Everyone, my mother is in the hospital with a large ulcer. Please pray for her at this time. Thank You.

"He did what?" said Flender in shock.

"Tang Fon completely decimated the Snake/Dragon couple, despite only recently gaining his third ring. What's more, Xiao Wu's story about how she and Viper escaped the gorilla doesn't add up. What could be more powerful than that gorilla in the forest?"

"She is telling the truth! There is another king of that forest!"

Flender turned to look and found a familiar face.

"The number one philosipher in the spirit world... the Grand Master Yue Xiao Gang! So you truly are the twin's master," said Flender. He could tell that the twins hadn't been lying... his old friend truly had surpassed level thirty!

"You taught that demon Tang Fon?" said Zhao Wu.

He shook his head.

"Tang Fon needs no instruction from me outside the occasional request for advice or knowledge that only experts who spent their lives studying would know. That child trains his body first and his beast spirit second... in terms of power I would have to say his dragon is superior to that of the Blue Lightning Tyrant clan."

"Old friend... how did you get past the block?"

"Tang Fon is a brilliant, if terrifying genius. His approach to varient spirits is like nothing I've ever come across, and I suspect he might have knowledge of a previous life. I have yet to come across any mention of the fighting style he taught me."

Flender thought of how his old friend attacked, before he tentatively had to ask.

"Is this style by any chance known as 'Gyoza-kempo'?" he asked.

"How did you know?"

"He's been teaching another student, a food support class who recently achieved level thirty, how to use such a style. Though I'm still baffled as to how they've all cultivated at least two or three levels in such a short time period."

Zhao Wu had a sheepish look.

"I know the answer to that. Apparently eating the spirit beasts that you kill for the halos has an amplifying effect when cultivating. Fon actually cooked two different types of snakes and as a result the little monsters suddenly shot up in their levels while we were there. For a spirit beast the taste wasn't that bad."

Xiao Gang made a face.

"He's still doing that? It was bad enough that little brat tricked me into eating that Datura snake..."

"Don't knock it till you've seen the effects. I'll admit it's a little crazy, but I've almost gone up an entire level after eating his cooking and cultivating!" said Zhao Wu.

That shut up the other two as they looked at him in shock.

"You've actually eaten his cooking? And lived?" said Xiao Gang. "That boy always puts the hottest spices he can get his hands on when he cooks! Always!"

"Well the ones he had with him were pretty standard," said Zhao Wu.

"You said Tang Fon's beast spirit was superior to that clan. What did you mean?" asked Flender. If anyone understood about that dragon, it was the Grandmaster. After all, he was once part of that same clan!

"Tang Fon's dragon is superior because he does not rely on it's power to fight. Instead, he coexists with it and treats it as his equal. His dragon possess a power that Tyrant Dragon of the Blue Lightning cannot match. It can disintegrate whatever it's flame touches...nothing would stand in it's way."

"I've never heard of of the Emperor Storm Dragon having that power."

"It is a considerably rare beast. It's possible it had abilities that not even I would know of," admitted Xiao Gang.

Unknown to the three, another person was listening in to everything they said...and allowing Fon to hear it as well. He was already smirking wickedly at the havoc he was causing.

On an unrelated note, he finally knew what his master's real name was.

"If Reborn were here, he'd have no end of fun trolling them just by screwing with their preconceptions," said Viper smirking.

"Well if anyone asks, we've spent too much time around him in our last life and have picked up his trolling habits," said Fon.

The two of them looked at each other, before sharing a wicked grin.

This was going to be far too much fun.

Elsewhere, the trio of Zhao Wu, Xiao Gang and Flender all shivered. Someone was not only walking over their graves, but dancing on them with evil intent.

"Does anyone else feel that?" asked Flender.

"I say we get drunk and pretend it didn't happen," said Xiao Gang.

Zhao Wu nodded vigerously at that.

"You want me to what?" said Xiao Gang.

"I want you to teach my little apprentice how to attack using her variant spirit. I can teach her how to cultivate and fight by herself, but I don't have the skills to teach her how to fight using a spirit that manifests itself externally," repeated Fon. "You and Luo San Pao have excellent teamwork and I would like to see Xiao Yue and Stormheart exhibit the same."

"How did you even get an apprentice?" he asked.

"Mubai's sister tracked him down because their clan doesn't allow anyone who manifests the tiger externally to inherit. She knew that hiding with him at least would give her a chance to avoid being treated like trash among them," said Fon with a hard tone. "Fortunately they were willing to allow her to train under a relative unknown, despite my age."

The reason why was obvious, and standing before Fon right now.

"Besides... as long as she's training with us, she can't attend a normal spirit academy. Which means someone who understands how to teach basic principles would need to give her lessons. And considering how much knowledge Xiao San has picked up from you..." said Fon.

Fon was part of Shrek Academy, which meant Yue would have to learn with them as well. However as it was an intermediate academy, the power and age disparity was far too high.

Xiao Gang had taught at a beginning academy. He already knew the sort of things to impart to young spirit masters, and had even taught the twins himself. If anyone could help Fon's little apprentice keep up with others her age, then it would be him. The fact he had a variant external spirit was even more important...he would have a good idea how to train the two to become partners.

Besides, it was rare that Fon would ask someone for help.

Fon was about to leave when he thought of something.

"What is it?" asked Xiao Gang.

"I think it's nothing. However something odd happened after I finished cultivating upon getting my third spirit halo. I thought it was a side effect of my habit of eating what I kill, except Xiao San has acquired his own unique traits and I know for a fact he didn't eat that spider after," said Fon after a moment.

"What happened?"

Fon gave off a little spirit pressure, and where normally his skin would develop a scale pattern and the toughness of a dragon's hide, there was a thick scale pattern on both his hands and feet. In fact it was to the point that his hands had now become claws complete with talons capable of going through fragile human skin like a hot knife through butter, and his feet became decidedly dragon-shaped with sharp claws capable of gripping practically anything.

Xiao Gang released a sharp exhalation of breath. He knew exactly what he was looking at, even if he had only seen it manifest in one clan before.

"Dragonfication," he said in shock.

"What?" said Fon baffled.

"It's a trait that is rare and has only ever manifested with any reliability in one specific clan. Honestly, if I hadn't know for a fact that you and Tang San are twins and come from a different one I would suspect you were from the Blue Lightning Tyrant clan. Especially with that ability. It means you're literally borrowing the physical traits of your dragon spirit."

"I thought I already did that?" said Fon with confusion.

The older man shook his head.

"Spirit manifestation is a lesser version of this. Your defenses and attack ability are amplified, but during Dragonfication it becomes true dragon skin and hide, to the point your abilities are amplified a hundred percent past what they were before. However there is a serious catch...this ability comes with a rather nasty backlash the more of your body you convert while it's active."

"How strange. I've been testing this out earlier and I have yet to get it past my hands and feet. I also haven't experienced this backlash you speak of. If anything it seems to take up more power to hide them than it does to manifest. Tang San said he had the same issue with his new additions."

Xiao Gang examined Fon's hand much closer...and his eyes widened in shock.

"This is... an external spirit bone! Except it seems to be drawing power directly from your beast spirit."

Fon allowed him to examine the hand.

"What does this mean?"

"It means that it's not the same as Dragonfication...however the effects appear to be similar enough that it could easily be mistaken for such. You said you experienced no backlash from this?"

"As I have said repeatedly, I see no point in trying to force a dragon to submit. It is far easier to earn it's respect through hard work and attempt coexistence than it is to try and dominate an apex predator."

Xiao Gang had to stare at him, before he sighed.

"It is possible that your dragon used the unique conditions you created during your third spirit halo to manifest an external spirit bone that acts as a surrogate for the technique. As far as I'm aware you're the only spirit master who actually eats the beast he kills for his halos, much less treats your beast spirit as an equal. I've been in uncharted waters ever since you and Xiao San asked to be my apprentices."

Mostly because of Fon. Tang San was a good child, if overly mature.

Fon decided to change the subject.

"Who is Liu Er Long?" asked Fon.

Xiao Gang stiffened.

"How do you know that name?"

"One, you've left some of your old journals out when we were studying together and I mistook it for one of the handwritten training books you like to give Tang San. Two, Viper is a master information broker and they were more than happy to give me the full details of who made up the Golden Iron Triangle when I asked how you knew the headmaster," deadpanned Fon. "I can only guess from your reaction she is either your lover, or someone who had the potential to become one. Viper couldn't get the full reason why she never married, despite multiple interested parties."

That made him wince.

"Liu Er Long...is my cousin. She was the only woman I ever loved, but because she is part of the main family it would be a taboo to love her the way she deserves."

Incest wasn't exactly the healthiest way to keep a bloodline alive, and had a higher risk for birth defects. Fon was all too aware of this fact.

"So just to be clear, you abandoned her because you couldn't give her children since you are too closely related?" said Fon patiently.

His wince was very telling. Fon pinched the bridge of his nose, once he released the dragon claws anyway.

"You're an idiot."

"Excuse me?" said Xiao Gang offended.

"Just because it would be inadviseable to have children together doesn't mean you had to abandon her. Did it honestly never occur to you that you could simply adopt children, including orphans from the clan you were part of and treat them as your own? You should know all too well family does not end in blood, or do you honestly not think of Tang San as the son you never had?" said Fon bluntly.

Seeing the expression on his face, it was obvious such an idea never occurred to him.

"And honestly, being closely related doesn't automatically mean that the child produced will have problems. It just means that the risk is heightened depending on how much blood is shared between the two parties. If she were your sister, then it would be understandable, but cousins means that the risk is lower than it would be for that sort of thing," said Fon patiently, as if explaining to a complete idiot.

"How do you know this?" demanded Xiao Gang.

Fon gave him a Look.

"You claim to be wise, but do not see what is in front of you. I would have thought the answer was as obvious as the nose on your face," said Fon.

"I would suggest listening to him. Fon has never been known for beating around the bush, or for being anything but blunt with his words," said a voice. It was Viper.

Xiao Gang looked at Fon as if he had never really seen the boy before.

The knowledge that surpassed even his own, the fact that Fon had skills no one should possess and had somehow found a way to help him surpass a roadblock that had gotten him thrown out of his own family...

"You... You were reincarnated, weren't you?"

"Not just me, though I find it fascinating that my brother and I came from different worlds only to end up in the same womb," said Fon.

"Where we come from, genetics has been thoroughly researched to the point that people understand the effects of inbreeding. And it was started because someone noticed that no two plants had the same genetic make-up while examining them much closer than the human eye is physically capable of," said Viper. "Fon, you had best find Tang San. He seems to have gotten in a spot of trouble with those spider legs of his."

Xiao Gang disappeared in an instant. However his mind was reeling from the revelation Fon (and apparently Viper) had knowledge of an entirely other world. And quite likely Tang San as well, though his knowledge base was far more limited than the other two.

Right now it didn't matter...all that mattered was helping his disciple from his own critical error. The last thing he wanted Xiao San to endure was the fact he had accidentally killed his own friends.