Chapter 3: Martial Soul Evolution, Immortal Herb
Hoe — fuse.
Sickle — fuse.
Scale weight — fuse.
...
Under Su Ye's sweeping operation, most of the metal items in the house vanished into thin air.
Only the cooking knife and the iron pot were left untouched.
After fusing many metal tools, his owl martial soul evolved again.
It was now a mighty steel-feathered hawk!
With a sharply pointed triangular head and a silver hook-like beak, a pair of expressive obsidian eyes emitted a deep, soul-piercing cold light.
Its entire body was covered in fine iron feathers, muscular and powerful. With iron bones and steel tendons, its intimidating presence alone could strike fear into people's hearts even without making a move.
"The look… emmm, not bad at all!"
"If it could just gain metallic elemental energy, it would be perfect."
Admiring his martial soul's attached form, Su Ye felt his ambitions growing.
He couldn't help it.
The female characters in stories always got top-tier gear — surely he had to do right by his own "wife," right? Giving her a basic loadout would be too cruel.
This Steel-Feathered Hawk martial soul did look impressive, but it was somewhat flashy without substance.
The strength of a martial soul wasn't just about its appearance — what truly mattered was the energy it contained.
And iron… was just the most basic metal.
"First I'll fuse some rare metals, then find a Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear. That should take care of the martial soul quality issue."
"As for soul power…"
Su Ye's eyes sparkled, and a sly grin crept over his face.
Once he obtained his first spirit ring, he could start hunting soul beasts and fusing their rings.
The energy from soul rings could be fed back into the soul master, meaning he could stack and merge them to keep leveling up.
"First soul ring — a million years?"
"Marvelous!!!"
Su Ye clapped his hands together, the very thought making his blood boil with excitement.
"The key now is how to quickly raise my soul power to level 10."
Rubbing his chin, Su Ye frowned slightly, deep in thought.
Could he fuse the soul ring directly into his martial soul?
"Nope. No good."
Doing that would enhance the martial soul's grade — but wouldn't feed back into his own cultivation.
The martial soul needed to absorb external energy and store it in the body for it to count as soul power.
The awakening age for martial souls was six years old, probably because that's when a person's potential could best be measured — and it also had to do with the body's capacity to handle soul energy.
Clearly…
Absorbing energy through the martial soul wasn't an instant process.
"If only I had an immortal herb..."
Su Ye's pupils contracted suddenly — right! An immortal herb! How could he have forgotten?
He only needed one…
Forget level 10 — it might even push him past level 20!
"Just because I can't deal with Dugu Bo or access the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well doesn't mean I can't get an immortal herb."
Su Ye already had a plan forming in his mind.
Bang bang bang—!
The wooden door shook violently.
Old Tom's voice came from outside, anxious:
"Boy, are you alright in there?"
"It's not a big deal if you can't become a soul master. Luck wasn't on anyone's side this time in the village. You need to stay strong, kid."
Clunk.
Su Ye opened the door.
Old Tom's worried face greeted him, warming Su Ye's heart a bit.
"Don't worry, old man. I'm really fine."
"Really?"
Old Tom still seemed doubtful, his sharp hunter's eyes scanning Su Ye carefully.
After a brief chat, seeing that Su Ye truly seemed fine, Old Tom finally relaxed.
The two entered the house and sat down at the table. With just one glance, Old Tom noticed something was off.
Several metal items were missing — though none of them were particularly valuable, he didn't mind much.
After all, this boy always had ideas.
Just ten days ago, he messed around and somehow invented "gunpowder," which ended up exploding near the latrine pit and stinking up the whole village.
Fortunately, they caught a lot of fish with that explosion, so each household got a share, and the complaints died down.
Su Ye poured a glass of water and, with big blinking eyes, said sweetly:
"Grandpa, you must have quite a few herbs stored up, right?"
Old Tom put down his cup and narrowed his eyes suspiciously:
"Spit it out — what are you scheming this time?"
Indeed, Old Tom often went into the mountains and had gathered many medicinal herbs, some of which were even growing in the backyard.
Tch...With your track record, this is gonna be tricky.
Su Ye scratched his head awkwardly.
"Well, since I can't become a soul master, I thought I'd pursue research instead. Try to forge a new path to success."
"So… how about this — could you help me spread the word in the village?"
"I'm buying herbs: ten pounds for one silver soul coin."
Su Ye's eyes gleamed, and he added:
"Oh, and if anyone has herbal medicine books, even better! I'll pay a higher price for those."
Old Tom didn't respond — he just muttered something about "wasting money" and walked off, leaving Su Ye standing there awkwardly.
Not long after, a seven-year-old girl with braided pigtails came into the courtyard carrying a bamboo basket on her back. She was the daughter of Old Tom's third son. Her voice still carried a hint of childish innocence.
"Big Brother Su Ye, Grandpa told me to bring these to you."
She set down the basket, revealing a bunch of fresh green herbs inside — some still had dirt on them, clearly just dug up.
Su Ye grinned widely and immediately started rummaging through them.
From the way Old Tom had left, he figured this plan would work. Not bad at all — there was actually a decent amount of herbs.
"Lianmei, remember to give this money to your grandpa."
Su Ye handed over two silver soul coins for Old Tom, then pulled out a copper soul coin and slipped it into the little girl's pink pouch.
"Here, this copper coin's for you — go buy yourself some candy."
But as Lianmei looked at the silver coins in Su Ye's hand, her small face scrunched up into a sad little expression.
One side was pocket money.The other was Grandpa's strict instruction.
The little girl bit her pink lips hard, her voice wavering with a hint of tears.
"Big Brother Su Ye… Grandpa said if you tried to pay, I should ask you for one gold soul coin."
"He said you're silly and rich — always giving things away for no reason. Might as well buy me an orange instead."
Su Ye's face turned dark. "…"
One silver soul coin was already a month's income for a strong working adult in the village.
If he wasn't trying to collect herbs, did she think he'd be throwing money around like this?
"Silly? Rich?"
Me? (A thousand words omitted here.)
Su Ye knew Old Tom was just reminding him not to spend so recklessly, so he forced himself to swallow his frustration.
After gently shooing the little girl away, he carried the herbs back into the house.
As for gold soul coins…
When he crossed over to this world, he had brought along a few modern trinkets. He'd asked Old Tom to sell them in the city and had exchanged them for two gold coins to cover daily expenses.
『Three-Inch Leaf』: One-year herb. Clears heat and reduces internal fire.
『Big-Eared Fungus』: Nourishes blood and body. Best effect when stewed with old hen broth. Especially good for pregnant women.
『…』
Thanks to the fusion interface providing descriptions, Su Ye browsed through the herb info.
They were all common medicinal herbs, and none were particularly old or potent.
However, one herb caught his eye — 『Qingling Grass』 (Clear-Spirit Grass).
『Qingling Grass』: One-year herb. Boosts qi and clears lungs. Contains trace amounts of soul power; barely effective for soul masters.
"You're the one!"
Su Ye locked in on his target and set aside all the Qingling Grass.
When fusing two different items, the system would fuse them into the first item's form.
But with identical items, the system could upgrade them — kind of like fusing two 4-star cards into a 5-star one.
"Synthesize."
He selected two one-year-old Qingling Grass plants and immediately confirmed.
Ding—
『Qingling Grass』: Ten-year herb. Boosts qi and clears lungs. Contains a small amount of soul power. Has slight effects on low-level soul masters.
"Perfect!!"
(End of Chapter)