With innate Soul Power, even a negligible half-level, and even with Blue Silver Grass, a trash Martial Soul in the eyes of the world, Lin Yan had become the village's only child qualified to become a Soul Master this year.
The villagers crowded around Lin Yan, offering congratulations and encouragement all at once. Though their words could not hide their regret over his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, their heartfelt joy remained sincere.
Village chief Lin Daniu grinned from ear to ear, his rough, large hand landing heavily on Lin Yan's shoulder. "Good lad! You've really made your Uncle Lin proud! Half a level of Soul Power is still Soul Power. This year's village work-study quota is yours! Study hard at Nuoding Soul Master Academy. Once you finish your studies and return, you'll be our village's official Lord Soul Master! School starts in three months. I'll take you there myself!"
"Thank you, Uncle," Lin Yan hurriedly thanked him.
"Prepare well over these three months. If you have any difficulties, just come to me! As long as it's something I can do, I won't hesitate!"
"All right. Thank you, Uncle."
When he returned home, the spacious house was empty, with only him left inside. The silence felt a little cold.
Three months earlier, Wolf Bandits had attacked the village, and the original owner of this body and his family had tragically died. That very night, a soul from another world had crossed over and gained a new life in this body.
After waking, Lin Yan had taken quite some time to figure out where he was. Upon learning that his Martial Soul Awakening was approaching, he had begun exercising every day.
He did not know whether this half-level of Soul Power had come from the original owner or resulted from his own three months of hard training. But having the qualification to cultivate was enough.
There were still three months before Nuoding Academy's term began. He had to make full use of that time.
Based on Douluo Continent, which he had read in his previous life, Lin Yan understood that cultivating a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul was extremely difficult. Otherwise, it would not have been called a "trash Martial Soul." To speed things up, he had to bring about Martial Soul evolution-for example, evolving the low-grade Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul into Blue Silver King, or even Blue Silver Emperor.
Blue Silver Grass was characterized by its tenacious vitality. He remembered that, in the original story, Tang San had gathered the life energy of countless strands of Blue Silver Grass with the help of a Blue Silver King, ultimately evolving into Blue Silver Emperor. Thus, Lin Yan speculated that, as long as he kept replenishing its life essence, Blue Silver Grass had a chance of advancing. And the fastest way to replenish vitality was to absorb Soul Rings from older Soul Beasts with abundant vitality.
Therefore, his primary goal was to make every effort to improve his physical constitution before obtaining his first Soul Ring, so he could withstand a Soul Ring of greater age.
Besides exercise, he knew there was something else that could improve his physique-whale rubber.
In this era, whale rubber was regarded only as a kind of aphrodisiac, and its ability to strengthen the body was not yet known. Lin decided to exploit this information gap and buy whale rubber in large quantities. But the practical problem was that, given his current financial circumstances, he simply could not afford it.
So he set himself a plan: first, persist in daily exercise and Soul Power cultivation; second, earn money.
He first sold off everything in the house he had no use for, obtaining three Gold Soul Coins and nearly emptying out his family's possessions. Then he asked the village blacksmith to make lead weights totaling fifty jin, which he strapped to his legs, arms, and waist.
With a six-year-old body bearing fifty jin of weight, he could barely take a step.
In the early morning, before the sky had brightened, he was already running on the hillside behind the village. The weights made every step sink deep into the soil, and sweat soaked his coarse cloth clothes. He stopped only when his strength gave out.
At night, when the entire village had fallen asleep, Lin Yan still sat cross-legged on his bed, calming his mind and focusing as he practiced the Supreme Purity Breathing Technique and entered meditation.
This technique was a breathing method passed down through the Lin family. Born into a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners in his previous life, he had practiced it with his grandfather since childhood. On Blue Star, it had been of little use beyond focusing the mind and calming the spirit. But in this world, ever since his Soul Power had awakened, each time he completed a circulation, he could clearly sense the energy between heaven and earth flowing into his body with his breath, circulating along a mysterious route, and finally gathering in his dantian to strengthen his Soul Power.
Meanwhile, he had not set aside his grand plan to make money.
On the Douluo Continent, the existence of healing-type Soul Masters meant that ordinary physicians had limited skills. Common wounds were difficult to treat properly. People either spent large sums to have a Soul Master heal them or could only tough it out and wait for the wounds to heal on their own. Often, a minor injury could worsen through improper treatment and even claim a life.
Recognizing this opportunity, Lin Yan drew on medicinal formulas he remembered from his previous life and began gathering herbs in the mountains to prepare wound medicine.
Perhaps because this world's knowledge of medicinal herbs was insufficient, precious herbs in the mountains were not only plentiful but also of excellent maturity. Lin Yan soon gathered all the ingredients he needed.
He brought the finished wound medicine to the village chief and asked him to help sell it. At first, the village chief was skeptical. Only after seeing an injured villager's wound rapidly heal after the medicine was applied did he become both surprised and delighted, readily agreeing to help promote it.
Lin Yan entrusted all sales to the village chief and took responsibility only for making the medicine. No matter what price it sold for, he charged only a fixed fee.
Three months passed in the blink of an eye.
Lin Yan's once-scrawny body had grown much sturdier, and smooth, supple muscle definition gradually emerged on his arms, legs, chest, and abdomen. Though he was still a child, his vitality and spirit had been completely renewed, and his eyes were bright and resolute.
His savings also increased rapidly, reaching at least five hundred Gold Soul Coins. Not only that, he had also brought the whole village along with him-some villagers helped gather herbs, while others assisted with sales, and every household was much better off than before. A few days before school began, Lin Yan taught the village chief how to make the wound medicine. The village chief solemnly promised that, as long as the medicine was still being sold, Lin Yan would always receive a share of the proceeds.
More importantly, after three months of uninterrupted cultivation, the wisp of Soul Power within him, once as thin as gossamer, had now grown as stout as a hemp rope. He was still unclear on the exact divisions between levels, but he was certain that he was definitely beyond level one-at least level three, or even higher.
Feeling the vigorous strength within his body, Lin Yan's heart filled with anticipation for the future.
Amid that anticipation, the day school began finally arrived.