The morning sky was still grey when he slipped out of the side door. Dew clung to the dry grass. No footsteps stirred the paths between servant quarters yet.
Yuhao moved without sound.
The old spirit array platform lay unused at this hour, half-buried in moss and cracked stone. He stepped onto it, heart steady, body light, and sat cross-legged.
No witnesses. No elder chants. No ceremonial robes.
Just silence and will.
> [System Ready: Martial Soul Awakening Protocol Active]
[Host Conditions: Ideal]
[Initializing...]
There was no pain.
Only a pressure—deep, old, and rooted.
From his spine, a silver-blue current spiraled upward, wrapping his limbs in cold light. His mind, already conditioned through years of mental regulation and Projection Magic, didn't tremble. Instead, it stabilized and absorbed.
His back felt like it stretched outward into form.
His eyes remained closed.
Then—
A ripple.
The platform cracked faintly beneath him. Ice spread in a thin ring, soundless and sharp. Behind him, an ethereal figure took shape—a spectral eye surrounded by crystalline frost and soft-blue breath. Within its center: rotating Sharingan tomoe, cold and precise.
> [Martial Soul: Spiritual Eye Variant - Icebound Projection Type]
[Unique Trait: Dual Bloodline Amplification Detected]
[Sharingan Integration: Stable]
[Soul Power: Innate Full Rank Detected]
He opened his eyes.
No glow. No flash.
Just clarity.
---
He stood, reining in the soul power already trying to pulse outward. It rushed like a quiet storm beneath his skin—dense, controlled, and terrifying in potential.
He reached down and placed his palm flat on the ice ring.
A pulse of intent flowed out—calm, muted, harmless.
> [Suppressing Soul Power Output... Success.]
[Displayed Rank: 1 Soul Power]
He nodded once.
---
He left the platform before the first servant arrived.
No traces remained except a thin ring of frost that melted under the morning sun.
By the time others gathered for the estate's public awakening, he was already back, seated beside Yun'er, feeding her warm millet and tea.
"You're early," she murmured.
"It's done."
She studied his face. "And?"
"Low soul power," he said quietly.
She smiled faintly. "Of course."
No questions. No disbelief. Just trust.
She had learned to believe what he said—even when she knew it wasn't the full truth.
---
That afternoon, he began preparing for their departure.
He packed cloth, water skins, dry herbs, and small food stores into a sack. The forged blade, now slightly better refined, was wrapped and hidden near the bottom.
He mapped their first three days of travel, memorized weather patterns from servant gossip, and timed the gate schedules.
He would not need to sneak through.
He would walk out with Yun'er in plain sight.
No one ever looked too closely at a quiet boy carrying his ill mother.
Especially not one with "useless" soul power.
---
In the nights that followed, he focused his training.
He rotated his chakra systems silently alongside soul force. Refined Projection Magic by practicing memory recreations of Yun'er's heartbeat at rest, at strain, and in sleep. Sharpened movement techniques—quiet steps, smooth pivots, pressure control.
The system adjusted with him.
> [Movement Technique Efficiency: 79%]
[Sword Technique Efficiency: 61%]
[Projection and Analysis Magic: Synchronization 38%]
[Medical Aptitude: Approaching Intermediate Tier 2]
And always, in the quiet hours, he kept Yun'er stable.
Her fever no longer worsened.
Her strength wasn't growing, but it stopped fading.
That was enough—for now.
---
Seven days after awakening, he stared at the estate gates in silence.
Yun'er stood beside him, wrapped in a new shawl he'd stitched from discarded curtain fabric.
She leaned on him lightly—not out of weakness, but trust.
"Ready?" she asked softly.
He nodded.
Then, they walked.
No one stopped them.
No one even looked.
And behind them, the estate faded into the haze of the early spring mist.