Ye Chen's State of Mind Changes

"Little San, what was that weapon you just threw?" Yu Xiaogang asked in surprise, using his soul power to forcibly suppress the venomous wound on his right arm.

Tang San glanced at Ye Chen and Dean Ding before turning his gaze back to Yu Xiaogang. He then rolled up his sleeve and lightly flipped his arm, revealing the Silent Sleeve Arrow strapped to the underside of his wrist.

Dean Ding's eyes lit up. "What an exquisite weapon! So compact, yet it could actually injure a Datura Snake?"

"Yes," Tang San explained. "My father is a blacksmith with superb craftsmanship. Although he makes a living forging farm tools in Holy Soul Village, he is also skilled at forging weapons."

"The weapon strapped to my wrist is said to be a type of hidden weapon called a Silent Sleeve Arrow, crafted by my father. It makes no sound when deployed, and its power is greatest when used in a sneak attack. That is precisely why I was able to catch the Datura Snake off guard and wound it."

After hearing Tang San's explanation, Dean Ding and Yu Xiaogang exchanged a look, both seeing the astonishment on the other's face.

No matter how skilled a village blacksmith might be at forging, it would be impossible to craft a hidden weapon capable of wounding a Soul Beast, right?

Unless this blacksmith was a Soul Master with a forging-type martial soul, he could never have forged such a powerful weapon.

Thinking of this, Yu Xiaogang suddenly saw the light: his disciple, Tang San, possessed Twin Martial Souls.

Although the Blue Silver Grass martial soul was unremarkable, if his guess was correct, the other hammer martial soul was none other than the number one tool martial soul in the world: the Clear Sky Hammer.

This meant that Tang San's father was a direct descendant of the Clear Sky Sect. Before that sect became famous, it was already renowned across the continent for its forging techniques; it was only logical that he could create such a hidden weapon.

Since Tang San's father did not wish for his son to reveal his Clear Sky Sect identity, he, as the teacher, should keep it a secret on his behalf.

With this thought, Yu Xiaogang used his eyes to stop Dean Ding, who was about to ask more questions, and smoothed things over. "So that's how it is. Little San, it is fortunate that your father gave you such a powerful hidden weapon to keep on your person, otherwise our master and disciple pair would have been in dire straits."

"Yes, I didn't expect this hidden weapon to be so powerful either." After replying, Tang San lowered his sleeve and looked at Ye Chen, offering a slight smile as a greeting.

Looking back at Tang San, Ye Chen feigned a look of shock at having just learned about the hidden weapon, so as not to reveal his advantage of foresight.

However, having witnessed the entire process of Tang San fighting for his life against the Datura Snake, Ye Chen was indeed shaken to his core.

He suddenly realized that his previous three bouts with Tang San, as well as his sparring matches with Wang Sheng, Xiao Wu, and Yu Xiaogang, were all merely tests of skill that stopped at the point of contact; they could hardly be called real combat.

On the Douluo Continent, true combat was always a matter of life and death; there was no such thing as stopping at the point of contact.

If he were to fight Tang San to the death, given the assassination techniques of the Tang Sect from Tang San's past life, he would undoubtedly strike to kill without the slightest hesitation.

Yet, he came from the Blue Star and had never killed anyone, nor had he prepared himself mentally for a life-or-death struggle.

Let alone fighting for his life, back on the Blue Star, he wouldn't even dare to seriously injure someone, as that would invite legal sanctions.

Therefore, if he wanted to adapt to life on the Douluo Continent, he had to discard the legal constraints and moral shackles of the Blue Star and become ruthless.

Otherwise, even with immense power, if he lacked the necessary ruthlessness, he would ultimately be unable to defeat those who were decisive in their killing.

Recovering from his thoughts, Ye Chen made a decision. After obtaining his first soul ring, he wanted to stay in the Soul Hunting Forest alone to train. This way, he could not only hone his real combat and life-or-death skills in the desperate environment surrounded by Soul Beasts, but also improve his soul power by hunting them.

Just as Ye Chen made his decision, Tang San seemed to have reached a consensus with Yu Xiaogang and said firmly, "Teacher, let me be the one to help you put your theory into practice. I believe your Martial Soul Mimicry Theory cannot be wrong; a plant martial soul can definitely absorb an animal soul ring."

"Good, good!" Yu Xiaogang smiled with relief. "Little San, then let's begin. Use the method I taught you earlier to deliver the final blow to the Datura Snake, then absorb the soul ring it produces."

"Understood." Tang San agreed. He took a short sword from his waist and walked toward the fallen Datura Snake with light, cautious steps. After ensuring the snake could not counterattack, he cleanly and decisively killed it.

As a dazzling yellow soul ring formed and solidified above the Datura Snake, Tang San watched with fascination. Once he absorbed this yellow soul ring, his Mysterious Heaven Skill might be able to enter the second stage.

Ye Chen also stared at the yellow soul ring, his heart racing. Whether his Torchic could successfully evolve surely had everything to do with the soul ring.

Once Torchic evolved into Combusken, it would not only gain the Fighting attribute, but its physique would also grow larger, and all its attributes would see a leap in improvement, resulting in an unprecedented surge in strength!

With Combusken by his side then, he would have much more confidence in his training within the Soul Hunting Forest.

Under the watchful eyes of the group, Tang San sat cross-legged on the ground and closed his eyes in meditation. The Datura Snake's soul ring wrapped around him and began to spin wildly, and after a moment, it started to fuse with his Blue Silver Grass martial soul.

Seeing that there was not the slightest rejection between the Datura Snake's soul ring and the Blue Silver Grass, Yu Xiaogang was overjoyed. Although it was only the beginning, this undoubtedly suggested that plant martial souls could indeed absorb animal soul rings.

After all these years of exhausting his efforts on the Martial Soul Mimicry Theory, it was finally going to be proven!

As his excitement settled, Yu Xiaogang's thoughts became increasingly clear. While he certainly had the selfish motive of proving himself by letting Tang San risk practicing the theory, it was also a judgment made after careful consideration.

As the weakest plant martial soul, Blue Silver Grass was naturally countered by the fire attribute; if it were to absorb a plant soul ring, that weakness would only be magnified infinitely.

But if it absorbed an animal soul ring, allowing the origin of the plant martial soul to be infused with animal bloodlines, it could greatly alleviate the weakness of being countered by fire, and in the future, his control would be more stable when facing fire-attribute Soul Masters.

And Ye Chen's Torchic just happened to be fire-attribute.

With the blessing of the Datura Snake soul ring, even if the Blue Silver Grass was still countered by the Torchic, it would never be as helpless as other Blue Silver Grass.

If Tang San could defeat Ye Chen's Torchic with his Blue Silver Grass, it would not only prove the correctness of his theory but also restore the face he had lost earlier as a teacher.

Once Ye Chen saw with his own eyes how powerful Tang San had become under his theoretical guidance, he would surely regret refusing to take him as a master, right?

Recovering from his thoughts, Yu Xiaogang glanced indifferently at Ye Chen. Just as he was about to put his hands behind his back and strike a pose of a detached, magnanimous elder, a violent numbness and dizziness surged from the venomous wound on his right arm.

The poison, previously suppressed by his soul power, finally erupted. Yu Xiaogang felt the world go black, his legs went weak, and he collapsed straight to the ground.

Dean Ding hurriedly ran over to support Yu Xiaogang. Seeing his old friend poisoned and falling into a coma, his expression changed drastically, and he shouted out in desperation, "Xiaogang!!!"