"How much longer are you going to follow me?"
Walking along a quiet forest path, Bibi Dong stopped and spoke coldly.
"You used to call me Second Granduncle."
The old man revealed himself and sighed, feeling a deep headache over Bibi Dong's choice and actions.
Had this girl gone blind?
"You said it yourself—that was before."
Bibi Dong's voice remained icy. She disliked being forced to do things, and the sight of Xiaogang's haggard, weakened state earlier had only made her heart ache even more.
"He isn't worth you giving him your true feelings."
Leaving behind this single piece of advice, the old man departed.
Matters of the heart were not something he could interfere with. Only time could prove the truth.
Bibi Dong stood there for a long while. Only after confirming that the man had truly left did she take out a pink cloak and drape it over herself, then turned toward the lakeside where she had once secretly met Xiaogang.
"It should be here."
Recalling the environment from the recorded footage and examining the traces on the ground, Bibi Dong roughly confirmed the location.
"Track the scent of this footprint."
She took out a black spider and communicated with it through her Spider Emperor Martial Soul.
The black spider jumped from her palm, landed on the forty-five-sized footprint, circled it once, then rapidly crawled off in a certain direction. Bibi Dong followed closely behind.
Meanwhile, Tian Hao—having just finished refining the Spirit Bone—had no idea that a plump lamb awaiting slaughter was already on its way. At this moment, he was testing the Spirit Bone's ability.
"It really suits me."
Looking at the layer of black mist surrounding his body, Tian Hao was extremely satisfied with this Spirit Bone Ability.
Just as the Pope had said, this Spirit Bone was perfectly suited to him.
It was an ability similar to the Night Elf Shadowmeld from the single-player game Warcraft in his previous life. By borrowing the power of dark-element energy, it allowed him to merge with shadows. Without a Spirit Ability for mental detection, it was basically impossible to discover him.
Moreover, the consumption was extremely low—especially at night, when the cost would drop even further. Even with his mere ten levels of Spirit Power, he could maintain it for a long time.
"Unfortunately, the restrictions are pretty big too."
After various tests, Tian Hao gained a thorough understanding of its performance.
This Spirit Ability was incredibly powerful, especially for survival and ambushes—truly a must-have divine Ability for home and travel.
But it also came with significant limitations. It could only be used in places with shadows. Under the blazing sun during daytime, its effectiveness would be greatly weakened, and in the end it might only manifest as a mass of black mist—extremely conspicuous and worse than useless.
Of course, considering it was only a thousand-year-tier Spirit Bone Ability with such low consumption, it couldn't be perfect.
"There's still half an hour before Dad and Mom get off work. I'll go up and practice swordsmanship for a bit."
Glancing at the pendulum clock, Tian Hao walked out of the basement and up to the villa rooftop.
The villa's structure was simple—just two floors. The rooftop was a large terrace twenty meters long and wide, making it perfect for cultivation.
Taking out the thousand-forged tungsten steel sword, Tian Hao loosened up his body and began practicing swordsmanship.
Yes—swordsmanship.
Swordsmanship existed in this world as well. After all, only a small number of people could cultivate as Spirit Masters. Those without innate Spirit Power, unable to cultivate, sometimes refused to give up and instead trained various methods to strengthen themselves. While they couldn't compare to Spirit Abilities, they were more than enough to deal with ordinary people.
Because of this, there were so many blacksmith shops and weapon stores—they existed to serve non–Spirit Masters.
Moreover, many Spirit Masters also trained some close-combat techniques, so pure swordsmanship was not uncommon.
What he practiced was an extremely basic sword art—only a dozen or so fundamental movements—but they could be freely combined, producing decent results.
Not to mention that circulating Spirit Power could temporarily enhance physical attributes, increasing strength and speed. Using swordsmanship under such conditions was far from weak.
After practicing swordsmanship for twenty minutes as a warm-up, Tian Hao took a deep breath and sheathed his sword. His left hand gripped the scabbard, his right hand the hilt. His legs bent slightly into a stable horse stance, his entire body like a taut longbow, ready to fire.
At the same time, on the mental level, he hypnotized himself into believing he was a sword, borrowing that mindset to give his mental power a sharp, cutting edge. That sharpness fused with his Spirit Power, transforming into thin wind blades that clung to the sword's surface.
This was a move he had painstakingly trained for years, and at his current stage, he practiced it once every day.
"We meet again!"
At that moment, a graceful figure in a pink cloak leapt onto the rooftop, her beautiful eyes locked onto him as she ground her teeth in fury.
Tian Hao, eyes closed, ignored her entirely—making the girl even angrier.
Clicking forward in high heels, fists clenched tightly, she prepared to properly deal with this man and avenge Xiaogang.
Of course, she had no intention of using Spirit Abilities, nor of activating her Martial Soul. After all, he was just a Spirit Disciple without a single Spirit Ring—hardly worthy of her taking things seriously.
But the instant she stepped within two meters of Tian Hao, a flash of sword light erupted. By the time Bibi Dong reacted, a long sword was already pressed against her chest. A few more centimeters forward, and it would have pierced that towering peak—甚至 pierced her heart.
"I'll go take a shower first. After that, we can talk."
Glancing at the stunned girl, Tian Hao turned and went downstairs to the bathroom in his room to wash up.
Although the villa wasn't large, it was fully equipped. Each bedroom had its own bathroom—not spacious, but more than sufficient.
This scene only left Bibi Dong even more stunned.
So arrogant?
"Stop right there!"
Snapping out of it, she hurriedly chased after him—only to see that hateful boy walking while taking off his clothes. His upper garment was already off, revealing a lightly sweat-slicked torso. The muscles on his back were knotted and sharply defined, exuding a powerful sense of strength, yet without bulk—lean, explosive, and refined.
Seeing this, Bibi Dong couldn't very well stop him. What if he took off his pants next?
She had no desire to have her eyes sullied.
This only made her feel even more stifled.
Too arrogant.
But still…
"That sword was so fast!"
Recalling that strike just now, Bibi Dong had to admit it was terrifyingly fast. Without Martial Soul possession, and without being prepared, even she would've struggled to react in time.
For a Spirit Disciple to unleash such speed was truly unbelievable.
Knowing that a "fat lamb"—ahem, a distinguished guest—had arrived, Tian Hao didn't dawdle. After a quick rinse, he walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel.
"What kind of death do you want?"
The moment he stepped out, a long sword was pressed against his neck—the very sword he had just set aside earlier.
"This sword hasn't even been sharpened yet."
Tian Hao was utterly speechless. Using an unsharpened sword to threaten someone—were you serious?
"Huh?"
The girl blinked in confusion, then brought the sword up to her eyes. Sure enough, it really hadn't been sharpened.
"Don't you think you're pretty stupid?"
Tian Hao crossed his arms and leaned against the bathroom doorframe, his expression a mix of pity and exasperation.
As expected of the number-one idiot among Spirit Hall's Three Fools. Trying to carry this pig teammate to the final victory was beyond hell difficulty—it was purgatory difficulty!
"Don't even try to refute it. Even if you successfully eloped with Yu Xiaogang and reached the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, the Pope would definitely lead a force to attack—there's even a chance the Grand Worship would personally take action.
"Spirit Hall can afford to lose a Saintess with twin Martial Souls, but it will never allow the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect to gain one.
"In the end, either war breaks out and both sides slaughter each other until rivers of blood flow, or—under mediation from various forces—they reluctantly stop. But after so many deaths, do you think the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect would truly accept you?
"Being hated by every clan member who lost parents, children, sons, or daughters—how do you expect Yu Xiaogang to face that?
"The other possibility is that, to preserve themselves and avoid war, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect hands you over. That's the most likely outcome. In the end, you'd still return to Spirit Hall, making everything you did—and that ridiculous persistence in love—completely meaningless.
"You need to understand: love may begin with impulse, but it requires reason to sustain it. Otherwise, it almost always turns into a tragedy—hurting others and yourself."
Without giving the girl a chance to speak, Tian Hao laid it all out for her.
If he wanted to prevent this blackened, brain-dead future, it wasn't enough to deal with Yu Xiaogang alone—he also had to get through to her.
Handled properly, this wasn't even a bad thing.
In the original story, Qian Xunji's approach had been far too extreme, driving everything toward the worst possible outcome. There had been no need for that.
These words left Bibi Dong speechless. She fell into deep thought, and in the end, sorrowfully realized that it all seemed to be true.
Before, she had only thought about being with Xiaogang and hadn't considered much else. Now that she thought carefully, eloping really did seem like a terrible choice.
"I can go into seclusion with Xiaogang and live quietly. After Xiaogang passes away, I'll return to Spirit Hall and repay my teacher for raising and nurturing me."
She retorted stubbornly, still clinging to her belief in her love for Xiaogang.
Moreover, when she broke up with Xiaogang earlier, she had deliberately revealed some flaws. With Xiaogang's intelligence, he would definitely figure out afterward that she had been forced.
They only needed to wait ten years. After ten years, they could be together.
Liu Erlong: You don't need to wait ten years. I'll make sure you don't even need to wait one!