun.

Ning Rongrong held up her sign, but instead of shouting, "Handsome Master is the most handsome!" she shouted, "Go, Tang San!" Shui Bing'er stood beside her without speaking, quietly watching the two people in the center of the training ground.

Liu Erlong folded her arms, her eyes narrowing to slits. She was curious how many moves Tang San could last against Yi Yun with the Clear Sky Hammer. One? Two? Or three?

At the center of the training ground, Yi Yun and Tang San stood facing each other, ten meters apart. Yi Yun wore a long white robe, his hair secured with a white jade hairpin, his hands in his pockets, his expression as relaxed as if he were taking a stroll. Tang San wore a short gray shirt and gripped the Clear Sky Hammer, the dark-gold patterns on its black head glittering in the sunlight.

"Ready?" Yi Yun asked.

Tang San took a deep breath. "Ready."

"Come on, then."

Tang San wasted no words, putting everything into his first move. The Clear Sky Hammer spun through half a turn in his hand, then smashed toward Yi Yun with a howling rush of wind. He put his full strength into that strike. The Clear Sky Hammer's weight, combined with the momentum of his charge, was enough to shatter a boulder.

The hammer came crashing down. Then it stopped. Tang San hadn't stopped it. Something had blocked it. A tree branch had blocked it.

Yi Yun held a tree branch in his right hand, the kind casually snapped off by the roadside, as thick as a thumb and two feet long, with a few leaves still attached. With that branch, he lightly touched the head of the Clear Sky Hammer.

Boom!!!

A wave of air erupted around the two of them, sending the surrounding sand and dirt flying. But the Clear Sky Hammer didn't budge, held back by that slender branch as though a mountain stood in its way.

The entire crowd fell silent. The students at the edge of the training ground gaped, the teachers forgot they were supposed to maintain order, and the dean dropped his cane again. On the classroom rooftop, Xue Beng's legs went weak, and he nearly fell off. Xiao Wu dropped her carrot, Zhu Zhuqing stopped breathing, Ning Rongrong's sign landed on her own foot, Shui Bing'er covered her mouth, and Liu Erlong's eyes widened like bronze bells.

A tree branch. It had blocked the Clear Sky Hammer. The number one power attack system tool martial soul, the Clear Sky Hammer, had been blocked by a branch snapped off by the roadside.

Tang San's pupils contracted sharply. He had used all his strength. The Clear Sky Hammer's weight combined with his power was enough to split mountains and crack stone, yet a tree branch had stopped it. The branch hadn't even bent.

"You..." Tang San's voice was hoarse.

Yi Yun withdrew the branch and twirled it in his hand as casually as spinning a pen. Looking at Tang San, he said the words Tang San would never forget for the rest of his life: "Nice hammer. Shame the person holding it isn't up to the job."

Tang San's face flushed crimson. Not from anger, but from shame. Yi Yun was right. The hammer was good; he was the one who wasn't good enough. He wasn't worthy of the Clear Sky Hammer. It wasn't that the Clear Sky Hammer wasn't strong enough.

"Again!" Tang San gritted his teeth and raised the Clear Sky Hammer.

This time, he changed tactics. Rather than meeting force with force, he used the Clear Sky Hammer's weight and inertia to attack continuously. Left, right, high, low, every strike came at a different angle and with a different amount of force. This was the hammer technique he had spent an entire night studying and devising.

Yi Yun remained where he stood, without moving, using only that branch for a gentle deflection, a flick, a block, a parry. Every hammer strike was stopped, as though he were practicing tai chi, using four ounces to turn aside a thousand pounds. Cold sweat broke out on Tang San's forehead. He was using all his strength, wielding a hammer technique he had studied all night, yet before Yi Yun, he was like a child waving a wooden stick.

"Anything else?" Yi Yun asked.

Tang San gritted his teeth, planted the Clear Sky Hammer in the ground, gripped its handle with both hands, and spun his body a full three hundred and sixty degrees, using the momentum of his turn to swing the hammer up. This was a move he had created himself: Clear Sky Whirlwind Hammer. It was more powerful than any of his previous strikes, and twice as fast.

The branch once again stood in the Clear Sky Hammer's path. This time, the branch broke. It wasn't smashed by the Clear Sky Hammer; Yi Yun had let go himself.

Tang San's Clear Sky Hammer struck empty air. He lost his balance, staggered several steps, and nearly fell.

Yi Yun looked at the branch broken into two pieces in his hand, then at Tang San, and smiled. "Not bad. You can break my branch now. That's a lot of progress."

Tang San gripped the Clear Sky Hammer, panting heavily, sweat dripping from his forehead onto the ground. He didn't know whether Yi Yun was praising him or mocking him, but he thought it was probably mockery. What was there to praise about breaking a branch?

"Brother Yun." Tang San's voice was hoarse.

"Hmm?"

"Am I really weak?"

"It's not that you're weak. You're still green."

"What's the difference?"

"Weakness is something you're born with. Being green comes down to training. How long have you trained? A few days? A few months? How long have your opponents trained? Ten-odd years? Several decades? What do you have to compare with them?"

Tang San fell silent.

"The Clear Sky Hammer is a top-tier martial soul, but it won't grow stronger on its own. It's the person who grows stronger, not the hammer. If you're not good enough, the Clear Sky Hammer in your hands is just a lump of scrap iron. If you are good enough, the Clear Sky Hammer is number one in the world."

Tang San tightened his grip on the Clear Sky Hammer until his knuckles turned white. He understood. The hammer was lifeless; the person was alive. If he wasn't good enough, it wouldn't work no matter who came to hold this hammer. He needed to grow stronger, not to prove how strong the Clear Sky Hammer was, but to prove how strong he was.

"Thank you, Brother Yun." Tang San lowered his head.

"You're welcome." Yi Yun dusted off his hands. "Go back and practice. Come again once you've trained enough."

Tang San nodded, withdrew the Clear Sky Hammer into his martial soul space, shouldered his vaulting pole, and headed toward the edge of the training ground. He reached the vegetable patch, squatted down, and began pulling up radish seedlings. This was his fifth time pulling up radish seedlings that day. Once he finished, he planted them again. Then he pulled them up again and planted them again.

"Tang San, are you all right?" Xiao Wu came over and squatted beside him.

"I'm fine."

"Were you crying?"

"No."

"Your eyes are red."

"I got sand in them."

Xiao Wu looked at Tang San for a long time. She didn't expose his lie, only took a carrot from her pocket, broke it in half, and offered him one half. "Want some?"

Tang San took the carrot and bit into it. Crisp and sweet, the kind Xiao Wu liked. As he chewed, his eyes grew even redder. It wasn't sand. He really wanted to cry. But he held it back. I'm Tang San, a disciple of the Tang Sect. I can't cry. Absolutely not.

Seeing Tang San's stubborn expression, Xiao Wu felt a little distressed. She wanted to say something to comfort him, but didn't know what to say. She stood up, brushed the dirt off her skirt, and turned to leave. After a few steps, she stopped and glanced back at Tang San. "Tang San, you're a good person."

Tang San gave a bitter smile. "What use is being a good person? A good person still can't beat Yi Yun."

Xiao Wu didn't smile. She looked at Tang San and said earnestly, "A good person can grow vegetables, can pole vault, can make the whole academy applaud him. A good person can also hold the Clear Sky Hammer and stand before Yi Yun without backing down, even when a tree branch stops him."

Tang San froze for a moment. He said nothing, simply keeping his head lowered as he gnawed on the carrot. The carrot was sweet, sweeter even than the ones he grew.

Late that night, Tang San sat alone beside the vegetable patch, holding the Clear Sky Hammer. Moonlight spilled over its head, making the dark-gold patterns resemble streaks of lightning. He recalled Yi Yun's words: "Nice hammer. Shame the person holding it isn't up to the job."

He didn't blame Yi Yun for saying that, because it was true. He really wasn't good enough, but he could train. Train until he was good enough, until he was worthy of this hammer, until Yi Yun no longer said, "Shame."

Tang San put away the Clear Sky Hammer, picked up his vaulting pole, and walked onto the training ground. In the moonlight, his shadow stretched long. He began practicing his pole vaults. One, two, three. He vaulted higher, farther, and more steadily than he had during the day. The night wind blew from beyond the mountain, carrying autumn's chill. After a hundred pole vaults, Tang San returned to the vegetable patch, picked up a watering can, and began watering the seedlings.

"Tang San." A voice came from behind him.

Tang San turned and saw Zhu Zhuqing standing behind him with a towel in her hand.

"Wipe off your sweat." Zhu Zhuqing handed him the towel.

Tang San took it and wiped the sweat from his face. The towel was cool, carrying a faint, fresh fragrance.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Zhu Zhuqing squatted beside him. "I watched your challenge today."

Tang San's hand paused. "Pretty humiliating, wasn't it?"

"It wasn't. There aren't many people on the entire continent who can stand before Brother Yun and raise a hammer."

Tang San lowered his head, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. He realized that although Zhu Zhuqing spoke little, every word she said could reach straight into someone's heart.

"Sister Zhu Zhuqing."

"Hmm?"

"Why do you like Brother Yun?"

Zhu Zhuqing was silent for a long time. "Because he showed me that being alive can be happy."

Tang San froze for a moment, then smiled. Yes, that was the kind of person Yi Yun was. He showed those around him that being alive could be happy. Though being tricked by him wasn't pleasant at the time, looking back, those days of being tricked were the happiest of all.

"Thank you for the towel." Tang San stood up.

"You're welcome." Zhu Zhuqing stood as well, then turned and left.

Tang San watched Zhu Zhuqing's retreating figure, like an elegant cat in the moonlight. He smiled and continued watering the vegetable seedlings. He watered them one by one, earnestly and carefully, as though watering his own dreams.