Soul Masters in Xiang Yang's Eyes and His First Battle

Suotuo City was far more prosperous at night than Xiang Yang had imagined. Flender led the students to the city's most famous building—the Great Soul Arena.

Battle was what set Shrek's teaching methods apart.

Teachers at ordinary advanced academies were mostly between levels fifty and sixty, and there weren't many of them. They couldn't do what Shrek did.

At most, they held relatively low-risk combat lessons under a teacher's supervision on a training ground. Besides, with the exception of a few academies, their students were almost all noble Soul Masters. How could they possibly let them fight here?

Shrek's explanation was that Martial Souls and Soul Skills differed, making standardized instruction impossible.

The best approach, then, was real, honest-to-goodness combat. Through fighting, students could discover their shortcomings and improve, while gaining combat experience far beyond that of their peers.

The one thing the Soul Fighting Arena never lacked was opponents. Besides, whenever they brought students here, at least Flender or Zhao Wuji would be watching, so their lives could be safeguarded. That was enough.

But beyond that, the main reason was poverty. After all, they were only a handful of grassroots Soul Masters with no family backing. Apart from their cultivation and their modest experience, they had little to offer. They could also earn some money this way to fund the academy, killing two birds with one stone.

Xiang Yang still remembered all of this, though at the time he hadn't quite understood how two Soul Saints and three Soul Emperors could have fallen so low.

Now, however, living in this world himself, he had experienced the reason firsthand. Soul Masters were purely a combat profession. No matter what a Soul Skill did, it had to serve combat; if it was no use in a fight, it was a worthless Soul Skill on par with a Trash Martial Soul.

To him, this was unquestionably warped. No wonder Douluo civilization developed so slowly and even regressed ten thousand years later.

If power was nothing but violence, it was bound to rot and perish.

Soul Masters, the most sought-after extraordinary profession, had undoubtedly been competent protectors of humanity at first. They hunted Soul Beasts and protected the weak. But Soul Beasts no longer posed a threat and were instead plundered at will.

Ordinary people formed the bricks and mortar of civilization, while Soul Masters stood almost entirely apart. The relationship had once been reasonably equal: you protected us, and we provided you with daily services and resources. Now Soul Masters gave ordinary people almost nothing in return. It had become a one-sided relationship of support, with too great a distance between the two groups.

But that was a matter for the future. Right now, Xiang Yang was about to begin the first real fight of his life.

Since he currently had only one support Soul Skill, he needed a partner for a two-on-two match. Just as he was about to suggest teaming up with Dai Mubai, Tang San suddenly spoke. "Xiang Yang, let's team up."

The others weren't the only ones puzzled; even Xiang Yang didn't know what Tang San was thinking. After all, Tang San's abilities as a Soul Master also leaned toward support. Wouldn't two support types teaming up just make things harder for themselves?

Still, he didn't refuse. Leaving aside the fact that he didn't care much about winning or losing, Tang San couldn't have done this just to lose alongside him, could he? Besides, he hadn't come to Shrek for this bit of combat experience.

In Xiang Yang's view, experience was only useful when opponents were at the same level or the gap between them wasn't too large.

But he was now in a fantasy world with an extraordinary cultivation system. What did the original story's broken power scaling have to do with the real world he now lived in?

He had verified it firsthand: a One-Ring Soul Master's physical abilities alone were already approaching the limits of humanity in his previous life, and the improvement covered every aspect.

That was astounding. Normally, if someone was a marathon champion, that meant he had tremendous endurance. But at the same time, his weight and musculature would prevent him from reaching the same heights in weightlifting, because the human body couldn't support it.

But if someone really could do that in reality, there was one name people would generally use to describe him—Qiao Feng.

With the support of Soul Power, however, a Two-Ring Soul Master, no matter what type, could easily reach that level in every respect.

Xiang Yang had always kept records of his physical condition and hadn't deliberately hidden it from the others. So after obtaining his Second Soul Ring, Tang San had tested himself as well. At his limit, he could run more than fifty li in an hour, sprint a hundred meters in under nine seconds, and lift a thousand-jin stone for several minutes.

Since Xiao Wu had a Beast Martial Soul, she was a little stronger than Tang San.

For a concrete comparison, one could look at the protagonists and villains in wuxia dramas, or even straightforward martial arts dramas. Calling them little supermen wasn't an exaggeration.

And that was only their base physical strength, attained through Soul Power's instinctive nourishment. If their Martial Souls favored it or they trained specifically for it, they could grow considerably stronger. That wasn't even mentioning that a Soul Master's main strength lay in Soul Skills.

"Wolf and Wretched Team versus Three Suns Team!" Once the host finished the introduction, the match began with a shout.

Skipping the Martial Soul introductions, Xiang Yang brought out his Soul Ring first and activated his first Soul Skill. By then, the two opposing Soul Grandmasters had already charged from the edge to the middle of the fighting platform.

Tang San took the [Sunlight Seed] and swallowed it, then used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to reach his intended position. "Second Soul Skill: Modified!" As soon as he arrived, he used a Hidden Weapon technique to shoot out a ball of grass he had prepared in advance. It wasn't very fast, but it was clearly going to land in the path the two opponents had to take.

The opponents reacted immediately. The one whose Martial Soul was a wolf shouted, "First Soul Skill, Swift Wolf Strike!" He intended to use the burst of speed to dodge the attack. The other simply stopped to provide support. His Soul Skill counted as a ranged attack, and this position was close enough.

But at Tang San's shout of "Burst!" the grass ball exploded, scattering countless grass seeds within a ten-meter radius. Both members of the Wolf and Wretched Team happened to be inside it.

One second, two seconds, three seconds. Nothing happened? The two exchanged a glance. "Kid, that's your Soul Skill?" "Yeah, yeah. A Soul Skill that weak is a real waste of a Hundred-Year Soul Ring."

At that moment, Tang San said, "You've already lost."

Huh? What was this little brat saying?

While everyone was still wondering, countless strands of Blue Silver Grass suddenly sprouted from their bodies, their clothes, the ground... wrapping them up.

No, this was no ordinary Blue Silver Grass. After Tang San absorbed the Soul Rings of two Plant-type Soul Beasts, Jade Dew Moss and Feather Floss Grass, its overall color had changed from bright green to a grayish pale green. Its leaves were no longer flat, slender, and sharp, but round and thick, and there were other parts they couldn't see clearly... Overall, it was much sturdier. They could burst out with Soul Power and snap a strand or two, but they couldn't break free of the rapid, endless growth covering them.

As two two-meter-tall balls of grass appeared on the fighting platform, the host announced, "The Three Suns Team wins! This is their first victory. We wish them..."

As the two left the platform, Xiang Yang had already gained some understanding. Tang San must have used the natural properties of plants like dandelions to further develop his original support Soul Skill, creating an effect similar to his original second Soul Skill, Parasitism.

A question confirmed it. This left Tang San somewhat frustrated. He had thought the Soul Skill he had developed with such difficulty would surely take Xiang Yang by surprise, only for Xiang Yang to work out the principle after seeing it once. Were people of later generations all so knowledgeable? A thought he had entertained before grew even stronger.

Tang San's second Soul Skill came from a Feather Floss Grass over seven hundred years old. The skill was Dandelion Fluff Bud: a spindle-shaped bud grew at the tip of his Blue Silver Grass, and eating it could remove negative physical conditions, such as clearing internal heat and toxins, reducing swelling, and dispersing bruises.

Building on that, he had developed it further. Without damaging the original structure, he spent more Soul Power to condense a large mass of Blue Silver Grass, swelling it around the bud into a fist-sized ball of fluff. When the fluff ball burst, it scattered hundreds of grass seeds with tufts in every direction. The seeds could cling to things on their own—their tufts had tiny hooks—and would catch and settle on anything they touched, whether the ground, walls, or an enemy's clothing. Within three seconds, they would sprout into clusters of Blue Silver Grass. The grass produced more seeds, and the seeds became grass again...

Seeing the two return, Xiao Wu waved from the spectators' seats and called out, "Third Brother! Little Yang! We made a fortune this time. It was your first match, so the odds were high!"

"Mm, good," Tang San replied somewhat blandly. They had agreed on this long ago. It was their first match, so they were unlikely to encounter particularly troublesome opponents. With their strength, they would have few rivals below level thirty, so of course they had to earn that money.

Flender continued watching the fight on the platform, feeling somewhat relieved that he had placed a bet too. At first, he had also wondered how two support-type Soul Masters could possibly defeat a power attacker and an agility attacker. But trusting Grandmaster and seeing Tang San's confident expression, he had bet a thousand Gold Soul Coins. To his surprise, his money had multiplied several times over in one go.

After a little while, it was Xiao Wu's turn. By coincidence, her opponent was Dai Mubai. She grinned, closed some of the distance, and used "Second Soul Skill, Red-Eyed Moonshadow." After speeding up, she followed with a control move and her first Soul Skill, Waist Bow. A flurry of kicks later, Dai Mubai had already landed off the fighting platform by the time his vision returned.

He had still fallen for it, even though he had known about her Soul Skill in advance... He felt both disappointed and a little pleased. They would all be classmates from now on. If he asked them to help design his future Soul Skills, perhaps he would have a chance of defeating his elder brother.

After returning to the academy, the group prepared to rest. Tang San had originally shared a room with Oscar, but for some reason, he had followed Xiang Yang all the way back, saying only that he had something important to discuss.

After closing the door, Xiang Yang smiled and asked, "What is it? You can tell me now, can't you?"

Tang San took a deep breath, his tone somewhat heavy. "Ah Yang, do you want to learn the Tang Sect Secret Arts?"

"Huh? Well..." Of course Xiang Yang had thought about it, and more than a few times, especially the Mysterious Heaven Skill and Purple Demon Eye. The former was an orthodox cultivation method that utterly surpassed this world's meditation methods, with a complete system of inheritance. The latter was cultivated by absorbing the purple Qi of sunrise every morning, which had some connection to his Martial Soul's attributes, and it could steadily improve spiritual power.

One represented Soul Power and the other spiritual power, both among the most important things in the Soul Master system. Of course he wanted them. But why was Tang San asking? Was he sounding him out? That didn't seem necessary...

Since he didn't understand, he asked. Sure enough, that wasn't what Tang San meant. Tang San looked at the scenery outside the window and said with a sigh, "When I learned that the Tang Sect had disappeared, I thought of rebuilding it on the Douluo Continent. But with me alone, who knows how many years it would take? So..."

At that, he turned to look at Xiang Yang. "So... you want me to join the Tang Sect?" Xiang Yang realized.

"That's right. You come from several hundred years in the future. Although you haven't cultivated those things yourself, you know many things I don't." Take the concept of science, for example. Tang San believed it would be difficult for him to reach Xiang Yang's level, putting it into practice at every moment as someone who had lived in that era did. It was a gap in understanding between eras, not something one could change simply by learning about it. Over the past few days, he had come to understand that deeply.

In Tang San's view, with his current talent, he might be able to bring the Tang Sect glory on his own, but it was bound to be fleeting. He didn't consider himself the equal of the Tang Sect's forebears, yet even the Tang Sect they had created had vanished as the times changed. In truth, that news had dealt him a heavy blow.

Given all that, how could he dare believe his own Tang Sect would endure forever? Would he build the Tang Sect with his own hands, only to know clearly that it would disappear one day in the future? No! He didn't want that to happen!

But Xiang Yang's science was different. It was a... set of values based on the objective existence of the world? Yes, that was right. With that way of thinking infused into it, the Tang Sect's techniques could iterate and evolve with the times. Even if it declined for a while, the possibility of rising again would be far, far greater.