"Seventeen?!"
Ma Xiunuo's voice trembled, his face filled with shock.
"Is the effect of a five-hundred-year soul ring really that strong? Or is your martial soul just that mutated? This is completely illogical!"
"Maybe it's because the Thousand Root Banyan and my martial soul are really compatible," Tang San said, beginning to bluff—no, explain—seriously. After all, what he was saying wasn't false. "During the absorption process, I felt the soul ring's energy was refined completely and actively integrated into my Blue Silver Grass."
"As a result, the Blue Silver Grass evolved… and I also felt as though the energy of the heavens and earth surged into me until my body reached full saturation."
"A soul ring and martial soul that harmonize almost perfectly... and the martial soul evolving during absorption, drawing in ambient energy..." Ma Xiunuo mulled over the explanation, watching Tang San's subtly transformed appearance.
Looking at the boy now, he couldn't help but believe it.
After all, what other child changed their appearance from absorbing a soul ring?
It could only be explained by a rebirth-like transformation caused by drawing in heaven and earth energy.
"Little San," Su Yuntao said, unable to hide his admiration. "At this rate, you won't even need a year to become a Great Soul Master."
He sighed, "In this world, nobles rely on bloodlines, commoners on mutation. Otherwise, it's almost impossible to stand out."
But there was no jealousy in his tone—only respect.
When the gap becomes too large, envy is replaced by awe.
Besides, Su Yuntao was the one who awakened Tang San's martial soul. Tang San still called him Brother Tao.
Heh, when Tang San became famous throughout the continent in the future, even Titled Douluo would have to greet him with a "Brother Tao!"
—
While Su Yuntao fantasized, Si Si was more grounded.
"Little San, what's your soul skill?" she asked curiously. "Let's see what Blue Silver Grass's first soul skill looks like."
Tang San released his Blue Silver Grass.
Immediately, a stalk of Blue Silver Grass emerged from his right palm. Compared to before, it was much taller and more lush. The leaves were deep green with faint silver patterns in their veins.
Even without using a soul skill, it radiated a powerful vitality.
Su Yuntao and Si Si felt their bodies subtly respond—cells stirring.
Ma Xiunuo even felt like he'd become nine years younger; his old bones loosened up a bit.
"What a rich life force," Ma Xiunuo exclaimed. "Little Tang… you don't plan to become a healing-type soul master, do you?"
He had seen his share of healing martial souls in his youth—soul masters who summoned glowing waters or healing lights. But none of them had martial souls with life force like this.
And Tang San hadn't even released a soul skill yet.
Tang San nodded. "Blue Silver Grass has always had tenacious vitality. My goal is to develop it toward the life-force attribute—though not purely as a healer. I'm aiming for an auxiliary path."
"But," he added, "thanks to the Thousand Root Banyan soul ring, the main weakness of Blue Silver Grass has been covered. Its tenacity has improved significantly. So, I also have the potential to move toward control."
"In fact," Tang San continued, "I think the current seven major soul master categories are a bit crude. They can be divided much more finely."
"For example, under the auxiliary category, some martial souls are focused on healing, others on amplification. It's inaccurate to label them all as healing-type... ah, sorry, I'm rambling. This ties into a theory I plan to publish later. Let me keep a little mystery for now."
"Next, I'll show you my first soul skill—Endless Life."
—
"How do we test it?" Su Yuntao asked.
"Brother Tao, use your second soul skill on that open ground and exhaust all your soul power," Tang San instructed.
"Alright."
Su Yuntao's martial soul possessed his body. His second soul ring lit up, and six sharp, diamond-like wolf claws extended from his fists.
He gathered all his soul power into them, creating meter-long energy blades from the ten-centimeter claws.
"Go!"
He swung with full force. Six energy blades tore through the earth, leaving trenches five meters deep.
The moment he finished, his legs gave out. He collapsed to the ground, face pale, completely drained.
Si Si rushed to his side.
At that moment, Tang San stepped forward.
He used Endless Life—a leaf of Blue Silver Grass emerged from his palm, twined around Su Yuntao, and gently pulsed with energy.
Almost immediately, color returned to Su Yuntao's cheeks. His soul power recovered by nearly half, and even his physical fatigue vanished. He stood up on his own, re-energized.
"Incredible!" Su Yuntao exclaimed. "My stamina recovered… and my soul power—it's still regenerating. At this rate, I'll be back to full strength soon!"
"Little San, does this soul skill cost you a lot of power?"
"Not much," Tang San replied. "If I don't account for self-recovery, I could use it more than fifty times."
He added, "It also works on myself. But it's not infinite. It consumes energy, and that energy can't replace real food."
It's more sustainable, not unlimited.
Also, thanks to the Thousand Root Banyan's reinforcement, Blue Silver Grass was now significantly tougher.
"So you can keep using it until you faint from hunger?" Ma Xiunuo asked, half-joking and half-awed.
Tang San smiled. This first soul skill could restore others and himself. It was effective, efficient, and usable over fifty times.
It was nothing short of divine.
If he could eventually summon multiple leaves and heal multiple targets at once… even the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda would pale in comparison.
"Little San," Ma Xiunuo asked seriously, "how many people can you support at once?"
Tang San nodded. "Thanks to the Thousand Root Banyan's many branches, my martial soul inherited that trait. As long as I have enough soul power, I can split off endless Blue Silver Grass leaves."
"But right now, at level seventeen... this is my limit."
He activated his soul power. The Blue Silver Grass in his hand suddenly multiplied—hundreds of thousands of leaves split out and coiled around the area like a tidal wave.
Ma Xiunuo's scalp tingled.
With just this one soul skill, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda had already been eclipsed.
Of course, it wasn't without drawbacks.
The leaves needed to physically wrap around targets to take effect. If there were too many people, the vines might entangle one another, even cocooning themselves.
In contrast, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda amplified with light—much harder to interrupt.
Still, in theory, Tang San could provide support for thousands of people—if he had the energy to spare.
—
Unlike the others, who were stunned by the display, Si Si raised a key question.
"But... where does all that energy come from? You're only level seventeen."
Her words stunned even Ma Xiunuo and Su Yuntao.
Right. Tang San had restored Su Yuntao, who was level twenty-four. And yet he himself looked barely fatigued.
Unless… was this energy being generated out of thin air?
If so, the value of this skill rose another level.
Tang San calmly explained, "This is the characteristic of my soul skill—it doesn't rely solely on my soul power."
"After I activate the skill, my martial soul can draw a certain kind of energy from the earth. That energy is filtered through my martial soul and soul ring, and then transferred to the target for recovery."
"To put it simply, my martial soul acts like a processing plant, converting ambient energy into usable energy. Because Blue Silver Grass consumes very little soul power, the exchange rate is high."
Su Yuntao scratched his head, a little lost.
"Uh… can you explain that again in simpler terms? I'm not quite following."
Tang San sighed, and then smiled. "Okay. You know the soul-guided lamp, right? It's a kind of low-level Soul Guidance Tool?"
"Of course. I have one at home. Very handy," Su Yuntao nodded.
"Well," Tang San said, "even ordinary people without soul power can use it. You just press a switch, and it lights up."
"That's because it already stores soul power inside. The structure is preset. All you have to do is activate it."
"Now think about it—isn't that kind of like how soul masters activate soul rings to use soul skills?"
Su Yuntao blinked, gradually understanding.