"Another big haul. Not bad. Business keeps getting better. Too bad Shrek Academy is about to start its term. I'll have to put business here in the Star Luo Empire on hold."
Lu Yu opened the book and took out an envelope bearing Shrek Academy's emblem. It was merely an admission recommendation letter, and he had used this sort of thing to swindle quite a few people.
Calling it swindling wasn't quite fair, though. The information he provided really was worth the price.
"Shrek. Who would've thought that diploma mill would become the continent's number-one academy after ten thousand years? Looks like the route where you choose Tang San at the start must be the canonical storyline."
Lu Yu was a transmigrator, and he had transmigrated into a single-player game he had played called "Douluo Continent." When he first learned that martial souls existed, he had planned to use his foreknowledge from the game to take the Spirit Hall route and live the good life. After asking around, however, he discovered that Spirit Hall had been destroyed ten thousand years ago.
Although he hadn't started out as an orphan, when he was six, his parents had gone out to help someone hunt for a soul ring and been refined by an evil soul master passing through. Fortunately, his parents had followed the theoretical school and kept plenty of books at home. Added to that, he had been a veteran power gamer in his previous life, so putting together martial soul builds came as easily as turning his hand. He had managed to gain a foothold.
Even after getting Tang Ya's secret manual as a drop and coming to the Star Luo Empire, he had successfully made a name for himself in Star Luo City with the help of some wealthy merchant regulars.
As for why he was now abandoning that reputation in Star Luo City to head to Shrek Academy, that brought things back to his martial soul.
Lu Yu opened the backyard gate. The ground was covered in blue-green grass, resembling a little blue-green lake at a glance. All of it was blue silver grass.
At that moment, the blue silver grass was photosynthesizing toward the sun.
Then Lu Yu raised his right hand, and a blackish-purple vine appeared in his palm. The blue silver grass throughout the yard swayed in unison, facing Lu Yu-no, bowing slightly toward the blue silver grass in his hand.
Immediately afterward, a blue-silver glow emanated from the grass and converged on the blue silver grass in Lu Yu's hand.
Lu Yu instantly felt his body relax, and his soul power cultivation finally reached level twenty.
He then sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. As time passed, a yellow ring of light gradually formed above his head.
A self-condensed soul ring! Had a powerful soul master been there, they probably would have killed Lu Yu themselves to see whether he would drop a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and a soul bone.
Only soul beasts that had taken human form to cultivate could condense their own soul rings.
But Lu Yu wasn't a soul beast that had taken human form, nor was this a self-condensed soul ring. He preferred to call it a God-Given Soul Ring.
His soul rings were bestowed by his martial soul, and their ages automatically increased according to what his body could withstand. For example, both of Lu Yu's current soul rings were over eight hundred years old.
In the game "Douluo Continent," only gods could upgrade soul rings.
"It's been six years since I awakened my martial soul, and I'm only level twenty. My cultivation is still too slow. I've just saved up a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, too. Time to head to Shrek Academy."
Naturally, Lu Yu was going to Shrek Academy to improve his cultivation faster.
He had no martial soul, but he did have a martial soul slot. This slot could hold any martial soul, provided that the soul master who possessed it had spent a long time in contact with Lu Yu or had been defeated by him.
When he had first awakened his martial soul, he had neither a martial soul nor any soul power. His sky had nearly come crashing down. Making a power fanatic live as a bottom-feeding weakling in a fantasy world-was that something a human being would do?
Fortunately, he later discovered that he could still cultivate soul power. With self-created soul skills, he might yet carve out a place for himself.
It wasn't until the day he defeated Tang Ya, when he saw a blackish-purple speck of light drift from her body into his own, after which his martial soul became the same dark blue silver grass as hers, that he understood his martial soul's ability.
He named his martial soul Chimera, after a fantastical creature that fused the strongest parts of various creatures together and radiated the beauty of power.
His Chimera martial soul could absorb Martial Soul Fragments from opponents by defeating them or remaining in contact with them for a long time. Whichever martial soul's fragments he possessed, he could use that martial soul. Naturally, Chimera's soul skills were the skills those soul masters possessed when they dropped their Martial Soul Fragments, and he could freely mix and match them.
For instance, at level twenty, Lu Yu could equip two martial souls and soul skills at the same time.
Lu Yu looked at a pockmarked rock nearby. He normally used it to test the power of his soul skills.
The first soul ring behind Lu Yu lit up, and the blue silver vines in his hand immediately coiled around the boulder, enveloping it.
Then the second soul ring behind him lit up. The enormous, heavy rock was hoisted by the blue silver vines before being slammed into the ground and reduced to fragments.
Dark blue silver grass's first soul skill: Blue Silver Entanglement.
Soft Bone Rabbit's second soul skill: Gravity Control.
These were the only highest-quality Martial Soul Fragments Lu Yu had obtained. Of the two, Soft Bone Rabbit was a top-tier martial soul with level-ten innate soul power, while dark blue silver grass, before awakening, was a low-grade martial soul with level-five innate soul power. After awakening, it could also reach top-tier quality with level-ten innate soul power.
Thinking of Soft Bone Rabbit, Lu Yu had to thank that girl named Jiang Nannan. His innate soul power depended on the martial souls he copied. Back when he had just awakened his martial soul, his pace of only two levels in the first year had left him thoroughly frustrated. Only after defeating Tang Ya with a sneak attack had he obtained the cultivation talent of level-five innate soul power, along with the fun of blue silver grass absorbing more blue silver grass.
Unfortunately, he only dared to make his blue silver grass absorb other blue silver grass. At present, his blue silver grass only became dark blue silver grass when he activated his martial soul's potential in battle.
Once he absorbed other soul beasts, his mind would gradually be affected, and his martial soul would completely transform into dark blue silver grass. At that point, revealing his martial soul really would make him an evil soul master.
At the very least, Lu Yu would wait until he had a martial soul to replace dark blue silver grass before activating it and turning it into a cultivation martial soul specifically for absorbing plant soul beasts.
As for animal martial souls, he truly didn't dare absorb them. Based on his gaming experience in his previous life, martial souls capable of corruption all had corruption meters. If he absorbed too much flesh, blood, and soul without sufficient spiritual power, he would go completely mad.
Lu Yu put away both martial souls. Dark blue silver grass's first skill plus Soft Bone Rabbit's second skill was his best combination at present. Usually, he could pin an opponent in place with Gravity Control, then inject paralytic poison and absorb soul power through Blue Silver Entanglement.
Alternatively, he could use reduced gravity, adapted from Gravity Control, together with blue silver grass to lift an opponent, then increase gravity as he smashed them into the ground.
Combining these two uses gave him both control and damage output. With his eight-hundred-year soul rings on top of that, an ordinary thousand-year soul beast probably wouldn't be a match for him.
"All right. To get more Martial Soul Fragments, I'll have to go to Shrek this year. I can't waste this cultivation haven I nurtured with all sorts of precious fertilizers, either."
With that, Lu Yu sent his dark blue silver grass deep into the soil, seized the blue silver grass's roots, and refined them in an instant.
Lu Yu sat cross-legged and began digesting the gifts from the blue silver grass.
A night passed. When Lu Yu opened his eyes again, all the blue silver grass in the backyard had withered, and his soul power level had risen from twenty to twenty-two.
After raising his soul power, Lu Yu began packing his luggage and found someone to mail his book collection. In them, he had recorded his gaming experience and the martial soul knowledge he had gathered over the years, using three languages from his previous life.
Once everything was packed, Lu Yu took down his sign and prepared to close the shop.
"Um, excuse me, is this shop closed?"
A soft, frail female voice sounded behind Lu Yu.
Lu Yu turned to look and saw a pretty girl with long blue hair, dressed in clothes washed pale. Flecks of light glittered in her large, bright-blue eyes, as though stars were hidden within them, making them look wonderfully lively.
Sensing the aura of her martial soul, Lu Yu instinctively assessed it.
Martial soul: Spirit Eyes Quality: top-tier Assessment: a spiritual-type martial soul combined with an eye martial soul. Can reach super martial soul status after a Silver-Level Second Awakening. Paired with Soul Tools and powerful soul beast skills, its power can reach the Extra-Large Cup.
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