"Simply put, your martial soul is a blank sheet of paper, and cultivation is like painting on it. Your first soul ring sets its initial color!"
"Once the dominant color is set, every subsequent soul ring should ideally follow that palette. Otherwise, the final result will be neither fish nor fowl."
"I suggest you keep focusing on poison attributes for your future soul rings, with control attributes as a secondary consideration."
"Of course, this is only a suggestion. As your teacher, I won't interfere with your acquisition of any future soul ring."
Lu Xuan's analogy was already quite vivid, and Tang San understood it almost instantly.
"I understand. Thank you, Teacher."
Tang San voiced his thanks, but discontent lurked in his expression and eyes.
He still wanted that soul skill of Lu Xuan's.
Why? Why didn't Teacher tell me that Blue Silver Grass could bring the dead back to life and regrow flesh over bare bones?
If I'd known beforehand, I definitely would have chosen that skill!
Entanglement, poison...
These aren't even worth mentioning next to that divine skill. Damn it...
As the saying went, once well-fed and warm, lustful desires arose! That more or less described Tang San's current state.
When Lu Xuan had saved him from the brink of death earlier, he had felt profoundly moved and regarded Lu Xuan as a godlike existence.
But now that the life-or-death crisis had passed, he began comparing their Blue Silver Grass martial soul skills again, secretly blaming Lu Xuan for not planning his cultivation path for him.
He conveniently forgot that Lu Xuan had personally asked him whether he wanted to become a support soul master.
Tang San himself had looked down on being a support soul master and insisted on taking the path of a battle soul master.
One could only say that rivers and mountains were easier to change than a person's nature. Tang San would always be Tang San. If his worldview could truly be changed so easily, he would never have become Tang Buddha ten thousand years later.
At that moment, Lu Xuan could see Tang San's expression clearly without even turning around.
Only after the two had flown silently through the air for a long while did he suddenly speak.
"Little San."
"People always regret their original decisions and blame their past selves, forever thinking that choosing another path would have brought a different outcome."
"But back then, you were standing in the fog, just as lost. So there's no need to look back."
"Don't romanticize the road you didn't take. No road in life is traveled in vain."
"Your eyes face forward. Never look back."
Lu Xuan's voice came without warning. By the time Tang San heard his words clearly and tried to understand them, he had already sunk into deeper thought.
"Never look back..."
Tang San murmured softly, recalling his battle with the soul beast earlier that day.
He had fought the soul beast with a heart full of burning passion, all to prove that he was no useless fool but a genius, someone who would one day stand at the pinnacle of the continent and be looked up to by the world.
He no longer wanted to be looked down upon because of his status.
Was Blue Silver Grass a trash martial soul?
No! In other people's hands, Blue Silver Grass is a trash martial soul, a support martial soul. But not in mine.
That's right. I'm walking my own path. Why should I envy Teacher's soul skill?
Teacher is a support soul master, while I'm a control soul master. Besides, I carry the heavy responsibility of reviving the Tang Sect on my shoulders...
Tang San suddenly saw the light, then bowed to Lu Xuan with his hands clasped.
"Thank you for your guidance, Teacher!"
The moon shone bright among scattered stars, and not a cloud marred the vast sky.
A streak of blue-gold light swept through the air. Roughly an hour later, Lu Xuan brought Tang San back to Nuoding Academy.
Tang San returned to the work-study students' dormitory, while Lu Xuan went back to his private room.
As soon as he pushed the door open, Xiao Wu, who had been nibbling a carrot on the sofa, came over to greet him with delight written all over her face.
"Teacher, welcome home! I've already heated the water for washing your feet."
The moment Lu Xuan saw the adorable little bunny, most of the day's "exhaustion" vanished.
He habitually rubbed her soft bunny ears and took off his coat.
"Mm, what a good girl."
The warm yellow lamplight gave the living room a cozy atmosphere. The once-empty room now held a sense of warmth.
And Xiao Wu seemed to have grown accustomed to physical contact with Lu Xuan. Though her bunny ears were sensitive, she still did not shy away.
While Lu Xuan settled onto the sofa, the girl went to the bathroom and brought out the water for washing his feet.
Soon... amid the sound of splashing water, Lu Xuan leaned back against the sofa, looking relaxed and content.
He asked casually:
"Have you fused with the soul bone? Have you condensed your soul ring?"
As though she had finally been waiting for Lu Xuan to ask that question, Xiao Wu smiled as she answered, carefully massaging his feet.
"Hehe~"
"A seventy-thousand-year Right Arm Bone and a hundred-year soul ring raised my soul power by a whole seven levels. I'm a level-seventeen soul master now!"
"My first soul skill is Explosive Step!"
"When activated, it increases my speed by fifty percent and my leg strength by one hundred percent."
It had to be said, a soul beast who had only just transformed and entered the human world, only to stumble upon a Titled Douluo teacher and a seventy-thousand-year soul bone...
Throughout the entire history of the Douluo Continent, Xiao Wu was the only rabbit to have enjoyed such luck.
Her rapidly growing strength had left her a little giddy, and she could not resist showing Lu Xuan the results.
Lu Xuan did not dampen her enthusiasm either, smiling as he praised her:
"Not bad. When you soul beasts condense soul rings, can you define the effects of your soul skills yourselves?"
Xiao Wu replied:
"Yes! But however freely we define them, they still have to revolve around our original nature before transforming. We can't conjure abilities we didn't possess before our transformation out of thin air."
"I plan to follow the power-attack and agility-attack paths, focusing on strengthening my legs from now on."
With Lu Xuan's guidance from yesterday, Xiao Wu had not condensed skills like "Waist Bow" or "Charm" as she had in the original story.
Lu Xuan found that quite reassuring.
If he remembered correctly, although Waist Bow dealt high burst damage, using it against a stronger enemy was like throwing oneself into a net. Simply put, it only worked against weaker opponents.
Charm was even worse... whenever an enemy's spiritual power exceeded Xiao Wu's, she would inevitably suffer a backlash. At best, she would faint on the spot; at worst, her soul would be injured. Again, it only worked against weaker opponents.
In Lu Xuan's eyes, those two skills were the most ill-conceived!
Her later skills, such as Teleportation and Invincible Golden Body, had no offensive power whatsoever, which led people to call Xiao Wu an "accessory," a "decorative vase," and so on in the later stages.
Now, with Lu Xuan's guidance, Xiao Wu had drawn on her own experience to plan a different path of growth, and a very sensible one at that. This left Lu Xuan deeply pleased.
"Strengthening your legs? That's a good idea."
"That way, you'll have both speed and a distinctive means of attack."
Lu Xuan did not hold back his praise, and Xiao Wu was delighted to receive it.
"Hehe~"
"But Teacher, I still have a question."
"It's just... although my strength is increasing very quickly, if I keep avoiding actual combat and only cultivate my soul power level, won't soul masters of the same level beat me into the ground when the time comes?"
Xiao Wu's concern was not unfounded.
As things stood, Lu Xuan had no intention of letting her travel far, and a small place like Nuoding Academy had no suitable opponents for her to spar with.
As a result, Xiao Wu could only cultivate at triple speed without gaining any actual combat experience.
Simply put, Xiao Wu felt like a flower in a greenhouse, protected all too perfectly.
Lu Xuan quietly curled his lips into a smile and said:
"With enough force, even a brick can fly!"
"Here on the Douluo Continent, as long as your level is high enough and your soul skill mechanics are sufficiently well-rounded, you can simply steamroll every enemy you encounter. How would they get so many opportunities to show off their techniques?"
"Besides, as a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, are you really that lacking in combat experience?"
"And if you really want to fight, I'll take you to the Soul Fighting Arena in the future."
Xiao Wu froze for a moment. After sorting through the meaning of Lu Xuan's words, understanding dawned on her face.
"That's true!"
"As long as my soul skill mechanics are well-rounded enough, who could withstand a full combo?"
"Isn't the advantage of soul beast transformation precisely that we can customize our soul skill effects?"
"With enough force, even a brick can fly... what an interesting saying."
P.S.:
This new book is testing the waters, so the numbers are very important.
This humble author would like to ask for some free update requests, recommendation votes, and monthly votes.
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