Beastly Instinct and True Nature, Understanding How to Use One's Own Power, Knowledge of Immortal Herbs

After thinking it over, though, it made sense. Anything raised like a treasure by the strongest force in a supernatural world would naturally be far stronger than wild ones that had to compete with other soul beasts for resources.

With both Soul Rings absorbed and the effects of their soul skills tested, the Worship Hall's group expedition was declared a perfect success. A Golden Behemoth and a Golden Xuanwu were indeed two exceptionally fine soul beasts.

After resting briefly, they set off back to Spirit Hall. They had been away for two or three months, weathering the hardships of travel, and everyone was beginning to miss home.

Since Bibi Dong had become his maid, this was the first time Xiao Yao had been separated from her for so long. He truly missed that obedient, adorable little maid who was also his playmate.

By evening, they had returned to Spirit City. After exchanging greetings with the others, Golden Lion Douluo and Xiao Yao hurried home.

Xiao Yao had barely stepped into the courtyard.

"Young Master! I missed you so much!" Bibi Dong rushed over and threw her arms around Xiao Yao, her face streaked with tears.

Xiao Yao gently stroked Bibi Dong's head. "Dong'er, I missed you too. I really wasn't used to not having you by my side."

"What Soul Ring did Dong'er obtain this time? How old was it?"

Bibi Dong's face flushed slightly at Xiao Yao's words. When she heard him ask about her Soul Ring, she said, "Mm, Young Master, Qian Jun Douluo led us this time. He's incredibly powerful, already Rank 94, so we came back after just over a week."

"The soul beast Qian Jun Douluo found matched my martial soul. It was a Death Spider Emperor, eight hundred years old."

Xiao Yao was slightly surprised. He had not expected Qian Daoliu to assign Qian Jun Douluo directly rather than casually sending someone who had only recently become a Titled Douluo to lead the team. All he could say was that his master had truly given him and those around him the very best treatment. His favorable impression of Spirit Hall soared once more.

Furthermore, the soul beast selection had been excellent. The Death Spider Emperor was already one of the most powerful beast martial souls, and most importantly, it matched Bibi Dong's own martial soul. They were practically of the same origin and complemented each other perfectly. The strength of Bibi Dong's martial soul had surely risen another level.

"Wonderful, Dong'er!" Xiao Yao said with a smile, rubbing Bibi Dong's head.

Bibi Dong also held Xiao Yao as she absorbed his energy. During the days when Young Master had been away, every day had felt like a year. She could only cultivate frantically to briefly forget him, but that merely treated the symptoms rather than the cause. In fact, she had only thought of him more and more intensely afterward.

When she had been cultivating in the courtyard just now and saw Young Master open the gate, she truly could not restrain herself and had rushed straight at him.

Mighty Lion Douluo watched the two little ones share their affection and chat, smiling warmly. Then he vanished in an instant.

After Xiao Yao and Bibi Dong chatted for a while, Xiao Yao told her about the soul beast and Soul Ring he had obtained. Upon hearing about those absurdly powerful skills, Bibi Dong cried out in amazement again and again. They had both raw power and unique mechanics—they were far, far stronger than the soul skills she had gained!

Early the next morning, after Bibi Dong woke Xiao Yao, the two ate breakfast and headed to the Worship Hall together.

Today was the day Xiao Yao would officially begin studying under Qian Daoliu after becoming his disciple. Though his raw power and abilities were formidable, he still had a long way to go before he could bring out his strength perfectly.

Given the same physical condition, an ordinary person with no combat training would definitely be defeated within a few moves by a boxing master who had dominated the world for over a decade.

The latter understood his own limits, strength, and how to use his body. What Xiao Yao wanted was to understand his own power, limits, and how to use his body flawlessly.

After Xiao Yao and Bibi Dong entered the Worship Hall, Xiao Yao saw Qian Daoliu kneeling before the Angel God statue. He bowed. "Master, I'm here!"

Upon hearing Xiao Yao's voice, Qian Daoliu rose and turned toward Xiao Yao and Bibi Dong. Looking at the two little ones, he said gently, "For your first lesson today, you will learn about the true nature of martial souls and how to initially make use of that nature."

"Martial souls are very wondrous things. Tool martial souls have their own characteristics, and beast martial souls have their own characteristics as well."

"One of the core aspects of beast martial souls is beastly instinct and true nature. These are instincts animals have developed over countless years of reproduction in the natural world, much like how humans instinctively feel fear and the urge to flee when they see snakes."

"When a beast martial soul faces danger, it will also send similar signals to its master. Today, you must try to find those signals."

Xiao Yao nodded as he listened to Qian Daoliu's explanation, showing that he roughly understood. This sort of knowledge was common in supernatural worlds, merely called by different names. For example, Ultra Instinct relied entirely on the body's instinctive reactions rather than the brain.

If one reacted through the brain's commands, the eyes first had to see, then the brain had to receive the information from the eyes and issue an order before the corresponding body part could move. There were too many steps in the process. If the body simply reacted on instinct, there would be no unnecessary process at all, making the reaction faster.

Of course, reaching that stage was actually very difficult. In any supernatural world, such a realm could only be attained by geniuses. Xiao Yao's Golden Lion Mastiff possessed tremendous raw power, but he did not know how great his own comprehension was, nor that of the Golden Lion Mastiff.

Seeing the roughly understanding looks in their eyes, Qian Daoliu continued, "Actual combat is the best teacher. From now on, neither of you may use soul skills. You may only summon your martial souls and continuously evade my attacks. Pay attention to the information your martial souls release."

The moment Qian Daoliu finished speaking, his fist came smashing toward them. Xiao Yao could only summon his martial soul and dodge instantly, but after he evaded, he discovered that the fist was somehow drawing closer and closer.

Bang!

"Hiss!" Xiao Yao felt the blow land on his body. This was the first time in his life that he had experienced such pain. Yet although the struck area hurt terribly, it had suffered almost no injury beyond a slight redness. He immediately understood that Qian Daoliu's punch had only activated the sensation of pain. Qian Daoliu's use and control of his own strength had already reached an incredibly high realm.

Qian Daoliu was also attacking Bibi Dong nearby. She, too, dodged across the ground in agony. The power Qian Daoliu used against Xiao Yao and the power he used against Bibi Dong differed enormously, yet he controlled those two vastly different levels of force with complete ease.

Xiao Yao could not help but marvel at Qian Daoliu's understanding and control of his own power, which had essentially reached the pinnacle. It was also the goal Xiao Yao was currently pursuing.

And so, spring passed into autumn, and a year flew by.

Over that year, Xiao Yao and Bibi Dong maintained an extremely regular routine. Every morning, Bibi Dong woke Xiao Yao on time.

After breakfast, the two went to study under Qian Daoliu, learning to understand and use their martial souls. In the afternoon, they attended Spirit Hall Academy to learn knowledge, and at night, they cultivated their Soul Power.

For an entire year, rain or shine, without interruption, Qian Daoliu and the other Grand Elders could not help but say approvingly as they watched the two, "To possess such talent and still remain patient enough to cultivate so diligently is truly rare!"

"Yao'er recently said that he wanted to acquire knowledge about Immortal Herbs. Yue Guan is the only one in Spirit Hall with any knowledge of them, so I arranged for the two to meet tonight."

"I wonder why Yao'er suddenly became interested in Immortal Herbs. After all, they are things of legend. Even Spirit Hall's twenty-thousand-year history contains very few records of them."