She Discovered My Secret with Just One Look

"This is what my father left behind before he died."

Li Man placed the broken badge on the stone table.

The badge was only half the size of a palm, its edge seemingly cleaved apart by a sharp blade. Black curves surrounded the vertical eye at its center, forming a pattern almost identical to the one on the back of Mo Lin's card.

Dong Jian placed the two items side by side.

Their broken edges fit together perfectly.

"What was your father's name?"

"Li Ze."

Li Man's voice was calm.

But the fingers at her side had quietly clenched.

"Three years ago, he received an invitation to join a Mutated Martial Soul research project."

"They promised to provide internal Spirit Hall documents, Soul Beast samples, and a fully equipped experimental facility."

"Six months after he joined the project, he suddenly lost contact."

"Later, a group of strangers delivered a death certificate to the Li family pharmacy."

Dong Jian looked at the badge.

"What about the body?"

"There wasn't one."

"They said my father was attacked by a Soul Beast in the Star Dou Great Forest, and his body had already been devoured."

Li Man gave a cold laugh.

"But my father was a level twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster."

"His Martial Soul wasn't good at fighting, but it was exceptionally adept at sensing toxins and Soul Beast presences."

"With a Soul Hunting team protecting him, he couldn't possibly have died without a sound on the outskirts of the forest."

"So you suspect Mo Lin?"

"I suspect everyone who wears this symbol."

Li Man looked up at Dong Jian.

"Including the people your mother once had dealings with."

The atmosphere in the courtyard grew heavy.

Dong Shan stood at the entrance to the smithy. When he heard this, his expression grew even uglier.

"Enough."

"The Dong family's affairs are no business of outsiders."

Li Man didn't back down.

"Mo Lin has already come knocking."

"If you keep pretending you don't know anything, you'll only make it easier for him to strike."

Dong Shan looked at her coldly.

"Didn't you come here to study Jian'er's Martial Soul too?"

"Yes."

Li Man admitted it directly.

"I want to know why his Martial Soul shattered the testing crystal, and whether it has anything to do with that organization."

"But I won't force him to undergo an examination."

"Still less will I hand the research results over to anyone."

Dong Shan clearly didn't believe her.

"People who study Martial Souls always make their words sound nice."

"Once they get what they really want, they'll say sacrificing one person is for the sake of a future for more Soul Masters."

Li Man's expression changed slightly.

Dong Jian noticed.

Those words seemed to have touched on something she least wanted to remember.

"Father."

Dong Jian broke the silence.

"I want to work with her."

Dong Shan spun around.

"Jian'er!"

"Mo Lin already knows my Martial Soul has an independent consciousness."

"He also knew my mother."

Dong Jian pointed at the card on the table.

"Even if we do nothing, he won't give up his investigation."

"At least Li Man has some clues about that organization."

"I can help her investigate her father's death, and she can help me analyze my Martial Soul."

Dong Shan fell silent.

It wasn't that he didn't understand the reasoning.

It was just that his wife's departure all those years ago had made him instinctively reject anyone connected to Martial Soul research.

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"I do."

Dong Jian nodded.

"I won't tell her all my secrets."

Li Man glanced at him.

"Neither will I."

For the first time, the two reached an agreement on something.

Cooperation did not equal trust.

At least, not now.

In the end, Dong Shan stopped trying to prevent it.

"You can only conduct the tests in the courtyard."

"No drawing blood, and no using potions of unknown origin."

"A copy of every record must be left with the Dong family."

"Agreed."

Li Man answered without hesitation.

She opened the cloth bundle she had brought.

Besides several medicinal herbs, it contained a measuring tape, a small weighing scale, narrow-mouthed medicine bottles, and a thick record book.

Clearly, she had come prepared.

Dong Jian's eye twitched at the sight.

"Did you guess I'd agree before you came?"

"No."

Li Man set the record book on the table.

"If you refused, I would record your reasons for refusing."

"What use would that be?"

"It would prove you were sufficiently vigilant."

For the first time, Dong Jian felt that this quiet-looking girl might not be easy to deal with.

"First, we'll test the basic data."

Li Man pointed to an open space in the courtyard.

"Release your Martial Soul, but don't use possession."

Dong Jian focused.

The illusory figure of a black-and-white panda emerged behind him.

After it appeared, it first looked from side to side.

Seeing no food on the stone table, it plopped down beside Dong Jian.

Li Man walked a circle around the panda.

"About 1.2 meters tall."

"The shoulders and back are noticeably broader than those of an ordinary bear cub."

"Its teeth and bite are very strong."

"It possesses a degree of independent consciousness."

After recording this, she looked up at the panda.

"Can it understand what we're saying?"

"It should be able to understand some of it."

Dong Jian said.

Li Man picked up an ordinary stalk of bamboo.

The panda's ears immediately perked up.

She moved the bamboo to the left.

The panda's head turned left after it.

Then she moved it to the right.

The panda looked right.

Li Man wrote a line in the record book.

"Its response to food is more pronounced than its response to language."

Dong Jian's face darkened.

"Was there any need to record that?"

"Any characteristic could be connected to a Martial Soul's abilities."

Li Man held out the bamboo.

The panda grabbed it in its arms and lowered its head to gnaw on it.

"Martial Souls can't actually eat."

Dong Shan frowned and said:

"Even if they have the form of a beast, they're only projections formed from Soul Power."

"So where did the things it ate go?"

Li Man looked at Dong Jian.

Dong Jian didn't know either.

The panda had eaten an Awakening Stone.

Now it was eating bamboo from the real world.

But Dong Jian didn't feel anything extra in his stomach.

That proved the food hadn't entered his body.

Li Man quickly wrote a new question in the record book.

"Next, Martial Soul Possession."

With a thought from Dong Jian, the panda moved.

The panda turned into a stream of black-and-white light and merged into his body.

The instant his feet touched the ground, the earth in the courtyard sank slightly.

Li Man had him stand on the scale.

Before possession, Dong Jian weighed about forty jin.

After possession, the needle went straight past seventy jin.

"An increase of nearly eighty percent."

Li Man frowned.

"With possession by an ordinary bear-type Martial Soul, the change in weight wouldn't be this pronounced."

"No wonder Su Yuntao judged you suitable for the defense system."

"You think so too?"

Dong Jian asked.

"Based on the current data, yes."

Li Man didn't change her judgment to please him.

"Increased weight, greater bone strength, reduced speed."

"If you can't solve the mobility problem, defense is the most reasonable path of development."

Dong Jian walked into the courtyard.

"Then watch again."

He bent his legs and suddenly pushed off.

He didn't sprint in a straight line.

Instead, he rolled forward.

His round body sped close to the ground. After dodging a wooden rack stacked in the courtyard, he planted his right foot against the wall.

He used the resulting force to change direction.

Then he landed steadily in front of Li Man.

The whole process wasn't particularly fast.

But it was far more agile than an ordinary, clumsy bear-type Martial Soul.

For the first time, clear surprise appeared in Li Man's eyes.

"Do it again."

Dong Jian repeated what he had just done.

This time, Li Man watched his feet and waist.

"You're not relying on speed alone."

"You're using the inertia generated by your weight."

"When you roll, you lower your body to reduce resistance to movement."

"After you make contact with the wall, you use the reaction force to change direction."

She looked down at Dong Jian's feet.

"Your control over your center of gravity has at least doubled since yesterday."

"It hasn't improved."

Dong Jian said:

"I've only just learned how to use it."

Li Man fell silent for a moment, then crossed out the words "pure defense type" in her record book.

She wrote in their place:

Both defense and power attack, with a special method of movement.

"My earlier assessment was incomplete."

She spoke.

Dong Jian was somewhat surprised.

"You admit you were wrong?"

"A mistaken assessment isn't worth clinging to."

Li Man's tone was calm.

"Whenever new evidence emerges, the original conclusion should be revised."

Dong Jian looked at her for a few seconds.

Her words reminded him of Yu Xiaogang, whom he had yet to formally meet.

If the so-called Grandmaster could admit his mistakes so readily, there might be far less trouble in the future.

Unfortunately, judging by the personality he remembered, that was nearly impossible.

"Next, we'll test your Soul Power."

Li Man took out a slender medicine bottle.

Dong Shan immediately frowned.

"I said you couldn't use any potions of unknown origin."

"This isn't for him to drink."

Li Man pulled out the stopper.

A faint herbal fragrance wafted out.

"This is Soul-Revealing Liquid."

"When it comes into contact with Soul Power, it changes color according to the concentration."

"It won't enter the body, and it isn't poisonous."

She dripped three drops of clear liquid onto the stone table.

Then she took out a purple herb.

"This is Purple Leaf Root. It can temporarily stimulate the flow of Soul Power."

"You only need to hold it. You don't have to consume it."

Dong Jian had just reached out for it.

But the panda Martial Soul behind him suddenly reappeared.

Its nose twitched.

Its gaze locked onto the Purple Leaf Root in an instant.

"Oh no."

A trace of foreboding rose in Dong Jian's heart.

The panda had already pounced.

All Li Man saw was a flash of black and white before her eyes.

The Purple Leaf Root vanished from her hand.

Crunch!

Clutching the medicinal herb, the panda bit off more than half of it in one mouthful.

"That herb was worth two Silver Soul Coins!"

For the first time, Li Man lost her composure.

Dong Jian hurriedly tried to withdraw his Martial Soul.

But the panda turned its back and shielded the remaining herb with both paws.

In just a few bites, it ate every last bit.

"I'll pay for it."

That was what Dong Jian said, but his mind was fully immersed in his body.

The Purple Leaf Root had not entered his stomach.

After the panda swallowed it, the energy in the herb transformed directly into a stream of pale purple Qi.

The stream flowed along the Martial Soul into his bones and muscles.

Finally, it merged with the black and white Soul Power in his body.

A wisp of exceedingly fine emerald-green energy slowly came into being deep within his meridians.

The Divine Dragon Secret Realm trembled in response.

Absorbable life energy detected.

Converting medicinal power.

The conditions for the second trial of the Body Refining Hall have been met.

Dong Jian's expression shifted slightly.

The panda Martial Soul can devour the energy in medicinal herbs?

Li Man had no time to lament the loss of the herb.

She smeared the three drops of Soul-Revealing Liquid on Dong Jian's wrist.

When the clear liquid came into contact with his Soul Power, it first turned pale blue.

That represented level-six Soul Power.

But after a few breaths, a ring of black and white light appeared beneath the pale blue.

The black and white light kept contracting inward.

In the end, it formed a speck of emerald green at the center.

Li Man stared at the drop of liquid, her expression growing increasingly grave.

"Just as I thought, something's wrong."

"What's wrong?"

Dong Shan asked at once.

"The Soul Power in Dong Jian's meridians isn't all of it."

Li Man reached out and pressed his wrist, then gently moved her hand up his arm.

"An ordinary Soul Master's Soul Power is mainly stored in the meridians and inside the body."

"But a large portion of his Soul Power has sunk into his muscles, bones, and Martial Soul."

"An ordinary crystal can only draw out the Soul Power in his meridians. That's why the test result was level six."

"What if you count it all?"

Dong Jian asked.

Li Man didn't answer immediately.

She took out three different concentrations of Soul-Revealing Liquid and compared them one after another.

Only after half an hour did she raise her head.

"At least level nine."

The courtyard fell silent in an instant.

Dong Shan's breath caught.

Level-nine Innate Soul Power was already enough to make someone a top-tier genius.

It was only one level below Tang San's Innate Full Soul Power.

"At least?"

Dong Jian had caught the key point.

"Your total energy is close to level ten."

Li Man said:

"But part of it can't be drawn upon."

"It's as if something has sealed it in the deepest part of your Martial Soul."

"Ordinary meditation methods can only cultivate the outer layer of Soul Power."

"If the outer Soul Power grows too quickly, the two black and white forces in your body may lose their balance."

She closed her record book.

"Until we find a cultivation method suited to you, you'd better not casually meditate according to the academy's cultivation method."

Dong Jian thought of the Divine Dragon Secret Realm.

Cultivating the body, Soul Power, and that emerald-green Qi at the same time.

Perhaps the secret realm itself was the cultivation method best suited to him.

But he couldn't tell Li Man.

At least, not yet.

"We can work together."

Dong Jian spoke.

"You help me record the changes in my Martial Soul and look for information on Mo Lin and that organization."

"I'll help you investigate your father's death."

Li Man looked at him.

"The research results can't be given to a third person."

"Including Spirit Hall."

"Agreed."

"Without my permission, you can't use my body or Martial Soul for dangerous experiments."

"Agreed."

"The money for that Purple Leaf Root..."

"I'll pay for it."

Two hands clasped.

And so, a partnership built on secrets and suspicion was formed.

Just then, a rumble once again echoed through the depths of Dong Jian's consciousness.

In the Body Refining Hall of the Divine Dragon Secret Realm, nine wooden figures had fully awakened.

A new line of golden text had appeared on the second stone stele.

Second trial activated.

Withstand the attacks of nine wooden figures for the time it takes one incense stick to burn.

Penalty for failure: all medicinal power will be reclaimed.

The corner of Dong Jian's mouth twitched slightly.

The two Silver Soul Coins the panda had just eaten-

Apparently, it hadn't eaten them for free.