Before Xiao Yan could observe further, the Mandala Snake had already slithered close, appearing just three meters in front of him in the blink of an eye.
"Gotta take care of this nuisance first."
Shifting his gaze away from Da Shi, Xiao Yan suddenly turned, channeling his inner power. A blue-gold light shimmered in his right hand, instantly forming two blades of grass.
With a flick of his finger, the blades sliced through the air in two arcs of blue light. Pfft—they pierced straight through the Mandala Snake's ruby-like eyes.
The immense force caused the Mandala Snake to tumble backwards several meters.
A screech of agony followed.
Xiao Yan leapt into the air, his figure like a phantom as he appeared above the Mandala Snake's head. He slammed a heavy punch down onto its triangular skull.
Boom! The snake's head caved in midair, half of it crushed like a nail being driven into the ground.
Its long body stiffened, twitched slightly, and then went still.
Faint yellow specks of light began to condense above its body—unlike the spirit ring of the Ten-Year Nether Wolf seen earlier.
The yellow ring emitted by the Mandala Snake was much clearer and brighter than the wolf's, but the energy it contained felt far weaker compared to the Black Nether Bear's black ring.
Having slain the Mandala Snake, Xiao Yan turned and walked toward Da Shi.
At this moment, Da Shi was sprawled on the ground in a sorry state, completely motionless. His eyes were sunken, dark circles surrounded them, and his lips had turned purple—clear signs of deep poisoning.
Xiao Yan thought to himself:
"If he doesn't get help soon, he won't last more than three minutes."
Such a short survival window... If he had any secret tricks left, they'd have come out by now. Da Shi really was just a plain, useless guy.
No doubt about it…
Which meant his earlier assumptions were totally wrong.
Putting all the pieces together, Da Shi was simply someone trying to prove his theories.
Though his theories were laughably flawed, riddled with errors, his obsession bordered on madness.
Xiao Yan pondered:
"Maybe after all these years, this is the first time he's seen someone like me—born once in a century with this kind of talent—so he became obsessed."
From his warped way of thinking, the kind of disciple he was seeking had two very specific requirements:
First, the person had to have awakened a useless martial soul. That way, it would align with Da Shi's life-long motto: There are no useless martial souls, only useless soul masters.
But this person couldn't have just any innate soul power. Definitely not half-level or level one.
Only someone with near full innate soul power, a peerless genius, would be worthy in Da Shi's eyes.
After all, according to his years of experience training with half-level innate soul power, no matter how hard he worked, the limit was only level 29 in a lifetime.
Xiao Yan touched his nose. On the surface, his martial soul was the well-known Blue Silver Grass, and it came with full innate soul power—exactly what Da Shi needed.
If Da Shi hadn't noticed his twin martial souls, maybe he could've kept up the act a little longer.
But from the beginning, Da Shi knew that Xiao Yan wasn't just some lucky trash soul master with full soul power—he had awakened twin martial souls.
What Da Shi truly cared about was the second, more powerful martial soul he believed Xiao Yan possessed.
"Trying to gain fame by teaching me, huh?" Xiao Yan looked deeply at Da Shi, and with a bit of thought, understood his goal.
Now that Da Shi was over fifty, getting stronger himself was basically off the table. His only shot at glory was through teaching a legendary disciple.
Xiao Yan had a famously useless martial soul, full innate soul power, and a second martial soul to boot. With this kind of talent, he was destined for greatness.
Then, Da Shi could not only brag about training a prodigy, but also claim his ridiculous theory had merit—even a garbage martial soul like Blue Silver Grass could succeed under his guidance.
"Who's there?" Xiao Yan suddenly turned to his right and flicked a Blue Silver Emperor blade of grass toward the noise.
This time, he poured his full strength into it—more than double what he used against the Mandala Snake.
Whoosh! The blade shot out fifty meters and embedded itself in a tree.
"Sharp senses!" an old voice echoed from behind the tree as a man in a black robe stepped out slowly.
Xiao Yan frowned. Others might not recognize this hooded figure, but with his sharp perception and memory, he instantly identified someone he'd lived with for six years.
Even with a changed voice and hidden face, he recognized him in a second—Tang Hao, that old mutt!
Glancing at the hole in the tree, even Tang Hao looked surprised.
Not only at Xiao Yan's accuracy, but also at the sheer force behind that blade of grass.
A single leaf had pierced through a tree as thick as a man's embrace.
Even the empire's military-grade crossbows might struggle with that.
Tang Hao spoke in a low voice:
"Your teacher is about to die. Let me help treat him."
Xiao Yan remembered what Da Shi had said earlier and shook his head:
"He's not my teacher. 'Da Shi' and 'Teacher' may sound similar, but their meanings are worlds apart. Don't get it twisted."
Tang Hao replied:
"Call him what you want. Fact is, he's been poisoned by the Mandala Snake. If untreated, he'll die very soon."
"You're hiding your identity, why should I trust you?" Xiao Yan sneered and flicked several Blue Silver Emperor leaves, sealing off the eight directions around Tang Hao.
Earlier, he had already sealed Da Shi's pressure points, slowing the spread of the poison.
For now, Da Shi wouldn't die.
Though Da Shi was a bit of a phony, he hadn't done anything evil. Xiao Yan wasn't about to let him die just to test Tang Hao's strength.
"You can launch multiple leaves at once?!" Tang Hao's eyes narrowed. With a surge of soul power, he shattered all eight leaves in an instant.
Xiao Yan was stunned:
"A three-foot soul wall? That's monk-tier defense. And he hasn't even used his martial soul yet… Tang Hao really is unfathomable."
"Tricks like that, and you dare show off in front of me?" Tang Hao sneered. With a wave of his hand, the leaves crumbled into dust.
Tang Hao asked curiously:
"These little parlor tricks won't get you far. Why not show me a real soul technique?"
Xiao Yan shook his head,
"Nah, judging by your voice, you're at least seventy. Even if I lost to you, it wouldn't be embarrassing. But if I beat you… that'd just make you look pathetic."
Just from that one move, Xiao Yan knew Tang Hao's strength ran deep. Attacking again would be useless.
"Pathetic?" Tang Hao recalled Ah Yin's sacrifice and his voice turned icy:
"Then I insist on testing your strength."
His words carried tremendous power—leaves nearby rustled violently as if caught in a gale.
Even dozens of meters away, Xiao Yan felt his body shudder.
If he added a little more force, just his voice might've been enough to injure him.
Gritting his teeth, Xiao Yan drew a semicircle with his left foot and said gravely:
"Xiao Yan. Martial soul: Blue Silver Grass. Let's go!"
Da Shi/Big Wet = Yu Xiaogang
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