Tang San's Blueprint

Yu Xiaogang's spiel left Tang San utterly speechless. He's treating me like a test subject.

There was nothing inherently wrong with a plant Martial Soul absorbing a Soul Ring from an animal Soul Beast, but at the very least, their attributes had to be compatible.

In the original story, Tang San had succeeded because the Mysterious Heaven Skill harmonized the two, so his cultivation had not been affected in the early stages. Later, thanks to the boost from his Blue Silver Emperor bloodline, and perhaps because Tang San himself had come to his senses, he had stopped adding poison-attribute Soul Rings to the Blue Silver Emperor.

But Tang San did not have the Mysterious Heaven Skill now. If he rashly followed Yu Xiaogang's path, the backlash from a Soul Ring would be the least of his troubles; at worst, his Martial Soul would collapse.

All Yu Xiaogang cared about was whether his own theory could be proven correct. Tang San was nothing more than a "test subject" for verifying his conjecture.

At that thought, Tang San no longer wanted to waste words on the man. He spoke calmly. "Let's get to the Soul Hunting Forest first. We can see what suitable Soul Beasts are there and decide then. It won't be too late."

Yu Xiaogang clearly failed to hear the dismissiveness in Tang San's words. Instead, he thought Tang San had accepted his advice, and a gratified smile appeared on his face.

"Good. We'll choose a snake or a spider as our target. The venom of those two kinds of Soul Beasts is the most potent, and adding it to Blue Silver Grass will produce the best results."

Yu Xiaogang's voice carried a note of satisfaction.

Tang San did not answer. Instead, he leaned against the wall of the carriage and slowly closed his eyes, pretending to rest.

The carriage continued onward, but Tang San sneered inwardly.

In fact, Tang San had long since made his own plans.

Blue Silver Grass was a plant with exceptionally tenacious vitality. Anyone could understand that if they gave it a little thought.

As the saying went: Wildfire cannot burn it all away; the spring breeze brings it back to life.

Even fire could not kill Blue Silver Grass, a testament to its tenacious vitality. That tenacious vitality was Blue Silver Grass's most fundamental and precious trait, not some notion that it was "too weak to reject any attribute."

Tang San's goal was clear: choose Plant-type Soul Beasts with strong vitality and keep building up the vitality of his Blue Silver Grass.

Plant-type Soul Beasts, such as hardy flowers, thorns, vines, and ancient trees, had Soul Rings that contained pure vitality. This vitality was highly compatible with the fundamental attribute of Blue Silver Grass, so absorbing it would yield twice the result with half the effort, and the risk of backlash would be lowest.

Having exceptionally strong vitality would bring benefits on many fronts.

First, he could summon an endless supply of Blue Silver Grass. The stronger its vitality, the faster the Blue Silver Grass would grow, the wider the area it would cover, and the longer it could keep fighting. Others would be gasping for breath after unleashing one major attack, while Tang San could keep attacking without end, wearing his opponents down to death.

Second, it could continuously strengthen his body. The vitality added by Soul Rings would nourish the host's body in return, improving his basic vitality, Soul Power recovery speed, maximum stamina, and self-healing ability. An ordinary Soul Master might need ten days or half a month to recover from an injury, while Tang San might be healed after a night's sleep.

Even his poison resistance would increase along with his vitality. A body brimming with vitality to the utmost was itself a powerful immune system; most toxins would be metabolized before they even had time to take effect.

Ultimately, if Tang San took this path to its limit, he might attain a state close to an "undying body." No poison could touch him, and every wound would heal on its own. Standing on the battlefield, he would be like an ancient tree rooted in the earth: let the wind blow and the rain beat down, he would stand firm.

When that time came, the Blue Silver Grass in his right hand would grant him an undying body; the Clear Sky Hammer in his left would become a hammer of destruction.

On one side was an endless, ever-renewing vitality; on the other, ultimate destructive power that could sweep everything before it like dead wood.

The combat power of such a combination would be terrifying beyond imagination.

Tang San sketched out this blueprint in his mind, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily lifted. But he quickly suppressed the smile.

Tang San did not tell Yu Xiaogang any of these thoughts.

There was no need, and he could not say them. Yu Xiaogang was the sort of person who could not stand hearing a different opinion. The more you reasoned with him, the more he thought you were challenging his authority.

Rather than waste time arguing, it was better to wait until they reached the Soul Hunting Forest and act directly according to his own plan.

The Soul Hunting Forest was about four hundred li from Nuoding City. It was neither a long journey nor a particularly short one. The carriage rattled along for more than a day, reaching the outskirts of the Soul Hunting Forest only at noon the next day.

Tang San poked his head out of the carriage and saw a vast, dark forest looming in the distance.

The carriage stopped outside a fence, at the entrance to the Soul Hunting Forest.

Yu Xiaogang took a token from inside his robes and handed it to one of the guards. The man examined it carefully, nodded, returned the token, and stepped aside to let them through.

"Let's go." Yu Xiaogang put the token away and strode into the forest first, with Tang San following behind.

The moment they entered the forest, the light abruptly dimmed.

Yu Xiaogang stopped and called out in a low voice, "Come out, Luo Sanpao."

He held his hands loosely before him, and a ball of purple light shone from his palms, rapidly condensing into a solid form.

"Luoluo!!"

A muffled cry rang out, and a purple creature appeared out of thin air before the two of them.

Tang San looked closely, and his eyelid twitched involuntarily.

The creature was a little over a meter long, with a round, chubby body, short, thick limbs, a large head, and a small body. Two ears drooped at the sides of its head, and its nose was round and large, turned upward to reveal two dark nostrils. Pale purple fuzz covered it from head to toe, giving off a faint sheen in the dim light.

At first glance, it looked exactly like a fat purple pig.

No, it was even fatter than a pig.

Tang San fought to keep his mouth from twitching and tried to maintain an expression of "simple curiosity."

"Little San," Yu Xiaogang said, pointing at the purple creature, "this is my Martial Soul. I call it Luo Sanpao."

Tang San widened his eyes in feigned surprise. "But, Teacher, don't Beast Martial Souls normally manifest by possessing their users? Why does it..."

At that, Yu Xiaogang's expression stiffened slightly, and a trace of bitterness appeared on his face. "Because my Martial Soul is a Mutated Martial Soul. It's just that its mutation clearly went in a bad direction."

Tang San said nothing. His gaze fell on Luo Sanpao, and he took a couple of extra looks. Tang San could not shake the feeling that, like his own Blue Silver Grass, Luo Sanpao should have been an extremely powerful Martial Soul by nature. Perhaps its foundation had been damaged when it was young, leaving it short of energy at the time of awakening, so it had failed to awaken completely and become what it was now.

Unfortunately, Yu Xiaogang did not have a god's-eye view and could not see this.

Tang San shook his head, keeping the thought to himself.

"Sanpao, lead the way." Yu Xiaogang put away his bitterness and waved at Luo Sanpao.

"Luoluo."

Luo Sanpao bobbed his head in acknowledgment and waddled deeper into the forest on his four short, thick legs, his nose sniffing ceaselessly at the ground.

Tang San and Yu Xiaogang followed behind. As they walked, Yu Xiaogang began explaining things to Tang San. His voice was not loud, but it could be heard clearly in the quiet forest.

"The Soul Beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest can be divided into four levels according to age: ten-year, hundred-year, thousand-year, and ten-thousand-year. The older a Soul Beast is, the stronger and more dangerous it is..."

Tang San listened without speaking.