Tang San's Vanishing Spirit Power

"Swish~ swish~"

Inside Notting Academy, a young boy with messy black hair was using a broom to sweep the corridor outside Dorm Seven.

Looking closely, the boy's face was etched with worry.

"Sigh, what on earth is going on? I clearly reached level 13 after obtaining my first soul ring."

"Now, a month has passed, and instead of rising, my cultivation has dropped; yesterday, it even fell below level 12."

"Even the teacher can't figure out the reason."

Ever since he became an apprentice to Yu Xiaogang and obtained his first soul ring, a month had passed for Tang San.

The once ambitious Tang San had been doused with a bucket of cold water.

He didn't know when it started, but the soul power he gained through diligent cultivation would inexplicably vanish.

It had reached the point where his expenditures exceeded his income.

According to his original projections, he should have broken through to level 14 by now, yet he had actually regressed to level 12.

When he asked Yu Xiaogang, the answer given after much deliberation was that his body might be absorbing soul power to nourish his second martial soul.

This explanation seemed reasonable, but Tang San had noticed that a month had passed, and the Clear Sky Hammer had not changed in the slightest.

In other words, this hypothesis simply didn't hold water.

At six years old, Tang San was nearly going gray from stress.

Just as Tang San was lost in thought, a head with rabbit ears poked out of the dormitory.

"Tang San, we can go to the Martial Soul Hall to collect our subsidy today, let's go together!"

"Alright, Xiao Wu!"

Sweeping the corridor was originally Xiao Wu's task, but she had helped him complete his work-study cleaning duties during those few days of soul beast hunting.

He had kept his promise to help Xiao Wu finish her remaining year of work-study tasks.

Putting the broom away, Tang San immediately followed Xiao Wu toward the Notting City Branch Hall.

For the current Tang San, a Gold Soul Coin was still very important.

Forging those hidden weapons required money for materials.

Not far away, a young man weeding in the academy's flowerbed watched the two leaving the academy, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Lu Xian, a person who, like Tang San, possessed the soul of a 30-year-old.

It was just that in his previous life, he was merely a corporate slave on Blue Star who had accidentally arrived on the Douluo Continent after dying from overwork.

As luck would have it, when he awakened his martial soul at six, his Innate Soul Power was only level one, and his martial soul was nothing more than a silver ball of light with no clear function.

People like him awakened in droves every year, so naturally, he didn't attract anyone's attention.

After many fruitless attempts, Lu Xian no longer held any extravagant hopes of becoming a powerful soul master.

Later, he entered Notting Academy as a work-study student, thinking that if he put in enough years, he might eventually become the gate guard.

That was the very position where the guard who mocked Tang San was almost killed by his hidden arrows.

The status of a work-study student provided the orphaned Lu Xian with a way to make a living.

Six years passed, and having barely reached level 10, he had accepted his mediocrity; even if he obtained a soul ring, he wouldn't stand out since he was nearly twelve.

He planned to use the money he had saved over the years as a work-study student to pay someone to help him get a ten-year soul ring, and then just drift through his days at the academy.

But plans could never keep up with changes; a routine cleaning job in the back mountain brought earth-shattering changes to his life.

Halfway through the cleaning, Lu Xian was resting against his broom, but just as he released his martial soul to investigate his surroundings.

That all-too-familiar silver ball of light directly enveloped the broom he was leaning on.

What left him even more dumbfounded was that a white ten-year soul ring quietly appeared above the silver light, and the broom in his hand vanished without a trace.

"..."

"I... have I become a soul master?"

Fortunately, the back mountain was rarely visited, otherwise, he would surely have been treated as a freak.

Having obtained a soul ring, Lu Xian felt very curious and immediately released his first soul skill.

Looking at the broom that had reappeared in his hand, Lu Xian couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

"Are you kidding me? What use is a broom soul skill?"

"Does it sweep the floor cleaner?"

Grumbling as he finished his cleaning work in the back mountain, Lu Xian returned to his dormitory in a huff.

Forgetting that the broom had become his soul skill, he put it back in its original place and went to sleep in anger.

When he woke up the next day, Lu Xian discovered that the broom was no longer in the corner.

"Hiss, I forgot that the broom had become my soul skill; what do I do now?"

Fortunately, the broom had only been taken by other work-study students to clean, and it was returned by noon.

Taking advantage of the time when everyone had gone to enjoy their lunch, Lu Xian silently retracted his broom back into his Martial Soul.

This retraction was no small matter; a surge of pure soul power actually fed directly back into his body.

Summoning the broom once more, Lu Xian stared at it with a bewildered expression.

"What is going on?"

With a guess forming in his mind, Lu Xian gave up on retracting the broom and instead returned it to the corner.

A few days later, he completely understood the broom's purpose.

It could actually absorb the user's soul power for its own use.

Moreover, the stronger the user's strength, the more soul power it could extract.

It was simply a way to gain, without anyone knowing or noticing, the soul power that would have taken him months of cultivation to acquire on his own.

Over the next few months, he thoroughly figured out the uses of the broom—or rather, his Martial Soul.

He could actually use the broom as a medium to anchor his consciousness within it.

Not only could it infinitely absorb the user's soul power, but he could also use his Martial Soul to perform Soul Imbuement on the broom.

After being imbued, the broom would possess special abilities, but it could only be bound to one user thereafter.

Once bound, the practitioner's future cultivation would rely on the broom to provide doubled soul power, while it would no longer extract the soul power the other person cultivated.

Lu Xian called it a win-win.

However, this method required a prerequisite: the practitioner had to be holding the broom.

Upon learning this, he began to constantly screen the academy for his first lucky candidate.

After lying low for several months, he finally waited for the perfect host for his broom.

Watching Tang San, who knelt down as soon as he reached the academy gate, Lu Xian exclaimed that his luck had arrived.

His broom was quietly placed in the corner of Dorm Seven.

For a period of time, most of the work-study students in Dorm Seven had touched the broom, and Lu Xian had to forcefully suppress the urge to make the little rabbit his first bound user.

He waited until Tang San returned from his soul beast hunt for the broom to logically welcome its first host.

It had to be said, the future Tang God King's talent was truly outstanding.

The soul power fed back from Tang San using the broom for a single day was enough to equal the gains of several dozen days prior.

But the drawback was that after completing the bond with Tang San, no one else could provide soul power to Lu Xian by touching the broom.

There are gains and losses; Lu Xian didn't take this minor drawback to heart at all.

Because the preliminary preparations were complete, he was about to use the broom to carry out his first PUA session on Tang San.

Tang San, who had just received his new monthly allowance, had no joy on his face; the problem of his disappearing soul power remained unresolved.

He did not know if his talent could still be realized.

He did not want to become a fallen genius.

After finishing his dinner, lost in thought, Tang San went to the corner to retrieve the broom and continue his cleaning duties.

Just as Tang San's thoughts were flying everywhere, trying to find a way to break through his current predicament, a gentle voice appeared in his mind.

"Young man, are you still pondering why your soul power is disappearing?"

"Who is it?"