Gangzi lay in wait

Three months passed in the blink of an eye.

His soul power rose from level thirteen after absorbing his soul ring to level fifteen.

Taking advantage of Tang Hao's absence from Nuoding City, Gu Ping'an kept experimenting with abilities he had never dared try back in the village.

He further developed his ability to sink parts of his body into the void, creating Spatial Movement.

Using the tree-climbing and water-walking exercises from Naruto to train his soul power control, he also formed a Douluo version of the Rasengan.

"School's about to start. Tang San will be getting his first soul ring. Will Tang Hao go with him?"

Inside the Spirit Hall library in Nuoding City, Gu Ping'an raised his head to look at the Angel carving overhead.

Tang San had said he would come to Spirit Hall to read, but he had never shown up once.

It made sense. He had to prepare three meals a day for Tang Hao. How would he have time to come to Nuoding City?

Old Jack, on the other hand, had worried about his safety and visited him once. After discovering that he had already become a soul master, he had been reassured.

"I still need a Sensory Ability!"

Gu Ping'an set down the book in his hands and headed out of Spirit Hall.

Perhaps he could start with Blue Silver Grass to develop a Sensory Ability.

Outside Nuoding City's gates, Gu Ping'an summoned his martial soul and sat cross-legged amid a patch of Blue Silver Grass.

He had innate full soul power. Whether it came from spacetime energy or Blue Silver Grass, once spacetime energy had permeated his Blue Silver Grass martial soul, his martial soul was no longer ordinary.

His Blue Silver Grass martial soul extended like a vine, intertwining with the Blue Silver Grass on the ground.

At once, a vague, strange sensation arose within him.

An odd kind of "touch."

It was as though he had gained something extra—not a hand.

Not skin.

Not even something made of Spiritual Power.

Blue Silver Grass. Blue Silver Grass covered the ground.

Countless perceptions tinged with strange colors flooded into him.

Images surfaced in Gu Ping'an's mind as though he had eaten mushrooms and fallen into hallucinations.

His field of vision stretched, and scenes hundreds, even thousands of meters away appeared in his mind.

He tried to "look" farther, only for a sudden wave of dizziness to strike.

Startled, Gu Ping'an withdrew from that strange perception, but the faintness remained.

"Is it Spiritual Power?" Gu Ping'an gently rubbed between his brows, analyzing the cause of his dizziness.

The connection between his Blue Silver Grass martial soul and the Blue Silver Grass covering the ground had not been severed. He tried sensing through it again, and images still came through, but his dizziness grew worse.

"It does seem to be because of Spiritual Power.

The connection with Blue Silver Grass doesn't rely on Spiritual Power. It's more like something innate.

But receiving the information those plants send back requires Spiritual Power."

"Too bad I don't have the Purple Demon Eye." Gu Ping'an sighed softly, rose, and headed back into the city.

He now had perception, offense, and recovery.

All he lacked was a good Meditation Method.

He had obtained a Meditation Method from the Spirit Hall library, but it was the Basic Meditation Method. Even Su Yuntao, Sisi, and Ma Xiunuo practiced the Basic Meditation Method.

Still, that was no great problem. When cultivating, he could find somewhere lush with Blue Silver Grass and ask the plants to make a small contribution to their future Blue Silver Emperor.

He had no intention of attending Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy.

Yu Xiaogang was like a toad. If he went, the man would certainly latch onto him. Disgusting, yet difficult to strike down—there was no need to go out of his way to sicken himself.

"Ping'an!"

Suddenly, a call rang out nearby.

"Grandpa Jack?"

His gaze fell on the child beside Old Jack, and Gu Ping'an's heart sank slightly.

He had not expected to run into Old Jack and Tang San on the streets of Nuoding City.

If Tang San was here, Haozi must be here too!

With a thought, he connected to the nearby Blue Silver Grass.

Images flashed past in quick succession before finally settling on a secluded alley at a street corner, where a burly man clad in a tattered black robe stood silently.

Tang Hao!

"Ping'an, isn't today the first day at the junior soul master academy?

Why are you still here?

I'm taking Little San to Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy anyway. Come along with him, Ping'an!"

The moment Old Jack spotted Gu Ping'an, he launched into a stream of words.

Gu Ping'an froze in place. Had he known he would run into Old Jack and Tang San, he would have stayed outside the city a little longer.

"Grandpa Jack, I'm not going to the soul master academy."

A junior academy could hardly teach him anything.

"No! You've only just become a soul master. How can you not go to a soul master academy?"

Just like parents who insisted their children attend school, Old Jack firmly rejected Gu Ping'an's wish to stay out of the academy.

Beside Old Jack, Tang San narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze fixed on Gu Ping'an.

He felt that Gu Ping'an had changed a great deal from three months ago. Not only had he grown a little taller, but his bearing had changed too.

"Ah! Let's go!"

Gu Ping'an sighed.

He had never expected Old Jack to be the one to trip him up.

He had planned everything out. Once Haozi followed Tang San to hunt for his first soul ring, he would take the Blue Silver Emperor and the Blue Silver Emperor soul bone, then leave Nuoding City.

But Old Jack had raised him until he was six. Without the old man, he would have died in the wilderness long ago. He really could not bring himself to quarrel with Old Jack.

Before long, the three arrived outside Nuoding Academy.

"Stop. What are you doing here?"

The young gatekeeper stopped them just as he had in the original story. Perhaps because Gu Wushuang's clothes and bearing were much better than Old Jack's and Tang San's, his tone was not as cutting as it had been in the original.

"I'm taking my friend inside to enroll. Is there a problem?"

Gu Ping'an stepped forward, and a yellow soul ring rose from beneath his feet.

"N-no problem. Please come in, all three of you."

Stammering, the young man hurriedly moved aside. He was only an ordinary person and would not dare offend even a one-ring soul master.

"Grandpa Jack, let's go!"

The three entered Nuoding Academy without incident.

"What was that just now?" Tang San, who had been staring at Gu Ping'an for quite some time, finally asked.

Gu Ping'an stopped and looked at Tang San with a faint smile. "A soul ring. Soul masters need soul rings to break through."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and summoned his martial soul. His soul ring flashed.

"First Soul Skill: Healing!"

The soul skill landed on Old Jack, who immediately felt all the fatigue from his journey vanish.

"My First Soul Skill is Healing. It can heal certain injuries."

Old Jack had already seen Gu Ping'an's soul skill. Assuming he was demonstrating it for Tang San, he said nothing.

Not far from Nuoding Academy, Tang Hao had initially been surprised that a mere lowborn boy like Gu Ping'an had obtained his first soul ring so quickly—and a hundred-year soul ring at that.

After seeing that his First Soul Skill was Healing, his lips curled with deep disdain.

Blue Silver Grass was already feeble, and he was a healing-type soul master on top of that. He had no combat strength whatsoever.

Trash!

"Sir, are these two children students at Nuoding Academy?

Might I take a look at their certificates from Spirit Hall?"

Gu Ping'an's expression darkened as he stared at the man with the crew cut blocking their path.

He had still run into him.

Yu Xiaogang held one hand behind his back, putting on a convincing show.

Honestly, after spending his whole life putting on airs, Yu Xiaogang really did look somewhat like a grandmaster.

Seeing Yu Xiaogang's distinguished bearing, Old Jack assumed he was an academy teacher and hurriedly handed over Tang San's soul master certificate.

Gu Ping'an kept his own soul master certificate on him, so Old Jack could only hand over Tang San's.

Yu Xiaogang took the soul master certificate, looked it over, then turned his gaze toward Gu Ping'an.

Goosebumps rose all over Gu Ping'an's body.

He saw it clearly: when Yu Xiaogang looked at him and Tang San, his eyes burned with fervor.

He had known about their innate soul power all along and had specifically waited at the soul master academy's entrance to intercept them.