The Useless Martial Soul!?

"Yes, Grandpa Tai." His body had recovered somewhat, and his legs were no longer weak. Yang Yunhai carefully stood up and strode forward.

Having witnessed the martial soul awakenings of his two companions earlier, he already knew what to expect, so he walked straight into the hexagonal stone formation.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man immediately slapped both hands forward, injecting Soul Power into the Six Black Stones on the ground one after another. The next moment, the six stones seemed to establish some kind of connection, simultaneously releasing a faint Golden Light that enveloped Yang Yunhai completely.

So warm. That was Yang Yunhai's first impression.

Then he felt as though something inside his body had suddenly shattered. Waves of warmth surged along his arm toward his right palm.

Yang Yunhai instinctively raised his right hand.

The Village Chief, the middle-aged man, and the children nearby all stared at him.

The next second, blue light accompanied by several strands of white radiance gathered together. A tiny, extremely tender-looking Blue Grass suddenly appeared in his palm.

Blue Silver Grass—the plant could be seen everywhere along the village roads. They could not have mistaken it. The only difference was that the Leaf Veins of the Blue Silver Grass in Yang Yunhai's hand were whitish, while those of the Blue Silver Grass by the roadside were pale blue. But without a doubt, its appearance was absolutely that of Blue Silver Grass.

"Blue Silver Grass!?" All the children froze, including Yang Yunhai himself.

"How could this be?" The Village Chief and the middle-aged man also found it hard to believe what they were seeing.

Yang Yunhai was struck by lightning every time he went outside on a rainy day, so they had held great expectations for him. They had always believed that he would awaken a decent martial soul today.

Yet he had actually awakened Blue Silver Grass, a martial soul publicly acknowledged throughout the continent as useless.

The contrast was simply too great.

"Uncle Di, I feel like my Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul is a little different. Don't believe me? Feel it!" After coming back to his senses, Yang Yunhai looked up at the middle-aged man.

Chang Gongdi, the Village Chief's eldest son, was forty-four years old, a Level 29 Soul Grand Master, and the current Spirit Hall Deacon.

"Different?" Chang Gongdi murmured. He instinctively raised his right hand and touched the Blue Silver Grass's leaves.

The next moment, his pupils shrank, and his fingers instantly recoiled on instinct.

"E-Electricity?!" The words nearly escaped his mouth. Light immediately returned to his eyes, and his expectations rose again.

Now that makes sense! It has electricity. That fits someone who's struck by lightning all the time. Perhaps this isn't ordinary Blue Silver Grass, he thought excitedly.

He hurriedly picked up the Blue Crystal placed to the side and handed it over, saying eagerly, "Come, Xiao Hai. Test your Soul Power."

"Mm." Yang Yunhai nodded. With a thought, he controlled his martial soul to return to his body, then extended his right hand and placed it on the crystal.

A tremendous suction force suddenly came from his palm. Then, the Blue Crystal below abruptly lit up.

"This..." Chang Gongdi's expression instantly collapsed. The Village Chief's eyes, which had held some brilliance moments earlier, also dimmed at once.

From the brightness, it was clear that his Innate Soul Power was Level 0.5. Having worked in this field for many years, they could not have been mistaken.

Damn it. A martial soul with the Thunder Attribute, yet his Innate Soul Power is this low!? Yang Yunhai's own mentality shattered as well.

As far as he knew, Spirit Masters on Douluo Continent could not cultivate Soul Power before awakening their martial souls. Therefore, the amount of Innate Soul Power one possessed was something determined at birth. Otherwise, Innate Full Soul Power would have been common everywhere. In a sense, barring any accidents, the level of one's Innate Soul Power basically represented a Spirit Master's future cultivation speed and determined the upper limit of their growth.

With Innate Soul Power at Level 0.5, there was no doubt that his cultivation talent was at the very bottom.

The sole exception was Tang San. According to the original story, Tang San's Innate Full Soul Power had been cultivated through the Mysterious Heaven Skill. At first, he had possessed no Soul Power within his body. Only after his martial soul awakened did the inner force he cultivated transform into Soul Power, giving him Innate Full Soul Power.

As for Yang Yunhai, he had never come into contact with any Cultivation Method in his previous life. Naturally, he had been unable to accumulate inner force before the age of six. The only thing he could do was exercise his body and hope for heaven-sent luck. His skin was so dark because he had spent the past two years training beneath the sun.

Now, his hopes had been crushed. It hurt!

"Ah..." Seeing Yang Yunhai's dejected expression, Chang Gongdi, who was his elder, could not help feeling regretful for him. He quickly composed himself, smiled, reached out, and patted Yang Yunhai on the shoulder in consolation. "Xiao Hai, don't be discouraged. Awakening Soul Power through your martial soul means you can become a Spirit Master in the future. You've already surpassed the vast majority of people on the continent."

He was not lying. Spirit Masters made up less than one percent of the continent's total population.

"That's right, Boss!" one of the surrounding children called out, his voice tinged with envy. "None of us awakened Soul Power."

"Ah, Boss awakened Soul Power. He'll be going to school at an academy in the future, so no one will tell us stories anymore."

Compared to becoming Spirit Masters, the young children still felt that having stories to listen to was more important.

"Boss, I'll tell you stories when I get back later." Yang Yunhai forced a faint smile onto his face and looked at his companions.

"Yay!" The children immediately brightened.

"All right, children. We should leave too." The Village Chief, who had already walked over, spoke kindly.

After saying that, he turned to look at his eldest son.

"A Di, I'll talk to Xiao Hai about school when we get home. You should go awaken the martial souls of the children in the other villages."

"All right." Chang Gongdi nodded and began packing up.

Before long, outside the Wooden House, the children who were not orphans were taken away by their parents, while the orphans were brought back to the Orphanage by the Village Chief.

After they arrived, the Village Chief led Yang Yunhai alone to the Dean's Office and sat down.

"Xiao Hai, would you like to join Spirit Hall like your Grandpa, your Uncle Di, your Uncle Ao, and your older brothers and sisters?" The Village Chief looked at Yang Yunhai and asked tentatively. He then explained, "Xiao Hai, this is what I'm thinking."

"Although your Innate Soul Power isn't high, you still have great hope of becoming a Spirit Master. If you join Spirit Hall, you can serve as a deacon at the Notting City Branch in the future, just like your Grandpa and Uncle Di did. You'll have a stable income, and your life won't be bad."

"When you grow older, you can return to the village to retire, or take over my position and become the Village Chief or the director of the Orphanage. You've known everyone in the village since childhood. If anything happens, we can look after one another, and when you're bored, you can gather with everyone and chat."

Yang Yunhai had been clever since he was young. The Village Chief felt that he would have no problem becoming the Village Chief in the future.

"As for school..." the Village Chief continued. "You're the only child in the village who awakened Soul Power this year, so you can use the work-study student slot at Notting City Junior Spirit Master Academy. If you join Spirit Hall beforehand, you'll become a reserve Spirit Master of Spirit Hall and can collect a certain amount of living assistance from the Notting City Branch every month. Combined with the wages the academy gives its work-study students, you won't have any trouble with food and drink at Notting Academy. Just be careful not to provoke those noble Spirit Masters."

He disliked the noble Spirit Masters at Notting Academy because he had been bullied and forced to pay protection money when he was young.

That was why he felt he should remind Yang Yunhai.

"All right, Grandpa Tai." Yang Yunhai nodded without the slightest hesitation.

He had secretly learned from the villagers long ago that he had been abandoned by the roadside. If the Village Chief, who was a Spirit City deacon, had not picked him up back then, he would probably have been carried away by wild beasts or starved to death beneath that Poplar Tree.

Moreover, during all these years at the Orphanage, it had been the Village Chief's family who cared for him and taught him knowledge related to Spirit Masters.

Then I'll join. I'll consider it repaying their kindness.

As for the Village Chief's plan to send him to Notting City Junior Spirit Master Academy rather than the Spirit Hall Exclusive Soul Master Academy, he knew the reason as well.

It was very simple. The Spirit Hall Exclusive Soul Master Academy had admission requirements. Innate Soul Power of Level 3 was a mandatory condition.

It was essentially selecting elites among commoner Spirit Masters who had at least a chance of cultivating to the Soul Elder realm.

As long as one successfully joined, even a century-old Soul Ring would be provided for free.

Why was there an Enforcement Team in the Beginner Soul Hunting Forest? Besides patrolling, checking warrants, and preventing people from sneaking in under false pretenses, another one of its duties was to help the Spirit Hall Exclusive Soul Masters who came to obtain Soul Rings find suitable soul beasts to hunt.

The Beginner Soul Hunting Forest was a place where the empire raised soul beasts. Remember, it was a breeding ground, and breeding grounds necessarily involved human management. Therefore, Spirit Hall knew exactly what soul beasts were in the Beginner Soul Hunting Forest, how old they were, and where they were located.

Whenever necessary, they could simply have the Enforcement Team lead people over and cripple the target. It was practically an all-in-one service.

Perhaps this was also one of the reasons Spirit Hall controlled seventy percent of the continent's Spirit Masters.

Think about the original story. Even nobles who had not joined Spirit Hall, such as the lord of Notting City and his son Xiao Chenyu, had a White Ring as their first Soul Ring.

The difference in benefits was enormous.

Someone like him, with only Level 0.5 Innate Soul Power and a martial soul publicly recognized as useless, obviously had no qualifications to enter the Spirit Hall Exclusive Soul Master Academy. This was also why Tang San, despite awakening Innate Full Soul Power, had not been invited by Su Yuntao to join Spirit Hall. In the public's understanding, the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul was simply too useless and had no value for cultivation.

Of course, possessing Soul Power still made one stronger than an ordinary person. Spirit Hall would certainly accept someone who actively chose to join; they simply would not focus on nurturing them. Thus, sending them to the local junior academy, providing a small monthly subsidy to solve their basic needs, and maintaining contact with them became the optimal choice.

As far as he knew, the Village Chief had awakened Level 2 Innate Soul Power back then, which failed to meet the requirements for entering the Spirit Hall Exclusive Soul Master Academy. He then entered Notting City Soul Master Academy as a work-study student and was subsequently bullied by noble Spirit Masters.

After that, he chose to join Spirit Hall. His mistreatment at the hands of noble Spirit Masters had probably played a role in that decision.

No wonder the Village Chief wanted him to join Spirit Hall directly and had specifically warned him to be careful around noble Spirit Masters.

"Then it's settled." Seeing that Yang Yunhai had agreed, the Village Chief spoke with a smile. "There's still half a month before the Soul Master Academy begins. Later, I'll arrange a Single Dormitory for you. Cultivate properly during this period. Leave the other matters to Grandpa."

Yang Yunhai had followed along and watched when the Village Chief's grandson learned Spirit Hall's Meditation Method back then.

"Thank you, Grandpa Tai." Yang Yunhai hopped down from the chair and bowed politely. "Then I'll head back first."

The Village Chief's smile grew even warmer. He nodded. "All right."

It makes no sense for a martial soul with the Thunder Attribute to have only Level 0.5 Innate Soul Power. Yang Yunhai walked toward the door while thinking. After stepping outside and entering the courtyard, gentle sunlight spilled down onto his face.

Warmth swept over him. He could not help raising his head to look at the sky. The clouds rolled and parted, and his thoughts drifted with them.

"Blue Silver Grass, as a plant-type soul beast, is characterized by its tenacious vitality and possesses the Life Attribute. But lightning is an existence that destroys life in nature. How can the two coexist? Could my martial soul have undergone a negative mutation and failed to produce Soul Power at all? Could the reason I awakened Soul Power be that, after being struck by lightning dozens of times over the years, a little energy remained inside my body?"

Thinking of this possibility, Yang Yunhai could not help recalling a special plant-type soul beast.

Thunder Hell Vine. According to the original story, during its infancy, it grew stronger each time it was struck by lightning. A hundred strikes were equivalent to one year of cultivation for an ordinary soul beast. But he possessed neither Tang San's Blue Silver Emperor bloodline nor the bloodline of the Thunder Hell Vine.

As an ordinary human, his physical strength, self-recovery ability, and efficiency in absorbing the energy of heaven and earth—especially the amount he could absorb and his conversion efficiency when facing the extremely violent energy of lightning—were certainly far inferior to those of the soul beast Thunder Hell Vine.

A hundred lightning strikes gave the Thunder Hell Vine the equivalent of one year's cultivation. Wouldn't he need several hundred or even a thousand strikes?

Moreover, he had been absorbing it passively all these years.

So this Level 0.5 Innate Soul Power is the amount of lightning-attribute energy left in my body after I was struck by lightning dozens of times over the past six years, converted into Soul Power. At the thought of this possibility, Yang Yunhai's mind momentarily short-circuited, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

In that case, if I had gone outside to be struck by lightning every time there was a thunderstorm, wouldn't I have awakened Innate Full Soul Power today?

Of course, I might already have been struck to death!

He lowered his head and remained silent for a long while.

"Ah..." In the end, only a long sigh escaped him.

"I'll wait for an overcast, rainy day and test whether I can draw lightning down to cultivate. If I can, perhaps there's still hope."

"Otherwise, I'll have to find a way to get ahead of Third Brother and pluck some of his cheat abilities."

With that thought, he started walking toward the dormitory.