Rotten Wood Cannot Be Carved

"Sanpao, lead the way," the Grandmaster ordered.

"Duo duo!"

Upon receiving the Grandmaster's command, Luo Sanpao bobbed his head and headed forward. Though his body was somewhat plump, he moved fairly nimbly, sniffing at something as he walked.

"Little San, haven't you always wanted to know what my martial soul is?" The Grandmaster pointed at Luo Sanpao, who was leading the way. "This is my martial soul. His name is Luo Sanpao. Sanpao has an exceptionally keen sense of smell. He can detect the traces of low-level soul beasts and gauge their strength, which is a great help when we're searching for soul beasts to hunt."

After saying this, the Grandmaster drew a short sword from his robes and handed it to Tang San.

The short sword was clear blue throughout, with seven blue gemstones set into it. Its blade was a foot and two inches long, and faint wisps of cold could be felt when holding it.

"Little San, this short sword is yours. Danger lurks everywhere in the Soul Hunting Forest. Keep it in your hand, just in case," the Grandmaster said, his gaze sharpening with vigilance.

"Mm." Tang San nodded slightly.

After entering the Soul Hunting Forest, Xiao Yan discovered that his martial soul, emperor flame, seemed to be behaving strangely. It appeared to have sensed something and felt as though it wanted to burst out of his palm.

Xiao Yan slowly crouched down and thrust his hand hard into the ground.

"Xiao Yan, what are you doing?" Mang Tianchi asked in surprise when he noticed Xiao Yan's unusual behavior.

"Headmaster, my spiritual power is very strong. Through the ground, I can sense certain presences nearby that others would struggle to detect. In an unfamiliar place like this, we have to be careful about everything," Xiao Yan explained.

"Heh, you're not just blowing smoke, are you?" Mang Tianchi chuckled, half believing him and half doubting him.

Through his probing, Xiao Yan discovered that earth- and wood-attribute energy filled the surroundings. Yet just as he was about to investigate further, he found that deeper in the Soul Hunting Forest, both types of energy vanished entirely.

In their place was an extraordinarily scorching fire-attribute energy.

Moreover, this fire-attribute energy was very familiar to him.

"Could there be one of the heavenly flames that emperor flame once mentioned here?" Xiao Yan murmured softly, a scorching flame leaping in his pitch-black eyes.

The stranger a place was, the greater the chance that heavenly flames existed there. For Xiao Yan, who had been painstakingly searching for heavenly flames in hopes of restoring his memories, this was undoubtedly heartening news.

They had not gone far when Luo Sanpao suddenly stopped, staring in one direction with his large eyes and letting out two cries of "duo duo."

"What's wrong?" Tang San looked at the Grandmaster in confusion.

Looking ahead, the Grandmaster's expression abruptly froze. A moment later, it eased somewhat, and he explained, "Don't be nervous. Sanpao mistook that snake vine flower for a real Mandala Snake."

A green, snake-shaped plant was coiled around a large tree ahead. It looked remarkably like a Mandala Snake.

"Teacher, are you sure that really isn't a snake?" Tang San looked at the snake vine flower, only to find that it looked exactly like a real snake and could even move stealthily.

"Yes. The snake vine flower is a highly venomous plant-type soul beast, and it's extremely tough as well. It likes to disguise itself as a Mandala Snake to drive away intruders. Unfortunately, it isn't a Mandala Snake," the Grandmaster said mildly.

"This snake vine flower is quite a fine specimen. Before a soul beast's cultivation reaches a thousand years, its size increases a little with each year. The Mandala Snake it's imitating is over four meters long, which means this snake vine flower has over four hundred years of cultivation," Mang Tianchi analyzed point by point, stroking his chin.

"Teacher, can I choose it for my soul ring?" Tang San asked.

"Not for now," the Grandmaster said. "If we can't find a real Mandala Snake, we can choose it for your soul ring in the end. We must be cautious when selecting a soul ring."

Hearing this, Xiao Yan challenged him. "Grandmaster, Little San's martial soul is blue silver grass. From the perspective of martial soul theory, shouldn't he choose a plant-type soul beast for his soul ring? This snake vine flower is both tough and venomous. I think it suits Little San very well. Why do you insist on choosing a Mandala Snake?"

"Heh, that's what you don't understand. The Mandala Snake also has an extremely powerful ability to entangle. If Little San obtains its soul ring, he'll most likely gain the Entanglement skill," the Grandmaster explained, shaking his head.

"Entanglement?" Xiao Yan gave the Grandmaster a disdainful look and a contemptuous chuckle before challenging him again. "Blue silver grass is already a plant. Doesn't it have the ability to entangle?"

"Wouldn't giving it another entanglement skill be like adding legs to a snake?"

"What nonsense is this? I've studied martial souls for years. Since when does a six- or seven-year-old child like you get to point fingers at me and question my martial soul theory?" Faced with Xiao Yan's repeated challenges, the Grandmaster's expression darkened, and his voice grew agitated.

Seeing this, Tang San also sensed the smell of gunpowder in the air and hurried to smooth things over for the Grandmaster. "Brother, how long have you been studying martial soul theory? Teacher has researched it for decades. I believe his theories can't be wrong."

"..." Xiao Yan could only stare speechlessly, dark lines clouding his face.

All he could say was that rotten wood could not be carved.

"Duo duo!"

Just then, Luo Sanpao's cries rang out again.

Since a martial soul and its host were one, the Grandmaster immediately became alert and looked in another direction in the forest.

"There seems to be movement up ahead. Everyone, be careful," the Grandmaster warned.

"What's wrong?" Mang Tianchi asked, somewhat puzzled.

"There seems to be a soul beast with considerable cultivation approaching us," the Grandmaster said fearfully.

Hearing this, Mang Tianchi, the headmaster of Nuoding Academy, immediately released his martial soul, the Lie Shan Spear. Four soul rings-white, yellow, yellow, and purple-rose around his body, fully revealing the aura of a Soul Ancestor above level forty.

Mang Tianchi's martial soul, the Lie Shan Spear, was a fire-attribute tool martial soul that could be classified under the power attack system. Unfortunately, his innate soul power had only been level four, and he had lacked access to good resources in his youth.

After squandering more than half his life, he had only reached the rank of Four-Ring Soul Ancestor.

Still, the strength of a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor was more than enough to serve as the headmaster of a junior soul master academy in a small place like Nuoding City.

Neither Xiao Yan nor Tang San understood what was happening. Just then, however, they suddenly witnessed a bizarre sight.

In the direction the Grandmaster was watching, two towering trees slowly parted to either side, and an enormous figure wreathed in flames silently emerged between them.

At the sight of this huge creature, everyone stopped breathing.

P.S. Please send monthly tickets and recommendation votes. A hint: this isn't about handing Xiao Yan a soul ring.

This isn't about handing Xiao Yan a soul ring.