Cycle

Wang Xingyu wanted to see if the three of them could cultivate together. The idea had occurred to him one afternoon.

Since his Blue Silver Grass could connect to Tang San and Xiao Wu at the same time and send Soul Power to both of them, could he keep the connections open without sending any, letting the three of them circulate their Soul Power freely through the links?

He told Tang San and Xiao Wu about the idea. Tang San considered it and nodded. Xiao Wu thought it sounded interesting and agreed to try.

So the three of them began experimenting. On the slope behind the mountain, Wang Xingyu sat in the middle, a strand of Blue Silver Grass from his left hand wrapped around Tang San's wrist and another from his right hand around Xiao Wu's.

He did not deliberately send any Soul Power through, merely kept the connections open. Tang San and Xiao Wu each circulated their Soul Power as well. At first, nothing unusual happened. Wang Xingyu could sense that Tang San's Soul Power was steady and enduring, while Xiao Wu's was lively and quick. The two streams flowed along the Blue Silver Grass, met inside him, then each flowed back.

They tried for several days, but it was always the same. Wang Xingyu did not give up, keeping the connections open whenever they cultivated.

Tang San and Xiao Wu also grew accustomed to the strands of Blue Silver Grass around their wrists. Sometimes, when they finished cultivating, they forgot to take them off and walked down the mountain with the strands dangling.

Then one day, Xiao Wu had a sudden idea. "What if we try connecting the two of us too?"

Wang Xingyu thought it over, then produced another strand of Blue Silver Grass from his palm and handed one end to Tang San and the other to Xiao Wu.

Tang San took it and wrapped it around his other wrist. Xiao Wu wrapped her end around hers. The three strands of Blue Silver Grass linked each person to the other two, forming a triangle.

They stayed connected like that for several more days before Wang Xingyu sensed a change. It was not an increase in quantity, but a change in quality.

It was like three rivers meeting at one point, swirling together a few times, then separating to flow their own ways. But after the triangle formed, the three rivers no longer flowed separately.

They joined together, head to tail, forming a complete loop.

None of the three could say exactly when the change had happened.

That evening, they sat at the top of the slope as usual. The setting sun spilled over from beyond the mountain, dyeing the entire slope orange-red.

Two strands of Blue Silver Grass extended from Wang Xingyu's wrist, one connected to Tang San and the other to Xiao Wu. Another strand linked Tang San and Xiao Wu.

Their Soul Power flowed through the triangle: his to Tang San, Tang San's to Xiao Wu, and Xiao Wu's to him.

Then all three opened their eyes at once.

Wang Xingyu looked down at the Blue Silver Grass around his wrist. Soul Power flowed through the triangle without him deliberately maintaining it or expending any physical strength. It circulated on its own, endlessly renewing itself.

Every time his Soul Power went around the loop, it grew a little denser. It was like the same cup of water: before, mud and sand had been stirred into it, making it murky. Now the sediment had sunk to the bottom, and the water had cleared.

He looked up. Tang San was watching him, and so was Xiao Wu. The three of them exchanged looks.

"You felt it too?" Xiao Wu was the first to speak.

"Mm," Tang San said.

Wang Xingyu tightened the Blue Silver Grass around his wrist a little, feeling the speed at which Soul Power flowed through the triangle. "Our Soul Power has joined into a loop. I'm not sending it through. It's happening on its own."

He withdrew the Blue Silver Grass, then extended it again, repeating the test several times. As long as each of the three was connected to the other two and the triangle was complete, the loop formed automatically.

Break any one connection, and the triangle fell apart and the loop stopped. When he connected to Tang San alone, they could form a cycle, but it was not as seamless as the triangle.

Connecting to Xiao Wu alone worked too, but it was similarly lacking. The loop was most stable and the Soul Power flowed most smoothly when all three were present and all three connections were in place.

"So it doesn't work with just anyone." Wang Xingyu reconnected the Blue Silver Grass.

After cultivating, he went to find Wang Sheng and tried it with him. The Blue Silver Grass wrapped around Wang Sheng's wrist, but the Soul Power flowed through with great difficulty.

His Soul Power could get through, but Wang Sheng's could not flow back, so they could not form a loop. He tried with several other work-study students. Some could not connect at all, while others connected, but their Soul Power only flowed out and did not flow in.

Plant-type Martial Souls worked a little better, barely managing to form a cycle, but the efficiency was less than half that of the three of them. Earth-type Martial Souls were about the same as Plant-type Martial Souls. Perhaps those two types of Martial Soul were naturally symbiotic in the real world.

The three sat back down at the top of the slope and reconnected the three strands of Blue Silver Grass. With the triangle complete, the loop formed at once, and Soul Power began to flow smoothly, like water returning to its channel.

"It might have something to do with compatibility," Tang San said. Both he and Wang Xingyu had Blue Silver Grass, so their Soul Power was compatible.

Xiao Wu tilted her head and thought about it. "Then why can I connect? I'm a rabbit, and you're grass."

Wang Xingyu looked at her but could not think of an explanation. "Maybe it has something to do with our bond."

Xiao Wu said, "Oh." The answer was even vaguer than "compatibility," but she seemed to find it easier to accept.

From that day on, the three never broke their connections while cultivating. Two strands of Blue Silver Grass extended from Wang Xingyu's wrist, one connecting him to Tang San and the other to Xiao Wu. Another strand linked Tang San and Xiao Wu. The three sat on the slope behind the mountain, the Blue Silver Grass forming a triangle as their Soul Power circulated through it.

The triangle made up for the shortcoming of Wang Xingyu's Innate Soul Power, allowing him to cultivate nearly twice as fast as he did alone.

Tang San and Xiao Wu's Soul Power did not increase by much, but its quality improved bit by bit through the cycle. Impurities were filtered out, and their Soul Power grew denser and denser.

"I feel like you're a little accessory," Xiao Wu suddenly said.

Wang Xingyu looked down at the Blue Silver Grass extending from his wrist, then at the triangle it formed between the three of them. It really was like a game he had played in his previous life.

"Ming Shiyin," he said.

Xiao Wu tilted her head. "Who?"

"Someone whose Soul Skill tethers him to a teammate." Wang Xingyu tugged at the Blue Silver Grass on his wrist. "Something like this."

Xiao Wu looked at the Blue Silver Grass around her own wrist, then at the strand around Tang San's, and burst out laughing. "That's pretty fitting."

And so it went, day after day. Spring passed and autumn came; the grass on the slope behind the mountain turned yellow, then green, then yellow again. The Blue Silver Grass connecting the three of them was never broken.

Xiao Wu grew more and more proficient with Waist Bow, and her coordination with Moon Shadow's two afterimages became increasingly seamless.

Tang San's Iron Thorn Strangulation grew more refined. With the boost from the triangular cycle, Wang Xingyu became increasingly precise at coordinating the transfer and absorption of Life Drain.

One evening, the three came down from the mountain behind the academy.

Wang Xingyu walked in the middle. He had just withdrawn the Blue Silver Grass from his wrists, and the sensation of the cycle still lingered in his meridians, pleasantly warm. Tang San walked beside him, his steps a little slower than usual.

"I've reached level twenty," Tang San suddenly said.

Wang Xingyu turned his head. Tang San was not looking at him, but at the road ahead.

"I felt it when we finished cultivating today. My Soul Power is full. It's time to add a Second Soul Ring."

Xiao Wu turned around up ahead and walked backward. "Then what are we waiting for? I'm going to the Soul Hunting Forest too."

"What level is your Soul Power?"

"I'm almost there too." Xiao Wu tossed her scorpion braid back over her shoulder.

The three were about to turn toward the academy when a man stepped out of the shade of a roadside tree. He was in his forties, of medium build, with a black robe faded from washing. His hair was meticulously combed, and the corners of his mouth turned down slightly.

Grandmaster. Yu Xiaogang. Wang Xingyu's steps paused for a moment. Here he comes again. He had thought Yu Xiaogang had left after their last debate, but unexpectedly, he was still here.

Grandmaster's gaze fell directly on Tang San. "You're about to add a Second Soul Ring."

Tang San said nothing.

"I've observed your Soul Power fluctuations. You've already reached the peak of level nineteen." Grandmaster sounded quite certain. "The choice of your Second Soul Ring is crucial. I've consulted a great deal of material, and I recommend that you hunt a Ghost Vine of around six hundred years, for the Soul Skill Parasite. Parasitic seeds will attach themselves to an enemy and grow into Blue Silver Grass, leaving them unable to escape even with wings."

By the time Wang Xingyu heard the words "Ghost Vine," he was already tugging on Tang San's sleeve.

Tang San stepped forward with him. Xiao Wu followed as well. The three walked around Grandmaster and headed toward the academy. Grandmaster froze for a moment, evidently not expecting that, after everything he had said, they would not even respond.

"Did you hear a word I said?" Grandmaster's voice came after them.

"The Second Soul Ring is no child's play! Choose the wrong Soul Beast, and your Martial Soul's growth will go astray! If you don't listen to me, you'll definitely ruin your Blue Silver Grass!"

"Grandmaster." Wang Xingyu stopped and turned around, intending to argue, but then he thought about how Grandmaster had broken through to level twenty-nine before he was fifty and suddenly laughed.

Grandmaster looked somewhat puzzled.

Xiao Wu turned her head and asked directly, "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing, nothing." Wang Xingyu put his hands in his pockets. He could not go too far.

Although Grandmaster's theories had been copied from Spirit Hall, he had published them, allowing ordinary Soul Masters to learn of them rather than leaving them known only to a select few. That counted as a contribution.

"Grandmaster, you'd better take care of yourself first. When you have time, find some meat or blood from a dragon-type Soul Beast, and stop feeding it those radishes."