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Ye Wen paid no heed to Su Yuntao's words of comfort. At this moment, his mind and heart were entirely focused on his martial soul.
Even though it was clearly just a lowly slime and his innate soul power was only at half a level, Ye Wen couldn't help but feel inexplicably happy.
Seeing Ye Wen's carefree demeanor, Su Yuntao finally escaped the pangs of conscience and promptly dismissed him.
Now, it was Tang San's turn.
As Tang San stepped onto the formation, it began to activate.
Although not as dazzling as Ye Wen's earlier golden explosion, the light emanating from Tang San's awakening was still quite striking. This gave Su Yuntao a glimmer of hope—perhaps he had struck it lucky with this child, who might possess the potential to become a soul master.
But in the next instant, Su Yuntao's faint excitement crumbled.
The martial soul that materialized in Tang San's hand turned out to be none other than the ubiquitous blue silver grass—a weed found everywhere on Douluo Continent.
At this, Su Yuntao couldn't help but let out a sigh of despair.
"Damn it, first there was a malignant variant martial soul, and now we've got another useless blue silver grass."
However, thanks to Ye Wen's earlier example, and after years of experience with martial soul awakenings, Su Yuntao reasoned that Tang San should at least have some soul power.
Though he hadn't read much, Su Yuntao was a practical man and had heard of or seen blue silver grass soul masters with soul power before.
Handing over the crystal ball, Su Yuntao repeated the same process.
At first, Su Yuntao wasn't optimistic. Even if the blue silver grass had soul power, it would likely be around half a level—or at most, one level—just like the previous child.
But in the next second, Su Yuntao experienced the rollercoaster of emotions.
A blinding surge of light filled the entire Spirit Hall, so bright that Su Yuntao instinctively moved the crystal ball away from his eyes.
When Su Yuntao regained his composure, he stared at Tang San in shock.
"My goodness, it's full innate soul power!"
But in the next moment, Su Yuntao clutched his forehead in anguish, muttering under his breath:
"Damn it! Why does someone with full innate soul power have to end up with a useless martial soul like blue silver grass? Now all my hopes for a good reward are ruined.
Ahhhh! If this genius with full innate soul power didn't have a blue silver grass martial soul, I could have used the credit of discovering him to get promoted—one rank, maybe even several ranks—and then I could live happily ever after with my beloved Sisi."
While Su Yuntao wallowed in his emo state, Tang San ignored it all. Fueled by curiosity, he directly asked:
"Uncle, what is full innate soul power?"
This question snapped Su Yuntao back to reality, but his face darkened further. Uncle?! He was barely in his twenties! What an insolent brat!
Still, recalling his education, position, and the boy standing before him, Su Yuntao sighed inwardly.
"Let's not dwell on small grievances. I'll finish my work and leave quickly. This kid is getting more annoying the longer I look at him."
With a sour expression, Su Yuntao explained the concept to Tang San. At this moment, Ye Wen chimed in appropriately:
"Master Brother, could you teach me how to retract my martial soul?"
Seeing Ye Wen—polite, clean, and well-mannered, resembling a city child—Su Yuntao's mood improved slightly. He proceeded to explain.
The other children listened intently. Although they wouldn't become soul masters, they still needed to learn the basics of controlling their martial souls; otherwise, walking around with them exposed would feel strange.
However, children's comprehension was limited, and it took several attempts for the others to succeed.
After listening to the explanation, Ye Wen seemed to have already internalized it instinctively. With a mere thought, his slime martial soul vanished from his hand.
As the slime martial soul disappeared, Ye Wen noticed something peculiar—a faint trace of soul power had appeared within him.
Though Ye Wen didn't have access to a true soul master nearby, his knowledge of the original story told him this was highly unusual.
Considering Tang San was still present and the village harbored an ultimate hidden boss—Tang Hao—Ye Wen decided against exposing this secret. He resolved to explore it later on his own. After all, this was likely one of his martial soul's innate abilities.
As for his current innate soul power being only half a level, Ye Wen wasn't worried.
He knew that miraculous herbs could alter a soul master's aptitude, and some martial souls with mutations might display low innate soul power not because of their actual potential but due to other factors.
As long as he avoided conflicts with Tang San and took his time to grow, Ye Wen had plenty of opportunities to address this issue.
After explaining the basic concepts, Su Yuntao left the Spirit Hall with the children. After informing Old Jack about the two awakened martial souls and issuing certificates for them, he hastily departed.
Before leaving, however, Ye Wen stopped him.
Being a child from a poor family meant early independence, especially in cultivation. Missing this chance to obtain basic meditation techniques from Su Yuntao meant waiting until school started to learn them later.
As for going to the city's Spirit Hall to ask for such things—hah! Only soul masters were allowed entry there.
Su Yuntao was initially baffled, but seeing Ye Wen's eager, knowledge-thirsty gaze inadvertently stirred memories of his own past.
Happening to carry a basic meditation manual with him, Su Yuntao handed it over to Ye Wen without hesitation.
In group society, enjoying privileges alone was fine—as long as no one saw it. Otherwise, sharing was necessary to avoid resentment.
Ye Wen asked Tang San if he wanted to study together, but Tang San replied, "I'll go home and ask my dad."
Ye Wen didn't press further. Having encountered many "mama's boys," Tang San's rare status as a "papa's boy" amused him.
Finally, watching Su Yuntao's retreating figure, Ye Wen sighed.
Soul masters were rare resources, and acquiring spirit rings allowed them to leap across social classes. Thus, most soul masters avoided menial tasks like conducting martial soul awakenings.
Though the Spirit Hall's actions might have been aimed at winning hearts, doing something was better than the idle nobility.
At this moment, Old Jack approached Ye Wen, gently ruffling his hair with affection.
"Congratulations, little Ye Wen. You can now become a soul master and bring honor to your family."
"Not at all, it's all thanks to the village's blessings and a bit of luck. I'll go tell my parents the good news now. Goodbye, Grandpa Jack," Ye Wen said politely before departing.
Old Jack then turned his attention to Tang San.
Upon learning that this child possessed full innate soul power, Old Jack was overjoyed. But when he discovered that Tang San's martial soul was merely blue silver grass, his disappointment was impossible to conceal.
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