Chapter 5: Shi Jian: What is a martial soul?

Dong, dong, dong!

Shi Quan walked quickly to the outside of the Ni Su Fang behind the courtyard, and while knocking on the door, he called out softly toward the inside: "Dad?"

Click, clack.

In no time at all, the sound of the deadbolt being released came from inside the room, and the door opened, revealing Shi Jian's tall figure.

"Come in." Shi Jian nodded.

Clang, click.

Another series of door-closing and locking sounds followed; to guard against interruptions from others, the door of the Ni Su Fang could be locked from the inside, so that people outside could not easily enter.

Once the door was shut, the entire Ni Su Fang appeared somewhat dim.

There was only one window in the entire room, and it was positioned very high up, making it difficult for an ordinary person to see inside from the outside; furthermore, the spot where Shi Jian made his mud sculptures was directly below the window, so even if one looked into the room through the window, they could not see Shi Jian's movements.

"Xiao Quan, come here."

Beside the spot where Shi Jian usually made his mud sculptures, there was an extra chair, which looked like it had been prepared specifically for Shi Quan.

Just as Shi Quan sat down, Shi Jian suddenly asked him: "Xiao Quan, what do you think a martial soul is to us?"

After a brief moment of surprise, Shi Quan said slowly: "Doesn't the book say that a martial soul is a kind of inheritance of our bloodline?"

Shi Jian smiled and said: "The book does indeed say that, but I do not think so."

"Dad, then what do you think a martial soul is?" Hearing Shi Jian say this, Shi Quan's curiosity was instantly piqued.

"I think a martial soul is a power that originates from our inner heart; it might be related to the bloodline, but it is definitely not just the bloodline. After all, our ancestors couldn't possibly have been a lump of mud, right?"

"It really might have been a lump of mud!"

Hearing Shi Jian say this, Shi Quan thought to himself; after all, he had been able to experience transmigration, and in the myths and legends of his past life, weren't humans created by Nüwa molding clay to make people?

Although he thought this in his heart, Shi Quan naturally could not say it out loud, so he asked: "Dad, what do you mean?"

Shi Jian continued, unhurriedly: "In my view, a martial soul is a manifestation of inner power, belonging to a part of our body; even without soul power, it can be controlled by our own will!"

Shi Jian's voice remained steady, but as his words fell, his whole person seemed to look much more substantial and taller.

Shi Quan's hand gripping the chair tightened, his eyes widened as he stared blankly at the Shi Jian before him; for some reason, he felt as if the Shi Jian in front of him had become a different person. There was not a shred of soul power fluctuation on him, yet at this moment, he gave people a sense of being as heavy and stable as the Earth, making one's heart involuntarily rise with the feeling that he was extremely reliable.

"Did you feel it?" Shi Jian smiled, and his whole person returned to normal.

Shi Quan stood up abruptly and said indignantly to Shi Jian: "Dad, you still say you aren't an expert?"

"Do not be arrogant or rash." Shi Jian shook his head at Shi Quan, signaling him to sit down, and then continued slowly: "Your dad is just an ordinary person. What I just demonstrated is what I call inner power, which is the power of the martial soul. You should release your martial soul first."

"Okay!"

Shi Quan nodded. Whether it was because he was influenced by Shi Jian or not, his restless heart calmed down at once, and he became a bit more steady. Soul power surged within his body, and a faint blue light appeared in his hands. In an instant, a small, bluish-green blade of grass appeared in his hand.

"Blue Silver Grass." Shi Jian looked at it and then said: "Xiao Quan, can you make the leaf on the left side of your Blue Silver Grass bend down?"

"I'll try." Although Shi Quan did not understand Shi Jian's purpose, he still made the attempt very actively. But as soon as he tried, he understood the difficulty of it. Making the whole Blue Silver Grass bend was not hard, but when he wanted to control a single leaf, the Blue Silver Grass simply did not react.

After many attempts, Shi Quan's brows were already furrowed into a 'chuan' shape, but he still could not do it.

"That's enough, Xiao Quan."

Shi Jian spoke at the right moment, then raised his right hand. Earth-yellow light condensed, turning into a palm-sized lump of mud in his hand; it was precisely Shi Jian's martial soul, Mud Spirit.

"Look."

As Shi Jian's words fell, he became focused at once, and the next second, the mud in his hand actually began to move.

Under Shi Quan's shocked gaze, that lump of mud began to change continuously into various shapes: ovals, squares, rectangles. Not only that, the mud even began to change size, starting to transform into more complex things. Tables and chairs of different sizes, pots, bowls, basins—it took only a few breaths for them to be formed in his hands.

However, this was not Shi Jian's limit. When the mud turned back into a lump, it began to show subtle changes.

A mud sculpture!

In less than a quarter of an hour, a lifelike mud sculpture of a small bird appeared in Shi Jian's hand. Throughout the entire process, Shi Jian had not even moved once; the Mud Spirit martial soul in his hand seemed to have a consciousness of its own, directly turning into the shape of a small bird.

Shi Quan, standing to the side, was already so shocked by the scene before him that he did not know what to say.

In his understanding, he had never heard of anyone who could control their martial soul to such a delicate degree, and that was even without the presence of soul power.

Shi Quan felt his throat go a bit dry. After a long while, he finally came back to his senses and asked: "Dad... how... did you do that!"

Shi Jian raised a finger and pointed to his own heart. "This is the inner power I spoke of. In my view, a martial soul is a part of the body, a manifestation of our inner intent. As long as we understand our own heart and our inner power is firm enough, then the martial soul itself can be controlled by us, acting according to our intent."

"Dad, what should I do?"

Shi Quan's eyes lit up; he had not expected that the secret to Shi Jian's mud sculptures was actually this.

In Shi Quan's view, this special method of martial soul control of Shi Jian's was far more exaggerated than the Distraction Control of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

It could completely be called Spirit Control. Being able to control a martial soul to perform arbitrary movements without soul power might not have much impact on Beast Spirits and Tool Spirits, but for Plant Spirits and Elemental Spirits, once one learned Spirit Control, it would definitely be a qualitative leap for their strength.

He did not know how Shi Jian managed it, but he also understood why Shi Jian was so cautious and had to be alone every time he made mud sculptures.

If the secret that Shi Jian could control his martial soul so freely were to spread, their family would definitely never have peace.

"Your martial soul is different from mine, but all paths lead to the same destination. I can only teach you according to my past insights; whether you can learn it or not, I am not very sure."

Shi Jian gripped his right hand, and the small bird mud sculpture in his hand solidified and landed in his palm.

This was the special aspect of Shi Jian's mutated Mud Spirit martial soul. After an ordinary Tool Spirit was released, it could only be used by the summoner themselves; once the martial soul was retracted, the object would also disappear. But Shi Jian's mutated Mud Spirit martial soul could be created like a Food Spirit, turning into a real object.

Because Shi Jian had no soul power, although his Mud Spirit martial soul could manifest into substance, it also had a certain quantity limit and could not be manufactured infinitely.

Hearing Shi Jian's words, Shi Quan finally slowly recovered from his shock and smiled mysteriously. "Dad, I can definitely learn it, because..."

As he spoke, Shi Quan gripped his right hand, and while his Blue Silver Grass martial soul disappeared, he immediately raised his left hand. "... I also have a martial soul just like Dad's!"

"What!" Even though Shi Jian had a steady personality, after hearing Shi Quan's words, his face was full of shock, his eyes staring fixedly at Shi Quan's raised left hand.

A faint earth-yellow light gushed out from the palm of Shi Quan's left hand, the brilliance condensed, and soon a lump of mud similar to the one in Shi Jian's hand appeared in Shi Quan's hand.

"Re, really..." Shi Jian almost instantly grabbed Shi Quan's hand that was holding the mud; his thick, slightly rough hand was exceptionally reassuring.

"Dad, I haven't even had time to tell Mom about this secret yet; you are the first person to know."

Shi Quan chuckled. His parents were people he trusted completely; in front of them, there was no need to hide the secret of his martial soul.

"Twin Spirits, my son is actually a Twin Spirits user."

Because Shi Quan liked to read books, Shi Jian and his wife also liked to flip through them when they had free time, so Shi Jian was clear about the concept of Twin Spirits and the significance it represented.

Shi Jian quickly calmed down, gripped Shi Quan's shoulders firmly with both hands, stared fixedly at Shi Quan with his eyes, and reminded him in a deep voice: "Xiao Quan, Twin Spirits are special. You must be careful that the secret of your Twin Spirits must never be exposed. The world of Spirit Masters is more vicious than the world of ordinary people. When you possess something others do not, what it brings is often not others' compliments and envy, but jealousy and taboo. In all things, you must hide your talents. Do you understand?"

Shi Quan replied with a serious expression: "I understand, Dad. I will definitely not leak the matter of the Twin Spirits."

"Mm." Shi Jian nodded. "Since you possess the same martial soul as me, learning should be a bit easier for you. Earlier, the Village Chief came by to discuss the matter of going to the Spirit Academy with us. Our village has a free quota for a Work-study Student, and the Village Chief has already helped you apply for it. There are still more than three months until the academy starts. Your cultivation cannot be neglected. During these three months, you will follow me in the afternoon to learn the application of inner strength. You can cultivate on your own in the morning, and rest at night when you should. Balance work and rest."

Shi Quan knew that Shi Jian was talking about his cultivation from last night. After a simple plan in his heart, he immediately said: "I can follow you to learn during the day. Actually, I didn't rest last night, but cultivated for the whole night. I discovered that I don't feel tired after cultivating. I think normal cultivation should be able to replace rest."

"Cultivation can replace rest?" Shi Jian frowned slightly, his doubt mixed with a bit of worry.

"Mm, don't worry, Dad. I will be careful. If there are any problems, I will tell you the first moment I notice them. Don't worry."

"Alright." After Shi Jian looked at Shi Quan seriously, he sighed slightly and said.

Shi Quan had been clever since he was young and had his own opinions when doing things; Shi Jian and his wife were both clear about this. But to them, no matter how clever Shi Quan was, he was still just a six-year-old child. How could they not worry about him?

After simple instructions, Shi Jian soon began his first day of teaching.

Shi Jian's method of teaching inner strength was also very special.

Playing with mud.

Of course, it wasn't just playing around randomly; to put it plainly, it was clay sculpting.

After the age of three, whenever Shi Quan was tired of reading in his spare time, he would occasionally go to Shi Jian to learn some simple clay sculpting production. Shi Quan had already laid the foundation for clay sculpting long ago.

However, this time the clay sculpting was different from the past. Throughout the entire production process, Shi Jian was instilling a concept into Shi Quan from beginning to end: to discard all distracting thoughts and concentrate all his heart and attention into the clay in his hands.

The whole person was immersed in the sketching of the clay's 'form', feeling the strength of the clay and that natural feeling during production.

It sounds simple, but it is actually very difficult to do.

People are easily influenced by surrounding distractions. How could it be so easy to immerse oneself completely in something?

Sometimes, the human brain is just like that; the more you don't want to think, the more your brain wants to think, and it is simply impossible to control.

At the beginning, Shi Quan was completely unable to do what Shi Jian required. He was easily influenced by the slightest sound around him and could not immerse himself in it, appearing very restless and impatient.

Fortunately, Shi Jian had been guiding Shi Quan calmly by his side, never showing the slightest impatience. Even so, it took Shi Quan half a month to reach Shi Jian's preliminary requirements for the first time.

And that was only with the assistance of the Spirit Soul martial soul that he entered this feeling of immersion.

This was also something Shi Quan discovered unintentionally. In the state of Martial Soul Avatar with the Spirit Soul, his senses and perception would be greatly amplified. There was also a very special point: in the state of Martial Soul Avatar with the Spirit Soul, his thinking and consciousness would also become more agile than under normal circumstances.

It was as if there was an extra brain helping him process things. The previous single-core processor had become a dual-core one; both processing speed and processing effect were much more efficient than under normal circumstances.

Relying on the special innate ability of the Spirit Soul, Shi Quan finally managed to meet Shi Jian's requirements once.

That feeling was very special.

During production, Shi Quan's entire gaze was completely focused on the lump of clay in his hands. His whole person seemed to be immersed in this lump of clay, and his hands slowly and continuously outlined it on the clay. Soon, the simplest clay bowl appeared in Shi Quan's hands.

Looking at the initially completed clay bowl in his hands, Shi Quan did not even notice the passage of time. During that short process, Shi Quan only felt that his heart was perfectly matched with this lump of clay.

By borrowing the power of focus, he gained insight into the clay.

Shi Quan also understood Shi Jian's purpose.

Concentrating one's entire mind into the clay sculpting is actually equivalent to a disguised form of insight. In the process of this insight, one can aptly feel the texture, veins, humidity, etc., of the clay.

The purpose of this process should be to lay the foundation for subsequent communication and understanding with the martial soul, thereby achieving further Spirit Control.

(End of this chapter)