Chapter 136: Your Theory Proves That You Yourself Are a Useless Soul Master
After the initial shock of hearing Lin Qingmo say he was a Soul Ancestor, Yu Xiaogang gradually regained his composure.
He didn't believe it.
Lin Qingmo had to be lying.
But there was something he could not understand.
Why did everyone around him look so strange?
Dean Flender's gaze drifted away, the corner of his mouth twitching as if he wanted to speak but was forcing himself to hold it back.
Even his proudest disciple, Tang San, had his lips tightly pressed together. His expression shifted between pale and flushed.
"What exactly is wrong with all of you?"
Yu Xiaogang's voice deepened, carrying his usual tone of theoretical authority.
"Lin Qingmo has a useless martial soul, Blue Silver Grass, with only rank 4 innate soul power. How could he possibly become a Soul Ancestor?"
Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing exchanged a glance.
That glance clearly said the same thing.
This is going to be interesting.
In the end, it was still Flender who forced himself to speak.
"Xiaogang..."
He rubbed his hands together, smiling in a way that looked worse than crying.
"Well... Qingmo, he... he really is already a Soul Ancestor."
"..."
Yu Xiaogang froze for two seconds, then laughed.
"Flender, this joke of yours is in poor taste."
"His admission record clearly states it. Rank 4 innate soul power. Martial soul Blue Silver Grass. It's only been a few years. If he managed to break through to Soul Grandmaster level, I would already consider that a miracle. And you are saying Soul Ancestor?"
His laughter echoed sharply across the quiet training field.
No one laughed with him.
Not a single person.
Gradually, Yu Xiaogang's laughter died in his throat.
He looked around.
His gaze moved from Flender's awkward face to Ma Hongjun, whose face was red from holding back laughter, and then to the various expressions of everyone else.
Finally, he looked at Tang San.
"Xiao San..."
Yu Xiaogang's voice carried a faint tremor that was almost imperceptible.
"You tell me. What exactly is going on?"
"..."
Tang San opened his mouth.
His throat moved several times, but no sound came out.
Inside those usually gloomy eyes, something extremely complicated churned.
Jealousy.
A jealousy even he did not want to admit.
"Teacher..."
Tang San's voice sounded dry, like sandpaper scraping against wood.
"Lin Qingmo... really is a Rank 45 Soul Ancestor."
Clatter!
The notebook in Yu Xiaogang's hand fell to the ground.
"Impossible!"
His voice suddenly rose, a reflexive defensive reaction from someone whose theory had been challenged.
"Absolutely impossible! Blue Silver Grass is a standard useless martial soul. Rank 4 innate soul power means cultivation speed is countless times slower than ordinary geniuses!"
"According to my Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls, reaching rank twenty before the age of twenty would already be his absolute limit!"
"Theory, theory, all you know is theory!"
A crisp and angry voice exploded.
Xiao Wu jumped up from her seat, her ponytail whipping through the air.
She stood with both hands on her hips, eyes wide. She looked exactly like an enraged rabbit, although this rabbit could now kick over a bull with a single strike.
"Yu Xiaogang, if you have eyes, you should have dug them out and thrown them away as trash long ago!"
Xiao Wu fired her words like a machine gun.
"If Ah Qing is trash, then what does that make your precious disciple Tang San? A piece of collectible trash from the trash recycling station?"
"Xiao Wu!"
Tang San shouted in a low voice.
"Did I say something wrong?"
Xiao Wu turned toward him, her voice filled with disdain.
"Tang San, you know it yourself. Is Ah Qing's Blue Silver Grass the same as yours?"
"That's enough, Xiao Wu."
Lin Qingmo's calm voice sounded.
Xiao Wu immediately stopped speaking.
"Yu Xiaogang."
Lin Qingmo spoke again.
His voice was steady and even, and he carried a faint polite smile.
"I remember your Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls contains a sentence like this."
Lin Qingmo paused and recited it word by word.
"'There are no useless martial souls, only useless soul masters.'"
Yu Xiaogang nodded stiffly.
"That's right. It is one of the core conclusions I reached after many years of research."
"The innate quality of a martial soul is important, but the soul master's effort and wisdom ultimately determine their height."
"Well said."
Lin Qingmo smiled.
But that smile suddenly became extremely piercing.
The next moment, a massive surge of soul power erupted without warning.
Yu Xiaogang, standing at the center of that storm, froze completely.
His eyes locked onto Lin Qingmo's feet.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Soul rings slowly rose one after another.
A purple glow appeared first, carrying the oppressive pressure unique to thousand-year soul rings.
Not just one.
Three consecutive purple lights.
Three thousand-year soul rings were like a triple purple tide.
But it was not over yet.
When the fourth soul ring appeared, Yu Xiaogang's breathing completely stopped.
Black.
A deep black that seemed capable of swallowing light itself.
A ten-thousand-year soul ring.
"Purple... purple... purple... black..."
Flender muttered.
It was his first time witnessing it with his own eyes. His glasses had slid to the tip of his nose without him noticing.
Tang San, seeing this scene again, looked deathly pale.
As someone who also possessed the Blue Silver Grass martial soul, he understood better than anyone what this meant.
His first soul ring was from a four-hundred-year Datura Snake.
His second soul ring was from a six-hundred-year Ghost Vine.
This was already the ultimate configuration under the grandmaster's meticulous calculations.
Yet Lin Qingmo... his first soul ring was a thousand-year one!
This had already violated all known Soul Master common sense!
No, this was practically rubbing the common sense of the Soul Master World into the dirt and then stomping on it twice!
"Now."
Lin Qingmo's voice pulled everyone back to reality.
"Yu Xiaogang, do you still think I am a useless soul master?"
"You... I..."
Yu Xiaogang's lips trembled.
He wanted to speak, but no sound came out.
He wanted to look away, but his eyes were locked onto those four impossible soul rings.
His mind ran wildly, trying to use every theory he had ever created to explain the scene before him.
But every explanatory model collapsed the moment it formed.
"Impossible... this is impossible..."
He muttered to himself, his eyes unfocused.
"The human body has limits. The first soul ring cannot exceed four hundred and thirty years. That is an iron rule. My theory cannot be wrong..."
"Your theory is not wrong."
Lin Qingmo nodded meaningfully.
Yu Xiaogang suddenly raised his head.
"It is just like the sentence you said."
"'There are no useless martial souls, only useless soul masters.'"
"You see, the two of us have perfectly proven that sentence."
He took a step forward.
His soul rings floated with his movement. The ten-thousand-year black ring emitted a terrifying aura.
"Facts prove that I am not a useless soul master."
He took another step.
"But you have been stuck at Rank 29 for most of your life and still have not broken through Rank 30."
Lin Qingmo stopped in front of Yu Xiaogang and leaned slightly forward.
Their faces were extremely close.
Close enough for Yu Xiaogang to clearly see the undisguised mockery in the young man's eyes.
"So, according to your own theory..."
"You really are a useless soul master, aren't you?"
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End of Chapter