The Flawed Martial Soul

Shi Jian led his men back.

Lu Yuan walked back to the rocky beach at the valley entrance. Lin Xiao had already chosen a spot with his back against the rock wall. Mo Chen and Su Yan were building a stove pit. Shen Moxin was checking Li Wangye's abrasions. Lu Qinghe was leaning against a large rock, resting with his eyes closed.

"There are three watchtowers," Lin Xiao said, walking over. "One on higher ground, and one on each side of the valley entrance, nestled in the rocks. I'll keep watch for the first half of the night."

Lu Yuan nodded. "Keep your distance, and keep your eyes peeled."

"Understood." Lin Xiao licked his canine teeth. "Things are... a bit strange over there."

"Settle them in first."

Nothing was said that night. At dawn, the morning mist had not yet dissipated.

There was movement in the distant settlement. Several women carried buckets to fetch water, while men carried farm tools toward the fields at the bottom of the valley. They moved slowly, their eyes mostly vacant, occasionally glancing toward the valley entrance before quickly looking away.

There was more than just wariness in those eyes.

Lu Yuan dried his face and walked back to the camp. Shen Moxin was packing the dried herbs into small cloth bags.

"Mr. Shen," Lu Yuan said, "If anyone comes seeking medical help today, as long as it's not a serious injury or emergency, we can help. The dosage will be controlled; we'll only provide remedies to alleviate the symptoms."

Shen Moxin looked up at him. "You want to make contact with them."

"Hmm." Lu Yuan squatted down, picked up a dry twig and scratched it on the ground. "Without contact, we'll never understand what's going on here. We have to let them slowly approach on their own."

Shen Moxin nodded. "I understand."

Not long after, a thin, small child, led by his mother, timidly walked to the edge of the camp. The child had red, swollen boils on his face.

Shen Moxin didn't ask any further questions. After examining the area, she mashed up some herbs and applied them, then wrapped a small packet for her to take home. "Change it once a day, and don't scratch it."

The woman thanked him profusely, took out two withered wild fruits from her bosom and forced them on him before hurrying away.

At noon, another old man came in, suffering from rheumatism in his legs and feet. Shen Moxin gave him a few acupuncture treatments and prescribed a decoction to dispel dampness and promote blood circulation.

After a while, the area in front of the camp became less deserted. Although most people still watched from a distance, the hostility in their eyes had lessened considerably. A few teenagers curiously approached, staring at the clinking mechanical parts in Mo Chen's hand.

Lin Xiao went out in the afternoon and came back carrying two plump pheasants. He made a fire near the valley entrance and roasted them; the fat crackled and the aroma wafted far and wide.

Several men chopping wood nearby couldn't help but swallow hard.

Lin Xiao tore off a golden-brown chicken leg and tossed it to the person closest to him. "Try it."

The man was stunned.

"Afraid of being poisoned?" Lin Xiao scoffed, tearing off a piece of meat and stuffing it into his mouth.

The man sheepishly took it, took a bite, and his eyes lit up. He swallowed it whole, wiped his mouth, and hesitated before speaking, "You... you're quite skilled hunters."

"That'll do." Lin Xiao tore off another leg and threw it over. "There's a pool of water at the bottom of the rocky slope to the west. Deer often come there to drink at dusk. It's easy to set a trap."

The man nodded repeatedly, lowering his voice, "You... you really came here as refugees?"

Lin Xiao looked up at him. "Otherwise what?"

"You don't look like ordinary people," the man said in an even lower voice. "That female doctor has superb medical skills, and you're quite skilled too... You're Soul Master, right?"

Lin Xiao neither denied nor admitted it.

The man sighed. "That's true, everyone has their difficulties." He stood up. "Thanks. Just let me know if you need anything; I live in the third room on the east side."

He's gone.

Lu Yuan sat on a rock not far away, watching quietly.

In three days, it was like water droplets seeping into dry soil.

Shen Moxin cured three children with fevers, a woman with a sprained ankle, and an elderly person with a chronic cough. She didn't talk much, but her technique was precise, and the prescriptions she wrote all used common herbs.

Lin Xiao "accidentally" stumbled upon a group of young men nearly getting into trouble while hunting a wild boar. He stepped in to help and offered some pointers on when to surround them. After the boar was captured, the men's attitude towards him changed drastically.

Lu Yuan was mostly observing.

He saw the woman carrying the water involuntarily twitch her right little finger as she lifted the bucket, a faint metallic glint flashing at the fingertip—like a fragment of Tool Martial Soul uncontrollably manifesting itself.

The man hoeing in the field had a left leg that was thicker than his right, and he walked awkwardly. Fine, scaly patterns appeared and disappeared under his skin. His Beast Martial Soul had undergone a partial mutation, affecting his body.

I also saw an old man sitting alone in the sun behind the house, holding a withered, grayish-brown vine in his palm. A murky liquid seeped from the tip of the vine, dripping and corroding small pits on the ground. The old man's eyes were numb.

Incomplete Tool Martial Soul, unstable Beast Martial Soul, Plant Martial Soul with bizarre and uncontrollable mutations...

The puzzle in Lu Yuan's mind was becoming more and more complete.

On the evening of the fourth day, he went to the stream. Shi Jian was squatting there, washing a shield in the cool stream water.

It was called a shield, but it was more like a thick, cracked stone slab. It was grayish-brown, with a rough surface and jagged edges. Shi Jian rubbed it hard, digging his fingers into the deep cracks.

But he couldn't do it. The cracks ran through the shield, and at their widest points, you could fit a finger inside. When Soul Power was injected, the shield would glow slightly, but the light would dissipate at the cracks, failing to form a complete defensive light barrier.

Shi Jian slowed down as he wiped the shield. He stared blankly at it.

Lu Yuan walked to his side, squatted down, and splashed water from the stream to wash his hands.

The two remained silent for a while, with only the gurgling of the stream.

"Brother Shi," Lu Yuan spoke, his voice calm, "What do you think Martial Soul really is?"

Shi Jian was taken aback. He turned to look at Lu Yuan, as if he hadn't understood the question. After a few seconds, he forced a smile, revealing a bitter smile that was more like a grimace.

"What is it?" he asked hoarsely. "It's fate. It's what God gave me, and I have to accept it, good or bad."

He held up the tattered Rock Shield. "Just like this thing. It was born like this, cracked, useless. No matter how much you train it, it's still a leaky, broken shield. It can't stop a sword, it can't stop an arrow, it can't stop anything."

He spoke very slowly, each word seeming to be squeezed out from between rocks.

"When I was little, I also had dreams." Shi Jian put down his shield and looked towards the distant mountains. "I wanted to be a defensive Soul Master, standing at the forefront, protecting those behind me. But on the day my Martial Soul Awakening, the moment this broken shield appeared, I knew it was over."

"They laughed at me. They said the Shi family had produced a 'leaky ladle,' unable to even retain Soul Power. No sect wanted me, no academy would accept me, not even a guard would do. I tried every method, searched for every folk remedy I could find, but nothing worked. This crack is like a scar in the root of my soul, it can't be removed."

He stopped speaking and just stared at the grotesque cracks on the shield.

Lu Yuan didn't comfort him. He picked up a dry twig at his feet and drew a simple circle on the damp mud.

"In my opinion," Lu Yuan pointed at the circle with a twig, "Martial Soul isn't just fate. It's more like a manifestation of Soul Master's life essence and their own energy characteristics."

Shi Jian frowned, looking at the crooked circle on the ground.

"Since it's a manifestation," Lu Yuan continued, "The appearance of the 'manifestation channel' itself will affect the result. If the channel is smooth and intact, the result will be clear and stable. If the channel has cracks or blockages, the result will be distorted and broken."

He stopped and looked at Shi Jian. "But the crack is in the passage, not in you. Your life essence, your Soul Power characteristics, are not inferior. It's just that the manifested structure is flawed."

Shi Jian's eyes flickered. He pursed his lips and remained silent.

Lu Yuan pointed with a branch at the Rock Shield in his arms. "Your shield is cracked, unable to fully condense Soul Power, and cannot form a solid defensive light barrier. That's a fact."

He then changed the subject. "But have you ever considered what if we changed our approach—instead of desperately pursuing a 'perfect and sturdy shield,' we tried to understand the characteristics of these 'cracks' themselves?"

Shi Jian was startled.

Lu Yuan quickly drew several intersecting lines on the muddy ground, Simulation cracks on a shield. "Cracks mean that the flow of Soul Power here will disperse, dissipate, and change direction. This is a drawback, that's true. But from another perspective, can it become a unique Soul Power deflection structure?"

He raised his head and stared intently at Shi Jian.

"Suppose you don't forcibly fill the entire shield with Soul Power to try and mend the cracks, but instead actively guide the Soul Power, letting it flow, accelerate, and rotate along the direction of these cracks. Then, when the enemy's attack comes, won't the energy of the impact be deflected by this high-speed flowing Soul Power? Furthermore, could the Soul Power dissipating from the cracks form a layer of chaotic energy mist that interferes with perception?"

Shi Jian's mouth dropped open. He stared intently at the crisscrossing lines on the ground, then suddenly looked up at Lu Yuan, his eyes flashing with intense light for the first time.

That was no longer numbness, no longer despair.

It was a glimmer of light that was almost terrifying, a mixture of shock, doubt, and a faint hope.

"You..." His throat was dry, and his voice trembled violently, "What did you say? Cracks... Cracks can be useful?"