"Do you have any idea how valuable my Martial Soul Theory is?"
Yu Xiaogang craned his neck, spittle flying. Not a trace remained of the lofty expert he had seemed before.
"My theory is the absolute truth!"
"After countless calculations, the limit for a Soul Master's First Soul Ring is four hundred and twenty-three years!"
"Even one year more, and the impact of its Soul Power will make the body explode!"
"That's an iron law! An axiom of the Soul Master World!"
Yu Xiaogang pointed at Tang San, his voice shrill:
"Tang San has a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul. Everyone knows it's a Trash Martial Soul!"
"For such an innately weak Martial Soul, the Control System is his only way forward."
"This Ten-Year Lone Bamboo has a gentle nature and enough resilience. It's perfect for him right now!"
"If he tries to absorb an older Soul Ring, he'll die!"
"What do you know? Someone who only relies on brute force could never understand the elegance of theory!"
The more Yu Xiaogang spoke, the more agitated he became, as though he meant to vent a lifetime of frustration.
Tang Yuan watched Yu Xiaogang hopping about like a clown, the disdain in his eyes deepening.
"A limit?"
Tang Yuan slowly rose and looked down at them both.
"That's only the limit for trash."
"Your so-called four hundred and twenty-three years is nothing but an average drawn from ordinary Soul Masters, most of them frail, malnourished, and untrained."
"You take the ceiling of the mediocre and turn it into shackles for geniuses."
"Yu Xiaogang, that isn't theory. You're killing people."
With that, Tang Yuan could not be bothered to look at Yu Xiaogang again. He turned his head slightly toward the graceful figure standing quietly behind him.
"Bing'er."
The girl had stood silently at the back all along. Long, water-blue hair fell over her shoulders, her skin was white as snow, and she was strikingly beautiful.
Her long, shapely legs were especially striking, half-glimpsed beneath her fitted blue dress, lending her an air both youthful and alluring.
At Tang Yuan's call, Shui Bing'er immediately stepped forward.
She did not spare Tang San or Yu Xiaogang a glance. Instead, she bowed respectfully to Tang Yuan.
Her bearing was humble to the utmost, her eyes full of admiration and awe.
"Teacher, Bing'er is here."
Tang Yuan said evenly:
"Show these two frogs at the bottom of a well what a real Soul Ring Configuration looks like."
"Yes, Teacher."
Shui Bing'er raised her head and turned to face Tang San and Yu Xiaogang.
The respect vanished from her face, replaced by cool pride.
At a thought, a bitterly cold aura swept across the clearing.
Frost instantly coated the surrounding plants.
Then two dazzling rings slowly rose from beneath her feet.
Tang San and Yu Xiaogang looked over instinctively.
One glance was enough.
Their eyes bulged, their eyeballs nearly popping from their sockets.
Neither ring bore the yellow of a century-old Soul Ring.
The first was purple.
The second was purple too.
Two deep-purple Soul Rings pulsed around Shui Bing'er, radiating the suffocating aura of Thousand-year Soul Beasts.
They were blinding.
They were staggering.
"Th-this..."
Yu Xiaogang sounded as if someone had seized him by the throat. A strangled rasp escaped him as he fell onto his backside.
He rubbed his eyes desperately, then even pinched his thigh hard.
It hurt.
He was not dreaming.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Yu Xiaogang screamed, clutching his head with both hands, his entire body shaking.
"How could her First Soul Ring be a thousand years old?"
"That defies common sense! It defies my theory!"
"How could a human body withstand the impact of a Thousand-Year Soul Ring? It must be fake! A trick of the eyes!"
Tang San's thoughts were in turmoil, his shock beyond words.
He looked at Shui Bing'er.
The girl did not seem much older than him.
Yet her First Soul Ring was a thousand years old.
What did that mean?
Though Tang San had only just entered the Soul Master World, he understood.
If her First Soul Ring was a thousand years old, she had started more than ten times farther ahead than everyone else.
And the sight before him was like a resounding slap across the face of Yu Xiaogang, who had just been expounding on his "iron law of four hundred and twenty-three years."
Tang Yuan watched Yu Xiaogang fall apart and pressed his advantage without mercy.
He spoke as casually as if listing household possessions, yet every word cut to the heart.
"Your Ten Core Competitive Theories claim there are no Trash Martial Souls, only trash Soul Masters."
"That's for fooling idiots."
"Then there's your supposed limit for the First Soul Ring."
"Bing'er underwent Medicinal Bath Body Tempering from childhood. Her body is far stronger than most. Forget a thousand years—she could absorb a fifteen-hundred-year Soul Ring."
"Your so-called theory is just a fantasy you dreamed up to comfort yourself after your Martial Soul Mutation failed and left you unable to break through level thirty for the rest of your life."
"Because you can't do it, you think no one else can."
"Because you're trash, you want to turn every genius you teach into trash."
With each sentence Tang Yuan spoke, Yu Xiaogang's face grew paler.
By the end, Yu Xiaogang's face was ashen. He lay limp on the ground, mechanically muttering, "Impossible. I'm the Grandmaster. I'm right."
Tang Yuan turned to Shui Bing'er.
"Bing'er, call over the little disciple you've been teaching. Let this Grandmaster see for himself."
Shui Bing'er nodded and beckoned toward the group behind her.
A little girl, even younger than Tang San, came forward and timidly bowed to Tang Yuan.
Then she released her Martial Soul as well.
Her First Soul Ring was deep yellow, nearly six hundred years old.
It was not a thousand years old, but it was still far beyond Yu Xiaogang's supposed limit of four hundred and twenty-three years.
"See that?"
Tang Yuan sneered.
"Even a disciple Bing'er teaches in her spare time has a First Soul Ring nearly six hundred years old."
"And you picked a Ten-Year Lone Bamboo for Tang San, who has Twin Martial Souls and Innate Full Soul Power?"
"Yu Xiaogang, you're not just stupid. You're malicious."
At the words "Twin Martial Souls," Tang San jerked his head up to look at Tang Yuan, horror surging through him.
No one knew that secret except his father and Yu Xiaogang.
How did this man know?
But the evidence before him shook him even more.
That little girl looked so frail, yet she had absorbed a Soul Ring nearly six hundred years old.
And Shui Bing'er's First Soul Ring was a thousand years old.
The facts spoke louder than any argument.
Tang San turned to look at Yu Xiaogang again.
The image of his teacher as a towering, wise man seasoned by hardship began to crumble and shatter in his mind.
So the so-called "Grandmaster" really was a joke?
Were those so-called "iron laws" only there because he was too weak?
Tang San felt like a fool.
He had almost believed him.
Before you continue