Innate Soul Power, level six? No, I'm at least level nine

"No one can know about my level-nine Soul Power."

Li Man closed the record book. The first thing she said was that his talent had to be concealed.

Dong Jian wasn't surprised.

The test crystal had merely shown an anomaly yesterday, and Mo Lin had rushed to Iron Bamboo Village overnight. If outsiders learned that his true Soul Power had reached at least level nine, they would never limit themselves to probing him as they were now.

"Including Spirit Hall?"

"Including Spirit Hall."

Li Man checked the traces left by the Soul-Revealing Liquid again.

"The Soul Power you can currently control freely is only at level six."

"The remaining power is scattered throughout your bones, muscles, and Martial Soul. Even if we used another test crystal, the result wouldn't be much different."

"As long as you don't expose it yourself, others will at most think your Martial Soul is rather unusual."

Dong Shan stood to one side, his brow furrowed the entire time.

"Concealing his talent would certainly be safer."

"But Jian'er can't go his whole life without using his true power."

"Of course not."

Li Man picked up a pen and drew three overlapping circles on a sheet of paper.

"Dong Jian's problem right now isn't a lack of Soul Power. It's that the three powers haven't formed a complete cycle."

The outermost circle represented the ordinary Soul Power in his meridians.

The middle represented the black-and-white energy that had sunk into his body.

At the very center was the emerald-green current of Qi produced after the Panda Martial Soul devoured the Purple Leaf Root.

"The three powers are connected, yet they can't fully merge."

Li Man pointed to the circle at the center.

"Especially this emerald-green energy."

"I've never seen it in another Soul Master."

Dong Jian naturally knew what it was.

Qi.

The true core power of the Divine Dragon Secret Realm.

But he couldn't directly explain where it came from.

"It might be a special energy produced by my Mutated Martial Soul,"

Dong Jian said.

Li Man glanced at him, clearly not entirely convinced.

But she didn't press him.

Their cooperation had only just begun.

Neither of them could be expected to reveal all their secrets immediately.

"Until we understand the three powers, you mustn't force your cultivation using ordinary meditation methods."

Li Man wrote the first item of the plan in the record book.

"Otherwise, the outer Soul Power might grow too quickly and upset the balance."

Dong Shan's expression darkened slightly.

"If a Soul Master doesn't meditate, how can he increase his Soul Power?"

"Body refinement,"

Dong Jian said.

"First, make my body capable of withstanding the Martial Soul's power."

"Once my body and Martial Soul have fully adapted to each other, I can look for a suitable meditation method."

Dong Shan looked at his son, his brow still furrowed.

"The Soul Power you can control now is only at level six."

"After you enter Nuoding Academy, the children there will all cultivate using meditation methods. If you only train your body without increasing your Soul Power, the others will soon leave you in the dust."

"Aren't you worried?"

"Worrying won't help."

Dong Jian picked up the Soul Master certificate from the table.

It still stated that his Innate Soul Power was level six.

"I don't even have a cultivation method that suits me yet."

"If I absorb a Soul Ring at random and force my Soul Power cultivation just to catch up with others, I might end up ruining my Martial Soul instead."

Dong Jian spoke calmly, but in his heart, he was thinking of Tang San.

Holy Soul Village and Iron Bamboo Village were not far apart.

The original story's protagonist, who possessed Innate Full Soul Power, the Mysterious Heaven Skill, and Twin Martial Souls, would soon enter Nuoding Academy and obtain his First Soul Ring under Yu Xiaogang's guidance.

Tang San's growth had already begun the moment his Martial Soul awakened.

Of course Dong Jian was worried.

But at a time like this, he was all the less able to take a wrong first step.

Li Man continued writing in the record book:

"Train the body during the day."

"Try to control the Martial Soul's energy at night."

"Stop using valuable medicinal herbs for now. Use only the youngest herbs to test the devouring limit."

"Before entering Nuoding Academy, his apparent Soul Power should ideally rise to level seven."

Dong Jian glanced at it.

"Why does it have to reach level seven?"

"Yesterday's crystal already showed level six."

"If you're still only level six after several months, it will seem too unusual."

Li Man answered:

"Showing a reasonable amount of progress is the only way to conceal the real secret."

Dong Jian had to admit that she had thought it through.

"There's another problem."

Dong Shan suddenly spoke up.

"What about Jian'er's First Soul Ring?"

Li Man didn't answer immediately.

A Soul Ring determined a Soul Master's initial direction of development.

For an unknown Martial Soul, any choice could bring irreparable consequences.

"We won't decide yet,"

Li Man said.

"First, we need to find out whether his Martial Soul needs defense, strength, speed, or a special energy."

"Once we have enough data, we'll choose a Soul Beast."

Dong Jian nodded.

He didn't tell them that the Divine Dragon Secret Realm would very likely offer him an answer on its own.

That night.

Dong Jian entered the Body Refining Hall again.

Nine wooden figures were already standing in the center of the stone platform.

They were roughly as tall as adults, their bodies made of dark brown wood, with metal gears connecting their joints.

Each wooden figure held a wooden staff.

The trial's requirements occupied a single line on the stone stele.

Last one incense stick's time against the attacks of the nine wooden figures without leaving the circle.

A black-and-white circle three meters in diameter was drawn in the center of the floor.

Dong Jian stepped into the circle.

The Panda Martial Soul possessed him.

"Let's begin."

Click.

The eyes of all nine wooden figures lit up red at once.

The figure at the very front charged first.

Its staff shot straight for Dong Jian's chest.

Dong Jian turned sideways to redirect the force, moving his shoulder along with the staff.

He successfully guided the first strike past his side.

But the second wooden figure was already closing in from behind.

Dong Jian heard the rush of wind and immediately ducked.

The staff swept past the top of his head.

The third wooden figure raised a leg and kicked at his knee.

"You can use your legs too?"

Before Dong Jian could adjust, the kick landed squarely on his knee.

He lost his balance.

The remaining staffs came down one after another.

Bang, bang, bang!

Dong Jian was knocked straight out of the circle.

The stone stele lit up red.

Trial failed.

"All nine at once? You won't even give me a chance to breathe?"

Dong Jian climbed to his feet.

The wooden figures didn't answer.

They returned to their original positions and waited for the next trial.

Dong Jian entered the circle again.

On the second attempt, he lasted ten breaths.

On the third, fifteen breaths.

On the fifth, he managed to survive the first wave of attacks, only for two wooden figures to seize his arms at the same time and throw him straight out of the circle.

These wooden figures didn't merely swing their staffs along fixed paths.

They knew fist techniques and leg techniques, and even knew how to work together.

Dong Jian's Center of Gravity Perception made him difficult to knock down.

But he was only one person.

He could neutralize an attack from one side, but he couldn't block the other eight directions.

"If I don't fight back, I'll just keep taking a beating."

Dong Jian panted as he stared at the wooden figures returning to their positions.

Both Su Yuntao and Mo Lin believed his Panda Martial Soul should stand at the very front and take attacks.

But reality had already proven that defense did not equal victory.

Someone who did nothing but take hits would be knocked down sooner or later.

To complete the trial, he had to render the wooden figures' attacks ineffective.

Even make them get in one another's way.

The tenth trial began.

Two wooden figures charged at him, one from the front and one from behind.

Dong Jian didn't dodge immediately.

Just as the staff in front was about to strike, he suddenly grabbed its shaft.

He didn't try to wrench it away by force.

Instead, he turned with the direction of the wooden figure's swing.

The staff carried Dong Jian through half a turn, putting it directly in the path of the attack from behind.

Bang!

The two staffs collided.

The rear wooden figure's arm was knocked aside.

Dong Jian used the momentum to step forward and slam his shoulder into the first wooden figure's chest.

He wasn't strong enough to send it flying.

But he made it stumble half a step backward, right into another wooden figure's path.

The three wooden figures crashed into a heap.

"It works!"

Dong Jian's eyes lit up.

He didn't need to defeat the wooden figures.

He only needed to use their strength to disrupt the rhythm of the entire encirclement.

As the attacks continued, Dong Jian kept moving among the wooden figures.

He grabbed a wooden staff and guided it toward another wooden figure.

He stepped on one wooden figure's foot, throwing it off balance.

He even used a wooden figure's push to dodge a fist coming from the side.

Time passed bit by bit.

Ten breaths.

Thirty breaths.

Half an incense stick.

Dong Jian's movements grew smoother and smoother.

But just as the incense stick burned down to its final third, a wooden figure that had been knocked over suddenly grabbed his ankle.

Dong Jian lost his balance.

The remaining eight wooden figures attacked at once.

Bang!

He was knocked out of the circle again.

The trial had failed.

"So close."

Dong Jian lay on the ground, his chest heaving.

Though he had failed, he had found the right method.

It wasn't to defeat the nine wooden figures.

It was to make the nine wooden figures get in one another's way.

He was about to continue when the Divine Dragon Secret Realm suddenly shook violently.

The wisp of emerald-green energy transformed from the Purple Leaf Root surged out from deep within his body.

Both his black and white Soul Power were affected.

The power on the left rapidly grew stronger.

But the power on the right began to weaken.

The Panda Martial Soul let out a low growl.

Its normally gentle golden eyes suddenly took on a dark red hue.

Dong Jian's expression changed.

For the first time, he sensed unmistakable irritability and a desire to attack from his Martial Soul.

Above the Body Refining Hall, the golden text rapidly turned a glaring red.

Warning: Yin and yang powers are out of balance.

The Martial Soul's consciousness is being impacted by life energy.

Please complete the second trial within three days.

If the trial is not completed in time, the Martial Soul will undergo an unknown mutation.

"Three days?"

Dong Jian looked at the nine wooden figures as they stood back up.

The trial that had originally been meant only to improve his strength-

Had now become a countdown in which he could not afford to fail.