Mutated Martial Soul

"It's all right!" Zhou Chengjie's eyes lit up, and his earlier indifference vanished completely.

He hurried forward a few steps and said eagerly, "May I take a look at your Martial Soul?"

Zhou You thought for a moment, then handed him the Heaven- and Earth-Harmonizing Umbrella without refusing.

"Huh?" Zhou Chengjie's hand sank slightly as he took it. He was surprised because the umbrella was much heavier than it looked.

He estimated that it weighed around sixty-five kilograms. And that hardness—was this really an umbrella? It was clearly a steel mace!

He then looked at Zhou You as though he were a monster. Kid, you were born with divine strength!

Quite apart from anything else, its weight alone made it suitable for use as a weapon, even if it were just an ordinary umbrella. It was worth cultivating!

Zhou Chengjie quickly returned the black umbrella to Zhou You. He had said he only wanted to look, and that was exactly what he did.

After all, it was someone else's Martial Soul. Zhou Chengjie only needed a rough idea of its quality.

He then took out a crystal ball and held it up in front of Zhou You.

"Come, child, let's test your Soul Power!" At that moment, Zhou Chengjie had a strong feeling that he had struck treasure.

All the unusual things Zhou You's Martial Soul had shown brought a term instantly to his mind: Mutated Martial Soul!

Martial Soul Mutation was an exceedingly rare phenomenon. In the vast majority of cases, the mutations were detrimental; only a tiny number were beneficial.

Among those, the chance of a mutation producing a Martial Soul of outstanding quality was slimmer still.

Past experience had taught Soul Masters that the owner of a high-quality Martial Soul generally would not have poor talent for cultivating Soul Power either.

Zhou You first withdrew the Heaven- and Earth-Harmonizing Umbrella, then placed his hand on the crystal ball.

The next moment, light filled the room, and Zhou Chengjie nearly cried out.

"Innate Full Soul Power!"

Such talent was seen only once in a hundred years. Zhou Chengjie had previously heard of it only in legends.

According to those legends, every genius with Innate Full Soul Power could become a Soul Douluo at the very least—a figure among the clouds whom even Zhou Chengjie could only look up to.

The pleasant surprise came so suddenly that Zhou Chengjie's heart pounded wildly.

He had only one thought now: he had to get this child to join the Spirit Hall!

Unlike the ecstatic Zhou Chengjie, Zhou You was comparatively calm. He calmly withdrew his hand, unsurprised by the result.

Although he had yet to formally cultivate the Threefold Reversal, he had begun laying the foundation a year ago.

For a metahuman to cultivate Qi, there was only one threshold: sensing Qi. Only those who could perceive Qi could cultivate it.

Sensing Qi posed no difficulty for Zhou You. He had cultivated Qi for over a year, and the Qi within his body was quite abundant.

He had also encountered the bottleneck Tang San faced at this stage in the original story.

Innate Full Soul Power was the limit of the dantian, not Zhou You's limit. He knew the standard answer to breaking through that limit: a Soul Ring.

However, because the cultivation systems differed, Zhou You himself did not place much importance on the quality of a Soul Ring. To him, it was just a "lid opener" for breaking past the dantian's limit. Whether it was a ten-year, hundred-year, or Thousand-Year Soul Ring made little difference to him.

The quality of a Soul Ring only affected the Soul Master cultivation system.

Zhou You surmised that what a Soul Ring truly affected ought to be the quality of Soul Skills. But in the eyes of a disciple of the arcane like him, Soul Skills were merely "arts," not the "Dao." If he did not take part in conflict, what need did he have for such powerful arts?

Zhou You's view of the means to protect his Dao was simple: having enough was good enough. His Three-One Sect's Threefold Reversal did not have any particularly formidable means of fighting enemies either. It relied purely on brute strength and toughness, and was best at clashing head-on with others using one's life and cultivation.

But that was based on the assumption that his Martial Soul was relatively trashy, because a Trash Martial Soul would not attract others' attention or require too many resources.

If I pick ten-year Soul Beasts every time I hunt for a Soul Ring, surely you can't be hostile toward me for that? It's not as if I have a passive taunt turned on, and there aren't that many lunatics in the world who insist on slapping strangers in the face.

All disputes in the world ultimately came down to clashes of interests and competition for resources.

But the situation was different now. The Heaven- and Earth-Harmonizing Umbrella was naturally nothing compared to a top-tier Tool Martial Soul like the Clear Sky Hammer, but it had far greater advantages than an ordinary Tool Martial Soul. Following the Soul Master system was undoubtedly more worthwhile.

Soul Master cultivation had always been rather wolfish, and the system itself encouraged competition: struggling against people, beasts, and the heavens. It was heavily dependent on resources.

In his heart, Zhou You had no intention of taking part in conflict, but when he saw the eager look on Zhou Chengjie's face, he knew that could only be his own wishful thinking.

Since I can't avoid it, I might as well enter the fray of my own accord!

Zhou You took an open-minded view of it. Cultivating apart from the world was cultivation, and cultivating within the world was cultivation too; neither was superior to the other.

Perhaps the Soul Master system might give him some different inspiration along the way. This was a fantasy world, after all, and Zhou You still had some expectations.

So when Zhou Chengjie enthusiastically invited him to join the Spirit Hall, he agreed without hesitation.

Since he had decided to enter the world, he naturally had to choose the terms most favorable to himself. Of the Soul Master factions he knew of, the Spirit Hall was the friendliest to commoner Soul Masters, so he had no reason to refuse.

As for the future dispute between the Spirit Hall and Tang San, Zhou You could only say it had nothing to do with him. Unless his own interests were involved, he didn't care who won.

Besides, he still wasn't sure what point in time he was in.

The way this world counted its years was a real mess. Heaven Dou had its own era names, the Star Luo Empire had its own, and the Spirit Hall had its own Douluo Calendar. Even the somewhat larger duchies were quietly making their own calendars in private.

He hadn't thought much about it when he read the story before, but now, reconsidering it from a real-world perspective, Zhou You found that the Spirit Hall's pursuit of a unified realm was almost inevitable.

It had broad popular support, a vast sphere of influence, and powerful military backing, with two divine positions at home waiting to be inherited. With a setup like that, how could it not make a big move?

It was branded the villain because it lost. History was written by the victors, and even a loser's breathing was a crime...

Seeing Zhou You agree to join the Spirit Hall, Zhou Chengjie beamed and hurriedly said, "I promise you, you'll never regret this decision. Oh, right, what's your Martial Soul called? I'll register it."

"The Heaven- and Earth-Harmonizing Umbrella..." Zhou You considered it. Since he had decided to join the Spirit Hall, if he wanted more resources allocated to him, he ought to display as much of his talent as possible and attract the attention of those above.

So he went on to introduce the Heaven- and Earth-Harmonizing Umbrella's other functions.

Under Zhou Chengjie's astonished gaze, he gave the umbrella's handle a gentle turn and drew a slender, double-edged sword without a guard from its shaft.

"This is the Umbrella Sword. It can be used for slashing and thrusting."

Holding the Umbrella Sword, he drew it across the floor. The blade sliced smoothly through the bamboo flooring as though cutting tofu.

Then, with a thought, he opened the canopy. Its thirty-two overlapping blades formed a surface as hard as steel.

He held the Umbrella Sword in a reverse grip and slid and tapped its blade against the canopy, producing the sound of metal striking metal.

"The opened canopy can be used as a shield. Its protective strength is proportional to the Soul Power I put into it."

Zhou Chengjie's eyes widened enormously once again, but he didn't forget to keep recording with his hand.

After the demonstration, Zhou You closed the umbrella and returned the sword to its sheath.

He had originally wanted to demonstrate the Heaven- and Earth-Harmonizing Umbrella's ability to fire Qi needles as well, but after careful consideration, he decided to keep a trick up his sleeve. What he had shown should already be enough for now.

"That's all..."

"Very good!" Zhou Chengjie's voice was so loud that it nearly startled him.

Zhou Chengjie himself hadn't noticed that he had become somewhat excited.

"Your name is Zhou You, right? Rest assured, I'll report your situation to the main hall exactly as it is. With your talent, you're sure to get the attention of those above. Please wait patiently for a few days!"

"If you have any difficulties, you can go directly to the Spirit Hall Branch in Hadrian Royal City for help. I'll let them know!"

"All right." Zhou You nodded.

But Zhou Chengjie was still a little worried, because the child's reaction had been too calm.

Worried that someone else would snatch the genius away, he grabbed the old village chief as soon as he left the bamboo house and urged him again and again to keep the information under wraps. He absolutely must not let any random person lure Zhou You away.

When the old village chief learned the details, his expression changed instantly. Then his face glowed as he thumped his chest and gave his word.

"Don't you worry, Ah Jie! I definitely won't let anyone else trick Little You into leaving!"