"There's nothing to hide. You just haven't had the chance to learn about it yet. As your strength grows, you'll find out sooner or later, so I'll tell you about it now."
"This is related to the Star Luo Imperial Throne."
"To ensure that each generation produced an enlightened and mighty emperor, our Star Luo Royal Family developed this special method of competition."
"Every emperor of each generation has to undergo a brutal competition with his brothers. If he loses, he might not necessarily die, but his Soul Power will definitely be crippled, and he'll be exiled to some remote place to live out the rest of his days under house arrest."
"And I'm the youngest prince of the current emperor. Since my eldest brother is a full seven years older than me, I knew I had no chance of winning. I didn't want my Soul Power crippled, so I ran away."
Oscar furrowed his brow. "What's the difference between that and dying? Is the royal family really that cruel?"
A cold sneer appeared at the corner of Dai Mubai's mouth. "You're not royalty. You don't understand how complicated it is."
Su Ming immediately asked another question.
"The Evil-Eyed White Tiger Martial Soul of your Star Luo Imperial Family and the Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul of another family have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, and your families have intermarried for generations. Is their family the same as yours?"
Dai Mubai looked at Su Ming in surprise.
"Yeah, they are. I have a fiancée, and our Martial Souls resonate with each other."
"Don't look at me like that. I just wanted to make sure. By the way, I have another question. How many sons does your father have?"
"Three. I'm the youngest. Why?"
"So all three of you princes have a fiancée with the Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul. Your Martial Souls all resonate with your fiancées, and you can all perform the Martial Soul Fusion Skill."
Dai Mubai watched Su Ming, who was asking these questions with a serious expression, and sensed that what came next would be very important to him.
"That's right."
"So your claim to the throne is tied to the Hell White Tiger Martial Soul Fusion Skill?"
"Right. What exactly are you getting at?"
"Don't rush me, don't rush me. I'm almost there. One last question."
"I know the first three Soul Skills of the Evil-Eyed White Tiger are the ones that have been repeatedly compared and found to be the most useful for your Martial Soul. What about the Hell Spirit Cat?"
"Are they the same as yours? Are their first three Soul Skills fixed too?"
"Yes."
"Then I understand. For the sake of the White Tiger and Spirit Cat's Martial Soul Fusion Skill, after thousands of years of Martial Soul Fusion, their first three Soul Rings have basically become fixed."
"I can tell you don't want that throne anyway."
"Your First Soul Ring can't be changed now, so I suggest you simply ignore the family tradition when choosing your Second and Third Soul Rings. To be extra safe, you could have your fiancée hunt for different ones too."
"You'll reach level 20 soon. When it's time to get your Second Soul Ring, hunt a soul beast with the Light Attribute. Then you won't be able to use the Martial Soul Fusion Skill, and you'll lose your claim to the throne. That'll remove you as a threat to your eldest brother, and everyone will be happy."
Dai Mubai thought it over carefully. Su Ming's suggestion to ignore his family's tradition when hunting for Soul Rings really did seem workable.
Seeing Dai Mubai seriously consider his advice and possibly accept it, Su Ming hurriedly spoke up.
"Uh, Boss Dai, it's only a suggestion. It's up to you whether you take it. I've given you my advice; the rest is for you to decide."
Hearing this, Dai Mubai looked at Su Ming, whose train of thought had been interrupted, and saw the apprehension on his face. He immediately understood what Su Ming was worried about.
"Don't worry. There's no need to be scared. Thanks for the reminder. If you hadn't brought this up, I might have ended up indulging in a life of pleasure and luxury instead of cultivating properly."
Then he turned to Ma Hongjun and Oscar, staring at them sternly.
"And you two. We've only known each other for half a year, but the four of us are the only ones in this room. This concerns my life, so you absolutely cannot tell anyone—not now, and not for the foreseeable future."
"Got it?"
Ma Hongjun and Oscar answered in unison. "Got it, got it."
Hearing their agreement, Dai Mubai nodded with satisfaction, then turned to Su Ming.
"Su Ming, Little Su, Little Ming—those last two sound a bit awkward. Never mind, I'll just call you Su Ming from now on."
"Su Ming, I've said my piece. Now tell us about Fatty."
The two of them sat on the same bed, and Dai Mubai nudged Ma Hongjun's foot with his own.
"Come on, Fatty. Hurry up and tell Su Ming about your Grass Chicken Martial Soul."
"Bullshit. Your Martial Soul's the Grass Chicken. Mine's a Phoenix. Even if all my elders had chicken Martial Souls, mine is still a Phoenix. Haven't you heard that even a golden phoenix can rise from a chicken coop?" Ma Hongjun retorted irritably.
"Right, right, a Phoenix. I'll explain." He burst into laughter.
Dai Mubai's smile faded a little as he explained to Su Ming, "Su Ming, Fatty's Martial Soul is a Mutated Martial Soul."
Though Su Ming already knew, he still had to ask. "A Mutated Martial Soul? What kind of mutation? What were his parents' Martial Souls?"
Dai Mubai said, "I don't know, and I doubt Ma Hongjun himself knows either. His village is pretty close to ours. Fatty lost both his parents when he was little and grew up eating meals donated by the villagers."
"Almost everyone in that village had the same kind of poultry Martial Soul, one with no offensive power. His parents had the same kind too."
"No one knows why, but when he awakened his Martial Soul at the age of six, it mutated. He was born with the ability to wield flames."
"Luckily, the Dean was the one who helped him awaken his Martial Soul. According to the Dean, the mutation caused his flames to become extremely unstable during the awakening."
"If the Dean hadn't used his Soul Power to protect the villagers in time, everyone else there to awaken their Martial Souls might have been burned to death."
"After that, the Dean took Fatty on as his disciple and brought him back to Shrek Academy."
"The Martial Soul Mutation gave Fatty powerful control over flames. His flames are also very strange: not only are they scorching hot, they cling to things and are extremely hard to extinguish."
"The Dean said that after his Martial Soul mutated, Fatty really might become a Phoenix. But his Martial Soul also has a huge flaw. Although the mutation gave him powerful Soul Power..."
"At the same time, it affected his body. For now, the symptoms are just a bit of a temper and a tendency to gain weight. It's hard to say what might happen later."
Ma Hongjun hurriedly added, "When my Evil Fire flares up, I really can't hold it back!"
"Brother Ming, do you have any advice?"
Su Ming glanced at Ma Hongjun and thought for a moment. "Ma Hongjun's situation should be a case of mutation followed by evolution, but the evolution wasn't complete. According to the Martial Soul Evolution Meditation Method I obtained, combined with absorbing the right Soul Rings, he should be able to control it by around level 40.
"Then, with another minor evolution at level 50, he'll be able to fully evolve into a Phoenix."
"Mm, he can evolve by following my method."
Ma Hongjun jumped off the bed, his face alight with joy as he looked at Su Ming.
"Really, Brother Ming? I can actually evolve?"
Su Ming replied without hesitation.
"Mm, you can. Before I came here, I experimented and successfully purified the Martial Soul of a student from Nuoding City Primary Academy."
"As for how it evolves and how the mutation happened, I won't explain the details. But think carefully about what I'm about to say. You should be able to figure out the reason for the evolution."
Before you continue