"So, the problem lay with those two children with Innate Full Soul Power. Do you remember their names or family circumstances? Were they from the same village? And whose Soul Power did you test first?" Ma Xiunuo asked one question after another, all of them helpful in finding the cause.
"I can't remember their names, but both children were from the same village, Holy Soul Village. They also seemed to be biological brothers. As for who came first... I don't know which one was the older brother and which was the younger, but they were easy enough to tell apart. One had black hair and ordinary looks. The other seemed to have blue hair and was better-looking. I remember awakening the black-haired one first. Based on what you said, the one with Innate Super Soul Power should have been that blue-haired boy," Su Yuntao said as he recalled the events.
"That makes sense. If the black-haired child had Innate Super Soul Power, then the crystal ball would have shattered the moment you tested the blue-haired child," Ma Xiunuo said.
"Do you need me to make a trip to Holy Soul Village, Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo?" Su Yuntao asked cautiously.
"No need. I remember that Holy Soul Village has a work-study student quota at Notting Academy, right? According to you, those two children were the only Soul Masters from Holy Soul Village this year, so they should come directly to Notting Academy to enroll. Go to Notting Academy tomorrow and look for them. At the very least, you should be able to find one of the two. And since you said they are brothers, they may have enrolled together. After all, accommodating one extra work-study student is something Notting Academy can manage," Ma Xiunuo said.
"Yes!" Su Yuntao responded.
But they were destined to find nothing, because early the next morning, Grandmaster took Tang San and Tang Liu to obtain Soul Rings.
Soul Hunting Forest.
Grandmaster, Tang San, and Tang Liu had already spent a day and a night in the forest.
Tang San had already obtained his first Soul Ring—it was the pitiful Mandala Snake. Now, they were looking for a suitable Soul Ring for Tang Liu.
Before this, Tang Liu had also brought up, in a relatively reasonable manner, that the maximum age he could withstand for his first Soul Ring was only around 356 years.
In fact, after Tang San absorbed his Soul Ring, Tang Liu simply said that judging from its aura, he seemed unable to withstand a four-hundred-year Soul Ring. Conservatively speaking, he should be able to fuse with one around three hundred and fifty years old.
In addition, Tang San told Grandmaster that Tang Liu had always been rather frail. When he was three, he had coughed almost every day and suffered intermittent fevers for three months.
That was indeed true. In any case, Tang Liu had suffered terribly that year. Their family was poor and had little money for medicine, and they did not eat well enough to keep up with his nutritional needs. Even though Tang Hao secretly used Soul Power to tend to him every night that year, Tang Liu was still tormented by illness for an entire year.
Fortunately, Tang San had experience from his previous life and was highly skilled at identifying medicinal herbs. He often gathered useful herbs for Tang Liu to eat, allowing him to recover completely after a year.
Since the Ethereal Blue Silver Emperor was an auxiliary-type Martial Soul, Grandmaster had also asked Tang Liu what kind of support ability he wanted his first Soul Ring skill to focus on.
Tang Liu answered that his first choice was some rare support ability, followed by healing, with attribute enhancements coming last.
Grandmaster was quite interested in Tang Liu's idea and asked what kind of rare support ability he had in mind.
After thinking seriously, Tang Liu gave an answer. "For example, a Soul Skill that can keep someone from suffering certain kinds of damage, or one that can make someone invisible and conceal their aura."
"No auxiliary-type Soul Master on the continent has put such an idea into practice yet," Grandmaster said with a smile. "And generally speaking, Soul Beasts with Soul Skills that possess the effects you described are either extremely rare or exceptionally old."
Tang Liu had begun to feel disappointed, but Grandmaster's next words made his eyes light up again.
"However, I happen to know of a kind of Soul Beast with the ability you described, and this Soul Hunting Forest happens to have one suitable for the age you can absorb."
After that, they continued searching for the Soul Beast Grandmaster had mentioned, finally encountering it on the morning of the second day.
"See that? That Spirit Cat over there." Grandmaster led Tang San and Tang Liu into hiding behind a patch of bushes, then pointed at a Soul Beast roughly ten meters away.
The Soul Beast looked like an ordinary house cat, but it was more than twice as large. Its entire body was grayish white, patterned with silver markings.
Its tail was especially strange. It was twice the length of its body and pure white, with three highly conspicuous bright silver vertical stripes running along it.
"This kind of Spirit Cat Soul Beast has little offensive power and is not particularly aggressive. It rarely attacks people or other Soul Beasts on its own initiative. You can distinguish its age by its size, fur color, tail length, and the number of silver vertical stripes on its tail."
As Grandmaster observed it, he explained these details to Tang San and Tang Liu.
"Generally speaking, a ten-year Spirit Cat has pale yellow fur and is no different in size from an ordinary house cat. Its tail is only as long as its body and has only one vertical stripe.
"Once it reaches a hundred years, a Spirit Cat grows larger, its fur turns grayish white, and its tail grows to twice its body length. Furthermore, another vertical stripe appears on its tail every hundred years.
"A thousand-year Spirit Cat can obviously grow as large as a tiger or leopard. Its fur turns pure white, the markings on its body disappear, and its tail grows to three times its body length. At that point, the vertical stripes on its tail gain a hint of purple, and another stripe appears every thousand years.
"As for ten-thousand-year Spirit Cats, they are rare. Once they reach ten thousand years, their bodies shrink back to the size of ordinary house cats, and their tails shorten as well, becoming the same as a house cat's. Their fur, however, turns black, while the patterns on their tails become ring-shaped and silver-black. No one has ever seen a hundred-thousand-year Spirit Cat."
Grandmaster truly lived up to his title. He had described every obvious characteristic of the Spirit Cat.
"Then what special abilities does the Spirit Cat have? Does it have anything Xiao Liu needs?" Tang San asked.
Grandmaster smiled. "What makes the Spirit Cat special is that its body can enter a state of 'nothingness.' In that state, a Spirit Cat is difficult to harm and is almost immune to all attacks with physical form. It is also extremely fast, hard to catch, and incredibly troublesome. Moreover, although Spirit Cats do not attack first, once another Soul Beast or a human poses a threat to them, they become exceptionally vicious. Look."
At that moment, Grandmaster suddenly pointed at the Spirit Cat, drawing Tang San and Tang Liu's attention toward it.
Before you continue