That afternoon, in Grandmaster's room at Notting Academy.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
"Uneducated little pauper! He doesn't know the first thing about respecting his elders and teachers!"
"He's acting so high and mighty over a mere Hundred-Year Soul Ring!"
"He's nothing but an earthworm in a shallow pool, thinking himself a true dragon!"
Grandmaster raged helplessly in his room, hurling everything on the table to the floor.
After venting his anger, he slumped down on a chair.
Qin Qi, Xiao Wu, Teacher Zhao, and the other teachers' words kept echoing in his mind.
"Luo Sanpao, come out!"
Grandmaster summoned Luo Sanpao.
"Puff, puff!"
As soon as Luo Sanpao appeared, he affectionately rubbed against Grandmaster's leg. Although he was a Martial Soul, he possessed a will of his own.
That alone made him quite unusual.
"Get lost!"
"This is all your fault! If it weren't for you, how would I have ended up like this?"
"If you hadn't turned into a pig, how would people have laughed at me?"
Looking at Luo Sanpao, Grandmaster's anger flared up again, and he kicked Luo Sanpao away!
"Puff, puff!"
Luo Sanpao slammed into the wall, his face twisted in pain. He curled up, trembling.
By then, Tang San had reached the door, wanting to ask Grandmaster a few questions. He heard what Grandmaster had said.
"Raging helplessly!"
"He can only—only dares to take his anger out on those around him who can't fight back!"
That thought immediately surfaced in Tang San's mind, and he drew back the hand he'd been about to use to knock.
He felt that if he went in now, he might become the target of Grandmaster's misplaced anger.
"Useless thing! If it weren't for you, why would I be stuck at level twenty-nine, unable to break through?"
"If I'd awakened the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul, I'd still be a genius in my family!"
Yu Xiaogang kept cursing Luo Sanpao, blaming him for all his current troubles.
He didn't think there was anything wrong with himself at all.
"Arrogant and conceited, unable to see himself clearly."
Tang San silently revised his opinion of Grandmaster. He had been studying hard during this time.
He had also learned more about Martial Souls.
The higher the quality of a Martial Soul, the higher a person's Innate Soul Power. But this wasn't a matter of inheritance; the two went hand in hand.
It wasn't that you first had a high-quality Martial Soul and then gained high Innate Soul Power.
Rather, if you possessed high Soul Power, your Martial Soul would also be high-quality. The two existed together.
A person's talent and potential determined both the quality of their Martial Soul and their Innate Soul Power.
If your potential and talent were insufficient, you naturally couldn't possess high Soul Power, and your Martial Soul would become useless because of your own limitations.
When all was said and done, a Martial Soul was part of your body. If your Martial Soul was useless, that meant you were useless, too.
"Phew, it's fine. They look down on me now, bully me, humiliate me, and laugh at me."
"But once I really cultivate a genius, they'll all have to worship me!"
Grandmaster gritted his teeth as he spoke.
"What an unrealistic fantasy."
Tang San sighed inwardly. He was beginning to doubt whether Yu Xiaogang's theories were correct.
After a while, Yu Xiaogang had calmed down. Tang San pretended he'd only just arrived and knocked on the door.
He went inside, then began discussing Soul Ring hunting with Yu Xiaogang.
"Don't worry. I'll take you Soul Ring hunting myself, and I'll make sure you get a good one!"
Yu Xiaogang put on an air of calm and refinement as he spoke.
"Yes, thank you, teacher."
"Teacher, just now Qin Qi and the others..."
Tang San asked tentatively.
"It doesn't matter. They don't understand us; that's their problem. We shouldn't let them affect us."
"We just need to focus on what we're doing."
"Xiao San, remember: there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Spirit Masters!"
"I believe you'll become a powerful Spirit Master!"
As Grandmaster spoke, his eyes inadvertently fell on the back of Tang San's hand, where the Clear Sky Hammer was.
"Yes, teacher. I'll work hard!"
"Teacher, if there's nothing else, I'll be going now."
Tang San acted as if he knew nothing and spoke obediently.
"Mm, go ahead."
Grandmaster waved him away.
Tang San left and closed the door behind him.
"I can't rely on this man!"
"The way he looked at me was exactly like he was looking at a tool!"
"A tool to satisfy his vanity and earn him a reputation!"
Tang San's eyes turned cold. He wasn't really a little child—how could he fail to see Yu Xiaogang's intentions?
The man said there were no useless Martial Souls, yet he paid no attention to Tang San's Blue Silver Grass.
His eyes were fixed solely on the Clear Sky Hammer. Tang San could tell that his Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul was definitely no ordinary one.
"I'll have to rely on myself for this Soul Ring hunt. I need to make more preparations!"
Tang San's trust in Grandmaster had fallen to rock bottom. He planned to prepare Hidden Weapons and other weapons himself.
He would ask his classmates and the academy's teachers about Martial Soul knowledge. He would rely on himself for everything!
That night, in Dorm Seven.
Asleep, Qin Qi entered the Study Space.
"Granduncle, I bought the medicinal ingredients you asked for. How should I use them?"
Qin Qi looked at the ingredients he'd bought with a pained expression. The Gold Soul Coins he'd just gotten were already gone.
Spirit Masters earned money quickly, but they spent it just as fast!
"Use those ingredients as a base, mix them with ground-up scales from the Datura Snake, and turn the mixture into a medicinal liquid."
"Using that liquid for Poison Refining will double your results!"
Tang Jiaren had already figured out the Datura Snake Qin Qi had hunted earlier.
Based on the Datura Snake's poison, he had devised a Poison Refining formula.
"Got it."
Qin Qi picked up the tools and started grinding the ingredients and the Datura Snake's body.
Tang Jiaren sat nearby, watching and occasionally offering a few pointers.
Once Qin Qi had ground the Datura Snake and the ingredients into powder, he began boiling them. While they waited—
"Go!"
Qin Qi summoned the Qi Poison: Datura Snake, then used the Study Space's special properties to summon a fake Datura Snake.
This Datura Snake looked exactly like the one Qin Qi had hunted—not even its inner body or muscle fibers differed.
Qin Qi carefully observed the real Datura Snake with Transparent World, then slowly refined and altered his Qi Poison: Datura Snake.
As its form grew more complete, the Qi Poison became increasingly concentrated, and the Qi Poison: Datura Snake grew stronger and stronger.
"Wait a moment!"
Tang Jiaren looked at Qin Qi's Qi Poison and suddenly furrowed his brow. "Have your snake bite me."
"Mm."
Qin Qi didn't ask questions. Nobody could die in the Study Space, so a bite was no big deal. "Datura Snake, go."
At its master's command, the Datura Snake immediately attacked Tang Jiaren and bit his hand.
In just a moment, Tang Jiaren succumbed to the poison.
"Hey, let's put the Poison Refining on hold for now."
After recovering, Tang Jiaren shook his head and spoke to Qin Qi.
"Granduncle, what's wrong? Did I make a mistake?"
Qin Qi motioned for the Datura Snake to return to his hand. He examined his Qi Poison but couldn't see anything wrong.
In fact, with the boost from his Spirit Ring, his Qi Poison had grown even stronger!