Chapter 19: Maerde's Inquiry

Ding-a-ling.

The bell for the end of class rang.

Shi Quan did not stand up immediately; instead, he earnestly finished reading the last few pages of the book in his hands before slowly rising. Looking at the now-empty classroom, he picked up the book and walked out, heading toward the Library.

He had borrowed these books before the break last semester, and it had already been over a week since school started; only now had he finished them.

"Dean, I've come to return the books."

Shi Quan gently knocked on the door of the Library and peeked inside. Only after seeing Maerde's figure did Shi Quan walk in.

Maerde asked with a smile, "Were the books this time hard to understand?"

Shi Quan smiled and rubbed his head, shaking it as he said, "Not at all. It's just that when I went home, I was delayed for a while, so I was a bit slower."

Looking at the intelligent Shi Quan, Maerde stepped forward to take the books from his hands, kindly patted his head, and said gently, "Child, I have two questions I would like to ask you. Can you answer me truthfully?"

Shi Quan looked up at Maerde's somewhat cloudy eyes, thought for a moment, and said, "Go ahead and ask, Dean. I will tell you the truth."

"Good child." Maerde nodded with satisfaction, led Shi Quan to sit down to the side, and then asked, "Child, your Blue Silver Grass martial soul must be a Mutated Spirit, right?"

Shi Quan nodded and replied, "Yes, Dean."

"May I take a look?"

"No problem, Dean."

Shi Quan raised his right hand and released his Blue Silver Grass martial soul.

"Such strong vitality." As Maerde looked at the azure Blue Silver Grass in Shi Quan's hand, the light in the depths of his eyes brightened. The somewhat serious expression he had just worn instantly relaxed, and a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

As the saying goes, the layman watches the spectacle, while the expert watches the technique.

Maerde's knowledge of Spirit Theory was also quite high. The life force aura emitted by Shi Quan's Blue Silver Grass martial soul was mellow and warm; such a martial soul could not possibly be an Evil Spirit, and Shi Quan could not possibly be an Evil Soul Master. Having confirmed this, the tight string in Maerde's heart instantly relaxed by more than half.

Shi Quan was not surprised by Maerde's sudden questioning. After the falling out with Tang San, given Tang San's personality, how could he not be protective? In Shi Quan's view, Maerde's sudden inquiry definitely had something to do with those two fellows, Tang San and Yu Xiaogang.

Shi Quan had long been prepared for this. Ever since his martial soul mutation was complete, Shi Quan discovered that he could change the way his martial soul's attributes manifested by injecting Internal Energy. For example, when he only injected Yang-attribute Internal Energy into the Blue Silver Grass martial soul, the Life Attribute of the Blue Silver Grass martial soul would be enhanced, while its own Devouring Attribute would be hidden; the reverse was also true.

Therefore, when faced with the inquiry and investigation, Shi Quan did not panic in the slightest.

"I wasn't mistaken, your martial soul's mutation direction must be life, right?" Maerde exclaimed with a surprised expression. From his perception, the life force of Shi Quan's Blue Silver Grass was far stronger than that of ordinary Blue Silver Grass. With such a mutation, his Innate Soul Power shouldn't have been only level one.

"Yes, Dean."

Maerde looked at Shi Quan's calm and composed expression, feeling even more fond of him in his heart, and asked again, "Child, can you tell me your current soul power level?"

"Soul power level?" Shi Quan murmured softly, feigning a look of deep thought. After a long pause, he revealed a firm expression and said, "Dean, my soul power should already be at level seven or eight."

"What!" Maerde stood up with a start, grabbed Shi Quan's shoulders tightly, and asked again, enunciating every word: "Shi Quan, you said your soul power is already at level seven or eight!"

"That's right, Dean."

"Do not resist." Maerde's brows were locked in a frown as his own soul power surged into Shi Quan's body. Upon feeling the rolling Internal Energy flowing within Shi Quan, his expression became somewhat dazed, and he muttered to himself, "Not just level seven, it's level eight! And the soul power is even much purer than that of an average person."

Hearing Maerde's muttering, Shi Quan also breathed a sigh of relief. The only thing he wasn't sure about was whether someone probing his soul power level would discover the anomaly within his body. Judging by Maerde's reaction, he had not discovered the uniqueness of the Internal Energy within him, only feeling that it was purer than ordinary soul power.

After a long while, Maerde finally came to his senses and asked in a deep voice, "Was your Innate Soul Power really only level one?"

"It should be. Isn't that what is written on the Spirit Proof?"

Hearing Shi Quan's answer, Maerde could not help but fall into deep thought. It was impossible to cultivate so quickly with innate level one; unless it was an Evil Soul Master using special Devouring methods, it would be impossible to leap from level one to level seven in just one year.

But looking at both Shi Quan's martial soul and his soul power, it was impossible for Shi Quan to be an Evil Soul Master.

Then there were only two possibilities: either there was a mistake during the check and his Innate Soul Power was not just level one, or Shi Quan had some special cultivation method that allowed his soul power level to increase so quickly.

Maerde naturally leaned toward the first possibility, but he had never heard of the Spirit Hall making a mistake in their testing. After thinking it over, Maerde wanted to confirm something and immediately asked, "How do you cultivate?"

This time, Shi Quan did not answer directly but instead asked in return, "Dean, what do you think are the characteristics of Blue Silver Grass?"

"Characteristics of Blue Silver Grass?" Maerde was stunned for a moment. "What characteristics could Blue Silver Grass have? It's seen everywhere? Strong adaptability? Vigorous vitality?"

"That's right, it's life." Shi Quan's fingers moved slightly, and the Blue Silver Grass in his hand bloomed with a faint blue light, affectionately wrapping around Shi Quan's arm. "There are countless Blue Silver Grass on the continent. Blue Silver Grass can survive in almost any environment, and it relies on its own tenacious vitality. 'Wildfires cannot destroy it; the spring breeze brings it back to life'—that is exactly what this Blue Silver Grass is. Tenacious life is the characteristic of Blue Silver Grass."

"Indeed." Maerde nodded.

Shi Quan looked up and stared directly at Maerde. "Dean, in the past, our human race was weak. In front of Spirit Beasts, humans were as fragile as this Blue Silver Grass. But through our own efforts, we have spread across the continent with our own strength and become the masters of the continent. And Blue Silver Grass has also stood out from all kinds of plants and spread to every corner of the continent. In my view, Blue Silver Grass is very similar to us humans."

"It is quite similar." Maerde was stunned; it was hard to imagine that a seven-year-old child would have such thoughts.

"Although Blue Silver Grass is common, its own life and tenacious attributes cannot be compared to ordinary plants. My Blue Silver Grass is called a mutation, but in my view, it is more like an awakening—an awakening of its own power. Humans rose because they awakened their martial souls, and in my view, the awakening of the Blue Silver Grass's life attribute is a sign of its rise. Humans have their own emperors, and among the various Spirit Beast races, there are their own beast kings. So, is there an emperor among the Blue Silver Grass? Can my Blue Silver Grass become the emperor of the countless Blue Silver Grass on this continent?"

At this point, a fierce brilliance erupted in Shi Quan's eyes.

After hearing Shi Quan's words, Maerde was left stunned on the spot. He had actually seen such strong ambition in the eyes of a seven-year-old child.

"The emperor of Blue Silver Grass?" Maerde only felt his throat become a bit dry.

Maerde himself did not know if this path was feasible, but he did not want to dampen Shi Quan's confidence. After coming to his senses, he asked again, "Child, do you know how difficult this path is?"

Shi Quan smiled and said, "Dean, I feel that I have already found my own path. Isn't my soul power level proof of that?"

"What! You found it?"

Even as a Dean, upon hearing Shi Quan's words, Maerde was still somewhat uncomposed. His shocked voice echoed throughout the entire Library for a moment.

Maerde continued to ask, losing his composure: "How did you do it?"

Shi Quan did not answer, just quietly looking at Maerde before him.

Maerde then realized he had said the wrong thing. A child as intelligent as Shi Quan would surely know what should and should not be said. The fact that he was able to tell him all his directions already proved Shi Quan's trust in him.

If he were to inquire further in detail, such an act would be like prying into another Spirit Master's soul skill, which was a great taboo for Spirit Masters, not to mention the method of cultivation.

Maerde patted his own head again and said with annoyance, "It was my recklessness."

Shi Quan shook his head and said, "It's okay, Dean. If possible, I hope you can keep my secret, especially from Yu Xiaogang."

Hearing Shi Quan mention Yu Xiaogang, Maerde's expression became a bit awkward, realizing that Shi Quan must have guessed. "Good child, don't worry. I will not tell anyone your secret."

Seeing Maerde agree, Shi Quan then said, "Thank you, Dean. Actually, it's not much of a secret that I cultivate so fast; in reality, it has a lot to do with my martial soul mutation."

"My Blue Silver Grass's life force is much stronger than that of ordinary Blue Silver Grass. When I was researching, I discovered that the strong life force within the Blue Silver Grass martial soul can resonate with other Blue Silver Grass under specific circumstances. This resonance is very strange, allowing me to perceive the life fluctuations of the surrounding Blue Silver Grass."

"Guided by these fluctuations, the Blue Silver Grass martial soul can absorb a portion of the life aura of the surrounding Blue Silver Grass. After absorbing this life aura, the Blue Silver Grass martial soul becomes even stronger. At the same time, under the influence of my Blue Silver Grass martial soul's aura, the surrounding Blue Silver Grass will not wither; instead, they become even more vigorous. The two form an ascending cycle."

"It is precisely because of this that as my Blue Silver Grass martial soul becomes stronger and stronger under the nourishment of the massive life aura, I feel that my talent is also growing accordingly, and the speed of my soul power growth has also been greatly improved."

"So that's how it is! The Blue Silver Grass martial soul can actually resonate with the plant known as Blue Silver Grass, the two nourishing and elevating each other, and it can even improve the quality of the martial soul. If that's the case, can other martial souls achieve a similar effect with Blue Silver Grass? Regardless of whether they can or not, the mere fact that martial soul quality can be improved is enough to shock the entire Spirit Master world. This discovery is most feasible for those plant-type Spirit Masters..."

Maerde's face was filled with a fanatical expression; he fell into a state of frenzy, constantly muttering to himself.

Shi Quan watched this scene quietly from the side without interrupting; he understood the value of what he had just said to a martial soul scholar.

Everything he had said was intentionally designed based on a plot point from the original work, and he was indeed capable of achieving a similar effect.

In the original work, when Tang San's Blue Silver Emperor awakened, countless Blue Silver Grass sacrificed their life force to help Tang San awaken the Blue Silver Emperor, and after the awakening was successful, the Blue Silver Emperor also used its own higher-level life aura to nourish those ordinary Blue Silver Grass in return.

His current Blue Silver Grass martial soul's life aura naturally could not reach the point of nourishing other Blue Silver Grass, but after combining it with his Yang-attribute Internal Energy, the Life Attribute of the Blue Silver Grass would become more powerful, reaching the effect of nourishing other Blue Silver Grass. The nourished Blue Silver Grass would likewise feed back a certain amount of Life Essence to the Blue Silver Grass. Over time, it was possible for his Blue Silver Grass martial soul to evolve into a Blue Silver King or even a Blue Silver Emperor.

"Shi Quan, do you know how much of an impact your discovery will have on the Spirit Master world?" After Maerde regained his senses, he gripped Shi Quan's shoulders with an excited expression and said.

Shi Quan shrugged his shoulders and said somewhat helplessly: "Dean, my situation is just a special case; this method of mine cannot be promoted at all. Another reason I can create resonance is that Blue Silver Grass is naturally weak and easy to establish a connection with. Plus, my Blue Silver Grass martial soul awakened the Life Attribute, which allowed me to conquer those Blue Silver Grass. For other martial souls, it is almost impossible to establish a connection with plants in the same way."

"Indeed." Maerde nodded and gradually calmed down. Most plant-type Spirit Masters possess plant martial souls that originate from plant Spirit Beasts. Spirit Beasts and Spirit Masters are hostile to each other, so it is impossible for a connection similar to Shi Quan's to appear. Moreover, establishing the connection is only the foundation; it is not that easy for the two to cooperate and nourish each other for growth.

Just as Shi Quan said, he was a special case; it was only because of the unique characteristics of the basic Blue Silver Grass that such an ascending cycle model could appear.

"Dean, you should understand my situation now. Can I apply to stop attending classes? The content of the classes is useless to me anyway. If you have time, could I follow you and learn for a period?"

Since Tang San and the others had already found Maerde, he would take this opportunity to further reduce his interactions with Tang San and Xiao Wu. After all, there was a Title Douluo behind Tang San. Although Title Douluo have their own pride and rarely lower themselves to kill the weak, one could never be sure about a guy like Tang Hao. If he were discovered to have the ability to snatch his son's Blue Silver Emperor, a single hammer strike would likely leave nothing of him behind.

As the saying goes, more friends mean more paths. The matter of his Blue Silver Grass martial soul mutation and the special cultivation method he had specifically prepared would definitely be made public later. Telling Maerde now would not affect the overall situation. Building a good relationship with Maerde had only benefits and no drawbacks, and within the academy, Maerde could be considered his backer, which would also facilitate his actions.

(End of chapter)