"Mm-hm. Tang Hao stopped?" Wu Ling set down the teacup in his hand and asked again.
Kneeling on one knee before him, Hassan of the Hundred Personas answered, "Yes, Master. Tang Hao has stopped for one day and eight hours. I have confirmed that he is not merely resting. I have already investigated the surrounding environment, and I also found the Blue Silver Grass plain roughly ten kilometers away from Tang Hao."
Wu Ling picked up a mung bean cake from the table and stuffed it into his mouth. Then, through his connection with Hassan of the Hundred Personas, he located her distant body in Star Soul Forest.
"That distance... how does Tang Hao still have the strength to run that far? Does he still have some trump card?"
Wu Ling took a sip of tea and guessed inwardly. But no matter how he thought about it, every Spirit Master ability used Spirit Power as a foundation. With Tang Hao's current body and Spirit Power, he should not have been able to travel that quickly.
Unable to figure it out, Wu Ling asked directly, "Did you observe how Tang Hao ran that fast? Does he have some trump card or accomplice?"
Hassan of the Hundred Personas pondered briefly, then finally gave the reason. "It was the soulcraft device you invented, Master. The vehicle called a soulcraft car."
"...Well. So the accomplice was me all along."
A flash of astonishment crossed Wu Ling's face. He had never imagined Tang Hao would use something he had invented to escape his pursuit.
But after turning the matter over in his mind, Wu Ling realized it made sense. Spirit Hall's release of soulcraft devices was such a major move that Tang Hao, who was hostile to Spirit Hall, would definitely look for a chance to obtain some for study. He might even steal one or rob one when no one was paying attention. With his strength, that was completely possible. And since a soulcraft car had no attack function, Spirit Hall would not deliberately restrict it.
With a soulcraft car, Tang Hao only needed to steal a few Spirit Power blocks or store his own Spirit Power in advance. Traveling that far in a day and a half was indeed possible.
"Three days have passed. My Spirit Power and Vasavi Shakti have both recovered. It is about time I stretched my bones."
Wu Ling set down his teacup, stood up, and stretched.
The battle three days earlier had affected Wu Ling more through his own attack than through Tang Hao's damage. The main reason was that Vasavi Shakti consumed far too much Spirit Power. If this had been a Holy Grail War, an ordinary Master would probably have been drained into a human husk the moment it began to unfold.
That also let Wu Ling, who had never truly lacked Spirit Power before, understand for the first time what it meant to run dry. Or rather, the fact that a seventh-ring Spirit King could release an attack of that level without being drained to death on the spot was already impressive.
Of course, because he had Spirit Power Circuits, Wu Ling had actually recovered his Spirit Power in only one day. The remaining two days had been spent breaking Vasavi Shakti back down into the golden armor.
After all, Wu Ling did not want every Karna possession to begin with him pulling out Vasavi Shakti. It consumed too much Spirit Power and was not worth it. Besides, just the golden armor's damage reduction and Karna's other two Noble Phantasms were already enough for Wu Ling to defeat most Spirit Masters in this world.
Naturally, decomposing a completed Vasavi Shakti was also difficult. In Fate/Apocrypha, releasing it required permanently losing the golden armor as a cost, and it could only be used once.
Fortunately, Wu Ling summoned Heroic Spirits as composites of multiple aspects. In other Fate series, there truly was an aspect that could restore the golden armor.
After several aspects overlapped, Wu Ling had gained an option besides killing himself to reset his state. He could also spend three days decomposing Vasavi Shakti.
So during the last three days, Wu Ling had done nothing except cultivate and eat. He had not even gone to bother Tang San. All he wanted was to wait until the golden armor recovered. What he sought could be summarized in one word: stability.
"There is no rush. I will beat the father first, then beat the son."
Thinking that, Wu Ling placed his hand on Hassan of the Hundred Personas's shoulder.
"...Is there something else, Master?" After waiting for a while, Hassan of the Hundred Personas asked in a cool voice.
Only then did Wu Ling react. He withdrew his hand awkwardly. "Cough. When I talk about clones, I subconsciously treat you like Azure and the others. I was thinking I could swap over to your position."
As he explained, Wu Ling identified the direction.
"In that case, Hassan of the Hundred Personas, stay here and watch Tang San. I will head over directly. If anything happens, contact me through the Throne."
Hassan of the Hundred Personas silently nodded. Her figure then vanished into the shadows. Wu Ling opened the window. Flames blasted beneath his feet, and with a boom, he shot into the sky. Because he was too fast, the people in the city barely had time to react. They only heard the boom. When they stuck their heads out to look, they could not see clearly because of the sun's glare.
Near dusk, Wu Ling arrived at a valley on the outskirts of Star Soul Forest. To be exact, it was a pool. The water was so clear that, from the sky, it looked like an enormous blue gem.
On one side of the valley, a waterfall constantly struck the pool, producing a rumbling sound.
Even while in the air, Wu Ling could feel the clear water vapor rushing toward him. The moist and cool breeze felt rather pleasant.
"Tang Hao knows how to enjoy himself."
Wu Ling sensed carefully and confirmed that the residual divinity was inside a cave in the valley below. Without caring at all, he withdrew the aura-concealing effect into his body.
Inside the cave, Tang Hao sat cross-legged beside a Blue Silver Grass plant and circulated his power to recover. Looking down, his left arm, shoulder, and a small part of his body had already turned black like charred carbon. Beneath that layer of char, a trace of gold-red light faintly flowed. Every flicker of that light made Tang Hao sweat from pain.
"What kind of power is that? Why has it not weakened at all after three days?" Tang Hao muttered with unfocused eyes.
During these three days, he had tried every method, but the thread of power inside his wound clung to him like a maggot in the bone. He could not get rid of it at all.
Tang Hao had even thought about cutting off his left arm. But when he prepared to act, that thread of power began flowing toward his shoulder and body. That directly frightened him into not making any rash movements.
After all, his left arm at least had a Spirit Bone supporting it. But if that power entered his body, his heart and organs would be on the verge of shattering at every moment.
Suddenly, a familiar Spirit Power entered Tang Hao's senses. His expression changed drastically. He had just tried to rise and take Ah Yin away when a ball of flame rushed into the cave and slammed him flying.
Tang Hao crashed into the stone wall. The violent impact stimulated his left arm, and cracking sounds came from it.
When he forced himself to look over, Wu Ling stood beside the Blue Silver Grass, wearing golden armor and completely unharmed.
"Yo. Is that not Clear Sky Sage? A few days apart and you have become this pathetic."