"I see..." Xie Yue nodded, understanding what Hu Liena meant.
"Brother, you're just in time." Hu Liena stood up and pulled Xie Yue aside.
"I didn't bring enough money. Lend me some for now."
The corner of Xie Yue's eye twitched. "Why don't you... tell His Holiness the Pope?"
He and Yan had already arrived at the cafeteria a little earlier and had been watching from a distance. This kid really could eat!
They were all orphans and barely had any money. They spent most of their time cultivating and had no time to find ways to earn money. What they had was only enough to cover their own normal expenses.
If Hu Liena had to cover this kid's expenses too, she really might not be able to afford to live!
"Those two dragons on your back... can they eat?" Yan asked curiously.
Xuan Ming paused, then looked up at Yan as though he were an idiot. "This is my martial soul."
"I know. I can tell," Yan said.
"So, can they eat?"
"..."
"I don't know. I haven't tried."
"Want to try?"
"..."
Chapter 39: Some Things Cannot Be Forced
"Holy shit! They really can eat?"
"That's incredible!"
Watching the two black dragons behind Xuan Ming actually eat, Yan was stunned. So were the students in the cafeteria.
This was their first time seeing such an incredible martial soul mutation!
A martial soul could actually eat?
"How... does it feel?" Yan grew even more curious.
These two black dragons had formed through martial soul mutation, so where did the food they ate go?
Did it enter Xuan Ming's stomach too?
"Very strange." Xuan Ming found it a little hard to describe.
"It feels like I ate, but also like I didn't."
"Don't mess around!" Hu Liena stepped forward and stopped Yan from feeding them any more.
"We still haven't figured out what's going on with his martial soul mutation. Don't let them eat something that causes trouble."
"What about your dragons' vision?" Yan asked.
"Can you share it?"
"Yes," Xuan Ming said.
"But I have to close my own eyes and concentrate on controlling them. Also, the world they see is black and white."
"Black and white?" Yan froze.
"Many soul beasts can't distinguish all the colors humans can see, but when their corresponding martial souls appear in humans, their vision is usually normal," Hu Liena said.
"Can you see at night?"
"They can," Xuan Ming said.
"How does their vision compare to daytime?" Hu Liena asked.
"There's no difference," Xuan Ming said.
Yan paused. "Night vision?"
"That should be it," Hu Liena said.
"Teacher told me that when beast martial souls corresponding to many soul beasts appear in humans, changes in vision, hearing, and smell occur. This is a matter of adaptation between human soul masters and beast martial souls. Some traits that differ greatly from or conflict with humans' own abilities weaken or even disappear temporarily."
"The ability to distinguish colors is the most common example. Most snake soul beasts, for instance, can't see colors, while soul masters with the corresponding snake martial souls have normal vision. But a very small number of soul masters are affected by their martial souls after martial soul possession and become unable to see colors."
"But these soul masters often also gain those soul beasts' powerful night vision. The world in their eyes is different from the world in ours."
"Disappear temporarily?" Xie Yue asked in confusion.
"Does that mean they can recover?"
"Of course. As a soul master's cultivation improves, their control over their martial soul grows stronger. Once the unity of person and soul reaches a certain degree, these special changes begin to become controllable. Soul masters who originally couldn't see colors can restore their normal vision by controlling the fusion between their martial souls and themselves," Hu Liena said.
"But this kind of control is extremely difficult. The unity of person and soul has to reach an extremely high level. Teacher said they would have to reach at least the Soul Saint level, activate their Martial Soul Avatar, and bring the fusion between soul master and martial soul into another realm before they could gain insight into it."
"Then what's going on with him?" Yan asked, puzzled.
"I don't know," Hu Liena said.
"I feel like this is Teacher's first time seeing something like his situation too."
Martial soul mutation causing physical changes was extremely rare, and those who underwent such changes usually mutated while in the state of martial soul possession.
Someone like Xuan Ming, whose martial soul grew directly out of his body and existed in a parasitic form, was probably the first in history.
"How old are you?" Yan asked.
A soul master's age couldn't be determined by appearance, because absorbing soul rings accelerated physical growth and development. Soul masters therefore developed relatively early. Someone who looked seventeen or eighteen might actually be only eleven or twelve.
In addition, some highly cultivated soul masters could keep their looks from aging. They might look only thirty-something but actually be seventy or eighty.
"Six," Xuan Ming said.
"Six?" Yan froze.
"What level was your innate soul power?"
One look at this kid's build made it clear he wasn't like a six-year-old child. In other words, he had already obtained his first soul ring at six.
Could he have had innate level-nine soul power, just like the three of them?
"Why do you have so many questions?" Hu Liena wiped Xuan Ming's mouth with a handkerchief.
"Come on. I'll keep showing you around the academy."
Yan hurried after them. "Nana, I'm just curious..."
"Stop. Call me Hu Liena. My full name, thank you," Hu Liena interrupted.
"Nana..." Yan watched Hu Liena's retreating figure with a dejected expression.
"Xie Yue, why is Nana so cold toward me but so nice to a kid she just met?"
He had always thought Hu Liena simply kept everyone at an equal distance, but why was she so close to this child today?
"Can you really not think of the reason?" Xie Yue's expression was a little unnatural.
Yan thought it over. "Could it be that Nana likes children?"
Xie Yue sighed. "Do you think this kid is good-looking?"
"He is," Yan said.
"This is the first time I've seen a guy even better-looking than you."
Xie Yue really was the most handsome boy in Spirit Hall Academy. Of the two siblings, one had flocks of fangirls, while the other had countless suitors.
"Some things cannot be forced." Xie Yue patted Yan on the shoulder and followed them.
"Some things?" Yan froze.
"Xie Yue, explain yourself!"
"Xie Yue!"
The training grounds.
"You only challenged me last month. Was losing that badly not enough for you?"
Stung, Yan had challenged Xie Yue again.
"Last month was last month. You were a Soul Grandmaster last month, so I couldn't beat you," Yan said.
"Now I'm a Soul Grandmaster too. Who wins and who loses is still up in the air!"
"Does it make a difference?" Xie Yue sighed and summoned two curved blades, blood-red from end to end and shaped like crescent moons. Two yellow soul rings slowly rose from beneath his feet and circled his body.
"Let's agree on this first. After this fight, keep quiet for the next three months."
"Come on!" Yan had also completed his martial soul possession. His entire body radiated scorching flames, and two yellow soul rings likewise rose from beneath his feet.
"Xie Yue. Martial soul: Moon Blade. Level twenty-two Soul Grandmaster."
"Yan. Martial soul: Flame Lord. Level twenty-one Soul Grandmaster."
"Please give me your guidance!"
"Xie Yue! Go!"
"Xie Yue! Go!"
Many students who had heard the news came running to the training grounds to cheer Xie Yue on. Most of them were female students.
Of course, quite a few boys were cheering for Yan too.
In their hearts.
"Before a soul fighting spar, you need to announce your martial soul and level as a sign of respect. That's a rule of the soul master world," Hu Liena explained to Xuan Ming.
"Announcing your martial soul is a way of introducing yourself, while your soul power level tells your opponent your general strength, preventing either side from striking too hard."
"When you spar with someone in the future, don't just activate your martial soul and charge straight at them."
"Do I have to say it?" Xuan Ming asked.
"Not necessarily, but attacking directly is taken as agreeing to a fight to the death," Hu Liena said.
"It won't end until one side dies!"
Chapter 40: Experiencing Soul Fighting
"You lost."
After a bout of tangled fighting, Yan, who had been on the defensive throughout, was still sent flying off the soul fighting platform by Xie Yue.
"Shit!"
Yan climbed up from the ground. Though he looked disheveled, he showed no sign of injury.
"Yan's martial soul is the Flame Lord, a special ancient martial soul with both fire and earth attributes. Its traits are extreme heat, powerful offense, and powerful defense," Hu Liena explained.
"In a head-on confrontation, even my brother has a hard time hurting him."
"What about you?" Xuan Ming asked.
"Me? I'm a mental-control-type soul master. I'm the perfect counter to a simpleminded gorilla with overdeveloped limbs like him," Hu Liena said.
"Nana, how am I simpleminded?" Yan looked over with a face full of grievance.
"You get taken down by a single Fox Charm every time and never learn your lesson. How is that not simpleminded?" Hu Liena looked speechless.
When they first started cultivating, everyone's mental power was weak. Most soul masters really were at a disadvantage against mental-control-type soul masters.
But! A disadvantage was a disadvantage!
Getting beaten up so many times without learning a lesson was another matter entirely!
"Uh..." Yan was a little embarrassed.
"Isn't that just because you're too charming for me to resist?"