Three Years in a Flash

Winter passed into summer, and summer gave way to autumn.

Mu Zhi City, Green Leaf Elementary Soul Master Academy.

As the familiar bell rang, Ethan Lillian and Ethan Anno, now in fifth grade, walked out of the classroom, each chatting and laughing with several classmates.

If this had been three years ago, neither Lillian nor Anno would have believed that among the classmates happily chatting around them, there would actually be self-funded students.

But at this moment, no matter who it was, everyone felt that the scene before them was perfectly ordinary.

"Lillian, I heard from my little brother that Brother Yi cultivated his Soul Power to Level 10 a few days ago. Is that true?"

Because he had enrolled a year late, Ling Yi was a few months older than both Lillian and Anno, yet he was one grade below them.

Logically speaking, as fifth graders, they should have had the relationship and form of address of senior schoolmates to Ling Yi, who was in fourth grade.

But now that three years had passed, among the entire student body of Green Leaf Elementary Soul Master Academy, aside from the sixth-grade seniors, who would affectionately call Ling Yi "A Yi," whether they were first-year newcomers or fifth-year old students, when facing fourth-year Ling Yi, they would all sincerely call him "Brother Yi."

After three years, Lillian, now ten years old, had grown out a fair bit, the childishness in her features and brows gradually fading. In addition, the relationships among the academy students had become friendly, and she had gained quite a few close friends she could talk with about anything, so a bright smile was always hanging on the little girl's pretty face. Because of her Martial Soul, "Kingfisher Bird," the little girl had emerald-green hair and a petite figure; as she skipped along, she looked just like a happy lark.

Hearing her close friend's question, Lillian immediately puffed out her chest, her little face full of pride, and replied loudly, "That's right! Brother Yi broke through to Level 10 three nights ago. When he told Teacher Yuan the morning before last, Teacher Yuan was really shocked!"

"Good heavens—!"

"It's actually true—?!"

"That's amazing—!!" ...

As Lillian's words fell, the surrounding students, both boys and girls, all showed expressions of surprise, admiration, and worship.

Compared with the emotional admiration on the little girls' side, the boys gathered around Anno and started chatting enthusiastically with this fellow townsman of Brother Yi's.

"I remember Brother Yi seemed to have only half a level of Innate Soul Power, but with his current cultivation speed, he's probably comparable to those outstanding students with Innate Soul Power at level three or four, right?" a freckled boy exclaimed, his eyes shining.

"More or less," Anno said with a nod when he heard this. "Yun Lan from Brother Yi's class had Innate Soul Power at level three, and she only broke through to Nine Levels two months ago..."

"It's really hard to imagine that Brother Yi's 'Blue Silver Grass' Martial Soul actually has a characteristic like this..." another boy said with envy all over his face.

By now, all of Green Leaf Elementary Soul Master Academy... no! All of Mu Zhi City knew that there was a child whose Martial Soul was "Blue Silver Grass," whose Innate Soul Power was only half a level, but because "Blue Silver Grass" was easy to keep alive and could be found everywhere, a "Mimetic Cultivation Ground" exclusively for "Blue Silver Grass" could easily be created to boost the speed of Soul Power cultivation.

Over the past three years, Grand Duke Mu Feng of Waterwood Principality, Kelvin, the hall master of Mu Zhi City's Spirit Hall Main Hall, as well as several marquis lords, had all spent no small amount of manpower, material resources, and wealth searching throughout the entire principality for people with the "Blue Silver Grass" Martial Soul who possessed Innate Soul Power aptitude.

That was on the surface. In secret, people like Grand Duke Mu Feng and Hall Master Kelvin had even extended their reach into parts of the Heaven Dou Empire's territory. And certain Earl Level existences who were unwilling to reveal their names were also intentionally or unintentionally searching. Once they found someone, whether they kept them to cultivate themselves or offered them to Grand Duke Mu Feng or Hall Master Kelvin in exchange for some resources, it would all be a profitable deal.

However, three years had passed, and within the entire Waterwood Principality, more than four thousand people whose Martial Soul was "Blue Silver Grass" had been screened out by the various forces, yet only a little over eighty of them possessed Innate Soul Power—a probability of less than two percent!

Among those eighty-odd people, not a single one had Innate Soul Power reaching level one. More than fifty were between 20 Years Old and fifty years old, a dozen or so were over fifty, eight were in their teens, and eleven were under ten.

In truth, as early as more than a year ago, the matter of finding people whose Martial Soul was "Blue Silver Grass" and who also possessed Innate Soul Power had already stopped being much of a priority throughout Waterwood Principality.

From the dozen or so targets under 20 Years Old found at the beginning, after cultivating in the specially built "Blue Silver Grass—Mimetic Cultivation Ground," the verified result was that their cultivation speed did indeed increase, but the degree of increase differed from person to person. Some had a larger increase, almost ten percent faster; some had a minuscule increase, only around one or two percent.

There was not a single person whose speed could reach that of the lucky one, Ling Yi, whose cultivation speed had more than doubled!

Someone had once raised doubts, saying that this kid called Ling Yi very likely had other secrets as well. Otherwise, how could the gap be so obvious?

At this point, Grandmaster Jin, one of the Three Great Masters of the principality, stepped forward.

Grandmaster Jin described to Grand Duke Mu Feng and the other high-level figures of the principality what perception and wisdom beyond ordinary people were: a kind of talent and aptitude unique to humanity itself, separate from Martial Soul Aptitude!

Didn't believe it?

Grandmaster Jin said that at first, he hadn't really believed it either.

One day three years ago, his fifth disciple, Wang Meng, brought Ling Yi to see him and said that Ling Yi had initially mastered the Thirteen Forms of the "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique" in a single day.

Grandmaster Jin had lived for more than seventy years. What hadn't he seen? What hadn't he heard of?

Besides, he could still trust the character and integrity of his fifth disciple, Wang Meng.

Thus, half-believing and half-doubting, Old Master Jin demonstrated on the spot to Ling Yi the Thirty-Six Forms of the "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique" that he had mastered.

The final result was very clear. Aside from the understandable mistake where, due to insufficient strength, the force of the twenty-fifth hammer exceeded the limit of his control and the forging hammer flew out of his hand, Ling Yi fully demonstrated to Grandmaster Jin what it meant to be a genius!

He learned it as soon as he was taught it, and mastered it as soon as he learned it!

In their interactions afterward, Ling Yi further showed Grandmaster Jin and his disciples the meaning of a whole series of phrases: photographic memory, drawing inferences from one example, bringing forth the new from the old, and so on.

Aside from Grandmaster Jin, the teachers of Green Leaf Elementary Soul Master Academy also stepped forward at the same time, corroborating the fact of Ling Yi's astonishing wisdom.

Over three years, Ling Yi learned through the classroom instruction of the various teachers while also entering the library on the top floor of the teaching building to read and study on his own. Not only did he fully master all the information on Martial Souls and Soul Beasts possessed by Green Leaf Elementary Soul Master Academy, he even consulted the teachers and discussed things with each of them, working out a more complete and systematic educational plan. This allowed the academy's students of every grade over the past three years to grasp more knowledge in their studies, and grasp it more firmly!

These teachers in the academy had themselves been arranged by various parties, and the forces connected behind them were tangled and complex. In the eyes of the various forces, the credibility of their words was naturally much higher.

At this point, the matter of the cultivation speed of the "Blue Silver Grass" Martial Soul more or less came to an end.

At most, Grand Duke Mu Feng or Hall Master Kelvin might privately continue cultivating the dozen or so Tool Persons they had already collected, so the investment they had made over the past three years would not be completely wasted.

As for Ling Yi, outside of the label "lucky one," in the eyes of the various forces of Mu Zhi City, he now had an additional label: "wisdom."

Other than that, everyone did not pay much attention to this mere Soul Master.

Mm, a rather lucky, clever-minded Advanced Blacksmith Soul Master who could forge Hundred-Refinement Grade fine weapons.