Good thing I guided him, or Little San would have lost

Wang Sheng struggled to keep a straight face, afraid he might burst out laughing.

The Soul Ancestor dean stood beside the dormitory, the muscles at the corners of his mouth twitching.

He had no idea how he was supposed to praise this heaven-defying soul skill.

"Grandmaster, if it didn't inherit the Corrosive Swamp Venomfang Python's venom, what did the Blue Silver Grass martial soul inherit?"

After much hesitation, the Soul Ancestor dean finally asked.

A confident smile curled across Yu Xiaogang's lips. "Naturally, it inherited the Corrosive Swamp Venomfang Python's resilience!"

"According to the martial soul mimicry theory I developed, plant martial souls can also absorb soul rings from beast-type soul beasts!"

Yu Xiaogang looked excited. He had proven that his Ten Core Competencies were not merely theory, but truth!

"Xu Yuan, in all these years on the Douluo Continent, has no soul master ever absorbed a soul ring from a different category?"

Xiao Wu found that rather unbelievable. Human soul masters don't seem all that clever!

"..." Xu Yuan could not give her a definite answer.

He thought there probably had been some, just far too few.

Just as sea soul masters instinctively hunted soul beasts in the sea, land soul masters instinctively sought out land soul beasts.

That made it easier to obtain suitable soul skills!

Besides, absorbing soul rings of the same category was less likely to provoke rejection or conflict within a martial soul.

Considering that Yu Xiaogang was shameless enough to claim the maximum age limits of soul rings as part of his own martial soul theory research, Xu Yuan had his doubts.

He suspected Yu Xiaogang had only proposed this theory after seeing similar cases in the Spirit Hall Library.

"As expected of the Grandmaster, whose theories are unrivaled!"

The Soul Ancestor dean swallowed dryly and offered a stiff compliment.

If you needed resilience, why not find a Century-Old Lone Bamboo?

At least absorbing its soul ring wouldn't have turned Blue Silver Grass into this monstrosity.

But seeing Tang San's complete faith and Yu Xiaogang's utter confidence, he swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue.

Forget it. He's only a Blue Silver Grass soul master, after all.

Since he chose Yu Xiaogang as his teacher, let the two of them do as they please.

It's a trash martial soul anyway. There probably isn't any room left for it to get worse.

It's just a shame about that innate full soul power.

"Wang Sheng, you can attack first. Otherwise, once Little San uses his first soul skill, you won't have any chance to fight back!"

Yu Xiaogang looked down on Wang Sheng from the bottom of his heart. With level-two innate soul power, becoming a Soul Grandmaster was the most he could achieve in his lifetime.

Whereas he himself was the Grandmaster who would raise a mighty Titled Douluo!

Gulp!

Wang Sheng swallowed. "In that case, here I come!"

"First soul skill, Saber-Toothed Charge!"

Pale yellow soul power surged. Wang Sheng pushed off the ground, his speed abruptly increasing as he rushed straight ahead like a saber-toothed tiger racing on the wind!

"Little San, use your first soul skill and trip him!"

Unconcerned, Yu Xiaogang instructed Tang San to unleash his soul skill.

"First soul skill, Blue Silver Entanglement!"

As the pale yellow soul ring lit up, more than a dozen grotesque strands of Blue Silver Grass burst from the ground and shot toward Wang Sheng's feet to entangle them.

Startled, Wang Sheng kicked off hard with both legs and dodged to the side.

"Little San, this is your chance! Bind him with your Blue Silver Grass!"

Yu Xiaogang seized upon the opportunity, ready to end the match.

But Tang San's performance disappointed this master of theory.

The Blue Silver Grass changed direction too slowly. Before it could reach him, Wang Sheng had already leaped away again.

"Little San, concentrate!"

"As a control system soul master, you'll be the core of your team in the future! You must learn to keep your eyes on all six paths and your ears open to all eight directions, and anticipate your enemy's rhythm!"

Yu Xiaogang was simply standing comfortably on the sidelines, talking as though his own back could never ache.

Without Purple Demon Eye, and unable to use his other Tang Sect Secret Arts, how was Tang San supposed to have the visual acuity to predict his opponent's movements?

This won't work. Blue Silver Entanglement is too slow. It never reaches the point where it moves as one with my mind!

Tang San realized the disadvantage of his Blue Silver Grass martial soul.

He did not know whether the problem lay with the martial soul or something else.

His control over the Blue Silver Grass martial soul was always a beat behind.

Could this be one of the reasons Blue Silver Grass is called a trash martial soul?

Or is there something wrong with my first soul ring? No, impossible! There's nothing wrong with my first soul ring!

Although I did feel weak at first, Teacher said that toxins can't affect tool martial soul masters!

That weakness was merely an instinctive reaction caused by the Blue Silver Grass origin being too weak to withstand an outside assault.

And things happened exactly as Teacher predicted. Ever since I returned to the academy, that weakness has gradually disappeared!

So it really is just that Blue Silver Grass is too weak!

Thoughts churned through Tang San's mind, and his expression grew increasingly ugly.

He had never imagined that the Blue Silver Grass martial soul would be so utterly useless!

Little did he know that he could no longer sense the Blue Silver Grass's weakness because, after its bloodline origin had been extracted, the martial soul had already been numbed by poison.

The Corrosive Swamp Venomfang Python's toxins acted on the martial soul, not the physical body.

Even with the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, Tang San could not realize that his martial soul was being corroded.

While Tang San was distracted, Wang Sheng seized the opportunity to close in.

"Little San, dodge!"

At Yu Xiaogang's shout, Tang San abruptly snapped back to his senses.

Using Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, he evaded Wang Sheng's attack in the blink of an eye while directing his Blue Silver Grass to strangle him.

Unfortunately, it was a beat too slow, allowing Wang Sheng to escape death's jaws once again.

"Little San, hold on!" Yu Xiaogang began micromanaging again. "Step one meter forward and to the right, and intercept him!"

The corner of Tang San's eye twitched violently, but he still followed Yu Xiaogang's instructions.

As a result, he ran straight into Wang Sheng's claws, which were enveloped in yellow soul power.

Tang San activated Mysterious Jade Hand, preparing to take the blow head-on and end the fight.

"Little San, what are you doing? You're a tool martial soul master! Use your Blue Silver Grass to attack his legs!"

Yu Xiaogang's eyes widened. He could not believe his disciple was foolish enough to try to catch a beast martial soul master's attack with his bare hands!

Hadn't I explained this martial soul theory?

Before level 30, beast martial souls are stronger than tool martial souls because they can merge with the body!

Tang San wanted to disobey, but how would he explain himself to his teacher after taking that blow head-on?

With his teacher's expertise in martial soul theory, how could he fail to notice something unusual?

Tang San took a deep breath, lowered his raised hands, and hastily used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to dodge again, with no time to choose his escape route.

"Phew!" Yu Xiaogang wiped his forehead and said with relief, "Good thing I guided him, or Little San would have lost."

"First soul skill, Saber-Toothed Charge!"

However, Tang San had dodged straight into a corner with no escape, giving Wang Sheng the opening to unleash his soul skill again.

Not good!

Tang San tried to dodge again, only to discover that he had nowhere left to go.

He could not use Mysterious Jade Hand or hidden weapons, either, or his teacher and the dean would notice something unusual.

"Little San, dodge!"

Yu Xiaogang's eyes strained so wide they nearly split at the corners, and his heart leaped into his throat again.

Just then, the Soul Ancestor dean darted forward and placed himself between the two.

"All right, that's enough. We still need to leave for the Star Dou Great Forest. We shouldn't waste any more strength."

To preserve the Grandmaster's dignity, the dean was forced to intervene and end the match.

"Fine, then!" Yu Xiaogang sighed, his face conflicted. According to his unrivaled theories, Little San should never have fallen behind.

He must have neglected his training, leaving him unable to withstand the imparting of my unrivaled theories at the critical moment!

It seems the lessons are still too easy. He spends his afternoons working at the forge-what a waste of his twin martial souls' talent!

Yu Xiaogang began planning to cut into Tang San's forging time and devise a streamlined combat routine for him!