Soul Masters and Soul Beasts: Him in Xiao Wu's Eyes
Xiang Yang looked thoughtful. "You think there should be limits on killing them? Or..."
"Mm. After all, my teacher told me about it, and you said before..." He paused, gathering his thoughts. "Mountains of gold and silver are no match for clear waters and green mountains. As the older generation, we can't just cut off the path for those who come after us, can we?"
Ever since they had recognized each other in Notting, the two had shared many memories of their respective past lives. Once, after hearing Grandmaster speak of the possibility that Soul Beasts might disappear, Xiang Yang had mentioned to him in private that many species in his time had gone extinct because of humans, and not even technology could preserve them.
Oh, good. He was simply worried about the future of Soul Masters, not thinking about protecting Soul Beasts. To be honest, Xiang Yang had been a little afraid that he might develop some extreme ideas.
It really wasn't an unfounded leap, given his origins...
And how every generation since Tang Hao had been involved with Soul Beasts...
He fell silent for a while. "Well, actually, I've thought carefully about this problem too, and I think I have some ideas for solving it."
"How so?" Tang San turned to ask, showing no surprise.
Rather than answer directly, Xiang Yang asked a question first. "What do you think the relationship between Soul Masters and Soul Beasts is?"
"Well..." Tang San knew he wouldn't deliberately say something pointless at a time like this, so he thought it over carefully. "Hmm, enemies who hunt and kill each other?
"No, that might have been true in the past, but as things stand now, only humans actively hunt Soul Beasts, while Soul Beasts rarely attack our human villages and towns."
"Soul Masters have always obtained resources and benefits from Soul Beasts. That means humans are..." Tang San looked troubled. He had already thought of something, but for the moment he didn't know how to describe it.
"It's parasitism. Soul Beasts don't need Soul Masters; they can survive and reproduce on their own indefinitely. But Soul Masters as a group need Soul Beasts to grow." Xiang Yang picked up where he had left off, voicing his own understanding.
It was as if Tang San had been anointed with enlightenment. He nodded emphatically. "That's right! Exactly." But then he froze. "Doesn't that make humans..." Evil?!
He thought about it carefully. Was that right?
Looking at the bigger picture, from the perspective of the two populations, humans only squeezed benefits out of Soul Beasts without giving them anything in return. It sounded a little strange to put it that way, but it was indeed the truth.
Seeing him looking somewhat shaken in his view of life, Xiang Yang continued sharing his thoughts. "Tang San, do you think there might be a possibility? Could there be a way for Soul Masters to obtain Soul Skills without using Soul Rings, or rather, without using Soul Beasts?"
"Well... maybe." Tang San's thoughts were pulled back. Despite his shock, he gave it serious thought, but still felt it was unlikely. "Soul Masters have been hunting Soul Beasts to obtain Soul Rings for who knows how long. Even if everyone could create their own Soul Skills, they would still need Soul Rings to advance in cultivation."
Then he thought of something else. Without the constraint of Soul Rings, humans would very likely intensify their pursuit of Soul Bones. "No, even if we bypassed that restriction, Soul Beasts might disappear even faster!" At that point, Tang San couldn't restrain himself, and his voice rose.
Xiao Wu hurried to catch up and asked curiously, "What's wrong? What are you talking about?"
Under Xiang Yang's hesitant gaze, Tang San told her about the conversation they had just had. As he spoke, he found it a little funny. "We started out thinking about restricting Soul Masters from slaughtering Soul Beasts indiscriminately, but instead..." He shook his head, looked at the road ahead, and chuckled. "Haha..."
But Xiao Wu, whose pace had abruptly slowed, was in no mood to laugh. Her mind was a muddle, and she followed the two of them purely on instinct.
Th-th-this! Is that right? It can't be, can it? Is it right or not?
At first, when she heard that Soul Masters might not need to hunt Soul Beasts, she had been quite happy. But she hadn't expected that carrying on like that would lead to such an ending.
Thanks to Xiang Yang's intervention—he would reason with her from time to time—Xiao Wu, who had lived in the human world for over five years, also had a much clearer understanding of Soul Beasts as a group.
They were only called Soul Beasts in relation to the group known as "humans." As far as they themselves were concerned, there was no such thing.
Take Soft Bone Rabbits, for example. How could they possibly consider themselves part of the same group as the Soul Beasts that preyed on their kind?
To put it another way, if Blue Silver Grass could think, would it consider itself part of the same group as the Soft Bone Rabbits that ate it?
How could it? This was a worry only transformed Soul Beasts had. They came from the places where Soul Beasts lived to the places where humans lived, caught between the two.
So Xiao Wu now felt nothing much about the deaths of other Soul Beasts. Just now, for example, she had eaten quite a bit of pigeon meat, and she hadn't said anything about it.
Moreover, given the bloodline rank of Soft Bone Rabbits, few Soul Masters would choose one for a Soul Ring, so they were unlikely to run into such a situation.
But now, if Soul Beasts disappeared, she could figure out with her toes that the Soft Bone Rabbit clan definitely wouldn't survive either.
No, no!
Although she had already transformed into a human, Da Ming and Er Ming were still there. They were both Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. If it could be done, they would definitely be targeted. After all, Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts were guaranteed to drop Soul Bones, and those came with two Soul Skills.
She composed her expression, stepped forward, and ventured, "If—well, I mean if—Xiang Yang, do you have a way for humans and Soul Beasts to coexist peacefully?"
Xiao Wu was genuinely afraid that Xiang Yang might devise a way for Soul Masters to condense their own Soul Rings. Although she felt it was impossible, when she thought about Self-Created Soul Skills and those theories, she wasn't so sure anymore.
Besides, she looked at the layer of golden light radiating from Xiang Yang and the hazy phantom of a plant within it...
Did they really think she would make friends with people so readily? Although Xiao Wu knew she didn't know very much, she had thought of becoming a powerhouse by using the faster cultivation speed she gained after taking human form, so she could go back and get revenge on that damned tiger. Naturally, she was no fool.
When she first saw Xiang Yang, she had thought he was one of her own kind. But over time, she had gradually abandoned that idea, because he was far too familiar with the human world, knowing even more than other "people."
No matter how she thought about it, he couldn't possibly be a transformed Soul Beast.
Oh, and there was Tang San too. Besides a scent of fresh grass, he also had an extremely faint layer of light around him, both blue-green and white. The blue-green was probably related to Blue Silver Grass, but she didn't know about the white.
So, all things considered, Xiao Wu had her reasons for befriending the two of them.
It's finally here, Xiang Yang thought. He said evenly, "Well, yes, yes, of course there is."
"What?" Xiao Wu asked excitedly.
"How?" Tang San hadn't expected Xiao Wu to suddenly take an interest in this subject. Wasn't she usually impatient with theoretical knowledge like this? Perhaps, like him, she thought it could change the world. Hmm, he hoped it wasn't because she thought it was fun.
"Ahem." Seeing the two of them staring intently at him, Xiang Yang stopped keeping them in suspense. "Since the original relationship is parasitism, couldn't we just change it to symbiosis?"
"Huh? Symbiosis? How would that work?"
"Interesting."