Martial Soul Forest, a Little Rumor

Ye Xunhuan looked flattered and replied respectfully, "Thank you for your favor, Your Holiness. I will not disappoint you."

His words were conventional enough, but his tone was sincere.

Yue Guan glanced at him, and the smile on his lips deepened slightly, apparently quite satisfied with the answer.

Tilting his head slightly, Yue Guan smiled at Xu Qingqing.

"Little girl, is your martial soul the Star Crown?"

Caught off guard by being called out so suddenly, Xu Qingqing jumped in fright and hurriedly nodded.

Yue Guan spoke gently. "Don't be nervous. Those old fellows of the Xu family have a fairly good relationship with Spirit Hall. His Holiness did not mention you, but one more or one less makes no difference. Come hunt Spirit Rings with us."

He raised his handsome chin.

Yes, handsome. Ye Xunhuan had to admit that this man's features were exquisitely beautiful, his lines so smooth they seemed to have been measured with a ruler.

"Let's leave now. The carriage is ready. There is only one week left before the Champion Selection begins, so the sooner we go and return, the better. You still need a few days to get used to each other."

"Yes! Thank you, Elder Yue." The two answered in unison.

A carriage bearing the angel banner sped along the roads of Martial Soul City.

The angel banner was the emblem of Spirit Hall. The golden totem of the Six-Winged Angel was embroidered upon the dark purple flag, snapping loudly in the wind.

Pedestrians had to move aside the moment they saw it from afar, and even merchant caravans hurriedly led their carriages off to the side.

The inside of the carriage was more spacious than Ye Xunhuan had imagined.

There were cushioned seats, a small tea table, and even a plate of pastries.

The moment Xu Qingqing boarded, she grabbed the pastries and started munching away, her mouth never stopping.

Ye Xunhuan lifted one corner of the carriage curtain, and the scenery outside rushed past.

Streets, pedestrians, shops, city walls—all blurred into streaks of color.

This carriage was at least twice as fast as an ordinary one.

Ye Xunhuan had seen them when he boarded. The carriage was pulled by two pitch-black Centennial Wind-Chasing Horses. These horse-type soul beasts generally could not use soul skills, but their iron hooves were incredibly swift.

After watching for a while, Ye Xunhuan asked curiously, "Elder Yue, where are we going?"

"To the Martial Soul Forest." Yue Guan reclined against the cushion, his voice lazy. "You two little ones do not need high-year Spirit Rings yet. The Martial Soul Forest is the closest, and it has a wide variety of soul beasts. If all goes well, we'll be there in another two hours."

Martial Soul Forest.

Ye Xunhuan nodded.

The Martial Soul Forest was a high-level soul beast forest under Spirit Hall's jurisdiction.

Its defining feature was its complete range of soul beasts. It had every kind of attribute, and one could generally find whatever type one wanted.

Its weakness was that the soul beasts' cultivation levels left something to be desired. There were fewer than five soul beasts over thirty thousand years old, while fifty-thousand-year-old ones were practically extinct.

Thus, most students from Spirit Hall Academy trained there in the original story.

After all, as long as the soul beasts were under thirty thousand years old and did not possess exceptionally powerful bloodlines, teachers at the Spirit Saint or Soul Douluo level could handle them. Safety was guaranteed.

For Ye Xunhuan and Xu Qingqing, the Martial Soul Forest was more than sufficient.

They were only level twenty. Given Xu Qingqing's physical strength, eight hundred years was already her limit, while Ye Xunhuan did not expect his second Spirit Ring to exceed five thousand years either.

After that question, the three of them began chatting more freely.

After finishing two pastries, Xu Qingqing wiped her mouth with her sleeve. Then she suddenly looked up at Yue Guan, her eyes full of curiosity.

"Elder Yue, I heard your martial soul is the Strange Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum? Is a martial soul at the level of an immortal herb powerful?"

Yue Guan smiled and nodded, pride evident in his voice.

"Of course. As a martial soul, the Strange Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum's innate quality is already no inferior to the inherited martial souls of the Upper Three Sects."

Xu Qingqing was slightly surprised, but she quickly understood. Among the Upper Three Sects, even extraordinarily talented geniuses usually only reached the rank of Titled Douluo after spending most of their lives cultivating. Only powerhouses with the status of sect masters or sect-protecting Douluo were close to Yue Guan's level.

By that calculation, it was indeed beyond dispute that the Strange Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum belonged in the same tier as them.

Ye Xunhuan nodded inwardly as well.

The Strange Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum was an immortal-grade herb, one of the tiny handful at the very top of the plant-type martial soul hierarchy.

Only the king of flowers, Lovesick Heartbroken Red, or an unnatural immortal herb like Thunderclap Hellvine could surpass it.

Others, such as Star Anise Ice Grass, Inferno Delicate Apricot, and the Blue Silver King, could at most be considered its equals.

Yet as he listened to Xu Qingqing's praise, a trace of loneliness flashed through Yue Guan's eyes.

"It is just a pity."

Yue Guan's voice softened, as though he were speaking to them, yet also talking to himself.

"My Strange Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum awakened acquired rather than innate. Reaching level ninety-five has nearly exhausted all my potential. Unless I encounter another special opportunity, it will be difficult for me to advance any further."

Acquired awakening.

Those four words gave Ye Xunhuan some ideas.

Martial soul awakenings were divided into two types: innate and acquired.

An innately awakened martial soul took shape from birth. Its quality was stable, and its upper limit was high.

An acquired martial soul, on the other hand, came from a mutation or a second awakening later in life. Though its quality could still be high, its foundation was often less solid than that of an innate martial soul, making it prone to bottlenecks in the later stages of cultivation.

Yue Guan's Strange Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum had awakened acquired. That meant his martial soul had originally been something ordinary before later transforming into an immortal-grade one.

Ye Xunhuan recalled a widely circulated claim from the internet in his previous life.

It said that Yue Guan's martial soul had originally been nothing more than an ordinary chrysanthemum.

That was right, the kind of little yellow chrysanthemum commonly found by the roadside.

On Douluo Continent, plant-type martial souls were already at a disadvantage. Having an ordinary chrysanthemum as one's martial soul was practically the same as having no martial soul at all.

In the small mountain village where Yue Guan had been born, the result was obvious when a little boy awakened a chrysanthemum martial soul.

He had been mocked often enough by the other children.

"Girly boy."

"Little chrysanthemum."

"What use is soul power when your martial soul is a chrysanthemum? It can't even hit anyone."

And that widely circulated claim went like this.

Yue Guan had an older sister. She was not a soul master, merely an ordinary farm girl.

But she had protected him since childhood. Whenever someone insulted Yue Guan, she fought them desperately. If her fists were not enough, she bit them. If she could not bite them, she picked up stones and threw them.

Until one day, several older children came to bully Yue Guan again. His sister rushed over to protect him, was shoved, and struck the back of her head against the edge of a rock.

She could not be saved.

His sister's death triggered the chrysanthemum martial soul's second awakening.

Overnight, the ordinary chrysanthemum transformed into the Strange Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum. Its quality leaped several levels, changing from roadside weeds into an immortal-grade herb.

The price had been a life.

It was said that after his sister's death, Yue Guan, whose personality had already been reserved, began wearing women's makeup.

Perhaps whenever Yue Guan saw his feminized appearance in the mirror, he remembered his sister.

If that story was true, then Yue Guan was a pitiable person as well.

Ye Xunhuan sighed inwardly and glanced at Yue Guan again.

Golden hair draped over his shoulders. His features were exquisite, a smile rested at the corner of his lips, and he wore an air of calm indifference.