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The uniqueness of this soul beast lay in the fruit it bore. Inside the fruit was a special vacuum that could rapidly absorb ambient spiritual energy from its surroundings.
At a specific time, it would release this stored energy, and nearby soul beasts would wait for this moment to come and guard the Empty Tree's safety.
This arrangement resembled paying protection fees.
It could only be said that every surviving soul beast had its own unique skill.
Watching Oscar proudly showing off after absorbing the soul ring, Ye Wen kindly said,
"Oscar, unleash your soul skill and let's see how it performs."
Oscar excitedly nodded, forming a hand gesture and silently chanting,
"Empty Echoes, Empty Fall, a sausage emerges at last. Acceleration of Cultivation, Empty Sausage."
A faint glow flashed in Oscar's hand, and a white sausage appeared.
Treating it like a precious treasure, Oscar handed the sausage to Ye Wen.
Fortunately, the incantation wasn't as lewd as in the original story—perhaps Ye Wen's presence had subtly altered its development. He had indeed sensed a faint ripple of obscure rules just moments ago.
The idea that food-based soul masters needed to chant incantations to activate their soul skills was truly absurd. Who on earth came up with such a ridiculous rule?
Taking a bite, the sausage was crisp and indescribably flavorful, though it seemed to carry the refreshing texture of the Empty Tree's fruit, with a hint of sweetness.
"Oh, not bad," Ye Wen praised. Then he added, "Give some to the others too. Let them try—it's quite tasty. However, the auxiliary effect is negligible for me, though it should still benefit you all."
Oscar chanted again, producing four small sausages and handing them to his friends. His pride was unmistakable, radiating from his face.
"Delicious!"
"Crunchy!"
"Oscar, you're amazing! From now on, my breakfast is in your hands!"
Ye Wen's three children had grown up indulging in all kinds of delicacies, so while Oscar's sausages were good, they weren't particularly impressive. However, Ma Hongjun was quite fond of them and even declared that Oscar should exclusively provide him breakfast from now on.
The effect of the Acceleration Sausage could boost these low-level youngsters' cultivation speed by 20%, which was quite remarkable. It rivaled the benefits of a typical simulated cultivation environment, even without factoring in external conditions.
However, it seemed the sausages only worked on individuals around Oscar's level or those with a small gap in cultivation. The greater the difference in levels, the weaker the effect. For someone like Ye Wen, the enhancement was barely perceptible.
Even so, this was astonishing. After all, Ye Wen was currently a god-level powerhouse, while Oscar was merely a ten-level soul master. This spoke volumes about the quality of Oscar's martial soul.
Both in novels and manga, Oscar's first two soul skills reportedly had effects even on Soul Sages like Zhao Wuji.
One could only imagine how much Oscar's potential had been squandered. In terms of raw talent, Oscar and Ma Hongjun could easily rank among the top three of the Seven Treasures of Shrek.
With this, the first objective of the trip was complete.
In Ye Wen's perception, two familiar figures had arrived.
Yu Xiaogang confidently presented his third-tier Spirit Hall token, bringing Tang San into the Spirit Hunting Forest.
Unlike regular school tokens, which had to be returned to the Spirit Hall, this token was Yu Xiaogang's to keep for life, thanks to his family connections.
However, unlike in the original story, Yu Xiaogang didn't proudly introduce his family background to Tang San.
At this point, he wanted nothing more than to distance himself from Tang San. But now that he was already knee-deep in trouble, there was no choice but to press on.
Tang San noticed some oddities in Yu Xiaogang's behavior but assumed he was simply deep in thought about what kind of soul ring to hunt for him. Outwardly, Tang San remained calm and followed along.
Then, recalling his role as Tang San's teacher, Yu Xiaogang began his first lesson on soul mastery.
However, the content was fairly basic—things like identifying soul rings and the rules of hunting them.
If Tang Hao had taught him instead, the instruction wouldn't have been much different. It was baffling why Tang Hao had entrusted Tang San to Yu Xiaogang in the first place.
As a pack of Ghost Wolves suddenly appeared before them, Yu Xiaogang felt increasingly irritated.
"Damn beasts! I'm already stressed, and you dare bother me? Let me vent my frustration on you!"
With that thought, Yu Xiaogang summoned Luo Sanpao.
Yellow—Yellow—Purple—Purple—Black.
Tang San's eyes gleamed as he watched. Though he had seen the two soul rings of a Spirit Hall steward during his martial soul awakening, they paled in comparison to the overwhelming aura emanating from Yu Xiaogang now.
'Is this the true strength of a powerful soul master? What kind of presence must a Title Douluo possess?' Tang San mused enviously.
After awakening its light attribute, Luo Sanpao's appearance had transformed significantly. It now bore the雏形 (rudimentary form) of a Holy Light Dragon, though it looked a bit chubby and rather endearing.
The full mutation of the martial soul also potentially altered its soul skills. Luo Sanpao had shed its infamous reputation as the "Farting Luo Sanpao."
"First Soul Skill—Furious Dragon Roar!"
With a low growl from Yu Xiaogang, Luo Sanpao opened its mouth wide, unleashing golden lightning accompanied by a dragon's roar. The group of ten-year soul beasts, the Ghost Wolves, couldn't withstand such a powerful attack. Many collapsed unconscious, and some even died outright, generating soul rings.
Feeling somewhat relieved, Yu Xiaogang pointed to the fallen wolves and began his lesson for Tang San.
Since he couldn't escape this responsibility, he resolved to minimize any traces of his involvement. Otherwise, if things went south later, both he and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan would face dire consequences.
Relying on his near-unrivaled strength in this artificial Spirit Hunting Forest, Yu Xiaogang led Tang San around without restraint.
During this time, Tang San personally killed a few soul beasts, though they were all ordinary ten-year beasts. Yu Xiaogang dared not let Tang San absorb such inferior soul rings—if the first ring of his twin martial souls turned white, Tang Hao would surely beat him to death.
Due to the nature of his martial soul, Yu Xiaogang couldn't perform soul possession, so Luo Sanpao remained summoned, acting as a guard dog that deterred many low-level soul beasts from approaching.
Suddenly, Luo Sanpao let out a low growl, crouching down with its eyes fixed intently on a distant tree.
The movement startled Yu Xiaogang, who sighed and gently patted Luo Sanpao's head.
"What's worrying you? It's just two Snake Vine Flowers mimicking Mandrake Snakes."
However, Yu Xiaogang's scholarly instincts kicked in, and he seized the opportunity to show off his knowledge.
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