Drawbacks

Mu Tian'en darted out of Grandpa Yan Bohan's room.

After checking the sun and deciding it was getting late, Mu Tian'en found a little clearing in the vast Spirit Hall. He sat down where little sunlight reached, feeling the warm breeze blowing against his face.

A moment later, Mu Tian'en suddenly remembered why he had come outside.

He circulated his Soul Power.

Without a Soul Ring, Mu Tian'en still couldn't break free of the level-ten Soul Power limit.

But his Soul Power was noticeably easier to control than it had been yesterday.

Before, it had been like a lifeless thing inside Mu Tian'en's body, refusing to obey him at all.

Now, the Soul Power circuit circulating within him, born from the most fundamental "Basic Soul Power Cultivation Method," was constantly refining his Soul Power.

Making it denser.

Making it heavier.

Yet it flowed with increasing ease, even beginning to nourish Mu Tian'en's body in return to a certain extent.

The energy from all the food he had eaten in recent days, which had accumulated on his body and turned into fat, began to be consumed.

The fundamental deficiency caused by years of hunger began to be replenished bit by bit.

But he had only just put on a layer of flesh, and it wasn't enough to make up for Mu Tian'en's enormous deficiency.

After only a little while, Mu Tian'en's face had lost a layer of flesh.

He hurriedly stopped circulating his Soul Power, then scratched his head, a troubled look appearing on his face.

These past few days, Mu Tian'en had already been eating three times as much as he used to.

But judging by the cultivation method, the amount he ate now was nowhere near the finish line. It was the starting point.

He could already picture his miserable figure eating day and night in the future.

Oh, right, he might have to spend the other half of his time in the bathroom~

He shuddered.

Mu Tian'en knew that if he really let his cultivation method continue transforming him like this, his imaginings would become reality.

By then, his time for cultivating Soul Power would be drastically reduced.

His chances of benefiting Anlan Village would diminish.

That was something Mu Tian'en couldn't accept.

Revise it!

He had to revise it!

It was at that moment that Mu Tian'en truly turned his attention to the treasure room he had discovered.

There might be a solution in there.

He quickened his pace~

"Oh, little Tian'en, you're out~" An auntie had already pinched Mu Tian'en's cheek before he could react.

"Auntie Qiansha~" With one cheek being tugged, Mu Tian'en's words came out a little muffled. Even so, he immediately pulled himself out of his thoughts and called the auntie by name.

It wasn't because Mu Tian'en had a conditioned response, but because Auntie Qiansha really loved pinching children's cheeks.

At least three times~

Mu Tian'en had his face kneaded at least three times a day.

Mu Tian'en had already developed a conditioned response from all the kneading.

Whenever a hand came near Mu Tian'en's cheek, he would even instinctively bring his face closer to it.

"Didn't Grandpa Bohan take you out to play?" Satisfied that Mu Tian'en had called her by name, the female Soul Master Qiansha released his cheek.

But as she rubbed her fingers together, the female Soul Master felt that something wasn't quite right.

It hadn't felt quite right.

Compared with the chubby cheeks she had felt a few days ago, they seemed a little thinner.

It was then that she turned her gaze to Mu Tian'en.

Qiansha blinked, and surprise appeared on her face. "Little guy, how did you get thinner?"

"I worked so hard to put that lovely chub on you, and you were cruel enough to let it disappear."

Hearing this, Mu Tian'en gave an awkward smile.

Part of the reason he had gained so much weight recently was that this auntie thought he was very hungry and had fed him almost like a duck being force-fed.

But clearly, the fat he had gained from all that gorging couldn't withstand Mu Tian'en's consumption.

Just circulating his basic Soul Power, without even using the incomplete Soul Power cultivation method he had obtained by communicating with his Martial Soul, had already consumed most of it.

"Auntie Qiansha, could you put me down?"

Mu Tian'en looked at his little feet, which were some distance off the ground, and struggled helplessly for a moment. In the end, he could only put on a cute expression, hoping his Auntie Qiansha would put him down.

He needed to go to the library and find a way to resolve the nearly terrifying drawbacks of his Soul Power cultivation method.

But clearly, Mu Tian'en's wishes were destined to go unheeded by his Auntie Qiansha.

The moment Qiansha picked Mu Tian'en up, she was almost certain that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.

At least five jin of flesh was gone.

Mu Tian'en had actually lost weight in a single night.

If this happened to an extremely overweight person, it would be a very happy occasion.

But after the initial happiness, the person who had lost weight would still go to an appropriate physician for a checkup, to make sure nothing was seriously wrong with their body.

All the more so when the one found in this condition was a child of only six.

Without giving Mu Tian'en the slightest chance to explain, Qiansha completed Martial Soul Possession almost instantly and charged toward Spirit Hall's main hall.

A moment later~

Xiunuo, a level seventy-two Ice Sea Cave Turtle Soul Saint and the red-robed bishop stationed at Vast Sea City's main hall, sensed someone charging up to his very doorstep without concealing their Soul Power fluctuations in the slightest. He flew into a rage. "Who dares casually use Martial Soul Possession at Spirit Hall's Vast Sea City main hall?"

In an instant, the old man's presence erupted.

The Soul Rings around him appeared: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, purple, black, black.

All he had to do was utter "Martial Soul Possession," and the main hall's strongest combatant, who usually stayed holed up inside dozing, would reveal the positional attack capabilities with which he had once single-handedly suppressed a small tide of sea beasts.

A faint layer of cold had already begun to spread through the entire main hall.

Even the main hall's many hidden defenses, personally modified by Bishop Xiunuo, began slowly responding to their master's Soul Power fluctuations, gradually revealing their fearsome side.

But the next moment, Xiunuo nearly stumbled from the Soul Power he had readied to unleash.

He got a clear look at the person approaching.

It wasn't an invading enemy at all.

It was just the usually loud and excitable Qiansha, carrying the child with full Innate Soul Power whom he had seen in the dining hall only a few days ago.

But the thing little Qiansha kept yelling made old Xiunuo instinctively clutch his chest.

His heart~

It was about to stop!

"Grandpa Xiunuo, something terrible has happened! Little Tian'en suddenly lost weight."

Old Xiunuo withdrew his Soul Power fluctuations in an instant, concealing his Soul Rings as well.

But as the old man reined in his oppressive presence, he didn't forget to snatch Mu Tian'en from the arms of the impetuous young Qiansha.

Using his Soul Power to sweep over Mu Tian'en's entire body again and again, he looked anxiously at his granddaughter, who, thanks to his protection, had landed a job as a director in the dining hall and whose hobby was feeding all sorts of youngsters. He hoped she would explain what she had discovered in greater detail.

His future depended on this.

He had only just received word that the Worship Hall had sent people to take Mu Tian'en to Spirit City.

And now, before the envoy had even arrived, something had happened to the child!

The old man could already feel his future chances of promotion melting away like butter.