Refusal, Five Months Later

At this point, his tone became even more persuasive, and his eyes conveyed the meaning: I'm only thinking of your best interests.

"There can be no mistakes in the cultivation of a mutated martial soul. One wrong step, and all your previous efforts may be wasted."

He paused and looked eagerly at Wang Xian. "Would you be willing to cultivate with me?"

In his view, Wang Xian should have been overwhelmed with excitement by now and immediately bowed to acknowledge him as his master.

Yet Wang Xian remained where he was, staring at him coldly as though looking at a clown.

"Grandmaster, this isn't the first time we've met, is it? Why didn't you take me as your disciple when you saw me last time?" Wang Xian asked.

Yu Xiaogang froze.

He opened his mouth, but the expression on his face stiffened as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over his head.

His persuasive, self-assured manner from moments ago instantly collapsed.

"This..." His lips moved, forcing out a single word, but he could not continue.

Was he supposed to tell the truth?

Tell him that he had not thought highly of Wang Xian at all in the beginning, that he considered Blue Silver Grass with only Level Three Innate Soul Power to be worthless and had not even wanted to waste another glance on it?

And now that he had heard it might be a mutated martial soul, he had come running over to take him as a disciple?

No matter how thick-skinned he was, he simply could not say such words aloud.

Yu Xiaogang's face alternated between red and green as he stood there, not even knowing where to put his hands.

The hand that had been behind his back now dropped down, then rose to rub together before finally clenching into a fist.

"I... last time..." he stammered. His voice was several pitches lower than before, and his eyes began to wander, no longer daring to meet Wang Xian's gaze.

Wang Xian did not give him another chance to speak. He turned and walked straight into the classroom without looking back.

Yu Xiaogang reached out as if to stop him, but halfway through the motion, he awkwardly lowered his hand again.

Quite a few people had gathered in the corridor by then.

It was break time, and students had already been running back and forth through the hallway. Yu Xiaogang had stood at the door for so long that people had noticed him long ago.

Now that they had heard most of the conversation, all the surrounding gazes turned toward him.

Some held back their laughter, some whispered among themselves, and one older student leaned against the wall with his arms folded, a sneer openly hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"That's the so-called Grandmaster?"

"I heard he is. He just loafs around the academy every day."

"Did you hear what he said just now? The kid asked why he hadn't taken him as a disciple last time, and he couldn't answer a single word. Hahaha."

The voices were neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough to drift into Yu Xiaogang's ears.

The color of Yu Xiaogang's face shifted again, turning green, then red, while his lips pressed into a thin line.

He stood stiffly in place for several seconds before suddenly turning around and hurrying toward the other end of the corridor with his head lowered.

His steps were quick and hurried, and he nearly tripped over his own feet.

A few faint chuckles came from behind him. He did not look back, only quickened his pace, rounded the stairwell, and soon disappeared from sight.

Wang Xian was not affected by Yu Xiaogang's interruption. He returned to his seat, closed his eyes, and began cultivating.

In the blink of an eye, five months had passed.

During these five months at Notting Academy, Wang Xian had completely adapted to life there.

His daily routine consisted of three things: fighting, cultivating, and eating.

He wanted to obtain enough Cultivation Points as quickly as possible so he could proceed to the next stage of martial soul cultivation.

He had deliberately challenged everyone in the work-study student dormitory. Unfortunately, their martial souls were all F-Rank, yielding only ten Cultivation Points each.

There were only a little over twenty work-study students at most, and they were naturally nowhere near enough to gather one thousand Cultivation Points.

So afterward, he turned his attention to younger students in the higher grades.

Only students like them had martial souls of slightly better quality.

Most of the other upperclassmen who had merely advanced through the years did not have particularly high-quality martial souls either.

Over those five months, he had fought nearly everyone in Notting Academy and ultimately obtained seven E-Rank Martial Souls.

Including Wang Sheng's and Xiao Chenyu's martial souls, that made nine in total, earning him four hundred and fifty Cultivation Points.

Adding the previous three hundred and twenty points, along with the small number of Cultivation Points earned from challenging other students, he had finally reached one thousand and seventy points.

He had also gained three fairly useful traits, one of which was Tiger Might.

The other two were Adhesion and Hardening.

Adhesion came from the Tree Frog Martial Soul. After being integrated into a martial soul, it allowed the martial soul to secrete mucus. When attacking enemies, it would stick to them and be extremely difficult to break free from.

This trait was undoubtedly an excellent match for Blue Silver Grass. Combined with Deep Tilling and Toughness, it could inflict even greater damage.

Hardening came from the Iron Beetle Martial Soul. After being fused into the martial soul, it could be controlled at will, allowing the martial soul to enter a hardened state.

Once it entered the hardened state, Blue Silver Grass could become as hard as iron, possessing considerable power whether used as a shield or to attack enemies.

Of the three traits, he preferred Adhesion and Tiger Might.

One could work with Deep Tilling to inflict greater damage, while the other was a rare form of mental attack.

Besides the substantial gains in traits and Cultivation Points, his Soul Power had also risen by one level, reaching Level Six.

It was worth mentioning that after Xiao Chenyu became a one-ring Soul Master, he returned to challenge Wang Xian again, only to be defeated once more.

His Blue Silver Grass had fused with three traits and undergone one cultivation, already receiving an enormous improvement.

During his previous battle with Xiao Chenyu, he had not revealed Blue Silver Grass's Sharpness.

In their second battle, he displayed the Sharpness of Blue Silver Grass, and Xiao Chenyu immediately fell apart. As long as he touched the Blue Silver Grass, he would be cut.

After a prolonged battle, Xiao Chenyu simply could not defeat Wang Xian.

This time, he had been thoroughly beaten into submission. He never challenged Wang Xian again, and all the work-study students' duties were taken over by him and his lackeys.

On the Back Mountain of Notting Academy, amid a patch of Blue Silver Grass, Wang Xian opened his eyes as the Soul Power within him slowly settled.

His eyes gleamed with vitality. He appeared to be in peak condition.

"It's time to begin cultivating my martial soul." Wang Xian opened the System Panel.

Martial Soul Cultivation System.

Host: Wang Xian.

Age: Six.

Soul Power: Level Six.

Martial Soul Quality: E-Rank (Low-Tier Martial Soul).

Martial Soul Cultivation Points: 1070.

Martial Soul Cultivation Chamber: Place the martial soul within and spend Cultivation Points to cultivate it. (Cultivation attempts: 0. Costs 1000 Cultivation Points. The next cultivation can be performed.)

Martial Soul Training Camp: Train martial soul (none). Acquired traits: Tiger Might, Adhesion, Hardening, Growth...

Soul Skill Cultivation (Locked). Unlock condition: Obtain the First Soul Ring.

Form Cultivation: Weapon Form—Life Scepter (E-Rank). Skill: Life Severing. The next cultivation requires 1000 Cultivation Points.

Next form: Armor Form (Locked). Unlock condition: Martial soul quality reaches C-Rank.

"System, begin martial soul cultivation." Wang Xian issued the command to the system.