After a day of classes at Red Mountain Academy, Tang Wulin jogged all the way home.
He pushed open the door and found Tang Ziran already there, just as expected, sitting at the table and drinking some water.
In the room, Lang Yue was braiding Na'er's hair. Na'er sat on a little stool, her silvery-white hair taking shape in Lang Yue's hands as two neat braids.
"You're back?" Tang Ziran put down his cup and stood up with a smile. "Come on, let's go to the Spirit Pagoda."
Tang Wulin nodded hard.
The family of four headed out.
Tang Ziran walked in front, Lang Yue held Na'er's hand, and Tang Wulin walked beside Na'er.
Na'er suddenly reached out and tugged at the hem of Tang Wulin's clothes.
"Big brother."
"Hmm?"
"Are you going to become a Soul Master?"
"Yeah." Tang Wulin looked down at her and smiled. "Once I become a Soul Master, no one will dare bully you again."
Na'er looked at him with her purple eyes and nodded very seriously.
As Tang Wulin walked along the street in the evening, he silently made his calculations.
He had long since decided how to use the free Soul Spirit offered by the Spirit Pagoda. Of his two Martial Souls, he would prioritize cultivating the Soft Bone Rabbit.
He would have to practice the Soft Bone Rabbit's Soul Skills slowly; he couldn't rush them.
As for the Clear Sky Hammer, Tang Hao taught him the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer hand in hand in his dreams, giving him another path of cultivation that took up none of his time in the real world.
He could practice with the Soft Bone Rabbit during the day and the Clear Sky Hammer at night, with the Mysterious Heaven Skill as his foundation and the Purple Demon Eye, Mysterious Jade Hand, Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track all blooming in full.
He sighed inwardly. The best of both worlds.
Tang Ziran suddenly stopped and pointed at a tall white pagoda ahead. "We're here."
Tang Wulin looked up.
They had arrived at the Spirit Pagoda Aolai City Branch Pagoda.
Tang Ziran pushed open the heavy glass door.
The moment they entered, cold air rushed over them.
There weren't many people in the lobby. Only two or three Spirit Transmitters in Spirit Pagoda uniforms were busy behind the front desk.
A male Spirit Transmitter in his thirties looked up at the four people who had just entered.
"What do you need?"
Tang Ziran stepped forward, rubbing his hands and bowing slightly.
"Hello. We heard that children with exceptionally good talent when they awaken their Martial Souls can receive a free Soul Spirit at the Spirit Pagoda. We've come to claim one."
The Spirit Transmitter snorted.
"Do you know what 'exceptionally good' means?" He lifted his eyes and glanced at Tang Ziran. "Are you sure your son measures up?"
Tang Wulin stood behind them, watching the scene unfold with perfect clarity.
He couldn't blame others for looking down on people with a dog's eyes. Not everyone was a protagonist with a chance to show off and slap faces.
Tang Ziran wasn't angry, because he wasn't worthy yet.
"I'm sure he does. There should be very few people better than him."
"He has Innate Full Soul Power and Twin Martial Souls."
Clack.
The pen in the Spirit Transmitter's hand fell onto the counter and rolled over twice.
"Twin Martial Souls and Innate Full Soul Power?!"
"You're that Tang Wulin!"
The other two Spirit Transmitters also stopped what they were doing and turned their heads in unison.
Tang Wulin nodded and said evenly, "Yes."
The Spirit Transmitter took a deep breath, and the disdain on his face vanished completely in an instant.
He hurried out from behind the counter, bowed slightly, and extended a hand in invitation.
"Please come with me."
The Spirit Transmitter led the family of four across the lobby and down a corridor.
"We offer both Ten-Year and Hundred-Year Soul Spirits here."
"There are eleven Hundred-Year Soul Spirits to choose from, and seventy-one Ten-Year Soul Spirits."
He pushed open a door and entered a testing room.
There was only one machine in the testing room.
The Spirit Transmitter gestured for Tang Wulin to sit on it.
"Before choosing a Soul Spirit, you need to have your Spiritual Power tested."
He explained, "Your Spiritual Power determines how powerful a Soul Spirit you can fuse with."
"If your Spiritual Power is too low and you recklessly fuse with a Soul Spirit of a high age, you might fail at best, or suffer spiritual damage at worst."
Tang Wulin nodded and sat in the chair.
A few seconds later, a number appeared on the machine's screen.
The Spirit Transmitter leaned over to look, and his whole body froze.
"Spiritual Power... sixty-seven?!"
"I'm a Soul Grandmaster, and my Spiritual Power is only seventy-seven."
The Spirit Transmitter looked at Tang Wulin as though he were a monster.
"You haven't even absorbed your First Soul Ring, and it's already sixty-seven?"
Tang Wulin sat in the chair, outwardly calm, though he was pondering it himself.
A Spiritual Power of sixty-seven was indeed absurdly high.
His body had a good foundation, and the Golden Dragon King Bloodline lay dormant within him, nourishing his spirit in its own right.
On top of that, he had practiced the Purple Demon Eye, a technique meant to temper eyesight and Spiritual Power. Practicing it at sunrise each morning produced immediate results.
Besides, when he learned forging from Tang Hao in his dreams, every swing of the hammer made with intense concentration silently honed his Spiritual Power.
With those three factors combined, he wasn't surprised by the number sixty-seven.
The Spirit Transmitter finally recovered from his shock and cleared his throat.
"With your Spiritual Power, you can easily fuse with a Hundred-Year Soul Spirit."
He turned and led the way down a corridor to a metal door.
"Here's the Soul Spirit repository."
The Spirit Transmitter first took them to the area for Hundred-Year Soul Spirits.
"The first is the Crystal Tiger, a Hundred-Year Soul Spirit suited to tiger-type Beast Martial Souls."
Tang Wulin took a look. It was a small tiger, transparent from head to tail, with a lithe form and steady, powerful Soul Power fluctuations.
But he shook his head. A tiger-type Soul Spirit didn't go with the Soft Bone Rabbit.
"The second is the Crocodile Turtle, a Hundred-Year Soul Spirit of the defensive type, suited to turtle-shell Martial Souls."
Tang Wulin shook his head again.
"The third is the Fire Crane, a Hundred-Year Soul Spirit of the agility attack type, suited to bird-type Martial Souls."
Tang Wulin looked at them one after another. He went through all eleven Hundred-Year Soul Spirits, but not one was compatible with his Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul.
Did he have to choose from the Ten-Year Soul Spirits instead?
A Hundred-Year Soul Ring was much worse than a Ten-Year Soul Ring; the two were on completely different levels.
The Spirit Transmitter noticed his hesitation, hesitated himself for a moment, and spoke.
"There really aren't any Hundred-Year Soul Spirits especially compatible with rabbit-type Martial Souls. However..."
He paused, as if weighing his words.
"We also have some Soul Spirits used for a lottery."
"Those Soul Spirits aren't in the official catalog. They're all defective products or unpopular ones, usually used for the lottery. There might be one in there that suits you."
Tang Wulin's eyes immediately lit up. "All right, let's see them!"
The Spirit Transmitter walked to a corner of the lobby, where a large machine three meters tall and six meters wide stood.
He opened the machine's side door. Inside, hundreds of Soul Spirit Balls were neatly stacked, each marked with a number, though most were covered in a layer of dust.
The Spirit Transmitter took out the Soul Spirit Balls one by one and placed them in front of Tang Wulin.
"The first, an Iron Beetle."
Tang Wulin shook his head.
"The second, a Gray-Furred Rat."
He shook his head.
"The third, a Long-Tailed Lizard."
He shook his head.
The Spirit Transmitter went through them in one stretch until he reached the tenth.
"The tenth..."
He picked up a Soul Spirit Ball. Inside was a slender little green snake, coiled into a ball, its scales dull. It looked no different from the most common grass snake found in the grass by the roadside.
Tang Wulin let out a sound of surprise.
"This is a Soul Spirit too? Isn't this just the most common grass snake?"
The Spirit Transmitter glanced at the label and nodded. "This is a defective Soul Spirit. It's not much use-a useless Soul Spirit."