The Martial Soul's Inner World, The True Martial Soul

Su Yan first leaned in close to the egg, and saw that on its shell—just like his own eggshell—there were four stars. The only difference was that these four stars were all black.

"What kind of thing are you?" Su Yan lowered his voice, tentatively reaching out to touch the egg.

The egg trembled all over.

Su Yan touched it again.

The egg trembled again.

Hey, this was actually pretty fun.

But when Su Yan reached out once more, the egg directly threw itself into his arms, nuzzling against his chest like a puppy begging for a hug.

"Hey, you little thing, you're quite something."

Whether what was inside this egg was a person or something else, Su Yan held the eggshell, stroking its smooth, slippery surface. The cool touch was actually quite pleasant.

"Stop messing around, stop messing around," Su Yan said. The egg actually obediently hopped out of his arms.

"You can understand what I'm saying?" Su Yan asked in surprise.

The egg bounced cheerfully on the ground.

"Alright, I'm going to ask you a few questions now. One bounce for yes, two bounces for no, three bounces for I don't know."

The egg trembled once.

"Is this my martial spirit's inner world?"

The egg trembled once, paused, then immediately bounced twice.

"Yes, but not entirely?" Su Yan furrowed his brow.

The egg trembled once.

"Are you a person?"

The egg bounced twice. Not a person.

Good, good. Su Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

If another person were to pop out of this egg, he'd be ready to swear brotherhood on the spot.

"Can you hatch?"

The egg trembled once, rolled over to its own bed, and bounced again.

Su Yan leaned in and found that beneath the egg's bed, five channels extended to the five points of a pentagram—or more precisely, to five wooden stands.

Among them, the channel connected to a small flame was already filled with fire, while the remaining four channels were empty.

"Once all of them are filled, you can hatch?"

The egg trembled once.

Su Yan followed one of the channels to its end. Getting closer, he noticed a single character carved on the side of the Glazed Lamp.

Thunder.

Below this character was a gap shaped like a gemstone.

Su Yan walked a full circle.

At the five points of the pentagram were written the characters: Wind, Water, Thunder, Earth, Fire.

Only the Glazed Lamp with the Fire character had a small flickering flame drifting inside.

These five characters should represent elements, meaning he would need to collect all five elements for the egg to successfully hatch.

But the problem was also obvious.

Where exactly was he supposed to find the other four elements?

The fire element had come from his martial spirit awakening. Awakening again didn't seem possible.

"Do you know where the other things are?" Su Yan asked.

The egg trembled three times.

He didn't know either.

"Can I bring things from outside in here?"

The egg trembled once. Yes.

Su Yan focused his mind and returned to the training ground.

Opening his eyes, he saw spiderwebs packed all around him and was startled, thinking an awfully long time had passed.

His master's thick, caring concern—Su Yan accepted it.

He clawed at the webs for a long time, finally tearing open an opening to crawl out. He found a wooden bucket, filled it with water, then crawled back into the spider's den his master had so painstakingly woven. Sitting cross-legged, he gathered his qi and focused his mind, entering the inner world.

"Natural well water. Let's try it."

Su Yan poured the entire bucket of water into the Glazed Lamp marked with the character "Water." Nothing happened.

One minute passed. Two minutes passed.

Still no movement.

No good. The natural elements here are unusable.

I need elements infused with soul power.

Su Yan had no choice but to scoop the water out of the Glazed Lamp bit by bit, using only his hands.

"Little one, hatching you is really exhausting work."

Hearing this, the egg bounced over to Su Yan's feet and rubbed its shell against his pant leg, as if acting spoiled.

Su Yan never imagined that in two lifetimes, the first thing to ever act spoiled toward him would be an egg—not even a person.

He stroked the eggshell. "Alright, alright. I'll find a way to hatch you properly."

The egg, upon hearing this, rubbed even more eagerly.

After finally cleaning all the water out of the Glazed Lamp, Su Yan walked over to the Fire Glazed Lamp, hoping to find some clues there.

He carefully reached his hand into the Glazed Lamp. The moment his fingers touched the small flame, it trembled violently.

A smile spread across Su Yan's face.

Four golden characters entered his mind.

Blazing Fire Academy.

Douluo Continent, high-level Soul Master Academy, one of the Four Element Academies. It only accepts students with fire-type martial souls.

That was certainly... distinctive.

Su Yan rubbed the egg's smooth shell and said, "Egglet, there's good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first? One shake for good, two for bad."

The egg hesitated for a moment, then trembled twice.

"So you want to hear the bad news second, got it." A sly grin curled at the corner of Su Yan's mouth. "The good news is—I found a clue on how to hatch you!"

Hearing this, the egg bounced up in excitement.

"But the bad news is, I can't get to Blazing Fire Academy anytime soon."

The egg stopped moving. Silently, it returned to its bed and lay flat.

"Alright, Egglet, I promise you—I'll find a way to get you out as soon as I can." Su Yan rubbed the eggshell without restraint, thoroughly enjoying himself.

The third kind of petting after cats and dogs.

Egg petting!

"Egglet, can you go outside?" Su Yan asked.

The egg trembled twice. No, I can't.

"Then once you hatch, you'll be able to go out, right?"

The egg trembled once.

Su Yan smiled quietly, his hands never stopping.

The egg seemed to enjoy it too. At first, it trembled back in response, but eventually, it went still.

It had fallen asleep.

Su Yan chuckled, stretched, and yawned.

"What's this?"

He noticed three gray orbs of light floating directly above Egglet's bed. Standing up, he reached for them—just the right height. He grabbed one gray orb in his hand.

Su Yan focused his gaze on it—and was so startled he threw the gray orb aside. It floated back into place on its own.

Inside it was a pitch-black spider!

Su Yan took a deep breath and grabbed the second gray orb. This time, he was prepared, but his heart still clenched.

A spider with blood-red patterns.

Why are they all spiders?

Su Yan tossed this one away and grabbed the third gray orb.

Finally, not a spider.

It was Blue Silver Grass, common as could be.

Su Yan relaxed, holding the gray orb and turning it over in his hands. He had no idea what it was for.

The only one who might know—Egglet—couldn't talk yet.

This was frustrating.

Based on his extensive experience reading countless books, this was the moment soul power should come into play.

Su Yan closed his eyes and concentrated, guiding his soul power toward the gray orb. Slowly, the gray orb began to emit a white glow.

It worked!

Su Yan added a bit more soul power. The white light cut off abruptly, and the gray orb vanished, leaving only a white gem resting in his hand.

Inside the gem, the Blue Silver Grass was still there.

Su Yan studied the gem, feeling that its shape looked very familiar. He looked up and spotted the special recessed groove beneath the glazed lamp.

He walked over and stuffed the gem into the groove.

It fit perfectly!

But nothing happened.

It might have been because the glazed lamp was empty inside.

Su Yan removed the gem and walked over to the Fire Glazed Lamp. A blue gem was embedded on its outer surface.

He bent down and looked inside. Within the gem, there was actually a Gray Wolf.

Flame plus Gray Wolf.

And his martial soul was the Fire Wolf.

A strange suspicion arose in Su Yan's heart.

He removed the blue gem, inserted the white gem in its place, and with a thought, returned to the training ground.

Taking a deep breath, Su Yan extended his right hand.

"Come forth, my martial soul."

A Blue Silver Grass wreathed in flames appeared in the palm of his hand.