One Year Later

After mastering the Jade Hand, he no longer had to fear ordinary poisons. As long as the toxin was not too potent, he could absorb it with the Jade Hand.

The Jade Hand also had different levels. Mo Bai's Jade Hand was still at the lowest level.

As for the highest level, it seemed that no one had ever managed to attain it since the Jade Hand was created.

The reason was that at later stages, the Jade Hand's toxicity became too powerful, and users were often poisoned to death by their own poison.

In his previous life, Mo Bai had not dared to cultivate it too deeply.

In this life, Mo Bai had not intended to delve too deeply into it either. However, after learning of the existence of soul bones, he began to have some ideas.

The Jade Hand's poison was normally concentrated in the fingernails of both hands. Therefore, those who cultivated the Jade Hand had fingernails as black as ink.

Mo Bai's level was still low, so his nails had only darkened slightly, and it was not yet obvious.

The existence of soul bones made Mo Bai wonder whether he could gather the poison inside a soul bone. That way, he could cultivate the Jade Hand to a higher level.

However, it was still far too early for that. Mo Bai had not even seen what a soul bone looked like!

A year passed quickly.

Over that year, Mo Bai's Soul Power level rose from level 12 to level 15.

Xiao Wu was also level 15, the same as Mo Bai, while Tang San had already reached level 16.

In terms of cultivation speed, the three of them were nearly identical.

However, Mo Bai knew that Tang San's talent should have been slightly better than his. He considered his Jing Yu Secret stronger than Tang San's Mysterious Heaven Skill, yet he had still failed to pull ahead.

That could only mean Tang San's talent was stronger.

When Mo Bai thought about Tang San possessing Twin Spirits, he accepted it.

So what if he was a little weaker? As long as his Jing Yu Secret was stronger, that was enough!

Over the past year, aside from cultivating, Mo Bai had also absorbed all the knowledge he could from Notting Academy.

Only after seriously studying did Mo Bai discover that there was much to learn if one wanted to become a powerful Soul Master.

There were the restraints between spirits, the characteristics and development paths of different systems, as well as a vast amount of knowledge about soul beasts—what Soul Skills could be obtained by hunting certain soul beasts, what changes a spirit might undergo, and so on.

However, everything was merely touched upon, and explained very simply.

Notting Academy's collection of soul beast illustrations was also very limited. Most of them covered soul beasts from several nearby Soul Beast Forests, and even those had not been fully catalogued.

Tang San, on the other hand, studied under Grandmaster, so he had learned more and his knowledge was more comprehensive.

The teachers often liked to ask Tang San questions in class and have him answer them.

In order to demonstrate Grandmaster's capabilities, Tang San did not hold anything back. Whenever a teacher called on him, he shared everything he knew.

As a result, everyone in the class came to know just how impressive Tang San was, as well as how knowledgeable Grandmaster was.

Occasionally, even upperclassmen came to ask Tang San questions.

Tang San had effectively become the representative of the first-year students!

Mo Bai was not the least bit envious of Tang San's treatment.

All he wanted to say was, "Keep it coming. Tell us more. Free knowledge really was the best!"

But when it came to popularity, Xiao Wu was still the most popular.

Not only was she cute, she was also the boss of every student at Notting Academy. How could she not be popular?

What frustrated Mo Bai was that he never saw Xiao Wu cultivate much, yet her Soul Power advancement did not lag behind at all.

This led Mo Bai to a conclusion: among the three of them, Xiao Wu might actually have the greatest talent!

And after a year, Notting Academy's holiday arrived as well.

"Mo Bai, where are you planning to go during the two-month break?"

For some reason, Xiao Wu came over to Mo Bai while he was packing his luggage and asked about his plans for the holiday.

The truth was, she did not know where to go during the two-month break either.

She was still too weak. She did not dare return to the Star Dou Great Forest at all. The soul beasts on the outskirts did not know her, and if she entered, they would only see her as a human.

She felt that she would at least need to reach level 40 before she could return alone. By then, even if she was on the outskirts, Da Ming and Er Ming should be able to sense her aura and come fetch her!

In any case, there was no way she could return to the Star Dou Great Forest right now.

And at Notting Academy, the only people she thought highly of were Mo Bai and Tang San!

Comparatively speaking, she felt closer to Tang San.

Before coming to ask Mo Bai, she had already asked Tang San outside Room Seven. Tang San's answer was that he would return to Holy Soul Village for the holiday.

That did not sound very fun, so she turned to ask Mo Bai instead.

If Mo Bai was also returning to his own village, then she planned to ask Tang San whether he would be willing to let her accompany him to Holy Soul Village for a visit.

"I'll go back to my village first, then visit some other cities and broaden my horizons!"

Mo Bai did not know why Xiao Wu was asking, so he casually told her his plans.

"Going to another city?"

The moment Xiao Wu-jie heard Mo Bai's words, her big eyes lit up.

Going to another city sounded far more fun than returning to some countryside village. It was not like she did not know what villages were like—there was nothing fun there at all.

"Then I want to go too. Let's go together!"

Xiao Wu-jie immediately made up her mind, clapping her hands as she settled it.

"You want to go too? With me?"

Mo Bai frowned at once upon hearing that.

"What? Is that not allowed? I'm the boss of every student in the entire academy. You've never called me Xiao Wu-jie, so I'll punish you by making you take me along this time!"

Seeing that Mo Bai seemed unwilling, Xiao Wu-jie immediately planted her hands on her hips and put on a fierce yet childish expression.

Looking at Xiao Wu-jie's adorably fierce little face, Mo Bai truly could not bear to refuse her. Then he thought about it—bringing Xiao Wu-jie along was not a bad idea. Her background was definitely not simple. If she came with him, someone would probably follow in secret to protect her. That was basically the same as protecting him too!

A free bodyguard—was that not great?

"No, if you want to come, then come along!"

So Mo Bai immediately denied it.

"That's more like it!"

"Come on, come on! You still need to go back to your village, right? I'll go with you, so you don't run off!"

Hearing Mo Bai agree, Xiao Wu-jie immediately smiled. She then turned back to grab her luggage, preparing to return with Mo Bai.

"Xiao Wu-jie, you... you're going back to Mo Bai's home with him?"

Tang San, who had watched the entire scene, could not help asking when he heard that Xiao Wu-jie was going back with Mo Bai.

For some reason, Tang San felt inexplicably uncomfortable, as though something were lodged in his chest.

"Yeah, we'll go to his village first, then spend the holiday visiting other cities together!"

Hearing Tang San's question, Xiao Wu-jie immediately admitted it. There was nothing to hide.

"Then... then what you asked me before..."

"That's right, I originally wanted to ask whether you had anything fun planned for the holiday, but you were only going back to your village!" Xiao Wu-jie knew what Tang San wanted to ask and nodded.

"...Oh!" Tang San did not know whether he should feel happy or dejected. Xiao Wu-jie had clearly asked him first.