The sun peeked over the horizon, casting a golden hue across the training grounds of Shrek Academy. Tang San stood in quiet solitude, his breath steady, his expression calm. Yet deep within him, a fierce energy pulsed—the result of months of cultivation, battles, and discoveries.
This morning, however, felt different. The previous night, his blood had boiled with intensity during meditation, surging through his veins as if something ancient within him had awakened. The spirit bone he had absorbed—the Fox Emperor's Legacy—had begun reacting violently with his body's blood refinement progress, inducing an evolution he had not foreseen.
Tang San opened his palm, gazing at the subtle glow of the fox-mark sigil resting upon the back of his hand. Unlike spirit rings or bones, this sigil pulsed with sentience, its magic interwoven with his own.
"It's growing again..."
He muttered to himself, feeling a surge in his physical strength. His speed, already formidable, had become more fluid. Illusions formed more instinctively, and his blood refinement technique now affected his muscles, skin, and bones in a deeper, more profound way.
But Tang San did not smile.
Power came with consequence. He remembered Grandmaster's words clearly: "Your foundation is solid, but you must not climb too quickly. The strength you wield must be yours in spirit and heart, not just in body."
Today, he would heed that wisdom.
As the sun rose higher, the students of Shrek gathered for their daily practice. Dai Mubai, Oscar, Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, and Xiao Wu trained in their own rhythm, but it was Tang San who drew most attention. Not by showmanship, but through the weight his presence carried.
Xiao Wu stood at a distance, her eyes filled with curiosity and something deeper. Tang San had changed again. His aura was colder in combat but remained warm with his friends. She admired that duality, that balance.
"He's...like a storm held inside a calm lake," she whispered to herself.
"What was that, Xiao Wu?" Rongrong asked with a sly grin.
"Nothing!" Xiao Wu's cheeks flushed, and she turned away.
Later that afternoon, Grandmaster summoned Tang San for a private session. Within the quiet room lined with scrolls and ancient texts, the elder looked at his disciple with a stern gaze.
"You are progressing rapidly, Tang San. Perhaps faster than I anticipated. But it's not just your cultivation. There is a...depth in your eyes."
Tang San hesitated, then spoke.
"I believe... I am awakening something beyond Blue Silver Grass. My bloodline. Something from the past."
He removed his glove and showed the fox-mark sigil.
Grandmaster studied it carefully, brows tightening.
"That is no ordinary spirit mark. It responds to your bloodline. You mentioned the Fox Emperor bone, yes? This might be an evolution, a dormant line of blood awakening through spiritual refinement."
Tang San nodded. "But it's not affecting my spirit rings. It feels...separate."
"It might be a hybrid inheritance. Not all power follows the rules of spirit cultivation. You must learn to walk both paths, and never let one outpace the other."
"Yes, Grandmaster."
By evening, Tang San stood atop a lone cliff just beyond the Academy grounds. The world stretched below, rivers gleaming and trees rustling with wind.
He took out a silver flask, filled with spirit beast blood. Carefully, he consumed a few drops and sat in meditation.
The Blood Refinement Technique activated instantly, circulating through his meridians. The pain came sharp and fast—as if his body resisted the transformation—but he endured, gritting his teeth.
His muscles convulsed. His bones groaned. The sigil on his hand burned.
Minutes passed. Then an hour. Finally, he opened his eyes.
They glowed faintly purple for a heartbeat before returning to their usual calm blue.
He had grown stronger again. Not drastically, but certainly. The kind of growth only earned through grit and suffering.
As he rose and returned to the Academy, he felt Xiao Wu's presence in the distance. A smile formed on his lips.
He was no machine. He felt pain, he felt warmth. And even as the storm of power built inside him, he would not lose himself.
He would walk this path not just as a cultivator.
But as Tang San.
End of Chapter 46