Martial Soul Battle Tiger, possess.
Wang Sheng's speed and strength clearly surged by a large margin. With a kick off the ground, he charged at Wang Xian again, much faster than before, stirring up a gust of wind.
This time, Wang Xian did not choose to fight hand-to-hand. He spread open his right hand, and a dark blue-green glow radiated from his palm.
Blue Silver Grass surged wildly from his palm. Dark blue-green vines, like spiritual snakes, spread toward Wang Sheng.
When Wang Sheng saw that it was Blue Silver Grass, disdain flashed through his eyes. He did not even stop moving as he reached out to grab it.
"Blue Silver Grass thinks it can stop me?"
He grabbed the first vine that reached him and yanked hard, intending to tear the Blue Silver Grass apart.
Yet the vine did not move in the slightest.
Wang Sheng froze for a moment. Refusing to believe it, he put in more strength, gripped the vine with both hands, and pulled with all his might. But the Blue Silver Grass seemed forged from iron, not even bending.
Looking down, he saw several cuts had already been carved into the palm holding the vine.
Blood ran down through his fingers. Those fine serrated edges had sliced into his flesh when he exerted force.
"Hiss!" Wang Sheng sucked in a breath and instinctively tried to let go, but it was already too late.
More Blue Silver Grass vines rushed in from every direction, wrapping around his wrists, arms, waist, and legs. Layer upon layer, they wound around him and bound him tightly.
Wang Sheng struggled desperately, flailing his hands as he tried to tear the vines apart. But the more he struggled, the tighter they coiled, squeezing him until he could barely breathe.
His footing slipped, and with a thud, he fell to the ground, unable to break free no matter what he did.
The other Work-Study Students stood nearby, looking at one another. None of them dared to step forward.
Just then, the system's voice sounded in Wang Xian's mind.
"Host has defeated a Martial Soul wielder. Capture Martial Soul?"
"Yes," Wang Xian commanded decisively.
"Capture successful. Martial Soul: Battle Tiger (E-Rank). Stored in Training Camp."
"An E-Rank Martial Soul." A satisfied smile appeared on Wang Xian's face.
This was the first time he had captured an E-Rank Martial Soul. The villagers in Emperor Soul Village mostly possessed F-Rank Martial Souls.
"I wonder how many Cultivation Points an E-Rank Martial Soul will provide me. A hundred points?"
At that moment, Wang Sheng twisted around on the ground a few more times before finally giving up. Gasping heavily, his voice rose into a strange pitch. "All right, all right, I surrender! I surrender! Let me go already!"
Wang Xian smiled faintly. With a thought, the Blue Silver Grass instantly loosened and retreated vine by vine into his palm.
Wang Sheng climbed to his feet and looked down at his reddened arms, then at the wounds on his hands that were still bleeding.
Finally, he looked at the Blue Silver Grass slowly vanishing from Wang Xian's hand, his face full of shock and doubt.
"Is that... really Blue Silver Grass?" he could not help asking.
Wang Xian did not answer. He merely looked at him and smiled.
Wang Sheng opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but swallowed the words back. At last, he said in a muffled voice, "Fine. You're strong. From now on, Wang Xian, you're our boss."
"Boss, from now on, you have to protect us Work-Study Students from being bullied by the other students."
Afterward, Wang Sheng explained the situation facing the Work-Study Students.
Because they all came from poor families and lived in the worst dormitory, they were often bullied by students from dormitories with better conditions.
Wang Sheng had only become their boss to unite everyone and resist them.
This suited Wang Xian perfectly. He had been worried about not having a legitimate reason to fight others. Now that others were coming to bully them, fighting back was only natural.
Smiling, Wang Xian nodded and said, "Fine. If they dare bully us again, I won't let them off."
Cheers immediately erupted in the dormitory, and the few Work-Study Students all wore excited expressions.
They had been bullied by the people from other dormitories for so long. Now that they finally had a boss who could fight, they immediately felt emboldened.
Wang Sheng also straightened his chest. Though his face still showed the miserable traces of the beating he had just taken, his eyes were clearly much brighter than before.
Wang Xian said nothing more. He turned and walked to his bed, opened his bundle, and began making it.
The bed frame was wooden, with only a thin straw mat laid over it. It felt hard to the touch.
Wang Xian spread out the new bedding Old John had prepared for him, then pressed it down with his hands. It was barely flat enough.
Seeing him tidy up, the other Work-Study Students also dispersed to their own places. From time to time, they secretly glanced at him and whispered among themselves.
Wang Xian folded his school uniform and placed it beside the pillow. Then he spread the bundle cloth over the quilt, considering his things put in order.
He lay down on the bed. The wooden boards creaked, hard enough to dig into his back, but he did not find them uncomfortable.
No one else noticed him. Wang Xian closed his eyes and silently recited in his heart.
"Open the System Panel."
A translucent screen unfolded before his eyes.
"System, begin training the Battle Tiger Martial Soul. Standard training."
"Received. Battle Tiger (E-Rank), training in progress. Progress: 1%."
Wang Xian stared at the changing number on the panel and mentally estimated the speed at which the progress bar advanced.
It was about the same as when he had trained those F-Rank Martial Souls in the village before. It was neither faster nor slower.
After thinking it over, he felt it should be related to Martial Soul quality.
Back in Emperor Soul Village, when his Blue Silver Grass had still been F-Rank, training the equally F-Rank Sickle and Lone Bamboo had proceeded at that same speed.
Later, after Blue Silver Grass had been cultivated to E-Rank, training F-Rank Martial Souls became much faster.
Now, Battle Tiger was E-Rank, and his Blue Silver Grass was also E-Rank. Since their quality was the same, the training speed naturally returned to its normal level.
"So, if the Martial Souls I capture in the future are lower quality than mine, they'll train faster."
"If their quality is higher than mine, it might take longer." Wang Xian pondered this in his heart.
He glanced once more at the progress bar on the panel. At this speed, the training would probably not be complete until tomorrow.
He climbed out of bed and beckoned to Wang Sheng.
Wang Sheng immediately ran over. "Boss, what is it? Do you need something?"
"You don't have to keep calling me boss. Just call me by my name," Wang Xian said with a smile.
"You know, I just enrolled and haven't learned a Meditation Method yet. I want to try cultivating. Can you tell me how to meditate?" Wang Xian asked tentatively.
After all, he did not know whether Notting Academy had rules against privately teaching Meditation Methods.
"Oh, so that's it. Of course I can. I'll tell you right now," Wang Sheng said readily.
Wang Xian expressed his thanks. "Thank you."
"It's nothing."
Then, through Wang Sheng's explanation, Wang Xian obtained the complete Meditation Method, called the Basic Meditation Method.
After memorizing it all, he immediately began trying to meditate.
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