Is the Sea God an Evil Soul Master? Who Stands in the Court to Accuse the Magistrate?

"By the way, why is your Entanglement soul skill so strong?"

Tang Ya tilted her head, her ponytail swaying back and forth behind her. She asked out loud, but inside she was plotting how to trick Tang Qi into joining the Tang Sect.

"Does Entanglement even require a soul skill?" Tang Qi asked back with a look of absolute certainty. "Doesn't a little practice turn this kind of thing into a self-created soul skill? Why waste a soul ring on it?"

Tang Ya fell silent at once, whispering after a long moment, "But Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang said..."

"Stop right there."

Tang Qi cut her off, saying with disgust, "What brains does Gangzi have? Isn't he just a total parasite?"

He was somewhat useful in the original world, since at least some basic soul beast identification and age determination were things he had taught Tang San.

Yet Tang San in this world had Ah Yin, a hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor transformed soul beast. Did he still need Yu Xiaogang to teach him soul beast knowledge?

What a joke.

Tang Ya froze on the spot, unable to speak a word. Could it be that the Tang Sect had been wrong from the very foundation?

Tang Qi sighed. A glance out of the corner of his eye caught Bei Bei crawling forward not far away, causing the corner of his mouth to twitch uncontrollably.

Were there even higher-level experts?

Bei Bei was burying his head and striving forward when he suddenly felt a shadow loom over his head.

Before he even had time to raise his head, his entire body was hoisted up.

"Weak?"

Tang Qi dangled him, smiling amicably.

Black lines covered Bei Bei's head, though he still maintained a gentle smile. "No... I was poisoned by a Mandala Snake, and my limbs are sore and weak."

Tang Qi nodded and slowly extended his palm.

Suddenly, the surrounding Blue Silver Grass fell flat toward him in unison, just like sunflowers chasing the sun.

Countless light motes, blue tinged with green, drifted out and ultimately gathered in his palm.

Bei Bei watched in dumbfounded astonishment.

The next moment, Tang Qi reversed his hand and slapped it against Bei Bei's chest. In an instant, Bei Bei felt as though his entire body were bathing in sunlight; his soul power was recovering, and his injuries were slowly healing.

"Too miraculous..."

Before he could even open his mouth to express his gratitude, Tang Qi casually tossed him and threw him right back onto the ground.

"No need to thank me."

On the other side, Tang Ya took in this entire scene. She was astonished to discover that when Tang Qi used that healing ability, no soul rings whatsoever had lit up beneath his feet from start to finish.

Another self-created soul skill.

She had originally been full of ambition to rope Tang Qi into joining the Tang Sect, but at this moment she suddenly felt as though the Tang Sect simply did not deserve him.

Aside from the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, what else did the Tang Sect have? It seemed... there was nothing much left.

No... that wasn't right!

Subconsciously, she lowered her head, her gaze landing on her own burgeoning curves.

Instantly, the tips of her ears turned red. She abruptly wrapped her arms around her chest as if trying to block something that shouldn't be looked at, and glared at Tang Qi with a face full of shame and anger.

Tang Qi wore a bewildered expression.

He shook his head, stopped paying attention to this girl with eccentric attributes, and walked straight over to the Mandala Snake that was about to be strangled to death.

"Still want it?"

Tang Ya paused for a moment and shook her head.

Tang Qi nodded and casually snapped his fingers. In an instant, wooden vines abruptly burst out with several steel-like spikes.

Only a miserable shriek and roar echoed out as countless green-tinged-red liquids dripped down along the wooden vines.

Upon witnessing this scene, Tang Ya felt somewhat excited for some unknown reason. With a swoop, the girl hurried to Tang Qi's side, stirring up a small wave of pleasant fragrance.

"Little big brother, can you teach me the correct cultivation method for Blue Silver Grass?"

"You want the cultivation manual for my Blue Silver Emperor? It's not that you're qualified to—forget it."

Tang Ya pressed her palms together, making a prayer-like expression, and gazed at him with a pair of watery, pitifully cute eyes.

I'm begging you~

Tang Qi paused. "What are your first and second soul rings for your Blue Silver Grass?"

"Yay!"

Tang Ya cheered. "The first soul ring comes from a Mandala Snake, and the soul skill is Entanglement. The second soul ring comes from a Ghost Vine, and the soul skill is Parasitism."

Hearing this, Tang Qi's mouth twitched.

These soul skills were so very Gangzi!

"Your Blue Silver Grass is not suited to follow my Life Path. But it can be optimized on its current foundation."

"Your Blue Silver Grass will still follow the Poison Attribute path. The difference is that you shouldn't absorb animal-type poison soul beasts like the Mandala Snake, but instead absorb soul rings from those plant-type poison attributes."

Tang Ya listened extremely intently.

Even if she still followed the poison-attribute Blue Silver Grass path, with the resources the Tang Sect possessed back then, the sect masters of the earliest generations could at least cultivate to the Soul Saint or even Soul Douluo level.

Even after soul tools rose to prominence ten thousand years later and the Tang Sect declined no matter what, they could at least retreat and hold a second-rate sect. How could they have been exterminated down to the last person by an Iron Blood Sect?

"Then... can I become as strong as you?" she asked softly, her tone carrying heavy anticipation.

The only thing that greeted her was a roll of Tang Qi's eyes.

"It's not even nighttime yet, and you're already starting to dream?"

Tang Ya gave an embarrassed chuckle. "Hehe, sorry about that... Oh right, I still don't know what your name is!"

"My name is Tang Qi."

"Ohh, alright Teacher Xiao Qi, please continue, I'm listening~"

Tang Ya's eyes shone brightly, displaying the posture of someone thirsting for knowledge.

Tang Qi continued, "As for why I won't let you follow the same Life Path as me, there are two reasons."

"First, the toxins accumulated in the martial souls of Blue Silver Grass soul masters by the Tang Sect over ten thousand years have already run deep.

Your Blue Silver Grass is naturally biased. If you forcefully switch to cultivating the Life Path, you will simply end up failing to reach the high levels while falling short of the low ones."

He paused, casting a thoughtful gaze toward Tang Ya as his tone dropped. "Second..."

"Your Blue Silver Grass should possess some kind of special ability, shouldn't it?"

Upon hearing this, Tang Ya's heartbeat skipped a beat. Subconsciously, she wanted to evade, but she happened to meet Tang Qi's gaze. The girl bit her pink lip and ultimately nodded.

"My Blue Silver Grass... comes with the Life-Devouring Attribute."

After saying this, she nervously lowered her head. She did not know whether this ability of hers would cause Tang Qi to feel repulsed, or if he would treat her as an outlier, as an Evil Soul Master.

"Have you been cultivating by relying on this ability?"

Tang Ya's delicate body trembled, her eye sockets rapidly welling up with moisture, and her voice even carried a sobbing tone. "Yes... but I've only ever devoured plant life to cultivate."

"I've never used it on soul beasts or people. I'm not an Evil Soul Master, I'm really not an Evil Soul Master... I just want to avenge my mom and dad, wuwuwu..."

Hm?

Tang Qi furrowed his brow slightly, carrying a trace of helplessness.

"Who said you were an Evil Soul Master?"

The girl slowly raised that face stained with pear blossoms washed by rain, gazing at Tang Qi through tear-blurred eyes.

"What kind of Evil Soul Master is this crap?"

Tang Qi spread his hands. "You haven't harmed anyone; you've just sucked a bit of plant life force. If you're even a bit more merciful and leave half of it behind when you absorb them so they can continue to live, then you'd be even less connected to it."

Tang Qi said solemnly, "Listen well. The definition of an Evil Soul Master has never depended on the martial soul itself."

"Fundamentally, it depends on the kind of deeds a person does."

He suddenly opened his right hand, and a gentle radiance lit up in his palm.

"Take the self-created soul skill I just used, for instance. It's called the Mystical Palm Technique."

"When I use it, I plunder a portion of the life force within the surrounding Blue Silver Grass soul beasts to heal and recover soul power. But this is actually a win-win situation, because while I am extracting life force, I leave behind a portion of my aura to help them advance further."

Tang Ya stared blankly at him.

"Could it be that I'm an Evil Soul Master too?"

Tang Qi withdrew his palm and shot Tang Ya a look, raising an eyebrow. "So you see, what's wrong with devouring life? Tang San back then even had an external soul bone called the Eight Spider Lances, and that thing carried the devouring attribute."

"In principle, Tang San can also be considered an Evil Soul Master, but I'm sorry, he is the principle."

Tang Qi: How dare he say the Sea God is an Evil Soul Master! He simply has unofficially sealed his own doom.