A faint ripple of Soul Power spread out, and several blue-black Blue Silver Grass blades sprouted from Tang San's palm, twisting and coiling like sickly venomous snakes.
Immediately afterward, a yellow Spirit Ring marked with obvious dull white spots slowly rose from beneath his feet.
Sensing the pressure of the Spirit Ring, the crowd that had been roaring with laughter instantly fell silent. They had not expected this sickly-looking fellow to be a First-Ring Spirit Master, and at such a young age.
Quite a few people exchanged glances, unable to stop themselves from wondering whether Yu Xiaogang had actually been right.
This was also Bai Shu's first time seeing Tang San release his martial spirit, and he wore the same look of surprise.
But what surprised him was not Tang San's level, but why Tang San's martial spirit had become such a freakish mess?!
And that strange Spirit Ring—was that thing really a Hundred-Year Spirit Ring?
In an instant, Bai Shu formed a guess.
The Blue Silver Emperor could not be so easily contaminated by poison. The only possibility was that something had gone wrong with Tang San's Blue Silver Emperor bloodline.
Thinking of what he had done in the forest the night before, Bai Shu immediately understood.
His killing of Ah Yin must have caused a problem at the source of Tang San's bloodline, thereby affecting the quality of his martial spirit.
The backlash from his bloodline, combined with forcibly absorbing a Poison Attribute Spirit Ring, had caused an extremely severe malignant mutation in his martial spirit!
So Tang San was already half-crippled?
That really was an unexpected delight.
Having figured out the key, the smile on Bai Shu's lips became even more unrestrained. Since the other party had practically offered up his face to be slapped, there was naturally no reason for him to go easy on Tang San.
"What? A mere piece of trash grass that has undergone a malignant mutation, and you dare use it as proof that your teacher's theory succeeded?"
Bai Shu's mocking voice rang through the entire hall. The next moment, he slowly extended his right hand.
"Today, I'll be merciful enough to teach you what a true plant-type martial spirit is!"
"Bzzz—!!!"
An incomparably pure aura of life spread from Bai Shu, instantly sweeping through the entire cafeteria.
A Green Lotus shrouded in hazy mist bloomed proudly in his palm.
As azure radiance flowed around it, the entire cafeteria seemed to welcome a vibrant spring in an instant. Even the air was purified, filled with a faint fragrance of grass and wood.
Many of the watching students instinctively took a deep breath of that fragrance, feeling every pore on their bodies open as though their bodies had become lighter.
Before everyone could recover from their shock, a flawless, pure bright-yellow Spirit Ring, carrying the pressure unique to a Spirit Master, slowly rose from beneath Bai Shu's feet!
At the same time, because of the appearance of the Chaos Green Lotus, the blue-black Blue Silver Grass that had been baring its fangs and brandishing its claws in Tang San's hand instantly withered to the extreme!
Its leaves trembled as they clung tightly to Tang San's palm, as though they had seen their sovereign and were bowing in worship. No matter how Tang San sweated and urged his Soul Power, it was useless.
Although the suppression caused by martial spirit quality was not as absolute as it was between Spirit Beasts, Bai Shu's martial spirit contained a trace of the Blue Silver Emperor's aura. That aura left even Tang San momentarily dazed.
For one brief moment, Tang San felt as though Bai Shu was his real father.
With nothing more than the release of their martial spirits, everyone understood the gap between them.
The cafeteria fell into a deathly silence. One could have heard a pin drop.
The silence did not last long before some quick-witted people caught on.
One of them, a well-built youth dressed in noble attire, even shouted loudly.
"Damn Yu Xiaogang! He actually dared to publicly spread such false claims that mislead students, and even maliciously mislead the academy's genius students right in front of me! He clearly has no respect for me, Xiao Chenyu!"
"Someone, beat him up for me! If anything happens, this young master will take responsibility!"
It had to be said that Xiao Chenyu had a reason for being the leader. His method of winning people over was somewhat childish, but for a child, it was already quite good.
The lackeys around him who usually obeyed Xiao Chenyu's every word instantly came back to their senses. A few sharper ones immediately understood their boss's meaning. Without another word, they grabbed the leftover dishes from nearby tables and rushed forward with strange cries.
As for the others, seeing so many people charging in and feeling that Xiao Chenyu had a point, they joined in on beating the dog when it was down.
"Beat that theory fraud to death!"
Yu Xiaogang and Tang San's faces instantly turned pale. Both of them were seriously injured right now. How could they possibly stand against so many people? If they got surrounded, even one hit from each person could cripple them alive!
"Teacher, run!"
The master and disciple did not hesitate in the slightest. They turned and ran.
Tang San was doing all right. Relying on Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to dodge several flying dishes, he instantly opened up a gap between himself and the crowd.
But Yu Xiaogang was in for misery.
Though he was nominally a level-29 Soul Grandmaster, he had spent most of his life in comfort and had almost no real combat experience.
Faced with all kinds of leftovers flying through the air, he froze on the spot in terror.
By the time he finally came to his senses and tried to run, he could no longer avoid the dishes raining down from above.
Meat soup, vegetable leaves, and white rice porridge struck Yu Xiaogang from head to toe like raindrops, changing his entire appearance in the blink of an eye.
Tang San, who had already escaped some distance away, saw that his teacher had yet to follow. His expression changed, and he hurriedly ran back. Covering his nose and mouth with his clothes, he grabbed the filthy and bedraggled Yu Xiaogang and dragged him outside.
Otherwise, Yu Xiaogang might have been fed full on leftovers in the cafeteria today.
Bai Shu stood quietly where he was and did not stop the two from fleeing in disgrace. First, he had not wanted to fight in the first place. Second, with them covered in leftovers, he had nowhere to lay a hand on them.
After Yu Xiaogang and Tang San fled like beaten dogs, the cafeteria erupted in victorious cheers.
Then, a group of students gathered around Bai Shu, led by Xiao Chenyu.
"Hello, classmate. You're Bai Shu, right? I'm Xiao Chenyu from the sixth grade."
Bai Shu would not slap a smiling face. Though the other party's actions just now had not been entirely pure in intent, they had indeed been satisfying to watch.
So Bai Shu also extended his hand and smiled faintly. "Hello. I'm Bai Shu, a Work-Study Student who enrolled this year."
"A... a Work-Study Student?!"
Hearing Bai Shu's words, Xiao Chenyu's smile instantly stiffened. He had never expected a genius Spirit Master with a Hundred-Year Spirit Ring to be a Work-Study Student.
If he remembered correctly, he seemed to have arranged a fight with the Work-Study Students at noon today.
Thinking of that, Xiao Chenyu could not help but shudder and silently decided to make peace with Wang Sheng later.
However, Xiao Chenyu's father was the city lord, and he had spent many years learning at his father's side. Thus, he quickly concealed his surprise.
"Brother Bai, you look like you came here for breakfast too, right? I haven't eaten either. This first floor was just dirtied by those two unlucky bastards. How about we go to the second floor? My treat. We can eat and talk at the same time. What do you say?"
Bai Shu looked at the grain of rice at the corner of Xiao Chenyu's mouth. His lips parted slightly, but he ultimately agreed.
Thus, the two left the messy first floor and headed to the second floor to eat.
Bai Shu enjoyed this meal quite a bit, mainly because it was free, and it was the most expensive meal he had eaten since crossing over.
Through his conversation with Xiao Chenyu, Bai Shu also learned quite a bit of common knowledge about Spirit Masters and gained a better understanding of nobles.
That was also one of the reasons Bai Shu had agreed to eat with Xiao Chenyu.
Before you continue