The Footsteps of Silence

The night wind carried a chill that clung to the skin like damp silk. Beneath the moon's pale light, Tang Yun sat cross-legged within the Outer Pavilion Library. The scroll containing the "Whispering Leaf Step" lay unfurled before him, its ink etched in fluid, almost living strokes. Each line whispered secrets passed down through generations a technique reserved for those who had proven themselves worthy of the Tang Clan's inner sanctum.

But Tang Yun had no intention of waiting to be deemed worthy.

He had earned this.

And now, he would master it.

Hours Before Dawn – Outer Pavilion Library

The Whispering Leaf Step was not about speed. It was about misdirection. Movement without presence. Displacement of intent. A ghost's footprint on snow.

Tang Yun read the technique again and again, committing it to memory.

His mind parsed every principle:

Flow of Breath with Earth's Pulse

Dispersal of Qi in Non-Linear Trajectories

Auditory Nullification through Heel Tension

It wasn't just a movement technique it was an art form.

Each principle aligned with poison.

What is poison, if not something unnoticed until it is too late?

Tang Yun stood and tested a step.

The floor creaked.

He frowned.

Again.

Shift weight. Breathe through the lower dantian. Visualize fog. Step.

This time silence.

His lips curved. Good.

But his cultivation was only at Mid Qi Awakening. To sustain the technique, even in fragments, drained nearly all his internal qi.

This won't do, he thought. I need practical application.

Tang Clan South Ridge – Training Hollow

The next morning, rumors buzzed in the air like flies over a corpse.

"Tang Liuyue dueled the Twelfth Young Master."

"She limited herself and still couldn't beat him."

"He didn't even use a weapon!"

Many dismissed it. Others grew curious.

A few... grew afraid.

In a secluded hollow near the ridge, Tang Xiaomei, Lei Feng, and Han Deok stood in a triangular formation.

Tang Yun entered the clearing slowly.

He didn't speak. Only gestured.

"Attack me."

Lei Feng vanished into a flicker of shadow a blur with killing intent.

Tang Yun stepped forward.

Not sideways.

Not backwards.

Forward into the space where Lei Feng had intended to strike.

The strike missed entirely, slicing empty air.

Tang Xiaomei lunged with her twin daggers, misted with low-grade bone-softening toxin.

Tang Yun twisted, his body sliding between her blades like silk over a sword.

He did not retreat. He flowed.

Whispering Leaf Step wasn't about dodging.

It was about being elsewhere entirely.

Han Deok, frustrated, charged in with a wide swing of his iron batons, channeling brute force. He poured inner qi into the swing.

Tang Yun ducked under the arc, slipped into the shadow beneath Han's elbow, and tapped a nerve in his thigh with two fingers.

Han Deok collapsed.

All three stood stunned.

Tang Yun exhaled, qi threadbare.

"You lasted twenty seconds longer than yesterday," he said.

Lei Feng bowed. "Mastering a core movement technique in one night..."

Tang Xiaomei looked shaken. "Brother Yun... this is too fast."

He looked at her.

"If we don't become monsters," he said, "we will be eaten by them."

Meanwhile – Inner Sect Council Hall

Elder Tang Mo, his robe the color of ash, tapped his fingers on the polished table. Before him floated three reports.

1. Tang Yun defeated outer disciple Zhou Kuan using poison mist.

2. Tang Yun received Whispering Leaf Step scroll from Tang Liuyue.

3. Tang Yun has mastered the technique to first level within one night.

"He's dangerous," whispered Elder Tang Qi, frowning.

"No," Tang Mo replied.

"He's necessary."

The elders fell silent.

Later That Night – Forbidden Garden of the Tang Clan

Tang Yun moved alone, deeper into the unused alchemist halls.

He had detected faint traces of poison qi blooming underneath the roots of the garden someone had buried a failed alchemy pool here decades ago.

It was dormant.

Until now.

He sat beside the dead pool and inhaled, circulating his qi.

His Poison Vein Channels resonated.

A hidden pathway opened.

Something pulsed.

A core fragment?

No something older. Tang Mo once mentioned the First Poison Calamity…

A low voice echoed from the earth.

"You smell... familiar."

Tang Yun froze.

Was it a memory?

Or a spirit?

Next Morning – Disciplinary Pavilion

A disciple had been found dead.

Zhou Kuan.

Face purple. Tongue bloated. Blood vessels black.

"Poison," whispered the examiner. "Silent type. Delayed release."

Everyone turned to look at the Twelfth Young Master.

He only bowed.

"I warned him."

[End of Chapter 34]

[Tags]: Reincarnation, Martial Arts, Poison, Scheming Protagonist, Cultivation, Weak to Strong, Anti-Hero, Cold Protagonist, Clan Wars, Hidden Identity, Revenge