Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang's Response

No, I had to think of a way to let everyone know about my theory.

I absolutely could not let anyone surpass me.

Otherwise, those two geniuses would no longer acknowledge me.

Although Yu Xiaogang felt that Xiao Yan's theory was pointedly targeting him and flew into a rage from humiliation, he still retained some rationality.

He had waited so many years before finally finding two geniuses. One of them was even destined to become the third Twin Martial Souls wielder recorded in history.

He would not give them up.

Soon, Yu Xiaogang sat at his desk and picked up a draft notebook from the table.

The notebook actually recorded the "best" Soul Rings for Xiao Lin and Tang San to absorb.

For instance, the Soul Ring Xiao Lin could absorb was a roughly four-hundred-year-old Silver Wolf.

It was one of the strongest carnivorous Soul Beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest. A Silver Wolf's coat of silver fur was indestructible, and it was also exceptionally fast, making it perfectly suited for Xiao Lin.

As for Tang San, his Soul Ring would come from a Snake Soul Beast with poisonous attributes and resilience.

As long as the two geniuses followed his arrangements, they would definitely awaken powerful Soul Skills.

Xiao Lin's would be a powerful Attack Soul Skill, while Tang San's would be a powerful control Soul Skill.

Even now, Yu Xiaogang still wanted Tang San to absorb the Soul Ring of a Snake Soul Beast, hoping to gain Blue Silver Entanglement.

Soon, Yu Xiaogang turned past that weighty page.

He was afraid that if he looked at it for too long, he would forget to write his thesis.

After all, the First Soul Skills he had prepared for the two geniuses were simply too perfect.

Opening a fresh page, Yu Xiaogang held his pen for a long time, yet could not bring himself to write.

Damn it, how was he supposed to write this thesis?

Yu Xiaogang had spent the past dozen years muddling through life and had long forgotten how to write a thesis.

Besides, his previous thesis had been copied—no, borrowed—from Spirit Hall's materials.

He picked up a crumpled Spirit News from the trash bin, unfolded it, and began copying.

"Shocking?"

Using this sort of tactic right at the beginning to grab people's attention.

Heh.

Yu Xiaogang's lips curled up in disdain.

He was the Grandmaster. Writing something like that would be beneath him.

He had no need for such tactics.

After racking his brains for a long time, Yu Xiaogang finally came up with a topic and wrote down the title.

"On Plant System Soul Masters Can Absorb Soul Rings."

Yu Xiaogang was brimming with confidence. He believed that once his thesis was published, it would surely sell tremendously.

Ordinary people had no idea that Plant System Martial Souls could absorb Animal-Type Soul Beast Soul Rings. As long as the issue of compatibility was resolved, the results would be no worse than absorbing Plant-Type Soul Beast Soul Rings.

Ridiculous. There were even people criticizing him, saying that Weapon Souls could already absorb Animal-Type Soul Beast Soul Rings.

Damn it, what he had meant to say back then was Plant-Type Martial Soul Masters, all right?

He had merely forgotten to revise it at the time.

With his own topic in hand, Yu Xiaogang wrote as if divinely inspired. In less than half an hour, he had already completed more than half of it.

It was nearly four hundred words long. Looking at the neat and orderly thesis in his hand, Yu Xiaogang's heart swelled with pride.

Only that useless Xiao Yan needed to look for examples. If it were him, countless ideas would burst forth with a casual thought.

Yu Xiaogang even smugly changed one of the examples into a Blue Silver Grass Soul Master.

The reason he did this was to gain the approval of that Tang San.

Soul Masters from some backwater like Holy Soul Village must have terrible knowledge. Tang San, submit to my wisdom.

Hahahahaha! Yu Xiaogang rejoiced wildly in his heart.

Meanwhile, within Holy Soul Village.

On a small road leading past Notting City.

Xiao Lin had already bought today's Spirit News from a passing Merchant.

Holy Soul Village was close to Notting City. Although Notting City lay at the border of the Heaven Dou Empire, it saw no shortage of travelers.

There were quite a few Merchants traveling back and forth between the Two Great Empires every month, not to mention that Spirit Hall's territory lay between the Two Great Empires.

Looking at the Spirit News in his hands, Xiao Lin immediately revealed a satisfied smile.

There it was!

I'm rich!

Xiao Lin looked at the number at the very bottom of the Spirit News in his hand: 6379.

In other words, Spirit Hall had already sold at least 6,379 copies of the Spirit News.

And this was only Notting City, which was relatively close to Spirit Hall. Xiao Lin didn't dare imagine how terrifying the Spirit News's numbers would be in places farther away, such as the northernmost reaches of the Heaven Dou Empire or the southernmost borders of the Star Luo Empire.

What should he buy now that the Spirit News was selling so well?

Xiao Lin began to fantasize.

First, he absolutely needed a Storage Soul Tool, and he also had to buy some highly effective Whale Rubber.

What next?

Uh... seemed like that was it.

Xiao Lin was instantly speechless with himself.

His desires were actually that low.

Forget it, forget it. Xiao Lin soon stopped thinking about such matters.

As for the money from selling his Thesis, he could only collect it the next time he went to Notting City with Tang San.

At the earliest, that might not be until school started.

After all, their tiny place, Holy Soul Village, didn't have rare things like Whale Rubber or Storage Soul Tools. Even if he had money, there was nowhere to buy them.

Right, he had to go show off to Little San.

Before long, Xiao Lin jogged all the way toward the Blacksmith Shop where Tang San often worked.

Xiao Lin wasn't showing off just for the sake of showing off. He wanted Tang San and the others to understand just how correct his theories were.

Only by following his theories could Tang San grow more perfectly.

And that way, Xiao Lin's own benefits would keep increasing as well.

However, what had greatly annoyed Xiao Lin These Days was that Tang San kept finding excuses to avoid him.

Either he had to forge, or he had to cultivate the Mysterious Heaven Skill—whatever it was, he simply refused to spar with Xiao Lin.

Actually, Tang San couldn't really be blamed for that. The main reason was that Xiao Lin's combat strength had already surpassed Tang San's imagination.

Tang San considered himself a martial arts prodigy, yet even when he used every method from his previous life, he still couldn't so much as budge Xiao Lin.

Xiao Lin didn't even need to use the Eight Trigrams Staff Technique. With nothing more than ordinary basic attacks, he could defeat Tang San in seconds.

Tang San was currently forging with all his might, hoping to create a Sleeve Arrow and turn defeat into victory.

As for whether the Sleeve Arrow could put Xiao Lin's life in danger, Tang San himself didn't believe it.

Tang San had already accepted that even the Clear Sky Hammer couldn't move Xiao Lin. How could he expect a Sleeve Arrow to threaten Xiao Lin's life?

He merely wanted to use the Sleeve Arrow's elusive, unpredictable attacks to catch Xiao Lin off guard.

As long as Xiao Lin didn't see the Sleeve Arrow, his Indestructible Body Soul Power, dispersed throughout his body, could still be pierced by it.

The Clear Sky Hammer, on the other hand, was simply too large, and Tang San swung it relatively slowly.

That gave Xiao Lin time to react and concentrate his Indestructible Body Soul Power, making Tang San unable to hurt him.

In truth, Xiao Lin was also rather confused by Tang San avoiding their sparring sessions like this.

Without a suitable opponent, Xiao Lin felt that his Eight Trigrams Staff Technique was nothing but flashy, impractical moves—a fake style of martial arts, far too formulaic.

And without sparring, Xiao Lin could only spend much of each day studying Martial Souls.

He had long since finished the books borrowed from Spirit Hall, and there were too few Martial Souls in the village.

It could basically be said that the only Martial Souls available for study were Xiao Lin's own and Tang San's.

Right, there was also Grandfather Old Jack's Radish Martial Soul.

As Holy Soul Village's Food System Spirit, Xiao Lin felt it was still worth researching.

Perhaps one day, he could give Tang San's Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul effects similar to those of a Food System Spirit.