"What's... what's going on with me?"
Yu Xiaogang slowly opened his eyes, but his body felt as if it had been drained hollow; he didn't even have the strength to move a finger.
The scene before his eyes was spinning wildly, and he couldn't find any sense of direction at all.
Even a simple movement like lifting his arm felt like lifting a thousand-pound stone to him.
"God... Godfather, you've finally woken up."
Tang San's voice carried an air of urgency as he leaned in close to Yu Xiaogang's side.
"Little San, I... I'm still alive?"
Yu Xiaogang looked at Tang San beside him with a face full of disbelief.
Tang San nodded vigorously: "Godfather, of course you're still alive, and you're doing great!"
"I remember fainting from the poison, could it be... I'm really still alive?"
Tang San nodded again: "However, you'll need to rest properly for a while."
"When I was little, my father taught me some simple methods for treating poisonous wounds. Seeing you unconscious..."
"I could only bite the bullet and try. I had to try something; I had to take a gamble!"
After hearing this, Yu Xiaogang let out a long sigh of relief.
He laboriously shifted his gaze toward the area where he had been poisoned.
His face was instantly filled with confusion: "How come... I can't feel it? Which... which part is this? Something's not right..."
"Godfather, the poison was too deep back then, and that part had already... necrotized."
Tang San quickly explained: "If it wasn't cut off, the consequences would have been unthinkable."
Yu Xiaogang sighed helplessly: "Sigh, forget it, forget it. Being able to survive is already a blessing from heaven. It's better than being dead..."
Tang San used a crude wooden spoon to scoop up some meat broth and carefully fed it to Yu Xiaogang.
Yu Xiaogang drank a mouthful of soup, gathered his wits, and asked: "Little San, isn't your father a blacksmith? How are you so proficient in these surgeries? You even... remodeled me like this..."
Hearing the question, Tang San looked completely lost: "I... I really didn't know what to do... I just..."
Yu Xiaogang shook his head gently, with a sense of helplessness: "Sigh, let's do this! From now on, I will be your Godmother..."
Duan Yuanchen slowly put down his bowl and chopsticks, pondering: "So that means, Grandmaster has now become my goddaughter?"
Yu Xiaogang's eyes were firm, as if she had made a major decision: "Yes! I've decided... from now on, I'll live as a woman!"
She waited a moment, then turned her gaze toward Duan Yuanchen: "Godfather, what is your Spirit Ability?"
Duan Yuanchen flipped open his Book Martial Soul, showing her the Datura Chi entry in the illustrated guide.
He deliberately played dumb: "It seems... I can obtain some kind of power from the Datura Snake... this Datura Snake seems to be an atavism! The guide says it's a Datura Chi!"
Yu Xiaogang was still very weak and her head was spinning, so she didn't ask much else.
She turned the two of them around and headed back the way they came: "Let's take a bit of a detour. If we don't find a more suitable Spirit Beast... then we'll head back and find that 10-year Lone Bamboo we ran into earlier!"
As it turned out, on the way back, they discovered a Lone Bamboo that had been uprooted; it looked thick and long.
Yu Xiaogang struggled to open her eyes wide and examined it carefully: "This seems to be a 423-year-old Lone Bamboo! A mutated Vine Bamboo! This is the one! Little San... hurry! Before it completely loses its vitality! Quickly, chop it down!"
Duan Yuanchen didn't even have to think to know that Tang Hao was behind this in the shadows.
But he couldn't help but wonder in his heart: "Why didn't he act just now? Tang San almost lost his life... could it be because of my Book Martial Soul?"
Tang San was extremely excited, waving the knife in his hand and crazily hacking at the Vine Bamboo, chopping it into pieces!
"This is too strange... how could this mutated Vine Bamboo be uprooted and just tossed here?"
Although Yu Xiaogang was full of confusion, she still guided Tang San through the absorption of the spirit ring.
[Tang San successfully absorbed the 423-year cultivation Vine Bamboo spirit ring, and the Mysterious Heaven Skill has thus advanced to the second level...]
Duan Yuanchen sensed Tang Hao observing from the shadows nearby and quickly restrained his actions.
He simply flipped open his Book Martial Soul to do a basic check, as this wouldn't be too conspicuous.
[Tang San successfully absorbed a 423-day cultivation Lone Bamboo spirit ring. What a pity, the Mysterious Heaven Skill failed to break through because of this...]
Because the cultivation years were deliberately lowered, Tang San's Spirit absorption process was exceptionally fast.
He had originally intended to use this opportunity to charge into a new realm of the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
Unexpectedly, his wish was not fulfilled; instead, he suffered internal injuries, and his whole person appeared exceptionally haggard and weak.
Seeing this, Yu Xiaogang didn't hesitate to kneel in front of Tang San and catch him steadily: "Little San, what's wrong? Where does it hurt?"
Tang San forced a shake of his head, his voice weak: "I just feel like I can't muster any strength... my head is spinning too..."
Yu Xiaogang was instantly anxious and quickly urged: "Quick, release your Spirit, let me take a careful look..."
Tang San forced himself to stand steady, and his right hand slowly opened.
The Blue Silver Grass Rope was successfully summoned by him.
At the same time, beneath his feet, a white spirit ring slowly rose.
Except that light... didn't seem that bright, carrying a bit of haziness and transparency.
Yu Xiaogang, who was also in a weak state, instantly showed a bewildered expression: "This... what is going on with this spirit ring?"
According to common sense, a hundred-year spirit ring should be yellow, and only a ten-year spirit ring is white.
But this semi-transparent spirit ring was truly something never seen before.
Yu Xiaogang couldn't help but follow up with a question: "How is its toughness? And... what is the Spirit Ability?"
The originally curled Blue Silver Grass Rope suddenly extended rapidly, as if it had turned into a hard bamboo pole.
Tang San forced a smile: "This Blue Silver Grass Rope can turn into a bamboo pole. I feel like it should be usable for... combat!"
A flash of doubt crossed Yu Xiaogang's eyes: "An attack system Spirit Master? There shouldn't be a problem with the toughness! But what about the attack power? How exactly is it?"
Grasping the stiff Blue Silver Grass Rope tightly, Tang San began to perform a set of staff techniques.
After gathering power, he smashed the grass rope toward the Vine Bamboo on the ground.
Yu Xiaogang's gaze was locked tightly on that Vine Bamboo, filled with expectation.
After the Blue Silver Grass Rope hit the Vine Bamboo, it directly deformed, but surprisingly, it did not break apart.
Only a few grass leaves scattered on the ground, while the Vine Bamboo remained completely unharmed.
Yu Xiaogang felt extremely speechless in her heart.
The strength of this Blue Silver Grass Rope was actually inferior to the Vine Bamboo itself.
But she did not let this disappointment show on her face.
She just smiled and encouraged: "There's still progress! Once your spirit power increases a bit more, you will definitely become an excellent attack system Spirit Master!"
They couldn't stay here long, especially since Yu Xiaogang, who only had Rank 29 spirit power, had lost her combat ability.
The two of them supported Yu Xiaogang, quickened their pace, and headed toward the exit of the Soul Hunting Forest.
They quickly rented a carriage and decided to rush back to Nuoding Junior Spirit Master Academy overnight.
Upon arrival, the two of them worked together to support Yu Xiaogang back to her dormitory.
Then they headed to the canteen, intending to purchase some high-nutritional supplements for Yu Xiaogang.
Duan Yuanchen sat by a dining table on the second floor of the canteen and said to Tang San: "Little San, take these things... over to Grandmaster! Grandpa is going to class!"