Chapter 25: Xiao Wu: It's Impossible for Me to Only Focus on Romance, Absolutely Impossible!

With a soft "pop," a faint purple soul power burst out from Yu Xiaogang's hand, and a strange pig-like creature appeared before Tang San!

Tang San's face froze as he asked in a low voice, "Teacher, what is this?"

Yu Xiaogang smiled bitterly, "This is my martial soul. I call it Luo Sanpao. Due to my martial soul's mutation, it manifests in a physical form rather than attaching itself to me."

"My innate soul power is only half a level, and my soul power has been stuck at level 29, unable to break through to level 30. That's why I can only study martial souls theoretically."

Tang San nodded in shock, realizing that his teacher's strength was truly limited, and his martial soul was quite unusual!

No wonder his teacher was so obsessed with the theories behind martial souls!

Tang San quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, Teacher, for bringing up something painful."

Yu Xiaogang waved it off with a self-deprecating smile, "It's fine, I'm used to it. Let's not dwell on it. Let's go see what soul beasts might suit you!"

"Luo Sanpao, lead the way!"

At Notting Academy.

Su Ming woke up early, found a quiet, secluded place, and began cultivating. He wanted to test the effects of the Wood Sutra. If it could really compress his soul power, then his current tenth-level soul power might be able to compress further. After all, he wasn't in a hurry to obtain his first soul ring just yet.

For the next few months, he planned to focus on cultivating the Wood Sutra, body refining, and practicing a few basic Wood Style techniques. It would serve as a good cover since he had only been at level seven when he enrolled.

Following the path of the Wood Sutra's technique, Su Ming began his cultivation.

Half an hour later, Su Ming confirmed that the technique did indeed compressed his soul power. He could feel a subtle sensation while cultivating that was hard to describe.

Normally, when a Soul Master reaches the peak of a major realm, they can still cultivate, but they don't sense any progress in their soul power. Only after obtaining a soul ring can they notice any advancement.

But now, Su Ming could clearly feel his soul power constantly being compressed, and the quality of his soul power was improving!

Remaining calm and patient, Su Ming continued cultivating until noon. Then, he decided to invite Xiao Wu out to eat in the city. After all, the food on the first floor of the academy's dining hall wasn't that great.

Since he was still considered a working student, it wouldn't be appropriate for him to go to the second floor.

Xiao Wu was, of course, delighted to accept Su Ming's offer.

Yesterday afternoon, an academy staff member had explained to the three of them that Notting Academy posted tasks for working students daily. Upon completing these tasks, they could earn ten copper soul coins.

Xiao Wu had initially planned to take on some tasks to earn money since she didn't have a single coin on her.

But when Su Ming heard this, he offered to lend her some money, insisting there was no need to waste time on such tasks.

In the original story, Tang San rarely did any of the so-called working student tasks either. After all, when he went to hunt his first soul ring, he spent several days in the spirit forest with Yu Xiaogang. Later, when they registered as Soul Masters with the Spirit Hall, he received a monthly subsidy of a gold soul coin, so money was never an issue. Naturally, he didn't need to do those jobs.

As Su Ming and Xiao Wu left Notting Academy, Su Ming asked, pretending to be curious, "Xiao Wu, you're a Soul Master now too. Why don't you go to the Spirit Hall to claim your subsidy?"

Seeing Su Ming's fake curious expression, Xiao Wu couldn't help but want to punch him. Ugh, Su Ming, keep pretending. When I master my Wind God Kick, just wait and see!

Xiao Wu snorted coldly, "I'd rather die than go to the Spirit Hall for a subsidy!"

Su Ming pressed on, "Do you have a grudge against the Spirit Hall?"

Xiao Wu bit her lip and nodded.

Seeing this, Su Ming didn't ask any more questions.

He felt it was necessary to ask, though. After all, Soul Masters in this world could claim subsidies from the Spirit Hall. If Xiao Wu didn't want to collect hers, it wouldn't make sense for him not to ask.

However, he couldn't possibly know that Xiao Wu had a copy of his diary and was simply watching him perform.

Bored, Su Ming decided to start writing in his diary. After all, diaries are meant to record daily happenings, aren't they?

[Today, I cultivated using the system-awarded technique and confirmed that it does indeed compress soul power. The cultivation speed isn't too fast, nor is it too slow—just perfect for me.]

[After my cultivation, I invited Xiao Wu out for lunch and deliberately asked her why she didn't go to the Spirit Hall to claim her Soul Master subsidy. As expected, she got angry. That was within my expectations. If she hadn't gotten mad, it would've been strange!]

[After all, Xiao Wu's mother was killed by Bibi Dong and became her soul ring.]

The women reading his diary all found it odd. If Su Ming ever found out they had copies of his diary, would he die of embarrassment? They quietly watched him put on his little show.

But Xiao Wu indeed had every right to be angry. After all, her mother was killed by Bibi Dong. Yet they all agreed that there was no clear right or wrong in this matter. It was more a matter of different positions. The conflict between Soul Masters and soul beasts had been irreconcilable since ancient times.

In this world, Soul Masters had to hunt soul beasts to obtain soul rings and level up. Over time, Soul Masters and soul beasts became natural enemies!

Meanwhile, in the Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong was reading Su Ming's diary with a complicated expression. What was going through her mind?

[However, there's one thing that puzzles me. In the original story, Xiao Wu should have harbored intense hatred for Bibi Dong. After transforming, shouldn't she have focused on cultivating to quickly reach the strength of a Titled Douluo?]

[But what did she actually do?]

[She spent six years at Notting Academy sleeping alongside Tang San, eventually becoming his adopted sister. In time, Xiao Wu developed feelings for Tang San beyond simple sibling affection.]

[As a 100,000-year-old soul beast, Xiao Wu should have had an incredibly strong foundation. Before reaching the Titled Douluo level, she could have easily outpaced Tang San in cultivation if she had applied herself.]

[This is evident later when the rest of the Shrek Seven Devils took celestial herbs to boost their talents and gained several levels of soul power at once, while Xiao Wu didn't take any herbs but kept up with their cultivation speed!]

[This suggests that Xiao Wu had been slacking off in her cultivation before. Is this really the same Xiao Wu who was supposed to avenge her mother? It feels like she wanted to focus on romance instead of revenge. That motivation is completely missing!]