Training proceeded as scheduled the following morning.
But today's quantity is different from yesterday's. A Shan increased it by 20%, Yi Chen increased it by 3 inches, Xiao Man urged it to the fifth time, Lin Du completed fifty repetitions and then had a burst of energy.
After practicing for less than half an hour, Xiao Man was the first to lose control.
When the fourth vine sprouted from his right arm, he was still able to keep his balance and his breathing remained normal. But when the fifth vine emerged, its color suddenly darkened, changing from pale green to bluish-purple, and the tips began to twitch irregularly.
Xiao Man's face turned pale instantly, her breathing became erratic, and the vines followed suit, whipping towards Yi Chen, who was closest to her.
In that moment of losing control, Xiao Qi moved.
He quickly got up from the threshold, took three steps into the training field, and grabbed the bluish-purple vine.
Dark red light seeped out from the gaps in the bandages, traveling upwards along the vines. Wherever it passed, the bluish-purple faded to pale green, and the vines' twitching subsided.
Xiao Man's breathing gradually stabilized, and two of the vines retracted.
Once Xiao Man had recovered, Xiao Qi let go of her hand and took a step back. His face was a little paler than before, but he stood there without falling.
Jiang Lin made a note in the booklet. Bai Lingyu stood by the stone wall, not saying a word, but her eyes followed Xiao Qi.
Xiao Man stared blankly at her arm, then glanced at Xiao Qi, opened her mouth but didn't say anything. Xiao Qi had already walked back to the threshold and sat down.
"Continue," Jiang Lin said.
Training continued. Xiao Man urged the vines to sprout again, and this time he managed to keep them steady. A fifth vine emerged, turning bluish-purple, but Xiao Man held his breath, and the vine didn't twitch wildly. After a few breaths, it retracted.
"Okay," Jiang Lin said.
For the remainder of the morning, things did not spiral out of control.
But something happened in the afternoon.
When A Shan was practicing his Scale Transformation, he pushed the coverage area to its limit. The scales crawled from the back of his hand to his forearm, and then from his forearm to his elbow. The color was darker than usual, with a layer of dark blue.
He gritted his teeth and held on for one more breath, his scales expanded outward a little more, and then he swayed.
Xiao Qi had already stood up on the sidelines, but he stopped after taking only a few steps. You might think he realized that A Shan hadn't lost control.
A Shan held on by himself, and the scales slowly receded, retreating from his elbow to his forearm, then from his forearm to the back of his hand, and finally disappeared.
A Shan, panting heavily, turned to look at Jiang Lin and grinned.
Jiang Lin made a note in the booklet. " A Shan's Scale Transformation reached their limit, covering his elbows, but he didn't lose control and retracted on his own."
But after he finished writing, he took another look at A Shan's hand.
The scales have faded completely, but not evenly. There's a small, pale blue mark near the base of my fingers on the back of my hand, as if the scales hadn't completely faded, or as if a mark remained after they did.
A Shan wasn't paying attention; he was swinging his wrist. Jiang Lin didn't say anything immediately, only adding a small question mark to the booklet.
Just when everyone relaxed and thought it was all over safely, something happened to Lin Du.
Lin Du practiced explosive leg techniques. After fifty repetitions of footwork, he added a full-force leap. The sound of his landing was off.
It wasn't the usual light and steady landing; instead, it was a muffled thud, with his foot veering slightly inward as he struck the ground. Lin Du frowned, but didn't stop, pushing off again. The second landing was even louder.
Just as Jiang Lin was about to call a halt, Xiao Qi had already moved.
He rushed over, crouched down, and placed one hand on Lin Du's knee. Dark red light seeped out from the gaps in the bandages, penetrating the meridians around the knee.
Lin Du froze, looking down at his knee. After a few breaths, the feeling of being tilted finally disappeared.
Xiao Qi withdrew her hand and prepared to stand up.
But he couldn't stand up.
His hands were on his knees, his body swayed, and his face was almost translucent with paleness. He tried to get up, but his legs gave way, and he squatted back down. A dim red light flickered through the gaps in the bandages, much weaker than before.
Everyone on the training field saw it.
A Shan was the first to rush forward, his fists still clenched, but he stopped halfway there— Xiao Qi had already braced himself on the ground and slowly stood up. He stood up very slowly, as if he had used a lot of strength, but he didn't fall.
Yi Chen didn't move. But his Spiritual Power probed outwards for a fleeting moment, so subtle that others wouldn't notice. Jiang Lin, however, did. Yi Chen was checking if Xiao Qi's Soul Power was still intact.
Xiao Man stood there, his hands gripping the hem of his clothes, his knuckles white. He wanted to move forward, took a step, then stopped. His lips moved, as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't.
Lin Du was the closest. He looked down at Xiao Qi, watched Xiao Qi stand up by supporting herself on her knees, and watched Xiao Qi turn and walk back to the threshold. He didn't say anything, but his fists were clenched tightly, his knuckles turning white.
Jiang Lin didn't move. His Spirit Eyes had been open the whole time, never turning them off since the start of training.
The instant Xiao Qi collapsed, he saw the Soul Power within Xiao Qi's body collapse, as if a piece had been drained away. He judged in a moment— Xiao Qi could stand up on her own, so he didn't move.
Bai Lingyu had already leaned forward half a step. He was standing by the stone wall, the second closest to Xiao Qi in the entire area. If Xiao Qi couldn't stand up, he would rush over within half a breath. But Xiao Qi stood up, so he stopped and pulled back the half step he had leaned forward.
Xiao Qi didn't look at anyone, walked back to the threshold, and sat down. Leaning against the door frame, her bandaged arm rested on her knee, her fingers trembling slightly.
Jiang Lin saw all of this.
He didn't go over, nor did he call a halt. He simply watched Xiao Qi sit back on the threshold, watched his breathing gradually calm down, and watched the dark red light in the gaps in the bandages reappear—darker than before, but not extinguished.
Then he turned to look at the fourth son.
"Continue."
During the rest of the afternoon training, no one lost control. However, the four trained much more cautiously than in the morning. A Shan held back his strength when punching, Yi Chen didn't push his Spiritual Power to its maximum, Xiao Man stopped pushing the vines after the fourth one, Lin Du took each step very steadily.
Jiang Lin didn't correct them. He knew that enough was enough for today.
That evening, after the four sons returned to their room, Jiang Lin sat in the hall organizing the booklets. Bai Lingyu walked in and sat down opposite him.
"There were three instances of things getting out of control today," Bai Lingyu said.
"Um."
" Xiao Qi was fine the first two times she attacked, but she fell the third time. Although she got up again, she was just barely hanging on."
Jiang Lin nodded. He was also observing this. Xiao Qi's judgment was accurate both times he made his moves today— Xiao Man had already lost control, and Lin Du's knee was already bent—and he acted when he should have. But after Lin Du's incident, he couldn't hold on any longer.
It's clear that the backlash is accumulating, not linearly, but cumulatively. You can withstand it the first time, you can withstand it the second time, but the third time it will overwhelm you.
"If it's four times a day, Xiao Qi will collapse," Bai Lingyu said.
"So there can't be four times," Jiang Lin said. "Today's dosage is just at the critical point. Reduce the dosage tomorrow, and increase it again depending on the situation."
Bai Lingyu nodded, offering no objection.
Jiang Lin lowered his head and wrote a few lines, then stopped. He looked towards the entrance of the hall. The door was open, and outside was the training ground. Moonlight shone on the newly compacted yellow earth, turning it a grayish-white.
Xiao Qi wasn't on the threshold.
Jiang Lin stood up and walked to the door. There was light coming from the direction of the woodshed, though it was very dark, but it shone through the crack in the door. Jiang Lin walked over and stood outside the woodshed door without knocking.
It was very quiet inside. After a few moments, a very soft sound came out, like someone was rummaging through something.
Jiang Lin did not go in.
He turned and went back into the hall, sat down, opened the booklet, and wrote a line below today's date.
" Xiao Qi made two accurate judgments. The third backlash was compounded, but she managed to hold on. The maximum number of times she can do this is about three. There are still remnants after A Shan's Scale Transformation were recovered; we need to observe them further."
After finishing writing, he paused, then turned to the last page of the booklet. There was a small piece of paper tucked inside, containing the notes he had made up the night before regarding the unusual Yu Feng Token.
He picked up his pen and added a sentence below that line.
" The Yu Feng Token vibrated, but contained no information. No contact was made with the Dean, and the Dean did not send a message. Source unknown. Recorded for now."
After writing, he tucked the piece of paper back into the last page of the booklet and closed it.
The Yu Feng Token in his sleeve stopped vibrating.
He turned to look at the woodshed. The dark red light under the door of the woodshed had been lit once that evening, and after it was lit, it was a little dimmer than yesterday.
Jiang Lin sat in the darkness and tucked the booklet into his sleeve.
It was very quiet in the woodshed. After a long silence, a cough was heard.
It was very light, pressed down, as if afraid of being overheard. Jiang Lin sat in the hall, not getting up.
He looked down and opened the booklet, writing two words on the blank space of the last page: cough.
After finishing writing, he closed the booklet and looked down at the back of his hand.
That was a faint blue stain that had gotten on A Shan when he was checking his Scale Transformation. He had thought he had rubbed it off, but it was still there. He tried to wipe it off with his hand, but it wouldn't come off. He tried again, but the faint blue stain seemed to be embedded under his skin, completely still.
Jiang Lin stopped what he was doing.
He held his hand up to the light of the oil lamp and looked at it for a long time.
Outside the window, beneath the crack in the woodshed door, the dim red light hadn't shone even once that night.