Shapeshifting Soul Beasts could mold their bodies when they transformed, so they were generally beautiful.
Unless they had some peculiar quirk and liked transforming into all sorts of strange shapes.
Though Xiao Wu's features had yet to fully mature, one could already see what she'd look like in the future. She would be an absolute beauty.
"Having extraordinary powers in this world is great!"
"Someone like Xiao Wu wouldn't have a rival even in the era of beauty filters in my previous life!"
That was the great thing about an extraordinary world: their bodies really could be flawless.
As for Xiao Wu's identity as a shapeshifting Soul Beast, Li Ping'an didn't mind.
"I, Li Ping'an, hate wasting things most of all. I eat every last grain of rice in my bowl..."
Xiao Wu realized that Li Ping'an had fallen asleep, so she came out of her cultivation state, lifted the covers, and lay down beside him.
As she lay in bed, Xiao Wu's thoughts began to run wild.
"My mother told me that human girls should be more reserved! If I act like this, will Li Ping'an dislike me?"
This was her first time being human, too, so she didn't know what she ought to do.
Thinking of this, Xiao Wu took out a set of clothes she'd just bought and placed it between them on the bed.
"What are you doing?" Li Ping'an asked quietly.
Xiao Wu declared fiercely, "Li Ping'an! Behave yourself when you sleep. Don't cross the line! Or don't blame me for what happens!"
Li Ping'an was a little speechless. He wasn't Epstein, after all. How could he be interested in Xiao Wu at her age?
"Got it. You're the boss of Dorm Seven. How could I dare disobey you?"
"Good!" Xiao Wu nodded in satisfaction, then went to sleep.
The next morning.
Li Ping'an opened his eyes and sensed something weighing on his chest.
He reached out without thinking and touched a soft body.
Looking down, Li Ping'an saw Xiao Wu's tender, flawless face.
What a shameless rabbit. She's really going all in! Li Ping'an thought.
In appreciation of how hard Xiao Wu was trying, Li Ping'an increased his favorability toward her by five points.
That's right, Li Ping'an had discovered that he could raise his favorability toward Xiao Wu himself.
But he hadn't raised it all the way at the start to claim every reward.
That was because the favorability rewards changed along with Xiao Wu's strength.
So it would be better for both of them if he slowly raised his favorability after Xiao Wu grew stronger.
Besides, Xiao Wu's favorability toward him was only twenty. He couldn't just shortchange himself, could he?
"Xiao Wu! Xiao Wu! Get up!" Li Ping'an patted her.
Xiao Wu's eyelids twitched. She slowly opened her eyes, and her gaze met Li Ping'an's.
"Li Ping'an, why did you cross the line?" Xiao Wu demanded.
"Xiao Wu, look carefully. You're the one who crossed the line!"
Xiao Wu glanced over and realized that he was right. Her face reddened, and she seemed a little embarrassed.
"Hmph! I'm the boss of Dorm Seven. If I say you crossed the line, then you crossed the line!"
"Starting tomorrow, you sleep on that side, and I'll sleep on this one!" Xiao Wu said.
"Fine, fine, fine. You're the boss. I'll do as you say." Li Ping'an didn't argue with her.
After getting up, Li Ping'an washed up and went out to exercise.
Even with the system's help, he wouldn't give up cultivating or abandon the chance to grow stronger!
Xiao Wu only let out a sigh of relief after Li Ping'an left.
"Hmph, all talk and no action! Didn't his favorability toward me still go up?"
"Being human isn't that hard after all!" Xiao Wu thought.
She hurriedly opened her system to check the rewards for the increased favorability.
[The Son of Fortune's current favorability toward the host: 10]
[Calculating rewards. Congratulations, host, you have received 2 levels of Soul Power!]
"Two levels of Soul Power?" Xiao Wu's eyes lit up.
In her juvenile stage, she didn't need to cultivate. As long as she stayed with people and absorbed their human energy, her Soul Power would grow.
But it grew at about the same rate as that of humans with Innate Full Soul Power.
These two levels of Soul Power would save her more than half a year of effort.
Xiao Wu was very satisfied with this reward.
Li Ping'an was very satisfied with the reward, too. What he lacked most right now was Soul Power.
[Congratulations, host. You have received 1 level of Soul Power as a reward from the Sub-System, Xiao Wu!]
A surge of Soul Power poured into Li Ping'an's body, raising him from level two and a half to level three and a half.
After sensing the change, Li Ping'an circulated the Wither-Flourish Art secret technique and concealed the aura of his Soul Power.
In the eyes of powerful Soul Masters, he now seemed to be only a level-two Soul Scholar.
"I've reached level three. I hope Tang San and Xiao Wu can pull their weight and help me reach level ten soon!"
At his current aptitude, he'd need another four or five years if he relied on cultivation alone.
Without strength, Li Ping'an didn't dare wander the continent at will in search of opportunities.
Immortal Herbs, for instance, or other people blessed with powerful luck whose Sub-Systems he could bind.
"Tang San should be going Soul Hunting with Yu Xiaogang now, right? I wonder when he'll make a move against Grandmaster?"
Outside Nuoding City, a carriage headed toward the Soul Hunting Forest, hundreds of miles away.
Inside, a middle-aged man was lecturing a boy. They were Tang San and Yu Xiaogang.
"Xiao San, remember: there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters!"
"Even Blue Silver Grass can be cultivated into a powerful Martial Soul!"
"According to my theories, plant-type Martial Souls can absorb the Soul Rings of animal Soul Beasts, too."
"Your Blue Silver Grass can be cultivated along the path of a control-type weapon Martial Soul, so I recommend that you absorb the Soul Ring of a poisonous beast for your first one!"
Tang San pondered the words, though he didn't really understand them.
In his previous life, he had cultivated martial arts techniques, not Soul Power, so his understanding of how Soul Masters cultivated was limited.
And Li Ping'an had intercepted the system's reward, the Encyclopedia of Martial Soul Theory.
So Tang San didn't know any of these theories and could only listen to Grandmaster.
The system said there was something wrong with Yu Xiaogang. But what exactly was it? Tang San wondered.
He still hadn't made a move against Yu Xiaogang because the values of his previous life influenced him.
Heaven, earth, ruler, parents, and teacher: the bonds of morality and order must not be disrupted. Yu Xiaogang was a teacher Tang San had kowtowed to and formally accepted. How could he betray him on a whim?
"Teacher, what level is your strength at now?" Tang San asked.
Yu Xiaogang sighed. "Alas, I'm only a level-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster."
"My Martial Soul underwent a harmful mutation, and I awakened with only half a level of Innate Soul Power."
"But I only spent a little over ten years reaching level twenty-nine. It's a pity I couldn't break through to level thirty!"
Yu Xiaogang said nothing about how many resources he'd spent from his clan. He only claimed that he'd relied on his own efforts.
Tang San frowned and asked, "Teacher, didn't you say there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters?"
"Then why can't you break through to level thirty?"
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