Jade Firmament Nine Hearts--All Things Grow

Wherever the halo reached, life spread like a tide. Withered specimens on the medicine shelves put out new shoots, fine blades of grass pushed through the cracks between the floor tiles, and even the half-dead old tree in the courtyard outside the window quietly opened a flower at that moment.

Then the light shattered.

Like a pricked bubble, the emerald and white light broke apart at once. Tang Yin's knees buckled, and he dropped to one knee, large beads of sweat striking the ground from his temple. Ye Lingling fared worse: her body swayed, and she slipped limply off the stool. Tang Yin struggled to reach out and caught her before she hit the floor.

Leaning against each other, both of them panted too hard to speak.

The door burst open. Qin Ming rushed in and took one look at the pothos growing wildly throughout the room, the two children collapsed on the floor, and Shi Mo gaping on the stone platform. His expression changed.

"You two..." His voice tightened. "What was that just now?"

Supporting Ye Lingling, Tang Yin panted for a long while before managing to squeeze out a sentence. "A Martial Soul Fusion Skill: Jade Firmament Nine Hearts--All Things Grow."

Qin Ming froze on the spot.

In all his years of teaching, he had seen Martial Soul Fusion Skills-top-tier skills that could only be unleashed when husband and wife or close blood relatives were of one mind, a sight rarely seen in a century. But the two children before him, one eight years old and the other... he calculated Ye Lingling's age. This was the first time the two had properly worked together, so how had they-

"Have you... tried it before?"

"No." Ye Lingling leaned in the crook of Tang Yin's arm, her face pale and her voice barely more than a breath. "Just... now."

Qin Ming closed his eyes briefly.

He walked over and crouched down, looking at the two exhausted children. Tang Yin was still bracing himself with one hand, holding Ye Lingling half in his arms. The fatigue on his young face was impossible to hide, but his gaze was steady. Ye Lingling leaned against his shoulder, and in those usually quiet eyes was a light he had never seen before-not surprise, not fear, but a kind of... confirmation.

As if she had finally confirmed something.

"Listen." Qin Ming kept his voice extremely low. "From today onward, this matter rots in this room."

Tang Yin and Ye Lingling both looked at him.

"The Martial Soul Fusion Skill is the greatest trump card the two of you have," Qin Ming said, enunciating every word. "At the tournament, until you truly need it-no one can know. Not Dugu Yan, not Yu Tianheng, no one on the team. This is your secret, and the Imperial Fighting Team's secret."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over their overlapping figures, then added in a gentler tone, "...Also, don't casually try what you two just did again. The fusion skill takes too much out of you. Your current Soul Power can't sustain it. Save it for when it's needed."

Tang Yin nodded. Ye Lingling also gave a soft "Mm."

Qin Ming hauled Shi Mo out and closed the door behind them.

The treatment room fell quiet again.

The pothos growing wildly throughout the room was still slowly unfurling, its emerald leaves translucent in the sunlight. Tang Yin supported Ye Lingling. Neither of them had the strength to stand, so they sat there on the floor with their backs against the stone platform.

After a long time, Ye Lingling spoke softly. "Just now... I felt you."

Tang Yin turned his head to look at her.

"In your heart," she paused, as if weighing her words, "there's a place I can't understand."

Tang Yin was silent. He knew what it was-the memories of a transmigrator, the ending he knew but couldn't speak of, the twenty-odd years that didn't belong to this world, hidden beneath his eight-year-old skin.

"Everyone has places others can't understand," he said at last.

Ye Lingling smiled faintly. She didn't press him, only rested her head back on his shoulder, her voice as soft as a sigh. "Mm. Then from now on... I'll take my time looking."

Tang Yin said nothing.

The sunlight outside the window shifted, falling across their clasped hands. All around the room, the pothos swayed gently in the breeze, like countless green palms holding their secret tightly under cover.