Chapter 16: Taking a Break

The academy was on break, and there were quite a few parents there to pick up their children. Because of the large crowd, Notting Academy did not let these parents enter the academy grounds; they simply set up a passageway at the main gate, allowing the parents to wait on either side for their children to come out.

"Xiao Quan! Over here..."

As soon as Shi Quan walked out of Notting Academy, he immediately saw Li Meili in the crowd, waving her arms at him excitedly.

"I'm coming, Mom!" Shi Quan took two steps in one, quickly walking toward Li Meili.

"Come, come, let me carry that for you." Li Meili looked at the parcel in Shi Quan's hands, and before he could refuse, she had already taken it from him.

"Let's go this way. There are too many people here, and it's hard to park the carriage, so your dad parked it on the other side." Li Meili beamed as she led Shi Quan toward the side of the academy.

After turning a corner, Shi Quan saw Shi Jian standing quietly by the carriage not far away, his gaze fixed in their direction the whole time.

"Dad!" Shi Quan waved from afar to greet Shi Jian.

Shi Jian nodded with a smile and waved back toward Shi Quan to signal him.

"How were the last two months?"

This was a question that was never absent whenever they met.

Shi Quan waved his hand and said with a smile, "The same as always. I can finally go home. I haven't had Mom's cooking in so long, I've really missed it."

As he spoke, Shi Quan looked at Li Meili acting spoiled. Li Meili's eyes crinkled into slits as she smiled and said, "When we get back, Mom will make you a big feast!"

Without stopping in the city at all, the three of them set off directly toward Shi Family Village.

"Xiao Quan, how has your cultivation been this year?"

"Don't worry, Dad. I've kept what you said firmly in my heart."

Shi Quan naturally understood what Shi Jian was asking. They had already left the city, and in front of his own parents, he had nothing to hide.

As he spoke, Shi Quan raised his right hand. A faint blue light surged out, and a stalk of Blue Silver Grass, one size thicker than ordinary Blue Silver Grass, appeared in Shi Quan's hand.

With a slight movement of his fingers, the branches and leaves of the Blue Silver Grass in Shi Quan's hand extended outward, trailing along the carriage to the carriage reins, where they nimbly tied a knot.

"Not bad!" Seeing this, Shi Jian also nodded with satisfaction.

One had to know that at the beginning, Shi Quan couldn't even control a single branch or leaf on its own. Now, he was able to control these branches to extend and nimbly tie knots; this rate of improvement was already quite astonishing.

Shi Quan said mysteriously, "By the way, Dad, Mom, I have one more thing to tell you. Don't be too surprised when you hear it."

Li Meili said coquettishly, "What is it? Making it all so mysterious."

"My soul power level has already reached level seven."

"What? Level seven?" Li Meili exclaimed. The next second, she realized her voice was too loud and hurriedly covered her mouth. After cautiously looking around the carriage, she asked in a low voice, "Xiao Quan, are you saying level seven?"

Shi Quan said with conviction, "I didn't say it wrong, it should be level seven, and it's only higher, not lower."

Shi Jian looked around, then said with a serious expression, "Walls have ears, not to mention we are still outside. We'll talk when we get back."

Li Meili also made a gesture to keep quiet. Shi Quan looked around, then nodded in agreement, "Understood."

"Xiao Quan is back..."

The carriage returning home passed through the village, and the surroundings were filled with warm greetings.

After being away for nearly a year, there hadn't been any major changes at home.

Returning home, *clatter*, the door was shut tight.

Shi Jian finally asked his question, "Xiao Quan, why has your soul power level increased so quickly?"

Li Meili also looked at Shi Quan curiously from the side.

Shi Quan said in a deep voice, "Dad, Mom, the reason my soul power increased quickly is because my martial soul, Blue Silver Grass, is a Mutated Spirit. I will explain the rest to you later."

"The rest?" Li Meili stepped forward with a worried expression and said, "Xiao Quan, are there other secrets you have that even we can't know?"

"Meili!" Shi Jian stepped forward, took Li Meili's hand, and patted it gently, soothing her, "It's good that Xiao Quan has his own ideas. We should trust Xiao Quan."

As his voice fell, Shi Jian's gaze landed on Shi Quan, and he said earnestly, "Xiao Quan, I previously learned about your situation from a Spirit Master lord. Your Innate Soul Power is level one; only through diligent cultivation would you have a chance to become a true Spirit Master before graduation. Yet, in just one semester, you went from level one to level seven. Have you considered the consequences of this clearly?"

Shi Quan said firmly, "Don't worry, Dad. I've already thought it through, and I can handle this matter."

Shi Jian looked straight into Shi Quan's eyes. After a moment of silence, he nodded and continued, "Good, tell us what we need to do!"

Outside Holy Soul Village.

"How much further is it?" Xiao Wu hopped and skipped, looking left and right as she asked casually.

"We're almost there. Do you see that mountain over there? Our Holy Soul Village is at the foot of the mountain." With home in sight, Tang San couldn't help but feel a bit excited.

With nowhere else to go, Xiao Wu still chose to return to Holy Soul Village with Tang San. Because of Shi Quan, their relationship was even better than it had been in the original story.

"Dad, I'm back."

Tang San's excited voice came, but it wasn't Tang Hao who greeted him, but Village Chief Old Jack.

After reading the letter Tang Hao had left behind from Old Jack, the joy that had filled Tang San a moment ago instantly turned into helpless disappointment.

After disappointedly tidying up the house, the sun began to set. Tang San looked at Xiao Wu, who had been accompanying him the whole time. His eyes were moist and carried a hint of daze. As if he had made a decision, he took the initiative to take Xiao Wu's hand and brought her to the small hill where he usually cultivated.

And he earnestly asked that question, "Are you willing to be my younger sister?"

Xiao Wu had been a bit conflicted at first, but when she heard Tang San say, 'I will protect my younger sister forever and won't let her suffer the slightest harm,' Xiao Wu's eyes gradually turned red.

Finally, upon hearing the words, 'If anyone wants to kill you, then please have them step over my corpse first,' Xiao Wu finally broke down. Looking at Tang San's equally moist and firm eyes, she called out that 'Brother.'

Hearing this 'brother,' Tang San also wept.

"Now you're my brother, so shouldn't you help me teach that stinky guy Shi Quan a lesson?" As soon as Shi Quan was mentioned, Xiao Wu showed an indignant look, and paired with her currently red-rimmed eyes, she looked as if she had suffered a great grievance.

"Of course! Daring to bully my sister, I certainly won't let him off!"

A fierce light appeared in Tang San's eyes. Before, at the academy, Xiao Wu was just his classmate and friend; he had always viewed the conflict between Xiao Wu and Shi Quan from the perspective of a bystander.

But now that Xiao Wu was his sister, it was a different concept entirely. His heart had now completely sided with Xiao Wu.

"Thank you, Brother!" A blush appeared on Xiao Wu's face, "But Brother, can I call you that in private? After all, I am the boss of all the students in Notting. If I suddenly have an older brother, what will they think of me?"

Tang San smiled and agreed, while simultaneously taking off the Sleeve Arrow on his left arm.

Xiao Wu looked at the Sleeve Arrow in Tang San's hand with great curiosity. After she finished listening to Tang San's introduction and the demonstration of the Hidden Weapon, Xiao Wu's eyes lit up, and she immediately became full of interest in it.

If she learned these, would she still be afraid of not being able to chase after Shi Quan? When the time came, she would just shoot him directly with the Hidden Weapon and be done with it.

Tang San understood Xiao Wu's temperament, so he explained that practicing Hidden Weapons was not a task that could be accomplished in a single day, which was a polite refusal, though not a complete one, as he still taught Xiao Wu how to use the Sleeve Arrow and some simple throwing methods.

"Hmph, with this trump card, let's see if I don't give that stinky guy a good lesson!" Xiao Wu played with the Sleeve Arrow in her hand affectionately, excitedly trying it out repeatedly against the large tree in front of her.

Tang San, standing to the side, looked at Xiao Wu with a doting expression.

……

Shi Family Village, Lianyun Mountain Range.

The Lianyun Mountain Range was right behind Shi Family Village, no more than two or three hundred meters away. The Lianyun Mountain Range had towering peaks and a continuous terrain that stretched as far as the eye could see, as if it were connected to the clouds, hence the name Lianyun Mountain Range.

A road led directly from Shi Family Village to the Lianyun Mountain Range. The Lianyun Mountain Range was filled with forests, and most of the stone used for the stone carvings in Shi Family Village was quarried by the villagers in the Lianyun Mountain Range; as a mountain range, the one thing it lacked least was stone.

At the top of a hill on the outskirts of the mountain range, a rustling sound of movement came. Shi Quan sat cross-legged with his five hearts facing the sky at the top of the hill. A pale green halo flowed around his body, and Blue Silver Vines, like spirit snakes, constantly moved around him. As time passed, the grass and trees centered around Shi Quan emitted a faint blue light.

The already lush green grass radiated vigorous vitality, and the surrounding flowers, plants, and trees were nourished by this vitality and began to gradually experience Growth.

It could be seen that within a ten-meter radius centered on Shi Quan, all the vegetation was several times more robust than the surrounding flowers, plants, and trees.

The blue light drifted and slowly converged, finally flowing into those moving Blue Silver Grass vines. With the last trace of blue light merging into the Blue Silver Grass martial soul, the Blue Silver Grass gradually faded, appearing in front of Shi Quan's chest as a single stalk of Blue Silver Grass emitting a faint fluorescence. The crystal-clear grass leaves were like gemstones, then gradually returned to the appearance of ordinary Blue Silver Grass.

After sitting quietly for a moment, Shi Quan opened his eyes and stood up.

"There is the possibility of transformation, but this efficiency is not as fast as practicing on my own."

After casually grumbling a few words, Shi Quan did not linger, leaping up and running down the mountain. His agile figure was like a mountain elf; every step he took covered more than a zhang, and the uneven mountain terrain was like flat ground to him.

"The layout here should be about ready."

Shi Quan looked back and gazed at the hill. It could be seen that the vegetation on the hill was several times more lush than the vegetation around it. Taking the Blue Silver Grass as an example, the length of the Blue Silver Grass at the top of the hill was more than three times that of the surrounding Blue Silver Grass.

Checking the time, Shi Quan did not continue to stay in the mountain range and hurried home.

"Xiao Quan, are you back from the Lianyun Mountain Range again?"

As soon as he entered the village, the villagers greeted Shi Quan enthusiastically.

As the only genius in the village with soul power, it was said that those close to the water were the first to see the moon; the villagers naturally wished to build a good relationship with Shi Quan, especially those with daughters, who were even more proactive. If Shi Quan took a fancy to their daughters in the future, the possibility of the children born later having soul power would also increase.

"Yes," Shi Quan responded with a smile.

Shi Quan did not deliberately hide his trips to the Lianyun Mountain Range. At first, the villagers did not pay much attention, but as Shi Quan went every day, and the number of times increased, the people in the village all knew that Shi Quan went to the Lianyun Mountain Range every day. Although Shi Quan did not say what he was doing, the people in the village all knew that Shi Quan must be going to the mountain range to practice.

"Dad, Mom, I'm home." Before he even entered the door, Shi Quan's voice had already come from afar.

"You're back, come on in, it's just right." Li Meili, wearing an apron, walked out of the kitchen and waved happily at Shi Quan.

In a short while, three dishes and one soup were set on the dining table, smelling delicious.

Li Meili asked while serving rice for Shi Quan: "Xiao Quan, there are only three more days until the registration time at the academy. Are you still going to the Lianyun Mountain Range these next few days?"

Shi Quan thought for a moment and said: "I'll go for one more day tomorrow."

Since the second day after returning home, he had gone to the Lianyun Mountain Range to practice every day. He would return once at noon for lunch, and after resting for about half an hour after lunch, Shi Quan would go back to the Lianyun Mountain Range until dinner time, and he would spend his evenings at home.

This had been going on for nearly two months. In these two months, Shi Quan's soul power had already reached a Breakthrough to level eight.

Every day, besides nourishing the plants at the top of the hill, he spent most of his remaining time practicing Martial Arts.

Diligence can make up for clumsiness; Shi Quan understood this principle very well. Compared to Tang San, his Martial Arts realm was at least twenty years behind.

In addition to practicing martial arts since childhood in this life, Tang San had also practiced Martial Arts for at least twenty years in his previous life. Although Tang San had lost the realm of his previous life, those experiences were solid and real.

Although the Martial Arts in the true scripture were profound, it would take time to bridge the gap, and his innate conditions were already worse than Tang San's. Now he had to work as hard as possible to bridge these gaps in the shortest time, so that he could facilitate the progress of his subsequent plans.

As for the system, he really couldn't compliment it. Although every reward was top-notch, the triggering mechanism was truly baffling. Unlike a system with accurate goals, the uncertainty of this system was simply too high.

He dared not place all his bets on the system. To him, the system was one of the pillars of his rise, but to truly rise, he still had to rely on himself; he himself was his greatest reliance and pillar.

Perhaps because he was too mediocre in his previous life, Shi Quan in this life was no longer willing to be ordinary, so even after the system appeared, he had maintained the habit of diligent practice until now.

This was to improve his strength as much as possible, to protect the people he wanted to protect, and to live the life and existence he wanted.

(End of this chapter)