Guidance

"That's all for this morning's class. Go back and have a proper meal. Physical conditioning begins this afternoon. Also, Jiang Hai will serve as Class One's acting class monitor and supervise everyone's studies. Class dismissed. Huo Yuhao, stay behind." Zhou Yi had thrust the position of class monitor upon Jiang Hai because she had noticed that he was the only one who helped his classmates, even if he only helped the few he liked.

Huo Yuhao stayed behind, while everyone else left.

"Boss, congratulations! You deserve to be Class One's monitor!" Chen Yong said cheerfully.

"What good is being class monitor?" Jiang Hai said. "The academy doesn't pay me, and I'll have to deal with all sorts of chores. What a pain. How about you take the job, Big Yong?"

Chen Yong hurriedly shook his head. "I couldn't handle being class monitor."

Sun Yunhai approached Jiang Hai hesitantly, looking somewhat apprehensive. "Boss, I think what you said in class today made a lot of sense, about having both offense and defense. Could you guys give me some pointers on how to develop my martial soul?"

Jiang Hai paused. He had a fairly good impression of Sun Yunhai, so he nodded. "I'm feeling my way across the river by testing the stones myself, but we can pool our ideas. One person's plans fall short; three people's plans reach further. If anything is troubling you, tell us, and we'll think it through together. That's better than figuring it out alone."

"Boss is right. Yunhai, tell us what the problem is, and we'll find a solution together!" Wang Cheng and Liu Gang said, nodding.

The five of them were gradually forming a little group.

Sun Yunhai nodded. "My martial soul is a cloud. Although my innate soul power was very high, and I've cultivated to rank nineteen and passed Shrek Academy's entrance examination, clouds are terrible at both offense and defense. They don't have much support ability either. I honestly don't know what my martial soul is good for. Sometimes I wonder whether I should just study soul tools instead."

As he spoke, a soft, snow-white cloud appeared in his palm, and a yellow soul ring rose from beneath his feet.

Jiang Hai was surprised again. Sun Yunhai's soul power was actually on par with Chen Yong's; both were about to break through to rank twenty and acquire their second soul ring.

Sun Yunhai's innate soul power had not merely been good-it had reached rank nine. Otherwise, with a martial soul like his, he could never have passed Shrek Academy's examination.

"Can I see your first soul skill?" Jiang Hai asked, his interest piqued.

As Sun Yunhai had said, clouds were mediocre at both offense and defense and had no particular distinguishing features. Yet wind and clouds were everywhere, and clouds were indeed an element of the natural world that could not be overlooked.

Moreover, Jiang Hai recalled the protagonist of an animated series from his previous life. The element he controlled was cloud, which ranked among the eight great elements.

This was also Jiang Hai's first time seeing such an unusual martial soul as a cloud.

At the mention of his first soul skill, a trace of helplessness appeared on Sun Yunhai's face. His substantial soul power surged, and his lone yellow soul ring vibrated violently. Yellow light blossomed, and the white cloud before him was dyed a dazzling array of colors, breathtakingly beautiful.

"My first soul skill is called Seven-Colored Cloud Illusion," Sun Yunhai said helplessly. "It can turn clouds any color, but it has absolutely no offensive power!"

A skill with no offensive ability that merely changed a cloud's color-after seeing it, Chen Yong, Wang Cheng, and Liu Gang all looked at Sun Yunhai with a hint of pity. What use was a skill like that?

No wonder Sun Yunhai never used his soul skill that day, even though his soul power was a little higher than mine! Chen Yong thought.

Jiang Hai, however, grew more interested. How could a hundred-year soul ring's skill be so useless? "Yunhai, clouds have no fixed form. Can you make your cloud take other shapes?"

"Yes!" Sun Yunhai said. The multicolored cloud immediately transformed into a bird that circled around him, gorgeous but still all glitter and no substance.

A smile appeared on Jiang Hai's face. "Yunhai, you should be able to control its colors too. Now use the cloud to imitate my appearance!"

Sun Yunhai nodded. The clouds gathered, and gradually, a figure that looked about eighty percent like Jiang Hai appeared before him. It seemed cast from the same mold; standing beside Jiang Hai, it looked like his brother.

Sun Yunhai was astonished as well. He had never thought of using clouds to imitate someone else's appearance. Seeming to realize something, he dispersed the clouds and drew them back around his own body. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into Chen Yong, this time resembling him by ninety percent.

With innate soul power at rank nine, Sun Yunhai's talent was beyond question. After a little guidance from Jiang Hai, his use of his martial soul became increasingly smooth and familiar.

"The key to Seven-Colored Cloud Illusion should be the word 'illusion,'" Jiang Hai said with a smile. "Wind leaves no shadow, and clouds have no fixed form. You can use Seven-Colored Cloud Illusion to take anyone's appearance or create an illusion of anyone, passing illusion off as reality. Likewise, your skill doesn't have to be limited to imitating people. You could suddenly conjure a wall between us, a tree, a bird, or even an entire world. Within your Seven-Colored Cloud Illusion, everything can look exactly like the real thing. In battle, you could conjure countless powerful attacks to confuse your enemies, or even imitate your teammates' attacks, mingling the false with the true..."

Jiang Hai had not finished, but Sun Yunhai was already growing more and more excited. Under Jiang Hai's description, the formerly lackluster Seven-Colored Cloud Illusion had undoubtedly become a godlike skill. Imagine a great battle in which the enemy could not distinguish whether each incoming skill was real or fake-what a terrifying scene that would be.

Furthermore, although Sun Yunhai had no offensive skills, his tactical importance when working with teammates was easy to imagine.

More frightening still, Sun Yunhai could assume countless forms, including that of anyone around him, with no way to tell the difference by sight alone. That, too, was a terrifying ability.

Even Chen Yong and the others could think of no way to counter Sun Yunhai's myriad transformations if they had to face him.

Although Sun Yunhai could not yet accomplish everything Jiang Hai had described, Jiang Hai's words had undoubtedly opened a new door for him.

"Boss, thank you!" Sun Yunhai said gratefully.

"No problem. Still, clouds are formed from water, so your martial soul may be somewhat countered by fire-attribute martial souls. Of course, the disadvantage shouldn't be too great. Work hard, and one day your martial soul will surprise everyone," Jiang Hai said, unaware that these words would help bring about the Lord of the Clouds, whose name would later resound across the continent!

Wang Cheng's and Liu Gang's eyes now burned with eagerness. At this moment, they were utterly convinced of Jiang Hai's abilities. "Boss," Wang Cheng said, "do you think my martial soul has other uses too?"

As he spoke, he hastily summoned his martial soul. His was also a tool martial soul: Iron Shuo!

The shuo.

A weapon of a hundred battles, wielded only by the fiercest generals of antiquity.

Jiang Hai had never expected the rather scrawny-looking Wang Cheng's martial soul to be Iron Shuo!

After some thought, Jiang Hai said, "The shuo is a cavalry weapon. Ideally, Wang Cheng, you should raise and train a warhorse or a soul beast mount. The soul rings you add to your martial soul should focus on fierce power and broad, sweeping movements too. Give me your Iron Shuo!"

Wang Cheng nodded, and Jiang Hai seized the Iron Shuo. It weighed over a hundred jin and was already exceedingly heavy. Holding it in one hand, Jiang Hai performed a set of shuo techniques with wide, sweeping movements that stirred the wind like a prowling tiger. Even without any soul skills or soul power strengthening them, his movements remained fiercely powerful, displaying the valor to sweep aside a thousand soldiers and stand unmatched against ten thousand men. Wang Cheng watched with mounting excitement. This was the true form of his martial soul as he had imagined it.

After finishing the routine, Jiang Hai returned the Iron Shuo to Wang Cheng. "Did you notice anything?"

Wang Cheng paused. "Strength!"

Jiang Hai's strength was so great that even though the Iron Shuo was not his martial soul, he could still unleash power beyond an ordinary person's imagination. Wang Cheng admitted to himself that the might of the Iron Shuo in his own hands could not compare to what it displayed in Jiang Hai's.

Jiang Hai nodded. "You're worth teaching. A weapon like the shuo demands great strength. The stronger you are, the more frightening its power becomes. The three months of physical conditioning for new students will be a rare opportunity for you. You should focus on strengthening your arms. You can even consider skills in that direction for your future soul skills."

"I understand. Thank you, Boss!" Wang Cheng said.

"My turn, Boss! My martial soul is the Green Steel Sword!" Liu Gang said expectantly, a blue-green sword already appearing in his hand.

Of the five, everyone except Chen Yong had a tool martial soul. This was actually relatively unusual, as beast martial soul masters were at least as numerous as tool martial soul masters.

The Green Steel Sword.

Sword-type martial souls were both common and powerful. Ten thousand years ago, the martial soul of Sword Douluo, one of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's two great guardians, had been the Seven Kill Sword. Although the Green Steel Sword could not compare to the Seven Kill Sword, it was still a high-grade sword martial soul.

Jiang Hai thought for a moment. "I'm not familiar with sword martial souls, but as far as I know, those who achieve something in the way of the sword shouldn't simply pursue powerful soul skills. They should pursue the essence of the sword!"

"Boss, what's the essence of the sword?" Liu Gang asked, looking puzzled.

Jiang Hai shook his head. "I don't know what the essence of the sword is either. That's something you need to comprehend yourself, so I can't say much about it. But you should at least have a sincere heart. You can spend some time every day honing your swordsmanship. If you persevere, perhaps you'll achieve something. I've never heard of anyone being born a god of the sword. Any path, any skill, when practiced a million or ten million times, will eventually reach an unimaginable level. Cultivation is the same. Diligence can make up for a lack of talent!"

With the experience of two lifetimes, he could offer a few of his own opinions, but it was impossible for him to know with absolute certainty which path someone else should follow.

Still, the principle that diligence could make up for a lack of talent was sound.

As long as one persevered in anything, the day would eventually come when one achieved something.