"ORA ORA ORA!"
"MUDA MUDA MUDA!"
Xiao Lin and Tang San exchanged punches as they sparred.
"Brother Lin, why am I shouting like this?"
Tang San, momentarily out of breath, failed to block Xiao Lin's punch. Clutching his chest, he fell to the ground and asked in confusion.
"It's nothing, just adds to the atmosphere."
"Anyway, I feel like it boosts my momentum when I shout."
Xiao Lin yawned and casually sat down beside Tang San.
They had been engaging in barehanded combat training for nearly a month.
At first, Xiao Lin was repeatedly defeated by Tang San's soft techniques, but now, he had managed to gain the upper hand. The effort he put in was beyond words.
Tang San was undeniably a martial arts prodigy, and the techniques he possessed far surpassed Xiao Lin's.
Unfortunately, being a jack-of-all-trades sometimes meant being a master of none.
To Xiao Lin, Tang San's versatility was equivalent to having no specialization at all.
His Mysterious Jade Hand couldn't compare to Xiao Lin's Vajra Indestructible Divine Skill in terms of toughness. His Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, Purple Demon Eye, and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track only provided him with some margin for error.
Meanwhile, Xiao Lin's Vajra Indestructible technique offered both offense and defense.
At first, Tang San was able to defeat Xiao Lin using his Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon technique by leveraging softness to overcome hardness. But after being caught in such moves a few times, Xiao Lin quickly identified the flaw.
Sometimes, the best defense was a relentless offense.
The simpler the move, the fewer the weaknesses.
If Tang San tried to use Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon to grab Xiao Lin's arm and apply joint locks, Xiao Lin would simply follow the flow of Tang San's force and retaliate with an attack.
Now, after training with the Eight Trigram Staff and refining his Qiulong Staff skills, Xiao Lin's physical strength had surpassed even Tang San's, who spent years forging iron.
Tang San, on the other hand, felt a bit helpless.
Who would have thought that teaching Xiao Lin the Mysterious Heaven Skill would end up making him even stronger than himself?
However, Tang San had no regrets.
When he chose to focus on vitality and the Blue Silver Grass, he already knew his combat power would never surpass Xiao Lin's.
What troubled him was that even the hidden weapons he meticulously crafted couldn't pierce through Xiao Lin's defense.
Over time, Tang San had resigned himself to standing behind Xiao Lin, using his support abilities rather than engaging in direct combat.
As a twin martial soul wielder, he couldn't afford to reveal his Clear Sky Hammer.
And after learning from Xiao Lin about his family's feud with the Martial Soul Hall, Tang San was even more convinced that secrecy was crucial.
Under Xiao Lin's influence, Tang San set himself a new goal.
One day, he would eliminate the corrupt higher-ups of the Martial Soul Hall.
However, he had no intention of harming the lower-level members—after all, he and Xiao Lin still planned to siphon money from them.
With Xiao Lin's guidance, Tang San no longer worried about being outclassed in strength.
After all, they were brothers. Envy and jealousy had no place between them.
In the future, when they attended Shrek Academy, Tang San wouldn't hesitate to share his immortal herbs with his comrades, even if it meant their soul power levels would surpass his.
Now, he cared even less.
"Little San, have you mastered the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer technique your father taught you?"
Xiao Lin asked as he watched Tang San use his Blue Silver Grass to heal himself.
"Not yet. My strength isn't enough to complete the full sequence."
Tang San responded calmly, his eyes closed as he absorbed the life energy of the Blue Silver Grass.
"Then hurry up and master it so you can teach me the Disorder Splitting Wind Staff technique!"
Xiao Lin urged while circulating his Vajra Indestructible Divine Skill.
Soul power training didn't stagnate just because one lacked soul rings. Xiao Lin and Tang San continued cultivating every day.
"Got it. Brother Lin, what about your theory?"
"Relax, it's all under control."
Xiao Lin made an "OK" gesture, using phrases that Tang San didn't quite understand, but confidently reassured him.
Both of them were making progress in their own ways.
Tang San, as a martial arts prodigy, was focusing on mastering the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer so he could develop the Disorder Splitting Dance and pass it on to Xiao Lin.
Meanwhile, Xiao Lin continued researching martial souls, developing theories, and providing training recommendations.
Now, he had uncovered a new concept—the Soul Power Circulation and Attribute Transformation Theory.
Simply put, when soul power flowed through a martial soul, it would be influenced by the martial soul's attributes before returning to the body.
Xiao Lin's martial soul was unique in that it bypassed this process entirely, directly converting his soul power into Qiulong Staff energy.
Tang San was assisting Xiao Lin in testing this theory.
Apart from his own experience, Xiao Lin had gathered several case studies:
In the original story, after receiving the "sacrifice" of the Blue Silver King, Tang San's life energy significantly increased.
When Tang San's Blue Silver Grass evolved into the Blue Silver Emperor, he automatically gained the Blue Silver Domain and other abilities.
Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan were both harmed by the poisonous attributes of their soul rings when using Martial Soul Possession in battle.
Su Yuntao, who had unknowingly provided key experimental data.
According to Su Yuntao, after using his second soul skill while in Martial Soul Possession, his soul power became more aggressive and volatile.
Initially, Su Yuntao assumed this was just an aftereffect of his soul skill.
However, after hearing Xiao Lin's explanation, he realized that his soul power had indeed become more difficult to control and showed signs of accumulating offensive properties over time.
Xiao Lin estimated that after repeated usage, Su Yuntao's second soul skill could passively increase its power by up to 10%—a passive self-created soul skill.
Further supporting this theory was the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan.
The first seven soul rings of their martial soul never had healing properties, yet after unlocking their martial soul avatar, they gained a healing ability.
Additionally, their soul power amplification increased as they added more soul rings, eventually reaching 80% enhancement across all seven rings.
Xiao Lin believed this was due to the repeated circulation of soul power through their martial soul, gradually reinforcing their enhancement capabilities.
Tang San's current experiment was a direct test of this theory.
If Xiao Lin was correct, Tang San's soul power—after being processed through his Blue Silver Grass—would inherently gain vitality and expand his control over plant life.
Even with the same amount of soul power, he should be able to command a greater quantity of Blue Silver Grass.
If Tang San's experiments succeeded, Xiao Lin planned to publish his findings within the Martial Soul Hall.
That way, the entire continent would recognize this revolutionary concept.
It would also serve as a direct blow to Yu Xiaogang, proving him to be nothing more than an incompetent fraud.
And of course, Xiao Lin intended to make a fortune from it.
If this theory held true, his next step would be to select soul rings that could enhance his own body, refining his strength to an unprecedented level.
(End of Chapter)