Six Years Later

Jin Yang had plenty of confidence now.

So what if he beat Tang San? Since Tang Hao had told him to do it, he had to see it through.

Where, exactly, was he supposed to hit him? That was none of Tang Hao's business.

A son paid his father's debts.

Naturally, Jin Yang would vent on Tang San all the anger he had suffered at Tang Hao's hands.

A slap in the face?

As long as Tang Hao still had a use for Jin Yang, Tang San had not given up on making Hidden Weapons, and Tang San still could not beat him...

Tang Hao would only give Jin Yang a light punishment. He might even turn a blind eye to it.

"You're asking to die!" Tang San flew into a rage and unleashed his First Soul Skill right there in the dormitory.

"First Soul Skill: Blue Silver Entanglement!"

Several strands of Blue Silver Grass burst from the floor and shot toward Jin Yang's vital points. Tang San meant to kill him in a single strike.

But Jin Yang was ready. Sunflower rose beneath his feet, its enormous flower head lifting him clear of Tang San's first attack.

Then Jin Yang leaped from the flower head and brought down Crow Takes Flight, knocking Tang San flat.

"Tang San, you even tried to ambush me?"

Jin Yang sneered. "Let me show you how I deal with a despicable sneak."

He seized Tang San by the neck with his right hand and hoisted him high, then drove his left fist into Tang San's stomach.

Tang San felt as though his insides had been twisted into a knot.

A violent wave of nausea surged up from his stomach.

"Urgh! Urgh! Urgh!"

Tang San could not stop himself from retching. Sticky saliva and stomach fluid mixed together and streamed from the corner of his mouth.

At the sight, Jin Yang tossed Tang San onto his bed.

That counted as beating Tang San once today.

All right. Time to go.

Jin Yang dusted off his hands and walked out of Dorm Seven.

Xiao Wu stood where she was, unsure what to do.

It had happened so suddenly that she could hardly react.

She had never imagined so much could happen in a few short seconds.

Looking at Tang San trembling beneath his blanket, Xiao Wu had no idea how to comfort him.

After standing by his bed for a while, she went to the cafeteria for breakfast with Wang Sheng and the others.

Jin Yang had already eaten. He was not about to waste breakfast time beating Tang San.

Maybe I should go a little easier on Tang San next time.

Ending it in one blow every time doesn't seem very fun, Jin Yang thought.

Ah, Tang Buddha. Tang Buddha.

I look forward to the next six years.

Time flowed like a river; the years flew past like shuttles.

Before anyone knew it, six years had gone by.

Jin Yang had graduated from Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy.

Perhaps fate had a hand in it, but Tang San and Xiao Wu had patched things up.

Compared with the original story, things did not seem all that different.

Tang San and Jin Yang got along as badly as ever.

Over those six years, the gap between Tang San and Jin Yang had only widened.

Tang San's cultivation had already far surpassed where it stood in the original story.

He had acquired his third Soul Ring and become a level-thirty-two Soul Master.

His Soul Ring Configuration was yellow, yellow, and purple.

For his second and third Soul Rings, he had chosen genuine Plant-type Soul Beasts. His second came from a five-hundred-year-old Dandelion. Its skill let him release several dandelion-seed bombs to attack enemies, and paired with his Mandala Snake venom, it worked well.

His third Soul Ring came from a fifteen-hundred-year-old Pine Tree. His Third Soul Skill let his Blue Silver Grass fire thin grass needles like pine needles.

Those two Soul Rings had made his Blue Silver Grass look rather strange.

Fine grass needles covered the blue-purple strands like hairs, while blue-purple Dandelion-like tufts bloomed at their tips and tender shoots.

Even a botanist would have hesitated at first glance and wondered whether the thing really was Blue Silver Grass.

But Jin Yang was far more monstrous.

His Martial Soul, Sunflower, had evolved in a wild direction too.

Jin Yang had not pursued older Soul Rings too aggressively. After all, he could raise their ages himself.

His Soul Power had reached level thirty-seven, and his three Soul Rings were yellow, yellow, and purple.

He had raised both of his first two Soul Rings to around nine hundred and ninety years. They were a hair's breadth from crossing the thousand-year mark.

But with Tang Hao watching nearby, Jin Yang had left those two rings alone.

Instead, he had focused on raising the age of his third Soul Ring.

Both his second and third Soul Rings came from sunflowers.

His second Soul Skill provided a boost. Sunflower summoned its little sunflower brothers to sing together, increasing the physical attributes of nearby allies—including strength, speed, and recovery—by thirty percent. The effect could not stack and lasted five minutes each time.

His Third Soul Skill was a healing skill. Sunflower could gain healing power by absorbing sunlight.

It healed a group, though the amount was not large. Even so, Jin Yang was more than satisfied.

After all, his Soul Skills were not his main source of damage.

His own body was both his ultimate weapon and his ultimate defense.

Because the rings came from the same source, Jin Yang's Sunflower had grown considerably, just as it had when he acquired his First Soul Ring.

Now, when Jin Yang released his Martial Soul, it stood a full three meters tall.

Its flower head was a full meter and a half across, and Sunflower had grown much tougher.

It could not match Hard Iron, but it was comparable to some of the harder woods.

It was equally good as a weapon or a shield.

Of course, Sunflower's flower head had become even more bizarre.

After two evolutions, its golden petals had become Elemental Petals, formed entirely of Light Element.

The seeds on its flower head were longer than an adult's hand when plucked out.

Its eyes had become Elemental Eyes, like a pair of lightbulbs as wide as bowls, shining with golden light at every moment.

Its enormous mouth was still terrifying. Row upon row of seed-teeth were hard beyond belief, as though the seeds in its mouth had received some special reinforcement. They gleamed gold.

If it bit into a tree, it could tear away an entire section of trunk.

Its bite was tremendously strong.

If a Martial Soul could harm its owner, Jin Yang would never have dared stuff sunlight into Sunflower's mouth.

By now, his Sunflower had grown root-like legs and could carry him around.

Its two huge leaves could not yet support both the Martial Soul and Jin Yang in flight, but they made him a comfortable seat.

Jin Yang's body had grown formidable too. After six years, blades and spears could no longer pierce him, and ordinary attacks could barely break his skin.

His strength had also increased enormously. He did not know whether he could match Tang Wulin at the same age.

But he figured he could not be far behind.

And thanks to Tang San and Xiao Wu feeding him one fight after another, his combat skills had improved by leaps and bounds.

Jin Yang was now more of an all-around fighter, strong in both attack and defense.

Two years earlier, Tang Hao had ordered him to stop beating Tang San. He had then handed Jin Yang a manual for the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer, as promised.

Looking at the scrawled handwriting, Jin Yang was certain Tang Hao had written it himself. Whether anything had been left out or anything dubious added, though, Jin Yang could not say.

At least the techniques had felt right when he practiced them as the manual described.

After beating Tang San for four years, Jin Yang had found it hard to adjust to stopping so suddenly.

The very next day, he had still shown up at Dorm Seven's door right on time.

If he had not remembered Tang Hao's warning, he might have gone inside and beaten Tang Hao up himself.

Over the past two years, Tang San had stopped barking at Jin Yang, especially after discovering that his hidden weapons could not pierce Jin Yang's skin.

Tang Hao had considered getting rid of Jin Yang. But after seeing Jin Yang regularly visit Spirit Hall to fish and chat with Xiusino, he abandoned the idea.

Of course, it was not because he feared a mere Seven-Ring Soul Sage.

Tang San still needed time to grow stronger. If Tang Hao could kill Jin Yang immediately, that would be fine.

But if he failed, Tang San would be in danger.

Everyone would point to Tang San as the cause.

The risks far outweighed the benefits.

After running it through his smooth brain, Tang Hao decided to spare Jin Yang and leave him for Tang San as fuel for his hatred.

Most importantly, Tang Hao had noticed that Jin Yang bore Tang San no killing intent.

If Jin Yang had no desire to kill Tang San, did that mean he did not truly dislike him?

If so, keeping Jin Yang around might still prove useful...