The Soul Hunting Expedition

Elsewhere.

After leaving the Academic Affairs Office, Master Yu Xiaogang returned to his residence.

He sat down cross-legged and took out the Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma Tang Ling had given him from his soul tool. A violet-gold radiance bloomed from it, and its rich medicinal fragrance made the wild grass around the house grow wildly by several inches.

Yu Xiaogang took a deep breath and placed the ganoderma in his mouth. A faint purple glow spread across his entire body. A warm, vast surge of energy erupted from his dantian and rushed through his meridians to every part of his body. The level-thirty bottleneck that had trapped him for most of his life was as fragile as thin ice before that energy, shattering with a crack.

Yu Xiaogang opened his eyes, a sharp light blazing within them. He seemed to have become ten years younger.

He looked down at his hands, feeling the unprecedented abundance of power within his body, and his eyes reddened slightly.

I never expected that the thing I had longed for all this time would be achieved today.

It seems I had still underestimated external aid. The bottleneck that had existed for decades has broken through. My soul power has reached level thirty as well.

Level thirty. I did it.

Thirty years of ridicule, thirty years of cold stares, thirty years branded as "trash"—from this day onward, they will all be in the past.

That very day, after completing his breakthrough, Yu Xiaogang went to find Tang San.

Tang San needed only one glance to notice the change in his teacher.

"Teacher, you..." Tang San's eyes lit up.

Yu Xiaogang smiled faintly without offering much explanation. He merely patted Tang San's shoulder. "Tomorrow, you'll leave the academy with me. I'll take you to find a suitable soul ring and advance you to the rank of Soul Master."

Tang San was overjoyed at this. The Mysterious Heaven Skill within him had long reached a bottleneck, yet he had been unable to break through. The Master's arrangement suited him perfectly, and he immediately agreed without hesitation.

"Teacher, what kind of soul ring should I choose?" Tang San asked.

Yu Xiaogang pondered for a moment, his gaze settling on Tang San. "Your Blue Silver Grass martial soul is best suited for the control path. Control-type Soul Masters do not excel at direct attacks, but they can control the entire battlefield in combat.

"Your soul ring selection should focus on two aspects. The first is toughness, and the second is poison."

He paused before continuing his explanation. "As your soul power increases, your martial soul itself will grow stronger as well. Once you infuse more soul power into Blue Silver Grass, it will naturally become far tougher than ordinary Blue Silver Grass in nature.

"If it is further enhanced by a soul ring, trapping enemies will not be difficult. And if the Blue Silver Grass carries poison, it can inflict continuous damage while controlling the enemy—both offense and defense in one."

Tang San felt suddenly enlightened.

Restraining enemies and inflicting poison. If he could truly achieve that, then the targets for his hidden weapons would no longer be moving targets, but stationary ones. Just imagine it: an enemy bound firmly in place by tough Blue Silver Grass, poison constantly draining their stamina and soul power, while he merely needed to calmly aim for a vital point and kill with a single strike.

Of course, the prerequisite for all this was first figuring out the connection between soul power, soul rings, and the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

After all, his so-called innate full soul power had actually come from cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill, not from his martial soul awakening.

When Tang San returned to Seventh Dormitory, Xiao Wu was sitting cross-legged on her bed, resting her chin in her hands as she watched him.

Tang San walked to her bedside and lowered his voice. "Great-aunt, I may be going out tomorrow. I don't know how long it'll take before I return, so I wanted to let you know in advance."

"Going out? Where?" Xiao Wu asked curiously.

"Teacher is taking me to find a suitable soul beast and obtain my first soul ring."

Xiao Wu's eyes rolled as she considered it. Suddenly, she jumped off the bed, clasped her hands behind her back, and smiled at him. "Perfect. This great-aunt has been bored out of her mind too. I'll go with you tomorrow."

Tang San's expression changed. "This..."

"What do you mean, 'this'?" Xiao Wu glared. "You got a problem with that?"

Countless scenes of Xiao Wu sitting on top of him and beating him up over the past three months flashed through Tang San's mind. The words "I have a problem" circled in his throat three times before he finally forced them back down.

"...No. If Great-aunt wants to go, then we'll go together."

Xiao Wu nodded in satisfaction, rose onto her tiptoes, and patted his head. "Good boy."

Early the next morning, while most of Notting Academy's teachers and students were still asleep, the three had already walked out through the academy gates.

Yu Xiaogang had changed into a neat set of fitted clothes that day, making him appear especially spirited.

Tang San walked at his side, while Xiao Wu skipped along behind them, her scorpion braid swaying back and forth in the morning light.

"Teacher, where are we going to find soul beasts?" Tang San asked.

"Four hundred li northeast of Notting City—the Hunting Soul Forest," Yu Xiaogang said as they walked. "It is a place where the Empire raises soul beasts. There are many kinds inside, and their ages are manageable. We'll definitely find one that suits you."

Tang San's heart stirred. "Teacher, can you tell me about soul beasts?"

Yu Xiaogang nodded. This was precisely the field in which he excelled most, and what he was most willing to teach without reservation.

He organized his thoughts before speaking slowly. "Soul beasts are wild beasts that possess soul power. The longer they have existed, the stronger they are. Generally speaking, soul beasts are divided into five levels according to their cultivation age: ten-year soul beasts, hundred-year soul beasts, thousand-year soul beasts, ten-thousand-year soul beasts, and the legendary hundred-thousand-year soul beasts.

"The colors of the soul rings they produce after death also differ according to their age. Ten-year soul rings are white, hundred-year soul rings are yellow, thousand-year soul rings are purple, ten-thousand-year soul rings are black, while hundred-thousand-year soul rings are red."

He paused, allowing Tang San time to absorb the information before continuing. "Most of the soul beasts raised by the Empire in the Hunting Soul Forest are ten-year or hundred-year soul beasts. Thousand-year soul beasts are rarely seen there. It is just right for you."

"Then are there any particular rules for absorbing soul rings?" Tang San asked further.

"Of course." Yu Xiaogang's expression became more serious. "First, only a soul beast personally killed by you will produce a soul ring that you can absorb. Second, soul rings exist for only a very short time. If they are not attached within one shichen, they will dissipate on their own. Third—and this is the most crucial point—when absorbing a soul ring, no external force can assist you. You can only rely on yourself. If the age of the soul ring you absorb exceeds your limit, your meridians may be damaged in mild cases, or you may explode and die in severe cases."

Tang San committed every point to memory.

After the Master took Tang San and Xiao Wu to purchase supplies, they hired a carriage within the city.

Tang San sat in the carriage and lifted the curtain, watching the bustling crowds and rows upon rows of shops outside. He could not help but feel a growing yearning for the world beyond.

"Xiao San, this is for you." The Master's calm voice pulled him back from his thoughts.

Tang San turned his head and found that, at some point, the Master had produced a belt in his hand.

The entire belt was strung together from warm, lustrous jade. Every piece had been polished to a smooth sheen, and faint fluctuations of soul power flowed within them.

"This belt has been with me for many years, and it has also remained buried in obscurity for many years." The Master handed the belt to Tang San, a trace of complicated emotion flashing through his eyes.

"I hope that one day, it will shine with the brilliance it deserves in your hands. It is a top-grade storage soul tool. You only need to infuse it with soul power, and each piece of jade can provide one cubic meter of storage space."

Tang San accepted the belt with both hands and solemnly thanked him.

Four hundred li was neither particularly far nor particularly near.

The carriage jolted along the entire way, and it was not until noon the next day that they finally arrived at their destination.