He paused, his gaze burning as he looked at Tang San.
"So, Tang San, become my disciple. I'll use all my resources and connections to tailor the strongest path for your Blue Silver Grass. I'll take care of your First Soul Ring. I'll take care of your cultivation resources from now on. And I'll answer every question you have about Blue Silver Grass."
After listening, Tang San fell silent for a moment.
Then he asked a question.
"Grandmaster, what you said about the poison-control path—using Blue Silver Grass's poison to wear down an opponent—makes a lot of sense."
He lifted his head and looked into Yu Xiaogang's eyes.
"But Blue Silver Grass's essence is vitality. Its greatest strength isn't poison; it's its ceaseless life force. If we use Blue Silver Grass like a jar of poison, aren't we turning away from its roots from the very start?"
Yu Xiaogang froze.
Tang San spoke calmly, as though stating a self-evident fact.
"Blue Silver Grass is the plant with the strongest vitality in the world. It can grow anywhere, and no matter how badly it's damaged, it can sprout again. That's its core advantage. If we bring this strength to its fullest, making Blue Silver Grass as tough as iron and its regeneration almost demonic, it can still be a path to strength even without poison. By contrast, if we pursue poison at every turn, it's like planting a great tree in a flowerpot. It'll never grow to its full size."
Those were Huang Fei's words, spoken to him that day on the doorstep of Holy Soul Village.
Tang San had committed them to memory and thought them over again and again. The more he considered them, the more sense they made.
Yu Xiaogang stood where he was, his mind buzzing as if a thousand bees were swarming inside it.
Life Flow?
Ultimate vitality?
He turned Tang San's words over and over in his mind. The veins on his forehead twitched twice.
He had never considered this direction.
In his theoretical framework, a Plant-type Martial Soul like Blue Silver Grass was meant for control and support.
Poison and control naturally went together. He had never thought of developing a Trash Martial Soul along the lines of "vitality."
But what Tang San said... made sense.
Blue Silver Grass really did have the strongest vitality. Everyone knew that.
But bringing this quality to its fullest would make the early stages extremely difficult.
Before reaching a certain level, Blue Silver Grass on the ultimate life-force path would only be capable of support and healing, with almost no combat power at all.
How far could Blue Silver Grass go if all it could do was heal?
Yu Xiaogang took a deep breath, suppressing his irritation.
"Your life-force path is theoretically viable, Tang San."
His tone was much more measured than before.
"But think it through. Blue Silver Grass on the life-force path will have almost no combat power in the early stages. If you choose a life-type First Soul Ring, the Soul Skill you obtain will most likely be for healing or support. Do you think Blue Silver Grass that can only heal people will survive in battle?"
"By comparison, the poison-control path gives you combat power as early as the First Soul Ring stage. Poison's effects aren't limited by Soul Power Level. Even with just one ring, a poisoned enemy will still lose the ability to fight."
He thought these words would make Tang San change his mind.
But Tang San merely shook his head calmly.
"Grandmaster, I'm not in a hurry."
"I don't need to grow stronger right away. I need a path that will take me far. Poison control might be powerful in the early stages, but later on, poison will pose less and less of a threat to high-level Soul Masters. Vitality is different."
"Vitality is the foundation of everything."
Yu Xiaogang fell completely silent.
Standing beneath the shade of the Old Locust Tree, his expression went through a complete progression: from shock to doubt, from doubt to contemplation, and from contemplation to unwillingness.
He was deeply annoyed.
It wasn't that Tang San refused to listen. It was that he couldn't refute what Tang San had said.
He even felt that this seven-year-old understood this Martial Soul more deeply than he did—the "theoretical master" who had studied it for twenty years.
But what kind of person was Yu Xiaogang? He was someone who could find a way out of any predicament.
He gritted his teeth and made a decision.
"Tang San, I won't force you to become my disciple if you don't want to."
Tang San gave a slight start.
"I don't need you to become my disciple." Yu Xiaogang's voice grew low and earnest. "I only need you to serve as a subject for my research and cooperate with me on theoretical studies. You don't have to accept my instruction, and I won't interfere with your cultivation path. You can choose your own path and your own Soul Rings. I won't force you."
"If you agree to cooperate with my research, I can still help you obtain your first life-type Soul Ring, with a cultivation age of four hundred to five hundred years."
He paused, then added, "I'll also give you a Storage Soul Tool belt as an investment in you."
He pulled something from inside his robes.
It was a silver belt set with twenty-four pale blue gems, their gentle sheen glimmering in the sunlight.
"This is a top-grade Storage Soul Tool. Each gem contains an independent storage space of about one cubic meter. These things are so rare on the continent that money can't buy them. Even the elders of Spirit Hall might not all have one."
Yu Xiaogang held the belt in his hands and looked at it with a complicated expression.
It was one of his most prized treasures, originally meant to be a disciple he was most proud of as a gift upon taking him as his master.
But now, he couldn't afford to be so particular.
You couldn't catch a wolf without risking your child.
As long as Tang San stayed close to him, he would naturally become his disciple in time.
Their bond could be nurtured gradually.
As long as he kept Tang San away from that blabbermouth Huang Fei, Tang San would naturally be his.
He glanced left and right. When he saw that Huang Fei hadn't come over, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Compared with Huang Fei, who had such strong ideas of his own, he preferred Tang San, who was easy to fool.
They both had Innate Full Soul Power and Blue Silver Grass. He only needed to take in one of them.
Besides, if Tang San died in the future, he could take the belt back.
Tang San's eyes lit up.
A Storage Soul Tool.
He had read about such things in books before and knew they were exceedingly rare treasures.
Ordinary Storage Soul Tools were already expensive, let alone a top-grade one set with twenty-four gems.
With this, carrying Hidden Weapons on him wouldn't be a problem.
Tang San hesitated, quickly weighing things in his mind.
No need to become a disciple.
He only had to cooperate with the research.
He could obtain a life-type Soul Ring with a cultivation age of four hundred to five hundred years.
He would also get a top-grade Storage Soul Tool.
And he really was curious about how far his Blue Silver Grass could go.
Under Huang Fei's influence, he had already gained some confidence in the life-force path. With a theoretical researcher's help, he might be able to avoid a few wrong turns.
"All right." Tang San nodded and held out his hand.
Yu Xiaogang's hand, holding the belt, stiffened for a moment. Then he slowly let go and handed over the silver belt.
His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, all he managed was, "Deal."
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