The next morning.
Xu Bai clapped his hands and recalled Di Yi, who had fallen asleep after being coated with fresh Magnet Powder, back into the Beast Taming Space.
Perhaps it was just his imagination, but even though only one night had passed, Di Yi seemed to have grown a whole size bigger. In some places, golden glimmers were faintly visible among his white fur.
"His body's already changed after just one application of Magnet Powder. Di Yi's talent is even stronger than I imagined."
Xu Bai murmured to himself, then turned to look at the Blue Silver Grass by the corner of the wall.
It swayed gently in the sunlight, looking quite happy.
"What's this little guy thinking about now?"
Curious, Xu Bai silently activated his Telepathy talent.
The next moment, a rather cheerful voice came through:
"The sun's out, time to sunbathe. The moon's out, time to moonbathe. La la la, I'm so happy! It's a brand-new day. I'll do my best to stay alive. You can do it!"
"Still, it'd be nice if a little rain came down. I'm so thirsty..."
Xu Bai raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected this Blue Silver Grass to have such a strong will to survive. If it knew that the method he'd deduced for it involved making it die eight more times, he wondered how it would feel.
Suppressing a laugh, he drew a ladle of water from the nearby vat and walked over to the Blue Silver Grass.
The Blue Silver Grass noticed Xu Bai approaching and immediately let out a piercing shriek. "Bad guy, bad guy's here again! Boohoo, he still won't leave me alone, will he? Boohoo, huh..."
Before it could finish, the entire plant froze in place.
Feeling the dampness reach its roots, the Blue Silver Grass's little leaves were full of confusion.
"The bad guy came to water me? I guess he's not that bad after all. He actually seems like a pretty nice guy."
Xu Bai: ????
Silly kid, you must've been a college student in your last life. I already killed you once, and now all it takes is one watering for you to think I'm a good person?
A gentle look came into Xu Bai's eyes—the sort of look one gave a fool.
But the Blue Silver Grass wasn't done. "Since you watered me, I won't call you bad guy anymore. Hmm, what should I call you... Got it! I'll call you a bad-but-good person!"
Bad-but good person?
Xu Bai's mouth twitched. He decided to stop trying to understand how a blade of grass thought.
After watering it, he put the wooden ladle back and left without stopping.
He had something extremely important to do today: go to Spirit Hall and expand his knowledge.
Whatever Spirit Hall was like now, at least its original intentions had been good. Some of its policies were still quite friendly to low-level Soul Masters.
For example, free Martial Soul awakenings, monthly stipends for Soul Masters and Soul Grandmasters, and a library open to all Soul Masters at no charge.
After entering Spirit Hall and showing his Soul Master credentials, Xu Bai was allowed into the library without any trouble.
The library was tiny, perhaps a room of only fifty square meters, and it had just one floor.
Bookshelves lined the walls, while several tables stood in the middle.
Xu Bai took a quick look around. Most of the books about Martial Souls and Soul Masters covered basic knowledge or contained biographies of Soul Masters.
There were plenty of books about Soul Beast habits and characteristics, though, and those were exactly what he needed right now.
Xu Bai found a book about the Green-Red Tiger Soul Beast, picked a table at random, and spent a dull, dreary morning in the library.
"Before I transmigrated, I suffered through nine years of compulsory education, studying every single day. Now I've transmigrated, and I still have to read books all day. How come it feels like nothing's changed?"
Xu Bai muttered as he pushed open the gate to his little courtyard.
He first glanced at the Blue Silver Grass in the corner. It swayed back and forth in the sunlight, as happy as a sunflower. He had no idea what it was so happy about.
"That mindset of yours is beyond me."
Xu Bai clicked his tongue and released Di Yi.
Di Yi had already woken up. As soon as he appeared, he shook himself hard, but only managed to fling off a little of the Magnet Powder on his body.
The special energy in the powder had probably run out. Now it no longer felt warm, and instead seemed to make Di Yi uncomfortable.
"I'll have to apply it again. I'll wash it off for you tonight." Xu Bai smiled and headed for the kitchen. "For now, let's eat."
Di Yi's eyes lit up. Ignoring his discomfort, he immediately dashed after Xu Bai.
Nothing could shake his resolve to eat—not even the pride of a Soul Beast.
Thinking back, what kind of bland, watery meals had he been living on before?
Di Yi felt that even if his clan hadn't abandoned him, he probably would've agreed to a Soul Beast contract if a Beast Tamer had lured him with a freshly cooked meal.
You might say a Soul Beast's dignity must not be trampled on, but then you've never tasted melt-in-your-mouth braised pork.
Walking ahead, Xu Bai hadn't activated Telepathy, so he had no idea what Di Yi was thinking. His mind was full of plans to cook extra food and get Di Yi to eat more. He couldn't let all those provisions spoil at home.
After lunch, Xu Bai reapplied the Magnet Powder to Di Yi, who had eaten his fill.
Looking at the little White Tiger sleeping once more, Xu Bai couldn't help falling into deep thought.
Eat until he was full, sleep until he was rested, then eat again. Would his Di Yi grow up into a Gong Baiwan?
That was the sort of creature who could choke on boneless beef. If Di Yi really turned out like that, he might as well make a contract with that Blue Silver Grass instead. At least it'd feel safer.
But after thinking it over, Xu Bai decided it was unlikely.
Over the past two days together, Di Yi had only ever acted docile around him.
But Xu Bai could see it clearly: deep in Di Yi's eyes, hatred and fury were always lurking.
Until he released the emotions pent up inside him, those eyes probably weren't going to turn clear and foolish.
After returning Di Yi to the Beast Taming Space, Xu Bai gave the Blue Silver Grass in the corner a little more water.
He hadn't activated Telepathy, but he felt that after being watered, the Blue Silver Grass seemed to be in an even better mood.
"I wonder if this Blue Silver Grass will add another word to my nickname."
Xu Bai smiled and left the courtyard, heading straight for Spirit Hall.
A routine of going back and forth between two places. He figured he would keep it up until Di Yi awakened his racial talent.
And just like that, a week passed in a flash.
Thanks to his increased spiritual power and the fact that he was half a transmigrator, Xu Bai learned quickly. In just seven days, he had finished reading every book in the library about tiger-type Soul Beasts. He'd even found time to study plant-type Soul Beasts.
It was a taste of the joy of being a top student in his previous life.
Back home, Xu Bai looked at the Blue Silver Grass in the corner, which had grown noticeably taller. With a thought, he opened the Manual in his Sea of Divine Consciousness.