As Ye Wen left, the group of children who had come together for the martial soul awakening offered their congratulations and departed one by one.
However, no one paid any attention to Tang San, the so-called genius with full innate soul power. This clearly demonstrated how poor Tang San's relationships were.
Tang San didn't care, and in fact, he almost felt like laughing.
"They're all just opportunistic flatterers. Human selfishness has always been this way. I just need to focus on myself."
Even the pity in Old Jack's eyes was ignored by Tang San. In his mind, as long as he steadily progressed with the inheritance of the Tang Sect, he would undoubtedly reach the pinnacle of the world.
Compared to these trivial matters, he was far more eager to learn about soul masters. He believed that the reason he was stuck at the first level of the Xuan Tian Gong was because of his lack of understanding of soul master cultivation!
Unfortunately, Old Jack wasn't a soul master. Though literate, his knowledge was extremely limited—otherwise, he wouldn't be so poor, wearing patched-up clothes and eventually becoming a tool for Tang San to eliminate the gatekeeper in the future.
After several unanswered questions, a flicker of annoyance passed through Tang San's eyes. "These country bumpkins are utterly useless."
But the old and nearsighted Jack didn't notice Tang San's change in demeanor. With kindness in his heart, he said:
"Come on, Grandpa will take you home and discuss with your father about enrolling you in an academy."
At the mention of Tang Hao, Tang San's expression softened. In his mind, no matter how vast the world was, his father was still the most important figure.
As for the ungrateful brat, Ye Wen had no interest in such matters. After returning home, he shared the good news with his parents. Amidst their joyful cheers, the family began preparing a celebratory feast.
Although Ye Wen only had half a level of innate soul power, in a world where having soul power made all the difference, this was already a cause for great celebration for their humble rural family.
After the festivities died down, it wasn't until nightfall, as Ye Wen prepared to sleep, that he finally had time to carefully contemplate his martial soul.
Ye Wen's father, Ye Qing, had the martial soul of a green stone, while his mother's martial soul was water. Both were inanimate objects without accompanying soul power.
Summoning his martial soul again, Ye Wen gazed at the lively, bouncing slime-like entity before him and fell into deep thought.
Martial soul mutations followed certain fundamental rules.
It could be an attribute mutation or a bloodline mutation. But in all the examples Ye Wen knew of, there was no case where both parents had inanimate martial souls yet produced a living, summon-like martial soul like his own.
"So, what exactly are you?" Ye Wen muttered, staring intently at his martial soul.
For some reason, though the slime had no eyes, Ye Wen felt as if it were gazing back at him. Then, in a moment of absentmindedness, it leapt onto him with a soft plop.
Feeling the connection rooted in his bloodline, Ye Wen temporarily set aside his doubts and embraced his martial soul.
"No matter what, as long as you're the martial soul that will accompany me for life, that's all that matters."
Feeling the cool, soft warmth in his arms, Ye Wen gradually drifted off to sleep after a busy day.
The next morning, when Ye Wen woke up and felt the familiar sensation in his arms, he was startled at first, then instinctively hugged the slime tighter.
Lying lazily in bed for a while, Ye Wen became puzzled after completing his morning routine and fully waking up.
"Strange. According to Su Yuntao, when someone loses consciousness, their martial soul should automatically dissipate. So why is my martial soul still here early in the morning?"
Ye Wen lowered his gaze and stared at the slime.
With a thought, the slime vanished, and the familiar sensation returned. After releasing his martial soul overnight, Ye Wen discovered that his soul power hadn't diminished—it had actually doubled from the level he had immediately after awakening.
"Did I just break through to Level One!?"
Ye Wen was dumbfounded.
To confirm, he spent the next several days repeatedly summoning and dismissing his slime martial soul.
Finally, Ye Wen concluded that his martial soul was far more complex than it appeared on the surface. Its latent abilities might even rival or surpass Yu Xiaogang's martial soul—a pig-like creature that was, in essence, a Holy Light Dragon.
Thanks to his martial soul's innate talent, Ye Wen's soul power had now reached Level One. However, as long as Ye Wen didn't actively display his power and Tang Hao, that lazy bum, didn't use his spiritual force to probe him, no one would discover Ye Wen's bizarre breakthrough speed.
During this time, Ye Wen felt that calling his martial soul by the generic name "slime" was inappropriate. It needed a proper name to match its future brilliance and maintain its dignity.
"So, what should I call it?"
As Ye Wen racked his brain, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him, and a name slipped out of his mouth.
"Nana."
After saying the name, Ye Wen's expression turned strange. The name didn't fit his martial soul at all—it had no apparent connection whatsoever. Why had he thought of such a name?
Once again, a sense of unfamiliar familiarity washed over Ye Wen.
Despite pondering for a long time, Ye Wen couldn't understand where this inexplicable feeling came from. Finally, he turned his gaze to his martial soul.
"Are you influencing me? You must be influencing me! So… despite appearing genderless, are you actually a girl?
How interesting. As a boy, my martial soul turns out to be a girl. I wonder what her true form will look like when she awakens in the future?"
Ye Wen initially doubted, but soon confirmed his suspicions. After all, a psychologically normal man wouldn't randomly think of a feminine name unless influenced by his mysterious martial soul.
If his martial soul could transform into a beautiful maiden in the future… hehehe.
Thus, Ye Wen's martial soul was officially named Nana.
Now, Ye Wen faced another dilemma.
Should he become a self-paying student or a work-study student?
Though Ye Wen's family could now be considered middle-class, they could afford to send him as a self-paying student. The benefits of being a self-paying student included avoiding crowded dormitories and not having to do chores to earn living expenses, leaving more time for cultivation and study.
However, Ye Wen knew that once Tang San enrolled, the notorious Rascal Rabbit would also arrive.
This Rascal Rabbit, already a soul master with one spirit ring in its first year, was practically a dimensional strike against this remote primary academy.
If Ye Wen remembered correctly, not long after the self-paying students and work-study students clashed, the former were thoroughly defeated due to the presence of Xiao Wu and Tang San.
Not only could they no longer bully the work-study students, but they also had to take over their cleaning duties—a truly miserable outcome.
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