Spring Sows a Grain of Millet

"What? Jade Evergreen Vine! And it's a soul ring nearing the five-hundred-year limit!"

Deep within the Soul Hunting Forest, Yu Xiaogang's face flushed crimson, his breathing ragged like an ox.

They had clearly agreed upon absorbing a four-hundred-year Datura Snake soul ring; this would have both verified his soul ring limit theory and substantiated his martial soul mimicry theory.

Combining the two would have originally meant double the joy.

"Keep your voice down, Tang Sanmei is at the critical moment of absorbing her soul ring." Tang Yin glanced at Tang Sanmei not far away before turning his gaze back to Yu Xiaogang.

"I!" Yu Xiaogang managed only one word before pausing, his expression darkening as he lowered his voice: "What exactly happened while I was restrained!"

"It went like this..." Tang Yin curled his lip in disdain, but seeing Yu Xiaogang's state, he felt it necessary to appease him, so he described the scene as it had unfolded.

Of course, Tang Yin's account was a mixture of truth and lies, focusing on how Tang Sanmei had absorbed the Jade Evergreen Vine soul ring under his suggestion only because the Datura Snake soul ring had vanished while she was saving Grandmaster, leaving her with no other choice.

As he spoke, Tang Yin pointed to the lifeless carcass of the Datura Snake nearby, then offered a word of comfort:

"Grandmaster, while the Datura Snake was certainly suitable for Sanmei's Blue Silver Grass, the Jade Evergreen Vine is also a plant-type martial soul, and both are renowned for their vitality. It is a perfect match for Sanmei to absorb this ring."

"So that's how it was..." Yu Xiaogang's flushed face finally began to recover, though he remained deeply incensed.

He naturally knew that the Jade Evergreen Vine was extremely suitable for Blue Silver Grass, but he had his own agenda in teaching Tang Sanmei.

Only if Tang Sanmei followed his theories would people see his, Yu Xiaogang's, theories reflected in her when she eventually reached the pinnacle of the soul master world.

Once Tang Sanmei took the conventional path like other soul masters, what role would there be for him? With Innate Full Soul Power and Twin Martial Souls, no matter how great her future achievements were, they would have nothing to do with him; people would only praise Tang Sanmei's peerless talent.

"Hmph, is a soul ring nearing five hundred years really so easy to absorb?" Yu Xiaogang spat out the words in frustration, then stared at the distant Tang Sanmei with a flickering, conflicted expression.

Once the absorption of a soul ring begins, it cannot be interrupted. If Tang Sanmei failed, she would be in mortal danger, and he would lose a disciple with heaven-defying talent who was willing to accept his guidance.

Yet, success was not what Yu Xiaogang desired either, because if Tang Sanmei succeeded, it would mean his soul ring limit theory was flawed—it would be a slap in the face to Yu Xiaogang himself.

"I believe in Sanmei!" Tang Yin, for his part, could not be bothered to argue with Yu Xiaogang.

As for that soul ring limit theory, it was merely a generalization Yu Xiaogang had derived from investigating the first soul rings of most soul masters. If an ordinary soul master truly believed it, they were courting death; if a genius soul master believed it, they were wasting their own talent.

Time ticked away second by second as both men harbored their own thoughts. As a bright moon hung high in the sky, Tang Sanmei finally stirred and woke, exhaling a deep breath before immediately searching for the figure she held in her heart.

At that moment, Tang Yin was using the moonlight to toy with a short blade in his hand; he sensed Tang Sanmei waking the instant it happened.

"Brother, I succeeded!" Seeing Tang Yin looking at her, Tang Sanmei's expression brightened. She jumped up and bounded to his side, habitually wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her entire body against him.

"En, not bad. How many levels did your soul power increase?" Tang Yin's expression remained as calm as ever regarding her success in absorbing a five-hundred-year soul ring.

In the original story, Tang San had already reached level ten upon awakening his martial soul. In the time that followed, even without a soul ring to break through level ten, a portion of soul power would have been stored within the body.

In other words, even with a large amount of soul power already stored in the body, Tang San had only increased by one level after absorbing a four-hundred-year soul ring.

He had reason to suspect that this was the result of a conflict between a plant-type martial soul and an animal-type soul beast.

Now, the Jade Evergreen Vine was a plant-type soul beast highly compatible with the Blue Silver Grass, and it was a five-hundred-year ring; he was quite curious about Tang Sanmei's current soul power level.

"A full three levels!" Tang Sanmei's lips curled upward as she held up three fingers and waved them in front of Tang Yin, looking extremely proud of herself.

"Three levels, huh!" Tang Yin nodded, not overly surprised.

"Brother, do you think that's too little?" Tang Sanmei, seeing Tang Yin's expression, felt a bit dissatisfied; she had expected her brother to look pleasantly surprised and then shower her with praise.

"It's not little at all! My Sanmei is naturally amazing," Tang Yin laughed helplessly and reached out to pat her head, but suddenly felt something was off.

"Sanmei, you've grown taller!" Tang Yin raised an eyebrow, pointing it out.

Tang Sanmei, who had originally been slightly shorter than him, was now half a head taller than him.

"Oh, hehe!" Tang Sanmei pulled her right hand from around Tang Yin's neck and stood straight, using her hand to measure the difference.

"I said it felt a bit off when I hugged you just now, so I've actually grown taller than Brother." Having said this, she wrapped her right arm back around his neck: "But none of that matters. The most important thing is that my Mysterious Heaven Skill has broken through to the second layer."

"That was to be expected, I suppose." Tang Yin nodded, then asked about the other matter he cared about.

Although the Jade Evergreen Vine was renowned for its vitality, that was not the main reason Tang Yin had set his sights on it; it was the soul skill that could be obtained after absorbing its ring.

Because of its powerful vitality, the Jade Evergreen Vine was the ideal soul beast pursued by most support-type soul masters.

Consequently, the soul skills attached to the Jade Evergreen Vine had been well-documented.

While other common support skills were powerful, they didn't catch Tang Yin's eye. He was primarily interested in a skill that other support soul masters called "chicken ribs"—a skill named Spring Sows a Grain of Millet.

The effect of this soul skill was to scatter seeds within a hundred-meter radius of the user. These seeds could not only autonomously absorb soul power from the air to grow rapidly, but even the soul power generated during a soul master's battle could be absorbed to accelerate their growth.

And once these seeds sprouted and grew, they would feed back into the user, not only replenishing the user's vitality but also increasing soul power recovery by five percent.

This skill effect seemed heaven-defying, but for a support soul master, it appeared to be a "chicken rib"—tasteless to eat but a waste to discard—because the effect only applied to the user themselves.

First of all, a support soul master had no combat ability, so recovering vitality only made them slightly more durable.

But on the battlefield, once a support soul master was engaged in close quarters, it meant the battle was already lost, so it held little significance.

As for accelerating soul power recovery, it had some use, but five percent was simply too little.

Yet, this "chicken rib" skill was, in Tang Yin's view, a perfect fit for Sanmei.

First, as a twin martial soul user, Sanmei would not lack offensive means in the future like a typical support soul master. Not to mention that Sanmei herself possessed numerous martial arts and hidden weapons, which were more than enough to handle soul masters other than support types at low levels.

This soul skill was practically tailor-made for Sanmei, and its utility would remain significant even in the later stages, even up to the Title Douluo or godhood levels.

"The soul skill I obtained is called Spring Sows a Grain of Millet!" Tang Sanmei recalled the skill's effects and frowned slightly, but she quickly realized what this skill meant for her, and she stared at Tang Yin with eyes full of reverence.

"Brother, was this already within your calculations?"