After a short while, Tang Wulin and Na’er reached the lakeside of Sea God’s Lake.

  “Big Brother, aren’t you going to ask about my martial soul?” Na’er prompted as she summoned her spear. With a flick of her hand, it writhed and undulated, no more than a silver blur. “It’s called the Silver Dragon Spear.”


  Silver Dragon Spear? Tang Wulin’s eyes went wide, his heart racing with anticipation.

  With a giggle, her martial soul vanished. She hopped onto the small boat parked on the shore with the grace of a fairy. Tang Wulin quickly followed suit.

  The moon hung clear in the evening sky. Below, the lake caught the lunar and celestial glow, a cascading reflection upon the calm surface. Their small boat cut through the lake of stars, ripples distorting the still image in their wake.

  “The stars are pretty tonight!” Na’er said, a gleeful smile tugging on pink lips.

  Tang Wulin took in her joyful expression and found it contagious. His heart was at peace. It didn’t matter to him that she was a powerful soul master. No. All he cared about was that his little sister was safe and sound. That they had reunited.

  This beautiful, serene scene was fleeting, the boat slowly approaching Sea God’s Island. But it was precious all the same.

  After docking on Sea God’s Island, the two disembarked, their feet taking them toward the center of the island. Na’er clung to Tang Wulin’s arm, her lips never changing from an adoring smile. He couldn’t help but ruffle her hair the way he did when they were kids. The love in her eyes. He could see them glowing so.

  “This is where I live,” Na’er whispered, her arm slowly rising, a finger pointed at a small wooded hill to the side.

  Tang Wulin stopped and faced her. “Okay. Hurry on home.”


  “Big Brother, are we meeting at the same place tomorrow?” she said, looking up at him.

  “Sure! I’m not sure if I can stay out this long tomorrow though. I still need to cultivate.”


  “Yay! I’ll be happy as long as I get to see you.” With that, Na’er waved him goodbye, then left for the hill, her figure shrinking with every step.

  After she was no longer a speck in the distance, Tang Wulin took in a deep breath. In and out. The joy in his heart for reuniting with Na’er burned radiantly, warming his chest in soft brushes.

  In the next few days, Tang Wulin diligently practiced Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens. Since his blood essence was as vigorous as it was and he had already achieved the foundation of reversing his blood essence flow, he quickly picked up everything from Zhuo Shi’s next lesson. Which was on the sixth day, and covered the second of the Nine Arts of the Scarlet Dragon. Dragon Shakes the Earth. For Tang Wulin, the art was more personalized: Golden Dragon Shakes the Earth. After shocking the heavens, shaking the earth next seemed the most appropriate.

  Tang Wulin was able to progress quickly thanks to his foundation in Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens. However, he was still sullen. Try as he might, he still couldn’t figure out the purpose of his second blood essence soul skill. Apart from causing his scales to shine, that was. All that trouble to break the fourth seal, but the soul ring he gained appeared to be useless.

  Although he didn’t pay too much mind to Na’er’s strength, her four soul rings and masterful spear technique ignited a fire to cultivate in his heart. He had spent the last few days fervently cultivating, his dates with Na’er his only periods of rest. He was desperate to grow, to improve his combat strength and increase his soul power.

  “Big Brother, what’s got you down these last couple of days?” Na’er’s eyes held concern.

  “It’s my second golden soul ring. I still don’t know what its skill does,” Tang Wulin said. He did not hide from her anything about his bizarre bloodline or golden soul rings, only keeping the seals a secret.

  With both his parents missing, Na’er was his last remaining family.

  “What about it?” Na’er asked. “How about you show me? Maybe I can help you.”


  “Okay.” Tang Wulin urged his blood essence. Golden scales manifested on his body and two golden rings appeared around him. “Take a look.”


  His first soul ring lit up and the golden scales became finer and more lustrous. Then he lit up the second ring. Tang Wulin was helpless to activate the skill any other way, stuck using Golden Dragon Body first, which increased his blood essence consumption significantly.

  The scales on his body shone with a dazzling light, miniature mirrors each and every one of them. Two seconds later, the shining faded.

  “That’s it. All it does is make me shiny for a couple of seconds. And it consumes a lot of blood essence. I have no idea how I’m supposed to use it. Nothing happens to my blood essence or soul power apart from them being consumed. I can’t attack with it either.”


  After some thought, Na’er said, “What about defense? Did anything change about your defense?”


  Tang Wulin’s eyes went blank as he searched within himself. Defense? I never thought about that! He had been too focused on improving his attack power. That was natural, since even his bluesilver grass’ functionality was mainly crowd control. Maybe it really is a defense skill?

  “I didn’t feel any changes to my defense though.”


  “Well, let’s test it out first,” Na’er said.

  “Alright.” But Tang Wulin’s interest was waning. Even if it were a defense skill, he couldn’t see how it would be useful or increase his combat power.

  He roused his blood essence once more and used the second blood essence soul skill. Again, his scales shone brightly.

  Na’er summoned her spear into her hand in a flash of light. She swung the spear at his stomach without any hesitation.

  Tang Wulin’s lit scales flashed. As soon as that happened, Na’er felt a sucking force on her, the blood essence within her raging as it rushed out to be absorbed by Tang Wulin. After absorbing the blood essence, Tang Wulin shone even brighter. He felt the whole action keenly, the energy behind Na’er’s attack being drained to empower him, his own blood essence boiling with strength in the process.

  A dragon roared deep within him and he subconsciously directed a palm of Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens toward the sky. The roar thundered, a phantom dragon head on the cusp of being tangible bursting out his open palm. Tang Wulin noticed the radiance of his body dim, but this Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens he released was four times more powerful than normal. W-what happened? Na’er’s attack didn’t hurt at all!

  Na’er examined him pensively. “It looks like it’s more than just a defense skill.”


  It occured to Tang Wulin after finishing Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens that not only was it far more destructive, it also consumed less energy and was released faster than usual. Is it some sort of support skill?

  “Big Brother, can you use it again?” Na’er asked.

  “Yeah. I should be able to.”


  “Okay. Let’s try it again then.”


  “Got it!” Tang Wulin’s second golden ring lit up on command.

  Instead of swinging her spear this time, Na’er thrust it hard. It pierced through the air like a lightning bolt, straight for Tang Wulin’s right arm where the scales were thickest.

  Upon impact, Tang Wulin’s scales flashed brightly once more. Rather than facing the sky this time, he spun around and stomped on the ground. Eight phantom dragons burst from below him. Golden Dragon Shakes the Earth.