The Tang Sect's Future-Only You Know

Gu Mingyuan brushed the dirt off himself as the memories of his original body gradually fell into place.

Body martial soul: bone.

With the slightest guidance, this unusual body martial soul could take on a sinister aura. Its owner was a natural candidate to become an Evil Soul Master. That was exactly why the Holy Spirit Cult had taken an interest in him, raising him as a pawn to infiltrate Shrek Academy.

He reached for the Storage Soul Tool at his waist and took out a neatly folded letter.

A letter of recommendation to Shrek Academy.

A Soul Emperor from the Evil Soul Masters had originally accompanied him to the Star Dou Great Forest. Ostensibly a guard, the man was really there to watch him. As luck would have it, the Shrek Supervisory Group had killed the man two days ago. That was why the original Gu Mingyuan had come to hunt a Soul Ring alone, only to be killed by his prey.

Gu Mingyuan tucked the letter into his clothes. With the man dead, his connection to the Holy Spirit Cult had been severed. He was completely free.

He raised his left hand and looked at the back of it.

A dark purple demonic mark slowly emerged there, like a totem woven from thorns. Then a burning sensation spread from the mark.

Rrrip!

A tear opened in the air half a meter to his left, and a hilt covered in dark scales protruded from it.

Gu Mingyuan instinctively grabbed it.

It was heavy.

He put his whole body into the pull. With his first martial soul evolved into the Golden Jade Body, his physical abilities had improved enormously, and he wrenched the entire weapon out of the void.

It was a vicious-looking scythe. Its blade was a dull blackish red, and a blood-red eyeball the size of a fist was set into the very end of its long shaft.

The eyeball spun wildly, its pupil darting about with restless urgency. The moment it turned toward Gu Mingyuan and met his gaze, it froze. Then it settled down obediently, even seeming a little submissive.

Information about the scythe surfaced in his mind.

[Demon's Contract] Basic contract: [Sin-Cleaving Scythe]

Effect [Evil Severing]: The more crimes and evil deeds the target has committed, the more damage the scythe deals.

Gu Mingyuan rubbed his brow. Fighting the sensation of his mental strength being drained by summoning a martial soul for the first time, he drew the enormous scythe—taller than he was—back into his body.

"The more crimes someone's committed, the stronger it gets?" Gu Mingyuan considered the trait. "Isn't that the Holy Spirit Cult's natural enemy?"

He had taken the cult's resources and awakened a martial soul made to kill its members.

Gu Mingyuan glanced in the direction the Nine-Hundred-Year Bone-Shaking Ape had gone. The beast would, admittedly, be an excellent match for his second Soul Ring.

But he held back.

The system had just told him Huo Yuhao was on his way to the Star Dou Great Forest. Gu Mingyuan could pass up that giant worm, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, but he had to at least try for Electrolux's remnant soul.

As for a Soul Ring?

Gu Mingyuan felt the letter of recommendation inside his clothes, got his bearings, and hurried toward the forest's edge.

"By my reckoning, Tang Ya and Bei Bei should be nearby. We're about to be classmates at Shrek Academy. It's only reasonable for my seniors to help their new junior get a Soul Ring, right?"

At the southern edge of the Star Dou Great Forest, beside a stream.

"Yu Xiaogang!"

Huo Yuhao forgot all about resting and cried out haltingly in his mind. "You... you're that legendary master from Shrek Academy? Sea God Tang San's teacher!"

In the Sea of Spirit, a melancholy remnant soul with close-cropped hair clasped his hands behind his back. His tone held an arrogance that suggested the answer was obvious. "Indeed. I am that very master."

He surveyed Huo Yuhao's Sea of Spirit and offered an approving assessment. "Your mental strength seems quite sharp, and your Soul Power happens to be stuck at level ten. I suppose you have Innate Full Soul Power and Twin Martial Souls? You just barely qualify for my personal guidance."

But Huo Yuhao's face turned scarlet. He could hardly bring himself to admit his real age. "M-Master..."

Huo Yuhao swallowed, his voice growing quieter. "I... I'm eleven years old. And I don't have Twin Martial Souls. I only have Spirit Eyes..."

Yu Xiaogang seemed to freeze inside the Sea of Spirit.

"Eleven? And only level ten?"

Yu Xiaogang's voice shot up, and his bearing as a God-Teacher vanished. He had sensed only the Soul Power in this body. How was he supposed to know the boy's bones were already eleven years old?

Only level ten at eleven. What was that if not a failure?

"To think I was fooled by you!" Yu Xiaogang snapped. "With mental strength that sharp, I thought you were some once-in-ten-thousand-years prodigy!"

Yu Xiaogang's patience ran out at once. He had a clear goal for his second life: raise another god, one who absolutely would not turn out ungrateful and would take him to the Divine Realm. In this life, only a genius with Innate Full Soul Power deserved to be Yu Xiaogang's student.

A good-for-nothing who had only reached his first Soul Ring at eleven was a waste of his time.

"Forget it!"

Yu Xiaogang snorted and turned to abandon this Sea of Spirit.

But after taking barely half a step, his soul suddenly turned translucent. Weakness swept through him, as though he were about to dissipate.

Yu Xiaogang stopped at once.

He understood now. He was only a remnant soul. Without this body to sustain him, his soul would scatter in less than ten seconds.

He could not leave.

He was bound to this good-for-nothing.

An awkward silence fell inside and outside the Sea of Spirit. Huo Yuhao lowered his head and said nothing.

A few seconds later, Yu Xiaogang slowly turned back. He clasped his hands behind him again and coughed to cover his embarrassment.

"Ahem... no matter."

Yu Xiaogang's voice returned to its infuriatingly self-important tone, as if he had never shown any disdain.

"I was merely testing your character," Yu Xiaogang said, scrambling to justify himself. "Remember, with my guidance, you will one day come to understand a simple truth."

Huo Yuhao looked up, a glimmer of hope returning to his eyes.

"There are no useless martial souls, only useless Soul Masters!"

Elsewhere, Gu Mingyuan was lying in wait by a wooden sign outside the forest. Whenever Huo Yuhao arrived, he would have to pass this sign marking fifty kilometers to the forest.

With time to spare, Gu Mingyuan began studying the [Tang Sect Secrets ProMax].

[Tang Sect Secrets ProMax]: The Tang Sect built its reputation on poison and Hidden Weapons and carried out countless assassinations. As a result, it accumulated a vast collection of martial arts from other sects. Tang Da, the Tang Sect's 777th leader, spent fifteen years combining those arts to create an entirely new set of Tang Sect secrets.

[Golden Jade Hand]: Incorporates the Golden Silkworm Silk Hand of Miaojiang to produce golden markings that seal meridians. The more markings, the stronger the sealing effect.

[Purple Emperor Eyes]: Combines Heavenly Eye Art and Heavenly Eye Vision, allowing the user to break down an opponent's movements through enhanced dynamic vision, making them appear slower. Legend says that after surpassing the Vastness Realm, the user can develop a third eye.

[Heavenly Craft Compendium]: Refines Mohist Mechanisms and optimizes the application of force, increasing power by thirty percent while reducing energy consumption by thirty percent.

Effect [Internal Energy Condensation]: The user can form weapons directly from internal energy. After being launched, they gradually dissipate.

...

[Mysterious Heaven Skill]: Remains the original Mysterious Heaven Skill.

[With only so much one man could accomplish, Sect Leader Tang Da left these words for those who came after him: "The Tang Sect's future—only you know."]