A Chance Encounter with Yu Xiaogang and His Disciple

The next day, everyone rose early and continued on their journey.

After half a day, they finally found a suitably aged Scaled Beast on a riverbank where water had pooled.

Following the plan, they dug a deep pit on a beast trail leading to the riverbank, several dozen meters away, and planted diamond-shaped wooden stakes at the bottom. Then Lin Manshan made his move, launching a long-range attack with Hidden Weapon Techniques. It was only a Hundred-year Spirit Beast, after all, with low intelligence. On top of that, Scaled Beasts were naturally bloodthirsty and irritable. It immediately howled and charged after him, only to step into empty air and tumble into the pit.

The three brothers with Weapon Martial Souls pitched in again, swarming it and stabbing wildly. Unfortunately, the Scaled Beast was completely unharmed. Still, its body was wedged between the stakes and the earth, unable to even twist free. Xiao Ziwang, being a Beast Spirit Master, had no good solution either. He could hardly risk jumping down to duel it alone, so with everyone passing stones to him, he focused on smashing its head, one rock at a time.

With Brother Hoe and Brother Rake helping gather stones, they pelted it for a full half hour before finally killing the Scaled Beast. After observing ten seconds of silence for it, Xiao Ziwang successfully absorbed its Soul Ring.

Unfortunately, no Soul Bone dropped.

Looks like it really came down to luck. Lin Manshan sighed inwardly as he followed the group back the way they had come.

After resting for another night, they finally left the Soul Hunting Forest the following morning.

They found an open space, sat down to celebrate together, then headed for the Post Station where they could hire carriages.

They had only just approached the Post Station when Lin Manshan spotted Yu Xiaogang, Tang San, and the Dean of Nuoding Academy sitting together and drinking tea from afar.

As expected of the Dean. He was rich.

The tea sold at the Post Station outside the Soul Hunting Forest was very expensive.

"Brother Xiao, it looks like you won't need to pay for my carriage ride," Lin Manshan said, turning to Xiao Zizai. He pointed ahead and lowered his voice. "That's our academy's Dean. The flat-haired man beside him is the Dean's friend. The little boy next to him is his disciple, and also my roommate in the Dormitory. His Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass, and he has Innate Full Soul Power. He's probably already a Soul Grandmaster by now."

"Innate Full Soul Power? A Soul Grandmaster?" Everyone was shocked.

Tang San looked even younger than A'man, yet he was already a Soul Grandmaster. This undoubtedly overturned their worldview.

But the next moment, Xiao Ziwang curled his lip. "Heh, isn't that blatant preferential treatment? When they meet someone talented, the Dean personally steps in. When they meet someone with low talent, they can't even be bothered. It was clearly on the way, yet they never offered to help A'man hunt his First Soul Ring."

"Yeah. If we hadn't run into him, given how little A'man knew about Spirit Beasts, he might still have succeeded, but it definitely wouldn't have been this easy." Xiao Zizai cast a disdainful glance at Yu Xiaogang and the others, and the brothers around him chimed in agreement.

"Um, you've misunderstood. I asked for leave before they did, so the Dean probably didn't know," Lin Manshan hurriedly explained in a low voice. Then he added, "But that flat-haired man is pretty stingy. Don't say anything carelessly later, or I'll definitely get punished for it."

"Alright, we know what to do," Xiao Zizai and the others said, nodding in unison.

Soon, the group entered the Post Station. Lin Manshan broke away from them and ran straight to the Dean.

The Post Station was not large. Yu Xiaogang and the other two had already noticed Lin Manshan's group approaching. Seeing Lin Manshan wearing Nuoding Academy's uniform while mingling with students from another academy, the Dean looked somewhat surprised. Yu Xiaogang was similarly surprised, though there was more indifference and disdain in his gaze.

Tang San, meanwhile, maintained a calm expression throughout.

"A'man, third-year Work-Study Student, greets the Dean." Lin Manshan bowed slightly and spoke politely.

After saying that, he turned to Yu Xiaogang and Tang San.

"Greetings, Master."

"Xiao San, long time no see."

The two merely Slightly Nodded and said nothing.

Their response made Xiao Zizai and the others, who were watching from afar, frown.

Xiao Ziwang in particular, who had obtained the Scaled Beast's Soul Ring thanks to Lin Manshan, had fire in his eyes. If rushing over had not been impolite and likely to cause Lin Manshan trouble, his clenched fists would already have landed on their faces.

"A'man, why are you here?" The Dean still looked puzzled.

"Dean, my Soul Power has broken through level 10. I asked for leave this time to obtain my First Soul Ring." Lin Manshan scratched his head.

"By yourself?" The Dean was immediately startled.

"Mm." Lin Manshan nodded.

He then glanced toward Xiao Zizai and the others, smiling foolishly as he said, "I got lucky. Some upperclassmen from Evergreen Intermediate Soul Master Academy happened to be short on an Order Token, so I joined their team. With their help, I successfully obtained my First Soul Ring."

"Oh? What Spirit Beast was it?" The Dean looked at Xiao Zizai and the others, who had puffed out their chests slightly. He smiled and nodded at them. They were all seventeen or eighteen, students of an intermediate academy, and they had readily agreed to help A'man hunt a Spirit Beast. Even if they were not Soul Grandmasters yet, they could not be far from it. They had a good chance of becoming Soul Ancestors in the future, and their talent surpassed his own. They deserved goodwill in return.

"A golden, four-hundred-year-old Unicorn Beetle." Lin Manshan continued to smile foolishly, keeping a humble expression.

"A four-hundred-year Golden Armored Rhinoceros Beetle?" The Dean looked even more shocked. Having spent so much time around Yu Xiaogang, he knew of certain rare Spirit Beasts. The mutated form of the Unicorn Beetle, the Golden Armored Rhinoceros Beetle, was one of them.

Yu Xiaogang also looked incredulous. He opened his mouth, but ultimately only muttered inwardly, What damn luck!

A four-hundred-year Golden Armored Rhinoceros Beetle was far stronger than the Mandala Snake Tang San had hunted.

If those two fought, the Mandala Snake would be nothing more than a spicy strip.

There was no helping it. The Golden Armored Rhinoceros Beetle possessed unmatched strength and defense, could fly, and could snap the Mandala Snake in half with one diving grapple.

Besides, neither the team's composition nor the changes in Lin Manshan's body suggested he was lying.

When they had met at the Academic Affairs Office before, Lin Manshan had been around 1.45 meters tall. Now, he appeared to be about 1.47 meters, and his body had clearly become sturdier. Such changes could only result from absorbing a high-quality Hundred-Year Spirit Ring.

Tang San naturally knew of the Golden Armored Rhinoceros Beetle as well. He examined Lin Manshan and inwardly sighed at his good fortune.

"Come, A'man. Summon your Martial Soul and let us take a look," the Dean said, his expression now somewhat excited.

"Um, Dean, my situation is a little unusual." Lin Manshan looked somewhat embarrassed and truthfully explained, "After absorbing the Soul Ring, my Soul Power increased by three levels, but the Soul Ring did not remain on my Martial Soul, and I didn't gain a Soul Skill either."

"..." The Dean froze, opening his mouth. "Something like that can happen?"

He then frowned slightly. "Summon your Martial Soul first and let me see."

"Mm." Lin Manshan glanced toward Xiao Zizai from the corner of his eye, nodded, and summoned his Martial Soul. Pretending to be at a loss, he spoke first. "I don't know what happened either. It just became like this. Maybe it's because my Martial Soul is a Mutated Martial Soul."

"???" Even Yu Xiaogang and Tang San were dumbfounded as they stared at the drastically transformed Martial Soul before them.

Wasn't it a Firewood Chopper before? How had it become such a mighty and imposing Great Blade?

They both knew very well that Lin Manshan absolutely did not possess Twin Martial Souls. Otherwise, his Innate Soul Power would not have been level three.

What was going on? Even Yu Xiaogang, who fancied himself a theoretical Master, could not understand it at this moment.

However, when Yu Xiaogang noticed that it had produced no Soul Skill, his eyes flickered and instantly turned disdainful. Even if its form had drastically changed, even if it had undergone a second evolution and gained greatly enhanced power and offensive properties, what use was it if it could not produce Soul Skills? Moreover, a Spirit Master's Cultivation Talent was extremely difficult to improve after birth. Lin Manshan had taken two years just to raise his Soul Power from level three to level ten, which revealed enough.

His upper limit was locked, and he had no Soul Skills. What difference was there between such a Martial Soul and a good blade forged by some roadside Blacksmith using quality materials?

If the previous Firewood Chopper could have produced Soul Skills, its practical combat power would probably have exceeded that of this Great Blade, which could not produce any. After all, Soul Skills generally came with a certain enhancement effect.

A flashy but useless Trash Martial Soul. Yu Xiaogang curled his lip and gave it that label inwardly.

He glanced toward Xiao Zizai out of the corner of his eye. With outsiders present, it was inconvenient to comment further. The Dean patted Lin Manshan on the shoulder and said gently, "A'man, I cannot make sense of your Martial Soul's condition for now. We'll study it carefully once we return to the academy."

"Perfect timing. We're preparing to return to the academy as well, so come with us."

Hearing this, Lin Manshan, who had already withdrawn his Martial Soul, bowed slightly. "Thank you, Dean."

Then he turned to Xiao Zizai and the others and waved. "Brother Xiao, Brother Dog. Goodbye!"

Good thing I didn't use my nickname back then. The Xiao Zizai brothers grinned and waved back.

"..." Brother Dog and the others looked somewhat awkward, forcing smiles as they waved.

They quickly turned around, did not even bargain over the price, and rushed into a carriage, urging the driver to get the horses moving immediately.

Lin Manshan's group also soon hired a carriage and set off on the road back to the academy.

Inside the carriage, Yu Xiaogang glanced at the dozing Lin Manshan, his eyes flickering. If a Martial Soul can't produce Soul Skills, can its owner still be called a Spirit Master? If he isn't even a Spirit Master, why keep him at the academy? The academy probably can't teach him anything anymore. Besides, Xiao San and Xiao Wu don't seem to have a good relationship with Lin Manshan, especially Xiao Wu. Letting Lin Manshan stay at the academy would be rather unpleasant to look at.

Consider it for Xiao San's peace of mind... With that thought, he looked toward the Dean, who had his eyes closed in feigned sleep.