Su Mo's pupils contracted slightly, and he hurriedly amplified Yu Xiaogang's shame. He really couldn't handle the Grandmaster in this state.
Pop!
The next instant, the mist dissipated.
Clearly, the Grandmaster had dismissed his soul skill. But his face was now blood-red, and then, with a squawk, he fainted.
"Teacher, what's wrong?" Fighting through the lingering stench, Tang San stepped forward in concern.
Inside, he couldn't help grumbling about how embarrassing his teacher was.
Before absorbing the soul ring, his teacher had confidently declared that an assault-type martial soul could certainly absorb a defensive soul beast's soul ring, and that combining the two might even produce a defense-breaking soul skill. Instead, he had suffered a crushing defeat.
Having a disgusting soul skill was one thing, but showing it off was where he had gone wrong.
And he had even knocked himself out with the stench just by demonstrating it.
For the umpteenth time, Tang San regretted taking him as his teacher. If he hadn't respected teachers and their teachings, he would have left and found someone else long ago.
"Did the Grandmaster pass out from the stink?" Xiao Wu still looked shaken.
"Maybe he had a terminal attack of embarrassment."
Su Mo shook his head and quietly withdrew his emotional control.
Director Su, who had watched the entire demonstration, said nothing. In truth, he had already begun to wonder back when the Grandmaster fought the Great Strength Gorilla.
Weren't farting soul skills Luo Sanpao's signature?
Why did the Clear Sky Hammer's soul skills involve farting too?
Even after the Clear Sky Hammer absorbed its third ring, nothing had changed.
Could it be...
That farting was actually the Grandmaster's signature?
Or had the Clear Sky Hammer caught it from Luo Sanpao?
If the side effects of twin martial souls could cross-infect each other, that meant the effects of their force fields were relative. Could he publish a theory of his own and call it Martial Soul Relativity?
Before long, Tang San shook his teacher awake.
Recalling what had just happened, Yu Xiaogang wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Seeing that the Grandmaster was awake, Director Su got down to business.
"Su Mo and Xiao Wu still haven't hunted down their soul rings. I'm afraid we'll have to head back into the depths of the forest."
An idea struck the Grandmaster, and he sternly refused. "Absolutely not! That squad of soldiers we met yesterday said the Soul Hunting Forest had been sealed off and ordered us to leave as soon as possible. Would you really put the students' lives beneath a crumbling wall?"
Hmph, let's see how you hunt down thousand-year rings now!
Xiao San and I already have our soul rings. We can leave whenever we like, but you'll probably have to wait until the Soul Hunting Forest opens again.
"Well..." Director Su hesitated.
He had suggested venturing deeper into the forest to help Su Mo and Xiao Wu obtain their soul rings not because he disregarded the students' safety, but because he was counting on the Clear Sky Sect expert secretly protecting the Grandmaster.
But the Grandmaster clearly didn't want to stay any longer, so there was little more he could say.
Just then, however, Su Mo said, "We've already obtained our soul rings."
"Hm?" Director Su froze.
"What did you say? You obtained your soul rings? How?"
Su Mo shrugged. "While we were fleeing, we happened to come across two soul beasts knocked unconscious by the shock waves from the battle. We finished them off and got our rings."
"What a coincidence." Director Su was surprised. He hadn't expected Su Mo and Xiao Wu's experience to be so similar to the Grandmaster's.
In truth, Yu Xiaogang and Su Mo really had benefited from coincidences.
Xiao Wu, however, had condensed her soul ring herself.
Curious but also a little apprehensive, Director Su asked, "How old were the soul rings you absorbed? Did they reach a thousand years?"
Su Mo and Xiao Wu exchanged a glance and summoned their martial souls together. Two purple soul rings slowly rose from beneath their feet.
Everyone: "!!!"
Director Su, the Grandmaster, and Tang San were all so stunned that their jaws dropped.
Purple!
Thousand-year soul rings!
And thousand-year first rings, at that!
"Good heavens! This is simply unprecedented. At least, I've never heard of anything like it." Director Su's eyes burned with fervor.
The Grandmaster felt his cheeks burning as though he had been slapped.
To think that this whale rubber body-tempering theory was actually true.
Moreover, all his efforts to obstruct Su Mo and Xiao Wu's soul hunting now made him look like a clown. Neither of them had needed to hunt for a ring at all.
Tang San was the most regretful person there.
He had heard about Grandmaster Tian Meng's Three Laws of Martial Souls over two months ago. Later, on the night before they left for the Soul Hunting Forest, Su Mo had brought him ten-thousand-year whale glue. He had let both opportunities slip through his fingers.
Now, of the three work-study students from Holy Soul Village, he was the shortest, had the weakest constitution, and possessed the youngest soul ring.
Both his friends had thousand-year first rings, while he only had a hundred-year first ring.
Alas, it was too late for regrets...
But his teacher was also to blame.
If his teacher hadn't opposed the whale rubber body-tempering theory, he would have absorbed the whale rubber long ago.
He was becoming increasingly disappointed in his teacher. This was nothing but a fake grandmaster with half-baked skills. He did have some theories, but not many, and his so-called martial soul mimicry theory was utterly useless.
A plant-type martial soul could indeed absorb an animal-type soul ring, but then what? All it had given him was a soul skill that made whipping people feel satisfying?
Absolutely worthless!
It couldn't hold a candle to Grandmaster Tian Meng's theory of martial soul evolution.
If his father hadn't once instructed him never to add any soul rings to his hammer martial soul, he would have wanted to switch martial souls and start over.
Huh?
Tang San spotted something he had overlooked.
I don't have a hammer martial soul anymore. Doesn't that mean I can add soul rings to my second martial soul?
But soon, Tang San hesitated again.
The main problem was that Luo Sanpao's abilities were rather disgusting.
Hadn't his teacher failed to escape the nightmare of farting even after changing martial souls?
Director Su curiously asked about their soul skills, then added, "If you'd rather not say, just pretend I didn't ask."
"There's nothing we can't tell you."
Su Mo had no intention of keeping everything hidden. He couldn't go his whole life without using his soul skill, so it would be revealed sooner or later. Still, he kept something in reserve and only gave Director Su a watered-down version.
"My soul skill lets me control plants, but I'm not proficient with it yet, so I won't demonstrate."
Mostly because he hadn't developed it yet.
"My soul skill is teleportation." Xiao Wu gave a brief demonstration as she spoke.
Director Su marveled again and again at the sight.
The Grandmaster watched with a sour expression.
Tang San, meanwhile, was green with envy. Now that was a proper soul skill!
"Since everyone has obtained their soul rings, let's head back." Director Su called for everyone to return to the academy, and naturally, no one objected.
On the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Da Ming and Er Ming had been racing back day and night, and at last, they reached their territory.
The two beasts glanced back and saw several distant figures pursuing them. Once they entered the forest, however, the figures stopped and hovered in midair. Whatever they said to one another, they ultimately left.
"Whew, that was close. We almost didn't make it back."
At the sight, Er Ming breathed a sigh of relief, then transformed back into a Titan Giant Ape.
Da Ming likewise returned to his bull-headed, snake-bodied form and couldn't help sighing. "Human powerhouses really do keep emerging one after another. How generously Heaven favors humanity... Where does the way forward lie for us soul beasts?"
Er Ming: "..."
Didn't we agree to be useless together?
You've been secretly striving behind my back, thinking about topics this profound!
Hum!
Rustle...
The surrounding trees suddenly trembled, their leaves rustling.
Clearly, the Myriad Demon King had sensed Da Ming and Er Ming's return and summoned them. Not daring to delay, the two beasts hurried toward the Lake of Life.