Back in his room, a doctor was feeling Wun Fan’s pulse. He had extended a sliver of his soul energy into Wun Fan’s body and his expression was grim. The great elder was standing beside them, looking quite annoyed as he stared at Wun Fan. Wun Fan could feel his stare like pinpricks on his skin.
“Weird,” the doctor looked confused. He stared at Wun Fan and frowned as he said, “Young Master Wun, how exactly did you end up with all these internal injuries? Your external wounds aren’t serious at all. They should be completely healed in a month’s time. On the other hand, why are there so many tiny tears in your meridians?”
The doctor was almost about to start cursing in frustration. He had never seen such strange injuries. These weren’t a case of meridians being severed or obstructed, but of them being covered all over in very small tears. He was certain that Wun Fan would have to rest for an entire year to fully recover. He explained the diagnosis and said that he would send someone to bring Wun Fan’s medicine over once he had prepared it.
“Seriously?!” Both Wun Fan and the great elder shouted out at once. Just one fight and he had to rest for an entire year? He went through so much trouble to finally advance to ninth-level Martial Disciple. His bright future had finally arrived and now, because of a fight…
It was all his fault for abusing the Spiritstartler Ring’s power. That’s what got him in this situation.
“Thank you, doctor,” Wun Fan put one hand over a fist in greeting, but accidentally pulled on his freshly bandaged wound and winced in pain. The great elder made a show of sending off the doctor and immediately turned around to scoff at Wun Fan. The coldness in his eyes sent shivers down Wun Fan’s spine.
“Aren’t you the big boy now, Mr. Third Young Master? You finally advanced to ninth level Martial Disciple and instead of resting, you decide to pick a fight with twelve other Martial Disciples, ten of which are tenth-level,” the great elder was clearly mocking him, pausing on every word for emphasis. Wun Fan felt so bad he couldn’t bring himself to lift his head up to meet the great elder’s gaze as he continued talking, “Good for you. Now you get to be Mr. Ninth-Level for one year. Aren’t you happy?”
“About that…” Wun Fan had nothing to say in response. He also felt a bit awkward about asking Old Lei how he should deal with this problem and if the Spiritstartler Ring could help him recover faster.
However, Old Lei could read his mind and he never let Wun Fan down. He suddenly shouted out loud in Wun Fan’s mind, “What a stupid doctor! Don’t listen to him. These injuries of yours can be healed in a single day as long as you have the proper ingredients!”
Wun Fan’s curiosity was piqued. He wanted Old Lei to divulge his plans, so he said pitifully in his own mind, “It’s fine, Old Lei. I don’t mind this. I’ve already been a sixth-level Martial Disciple for close to three years. It’s fine if I have to spend one more year being a ninth-level Martial Disciple!”
“Spare me the theatrics. If I say it’s possible, it is possible. I will tell you about it when I bring you to the mountain tonight,” Old Lei’s tone was rather upset. It was obvious that he was annoyed with Wun Fan trying to probe him.
“Alright!” Wun Fan couldn’t help but let out an awkward chuckle. He hadn’t expected his intentions to have been seen through so easily.
Wun Fan knew that Old Lei was someone that always kept to his words and only spoke when it mattered and was immediately reassured by his words. If he actually had to wait a whole year right after he had made advances in his cultivation, he would probably go crazy. Anyone would go crazy in that situation. He had Old Lei’s reassurance, but he still had to find a way to fool the great elder. However, he couldn’t quite think of a good excuse.
Wun Fan had no choice but to use his ultimate technique: he shrugged at the great elder and said nonchalantly, “Don’t worry, gramps. Trust me, I’ll get better.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, but hope lies in the future!” Wun Fan gave him a nice, innocent smile, not knowing that he was just pouring gasoline on the fire.
The great elder punched Wun Fan in the eye and scolded him, “‘Hope’ your mama’s ass!”
Wun Fan grabbed his eye. It wasn’t that the great elder had put any significant force in his punch, but that the punch had caused him to pull on all the other injuries on his body. He couldn’t resist rebutting, “Mom’s in the capital with big brother though…”
“Wew…” The great elder tried his best to retain what was left of his rationality. He almost flew off the handle and sent Wun Fan to meet Buddha early.326Please respect copyright.PENANAoY0ArLn848
Wun Siu Lan was still sleeping quietly in her room.
Wun Fan arrived to check on her, with two black eyes and a body full of wounds. He was accompanied by the still fuming great elder, who was staring daggers into Wun Fan’s back. Wun Fan could only laugh awkwardly. He didn’t dare provoke the great elder again.
The handmaids waiting outside the door moved to bow when they saw the two of them arrive. The great elder stopped them and instructed them to leave.
Wun Fan slowly pushed the door opened and quietly entered Wun Siu Lan’s room. The servants had changed her into clean clothes and she was lying on her bed, sleeping soundly. He walked over slowly and caressed her forehead, worry written all over his face. The great elder also took a glance from outside the door. He shook his head and let out a soft sigh.
Wun Fan stepped out of the room when he saw that she was alright. He was pacing around the courtyard anxiously, when he suddenly asked, “Gramps, is Siu Lan going to be ok?”
“She’s going to be alright. This is the power of the mayor’s martial soul—cherry blossoms,” the great elder was worried, but he wasn’t too concerned. After all, the mayor had no reason to harm the members of the Wun Clan.
Cherry blossoms? The different types of martial souls are really interesting.
“Gramps, how is a martial soul formed, exactly?” Wun Fan had recovered his ability to cultivate now and began to grow curious about such information. This was even more so after he saw the power of Wun Siu Lan’s martial soul. Her martial soul seemed unusual, different from the usual fire-type martial soul. Seeing how serious Wun Fan was, the great elder had no choice but to explain it to him.
There were so many different types of martial souls that it was impossible to count them all. They could be swords, blades, fire, water, ice or even insects. However, while there was no distinction of which martial souls were bad or good, there was a distinction between their quality. When martial artists first enter the realm of Martial Mortal, their aether mergea with their mental power, giving rise to soul energy. However, the awakening of the martial soul depends on the martial artists’ talent. Some people could awaken their martial soul when they were novice Martial Mortals, while others only awakened it when they were advanced Martial Mortals. There were even cases where the martial soul was only awakened when its wielder had reached the Martial Vassal realm.
When a person awakened their martial soul, they would also face heavenly tribulation. After all, the martial path was one that went against nature’s will. The world itself would not let it be easy!
Those who followed heaven’s will lived, and those who went against it died.
Thus, the skies will unleash the heavenly tribulations upon the martial artist, the number of which was related to the strength of the martial soul. In most clans, the senior members would watch over the younger generation when they awakened their martial souls. This allowed them to intervene and save them if any accidents were to incur. The might of the tribulations also depended on the quality of the martial soul.
Martial souls could be divided into four tiers: inferior, mediocre, excellent and exotic. inferior martial souls were often little more than a ball of soul energy. They could provide their owners with a slight boost in power during combat. On the other hand, mediocre martial souls were different, in that most assumed the forms of weapons or elemental energy, such as wind, knives, or swords.
By studying martial techniques, a martial artist could obtain the resonance and approval of the martial soul, converting the martial technique into the martial artist’s very own ability. They would then be able to draw on the power of the martial soul when unleashing that technique. Without the martial soul, those martial techniques would only have form, but no power.
The word ‘lethality’ that was always uttered before the name of the technique was a means of verbal materialization. It was a key and a form of proof that opened the connection between the martial technique and the martial soul!
Excellent martial souls, on the other hand, were completely different. Most had special powers, assumed the form of beasts, unusual elemental energy or other strange powers. A few examples would be lightning or tigers. The Wun Clan’s martial soul was a sword, but it wasn’t just any ordinary sword. When the practitioner’s soul energy resonated with the sword, they could control the sword as if it was their own limb. Moreover, you could even learn martial techniques that suited you and your sword’s characteristics, making it even more deadly. Thus, it was considered an excellent martial soul.
Exotic martial souls were unbelievably powerful. They usually had very strange powers, or were unusual beasts and cryptic objects. The most overpowered facet of exotic martial souls was the fact that their owners would naturally awaken bloodline martial techniques as their powers grew!
However, due to the incredible variety of martial souls, it was impossible to truly categorize and decide their quality based on what characteristics they possessed. In the end, the best indication was the power of the heavenly tribulation unleashed on the martial artist!
Inferior and mediocre martial souls provided their owners with very little benefit. As such, the might of the tribulation unleashed was very mild. Most of the time, it would just be a tiny bolt of lightning, which most Martial Mortals could easily survive. Meanwhile, excellent martial souls warranted more attention from the heavens. Two major tribulations were usually unleashed. First was a lightning tribulation to destroy the physical body, followed by a tribulation of heavenly aura to destroy the soul.
As for exotic martial souls? They were considered forbidden by the heavens, and would be smote with its full force when they appeared. As such, the heavens would unleash three major tribulations to exterminate the threat in its cradle: a lightning tribulation, a heavenly aura tribulation and a heart tribulation. That was why martial artists with exotic martial souls were considered prodigies. They were guaranteed great success. In particular, a martial artist who awakens an exotic martial soul as a novice Martial Mortal would be an incredibly terrifying individual.
Supposedly, there was a quality above exotic, known as zenith, the details of which elude even someone as powerful as the great elder. Meanwhile, there were two ways in which a martial soul could be formed—innate and acquired. The innate means of forming a martial soul was quite intuitive, it came from the bloodline of the martial artist. Meanwhile, acquired martial souls were gained by a tenth-level Martial Disciple practicing a particular mantra or cultivation technique and using it to change their own martial soul.
Wun Fan was a little confused when he heard this. It was tough for him to digest all that information at once. He sort of missed Old Lei’s means of conveying information by just mentally injecting it into his mind. He could get all that useful information into his brain, all for the price of a sharp but momentary pain.
At the very least, it would help him remember all this goddamned information.
“So what’s your martial soul then, gramps?” Wun Fan was a little perplexed why the great elder had given such a lengthy explanation without telling him what his martial soul was.
“Ugh…” the great elder punched Wun Fan on the head again as he scoffed at him, “Kid, remember, do not ask other people what their martial soul is. That’s one of the taboos of the martial world.”
“Oh, I see, then I…” Before Wun Fan could finish, the great elder continued.
“That said, I am old, so it’s fine if I let you know. It would help you better understand the characteristics of martial souls,” the great elder took out a pipe from somewhere. He channelled soul energy to his finger and snapped them with tremendous force, creating some sparks. He lit the tobacco and started to smoke his pipe. He had a look of satisfaction on his face.
Tsk, what a tsundere. Talking all this smack when he really didn’t mind telling me at all.
“Say, gramps, you smoke?” Wun Fan had known the great elder for eleven years and this was the first time he had seen him smoking. Wun Fan couldn’t help but be curious.
“What about it? It ain’t illegal, is it?” the great elder said as he blew a cloud of smoke at Wun Fan’s face.326Please respect copyright.PENANAe2YSCKPVJo