That afternoon, in the backyard of the butcher shop.
"Boss, do you see this big, bright Yellow Soul Ring of mine?"
Qin Qi stood before the butcher and the others, showing off his Soul Ring as he raised his chin and spoke.
"A Soul Ring! You've already become a Spirit Master!"
"But aren't you only in your first year?"
"A genius! Our butcher shop has produced a genius!"
The others stared at Qin Qi's Soul Ring in utter amazement, even though none of them were Spirit Masters.
Still, they knew a thing or two about Spirit Masters. To obtain a Soul Ring at such a young age meant his future was bound to be limitless!
"Lord Soul Master, why are you showing us your Soul Ring?"
The butcher looked at Qin Qi, his expression somewhat grave. He wondered if Qin Qi had shown off his Soul Ring to throw his weight around.
"What am I going to do? I'm going to slaughter pigs!"
"Before, I wasn't a Spirit Master, so you treated me like an errand boy. Now I'm a Spirit Master, and I'm going to slaughter pigs!"
Qin Qi spoke up. If he kept working like normal, he figured it would be a long time before he got to slaughter a pig.
But now things were different. He was a Spirit Master, so he could slaughter pigs!
"Uh..."
The butcher and the others exchanged glances. Their eyes held confusion, puzzlement, and a hint of helplessness.
"This kid... what a good kid!"
"After becoming a Spirit Master, his first thought was to throw his weight around. But all he wanted was to go from being an errand boy to slaughtering pigs."
"I can't even tell whether that's good or bad."
The butcher and the others couldn't help laughing and crying at the same time. He'd become a Spirit Master, yet he was still fixated on slaughtering pigs. What an honest country boy.
"Lord Soul Master, slaughtering pigs isn't easy. Becoming a Spirit Master doesn't mean you know how to do it."
"It takes years of practice."
The butcher looked at Qin Qi and spoke.
"That's all right. Hold this pig down, and I'll show you what I can do."
Qin Qi pointed at the pig they had just brought over and spoke.
"This..."
The helpers looked to the butcher, their eyes asking what they should do.
"If Lord Soul Master says so, then get to it, boys."
The butcher shook his head. He figured Qin Qi had simply thought it looked fun and wanted to give it a try.
Once he got his hands on the pig, he'd realize how troublesome it was and give up.
"Lord Soul Master, here's a knife for you."
The butcher held out the pointed knife they used for bleeding pigs and spoke.
"No need. I'll use my Pig-Slaughtering Knife."
Qin Qi drew the Pig-Slaughtering Knife the butcher had given him from his waist, then walked over to the pig.
"Sigh."
The butcher sighed. Bleeding a pig was all about being fast, accurate, and ruthless. A broad-backed Pig-Slaughtering Knife simply wasn't suited to doing it that way.
"Hold it down, you guys."
The butcher spoke to the helpers. If Qin Qi failed to kill the pig with one stab, it would be wounded and start thrashing wildly.
"Got it."
The helpers braced themselves and held the pig down with all their might.
"All right, let's begin."
The butcher watched the Pig-Slaughtering Knife in Qin Qi's hand, then suddenly thought of something.
"Where was that knife just now? How come I didn't see it at all?"
The butcher froze for a moment. He'd watched Qin Qi draw the knife from his waist, but when he looked at Qin Qi's waist now, there was no sign of anywhere he could have hidden something.
"Pfft!"
Qin Qi activated Transparent World. The pig became transparent to his senses. Tightening his grip on the Pig-Slaughtering Knife, he stabbed into its body at lightning speed and severed its heart.
His movements were so fast that no one around him had time to react—not even the pig.
By the time everyone came to their senses, the pig was already dead, and its still-warm blood was flowing out.
"So fast!"
"Clean and sharp! Even cleaner and sharper than Butcher Bro!"
"The pig didn't even react—it didn't have time to struggle!"
When the helpers came around, they stared at Qin Qi, unconcealed shock in their eyes.
"One strike, one kill!"
The butcher looked at Qin Qi, even more astonished than before. He'd slaughtered pigs his whole life.
Never had he seen knife work so clean and sharp!
"All right. Once it's finished bleeding, we'll move on to the next steps."
Qin Qi glanced at the progress for Eighteen Pig-Slaughtering Styles on the Proficiency Panel, focusing his attention on it.
After the percentage, decimal places began to appear. They kept extending further and further until Qin Qi finally saw a change.
After going through the entire pig-slaughtering process just now, his proficiency had increased a little.
"Yes!"
At Qin Qi's words, the others hurried to help. Once they'd finished tasks like scraping off the bristles and gutting the pig, it was time to butcher the meat.
Holding the Pig-Slaughtering Knife, Qin Qi could clearly sense every muscle fiber in the pig's body through Transparent World.
He followed the grain as he cut, his blade gliding like flowing water and finishing in one smooth motion!
"So smooth!"
"It's downright satisfying to watch!"
"This knife work... even my dad couldn't match this kid!"
Watching Qin Qi slaughter the pig felt like watching an artistic performance. The fluidity of his movements was a pleasure to behold.
It was just like watching a satisfying video—such smoothness was incredibly soothing!
Once the pig had been butchered, Qin Qi wiped the Pig-Slaughtering Knife clean, then flicked his hand and put it away.
"Boss, how was that? Not bad, right?"
Qin Qi asked with a smile.
"Not bad? It was great!"
The butcher couldn't help giving Qin Qi a thumbs-up.
"From now on, you can help slaughter pigs."
"Your monthly wage will go up to one Silver Spirit Coin, and you'll get an extra bonus for every pig you slaughter!"
After praising Qin Qi, the butcher offered him a new deal. It wasn't a huge amount, but it was a good bit more than before.
"Thanks, boss."
Qin Qi smiled. The pay wasn't much, but his main reason for slaughtering pigs here was to train his Observation Method and precision.
He also wanted to get used to the feeling of taking a life, so he could remain calm while killing. Making money was the least of his concerns.
That afternoon, Grandmaster took Tang San to Soul Hunting Forest to hunt for a Spirit Ring.
Grandmaster showed the guards his token and took the opportunity to explain to Tang San how precious it was.
Once they entered Soul Hunting Forest, Grandmaster summoned his Martial Soul, Luo Sanpao.
"Teacher, is this your Martial Soul? But shouldn't a Beast Martial Soul possess its user?"
Although Tang San had seen Luo Sanpao before, he pretended it was his first time seeing it.
At the same time, he asked the question that had been on his mind.
"My Martial Soul is a Mutated Martial Soul. It simply mutated in a bad direction."
"When it awakened, my Innate Soul Power was only half a level. Otherwise, how could I have ended up like this?"
"No matter how hard I work, my Soul Power will never break through level thirty in this lifetime. So all I can do is study Martial Soul Theory."
A bitter smile tugged at Grandmaster's lips as he secretly watched Tang San's reaction.
"I'm sorry, Teacher. I brought up something painful."
Tang San was displeased by Yu Xiaogang's habit of blaming all his problems on his Martial Soul.
He was always saying, "There are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Spirit Masters," yet now every other sentence blamed his own Martial Soul for being useless.
Although he was unhappy, Tang San said nothing. He lowered his head, hiding his feelings, and spoke.
"Mm... It's all right. I've gotten used to it."
Grandmaster said, "All right, let's not talk about that. I'll take you to hunt for a Spirit Ring."
"Yes, Teacher."
Tang San replied.
The two searched around Soul Hunting Forest for a while, then found a Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo!