"To say that my novel is just a children's book—Ma Xiunuo's grandfather must be blind."
Although Little Rou's Fantastic Adventure sold well, and Xiao Wu earned a 30% share through Nuoding Bookstore—netting her nearly twenty gold soul coins per month—she still had some complaints about Ma Xiunuo's "lack of vision."
"Don't be angry. You're earning money, aren't you?" Tang San replied as he took out the original manuscript Xiao Wu had written from his storage bracer and flipped through it carefully.
The Spirit Hall might think Xiao Wu's descriptions of soul beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest were just imaginative deviations from recorded knowledge.
But Tang San wouldn't think so.
After all, a Soft Boned Rabbit that had lived in the Star Dou Great Forest for a hundred thousand years would certainly know far more about soul beasts than any scholar on the Douluo Continent.
"That's true. I get around twenty gold soul coins a month. Add the ten gold soul coins the Spirit Hall gives me as a Great Soul Master, and I have thirty a month. I can buy so many nice things!"
Xiao Wu was someone who couldn't hold onto money. Each month, she spent nearly all her income within two weeks—mostly on beautiful clothes.
As a result, Tang San never accompanied her on shopping trips.
And when she was short on cash, she might share meals with Tang San, but she wouldn't ask him for money. She knew his research was expensive.
Especially recently—Tang San had started studying soul tools. He had disassembled many daily-use soul tools and used the money he earned from his theoretical papers to purchase more advanced ones from larger cities.
To Tang San, soul tools represented the future of soul masters.
Or more precisely, the soul tool patterns engraved within them were the true future.
When Ling Yuan learned about this, she had sought Tang San out, advising him not to waste time on lifestyle soul tools. He agreed verbally—but in practice, he continued as he pleased.
In his opinion, thoroughly studying the fundamental mechanics behind soul tool patterns was more important than obtaining spirit rings. He even formed a bold conjecture: that these patterns evolved from the soul power flow paths inside spirit rings. They were remnants of ancient soul ring research—possibly done by forgotten civilizations.
Even the humble, everyday soul tools that soul masters disregarded, in Tang San's eyes, held designs that were crystallized wisdom from the ancestors of the Douluo Continent—more precious than ten-thousand-year spirit rings or even spirit bones.
In fact, these soul tool patterns might be closer to the extraordinary essence of the world itself.
If one could master them—who even needed gods?
Lin Yuhan, seeing Tang San's determination, didn't try to stop him further. She was only assigned to protect his safety. What he chose to study wasn't her concern.
In the blink of an eye, another semester passed.
Tang San's soul power had reached level twenty-six.
The pace of cultivation as a Great Soul Master was slower than during the Soul Master stage, but this rate was still comparable to someone with innate full soul power.
Xiao Wu had reached level twenty-five.
She didn't have as many responsibilities as Tang San. Other than maintaining her "big sister" presence at Nuoding Academy—keeping noble students from bullying the work-study students—she spent her time writing novels before bed, cultivating soul power, climbing trees, learning how to use short knives, and improving her control over the scorpion-tail braid behind her head.
And Tang San?
He studied martial soul theory, blood qi vibration, blacksmithing, soul tool design, pharmacology, and metallurgy. Reaching level twenty-six in such a semester was impressive.
Even Guang Ling had improved significantly. Her soul power had jumped from level three to level eight in just one semester—a speed that made her starting point of level three seem unbelievable.
But when factoring in the thousand-year whale glue she had consumed during the semester, the acceleration wasn't so surprising.
While whale glue mainly enhanced physical fitness, it also contained some energy that could slightly increase soul power. Of course, one needed to consume it in large amounts.
Still, Tang San suspected that Guang Ling's progress wasn't only due to whale glue. Her understanding of bows and arrows had deepened through constant practice.
This aligned with Tang San's theory: the more one understood their martial soul, the stronger the affinity between soul master and martial soul became—leading to faster cultivation.
However, Guang Ling wasn't the right subject to prove the theory. She had too many external factors: whale glue, guided training, and close contact with Tang San's insights.
To verify his hypothesis, the experimental subject needed to be isolated from such variables.
Coincidentally, Tang San had nearly used up his supply of thousand-year whale glue this semester. Next term, he could observe Guang Ling's cultivation speed without it and determine whether her martial soul understanding alone affected her growth.
Aside from soul power, Tang San had also begun to explore blood qi cultivation. With Wang Sheng—whose first soul skill was Tiger King's Blood Qi Transformation—assisting in the experiments, the process went smoothly.
Unexpectedly, when blood qi cultivation was combined with Jade Hands, a peculiar transformation occurred.
His hand bones started turning white jade in color.
Tang San had once sliced open the skin of his little finger with a small knife and saw with his own eyes: the bone had a silver-jade hue—distinct from the others.
In the past, Jade Hands had only concentrated soul power into the hands, giving the skin a jade-like appearance. But now, his finger bones had undergone a structural change—and it remained so even without activating Jade Hands.
He didn't know yet if this would affect his overall physical development, but the flow of soul power wasn't hindered. In fact, the strength in his right little finger was greater than that of his other fingers.
This realization excited Tang San.
Combining blood qi with soul power and condensing it into the bones yielded tangible benefits.
He decided that once the bones in both hands had turned to silver jade, he would try applying the Jade Hands technique to the rest of his skeleton.
Perhaps that would lead to even more unexpected transformations.
Wang Sheng also benefited from the process. Tang San taught him how to cultivate blood qi using soul power—without relying on soul skills.
However, Wang Sheng's perception was limited, and his control over soul power was poor. He could only use it explosively.
So Tang San advised him to focus on channeling soul power and blood qi into his five claws.
After all, while his martial soul was a tiger, he wouldn't be able to use its true body before reaching the Soul Saint level. He couldn't exactly bite enemies in a real fight, right?
He had to use his claws.
And with Wang Sheng's level of talent, it was uncertain if he would ever become a Soul Saint.
Tang San couldn't act as his lifelong nanny.
All he could do was set the direction for his future growth.
In Tang San's view, if Wang Sheng could master his first soul skill and devote himself to the path of blood qi for years, then one day—even he might carve his own legend into the history of the Douluo Continent.