Master Fu's Begonia Flowers

"Spicy damn eggs!"

The little black beast watched in a daze from the side.

It stood on the stone table, looking at the branch one moment and the tabletop the next, then stared wide-eyed at Qi Lin.

"Impossible! Your Life Soul is missing a corner, kid. How can your comprehension be so good? That one sword stroke just now showed you'd already mastered the move."

"I don't know."

Qi Lin flipped further through the pages as he swept the branch in his hand across, his mind wholly absorbed in it.

He continued, "The next move, Moon Shadow: a fading shadow beneath the moon, the shadow of the bright moon... That doesn't seem hard either?"

"Not hard?"

The little black beast looked thoroughly baffled.

"Stop practicing for a moment. Let me figure out why."

The little black beast stared at Qi Lin and muttered, "What's with you, kid? How come you're ugly one moment and handsome the next?"

Could talent rise and fall so wildly too?

After watching for a long while, the little black beast suddenly jumped three feet into the air and howled, "I've got it!"

Qi Lin's fingers held the branch, which shimmered silver as it swayed in the night, like streaks of moonlight.

Still absorbed in it, he asked, "So why?"

The little black beast looked excited. "Let me first explain the principles of the Soul Spirit, and you'll understand."

"All right." Qi Lin listened attentively.

"First, the Soul Spirit is the core of a person's will, memory, and mind." The little black beast got into its stride, putting on an air of profundity. "The Soul Spirit is actually divided into two parts: the 'soul' and the 'spirit.' The soul is the Life Soul, and the spirit is the Spirit Mist."

"Life Soul, Spirit Mist." Qi Lin committed the terms to memory.

"That's right. The Life Soul and Spirit Mist together form a person's Soul Spirit and jointly exercise its abilities. But their specific roles differ," the little black beast said.

"How do they differ?"

"The Life Soul is incorporeal and resides in the sea of consciousness. It is the center of one's personality and accounts for roughly seventy percent of the Soul Spirit."

As the little black beast spoke, it looked at Qi Lin and said gravely, "The Spirit Mist is different. Though it accounts for only thirty percent, it is scattered throughout the body, fused with the flesh and bones, the internal organs, the meridians, and the dantian. It is everywhere inside you."

"Spirit Mist is divided into seven types. Fushi controls the body's metabolism, Queyin controls reproduction, Chuhui controls purification, Tunfu controls immunity, Shigou controls alertness, and so on!"

"In short, these types of Spirit Mist have countless threads connecting them to the body. They are more like an instinctive Soul Spirit. People with powerful Spirit Mist are often far better than ordinary people at hands-on tasks, close combat, and controlling their bodies."

The little black beast grew more animated as it spoke.

"I understand."

As Qi Lin spoke, he held the branch and waved it idly. Every intricate sword movement and variation of the Lesser Star and Moon Sword Technique seemed to come without passing through his mind, yet was as clear to him as instinct.

"That is what makes Spirit Mist special. At its core is 'body control.'" The little black beast looked at Qi Lin's head again and said, "But the Life Soul in your sea of consciousness is different. The Life Soul's strength lies in its being the core of a person's life, the center of memory, and the birthplace of Soul Power. The core of the Life Soul's strength is 'power control.'"

"Power control?" Qi Lin was puzzled.

"It's easy to understand. Soul Power is actually the Life Soul's sense of touch, naturally produced by the Life Soul, and cannot itself be used to attack or kill. But Soul Power can merge with True Essence to create 'Soul Essence.' Like True Essence, Soul Essence can be used to attack and kill, but it has an even greater use: controlling the transformations and derivations of various powers," the little black beast said.

"I didn't understand that." Qi Lin shook his head.

"Idiot!" the little black beast scolded, then continued, "In short, all fine control of power in this world-for example, essence formations, forbidden arts, artifact refining, and pill refining-requires powerful Soul Power to control the order and timing, as well as powerful Soul Essence to control the process. Your Life Soul is missing a corner, so you produce no Soul Power. You're destined to know nothing about those four advanced disciplines."

Qi Lin's face darkened at that.

Those were the very four disciplines he had always wanted to learn!

Leaving pill and artifact refining aside, he had heard that essence formations were a means of protection. Rumor had it that Mystic City had a city-protecting essence formation, which had once been activated when bandits attacked the city. It had been a spectacular sight, with terrifying destructive power.

As for forbidden arts, Qi Lin had already seen the girl Di Huangxi use one. A tiny phoenix had wiped out Yan Dinghao in an instant; one look was enough to tell how advanced it was.

Forbidden arts were said to be standard for top martial grandmasters, capable of inflicting destruction on a massive scale. Many pills and essence artifacts were even empowered by them.

And the little black beast's words had completely blocked his path to those advanced arts...

"Am I destined to do nothing but swing a sword and cut people down from now on?" Qi Lin asked through gritted teeth.

"What's wrong with cutting people down? If your talent for it reaches the pinnacle and you follow that one path to the end, you might be better off than people who bite off more than they can chew. Those so-called four advanced disciplines burn through money and time!" the little black beast said.

"All right."

Qi Lin was someone who accepted reality readily.

So he soon asked, "Lord Pang, why does my Spirit Mist seem stronger than an ordinary person's when my Life Soul is missing a corner?"

"Have you ever learned a sword technique before?" the little black beast asked.

"No sword techniques, but I did learn fist techniques... They didn't feel easy at the time. Could it be because I'm a born sword cultivator?" Qi Lin asked hopefully.

"Sword cultivator, my ass. It has nothing to do with swords." The little black beast pointed at the little finger on his left hand. "Your Spirit Mist became this strong after that thing burned it twice."

"What? Fire Burning Disease?" Qi Lin stared at his left little finger in shock. "You mean, because Spirit Mist is fused with the body, my two Fire Burning flare-ups burned my body but made my Spirit Mist stronger?"

"That's the only possibility." The little black beast chuckled. "At this rate, your Spirit Mist may grow stronger and stronger, and its fine control over your body will grow stronger too. Not just sword techniques-whatever combat method you learn, you'll master it faster and more finely than so-called geniuses."

"In short, don't think Spirit Mist isn't part of the Soul Spirit. To put it plainly, Spirit Mist is the body's soul. This kind of comprehension of yours lies entirely in your Spirit Mist!"

As the water receded, the rocks emerged!

A strong Life Soul meant strong power control, and strength in the four advanced disciplines.

Strong Spirit Mist meant strong control over the body, with remarkable effects when learning all kinds of combat methods, be they sword, fist, or saber techniques.

Having heard all this, Qi Lin understood his strengths and weaknesses clearly.

His weakness was very weak.

But it seemed his strength was very strong too...

As for why his Life Soul was missing a corner, he had no idea.

"One more thing!"

The little black beast interrupted his thoughts, pointing at one of the protrusions on its back.

"Whether it's the four disciplines or comprehension of close-combat methods, both are Soul Spirit talents! Besides Soul Spirit talent, there is also talent of flesh and blood in this world... And Symbol God Two—the seven Hun Dun Gods-are the supreme masters of flesh-and-blood talent. Refine them into your brain, blood, bones, flesh, sinews, skin, and organs, and you'll possess the strongest flesh-and-blood talent in the universe!"

"So?"

"I'm hungry!!!"

The hour of the tiger.

Dark clouds rose in the west and gradually drifted toward the Divine Strategy Manor.

In a courtyard filled with the fragrance of flowers,

Master Fu, dressed in a thin robe, was watering flowers.

He watered them with great care. Water gurgled from the copper pot in his hand, a clear stream flowing slowly from its spout, over the soil and into the flowers' roots.

At times he bent down slightly and gently gathered a half-curled leaf between his fingers, as though straightening a small child's rumpled collar.

At others he paused before a fresh shoot, studying it intently and smiling from time to time, as if recalling some happy memories.

The droplets gradually moistened the soil, and the morning in the courtyard as well.

At some unknown time,

a figure had stopped outside the gate.

"Fu Yun, have the begonias bloomed?"