The Promise and the Soul Bone

In the dusk on the mountain behind Holy Soul Village, the sound of hammering iron rang out.

Tang Yin stood at the cave entrance halfway up the mountain, without going in. The hammer blows were dull and steady, striking the dusk one by one, as though pounding some long-buried story into the iron a little at a time. He waited for three blows before the hammering stopped.

"Got your ring?" The voice from inside the cave was rough, carrying the ever-present smell of alcohol.

"I did." Tang Yin entered the cave. Firelight picked out the man's silhouette-tall and imposing, his face covered in stubble, yet his eyes shone as though tempered in fire.

"My second ring is a thousand-year ring. I'm level twenty-one now."

Tang Yin's movements paused. He said nothing, slowly straightened up, and walked into the depths of the cave. When he returned, he carried something wrapped in layers of gray cloth.

"Your mother left this." Tang Hao laid it on the anvil, his voice very soft. "I hid it for eight years. Eight years."

The gray cloth came off layer by layer, revealing a bone.

The bone was long and slender, glowing softly blue like a piece of sapphire crystal soaked in moonlight, with faint streams of light flowing within it-the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone. Even after ten years wrapped in gray cloth, it still gave off an irrepressible breath of life, so warm and gentle it was almost searing.

Tang Yin's Martial Soul stirred. It was an attraction at the level of its very origin.

"Your mother was the Blue Silver Emperor." Tang Hao looked at the bone, and the firelight in his eyes dimmed for a moment. "A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in human form, forced into sacrificing herself by Spirit Hall. This bone was the last thing she left in this world."

"Why give it to me?" Tang Yin asked. "What about my brother?"

Tang Hao looked up at him, his gaze remarkably calm. "I've paved your brother's road for him-the Clear Sky Hammer, the Clear Sky Sect. That's the road he should walk. You're different." He paused. "Your mother's blood runs in your veins. This bone was always meant for the one who walks her road."

Tang Yin took the Soul Bone. The cold surface touched his palm, and his Blue Silver vines wound around it almost at the same instant. Blue and emerald light mingled the moment they touched, and the Soul Bone gave an almost audible hum, like a sigh at a reunion after a long separation.

There was no rejection. No tearing. As the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone entered his body, it was as gentle as a leaf falling back to the roots of a tree.

A searing heat came from his right leg, followed by a surging vitality that nearly overwhelmed him. The Soul Bone resonated with his bloodline, and two impressions surfaced in his mind-flight. Wildfires cannot burn it away; the spring breeze brings it back to life.

Tang Yin's eyelashes trembled. He felt as though his right leg had been reforged, becoming lighter and more resilient, with endless strength flowing through every inch of bone.

"...Does it hurt?" Tang Hao asked.

"No," Tang Yin said. "It's like coming home."

Tang Hao said nothing more and turned to reach for his wine flask. Just as Tang Yin absorbed the Soul Bone, the seed against his chest suddenly grew hot, burning like an ignited heartbeat. His right leg was hot too, as though two specks of starlight deep within his bloodline were calling to each other.

Tang Hao's hand stopped. He looked at the seed, his gaze sinking bit by bit, yet something seemed to loosen in the depths of his eyes.

"...Your mother's seed," he said hoarsely. He reached out to touch it, then drew his hand back. "Keep it. Don't lose it."

Tang Yin used his Martial Soul to guide the Blue Silver Emperor's seed and put it away safely within his Martial Soul.

"Looks like I need to give Dugu Bo's herb garden some thought."

Tang Hao sat on the bed, drinking.

Tang Yin spoke first. "Will he... hate me?" His mother's keepsake had ended up in his hands.

Tang Hao put down the wine flask and looked at him, speaking one word at a time. "No. Little San values family above all else."

"Go on. Whether it's Heaven Dou or wherever else-don't die out there."