Chapter 185: Tang San and Tang Hao Want to Kill Yu Xiaogang
Tang San's voice trembled a little. "Reversed?"
Ah Yin let out a soft sigh. "A soul master's cultivation path is actually the process of evolving the martial spirit. If the martial spirit is too weak, it locks your upper limit, making it impossible to break through. But if you find the correct cultivation direction and have enough resources to reach each bottleneck, and if you absorb spirit rings best suited to your martial spirit, there's still room to raise that limit.
"But the cultivation direction of your Blue Silver Grass is entirely reversed. You've absorbed spirit rings containing poison, which greatly harms your martial spirit instead of helping you break that upper limit. It's damaged the quality of your martial spirit, leaving you stuck at rank 39 with no way forward."
"The best fit for Blue Silver Grass is… life energy, right?"
Seeing Ah Yin nod slightly, Tang San's heart sank into a sea of despair, consumed by endless regret.
Why? Why hadn't he thought of this earlier? Why did he stubbornly stick to his path without adapting, despite having so many hints in his previous life?
When he awakened his Blue Silver Emperor martial spirit in the Blue Silver Forest, every stalk of grass contributed life force to him; immersed in the ocean of life, he awakened the Blue Silver Emperor.
His one-hundred-thousand-year right leg bone from the Blue Silver Emperor possessed the ability Wildfire Burns Without End, Spring Winds Blow and Rise Again, indicating Blue Silver Emperor's prodigious life force.
When Poseidon bestowed the god-given spirit ring for his seventh ring, it perfectly matched his martial spirit, producing the hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver True Body and extending the range of his Blue Silver Domain. As long as one Blue Silver Grass remained in that domain, he wouldn't die.
In that same process, the newly regrown Eight Spider Lances were altered by the god-given spirit ring, so the poison dissipated, transforming into Devouring Silk that absorbed both soul power and life force.
All of that pointed to the fact that Blue Silver Grass suited a life-attribute spirit ring, not poison. It was one step shy of literally spelling it out for him.
What's more, in this life, while absorbing each of his spirit rings, his body had changed, growing uglier each time. That ought to have told him that the Blue Silver Grass's "beautifying" effect was waning because it was constantly damaged by poison, yet he remained blind to it. He really was the biggest fool in the world!
"If you'd allowed your Blue Silver Grass to absorb only life-attribute spirit rings, with the Clear Sky Clan behind you, you might not necessarily have reached Title Douluo, but rank 60 or 70 or even 80 was perfectly possible. Even if you didn't go for life but instead channeled offense, forging your Blue Silver Grass into metal form, you could still have reached Soul King.
"But you chose the path of poison, which wholly contradicts the Blue Silver Grass. Each poison-attribute ring you fused into your martial spirit severely harmed it instead of boosting it, resulting in you getting stuck at rank 39 and never advancing. Without some treasure like Nine-Petal Purple Mushroom or something equally precious, you'll never get past rank 39. You'll forever remain a Soul Elder."
Looking upon Tang San with sympathy, Ah Yin then turned her gaze to Tang Hao, whose face was dark with shock. "Tang Hao, why did you have your son apprentice to a mere Soul Grandmaster? We wandered the continent for years—weren't you perfectly aware of how I cultivated my martial spirit, of which direction was best for a Blue Silver Grass? Why did you let your son be harmed like this? At his age, already rank 39, he could have had a bright future—but now it's all ruined. Unless he can find some rare item like the Nine-Petal Purple Mushroom, he'll be stuck at rank 39 forever, a simple Soul Elder."
"Ah Yin, I—"
Tang Hao opened his mouth but found his throat blocked. He couldn't explain; he dreaded that if he told the truth, Ah Yin would only loathe him more.
He too was drowning in regret, feeling that he'd failed in his responsibilities as a father. The day Tang San awakened his martial spirit, he should have paid attention; with a Title Douluo's spiritual power, he'd have discovered his son's twin spirits on the spot, then found him a good teacher to guide the Blue Silver Grass in absorbing life-attribute rings up to rank 60 or 70, and only then shift to the Clear Sky Hammer.
Now it was all gone. Blue Silver Grass could only progress to rank 39 at best, and if he switched to the Clear Sky Hammer for his first ring, it would only be a thousand-year ring—plus the conflict of ring synergy. A peerless genius with twin spirits and innate full spirit power had been ruined!
By now, various advanced academies were streaming out of the Great Spirit Arena, overhearing what Ah Yin said and whispering among themselves, many sneering at Tang San and Tang Hao as though they were some punch line. Of course they believed Ah Yin's words: as a Titled Douluo with a Blue Silver Grass-based martial spirit, no one could know better than her what that plant needed.
It was too ridiculous. The once-infamous Haotian Douluo, master of the world's top clan, had left his son to an instructor who was just a rank 29 "Grandmaster," crippling a once-promising young genius who could have reached Soul Emperor or even Soul Saint, reducing him to a rank 39 dead end. It was the laughingstock of the age!
Yu Xiaogang listened to the mockery around them and felt his head spin until he collapsed in a faint. He was finished—completely done for. Destroying Tang San's primary martial spirit spelled utter doom for his own reputation.
"Xiaogang!"
Flander rushed in a fluster to prop him up, unwilling to accept the truth. He suspected it was some trap from Spirit Hall, but they were dealing with a Titled Douluo who specialized in the very same Blue Silver Grass. He himself knew zero about the theory and had depended on Yu Xiaogang's knowledge. He had no way to refute her.
A short distance away, Ning Fengzhi also eyed the unconscious Yu Xiaogang with discomfort. Even though, behind closed doors, he had bedded Bibi Dong countless times with wild abandon, it still baffled him that he'd ultimately lost her to a loser like Yu Xiaogang. Why had Bibi Dong fancied such a thoroughly useless man?
Meanwhile, Gu Chen inwardly rejoiced: Tang San's Blue Silver Grass was crippled—thus his twin spirits were crippled. Without his Blue Silver Grass, what right did Tang San have to fight him for Xiao Wu? She was already Gu Chen's! Hahaha! Then again, she'd never really belonged to Tang San…
"You're unfit to be this child's father."
Ah Yin no longer spared a glance at Tang Hao. She was thoroughly disappointed in him, now asking herself why she'd ever liked a man of his caliber. Her judgment had been too blind.
Tang Hao felt ready to spit blood. The look she'd given him was filled with disgust and contempt—the thing he'd most dreaded. Ever since learning of that so-called "other world" from Tang San, he'd never wanted her to see him with such revulsion. If only not for Yu Xiaogang and Qian Xunji—if only they'd never existed—things wouldn't have come to this! Without Qian Xunji stealing Ah Yin and Yu Xiaogang teaching Tang San the wrong path, none of this would have happened. If Tang San were Ah Yin's son, if that Blue Silver Grass were the unawakened Blue Silver Emperor, everything would have been so different.
Tang Hao's eyes shone red with killing intent, flicking his gaze to Yu Xiaogang. Tang San, too, stared at Yu Xiaogang. This so-called teacher had caused him to make a catastrophic blunder that left his dear mother now despising his father.
If not for the principle "Once a teacher, always a father," Tang San might already have found it impossible to restrain himself from killing that damned useless man.
(End of the chapter)
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Johanssen