Yu Xiaogang walked alone.
His once-immaculate robes were stiff from dried muck, his hair matted, his pride worn thinner than the soles of his boots. A makeshift cloth wrapped around his head to shield him from the sun, but nothing could shield his thoughts from the sting of yesterday.
They laughed at me. They mocked the Grandmaster.They forgot me.
Each step toward Tian Dou City was heavy—not because of distance or fatigue, but because it pulled at the very identity he'd clung to for decades. The man who once prided himself on theory above all, on knowledge instead of strength, was now dismissed as an old fraud at his own legacy's gate.
But if the Senior Division still used his teachings… if someone up there still recognized his genius… then there was hope.
He would walk if he had to.
He would force them to see what they had forgotten.
Meanwhile – Somewhere Between the Coldmist Peaks and Jade Serpent Forest
Dave and his companions continued their quiet journey. The mist had long since faded, replaced by golden trees swaying with late-summer wind. Small spirit beasts flitted between branches, and the narrow road led toward Jade Serpent Forest—an old cultivation ground known for its emerald glades and elusive three-eyed vine serpents.
Shui Xinxue walked beside Dave, as she had for many weeks now. Her steps were still quiet, but no longer distant. She did not trail behind. She walked with him.
Sometimes their hands brushed. Sometimes they stayed clasped for hours. She didn't always know what to say, but Dave never asked her to. Their silence was its own kind of language.
Dugu Yan, walking a few paces ahead, was chewing on spicy jerky while balancing a spirit herb pouch on her shoulder. "This forest better have something worth fighting," she grumbled. "I haven't had a real challenge in two cities."
Meilin laughed, flipping through a small medicinal scroll. "You're always fighting. We could be visiting a sacred spring and you'd find a way to start a duel with a fish."
"Oh please, if that fish looked at me funny? It's on."
La Signora floated lazily above them, reclining on a platform of cold wind. "I, for one, am enjoying the absence of bandits. The last group we met barely lasted five seconds."
"That's because you flash-froze them into a sculpture and then signed it."
"Art must be shared," she replied smoothly.
Dave chuckled at the banter, but his thoughts were half elsewhere. The journey had changed each of them in small, invisible ways. Not just power or growth—but connection. He looked at Xinxue again.
He didn't need to ask her what she felt anymore.
Later That Evening – A Camp Beneath Jade Lantern Trees
The fire crackled softly.
Shui Xinxue rested her head against Dave's shoulder as the others told old stories. Dugu Yan mimicked her old Spirit Master instructor's angry voice, causing Meilin to snort tea out of her nose. Signora conjured a snow globe around their camp to keep out pests, but left a hole at the top "for starlight to breathe."
Xinxue closed her eyes briefly.
"I still don't know what kind of future I want," she whispered into the quiet. "But if you keep walking… I'll follow."
Dave looked down at her. "I'm not trying to find a future anymore," he said gently. "I'm just walking to see who walks with me."
Their hands found each other again.
Others shook their heads as they saw them being lovey dovey once again.
Back in Tian Dou City – Outside the Main Shrek Academy
The gates of Senior Shrek Academy towered above the man in tattered robes.
Yu Xiaogang stood there, pride brittle but not yet broken. He looked up at the engraved arch: "Seek Strength. Forge Bonds. Transcend Limits."
"…That should've been my line," he muttered bitterly.
Two guards stepped forward. One of them looked up from a registry scroll. "State your name and purpose."
"I am Yu Xiaogang," he said, lifting his chin. "The Grandmaster. I've come to speak to the Dean about spirit education models and theoretical integration into curriculum design."
The guards blinked. One of them flipped the scroll upside down.
"Grandmaster?" the second guard asked, raising a brow. "You mean the guy who wrote a bunch of common sense and published it like it was groundbreaking theory?"
Yu Xiaogang's eye twitched.
"I didn't steal anything. I worked hard. Researched, tested, published—those theories are mine!" he snapped.
The guard rolled his eyes. "If that's true, then why are you still just a Level 29 Spirit Master?"
Yu Xiaogang stiffened, his voice tightening. "I was born with only half of my innate spirit power. That's why…"
The guard scoffed and shook his head. "Right. And I was born with half a spirit, too. Just Blue Silver Grass. But thanks to real techniques—not stolen or unverified theories—I'm already Level 16. I'm still climbing. Unlike you, I'm actually going somewhere."
He waved a hand dismissively. "Just go away. No one here cares about you."
Yu Xiaogang clenched his fists. "You talk so big… but the top student in your academy is my student! He followed my teachings! What do you have to say now, huh?"
The guards paused. One raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah? And who's that supposed to be?"
Yu Xiaogang lifted his chin proudly. "His name is Tang San." Follow current novels on NoveI(F)ire.net
There was a moment of silence.
Then the younger guard suddenly burst out laughing.
"Hahahaha! Tang San? You mean the kid with the crippled martial spirit? The one who absorbed the wrong spirit rings and ended up crippling his Blue Silver Grass?"
He clutched his stomach, trying to catch his breath. "I remember that fiasco! He thought he was some genius, but now everyone his age are ahead of him and are more powerul then him. All because he absorbed the wrong spirit rings!"
Yu Xiaogang's face turned pale.
"That's… impossible. He followed my guidance perfectly. We planned every ring choice to match the Blue Silver Grass's traits. It was sound theory—"
The other guard chimed in with a smirk, "Yeah, well, your 'sound theory' left him with a plant spirit so weak he can't even form a proper fusion technique. And wasn't he aiming to become a Control-Type master? Please. His plant is weak and can only restrain someone weaker than him."
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