“Gah.”

The chains bound him like before and yanked him out of the world of flames, and this marked the end of Long Di being bestowed with the runes of the Marrow Chapter.

****

Whoosh!

Long Di emerged from the forge. The runic chains released him and flew back into the world of flames.

The main opening was now closed, and the forge dimmed slightly thereafter.

Uncle Tian Lu only used one hand to control the hammer, but his focus was now split, with part of it being on Long Di.

It was the first time he saw Long Di’s body, and his earlier curiosity about Long Di’s circumstances hounded him.

“Little demon.”

“Don’t.” Long Di raised a hand to dismiss this question. “There is no shrink qualified to deal with this hot mess. Just leave it as is.”

There were no changes in Long Di’s expression or his tone, but they now carried weight in Uncle Tian Lu’s mind.

His eyes roamed the scars that covered Long Di’s body. These were not newly gained scars, these were something that followed him from his previous world.

They not only covered his spirit, but his body as well. His parents had realised this in his early years.

Back when his mother thought that her clumsy husband had hurt him when they saw something like a line on his body, they had been worried.

As he grew, more wounds appeared on his body, seemingly out of nowhere, driving his parents mad.

In reality, this was his spirit adapting to the world and the new body. Once it was fully settled, all the scars and injuries that scarred him mentally appeared on his body.

His parents didn’t know what to do at the time. They had spent a fortune hiring physicians and medical practitioners to fix whatever it was that was happening, but nothing worked.

What was even more ridiculous, was that some healers even went as far as to say that all these wounds and injuries were present from birth, and were most likely some birth defects.

Long Huangdi and Long Nuhuang had wanted to kill the healer that brought this up, as they were sure that Long Di was not afflicted with this many wounds and scars at birth. The only reprieve that they received was when they saw that Long Di refused to respond to any stimulation brought to those scars, as if he was unaware of their existence.

Seeing as how their child wasn’t paying attention to the wounds, and that they didn’t seem to affect him negatively, they laid the matter to rest while keeping an extremely close eye on him.

When Long Di saw Uncle Tian Lu staring at his body, he thought the latter was disgusted by them and tried to summon a robe from his ring when he realised.

“Where’s my storage ri… oh sweet summer child.” Long Di wanted to slap his forehead but was afraid the force behind it might cause his head to explode. That was how stupid he felt right now.

How could he forget the fragility of storage rings? Everything was in that ring, the manuals, the spirit stones, everything!

“Are you looking for these?”

Uncle Tian Lu fished two storage rings from his robe.

“When did you-”

“I had a life before the sect, let’s leave it at that. I knew you forgot about them, so I moved them for safety. The grade of these storage rings isn’t low, so you don’t have to worry too much about them being damaged that easily. You can take precautions, but you’re more or less safe with these.” Uncle Tian Lu handed the rings over to him. “I’m sorry if I was staring. I don’t know what you’ve been through, but as your master, just know that I’m here.”

Long Di just stared at him and said nothing.

“Are you okay?” asked Uncle Tian Lu.

Long Di remained silent in the face of his question.

“Boy?”

“Huh?” Long Di jumped as if roused from some deep rumination.

“What happened?” Uncle Tian Lu saw a look on Long Di’s face that appeared only a handful of times.

“I was watching a performance.”

When Uncle Tian Lu heard this, he felt proud. The technique he used now to carry out his forging was one of the two defining treasures of his clan. He believed this was what Long Di was referring to.

‘That tooth is as profound as ever. How does it move even when he’s no longer talking? It is baffling. If I didn’t know any better, I would think it’s making the same arc swings that his hammer is making. Incredible.’

Uncle Tian Lu would cough up blood and probably die if he knew what Long Di was thinking at present.

Long Di summoned a robe that was quickly incinerated by the heat they were currently facing.

“What the—”

“You haven’t realised it?” questioned Uncle Tian Lu, who had now poured most of his focus back into his forging. “The heat here has not gone down that much. You are not affected because your body has undergone massive changes.”

“I see,” said Long Di, who was now inspecting his body. “I don’t sense much of a difference now though, apart from my body being stronger. Is that normal?”

“Yes,” answered Uncle Tian Lu. “The true cultivation aspect starts when we initiate the Bone Chapter. We’ll do that tomorrow.”

The difference that Long Di was referring to was the presence of somatic essence in his body. He felt it from several sources so far, and he felt no such energy in his own body. Hearing that this would be rectified with the inclusion of the Bone Chapter put him at ease.

“Is that chapter going to kill me too?”

“You were not dead.”

“Uhm, I’m thinking I was. I mean, I’m no expert, but I’m no amateur either.”

“No, you weren’t!”

“Listen, you might not believe me, but I’ve read that more than 2% of all deaths are fatal.”

“Leave me! Leave me now, little demon! Leave me before I invite destruction upon myself!” Uncle Tian Lu was going to go mad if Long Di stayed here much longer. The earlier feelings of pity he had for him were gone.

“So what you’re saying is that me imparting knowledge to you is the same as inviting destruction? Not gonna lie, you’re not painting a pretty picture for yourself at the moment. The only thing you got going for yourself is your tooth.”

Uncle Tian Lu’s hammer swing wavered and nearly lost its intended trajectory.

Boom!

“LEAVE!”