"Forget it. I'll stop thinking about it and get Electroweb sorted out first."
Yu Xiaochuan thought for a while without coming up with any ideas for the time being, but he was already preparing to arrange Electroweb training.
After breaking through, that fellow Yu Tianheng had even stopped attending the clan school and gone off beaming to obtain a Soul Ring. The look he had given Yu Xiaochuan before leaving had been so meaningful that it nearly made his hair stand on end.
He had to put up a struggle, no matter what. He couldn't just lie down and take a beating!
After clan school let out, Yu Xiaochuan went to the clan's Mimicry Cultivation Environment.
Many lightning-attribute plants had been transplanted there, and some had even become plant Soul Beasts. These lightning-attribute plants also attracted some lightning-attribute beast-type Soul Beasts.
However, Soul Beasts of greater ages were cleared out regularly. Plant Soul Beasts would get the blade once they passed the Hundred-Year Soul Beast threshold, while beast-type Soul Beasts were killed or driven out regardless of their age.
After all, this was a place for cultivation. If a Soul Beast came along and slapped you across the face in the middle of cultivating, who could take that?
So this place was relatively safe.
"That brat Tian Heng probably cultivates here all the time! No wonder his Soul Power Level rises so quickly!"
Yu Xiaochuan sensed that the surrounding lightning-attribute power was very active. A lightning-attribute Soul Master cultivating here would certainly see an improvement in cultivation speed, but Yu Xiaochuan hadn't come here to cultivate.
His Caterpie wasn't a lightning-attribute Soul Beast. Why would he cultivate here?
He was here to strip off leaves.
Not long after entering this lightning-attribute Mimicry Cultivation Environment, Yu Xiaochuan found a tree he liked.
"This one!"
Yu Xiaochuan looked a mulberry tree up and down. It bore scorch marks from a lightning strike.
Mulberry leaves could be used to feed silkworms.
His Caterpie wasn't a silkworm, but mulberry leaves were fed to silkworms because they were nutritious, not merely because silkworms liked eating them.
Mulberry leaves were rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals, meeting silkworms' developmental nutritional needs and promoting growth.
"Hand them over! Lightning mulberry, I need you to aid my cultivation!"
Yu Xiaochuan immediately began stripping leaves off the mulberry tree.
Sure enough, this mulberry tree lived up to its status as a lightning-attribute plant. It also had several decades of cultivation, and picking its leaves really did make his hands tingle.
"Caterpie, dig in! I picked these lightning-attribute mulberry leaves especially for you. Don't be shy, eat your fill!"
Yu Xiaochuan fed Caterpie these lightning mulberry leaves. Caterpie gave them a curious look, then bit into them without much hesitation.
"Woo-oh!"
Caterpie cried out in surprise. Lightning-attribute plants really did taste different, making his mouth tingle as he ate.
Caterpie bobbed his head as he ate, finding it quite invigorating.
After Caterpie finished eating, Yu Xiaochuan didn't keep stripping leaves from that single lightning mulberry tree. He also found quite a few other nonpoisonous lightning-attribute plants and picked their leaves for Caterpie to eat.
Crackle-
As Caterpie ate the lightning-attribute leaves, tiny flashes of lightning appeared around him, crackling away. He had accumulated too much Electric-type power, and some was overflowing.
At the same time, Caterpie's level rose to eight, bringing a hint of a smile to Yu Xiaochuan's face.
He hadn't expected such a pleasant surprise.
He had only intended to have Caterpie eat some lightning-attribute leaves and accumulate Electric-type power in preparation for the Electroweb move.
He hadn't expected a willow planted without intent to grow into shade-Caterpie had actually gained a level.
"Now let's practice spitting webs first. Caterpie, you know the String Shot move. This time, try spitting out an entire web at once."
Yu Xiaochuan instructed Caterpie.
To use Electroweb, he first had to be able to spit out a web, which he could then replace with Electric-type power.
This step-by-step approach was very effective.
For example, to learn Bullet Seed, one could first practice spitting watermelon seeds, then condense bullets from Grass-type power.
Yu Xiaochuan's current method followed the same principle.
"Woo-oh!"
Caterpie nodded earnestly, gathered his strength, and spat out a web with a whoosh.
"Not bad, not bad! You managed it on your very first try. Caterpie, you're a true genius! With those imposing horns of yours, I see the makings of Rayquaza in you!"
"But you're still too slow at launching the web, and it isn't big or tough enough. You'll have to practice hard."
With Yu Xiaochuan's encouragement, Caterpie kept practicing spitting webs.
When he ran short of silk, he ate lightning-attribute leaves to replenish it. Once replenished, he continued spitting silk.
Finally, Caterpie spat out an Electroweb!
A golden Electro Ball shot from Caterpie's mouth.
In an instant, it spread like a spiderweb, turning into a large net formed from lightning that covered the ground.
The Electroweb crackled.
He called it a large net, but it actually wasn't all that big.
Still, it would have no problem catching that brat Yu Tianheng.
After appearing, the Electroweb didn't immediately dissipate. Instead, it kept discharging electricity for quite some time before it could no longer maintain its shape and gradually dispersed.
Yu Xiaochuan couldn't help nodding, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
"Electroweb lives up to its name! I'll give that brat Yu Tianheng a surprise when the time comes. Isn't he just getting his First Soul Ring? Obtaining Soul Rings isn't the only way to use Soul Skills. Eat my Self-Created Soul Skill, Electroweb!"
But Yu Xiaochuan didn't think that having Electroweb as a Self-Created Soul Skill guaranteed him victory.
"Just adding one Self-Created Soul Skill, Electroweb, still isn't enough insurance. That brat Yu Tianheng's Martial Soul is the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, after all. It definitely has resistance to lightning. I'll have to think of something else."
"Speaking of which, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul is a little different from ordinary Beast Martial Souls. Starting at level thirty, each Soul Ring obtained allows one part of the body to turn into a dragon's. It's unlike ordinary beast Soul Masters, whose Martial Souls can fully possess their bodies."
"In other words, even after getting his First Soul Ring, that brat Yu Tianheng will just be a mage with one more skill. He won't have much of a physical advantage!"
As Yu Xiaochuan thought about it, his eyes lit up.
His was a Trash Martial Soul, after all!
Although Caterpie was an External Beast Martial Soul, he was still a Beast Martial Soul. Achieving Martial Soul Possession definitely wouldn't be very difficult.
"Come back, Caterpie. Martial Soul Possession!"
Yu Xiaochuan recalled Caterpie and tried Martial Soul Possession. Sure enough, he discovered that it really worked. He felt his physical strength increase, and his hands and feet became more agile.
However, he didn't gain any insect features. Only a red Y-shaped mark appeared between his brows.
Yu Xiaochuan quickly adapted to this physical enhancement and felt a slight swelling in his wrists.
He raised his hand and instinctively curled his middle and ring fingers.
With a puff, a web shot from his wrist and caught on a tree.
"Well, damn, am I Spider-Man too? But my Martial Soul is Caterpie, so at most, I can only count as Caterpillar-Man."
Although Yu Xiaochuan said this, his expression was still delighted. Whatever sort of hero he was, he could give Yu Tianheng a surprise when he returned!
"Oh, I can shoot not just insect webs, but silk too. I can also combine webs and silk, so they can bear more weight!"
Yu Xiaochuan tried traveling through the woods Spider-Man-style, shooting silk from his wrists with webs at the ends that stuck to tree trunks, swinging back and forth through the trees.
Seeing a large pile of dry grass mixed with mud and stacked into a hemisphere on a distant branch, Yu Xiaochuan's eyes lit up.
He raised a hand and shot a web connected to a strand of silk toward that tree.
As the silk retracted, his body rose into the air, and he landed steadily on the branch.
"Huh? There's a bird's nest here. How unusual."
Yu Xiaochuan discovered a bird's nest as large as a washbasin on the branch, with eggs the size of ordinary chicken eggs inside.
Mm, they tingled to the touch. They were lightning-attribute Soul Beast eggs.