Ma Hongjun's Envy
Beside him, Ma Hongjun spotted the pair of handsome, eye-catching wings on the back of Dai Mubai's Evil Eye White Tiger. He was so envious he could have cried.
He was a dignified phoenix Soul Master, with the Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul, the very pinnacle of avian Martial Souls, yet his Martial Soul Mutation was incomplete.
Not only had he always been tormented by Evil Fire, but he, an avian Soul Master, was also like a flightless chicken, unable to fly.
When it came to his Martial Soul, aside from the Evil Fire, his inability to fly was what made him feel most inferior.
Yet now Dai Mubai's White Tiger Martial Soul, that of a land beast, had grown wings after mutating, giving him the ability to fly that Ma Hongjun had always longed for but could never obtain.
How could Ma Hongjun not feel envious?
Still, he was only envious, not jealous. Dai Mubai was a boss he felt close to and acknowledged from the bottom of his heart, so more than anything, he was happy for him.
"Haha, we're all brothers here. Why say things like that?" Dai Mubai gave the two of them a reassuring look.
He was also wondering whether he could help Fatty obtain the Immortal Herb Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower ahead of time and solve his Evil Fire problem.
And help Oscar obtain a Mirror Shadow Beast Soul Ring and Soul Bone.
Oscar and Ma Hongjun valued friendship and loyalty, and both came from ordinary families, unlike Tang San and Ning Rongrong, who came from extraordinary backgrounds.
The former's friendship was more steadfast, or rather, there was a chance he could bring them under his wing.
Just as Dai Mubai was thinking about how to solve the two of their problems and win their unbreakable friendship before the original story began in earnest,
Flender and the others were also looking at the spectral form of Dai Mubai's Evil Eye White Tiger Martial Soul, their faces full of excitement.
When their gazes fell on the pair of wings on the Evil Eye White Tiger's back, in particular, Flender and the others' eyes lit up.
Compared with the students Oscar and Ma Hongjun, Flender and the other teachers had spent many years in the Soul Master World, and their knowledge was naturally extraordinary.
Originally, the White Tiger Martial Soul was a land beast whose domain was the ground. Against airborne opponents, it could only rely on its jumping ability and ranged Soul Skills. All in all, it was somewhat hampered when facing Soul Masters who could fly.
Now that the White Tiger had mutated into the Evil Eye White Tiger, it had grown a pair of wings and gained the ability to fly.
Even if the Evil Eye White Tiger Martial Soul's quality had not improved, those wings had still brought a hidden increase to its potential.
At the same time, they would greatly increase Dai Mubai's strength and combat power in the future.
In short, as Flender and the others saw it, this pair of wings brought tremendous benefits to Dai Mubai and the others.
"All right, Mubai, test your Soul Power first. Let's confirm whether it's reached the level-thirty Soul Elder realm."
Flender flipped his hand and took a Soul Power testing crystal ball from his storage ring Soul Tool, handing it to Dai Mubai as he spoke.
Although a Soul Master knew their own Soul Power Level very well, since their Martial Soul constantly gave them feedback,
Flender and the others did not know it, and they were also worried that Dai Mubai might have sensed it incorrectly, so they wanted to confirm it in person.
After taking the Soul Power testing crystal ball from Dean Flender, Dai Mubai wasted no words.
He circulated his Soul Power and poured it into the testing crystal in his hand. In an instant, the crystal ball shone brilliantly.
The Soul Power Level scale inside the testing crystal lit up from bottom to top, stopping only when it reached level thirty.
"Good, good, good! You really have reached the level-thirty Soul Elder realm."
"Mubai, go pack and get ready. Old Zhao and I will take you to the Star Dou Great Forest today to hunt Soul Beasts and add three Soul Rings to your Evil Eye White Tiger Martial Soul."
Flender spoke with delight written all over his face.
"Yes. Thank you, Dean Flender, and thank you, Teacher Zhao."
Dai Mubai thanked them sincerely, his face also full of delight.
With two Seven-Ring Soul Sages, Dean Flender and Teacher Zhao Wuji, helping him,
he would surely be able to hunt down the Soul Beasts best suited to him and add the most suitable Soul Rings to his Evil Eye White Tiger Martial Soul.
As for the age of the Soul Beasts he would hunt, Dai Mubai said nothing about that for now.
He planned to discuss it in detail with the two teachers once they reached the Star Dou Great Forest.
With his current physical strength as a level-thirty Soul Elder, he naturally could not follow the conventional standard and add Hundred-Year Soul Rings.
His First Soul Ring had to be at least a thousand years old, or he would be wasting this chance to add Soul Rings a second time.
"Speaking of which, though, Mubai, why did your Martial Soul mutate?" Flender also had his doubts.
Martial Soul Mutations generally occurred during Martial Soul Awakening at the age of six. Cases like Dai Mubai's, where a mutation occurred six or seven years after awakening a Martial Soul and beginning cultivation as a Soul Master, had few precedents even in the Soul Master World.
"Dean Flender, to be honest, I'm not quite sure why my Martial Soul mutated either."
"Yesterday I drank too much. After I went back to the dorm and fell asleep, a nightmare suddenly woke me in the middle of the night. Then I felt unbearable pain all over, like something was trying to burrow out of my body."
"The pain was so bad that I passed out. When I woke up, I found that my Martial Soul had mutated and my Soul Power had risen several levels, though all my Soul Rings had disappeared."
Dai Mubai had already prepared an explanation for Dean Flender's question, and now he gave an answer that was half true and half false.
"A nightmare woke you in the middle of the night, and then your Martial Soul mutated?" Flender murmured, repeating what Dai Mubai had said.
As the Flying Corner, one of the renowned Golden Iron Triangle who had once roamed the Soul Master World, Flender considered himself no stranger to unusual things.
Unlike juniors such as Oscar and Ma Hongjun, who did not know Dai Mubai's identity,
Flender had already guessed Dai Mubai's true identity when Dai Mubai enrolled at Shrek Academy, after learning that his Martial Soul was a White Tiger and that his surname was Dai.
He also knew about the brutal competition to become heir to the Star Luo Empire's throne.
Now Dai Mubai said that a nightmare had awakened him in the middle of the night, and then his Martial Soul had mutated.
Others might find that explanation absurd and bizarre, but Flender, who knew Dai Mubai's identity, thought it made perfect sense.
In his view, what Dai Mubai called being awakened by a nightmare in the middle of the night was probably the result of too much pressure from the Star Luo Imperial Family's brutal competition to select an heir to the throne.
Faced with a despairing fate, his fear of death and the intense resentment and unwillingness in his heart, under enormous mental pressure, had prompted his Martial Soul to undergo an atavistic mutation.
After connecting it all and filling in the gaps in his own mind, Flender felt that this seemingly absurd and bizarre explanation could not have been more reasonable.
Thus, he stopped dwelling on why Dai Mubai's Martial Soul had mutated-
Whatever the reason, Dai Mubai's Martial Soul had mutated, and it had mutated for the better. It was enough that the result was good.
Dai Mubai did not have much to pack. He simply put a few changes of clothes into the system's storage space.
Then he set off in a rush for the Star Dou Great Forest with Dean Flender and Teacher Zhao Wuji.
When the three passed through Suotuo City, they bought some dry rations, clean drinking water, and emergency medicine and put them in a Storage Soul Tool.