168 Tang Wulin’s Endurance

Very quickly Tang Wulin felt bloated as an unknown pressure expanded withinhis body like inflating a balloon.

The swollen sensation transitioned from a mere discomfort to piercing pain astime ticked on. His meridians and internal organs began to groan with pain andin response, his blood grew frenzied and widened his meridians, dulling thepain until it was just a numb throb.

“Ah!” Tang Wulin yelped in surprise. His already swollen body began to enlargeonce again, sinking his mind into a muddled state.

After an unknown period of time, the distended feeling subsided like the oceantide. It was if it had never been there in the first place, leaving Tang Wulinfeeling utterly refreshed. A shiver ran down his spine and he woke from hisinvoluntary slumber.  

Branchmaster Zhao stood by the bed, astonishment written all over his face.“Eastsea’s Little Zhangkong, just where did you find such a freak? His soulpower is obviously weak, but his body is extraordinarily strong.”

With a respectful tone muting his usual bluntness, Wu Zhangkong said,“Branchmaster Zhao, what are the maximum level of spirit souls and soul ringsdo you think he can bear right now?”

Branchmaster Zhao paused before replying, “The spirit souls’ level isdependent on spiritual power, and soul rings are dependent on the body, so itshouldn’t be a problem for his current body to support a thousand-year soulring… up to 4000 years old.”

Wu Zhangkong’s face now mirrored the Branchmaster’s look of amazement. Hehadn’t expected Tang Wulin’s body to actually be able to bear this much.

An ordinary Soul Master’s first soul ring could reach up to 400 years, yetTang Wulin’s body was already more than ten times stronger than his peers andhis meridians had proved to be extremely durable as well. It was normal foranyone who discovered such a little freak’s capabilities to feel astounded.

Wu Zhangkong’s voice still held a trace of surprise as he clarified, “Soyou’re saying that if his spirit soul evolved into the thousand-year level andhe has sufficient spiritual power, if he had two soul rings, each will be 2000years? By the time he breaks through to two rings, his body will have growneven stronger and at that point, wouldn’t he be able to support two soul ringsof the 3000-year level?”

Branchmaster Zhao nodded in affirmation. “You could think of it like that. Ofcourse, that’s assuming he has enough spiritual power to support a 3000-yearspirit soul, which is approximately 200 points of spiritual power. What is hiscurrent spiritual power level?”

Wu Zhangkong recalled Tang Wulin’s remarkable results as he said, “He hasalready started cultivating the Purple Demon Eyes and he is very compatiblewith it, showing much insight. With such a powerful method and coupled with hisperception, he should make quick progress in his spiritual power until hereaches the Spirit Sea realm. I estimate that his spiritual power has alreadybroken through 100-points since his spiritual power was already extraordinaryto begin with, so it should be no problem for him to acquire a 2000-year spiritsoul and a pair of 2000-year soul rings. His spirit soul should also improvefurther as he cultivates his spiritual power, but since his soul power is onlyrank 16 at the moment, he’ll need at least half a year to a year to reach rank20, and that’s only in the best of circumstances. He should have plenty of timeto increase his spiritual power.”

A mysterious smile tugged at Branchmaster Zhao’s lips as he ran his hands overhis shiny bald head. “I understand now. You’ve been planning on raising him tobe extraordinary from the very beginning. Not bad, not bad. He seems like apromising disciple.”

Tang Wulin sat there without speaking, blankly listening to the two converseand unable to comprehend their conversation. Wu Zhangkong’s voice snapped himout of his daze. “Wulin, thank Branchmaster Zhao.”

Tang Wulin hastily scrambled off his chair and bowed deeply in gratitude.“Thank you.”

Branchmaster Zhao dismissed his gratitude with a wave and spoke with aprofoundness that was beyond Tang Wulin. “Not bad. It seems we have anotherpromising young disciple in the Tang Sect now.”

“We’ll be taking our leave then, Branchmaster Zhao.”

The branchmaster responded with a knowing nod. “Go then. You can give him theTang Sect badge now. This child has great potential. Teach him well.”

“Yes.” Wu Zhangkong gave a respectful salute and made to leave the branch withTang Wulin.

“Teacher Wu, I don’t really understand what you two were talking aboutearlier. Were you saying I can still improve my spirit soul in the spiritascension platform?”

Wu Zhangkong nodded. “Branchmaster Zhao has a gentle and pure martial soulwhich is suited for accurate measurements of bodily endurance and tested you.Now our goal is to upgrade your spirit soul to the 2000-year level so your soulrings will be at the thousand-year level at the very least. Your physique isalready strong enough so you must focus on cultivating the Purple Demon Eyes.Quickly reach the Spirit Sea realm, and don’t get distracted. Once you reachthat realm, you won’t have to worry about your spiritual power again until youattain six rings.”

“Yes!” A thousand-year spirit soul? A thousand-year soul ring?

Tang Wulin’s heart raced with excitement and yearning.

Wu Zhangkong was fully aware of the effect his words had on his disciple. “Nowwe’re going to the Spirit Pagoda to measure your spiritual power.”

The local Spirit Pagoda branch was situated in the center of Heaven Dou City,surprisingly closer to the local Tang Sect branch than one would initiallyassume. Though it couldn’t compare in size to the one in Eastsea City, itssimplistic architecture exuded an ancient elegance.

“Be careful of what you say once we enter. Listen and observe closely insteadof speaking. Do not be fooled by appearances. There are many powerful peoplewithin the Spirit Pagoda, especially so in Heaven Dou City.”

With his teacher’s cautionary words, Tang Wulin stepped past the pagoda’ssimple doors and was immediately assailed by noise. An endless stream of peopleentered and exited, bustling to and fro within the pagoda. Compared to EastseaCity’s trickle of people, this was akin to a steady current.

Tang Wulin suspected that not only were they all Soul Masters, they werelikely far more powerful than him as well.

They conducted the spiritual power test in a small, isolated room after payingan excessive 5,000 federal coins. The cost of living in Heaven Dou City trulycouldn’t be compared to Eastsea City.

As for the results, they were unexpected, to say the least; even Wu Zhangkonghad a look of shock.

124!

Tang Wulin’s spiritual power had nearly doubled! It would not have been thissurprising if he were a Spiritual System Soul Master like Gu Yue with a weakerbody as spiritual power and physical strength were typically inverselyproportional for Soul Masters. Yet his spiritual power had actually grownexponentially, exceeding the 108-point threshold to the intermediate rank ofthe Spirit Connection Realm by such a large margin!

Wu Zhangkong was more certain of Tang Wulin’s chances to acquire a pair of2000-year soul rings and a 2000-year spirit soul after seeing Tang Wulin’s twounexpected results today.

The darkness of night descended by the time they returned to the inn.

After a sumptuous meal, Wu Zhangkong summoned Tang Wulin.

“Wulin, you should have an idea of what I have planned for you by now. In allhonesty, your martial soul is very weak. After all, it’s the Bluesilver Grassthat is praised as a trash martial soul.”

Tang Wulin was beset by bewilderment. Can calling it ‘trash’ really be calledpraise…?

Wu Zhangkong continued without minding Tang Wulin’s brooding expression. “Yourstrange bloodline, however, has caused it to mutate and has affected yourspirit soul as well. Even now, they continue to transform. This is beneficialto you. With your powerful body, you can upgrade your spirit soul further thanyour peers; it would naturally be upgraded too.”

Perplexed, Tang Wulin asked, “Teacher Wu, I understand that I can upgrade myspirit soul further, but what do you mean by naturally?”