Nighttime Debate: Blue Silver Grass!

Yun Tian twisted and flung his wrist, sending Tang San flying backward like a tossed rag doll. His back slammed heavily into the wall with a dull boom.

His feet skidded across the ground for a long distance before he barely managed to steady himself, but before he could adjust his balance, that tiger-headed armor was already before him, close enough to touch, its oppressive presence like a collapsing mountain.

One punch.

Yun Tian's right fist thrust forward evenly, plain and unadorned, striking the crossed arms Tang San had hastily raised to block.

Tang San felt as if an ancient towering tree had crashed head-on into his chest.

Both his arms went numb in an instant, and his entire body was sent flying off the ground again, his back crashing into the wall for the second time.

This blow was even heavier. The wall trembled slightly, and fine cracks spread outward from the point of impact.

He slid down to the floor and dropped to one knee, his arms still tingling. He opened his mouth to speak, but only coughed out a breath of stale air.

The Blue Silver Grass had long since withdrawn into his body, while his hidden weapons lay scattered at his feet.

The gap.

A gap clearer and more despairing than before.

He had not even touched the corner of his opponent's clothes.

Yun Tian stood where he was, then walked over step by step.

The armored feet struck the floor with dull thuds, each step seeming to land on Tang San's chest.

He stopped before Tang San and looked down at him from above. The tiger-eye patterns on his helmet glimmered faintly in the light.

"Convinced?"

Tang San lowered his head, his chest heaving violently. The pain in his back had brought a sheen of cold sweat to his forehead.

He opened his mouth, his voice hoarse. "I am."

Yun Tian dismissed the armor, and the earthy yellow light faded away to reveal his original face.

He bent down and extended a hand to Tang San, just as he had last time.

Tang San looked at that hand in silence for two seconds, then extended his still-trembling right hand and grasped it.

Yun Tian pulled him up and patted him on the shoulder, his tone returning to its usual casualness. "That four-hundred-year soul ring really did make you stronger. But if you want to beat me, get your soul power to Rank 20 first."

Tang San bit his lip and nodded.

He finally understood one thing: the power contained within Yun Tian's armor was on an entirely different level from his own.

It was simply not something an ordinary martial soul could explain.

"That armor of yours..." Tang San raised his head, choosing his words carefully. "What exactly is it?"

Yun Tian smiled faintly. "Earth Tiger Armor. It's my first soul skill. I was just lucky to get it."

Tang San did not ask any further questions.

He silently walked to his bed and sat down, lowering his head to look at the lingering red marks in his palm, his gaze calm yet complicated.

Though he had lost utterly, at least he now knew his direction. The control capabilities of Blue Silver Grass after being infused with poison were beginning to show results, and the coordination between his hidden weapons and movement techniques could be refined further.

As for the wall that was Yun Tian...

One day, he would break through it.

The night was deep, and the Seventh Dorm was silent.

Moonlight slanted in through the gaps in the window lattice, laying a narrow silver-white strip across the floor.

Wang Sheng's snores rose rhythmically from the corner. When Old Zhang turned over, he mumbled something in his sleep before quickly sinking back into a deep slumber.

Xiao Wu was curled up beneath her blanket, her breathing even and long. Her braid was scattered across the pillow, and a suspicious bit of drool still hung at the corner of her mouth.

Only two people in the entire dormitory were still awake.

Yun Tian sat cross-legged on the bed by the window, meditating with his eyes closed.

The power of the earth element within him flowed slowly in from beneath his feet like a thin stream, silently circulating through his meridians.

The Earth Tiger Armor's passive enhancement made his cultivation efficiency far surpass that of ordinary people. Even while meditating at night, his soul power steadily increased.

Two beds away, Tang San sat cross-legged in the same posture.

His palms faced upward, with Blue Silver Grass quietly floating between his hands, emitting a deep dark-green gleam beneath the moonlight.

The barbs along the edges of the grass blades flexed faintly as if breathing. The cold, poisonous aura drawn from the Mandala Snake soul ring lingered over the vines, blending into the night.

Yun Tian suddenly opened his eyes.

He turned his head toward Tang San and studied the Blue Silver Grass entwined around the other's palms for a while in the moonlight before slowly speaking. "Tang San, did your Blue Silver Grass absorb a poison-attributed beast soul ring?"

Tang San's eyelids trembled slightly. He opened his eyes and turned toward Yun Tian.

He nodded, an unconscious trace of pride entering his voice. "Yes. A Mandala Snake over four hundred years old. Teacher helped me choose it."

"Do you think that was a good choice?" Yun Tian suddenly asked.

Tang San froze, then frowned. "Why wouldn't it be? Blue Silver Grass is naturally weak, so it naturally needs to rely on powerful beast soul rings to strengthen itself. The Mandala Snake's poison attribute perfectly suits my combat style. Blue Silver Entanglement combined with poison can paralyze enemies, restrict their movements, and create opportunities for me to attack. My teacher's research in this area runs deep. He can't be wrong."

He spoke with certainty, his trust in Yu Xiaogang evident in every word.

Yun Tian secretly shook his head with a derisive laugh.

In the end, Yu Xiaogang's theory was merely rooted in the fixed notion that plant martial souls were too weak and had to rely on external power.

He had studied martial soul theory for half his life, yet had never escaped the framework that Blue Silver Grass was inherently a useless martial soul.

When asked to find a path for Blue Silver Grass, all he could think of was piling external things onto it.

Poison, parasitism, enhanced toughness—yet he had never considered what Blue Silver Grass itself was truly meant to be.

But Yun Tian gave nothing away, merely speaking in an even tone.

"Blue Silver Grass is everywhere. From village fields to the wilderness, from there to soul beast forests, you can see it wherever you go. What lets it survive in such harsh environments? Poison? Attack power? Tough vines?"

Tang San opened his mouth, wanting to say numbers, but the words reached his lips and suddenly felt wrong.

"Vitality."

Yun Tian did not wait for an answer and continued.

"The most fundamental thing about Blue Silver Grass is its tenacious vitality."

"The wind cannot snap it, fire cannot burn it away. Trample down one patch, and another grows back."

"You've infused it with poison and added barbs, and it does look much stronger now. But that's only the surface."

"Your Blue Silver Grass is still fragile within. When you encounter a truly powerful soul master, one slap can shatter all your vines. Your poison cannot seep in, and your entanglement cannot restrain them."

He paused, looking directly into Tang San's eyes. "Just like when you faced me. Your Blue Silver Entanglement couldn't bind my armor, and the poison couldn't penetrate my defenses. Then what use is your soul skill? How will you hurt me, defeat me, or even kill me?"

Tang San remained silent for a long time.

His fingers clenched the fabric over his knees, his knuckles turning faintly white.

The Blue Silver Grass slowly curled back into his palm, its dark-green glow dimming slightly, as though it had sensed its master's low spirits.

He had to admit that Yun Tian made sense.

Their exchange that afternoon had already proven everything.

His Blue Silver Entanglement had been useless before Yun Tian's armor. The poison had not even been able to corrode the surface of that layer of earth-element defense.

If he faced an even stronger opponent, his Blue Silver Grass would likely be shattered into fragments filling the air by a single burst of soul power before it even had the chance to entangle them.