What Does "Martial Soul" Mean?

Sikong Hu used his second Soul Skill to smash open a path and was about to rescue Zuo Xuefu when Zheng Li came charging over.

A murderous glint flashed in Sikong Hu's eyes. As his first Soul Ring lit up, five sharp blades sprang from the fingertips of his right hand, which was covered in green scales. He ran, leaped, and slashed in one fluid motion.

Seeing this, Zheng Li dropped his long sword. A golden light flashed as a large shield formed, but it couldn't withstand the blow.

The lion's claws tore it into five pieces!

Just as danger loomed, two long tails shot out from beside Zheng Li and struck toward Sikong Hu's chest.

Sikong Hu's pupils contracted. He switched from offense to defense, bringing his right arm across his chest!

At that very moment, a fierce golden light blazed from Zheng Li's brow. A Light Sword emerged from it and stabbed straight toward Sikong Hu's abdomen!

Sikong Hu was sent flying, the Light Sword still piercing his abdomen.

Even the proctor was caught off guard by this turn of events.

But it wasn't over. A small, jade-like hand emerged from the fierce golden light, followed by another golden ring that appeared out of thin air before it. The Light Sword Soul Skill activated once more!

As Sikong Hu hit the ground, the Light Sword followed close behind, splitting into multiple blades that attacked him from several angles.

This time, the proctor immediately intervened and dispelled the Light Swords, which meant Sikong Hu was eliminated.

The small hand withdrew. The fierce golden light slowly faded, and Zheng Li swayed as his Soul Power was nearly exhausted...

He had almost lost his "battle form," which meant he'd nearly ended up naked in front of everyone.

Cui Yajie hurried over to support him.

Who knew...

Who Knew What the Martial Soul Meant

Just as the fierce golden light seemed about to fade, it flared up again, and the small hand emerged.

It gave Cui Yajie's head a light smack before withdrawing once more. The fierce golden light then faded away.

It was only natural that the hand could reach her. In three months, Zheng Li had grown to a height of one and a half meters, gaining around ten centimeters.

Cui Yajie, meanwhile, was a little over one and a half meters tall, making her slightly taller than Zheng Li...

Because Zheng Li, Ling Nan, and Su Yunqing often spent time together, they'd even earned a nickname in their class.

"The Short Trio."

It had made Su Yunqing furious, but Zheng Li and Ling Nan didn't mind.

Zheng Li: "..."

Cui Yajie: "..."

The proctor: "..."

The viewing platform.

Shen Lan: So Co-Combat can be used like that?

Wang Yan rubbed his eyes. What on earth had he just seen?

A hand? Or had he imagined it? Xuan Zi, standing nearby, chuckled. "Well now, can that Martial Soul get jealous?"

Before coming, he'd specifically asked Shen Lan about Zheng Li.

He'd deduced that Zheng Li's Martial Soul had its own intelligence. Special Martial Souls like this usually possessed some degree of intelligence. For example, the Grandmaster Luo Sanpao from ten thousand years ago had been the same.

Of course, Zheng Li's human-shaped "Spirit of Light" was even more unusual.

Why did he say it was a deduction?

Because Shen Lan didn't know much about it either.

During the actual training, Zheng Li had only used his Co-Combat state once, in his first real battle against Su Yunqing. After that, no one in Class Five had seen him use it again.

"Martial Soul? Jealous?" Wang Yan was dumbfounded. "Grandmaster, was that hand just now his Martial Soul?! Does Zheng Li have Twin Martial Souls?"

"Teacher Wang, that hand just now was Zheng Li's current Martial Soul..." Du Weilun explained, going over the three battle forms before adding, "But Zheng Li really does have Twin Martial Souls."

"..."

Twins? How was that much different from having three?

"How unusual!" Wang Yan finally exclaimed after a moment.

"Indeed."

Du Weilun looked toward the Section One arena, where Zuo Xuefu had been forced into a corner by Zheng Li and the other two and had no choice but to surrender.

Zheng Li and the others had advanced to the top four.

In the Section One arena.

The proctor gave Zheng Li a stern look, but ultimately said nothing.

Sikong Hu was naturally still alive. By rights, the incident had been the proctor's fault.

He didn't ask about that hand. He'd seen plenty of strange Martial Soul abilities, and a hand wasn't all that unusual...

Was it really nothing unusual?

Deep down, the proctor was curious too.

"Director Du, what is this student's second Martial Soul? Could you tell me?"

Watching Zheng Li, Wang Yan found himself paying a little less attention to Huo Yuhao.

He was curious. He wanted to study him...

But Wang Yan knew that wasn't possible.

"There's no problem telling you. It's his heart, but Zheng Li has never used it, so we don't know what abilities it has. That's only natural, of course. A heart can't exactly manifest outside the body."

They'd confirmed this themselves. Back then, when Teacher Jin had caught up with Zheng Li and given him a ride, he'd used Soul Power to check again and discovered that Zheng Li's "heart" really was a Martial Soul.

Only then had he reported it.

Surely they couldn't take a child's word for it without checking?

Someone might just as well claim to have a "stomach" Martial Soul.

"His heart..." Wang Yan was surprised again.

Simply because he'd never heard of such a thing...

"All right, I'm off. Little Wang, don't bring up that Huo Yuhao again. The heart is a Body Martial Soul too. With Body Martial Souls, the more important the body part, the stronger it is. And as for whether the heart or the eyes are more important, setting that aside, just consider talent and how easy it is to obtain a Soul Ring..."

Xuan Zi left before finishing his thought. Wang Yan understood what he meant by the end.

Du Weilun patted Wang Yan on the shoulder, then left the platform as well. The eight-to-four round was nearly over, and he had to take care of the aftermath.

Wang Yan: "..."

He didn't know what to say.

If Huo Yuhao hadn't stood much of a chance of being noticed before, now he had even less.

After the proctor announced their victory, the four of them left the examination area.

"Um, Zheng Li, can I ask what your Martial Soul meant by that?" Cui Yajie asked, blinking her big pink eyes.

"She..." A smile curved Zheng Li's lips. "She was probably jealous."

"Jealous?" Cui Yajie was taken aback. "Of me?"

She was also surprised. It was the first time she'd seen Zheng Li smile so gently.

"Yeah. Haven't I told you that Xiao Nai is intelligent?"

"Who's Xiao Nai? And when did you mention that your Martial Soul had intelligence?" Ling Nan asked in surprise.

"Xiao Nai is the Spirit of Light. I named her Meng Xiaonai," Zheng Li said.

Xiao Nai: When you say that, where does that leave my parents?

"Oh, right."

They weren't all that surprised by the Martial Soul's intelligence, since Shen Lan had mentioned unusual Martial Souls before, including examples of "Martial Soul intelligence."

"Then, A Li, why did your Martial Soul get jealous because of Yajie?" Ling Nan asked again.

"You have a lot of questions. It's about what happened yesterday."

At Zheng Li's reminder, Ling Nan and Cui Yajie understood.

A faint blush spread across Cui Yajie's face.

"Zheng Li, is your fiancée doing well?" After hesitating for a moment, Cui Yajie asked.

Zheng Li glanced at Cui Yajie. She still hadn't given up?

He might as well put an end to her hopes.

"My fiancée is doing well. You've met her too."

Ling Nan: "??"

"How come I don't know? Could it be..." He looked at Su Yunqing, who was standing beside him with a downcast expression.

Zheng Li: "..."

Cui Yajie followed Ling Nan's gaze.

Noticing them looking at her, Su Yunqing asked in confusion, "Why are you all looking at me?"

Ling Nan: "..."

No! It couldn't be this little girl! If it were, he would've figured it out over the past three months.

"Stop looking. My fiancée is Xiao Nai," Zheng Li said, exasperated.

Ling Nan and Cui Yajie were stunned when they heard this...

Su Yunqing, meanwhile, looked confused. "Zheng Li, you have a fiancée? How come I didn't know?"

"You know now, don't you?"

"Oh, true."

The little girl wasn't particularly interested.

A moment later.

Ling Nan shouted, "Holy crap! A Li, are you messing with me? Isn't Xiao Nai your Martial Soul?"

Zheng Li covered his ears. "Keep your voice down. She's my Martial Soul, but can't she also be my fiancée?"

Ling Nan: "...Sure, of course!"

In truth, Ling Nan had no words.

His Martial Soul becoming his fiancée?

He imagined himself with his Martial Soul, the Black and White Winged Cat.

Damn! That image was too much...

Ling Nan shook his head hard, driving the horrible image from his mind.

Once Cui Yajie came to her senses, she felt relieved.

So it was his Martial Soul... She'd been worried for ages after asking that question.

She'd been afraid there'd be some childhood sweetheart who was mutually in love with him or something.

If it was his Martial Soul, then that was easy.

Even if Zheng Li married Xiao Nai, could a Martial Soul have children?

Cui Yajie didn't mind Martial Souls one bit!

As for the future... well, she'd make a little plan.

She'd pursue Zheng Li while also trying to win Xiao Nai over. After all, Xiao Nai was Zheng Li's Martial Soul, the source of his power.