Cloud and Mud Difference

"This... this is Blue Silver Grass?!"

Yu Xiaogang's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. Ordinary Blue Silver Grass was thin and lowly.

But this plant before him...

Hmm...

It was only a little better than ordinary Blue Silver Grass.

But that wasn't the point.

The point was that this awakening, starting from the very foundation, had affected the host himself.

Tang San felt that deep inside him, the heavy shackle that had kept his bloodline firmly locked seemed to give a faint, loosening click.

A crack had opened in it. Just a single one.

But it was enough for an unprecedented vitality to flow through that crack and spread throughout his limbs and bones.

He slowly opened his eyes.

His once ordinary eyes had become clearer and deeper.

Only on close inspection could one catch the faintest hint of blue deep in their depths.

His features had softened slightly, too, shedding some of their rustic air.

Before, he would have been impossible to pick out in a crowd. Now, at least after a bit of tidying up, he was passable.

"Phew—"

Tang San breathed out a mouthful of stale air. Somewhat bewildered, he felt his now-smooth cheek, then looked at the plant before him, which had disappeared, replaced by a miniature Golden Sun Crown Sunflower Projection floating by his shoulder.

The little fellow sat squarely on Tang San's shoulder, stretched, then started cracking its own seeds.

"This..."

Tang San stood up, feeling the surging Soul Power within him and the wondrous sensation that he could almost talk to plants. He was completely stunned.

He turned to look at the man leaning against a tree, still calmly cracking seeds, and spoke in a trembling voice:

"Brother Su... what's happened to me...?"

Su Yun spat out a seed shell, looked Tang San up and down after his successful little makeover, and nodded with satisfaction.

"Not bad. Looks like it worked."

"See? I told you."

Su Yun glanced at the Grandmaster, who had already collapsed on the ground, his eyes vacant, as if his soul had been taken from him.

"Most important of all is being well matched."

Tang San's attention was entirely focused on his own body, and irrepressible joy shone in his eyes.

"Incredible..."

As a Tang Sect disciple who had lived two lives, Tang San knew all too well that the body was the vessel for cultivation.

Before, his body had been weak, his meridians dry and sluggish, and the Mysterious Heaven Skill had circulated with difficulty, like pushing a cart along a muddy road.

But now...

The Mysterious Heaven Skill's inner force circulated twice as fast!

His previously blocked and impassable Eight Extraordinary Meridians had not been fully opened, but the pure Solar Power had flushed through them and widened them a little!

It felt like a dried-up river, clogged for years, suddenly filled with warm, flowing water.

It had yet to become a mighty, rushing river, but the smoothness and comfort of its flow already far surpassed anything he'd known before!

"The bottleneck at the first level of the Mysterious Heaven Skill... it's broken."

"No, it's not just broken. This power is practically pushing me to charge toward the second level!"

Even more astonishing to Tang San was the change in his state of mind.

In his previous life, as an outer sect disciple of the Tang Sect, he had been used to moving in the shadows, to scheming and being ruthless.

But now, the gloom that had shrouded his heart for so long seemed to have been melted away by the Sunflower Soul Spirit on his shoulder.

Standing in the sunlight, he felt warm all over, his heart filled with a hope and optimism he had never known before.

Why wander in the shadows?

Wouldn't it be better to stand openly in the sun and overwhelm everything with sheer strength?

Tang San took a deep breath, but before he could even savor the surging power inside him, he hurriedly straightened his somewhat rumpled clothes.

He turned to face the man who was still as unconcerned as ever. His expression was solemn to the extreme, even carrying a hint of trepidation.

He bent deeply at the waist, clasped his hands, raised them over his head, and gave a formal bow.

He remained bowed for a long time, not daring to rise.

"Mr. Su..."

Tang San's voice trembled slightly with overwhelming excitement and gratitude:

"I, Tang San, am blind and ignorant, like a frog at the bottom of a well. If you hadn't enlightened me today with words like a thunderclap, I might have wasted half my life on the wrong path, mistaking pearls for fish eyes..."

Still bent over, he continued in a low voice, "Now, the long-standing ailments in my body are gone, and most of my Eight Extraordinary Meridians have loosened! My cultivation speed has more than doubled..."

"For Tang San, such a method is no different from Defying Fate."

"I can never repay such kindness with words. If you ever need anything from me, even if it means going through fire and water..."

"My life is yours!"

"Wow! Dad's the best!"

The others might not understand what the Eight Extraordinary Meridians were, but they could see the changes in Tang San!

Red Hair was trembling with excitement. The way he looked at Su Yun had completely changed.

If he had feared Su Yun before because of the gun in his hand, now he was utterly won over by the knowledge in Su Yun's head.

"Brothers, you don't know the first thing about this!"

Red Hair slapped Green Hair on the forehead and pointed at Su Yun as he spoke loudly.

"This is what real knowledge looks like!"

"The teachers at the academy only teach by the book: how to hunt and absorb. But what did Dad do? He rewrote the rules!"

"What are contracts? What are Soul Spirits? This is... this is a Divine Skill!"

Red Hair hurried over to Su Yun and rubbed his hands together ingratiatingly.

"Dad, you know way too much! What you did was practically a miracle! Knowledge this profound and extraordinary couldn't possibly come from some backwater place like Notting City. You must be a true dragon."

"Give me a hint, sir. Could you be... an Offering Elder from Spirit City, traveling incognito?"

Su Yun calmly cracked a seed and glanced at them.

"Knowledge changes your fate. Read more and fight less."

Just then, a staggering figure walked over.

Yu Xiaogang's face was pale, and he clutched a Testing Crystal Ball tightly in his hand.

His worldview was undergoing an earthquake, but he still couldn't give up. He had to see the results with his own eyes.

"Tang San... t-test..."

The Grandmaster's voice was hoarse, as though every word was being forced out through a bloody throat.

Tang San nodded and placed his hand on the crystal ball.

Buzz—!

There was no suspense.

Dazzling Blue-Gold Light instantly filled the entire crystal ball. The radiance was so brilliant that it even spilled over the surface, forming a halo.

"This..."

Yu Xiaogang stared fixedly at the markings on the crystal ball, his pupils contracting violently.

"Soul Power... Level 14... No, the peak of Level 14?!"

"How is this possible... how could this be...?"

Yu Xiaogang murmured incoherently.

"How could he jump four levels at once? And without any sign of an unstable foundation?"

Clack.

The notebook in Yu Xiaogang's hand fell to the ground.

On the page, the words "Trash Martial Soul Blue Silver Grass must follow the Poison Attribute Control Path" looked so glaring, so ridiculous.

The Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, which he had treasured above all else, now lay open in the mud.

According to his theories, Tang San should have been a Soul Master at Level 12, wielding poisonous Blue Silver Grass.

But now...

Standing before him was a genius boy at the peak of Level 14, with an attribute of light.

A Cloud and Mud Difference!

"Wrong... it was all wrong..."

Yu Xiaogang's legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the ground.

He looked at the notebook and let out a laugh so utterly miserable that it was painful to hear.