Refuting the "Grandmaster's" Theory

Early the next morning, Gu You and Tang San borrowed a villager's carriage with Old Jack and set off for Nuoding City.

"Xiao San, we'll probably reach Nuoding City in the afternoon. You and Xiao You should get some proper rest in the carriage."

Old Jack knew Tang San had never left Holy Soul Village and worried that he would not be able to bear the boredom, so he gave him a heads-up.

After replying with a "Okay," Tang San continued listening to Gu You explain his theories on Soul Masters.

"Xiao San, yesterday I briefly told you about my new classification of Martial Souls. Since we'll be starting school in a few days, and to prevent the teachers at the academy from influencing you with preconceived ideas, I'll first tell you my new thoughts on Martial Souls."

After confirming that Tang San was listening seriously, Gu You continued.

"In recent years, whenever Martial Soul research is mentioned, one person must be brought up: Yu Xiaogang, known as the 'Grandmaster.' He proposed a theory called the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls."

"These ten points are as follows. First, every person's Martial Soul can only inherit the stronger and more outstanding Martial Soul of one parent."

"Second, during inheritance, there is an extremely small chance that the Martial Soul will mutate. Some mutations are good, while others are bad."

"Third, the awakening of Soul Power is often related to the quality of the Martial Soul. The more outstanding the Martial Soul, the higher the Innate Soul Power."

"Fourth, Soul Masters need to obtain Soul Rings in order to advance. Soul Rings are divided into five grades according to the age of the Soul Beasts that produce them: ten-year white, hundred-year yellow, thousand-year purple, ten-thousand-year black, and finally hundred-thousand-year red."

"Fifth, Soul Masters each have their own paths of development and should train according to the characteristics of their own Martial Souls."

"Sixth, when Soul Masters reach a bottleneck, continuing to cultivate without immediately obtaining a Soul Ring will not affect the growth of their Soul Power."

"Seventh, Martial Souls are divided into Tool Martial Souls and Beast Martial Souls. Before rank seventy, Beast Martial Souls are stronger than Tool Martial Souls; after rank seventy, Tool Martial Souls are stronger than Beast Martial Souls."

"Eighth, there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters."

"Ninth, Martial Souls have no restrictions when absorbing Soul Rings. Even Plant Type Martial Souls can absorb the Soul Rings of Animal Type Soul Beasts."

"Tenth, even completely different Martial Souls may produce a Martial Soul Fusion Skill."

After reciting Yu Xiaogang's Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls in one breath, Gu You saw Tang San lost in thought and asked, "Xiao San, do you think there's anything wrong with it?"

"It sounds pretty correct. I don't see any problems," Tang San replied after thinking it over.

"Exactly, Xiao San. It only sounds pretty correct. That's where this man is clever: he mixed completely meaningless things into some correct theories, then kneaded them together into the Ten Core Competencies we see now."

"First is the first point. Xiao San, do you remember the little girl in our village whose awakened Martial Soul was also Blue Silver Grass?"

"I remember. What about her?"

"First of all, Blue Silver Grass is currently recognized as the worst among useless Martial Souls. You know that too. No Martial Soul has poorer quality than Blue Silver Grass. That means unless both parents have Blue Silver Grass as their Martial Souls, the child's awakened Martial Soul absolutely should not be Blue Silver Grass. Even a stone would have better Martial Soul quality than Blue Silver Grass."

"Yet that little girl still awakened Blue Silver Grass. I asked Grandpa about her parents' Martial Souls. Her father's Martial Soul was Blue Silver Grass, but her mother's was an Embroidery Needle. According to Yu Xiaogang's theory, she should have awakened an Embroidery Needle. So this theory has a problem."

"Then there's the third point. The quality of a Martial Soul being related to Innate Soul Power is obviously wrong as well. Even Martial Souls inherited through the same family bloodline differ in Innate Soul Power. If Beast Martial Souls could still be explained by bloodline affecting Martial Soul quality, then Tool Martial Soul families make no sense at all. Even the sect your Hammer came from probably did not have everyone born with Innate Full Soul Power."

As he said that final sentence, Gu You lowered his voice and leaned close to Tang San's ear.

Tang San turned to look at Old Jack. Completely unaware that the two children in the carriage had just revealed a huge secret, Old Jack continued driving the carriage with an easygoing air.

Tang San gave Gu You a grateful look. Gu You blinked and raised a thumb, as if saying, "Don't worry. I haven't told anyone your secret."

"There's also the sixth point. It's complete nonsense. If continuing to cultivate after reaching a bottleneck could still increase Soul Power without advancing, there would be examples of it in Spirit Hall's books. Yet neither the books nor his own published writings mention a single example."

"The seventh point is even less worth mentioning. The strength of every Martial Soul depends on the user's abilities. Soul Ring choices and Martial Soul counterrelationships also affect combat. A rank-seventy Tool Martial Soul Soul Saint with no combat experience would most likely lose to a battle-hardened rank-fifty Beast Martial Soul Spirit King, even with a Martial Soul Avatar."

"The eighth point: there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters. Xiao San, what do you think of that saying?"

Tang San lowered his head in thought for a while, then looked up and answered, "It probably means that every Martial Soul has its own strengths and weaknesses, and that an outstanding Soul Master can bring out its strengths while avoiding its weaknesses."

"Exactly. Taken by itself, that sentence does mean that. But I need to tell you, Xiao San, that this 'Grandmaster' who said it is only a rank-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster, and he has been unable to reach rank thirty for decades."

"What?!" Tang San was shocked. He could not believe that someone capable of saying such words was merely a Soul Grandmaster—and someone who had remained at rank twenty-nine for decades without reaching rank thirty.

Gu You said, "It's true. Yu Xiaogang is currently in Nuoding City, and I heard he's staying at the Soul Master Academy we're going to. Grandpa Ma Xiunuo from Spirit Hall said Yu Xiaogang has been collecting the Soul Grandmaster subsidy since decades ago and has never stopped."

"A person who has spent decades unable to advance from Soul Grandmaster to Soul Elder saying something like that—is he declaring himself a useless Soul Master? Applied to him, that statement proves itself to be a paradox."

"Then there's the ninth point. What does it mean that Plant Type Martial Souls can absorb Animal Type Soul Rings? If the Martial Soul were a sword, then what? Would smashing a century-old antique sword produce a yellow Soul Ring? It's utter nonsense. The choice of Soul Rings should depend more on compatibility, not whether something is an animal or a plant."

"Lastly, the second, fourth, fifth, and tenth points were completely copied from Spirit Hall's books. The second came from the work of a Soul Saint from Spirit Hall's past. That Soul Saint was known as the Book Saint, and his Martial Soul was said to be a book. He had profound research into both Martial Souls and Soul Beasts. His book <On Martial Soul Awakening and Its Relationship to Both Parents> mentions Martial Soul mutations, and that second point is the original text from the book."

"The fourth and fifth points both came from ancient texts whose authors can no longer be identified. The exact same words can be found in the books Spirit Beasts and Spirit Rings and <Soul Ring Combinations and the Strengths and Weaknesses of Martial Souls>."

"Finally, the tenth point came from a book called <A Soul Master's Strongest Method—Martial Soul Fusion Skills>. The book records a great many Martial Soul Fusion Skills known to its author. In the end, he concluded that the emergence of Martial Soul Fusion Skills followed no pattern and had nothing to do with either party's Martial Soul. Two people might possess one, while others with exactly the same Martial Souls might not be able to produce a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. It was entirely a matter of chance."

P.S. The next section will spend quite a long time describing the protagonist's understanding and ideas about Martial Souls and Soul Masters. I'll finish this part as quickly as possible, so please don't abandon the story.

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