5: Half a year

Just hearing the mention of a Grandmaster in Martial Souls, Dai Mubai guessed who it was—Yu Xiaogang, of course. Who else could it be? To be honest, Dai Mubai didn't have a great impression of Yu Xiaogang, mainly because he constantly repeated the phrase, "There are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters."

At first, it sounded quite reasonable. After all, his disciple had a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul. It was only later that Tang San's Blue Silver Grass was discovered to be the Blue Silver Emperor and a twin Martial Soul. Putting aside how quickly he was proven wrong, just consider this: even at level 29 at the age of 12 or 13, could Tang San's Blue Silver Grass, with that cultivation speed, be ordinary Blue Silver Grass?

Not only did that phrase become a catchphrase, but during the first hunt, he needed his disciple to save him, and then he had the nerve to say he had cultivated a god. Without exaggeration or bias, just talking about theory, his own theories were constantly being broken by his disciple. Furthermore, besides asking him about a Soul Bone armor later on, Tang San could have learned other knowledge from any teacher in the Spirit Hall.

Not to mention, he was even more cowardly and useless than Dai Mubai in terms of character. In relationships, he did nothing but act like a coward, never taking responsibility in either of his two relationships. And he actually allowed Ning Rongrong to give her Sect's secret techniques to his disciple for free. Shouldn't he have asked Sect Master Ning first about something like this? Was he afraid, or was he too embarrassed to shamelessly beg in front of others?

After seeing Yu Xiaogang's pathetic and disgusting life clearly, having such a person teach him filled Dai Mubai with internal conflict. However, at the moment, there seemed to be no better option. He decided to take things one step at a time.

It wasn't until Zhao Wuji's question that Dai Mubai snapped out of his thoughts. Hearing this, Dai Mubai decided to explain without reservation, as Zhao Wuji and Flander were still trustworthy at the moment.

"My talent Domain is called the Ji Sha Domain. It has three effects. The first is that within the Domain, I can increase all my attributes by 50%. The second is that all enemies within the range will be suppressed, with all their attributes reduced by 50%. Of course, this is affected by their cultivation level. The third effect is that within my Domain, all enemies can have Sha Marks stacked on them. Each stacked Sha Mark increases my attack by 1%, unaffected by cultivation level, up to a maximum of one hundred and eight layers."

As Dai Mubai finished his explanation, the four of them fell into a brief, strange silence. Although Ma Hongjun and Oscar were unfamiliar with Domains, they were certainly not unfamiliar with these kinds of enhancements. The most deeply shocked, of course, was Flander. He knew clearly that all these enhancements came from a single Domain, which showed just how monstrous this talent Domain was.

"Dai Laoda, your mutated Martial Soul's talent Domain is too monstrous! No wonder you could withstand Teacher Zhao's full-power attack, which was comparable to a top Soul King."

Ma Hongjun was the first to react, looking at Dai Mubai and praising him.

"Good kid! No wonder that claw strike just now was so much more terrifying than the first one."

Zhao Wuji looked at Dai Mubai's description of his talent and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

"Mu Bai, it seems the biggest benefit of your Martial Soul mutation this time is this Domain..."

Flander looked at Dai Mubai, his words of amazement unfinished, when Dai Mubai added softly,

"Actually, after my Martial Soul mutated, I also gained the attribute of Ultimate Gold."

At this moment, the four of them fell silent again, feeling quite deeply struck. The benefits brought by this Martial Soul mutation were simply too many.

Flander was the first to break the silence.

"Mu Bai, remember what I told you before. Zhao Wuji Teacher and I will go discuss your mutation this time."

Saying that, he pulled the still-silent Zhao Wuji away from the area. After all, the benefits of Dai Mubai's mutation, once spoken aloud, were too much to digest in a short time.

"Dai Laoda, can this even be called a mutation? It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say you changed your Martial Soul..."

Among the three, Oscar was the first to break the silence, muttering as he looked at Dai Mubai.

"I don't know about that. Maybe my Martial Soul originally possessed some hidden bloodline that was activated this time, who knows."

Dai Mubai spread his hands, answering seemingly nonchalantly.

In reality, a huge weight had been lifted from his heart. At least for now, Flander and Zhao Wuji seemed to have accepted the mutation as an excuse. How they would explain this so-called mutation to Ma Hongjun and Oscar later was no longer within Dai Mubai's consideration.

"Oh, Oscar, no matter what, it's a good thing that Dai Laoda has become so strong. We'll have more security when we go out in the future, won't we? At least we won't be beaten down by a Soul King anymore."

Ma Hongjun patted Oscar's shoulder heartily.

"Hehe, right, Dai Laoda, that high-class place we talked about going to last time hasn't..."

Ma Hongjun's tone shifted, looking at Dai Mubai with a meaningful expression, bringing up the unfinished business from last time.

"What? From your plans, should I give the better opportunity to Xiao Ao ahead of time?"

Dai Mubai looked at Ma Hongjun somewhat speechlessly, then made a gesture as if he were really preparing to give the better opportunity to Oscar.

"Haha, that's great! I'll go back and cultivate first. I'm really looking forward to Dai Laoda's better opportunity."

Oscar instantly understood Dai Mubai's hint. While deliberately smiling, he walked back to his residence to prepare for cultivation.

"Hey! Don't go! I'm a Battle Soul Master, Dai Laoda! This better opportunity can only be maximized if it's given to me."

Seeing this situation, Ma Hongjun couldn't help but promote his own abilities.

"Oh, that's not necessarily true. After Xiao Ao gets a better opportunity for his support ability, he might be able to help me more in combat in the future."

Dai Mubai saw through Ma Hongjun's thoughts immediately and deliberately praised Oscar to motivate his cultivation.

"But... but Laoda, I can't help it! I can't control some of the side effects my Martial Soul gives me."

Hearing this, Ma Hongjun couldn't help but complain dejectedly.

Dai Mubai looked at Ma Hongjun, knowing that his previous lazy attitude had likely dissipated considerably. But Ma Hongjun was right; in the early stages, he really couldn't control his evil fire well. It seemed the schedule to go to Dugu Bo's territory to help him detoxify and obtain the Immortal Herbs needed to be accelerated.

Although he thought this in his heart, he didn't show it on his face. He just acted mysterious, planning to give Ma Hongjun one last push of motivation:

"As long as you work hard, within half a year, I will naturally find a way to completely cure your evil fire problem. Of course, if you slack off in your cultivation, then I can only slack off on finding a way for you too."

Hearing that there was a way to cure his evil fire, Ma Hongjun's eyes instantly lit up, and he quickly patted his chest to guarantee.

"Don't worry, Dai Laoda, I will definitely suppress the evil fire desperately this half a year. Just rest assured and prepare the best reward, hahaha."

After saying that, Ma Hongjun also rushed back to his residence to cultivate.

Seeing this, Dai Mubai couldn't help but laugh. After all, he still believed in Ma Hongjun's talent. If it weren't for his overly lazy characteristic in the original story, inheriting the Fire God wouldn't really be a big problem with Ma Hongjun's talent.

Thinking this, Dai Mubai slowly returned to his residence, planning to first consolidate his cultivation and attempt the Soul Grandmaster realm within these six months. Then, after going to Dugu Bo and resolving the poisonous area, he would find a way to have him help him hunt for a Soul Ring.

After all, his third Soul Ring was twenty-eight thousand years old. It's impossible for the third Soul Ring to be worse than that, right? At that time, he would want a Soul Beast with a suitable age, species, and everything that met his expectations. Relying on Flander and Zhao Wuji was still a bit unreliable, so he could only look for Dugu Bo.

On the other side,

The two spent half an hour calculating everything about Dai Mubai's Martial Soul awakening. Both of them were still somewhat suspicious about this mutation. Although they couldn't find any flaws, the terrifying increase in power was no less than changing Martial Souls.

"Flander, if you plan to find him, there are no clues at all right now."

Hearing Flander's plan, Zhao Wuji couldn't help but shake his head helplessly.

"Perhaps... only he can explain the terrifying cause and effect of Mu Bai's mutation this time."

Flander pushed up his glasses, muttering as he looked out the window.

Five months later,

"Ah! Break through!"

After shouting forcefully from the bed, the young man felt the powerful soul power within his body and couldn't help but smile. He had finally broken through to level 40.

Then the young man got up and took out a Comprehensive Guide to Detoxification from the table to read, until a shout came from outside the door,

"Dai Laoda, I've broken through to level 27!"