Chapter 15

"This is what I developed over more than ten years of traveling back and forth between the Star Dou Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire, observing over a thousand Soul Masters, and repeatedly visiting the Star Dou Great Forest and Sunset Forest to observe Soul Beasts of various ages.

"On top of that, I pored over vast quantities of ancient texts from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and Spirit Hall, conducted years of field visits, and met not only sects and clans, but also a great many commoner Soul Masters. I compiled and summarized all of that to create these theories."

[Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang's martial soul theory has the following core principle: there are only useless Soul Masters, not useless martial souls. Other principles include: innate soul power is related to martial soul quality; specific age limits for the soul rings Soul Masters can absorb at each rank; and so on.]

Yu Xiaogang still maintained a scholar's solemn air, but thanks to the system's notification, Lan Changsheng already knew the full contents of his theories. They could not be called entirely useless, but they were too dogmatic, too absolute, if applied wholesale to Tang San.

Not just Tang San-if his theories were applied to any peerless genius, they would very likely restrict that person's development.

So perhaps this was why he wanted to take Tang San as his disciple. He needed a genius to experiment on, because a genius would grow in their own right.

"San, which path are you leaning toward?"

Seeing Lan Changsheng toss the question to him, Tang San began to struggle with the decision too, because he felt that what Li Xiaogang said was not entirely unreasonable.

He was willing to take Yu Xiaogang as his master because the plan Yu Xiaogang had described for his Blue Silver Grass martial soul did not differ much from his own ideas, and was even more detailed and comprehensive. Moreover, the method Grandmaster had described for cultivating twin martial souls greatly tempted him.

If his Clear Sky Hammer martial soul could start with ten thousand year soul rings, how powerful would it be!

But now, the fact that the age of his first soul ring would increase along with his rank was something Yu Xiaogang did not know.

So he could absolutely follow Yu Xiaogang's original plan with the most solid foundation possible.

But he could not possibly give up the possibilities his Blue Silver Emperor bloodline brought him, either. It had only just awakened, yet he could already feel the strength of his Blue Silver Grass-no, it should now be called his Blue Silver Emperor martial soul. Even the Blue Silver Grass he summoned had become vastly stronger.

Moreover, in an environment full of Blue Silver Grass, both his cultivation speed and his soul power recovery rate were several times what they had been before.

He could sense that he still had many abilities waiting to be uncovered. On this path, no one could possibly be better than Lan Changsheng.

He could still tell which carried more weight: having one powerful martial soul or having two.

Moreover, as he imagined it, once his current first soul skill gained more variations, the realization of his great hidden weapon undertaking would be just around the corner.

[Ding, the host's nephew has been detected wavering in his filial devotion. In this situation, the system recommends: beat him! The rod produces filial sons! Make him understand his uncle's wholehearted sincerity! Reward: one percent mastery of the Law of Life.]

"Since you can't decide right away, let's find somewhere to sit down. Listen to me debate this teacher of yours before you decide." In truth, when he saw the system's notification, Lan Changsheng had nearly slapped Tang San on the head. After all, that one slap meant one percent mastery.

But remembering that Tang San was still a child, he decided to give him another chance.

Hearing Lan Changsheng's words, Yu Xiaogang also felt that arguing too much here would be inappropriate and damage his scholarly image. Besides, if the man opposite him lost and flew into a humiliated rage, he would be no match for him. He would be the one losing face then.

The three of them went to Yu Xiaogang's office. Its furnishings were quite ordinary: a few desks and a chair were all it contained. The desks were piled with all kinds of books and manuscript pages.

This also let Lan Changsheng know that Yu Xiaogang's earlier claim about compiling his findings from over ten years of travel was not empty talk. But that did not change the fact that he was now leading a student astray.

Lan Changsheng stepped forward and picked up the topmost manuscript. Written on it were Yu Xiaogang's ten martial soul theories.

"Then let's start with your first theory. You say there are no useless martial souls, only useless Soul Masters. But what about you?

"Your martial soul, Luo Sanpao, mutated, and your rank is locked at twenty-nine, unable to rise. Is that a problem with you, or with your martial soul?"

"Well..." Yu Xiaogang had not expected Lan Changsheng to throw out such a pointed question right from the start, leaving him momentarily at a loss for an answer.

"If you truly believe there are no useless martial souls, why have you only taken Little San as your sole disciple so far? Is it because he has twin martial souls, and one of them is the Clear Sky Hammer?"

Yu Xiaogang's face instantly paled. He clenched his fists, his fingertips turning white.

"And this principle of yours says that although Soul Masters cannot break through without absorbing a soul ring, they can still continue accumulating soul power. What about you? How much soul power have you gained over the years?"

"But these are conclusions drawn from over a thousand years of Soul Masters' experience. Can you possibly measure up to over a thousand years of history?" Yu Xiaogang did not answer Lan Changsheng's question directly, but in truth, that was an answer in itself.

What Lan Changsheng had brought up was precisely the issue he was least willing to face. As the originator of these theories, he could not put his own theories into practice. This was undoubtedly the most painful thing for him.

"And this one. You say innate soul power is directly proportional to martial soul quality. Tang San had innate full soul power, and the only martial soul he revealed was Blue Silver Grass, so you concluded that he must have twin martial souls. Although your conclusion was correct, this theory is missing one crucial supporting point."

"What is it?" Yu Xiaogang stared at Lan Changsheng like a man clutching at driftwood.

"For twin martial souls to exist, the two martial souls must be close in quality."

"Impossible! The Clear Sky Hammer is the continent's number one tool martial soul. How could Blue Silver Grass be close to it in quality?" Yu Xiaogang retorted loudly, as though he had heard something inconceivable.

"That's because you still know too little about Soul Beasts." But Lan Changsheng did not intend to explain too much. Many people already had their eyes on him and Ah Yin. "Moreover, even people who awaken the same martial soul have different innate soul power levels, just like those in your Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. Have you never thought about why?"

"Is... is it because of their constitutions?" Yu Xiaogang murmured to himself, great beads of sweat already seeping from his forehead. This was supposed to be a debate, yet he could not refute anything Lan Changsheng said. At this moment, he knew he had been flayed from head to toe today.

"So you haven't even accounted for constitution as a variable. Then why are you so certain that soul ring absorption has fixed age limits? Your theories take average experience as ironclad law. They may suit most people, but for geniuses, they will instead constrain their development."

Yu Xiaogang fell silent. Bracing himself against the desk, he sat down in the chair, feeling his body go weak.

"It shouldn't be like this..." Yu Xiaogang raised his head to look at Lan Changsheng, his eyes bloodshot, and pulled a token engraved with the words "Spirit Hall" from inside his clothes.

"I am an honorary elder of Spirit Hall. I am not wrong! I'm going to find someone to arrest you!"