After their fight, Ling Yu planned to go to the library to look up some information on Soul Masters and Soul Beasts.
"Hey, where are you going?" Xiao Wu called out when she saw him walking past along the edge.
"Oh, my Martial Soul is called Soul. None of the teachers have heard of it, so I'm going to the library to look for relevant information." With that, he briefly held up the dry rations in his hand, showing that those would be his lunch.
"All right." Xiao Wu pouted, no longer feeling any joy at having beaten her opponent. In an unfamiliar place where she knew no one, she had met someone she felt somewhat favorably toward and had wanted to share her delight with him, only for him to seem unconcerned.
"Sister Xiao Wu sure is strong in a fight!" Before leaving, Ling Yu gave her a thumbs-up and a word of praise, making the corners of Xiao Wu's mouth lift into an unconscious smile.
Inside the library-
Ling Yu took notes as he browsed through the books:
"Hmm? Awakening Stones really are just called Awakening Stones? It seems they were discovered thousands of years ago, after people noticed that those living near mining areas often inexplicably awakened their Martial Souls."
"Awakening array patterns have to be inscribed using Soul Power, forming pathways for Soul Power. That must be the basic concept behind Soul Tools."
"So the essence of the awakening ceremony is using external Soul Power to guide the neutral Soul Power inside Awakening Stones to manifest a Martial Soul? It looks like Awakening Stones are highly sensitive to Soul Power and can also store it."
"Soul Power crystal balls are essentially crystals sensitive to Soul Power. They can determine rank based on Soul Power fluctuations, which differ from rank to rank."
"How do you measure the total amount of Soul Power? Is Soul Power stored in the Martial Soul or in the body?"
"Innate Soul Power is essentially affinity for Soul Power. Heaven and earth envelop living beings. As people absorb the primordial Qi of heaven and earth, heaven and earth also absorb the primordial Qi of the human body."
"So someone whose affinity for Soul Power has reached its limit has actually achieved a kind of equilibrium with heaven and earth. That's why people get stuck at certain ranks."
"To break through, purer external primordial Qi is needed to optimize the human body and improve its affinity for Soul Power. Otherwise, even after breaking through, they'll keep getting stuck at certain ranks."
Before he knew it, the afternoon had passed, and the teacher in charge of the library came over to remind Ling Yu to pack up.
When he returned, he found the atmosphere in the dormitory rather strange:
"What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"Nothing," Tang San immediately replied. The muscles in Wang Sheng's face twitched slightly.
"By the way, Ling Yu, Xiao Wu, Teacher Mo Hen said us new working students are responsible for cleaning the garden south of the sports field."
"My teacher is taking me Soul Hunting tomorrow, so I'll have to trouble you two for the next few days. When I get back, I'll do the sweeping for a month. Is that all right?" Tang San was somewhat excited. After all, a Soul Ring might have something to do with breaking through in the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
"Sure." Ling Yu nodded. Xiao Wu was a little downcast, but she nodded too.
At the mention of Soul Hunting, everyone else in the dormitory grew envious. Their talents were fairly ordinary, and they advanced about one rank a year.
Yet Tang San already had full Soul Power when he arrived. The gap was far too great, and what was more, once he had a Soul Ring, he could collect a gold coin subsidy.
"Tang San, how many of you are going Soul Hunting?" Ling Yu asked.
"Well... probably just me and my teacher?" Tang San hesitated. Yu Xiaogang had not told him much either.
"Brother Wang Sheng, is Grandmaster strong in a fight?"
"Well... supposedly not very. Not many people know what his Martial Soul is, and no one has seen him fight." Wang Sheng was also a little cautious.
In fact, many people said Yu Xiaogang had no fighting ability whatsoever, but they had just had a dispute over this at noon, and he could not beat Tang San either, so he could only weigh his words.
"Then how does our school usually handle Soul Hunting?"
"In recent years, at the end of the school year, the homeroom teachers submit the names of students who qualify. Then the headmaster, who's a Soul Ancestor, and Director Su, who's a Soul Elder, take a few teachers and the qualifying students to the Soul Hunting Forest together."
"The Soul Hunting Forest is very dangerous. There are Hundred-Year Soul Beasts and Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in there. Even absorbing a Soul Ring only a few decades old takes an hour or two."
"I just read Grandmaster's theory in the library. It says the ideal age for a first Soul Ring is around four hundred years, right?" Ling Yu added.
"In theory, yes, but the school basically only hunts beasts under a hundred years old for us, because those over a hundred years old are a lot of trouble. The headmaster and the others also need to conserve their strength in case anything happens."
"I see. Thank you, Brother Wang Sheng!" Ling Yu bowed to express his thanks.
Tang San was somewhat bewildered. Only now did he realize that Soul Hunting was no simple matter. He thought, What is Teacher planning? Are we really going Soul Hunting with just the two of us? Even the headmaster, a Soul Ancestor, has to be careful. Or does Teacher have some other way?
As everyone kept discussing hunting Soul Beasts, Xiao Wu grew a little sad. "Why do we have to hunt Soul Beasts?"
Everyone exchanged glances, looking at her strangely. "How can Soul Masters advance without killing Soul Beasts? The Soul Beasts in the forest kill one another too. The weak are meat for the strong," Wang Sheng said.
"But that's because they need to eat..." Xiao Wu argued.
"This Soul Master system, which comes at the cost of another race's lives, really is unbalanced, but there's no better solution at present."
"In ancient times, humans were once eaten by Soul Beasts until only a small portion remained, too. So humans can't possibly give up their power unless a new cultivation method is found someday." Ling Yu looked at the somewhat aggrieved Xiao Wu and offered some reassurance.
"Will there really be a new method?" Xiao Wu's voice trembled a little.
"I don't know, but if we pass this idea down, we can't say there's no way." Ling Yu smiled.
"Mm!" No longer dejected, Xiao Wu nodded.
The other working students, including Tang San, looked at the pair rather strangely, especially Xiao Wu. They did not know why she was so sentimental.
After night fell, everyone began cultivating on their own. Sensing the many Soul Masters around him, Ling Yu noticed that his cultivation had sped up. Could the Mimicry Training Ground for Soul be living beings of the same quality? he thought.
Early the next morning, the slight noise Tang San made as he got up stirred Ling Yu. He glanced over, then continued cultivating. Over these three months, Ling Yu had gradually replaced most of his sleep with meditation.
Maybe Tang Hao was the one who tossed that Mandala Snake over. After all, he'd pinned his hopes for revenge on Tang San. With the first ring being so crucial, how could he not follow along?
Besides, it's ridiculous that an old man and a boy could stay in the Soul Hunting Forest for three or four days without encountering a single Hundred-Year Soul Beast. How far would the smell of blood alone spread? And they even cooked meat soup. Did all the Soul Beasts' noses stop working at once? Shaking off his stray thoughts, Ling Yu steadied his mind and resumed meditating to cultivate.
In the carriage heading toward the Soul Hunting Forest-
"Teacher, how many of us are going to the Soul Hunting Forest? I heard it's dangerous there." Tang San asked the question. All along the way, he had been hoping Yu Xiaogang's friends would appear, but no one had come.
Yu Xiaogang had, after all, been through a great deal. Noticing a flicker of doubt in Tang San's eyes, he said, "Don't worry. The outskirts of the Soul Hunting Forest are mostly populated by weak Soul Beasts. Your teacher has traveled north and south for many years. Naturally, I have my methods."
With that, he handed over the belt in his hand. "This is a Storage Soul Tool I obtained on a past expedition. It's extremely rare and can store things. Take it as a gift to mark your becoming my disciple."
"Thank you, Teacher!" Hearing Yu Xiaogang speak with such confidence and receiving such a precious gift, Tang San inwardly reproached himself for believing other people's slander. How could those people possibly compare to his teacher in wisdom?