Three double-hours later.
Tang Tianlin abruptly opened his eyes, a glint of gold flashing through his pupils.
"I never thought I'd reach rank thirty so quickly."
When he had left the sect a month earlier, he had still been at rank twenty-nine.
At a normal pace, even with his Golden Dragon King bloodline, he would have needed at least half a year to reach rank thirty.
But with his status as a child of nature, he had gained a rank in just over a month.
The increase in his soul rings' ages had also played a part, but the main reason was still the heaven-defying effect of meditating with the power of nature.
"With my status as a child of nature, I won't have to tread so cautiously in the Star Dou Great Forest anymore."
Since Tang San had successfully returned to the sect, Tang Tianlin naturally intended to nurture him properly.
At the very least, he would not attach a Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo martial soul to him like Gangzi had.
However, Tang San did not seem particularly enthusiastic about cultivating Blue Silver Grass at present.
"Forget it. Let nature take its course."
Early the following morning.
Day had barely broken when a carriage pulled up outside Nuoding Academy.
The driver was an honest, simple-looking middle-aged man, squatting on the carriage shaft and smoking a pipe.
Tang Tianlin lifted the carriage curtain and called behind him, "Little San, time to go."
Tang San hurried over from the work-study students' dormitory with his luggage on his back. As he jumped into the carriage, he instinctively glanced back toward Dorm Seven.
Last night's fight had been quite interesting.
That girl named Xiao Wu had actually been able to trade blows with him evenly. In the end, he had held something back rather than using his full strength, and she, too, seemed to have another card up her sleeve.
But none of that mattered now. His elder brother had said he would take him to hunt for a soul ring today. That was what mattered.
The carriage rattled along, passing through town before gradually making its way onto a winding mountain road.
Tang San sat inside, his gaze wandering as he unconsciously toyed with a blade of Blue Silver Grass he had picked by the roadside.
Its leaves were slender, with a faint sheen to their emerald green, and it looked no different from the wild grass beside the road.
He stared at the blade of grass, his gaze growing increasingly complicated.
After a long while, Tang San finally raised his head and looked at Tang Tianlin, who sat opposite him resting with his eyes closed, and said in a low voice:
"Big Brother, I thought about it all night."
"About what?"
"Blue Silver Grass..."
Tang San tightened his grip on the leaf. "Is it really just a trash martial soul?"
"..."
Tang Tianlin opened his eyes. At the sight of Tang San's conflicted face, he found himself momentarily at a loss for words.
Blue Silver Grass was certainly a trash martial soul, but the Blue Silver Emperor was not.
But was the Blue Silver Emperor really that powerful?
Not necessarily.
After all, Tang Wulin had spent his entire life proving that no matter what form Blue Silver Grass took, it was useless in the later stages.
Tang Tianlin considered for a moment. Rather than answering immediately, he reached out and took the blade of Blue Silver Grass from Tang San, holding it before his eyes to examine it briefly.
"Little San, have you ever considered a question?"
"What?"
"Why do you have innate full soul power?"
"Because of my twin martial souls, of course!"
Tang San answered without hesitation.
In truth, he believed his innate full soul power was entirely thanks to the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
But he had read many books lately and discovered that anyone with twin martial souls invariably had innate full soul power.
"Twin martial souls are only one of the reasons supporting innate full soul power."
Tang Tianlin raised a finger. "The real key is this: is what you possess truly the most ordinary Blue Silver Grass?"
At those words, Tang San abruptly lowered his head to look at the Blue Silver Grass in his hand.
The leaves swayed gently in the sunlight, seemingly ordinary. Yet for some reason, he kept feeling that his Blue Silver Grass was somewhat different from the Blue Silver Grass that grew everywhere along the roadside.
"The bloodline of the Clear Sky Hammer flows within you. If it truly were the lowest-grade Blue Silver Grass, never mind having twin martial souls-it would have been devoured outright by the Clear Sky Hammer the moment you awakened."
Tang Tianlin leaned against the carriage wall. "So your Blue Silver Grass isn't that simple. Or rather, your bloodline isn't that simple."
Tang San's heart gave a sudden thump.
"Big Brother, you mean... the potential of my Blue Silver Grass martial soul is no weaker than the Clear Sky Hammer's?"
"Clever."
Tang Tianlin nodded slightly. "Although your Blue Silver Grass is still very weak now, you can keep strengthening your martial soul by absorbing soul rings, eventually achieving true evolution."
There were no useless martial souls, only soul masters with useless martial souls. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with that statement.
Even a broken sword or a small blade of grass could continually improve in quality by absorbing suitable soul rings, thereby shedding the label of trash martial soul.
But there was one problem: the lower a person's innate soul power, the less room they had for error.
Once a mistake occurred with an attached martial soul, it would affect them for life.
Yu Xiaogang was a classic example.
If his first two soul rings had strengthened the Golden Sacred Dragon bloodline within him, he might truly have become a genius.
But neither of them had.
So there were no useless martial souls, only a useless Yu Xiaogang.
If Tang San had not possessed innate full soul power and the Blue Silver Emperor bloodline, Yu Xiaogang's meddling in his early stages really would have ruined him.
"Absorb soul rings and keep evolving..."
Tang San murmured under his breath, his eyes gradually brightening. He could not help saying admiringly, "I think you're the real grandmaster of theory, Big Brother."
"Ahem..."
Hearing that title, Tang Tianlin gave a dry cough and waved his hands repeatedly. "Never mind 'Grandmaster.' Once you return to the Clear Sky Sect and finish reading the sect's texts, you'll be able to do the same as me."
"Is that so?"
Tang San's eyes lit up, and his anticipation of returning to the sect grew a little stronger.
"So, do you want to cultivate the Clear Sky Hammer now, or Blue Silver Grass?"
Seeing that the time was ripe, Tang Tianlin asked again.
Compared with his earlier decisiveness, Tang San gave it more thought this time.
A moment later, he asked in return, "Big Brother, do you and Father want me to cultivate my Blue Silver Grass martial soul?"
Tang Tianlin waved a hand. "I won't force you. The road lies beneath your feet. How you walk it is ultimately your choice. At most, I can offer you some advice."
Hearing this, Tang San lowered his head in silence.
When he raised his head again, his gaze had become resolute. "You're right, Big Brother. With twin martial souls, I should take the path of cultivating the weaker one first and the stronger one later."
"Although I don't know how far Blue Silver Grass can go, I keep feeling that it's more than just a blade of wild grass by the roadside."
At those words, the corners of Tang Tianlin's mouth lifted slightly. "Since you've decided to take the Blue Silver Grass path, have you thought about how to follow it?"
Tang San paused. "How to follow it?"
"Blue Silver Grass is a plant-type martial soul. I don't need to elaborate on that."
Tang Tianlin raised a finger. "The cultivation paths for plant-type martial souls can broadly be divided into two categories."
"One is to strengthen Blue Silver Grass's life attribute and pursue the life system to its ultimate extreme. The other is to strengthen Blue Silver Grass itself, increasing its hardness and toughness to forge it into a combat martial soul like a vine whip or a spear."
"The former follows the support system and control system paths, while the latter is purely power attack system."
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