A Way to Stick by Wang Yan's Side

Martial Souls could evolve after awakening—this was absolutely a startling surprise.

The moment he confirmed this, countless thoughts sprang up in Chen Ping's mind.

Now that his Martial Soul Quality had improved, would his Cultivation Speed improve as well?

After all, the higher the quality of a Soul Master's Innate Martial Soul, the higher their Innate Soul Power usually was, and the faster they cultivated!

Second, could Yu Xiaogang's Luo San Pao Martial Soul actually have the potential to evolve by devouring Soul Bones as well?

Chen Ping had no way of verifying that question, but he personally felt the possibility was quite high.

No matter how wealthy the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had been back then, they could not possibly have wasted a Soul Bone just to conduct an experiment for Yu Xiaogang.

If Luo San Pao had taken a couple bites out of a Soul Bone back then, the entire course of Douluo Continent's story might have been different.

Third, Chen Ping was now completely confident that he could stick by Wang Yan's side.

From the very beginning, Chen Ping had never expected that some distant relative's identity would be enough to keep him beside Wang Yan.

In the Original Work, Teacher Wang Yan truly was gentle in his dealings with others, but the more he was like that, the more embarrassed Chen Ping felt about forcing himself onto the man.

The saying that gentlemen could be manipulated through propriety was true enough, but Chen Ping still had some shame.

From the very beginning, Chen Ping had prepared a set of achievements unique to himself, intending to share them with Wang Yan.

And this was his trump card for staying by Wang Yan's side with complete confidence—the Soul Master damage panel calculation formula and the final damage calculation formula.

That was right, those two calculation formulas that were as long, stinky, and tedious as an old woman's foot bindings. He and the system had spent half a month putting them together before they were basically complete.

On Blue Star, the damage formulas were so crude that they would not even be worthy of a casual forum post.

But on Douluo Continent, they could at least fill three top-tier journal papers, the kind with absurdly high impact factors—provided Douluo Continent's academic world even had things like journals and impact factors.

Now, aside from those two formulas, Chen Ping had another treasure that could attract Wang Yan.

A Martial Soul capable of evolving on its own—so long as Wang Yan was a scholar with a functioning brain, Chen Ping was not worried that Wang Yan would not feed and house him like an honored guest.

Tsk.

Now he could even save on meal expenses. Never had there been such a wonderful beginning!

At that moment, Chen Ping's grin was harder to suppress than an AK. Every time the corners of his mouth rose toward the heavens, he forcibly pressed them back down, making him look rather comical.

Bei Bei could understand Chen Ping's reaction very well.

Martial Soul Evolution! How many years could pass without a single such case appearing in the entire Soul Master world?

Shaking the Touch Dragon Staff in his hand, Chen Ping suddenly realized something.

His Martial Soul seemed not to have evolved in one go into something on the same level as Bei Bei's top-tier Martial Soul. It had merely risen by one tier.

After all, this thing was called "Insect Staff - Touch Dragon," not "Insect Staff - Touch Dragon King."

Thinking of that, Chen Ping immediately felt somewhat disappointed. He had thought his Martial Soul had reached the top in a single step!

But when he thought of how shabby his original Willow Staff Martial Soul had looked, and how rough it had felt...

For a mere Soul Bone to forcibly drag a bottom-tier Martial Soul among bottom-tier Martial Souls up to the level of an Intermediate Martial Soul already seemed incredibly impressive.

When he mentally asked to inspect the current state of his Martial Soul, the system was still as money-grubbing as ever.

Chen Ping could not afford the more than ten thousand Points required for a deep inspection, so he first spent a few hundred Points to buy a simplified version.

Insect Staff - Touch Dragon: A Martial Soul evolved from a Willow Staff after devouring a Touch Dragon King Right Arm Bone. Perhaps because its foundation was too poor, it could only evolve to this extent.

The large mandibles at both ends of the Touch Dragon Staff possess excellent armor-piercing effects and stability. The staff body has high hardness and flexibility, making it suitable for Staff Techniques: Monkey Staff, Insect Staff, Thrust Staff.

Chen Ping's eyes widened at once when he saw this. He had truly gone from a birdshot gun to a cannon.

If he remembered correctly, the system's evaluation of his Willow Staff had been that it was a Martial Soul that could be broken by anyone at any time, and the only Staff Technique it recommended was Thrust Staff.

Monkey Staff? Insect Staff? He could forget about it!

With the Willow Staff's flexibility, even using a Cleaving Staff Style casually meant worrying whether the Martial Soul would crack before it struck anything. At most, he could muddle through with Thrust Staff.

That was also why Chen Ping had been able to perform such a smooth set of Forward and Reverse Turning Staff moves in front of Bei Bei before—those were the only moves he knew.

Chen Ping's original plan had been to switch directly to becoming a Soul Engineer once he entered Shrek.

But judging by the current situation, there was no rush. He could still play around with this a little longer.

Besides that, there was one matter Chen Ping cared about most: whether his Soul Power Cultivation Speed had increased, just as he had previously guessed.

Chen Ping first meditated while standing for a while, then sat down and meditated for another stretch. His final conclusion was—he had been thinking nonsense.

Whatever his cultivation speed had originally been was still what it was now.

Martial Soul Evolution and Cultivation Speed had been two separate matters from the beginning.

The reason Chen Ping had entertained such an unrealistic thought in the first place was mainly because of the Original Work.

After Ning Rongrong's Martial Soul evolved from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda in the Original Work, she herself gained the potential to become a god.

Although she had most likely ridden on Oscar's coattails to receive that blessing, a Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda with only level-nine Innate Soul Power definitely would not have been enough to obtain such an opportunity to become a god, even with Oscar's help.

That was why Chen Ping had considered the possibility that Martial Soul Evolution could improve a Soul Master's own talent.

But in truth, Ning Rongrong was not the only one whose talent had increased. It was the entire first generation of the Shrek Seven Devils, aside from Xiao Wu.

Later, after consuming the Nine Rank Purple Ganoderma, Yu Xiaogang's talent had improved and he had broken through the Level Thirty barrier, yet Luo San Pao's Martial Soul still had not evolved.

Therefore, if Chen Ping wanted to further improve his Cultivation Talent, he currently had only one path left—Using Potions.

Just as Chen Ping was considering whether to continue practicing the Thrust Staff or try the Monkey Staff and Insect Staff recommended by the system, while haggling endlessly with the system over the cost of deducing Staff Technique, a lazy voice drifted over.

"Ha~~~"

Xiao Ya, who had been sitting cross-legged on the ground absorbing her Soul Ring, comfortably stretched and let out a soft, sleepy yawn.

The glimpse of her fair wrist and cute navel revealed by the stretch made Bei Bei's eyes go wide, and he nearly could not tear his gaze away.

When Tang Ya opened her eyes and saw Bei Bei staring so intently, she hurriedly covered her stomach, glared at him in irritation, then searched around for Chen Ping with an embarrassed, annoyed expression.

Only then did she realize that Chen Ping was still staring blankly at a pale golden carapace staff in his hand, and the blush on her face faded somewhat.

Bei Bei also sensed that something was wrong. He quickly gave an awkward laugh. "Xiao Ya, you really missed it just now. I bet you have no idea what happened!"

Having been caught red-handed peeking at Tang Ya's navel, Bei Bei hurriedly changed the subject.