Su Yun Tao smiled bitterly. "Of course I'm certain. I'm the one who awakened this child's Martial Soul. He's the one I told you about—the boy with Innate Full Soul Power whose Martial Soul turned out to be Blue Silver Grass. He's already obtained a Soul Ring, so I'll have to trouble you with him. Si Si is still waiting for me, so I'll be going now." With that, he patted Tang San on the shoulder and hurried out.
Watching Su Yun Tao's retreating figure, the old Soul Master Ma Xiu Nuo shook his head helplessly. "Another young man with his head turned by love. What a pity—Si Si isn't right for him. That girl's ambitions are far too great for someone like him to restrain."
Tang San stood before Ma Xiu Nuo's desk, listening to the old man's muttered words with a touch of impatience in his heart. "Greetings, Great Master Ma Xiu Nuo."
Ma Xiu Nuo looked at Tang San with a smile. "Child, don't call me Great Master—I'm hardly worthy of that title. Just call me Grandpa Ma Xiu Nuo. I'm eighty-one this year. That should be old enough to be your grandfather, wouldn't you say?"
The elderly man's warm and kindly voice immediately won Tang San over, and he quickly spoke up again. "Greetings, Grandpa Ma Xiu Nuo."
Ma Xiu Nuo smiled faintly. "Come, I'll take you for your advancement assessment. You're a very polite child. What a pity, though—your Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass."
As he spoke, Ma Xiu Nuo took Tang San's hand like he was leading his own grandson and walked out of the office, heading along the second-floor corridor toward the inner part of Spirit Hall.
When they reached the end of the corridor, three towering arched doorways appeared before Tang San's eyes.
Ma Xiu Nuo smiled. "This is Spirit Hall's Martial Soul laboratory, where we conduct advancement assessments. Come, child."
With that, he pushed open the leftmost door and led Tang San inside.
The moment he entered the room, Tang San felt something peculiar—the Mysterious Heaven Skill's internal energy within his body seemed to be pulsing faintly in rhythm with a strange, unique cadence.
The room was spacious and tall, easily two hundred square meters. A massive floor-to-ceiling window provided ample light.
Tang San immediately found what was stirring his internal energy. Embedded in the surrounding walls were black stones, each roughly the size of a fist. Their material appeared to be the same as the stone Su Yun Tao had used to awaken his Martial Soul.
On the floor was carved a massive emblem shaped like a medallion—a long sword pointing straight downward, aimed right at the entrance.
It was the same emblem that hung outside Spirit Hall.
Great Soul Master Ma Xiu Nuo noticed Tang San studying the pattern on the floor and smiled. "This is the lowest level of Spirit Hall, also called a Spirit Hall Branch. Across the continent, even the smallest cities have a Spirit Hall of our scale. Above the Branch is the Martial Soul Sub-Hall, and one tier higher still is the Martial Soul Main Hall. Only cities of significant size can host a Main Hall. The capitals of the two great empires, meanwhile, house the fourth tier—the Martial Soul Holy Hall. The fifth tier is the Papal Hall, the most sacred place in all of Spirit Hall. Above the Papal Hall lies only the legendary Dou Luo Enshrinement Hall. Only Soul Masters who have reached the Dou Luo rank are qualified to enter, and it is the final resting place for all Dou Luo-level Soul Masters registered with Spirit Hall. It is the place every Soul Master dreams of."
The six tiers of Spirit Hall that Ma Xiu Nuo described corresponded exactly to the six emblems the Great Master had told him about. Tang San understood immediately.
"Thank you for telling me all this, Grandpa Ma Xiu Nuo. May we begin now?"
Ma Xiu Nuo let out an amused chuckle. "Young people these days—all so impatient. Very well, let's begin. Release your Martial Soul and manifest your Soul Ring."
Tang San walked to the center of the emblem carved into the floor and stood firm. He raised his right hand, cleared his mind, and let his Mysterious Heaven Skill's internal energy merge with the warmth generated by his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul as it slowly flowed from his palm.
Thick stalks of Blue Silver Grass burst forth, spilling down to the floor in an instant. A brilliant yellow Hundred-Year Mandala Snake Soul Ring rose from beneath Tang San's feet, orbiting his body in a steady up-and-down motion.
Ma Xiu Nuo had been wearing a gentle smile, but the moment he saw the Blue Silver Grass pouring from Tang San's palm, his expression shifted to utter astonishment. "This—this is Blue Silver Grass?"
A faint blue glow flickered in Tang San's eyes—a unique effect of using the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul. "Is something wrong, Grandpa Ma Xiu Nuo?"
Ma Xiu Nuo rubbed his eyes, confirming that he hadn't misseen anything. Now his attention shifted to the yellow Soul Ring circling Tang San's body. "A Hundred-Year Soul Ring. So it's a Hundred-Year Soul Ring. No wonder—even Blue Silver Grass has changed so dramatically. Child, I don't even know your name yet."
"My name is Tang San."
Ma Xiu Nuo exhaled slowly, steadying the excitement in his heart. "I can say with certainty that you have an excellent mentor at Nuoding Academy. Then again, for an instructor at Nuoding Academy to have helped you hunt down a Hundred-Year Soul Beast is already no small feat. It's a shame Blue Silver Grass has such limited growth potential—otherwise, you might truly have become a great Soul Master. After all, your Martial Soul was awakened only a few months ago."
Ma Xiu Nuo picked up a yellow crystal ball from the desk beside him and walked over to Tang San. "Pour your Soul Power into this. Let me see what level you've reached. Theoretically, you should be at level eleven..."
Before he could even finish the word "level," the crystal ball he had placed in Tang San's hands was already glowing with a hazy yellow radiance. The light was not particularly intense, but it was unmistakably clear.
"This... this is... level thirteen Soul Power." Ma Xiu Nuo stared at Tang San as though he were looking at a little monster. "Could it be that the Soul Ring itself was so powerful it boosted your Soul Power as a side effect? But even so, jumping two levels at once... Child, can you tell me what Soul Beast you hunted to obtain this Soul Ring?"
(End of Chapter)