Embryonic Domain, Martial Soul Fusion Skill

That's not right. By rights, a domain should give all my attributes a huge boost. Is it only an embryonic domain? Is my bloodline purity too low, or is it something else...

The sun had set by the time Tang Yin left the training ground.

When the members of the Imperial Fighting Team heard about it, they all admired Tang Yin, much to his confusion.

After talking with them, he learned that the others' Mimicry Training Grounds were dangerous, and they got injured every time they trained. Even so, his actions made them train more diligently.

When Qin Ming called the two of them into his office, he was holding a training plan.

"Starting tomorrow, you two will train for an extra two hours every afternoon." He pushed the paper toward them. "Dual-support coordination."

Tang Yin and Ye Lingling exchanged a glance.

"Our team has two healing types now." Qin Ming leaned back in his chair. "I've seen both of you heal people on your own. Little Yin, your strengths are purification and vine control; Lingling, the Nine Heart Begonia's healing is among the best on the continent. But you've never tried putting those two strengths to work together."

He paused, his gaze moving between them. "If the Imperial Fighting Team wants to go far, its back row can't have two support members each doing their own thing. You need to work as one."

Ye Lingling nodded gently without speaking. Tang Yin murmured his agreement.

"Tomorrow afternoon, in the treatment room." Qin Ming waved a hand. "You can go."

The following afternoon, in the treatment room.

The room was small, with a stone table in the center and medicine shelves arranged around it. A potted pothos sat quietly on the windowsill. Ye Lingling had already arrived. Dressed in a plain white gown, she sat by the window with a medical text in her hands. At the sound of footsteps, she looked up. When she saw Tang Yin, the faintest hint of a smile appeared in her eyes.

"Sit." She pointed to the stool opposite her.

Tang Yin sat down. A stone table separated them, and neither spoke first. He wasn't quite used to this kind of silence-not awkward, but the kind where neither person spoke and neither felt the least bit uncomfortable. Ye Lingling always had a strange air of calm about her, like water.

"What are we practicing today?" Tang Yin asked.

"Teacher Qin said we should first try... healing the same target at the same time." Ye Lingling's voice was soft. "I'll send in my healing, and you send in your life. We'll see if we can bring them together."

"And the target?"

The words had barely left his mouth when the door swung open. Shi Mo walked in, grimacing, a bandage wrapped around his arm.

"Me!" He lay down on the stone table. "I twisted it during extra training this morning. You can try it on me."

Tang Yin and Ye Lingling exchanged a glance. Well, that settled it.

Tang Yin stood to the left of the stone table. Blue Silver vines spilled from his palm and settled gently on Shi Mo's arm. Ye Lingling stood on the right, her Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul appearing behind her. Its nine white petals bloomed silently as a warm, gentle white light descended from her palm.

The two forces surged toward Shi Mo at once.

At first, each went its own way. Tang Yin's emerald life energy cleared blockages and purified, gradually dissolving the pooled blood in Shi Mo's muscles. Ye Lingling's white light repaired and healed, slowly setting the sprained tendons back in place. The two worked together smoothly. Shi Mo groaned a couple of times, then exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? It doesn't hurt? It really doesn't hurt anymore?"

But just then, Tang Yin's emerald light and Ye Lingling's white light met at a spot on Shi Mo's arm.

It wasn't a collision.

It was... a kiss.

The instant the two streams of life energy touched, they flowed together with a hum, like two streams that had been separated for too long. The emerald and white lights did not cancel each other out. Instead, they intertwined and nourished each other, twisting into a warm, gentle power that was almost sacred, unlike anything Tang Yin had ever felt.

Tang Yin's whole body trembled.

He could feel Ye Lingling.

He couldn't see or hear her-he could feel her. Through that mingled energy, he "saw" into the quiet girl's heart: it was like a windless lake, so pure it held not a trace of impurity, not even a single stray thought. Her healing wasn't a skill, but an instinct. Gentleness was part of who she was.

At the same time, Ye Lingling froze.

She could feel Tang Yin. Beneath the life energy of this boy who was always silent, always on his own, lay something she couldn't understand-something deep and still, as though it concealed an entire starry sky she couldn't see. She even sensed a faint trace of... weariness that didn't belong to someone his age.

They looked up at the same time.

Their eyes met.

The light in the treatment room changed.

Centered on the stone table, a halo woven from emerald and white light spread fiercely outward. It was neither a domain Tang Yin had released on his own nor Ye Lingling's healing alone. The two powers had intertwined and opened up an entirely new space. An illusory Nine Heart Begonia appeared behind Tang Yin, while Blue Silver Emperor vines spread beneath Ye Lingling's feet. For the first time, both Martial Souls manifested on one person at the same time, yet both belonged to two people.

The potted pothos on the windowsill went wild.

Its vines shot out at a speed visible to the naked eye, its leaves opening and unfurling as emerald sap raced through their veins. In the blink of an eye, it had covered half a wall. Startled, Shi Mo scrambled upright on the stone table. Not only had the injury to his arm healed completely, but the aches in his back and waist from the past few days of training had also been swept away by the warm, gentle halo.

"Wh-what is this..." Shi Mo stared at the plants growing wildly throughout the room.

Tang Yin was speechless. He could feel an invisible thread connecting him to Ye Lingling. Her healing flowed into his vines, and his life poured into her petals. The two shared a single breath.

Jade Firmament Nine Hearts.

He didn't know where the name had come from, but there it was, as natural as the fusion skill itself.

All things came to life.