Dawn had only just broken.
A few birds were still calling in the old locust tree in the courtyard. Flender had brought out a wicker chair and sat in the middle of the yard, holding hot tea like an old fox waiting for a show.
Li Yusong, Lu Qibin, and even Zhao Wuji, who had been away on bounty missions, were there. Flender had summoned him overnight.
"Which of you is going first?" Flender looked at Tang San and Xiao Wu in the courtyard.
Tang San stepped forward of his own accord. "I will."
Flender did not get up. He pointed at a smoothed wooden post at the other end of the courtyard. "Hit it with your strongest attack. Full strength. Don't hold back."
Tang San stood before the post and took a deep breath. He released Blue Silver Grass from his right hand, its silver-blue blades gleaming coldly in the morning light. Without using a Soul Skill, he merely gathered the Blue Silver Grass into a single strand and lashed it at the post.
A fine crack split the surface of the post, and the whole thing tilted backward slightly with a crack.
Flender's tea-holding hand paused. He set down the cup, rose, and crouched beside the post to inspect the crack. He also felt how far it had tilted and nodded inwardly.
But Zhao Wuji could not quite hold his tongue. "A white Soul Ring? That's ruined him!"
Flender held out a hand toward Zhao Wuji, pressing it down in the air. "You'll learn about the Soul Skill later."
He stood and looked at Tang San. "Your Blue Silver Grass is nearly as hard as the Tool Martial Souls of others your age. You didn't use a Soul Ring for that strike just now—it was pure control. You've