Early the next morning.
When Xiao Lin realized that the homeroom teacher was going to give a lecture on the history of the Heaven Dou Empire, he lost all interest and snuck out the back door.
Following closely behind him were Tang San and Xiao Wu.
The three of them arrived at the mimicry cultivation environment Tang San had prepared using Blue Silver Grass the previous day. A refreshing breeze greeted them, clearing their minds and lifting their spirits.
"Not bad, Xiao San. You managed to set all this up in just one day."
Xiao Lin felt a bit conflicted. After all, the cultivation methods Tang San was using were all ones he had originally come up with.
He'd thought of these methods in case he ended up awakening the supposedly weakest martial soul—Blue Silver Grass. But now Tang San was cultivating without any obstacles, while Xiao Lin found things far less easy.
The only things Xiao Lin could do were to extend his Qiu Long Staff to make it harder to control, and to increase its weight to strengthen his physical power—but finding other ways to accelerate his training was tough.
Before he could dwell on it too much, Xiao Lin turned his attention to an uninvited guest.
"Xiao Wu, why are you following us?"
As soon as he said this, Tang San quickly explained, "Brother Lin, Xiao Wu is all alone. It's kind of pitiful. Why don't we let her join us?"
"Hmph, thinking with the wrong head."
Xiao Lin snorted coldly and said this as Xiao Wu glared at him furiously.
"If she wants to join us, she'll have to become one of my subordinates."
The moment Xiao Lin said that, the once furious Xiao Wu froze on the spot.
"Huh? That's all it takes?" she asked in a meek voice.
"That's right. Call me Brother Lin, and I'll look after you."
Hearing such domineering words, Xiao Wu was momentarily dumbfounded.
Change of plans—what now?
"…Alright, Brother Lin."
"Good, you're teachable."
Xiao Lin nodded in satisfaction. If Xiao Wu weren't Tang San's future wife, and if her background weren't so simple and clean, he would never have accepted a random stranger into their group.
"Alright, Brother Lin. If you've got something to say, just say it now."
After years of being around him, Tang San already knew Xiao Lin's personality well and took the initiative to speak.
"Ahem, well…"
"It's about absorbing a thousand-year spirit ring for our second one. I've come up with a few plans."
"First, we need to train our physical and mental strength."
"No need to tell Xiao San about that. As for you, Xiao Wu…"
"From now on, do more weighted running, horse stance training, work on your jumps and kicking techniques."
"And ditch that lame waist-bow skill. Using it to clamp someone's head is so weak."
"Train your legwork instead. A move like Rabbit Kicks Eagle is way better than the waist-bow. It's stronger and leaves fewer openings."
"Xiao San, you help teach this dumb rabbit. And teach her your split-mind control too. I won't allow my subordinates to be weak."
That was Xiao Lin's statement. He didn't really have much to arrange for Tang San.
Although Xiao Lin scoffed at Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang's theory that tool martial soul users surpass beast martial soul users after level 70, it actually applied to both him and Tang San.
Their martial souls were incredibly heavy, and to develop smooth and powerful combat techniques, they needed to build extremely strong bodies.
Such strength made their physical power comparable to top-tier beast martial soul users. And because "the strong grow stronger," their weapon martial souls—harder than any beast soul—would only become tougher and more powerful.
If Tang San weren't restricting himself from using the Clear Sky Hammer, his destructive power would be no weaker than Xiao Lin's when the latter fought without spirit rings or his martial soul avatar.
It was easier to arrange things for Xiao Lin and Tang San, but not so much for Xiao Wu.
The Soft Bone Rabbit wasn't a powerful spirit beast to begin with. Xiao Wu had only become a 100,000-year soul beast thanks to the protection of the Titan Giant Ape and the Azure Bull Python—and she was also kind of dumb and naive.
"Got it," Tang San immediately responded to Xiao Lin's orders.
But after a moment, he seemed to think of something and asked:
"Brother Lin, if Xiao Wu is going to absorb her second spirit ring, do you have any recommendations?"
Xiao Lin was briefly surprised by the question, but within a second, he responded decisively.
"Xiao Wu's martial soul and spirit skills aren't suited for power types; she's better off as an agility attacker."
"With her first spirit skill being the waist-bow, she has strong waist and leg power—so her speed won't be slow. For the second spirit ring, I recommend the Lightning Rabbit."
"Lightning Rabbit?"
"Lightning Rabbit?!"
Tang San looked puzzled, while Xiao Wu was shocked.
The Lightning Rabbit was a rare spirit beast—even in the Star Dou Forest, it was extremely hard to find.
Tang San was curious because he'd never heard of it before, while Xiao Wu was shocked at Xiao Lin's depth of knowledge.
In truth, Xiao Lin wasn't all that familiar with the Lightning Rabbit either. He'd only come across it while researching speed-type spirit beasts for himself, and thought of it again when considering Xiao Wu's future teleportation abilities.
"Yeah, the Lightning Rabbit is incredibly fast—faster even than some flying-type eagle spirit beasts."
"Plus, it can use its own lightning energy to energize its body, boosting its speed even more. That's why I'm recommending it to Xiao Wu."
"If she gets a Lightning Rabbit ring, it'll most likely give her a speed-enhancing skill. And with lightning activation, she'll become the ideal agility attack-type spirit master."
"Also, lightning is inherently destructive—it'll go great with her waist-bow and the kicking techniques she's going to learn."
As soon as he finished, Tang San's eyes lit up. He immediately turned to Xiao Wu in excitement.
"Xiao Wu, this spirit beast is perfect for you. The faster you are, the stronger you'll become."
Tang San was clever. He instantly grasped the possibilities that this would unlock for Xiao Wu.
Even if she couldn't beat the enemy, she could escape with ease.
She could knock out fragile support-type enemies, kick out enemy agility attackers so Xiao Lin could deal with them, or work with Xiao Lin to kick him right into the enemy's formation.
And so on, and so forth—this kind of ability would skyrocket Xiao Wu's overall combat strength.
As for whether her speed would affect her control?
Xiao Lin figured that wouldn't be a problem. Her third skill would also come from the Lightning Rabbit—and that one would be teleportation.
A flying thunder god-style teleport without needing to mark the destination. Paired with lightning-speed and Chidori-like acceleration, Xiao Wu would be completely unmatched at her level.
When danger approached, she could just teleport away.
If all went well, her future spirit skills would likely revolve around the second one.
Speed boost, lightning-powered damage—if Tang San even made her a dagger or short sword, her assassination abilities would be terrifying.
Tang San soon thought of the same thing and envisioned matching her with a weapon. With his continuous explanations, Xiao Wu finally understood how powerful this soul skill could be.
Tang San's Zhuge Divine Crossbow could deal fatal damage to spirit masters below level 40. No reason Xiao Wu's lightning-boosted attacks with a dagger wouldn't be just as deadly.
She could even seriously injure defense-type spirit masters if they weren't ready.
As for what comes after level 40, there'd be new soul skills to enhance her attacks even more.
After planning Xiao Wu's development path, she now had a clear vision of her future.
So, she bowed deeply to Xiao Lin.
"Thank you, Xiao Lin."
This time, her thanks were sincere. Her big, bright eyes shone with clarity—and just a touch of innocence.
"Call me Brother Lin," Xiao Lin replied flatly.
"Yes! Brother Lin!"
Xiao Wu shouted with excitement. And with that, she had truly begun to join Xiao Lin and Tang San's little circle.
(End of chapter)