Preparations for school

When Lin Yang returned home, he happened to run into Grandma Su Xi coming out of her room.

Seeing that the scar on Lin Yang's face had disappeared, she could not help exclaiming in surprise, "Little Yang, your face..."

Lin Yang touched his cheek and smiled.

"Grandma, I don't know why, but the mark on my face disappeared. Maybe it has something to do with my martial soul awakening."

Su Xi had no soul power and knew next to nothing about Soul Masters, so she believed her grandson's explanation without question.

"Oh my, now that the scar's gone, my grandson is even more handsome." Su Xi stroked Lin Yang's cheek, smiling.

"When the time comes, bring Grandma home a pretty granddaughter-in-law."

Lin Yang felt a bead of sweat coming on. This really was the Douluo Continent, known as the "Continent of Romance."

He was only six, yet Grandma was already thinking about a granddaughter-in-law. Did she have to be in such a hurry?

Lin Yang did not take up that topic, instead quietly diverting Grandma Su Xi's attention.

After the grandmother and grandson had a simple dinner, Lin Yang rolled up his sleeves, washed the bowls and chopsticks, and put them away. Then he said a word to Grandma and returned to his room.

Summoning Crimson Interval, Lin Yang gently stroked the blade, and that familiar feeling welled up within him.

He then laid Crimson Interval across his legs, closed his eyes, settled his mind, and began to meditate.

Meditation had been an essential part of his daily training after sword practice in the Demon Slayer World.

Although it could not noticeably increase his strength, the accumulated practice allowed him to enter a state of absolute tranquility whenever he meditated.

In that state, his perception sharpened and his mind emptied. Whether resting or thinking, he could achieve twice the results with half the effort.

Meditation deserved much of the credit for his being the first among the many Hashira to comprehend the Transparent World.

Although he had not meditated for six years, Lin Yang needed only a little time to reacquaint himself with it before easily entering deep meditation.

While meditating, Lin Yang "noticed" countless densely packed points of light flickering around him.

These should be the heaven and earth essence drifting between heaven and earth.

Ordinary Soul Masters could guide this heaven and earth essence through meditation methods. Once refined by their own martial souls, it became what was known as soul power.

Lin Yang tried actively drawing in heaven and earth essence and refining it.

It took absorbing roughly twenty-odd wisps of heaven and earth essence to refine a single wisp of soul power.

I wonder whether this efficiency counts as high or low?

Of course, to improve cultivation speed, aside from the core factor of innate soul power, meditation methods were also crucial.

The meditation methods circulating on the Douluo Continent were all the most ordinary, most basic kinds.

After hundreds or even thousands of years of accumulation, the major sects had long since developed more efficient, specialized meditation methods, naturally superior to the commonplace versions.

Not to mention their various self-created soul skills, soul ring techniques, and so on.

This was the foundation the great sects had built over centuries.

Ordinary Soul Masters did not have such favorable conditions. Even to learn those commonplace meditation methods, they had to attend an academy.

Lin Yang naturally knew no meditation methods, but he had lived three lives. With three lifetimes of accumulated experience, his spiritual power was naturally far stronger than an ordinary person's.

Even without knowing a meditation method, he could follow the correct path through instinct alone.

Starting the day after his martial soul awakening, Lin Yang began his daily training.

Running, lifting rocks, swinging his sword... Though the methods were simple, they were extremely effective.

Especially with his current weakling's physique, as long as he persevered, every day brought a transformation that remade him flesh and bone.

Each time, Lin Yang only stopped after leaving himself battered all over.

Even then, he still persisted with meditation and cultivation every night, never once stopping.

Fortunately, he had the demon blood martial soul. He only needed to switch to it, and all his bodily injuries would heal completely.

Grandma Su Xi saw all of this, and her heart ached. Time and again, she urged Lin Yang not to push himself so hard.

Only after much persuasion and repeated assurances that he would not damage his body did Lin Yang get Grandma Su Xi to turn a blind eye.

Through this training, day after day, Lin Yang's physique grew stronger at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Through training, he also restored his Sun Breathing to the state of "Total Concentration: Constant," while once again unlocking the Transparent World and the demon slayer mark.

The Bright Red Nichirin Sword, however, remained beyond his reach because he was too young and lacked sufficient grip strength.

Still, for Lin Yang at present, this was already enough to protect himself.

During this period, Lin Yang had entertained the wild idea of combining a breathing style with a meditation method to create a meditation breathing method.

Unfortunately, the two were fundamentally different.

Meditation methods primarily relied on the spirit and martial soul to guide heaven and earth essence and refine it into soul power.

Breathing styles used special breathing rhythms to maximize oxygen intake, stimulate the muscles and bones, tap into the body's potential, and raise the upper limit of basic physical fitness.

Yet it was precisely because of this that Lin Yang stumbled upon the possibility of integrating breathing styles with the soul power system.

In the blink of an eye, three months had passed.

Three months was neither particularly long nor particularly short, but it was enough to give someone an entirely new appearance.

The traces of childishness that had lingered on Lin Yang's face disappeared completely under his relentless self-punishment, leaving only a calmness and steadiness like a pool of lake water.

He was like a treasured blade with its sharpness concealed, waiting for the day it would split stone and startle the heavens.

His hair, now long enough to reach his shoulders, was tied into a wolf tail, looking clean and neat while adding a touch of unrestrained freedom.

Over those three months, Lin Yang's soul power level had also improved, rising from its initial level five to level seven.

Neither fast nor slow.

This was also because he had spent most of his time training his body. Otherwise, his soul power level might have been even higher.

Through exploring his own abilities, he discovered another use for the Transparent World: it could conceal not only his presence but also his soul power.

Even with a crystal ball used to measure soul power, he was confident he could display whatever level of soul power he wished.

This was an excellent ability for concealing himself.

Of course, having come to the Douluo Continent, how could he possibly refrain from taking a look at the future "God King Tang"?

Much as described in the original work, he had a scrawny body and was short in stature.

Yet he behaved like a little adult and was extremely distant from the other children in the village.

Lin Yang did not rashly approach Tang San. He merely glanced at him from a distance, confirmed that the other boy was a year younger than himself, then left without looking back.

Although Tang San possessed a whole collection of supreme techniques, apart from the Mysterious Heaven Skill and knowledge related to immortal herbs, Lin Yang had little interest in the rest.

Even his interest in the Mysterious Heaven Skill was limited. Perhaps breathing styles could not compare to it now, but that would not necessarily remain true in the future.

As for things such as hidden weapons and poisons, his sword forms were by no means lacking in sharpness either.

At last, the day school began arrived.

Under Grandma Su Xi's reluctant gaze, Lin Yang and Village Chief Talen boarded the donkey cart bound for Nuoding City.

Even though it was only a donkey cart, it was still a valuable asset in Red Maple Village.

Ordinarily, aside from helping the village transport various vegetables and fruits to Nuoding City, it could not be used lightly.

Today, however, the village chief had brought out the donkey cart for the first time ever, specifically to take Lin Yang to school himself.

The donkey cart was hardly comfortable and jolted terribly, but it was still better than walking there on two legs.

The village chief drove the donkey cart at the front, while Lin Yang sat in the cart bed behind him, with all the daily necessities he would need there placed beside him.

Along the way, Lin Yang and the village chief chatted on and off, so the journey was not particularly boring.

After a full four hours on the road, Lin Yang spotted a city in the distance.

Although it was no great city, its walls were thick and sturdy. From afar, it resembled a giant beast crouching on the ground.

Seeing Lin Yang's gaze, the village chief thought he was staring in amazement and said proudly,

"Nuoding City is the biggest city within a hundred li. It's dozens of times bigger than our Red Maple Village."

"But I hear those royal capitals are a hundred times bigger than Nuoding City. Not only big, but beautiful too..."

With the village chief chattering away, the two rode their donkey cart into Nuoding City.