Yu Xiaogang's Evaluation

Time flew by, and two months passed in the blink of an eye.

Boom! A thunderclap rolled in from the horizon. Outside Dorm Seven's window, April drizzle fell like threads alongside the evening breeze.

It was thundering. Yang Yunhai, who had been meditating on his bed, was jolted awake. He glanced around the dormitory and saw that his roommates had all stopped cultivating to look outside before choosing to go back to sleep. Tang San and Xiao Wu both pulled their blankets over themselves as well.

Xiao Wu in particular let out a swish and burrowed beneath her blanket, covering her head as though she were terrified.

Yang Yunhai was already used to it.

Soul Beasts that reached the hundred-thousand-year level all had to face Thunder Tribulations. If Xiao Wu were not afraid, she would not have chosen to rebuild her cultivation.

I'll go out after everyone falls asleep. With that thought, he closed his eyes and continued cultivating.

Ever since March, the academy had been getting more rainy days. Now that April's plum rain season had arrived, thunderstorms like this had become even more common. Sometimes, it even rained for several days in a row.

And that gave him the perfect opportunity to cultivate through Lightning Attraction.

The annoying part was that after attracting lightning once, he needed several days to recover. By the time he could do it again, the rainy weather might already be over. He had encountered exactly that situation once at the end of February. Still, it had its benefits. When it rained during the day, he could find an excuse to go out without arousing suspicion.

If he went out every time it rained, that would be strange.

Besides, without affecting his cultivation, he could currently withstand at most two lightning bolts entering his body.

If he endured one more, he would pass out. His meridians would be damaged afterward, and his Martial Soul would harden severely, greatly affecting his Soul Power cultivation.

Two bolts of lightning passed in an instant. No one would pay attention, and besides, no one went out during thunderstorms.

He figured Tang Hao was the same. Tang San was at the academy under its enclosed educational system and was not going anywhere. If Tang Hao came running over to spy on him on rainy days, would that not make him an idiot?

Of course, the most important thing was that cultivating through Lightning Attraction had decent results. The tiny immediate increase in his cultivation was merely an extra surprise. What truly delighted him was that after several experiences, he had discovered something astonishing: after his body was struck by lightning, his Soul Power cultivation speed would increase somewhat during his recovery period. It was not noticeable ordinarily, but after enough time had passed, he had still sensed the accumulated difference.

His physical strength also improved somewhat.

Was it because lightning stimulated the muscles throughout his body, accelerating his metabolism and blood circulation, thereby enhancing his bodily functions, speeding up his absorption and conversion of the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, and in turn nourishing his body?

That had been his previous guess.

It was the same principle as eating more after intense physical labor, then gaining muscle after keeping it up for some time.

And in novels, this was called Lightning Guiding Body Tempering or Thunder Body Tempering.

The fact that his meridians could now withstand two lightning bolts without trouble probably worked the same way. He had likely been shocked enough times that their strength had improved and they had adapted. Put simply, his lightning resistance had risen. Of course, most of the lightning's energy had been dispersed into the ground, and he could still absorb very little Thunder Attribute energy. On top of that, he had not forced himself to endure a third lightning bolt, so the energy absorbed into his body had not exceeded the threshold.

It was like taking medicine. Consume enough mild poison and one developed resistance; take strong poison and one simply died.

His Martial Soul's strength had also increased after being struck by lightning.

That was easy enough to understand. Soul Power was a special energy that Spirit Masters absorbed from the spiritual energy between heaven and earth and converted with their Martial Souls as the foundation.

Simply put, a Martial Soul was like a transfer station, some sort of conversion device. Spirit Masters had to use their Martial Souls to convert the spiritual energy between heaven and earth into Soul Power. That was probably why people in this world had to wait until their Martial Souls awakened before they could cultivate Soul Power.

Had Tang San's internal energy not become Soul Power through conversion by his Martial Soul after it awakened?

During that conversion process, whether through the constant accumulation of energy or the gradual tempering effect that energy might have on the Martial Soul over time, the Martial Soul's strength would naturally improve slowly. It simply was not as direct or rapid as absorbing Spirit Rings.

The same applied to him. It was perfectly normal for his Martial Soul's strength to improve somewhat.

Furthermore, the Thunder Element energy contained within natural lightning was condensed almost into substance. In his view, both its intensity and quality were certainly higher than the dispersed Thunder Element energy in heaven and earth. So when such high-quality Thunder Element energy entered his body and was absorbed and converted by his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, the strengthening effect on his Martial Soul should be better than ordinary cultivation, right?

Of course, these were only guesses he had formed from his cultivation over this period.

He did not know the exact reason, but after being struck by lightning, his Soul Power cultivation speed did become a tiny bit faster, and his Martial Soul's strength increased by the slightest amount, especially its hardness. Once his body had recovered, his physical strength improved a little as well.

Unfortunately, the improvement was far too slow! It still could not bring any qualitative change to his cultivation.

Still, aside from practical constraints such as thunderstorms being rare and short-lived, the limited number of times he could be struck, the two-bolt limit, the minor gains, the recovery time afterward, and the ease of missing opportunities, everything seemed to be heading in a positive direction.

By now, his Soul Power had broken through to Level 1 and a little beyond. What a cause for celebration. My ass!

Wasn't cultivation supposed to be fast during the stage from Level 0 to Level 10? Why had he not felt that at all?

It seemed that the cultivation speed boost from being struck by lightning had merely turned him from trash into a slightly less trashy country bumpkin.

The gap between him and people like Tang San and Xiao Wu was simply too great.

He had clearly worked very hard. He got up early to run, trained his body and cultivated Soul Power in the afternoon, then spent every night cultivating Soul Power. Every night, he cultivated later than anyone else in the dormitory. Yet the improvement he gained in the end was still depressing.

Talent really was like being born with shackles around one's feet, making every step difficult.

Unlike Tang San, who forged iron in the afternoon and only cultivated at night, yet whose cultivation still soared.

Xiao Wu was even more outrageous. She simply ate and drank, and her Soul Power rose on its own.

Sigh, things will get better in the future. Yang Yunhai could only comfort himself that way now.

His Martial Soul had been innately deficient and too weak. He had no choice. The only thing he could do was give it his all.

Notting City was located in the eastern part of Fasinuo Province. Grain and vegetables were abundant around it, annual rainfall was considerable, and the rainy season was quite long, lasting from April to September—a full five months. As long as he made good use of that period, he believed he could gain no small improvement.

As for the other months, that would depend on luck.

Time passed bit by bit, and soon it approached midnight.

Yang Yunhai rolled out of bed, put on his raincoat, walked to the dormitory door, and skillfully pushed it open before slipping outside.

After reaching the ground floor, he glanced at the dormitory lights, circled around to a small forest some distance behind the building, found a hidden spot, and endured two rumbling lightning strikes. Then, dragging his tense body along, he slowly returned to the dormitory, changed out of his soaked clothes in the bathroom, and went back to bed to sleep.

The next day, he attended classes and cultivated as usual. It was only because of the rain that he did not go to the Back Mountain to train that afternoon.

Then came the third day, the fourth day, and finally the fifth day.

The rain stopped, the skies cleared, and he had perfectly missed three days of opportunities to attract lightning.

There was nothing he could do. His body and Martial Soul had not yet recovered. If he forced himself to attract lightning again, an accident could easily occur. The loss would outweigh the gain.

At noon, after lunch, he returned to the dormitory to rest and digest for a while, then prepared to head to the Back Mountain to cultivate as usual.

"Xiao Haizi!"

As he reached the middle of the dormitory, Xiao Wu, who was leaning against the headboard, suddenly asked, "Don't you find it boring, cultivating like this every day?"

Yang Yunhai stopped and scratched his head as he replied.

"Sister Xiao Wu, my talent is poor. If I want to become a Spirit Master, I can only rely on hard work in cultivation."

"True enough." Xiao Wu had no retort and could only wave her hand. "Go on. Go."

"Xiao Wu, you should spend more time cultivating too." After Yang Yunhai left the dormitory, Tang San could not help turning to add.

Xiao Wu had Innate Full Soul Power, so her talent was naturally not a problem. She was simply too playful, and he felt she was indeed wasting her gifts somewhat.

"I know, I know." Xiao Wu curled her lips and replied perfunctorily, "I'll come back and cultivate after collecting protection money this afternoon."

"..." Tang San was instantly speechless.

For some reason, Xiao Wu had an incredibly large appetite and loved snacks. The small monthly subsidy issued by Spirit Hall was simply not enough. So she came up with a way to collect protection money from the academy's noble students.

Those who refused to pay had to spar with her. After a few demonstrations, the noble students surrendered.

She collected it once a week, and the amount was not much. Those noble students usually spent money extravagantly anyway, so they did not lack such a small amount. Besides, Xiao Wu's little punishment could also correct some of their former arrogance. Tang San did not think it was a bad thing.

That was why he had never tried to stop her.

"Xiao Wu, I'm going to see Teacher." Shaking his head, Tang San spoke as he stood up.

"Mhm, go ahead." Xiao Wu replied with a dismissive gesture.

Over the past nearly three months, Tang San had gone to see Yu Xiaogang almost every noon. He had classes in the morning, work in the afternoon, and cultivation at night. Noon truly seemed to be his only time to study.

"Mhm." Tang San nodded and strode out of the dormitory.

Before long, he reached the top floor. Looking up, he saw Yu Xiaogang standing in the corridor, enjoying the breeze and sunlight.

After several consecutive days of rain, the skies had finally cleared. It truly was a good time to enjoy the sun.

Yet the direction Yu Xiaogang was watching made Tang San instinctively follow his gaze. It was Yang Yunhai, running toward the Back Mountain.

As though he had recognized Tang San's arrival from his footsteps, Yu Xiaogang said to himself, "That child is indeed diligent, and he is very clever as well. There is a large amount of Blue Silver Grass growing on the academy's Back Mountain. Cultivating in such an environment truly helps with the cultivation of a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul."

He had heard that there was a child in the work-study student dormitory who cultivated diligently.

Yang Yunhai came from Lonely Grass Village. Yu Xiaogang had heard of that village during his many years at the academy. It was said that its current Village Chief was a deacon who had retired from Spirit Hall. By all rights, once Yang Yunhai awakened Soul Power, he should have been sent directly to Martial Soul Academy to study. Yet he had not been.

The reason was simple. His Innate Soul Power was Level 0.5, and his Martial Soul was Blue Silver Grass. His aptitude was simply too poor.

Yu Xiaogang knew Martial Soul Academy's admissions standards.

Just a useless Spirit Master whom even Spirit Hall had no interest in. That was Yu Xiaogang's assessment of Yang Yunhai.

"Unfortunately, his talent is simply too poor." Shaking his head, he continued, "Some people's achievements in life are decided from the moment they are born. Not everyone can forge their own path like Teacher, reading broadly and reaching my current achievements through wisdom."

"Teacher is right." Tang San walked over and nodded deeply in agreement.

This was the same no matter which world one was in. In his previous life, the Tang Sect had also looked at aptitude when accepting disciples.

"Still, diligence is indeed indispensable." Turning around, Yu Xiaogang spoke earnestly. "Little San, although your talent is outstanding, cultivation requires taking one step at a time. Remember never to slack off and never let such talent go to waste."

"Yes, Teacher." Tang San nodded solemnly.

"Come in." Yu Xiaogang smiled in satisfaction and turned to enter his room.

About half an hour later, inside the room.

"Teacher, I'm going to work at the Blacksmith Shop." Tang San stood from his seat and spoke respectfully.

"Mhm." Yu Xiaogang nodded slightly. "Go."

Tang San was Tang Hao's child, so he had surely learned the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer. Therefore, Yu Xiaogang did not think forging at the Blacksmith Shop was a bad thing.

He could practice his hammer technique while strengthening his body through intense physical activity, which would also benefit his Soul Power cultivation at night.

Even if it truly delayed him a little, it did not matter.

Having good talent was sometimes an advantage. It allowed one to free up time for other things.

Unlike Yang Yunhai, whose aptitude was limited. No matter how diligent he was or how devotedly he cultivated, his achievements would still be limited.

"Goodbye, Teacher." Tang San politely bowed, then turned and left.