At the foot of the northern hill of the village, in a bamboo house.
After joyfully reporting the good news to his grandfather, Zhu Gang, Zhu Wu quickly dashed into his bedroom under the pretense of researching his martial soul. He walked straight to the wooden desk and sat down. Without hesitation, he raised his right hand, palm open, and with a focused thought, summoned his martial soul.
A faint flash of white light—
The white silkworm appeared.
Zhu Wu leaned in closely to observe.
The chubby little silkworm lay quietly in his palm, its upper body raised slightly, tiny front legs twitching gently. A strange sense of familiarity washed over Zhu Wu again.
"It can move on its own? An external martial soul?!" Zhu Wu was surprised. A bold theory came to mind.
"Alright, little guy, back inside for now." With a thought, the martial soul vanished into his body. He stood up.
Striding quickly to the center of the room, he planted his feet and assumed the stance to practice Vajra Longevity Art.
Soon, as the movements flowed, he distinctly felt a warm current circulating through his body, following a specific route.
He calmed his mind, practicing while observing the sensations.
"So the online description of the Vajra Longevity Art—'external qi triggers internal qi, and internal qi drives external qi'—is real? In this world, practicing the movements actually draws in spiritual energy from the heavens and earth, converting it into soul power?"
"So my martial soul really was degraded. Originally, I should've been like Yu Xiaogang, awakening with only 0.5 innate soul power. But because I've been practicing the Vajra Longevity Art daily, I accumulated a bit of soul power, which is how I ended up with 6 levels of innate soul power?"
"Damn it!" He suddenly wanted to slap himself.
He had been practicing the art every day, but only for short periods—just as a health exercise. If he had spent more time each day, could he have awakened with full innate soul power like Tang San?!
These are real, legitimate cultivation arts!
Who would've thought?
He had been carrying the biggest cheat all along—and didn't even know it!
Suffering! So blue! So mushroom!
Frustrated, Zhu Wu ran through the full set of the Vajra Art, then again with the Longevity Art.
"Before awakening my martial soul, I couldn't feel anything. But now, not only can I sense soul power, I can clearly track changes in my body as I perform the movements. I've got to admit—this world's cultivation system is incredible!"
"Is this the result of martial soul, soul power, and cultivation method merging? Like Tang San's Xuantian Technique?"
"Vajra Art produces a warm current when practiced; the Longevity Art brings a cool sensation and clears the mind." Zhu Wu carefully recalled and compared.
"It's clear that after aligning with the world's laws—or energy—the Vajra and Longevity Arts both became usable for soul cultivation, with different effects. Thankfully, they can be practiced together, or I'd have run into problems earlier."
He paused his movements, contemplating.
"Too bad I can't look inward yet, or I'd study the energy flow from both arts more precisely. I've got a hunch that I'll eventually map out two distinct yet compatible cultivation paths, each with unique benefits. Once that happens, I can actively guide my soul power for higher efficiency."
Physical movement driving in spiritual energy was clearly less effective than controlling the soul power directly—a passive versus active dynamic.
"Back in my world, they said the Vajra Art is best practiced at sunrise, and the Longevity Art under a quiet, moonlit night. Too bad there's been no moon the last few nights. I'll need to test the effects at different times later."
With that in mind, he returned to the desk, sat down, and summoned his martial soul again.
A soft white glow—
The silkworm reappeared in his palm. Zhu Wu lifted it for closer inspection. The little guy was just too small to see clearly without getting close.
"Is this really a silkworm?" Zhu Wu murmured, eyes locked on its forehead. There, a tiny, inverted triangular scale shimmered with rainbow colors—barely larger than a mustard seed, easy to miss.
Looking lower, the edges near its spiracles were silver, unlike the usual black of normal silkworms.
Then he noticed—
"What the—those are claws!" Zhu Wu gasped.
Carefully observing, he realized the stubby legs had four sharp claws each, resembling those of a tardigrade.
"So... what is this thing? A silkworm-dragon hybrid?" His face turned odd.
"Hey little guy, can you spit silk?" he asked aloud.
As an external martial soul—and a silkworm at that—it should naturally have that ability. Like how Luo Sanpao instinctively farted.
The little guy tilted its head and shook it—Nope.
"..." Zhu Wu fell silent.
Even spitting silk requires a soul ring? That's just ridiculous.
Sensing his disappointment, the silkworm swayed its head. Suddenly, the scale on its forehead flared with rainbow light—a flash, then gone. The silkworm's body lit up with intense white light.
Zhu Wu instinctively shielded his eyes. A strong force pressed against his fingers, forcing him to let go. As the light faded, he looked back.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
A dog?
Zhu Wu was stunned. Sitting on the desk was a dog—identical to his deceased pet, Da Huang.
Damn—my martial soul can transform?!
...So, could it become a catgirl? A bunny girl?
Or maybe Qian Renxue, Bibi Dong, Bo Saixi, Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, Zhu Zhuyun, Tang Yuehua, Ah Yin, the Silver Dragon King... just for the eye candy?
Then he felt his soul power drain rapidly—as if he were being hollowed out.
Obviously, transformation burned through soul power at an alarming rate.
"Quick, change back!" Zhu Wu called out.
The dog was engulfed in white light again, shrinking into the little silkworm, lying obediently on the table.
Zhu Wu instantly felt the soul power consumption slow to a near stop.
"Is it the size? The larger the form, the higher the soul power cost?" he speculated.
He picked the silkworm back up, stared at it, and asked tentatively, "Do you have any other abilities?"
Naturally, he wasn't satisfied—he wanted more.
The little guy nodded eagerly, radiating excitement, as if saying I'm super useful!
Then it leaned forward, pressing its forehead scale against his palm. The rainbow scale glowed again.
"!!?" Zhu Wu's mind was suddenly flooded with information—vast and intense.
But he felt no discomfort. The knowledge felt instinctual, as if buried in his bloodline and now unlocked.
"Whoa... incredible!" he whispered in awe.
His martial soul wasn't just an external soul—
It had innate abilities, like a true soul beast. Not just one, but several—strikingly similar to the "Treasure-Seeking Beast" from the sequel series.
Transformation:
It could shapeshift into any creature it had seen—appearance, aura, and basic traits included. No soul skills, of course, but it could fly as a bird, bark as a dog, etc.
Perfect for intimidation—
If it looked and felt like a 100,000-year soul beast, wouldn't low-level beasts be scared witless?
Too bad his current soul power couldn't support that yet.
But as his strength grew—and with the right soul rings—who knew how far it could go?
Treasure Seeking:
It could sense nearby rare plants and minerals—and had a danger-sensing instinct.
So his strange ability to sense herbs? Definitely from his martial soul.
Storage:
Each body segment held a small storage space, capable of storing herbs. Each compartment was under half a meter wide.
Nurturing:
Its aura could nourish stored herbs—even living ones, as long as they were plants.
Which meant his storage space could preserve living medicinal plants.
No wonder it was called the Treasure-Hoarding Beast (藏宝兽).
According to the info, it was likely a close relative of the Treasure-Seeking Beast that once lived as a symbiotic creature within the Dragon God.
The Seeker Beasts were cultivated by the Dragon God, given spiritual awareness and tasked with managing divine herb gardens. They had transformation abilities and could mimic seen creatures—up to 30% of their strength. The strongest had god-level power.
Most were wiped out in the divine war. Only a few survived.
And... wasn't the current God of Space and her sister both types of parasitic insects from the Dragon God?
His martial soul had spatial properties too—though it manifested as storage. It was probably a logistics-type symbiote nurtured by the Dragon God.
A backline specialist.
Zhu Wu fell silent.
Good news: his martial soul wasn't some trash silkworm. It was a rare symbiote of the Dragon God—with dragon blood to boot.
Bad news: it was... logistics.
He was a supply unit!
Still, he calmed down and continued analyzing.
"The Dragon God's bloodline is unimaginably strong. Even a trace could overload a human. That's probably why my martial soul mutated and degraded—like Yu Xiaogang's did."
"Luckily, I practiced the Vajra Longevity Art, building up energy that nurtured my soul, preventing total degradation."
"As an external martial soul, it retained beast-like talents. But it hit a growth ceiling due to incomplete evolution."
"Small problem!" he smirked.
Because Seeker Beasts could evolve by eating rare treasures, and the Ice-Fire Yin Yang Well had plenty of those.
High-quality ones, at that!
Yu Xiaogang could've had the same potential. His Luo Sanpao could eat, too. But he only fed it carrots—never rare herbs.
If Luo Sanpao had absorbed rare materials, and with Yu Xiaogang's Golden Sacred Dragon bloodline, it might've shown the same innate talents.
In the original series, his martial soul evolved into a Golden Sacred Dragon during the fusion with Liu Erlong and Flender.
Zhu Wu now believed that was Luo Sanpao's final form.
"Thank god I learned the Vajra Longevity Art in my past life!"
If he hadn't, his martial soul might've really ended up a regular silkworm.
Now, it was only a few segments short of completion.
Still salvageable!
If a green caterpillar can evolve into Rayquaza, why can't my parasite martial soul evolve into a Dragon God?
I believe it can!
(End of Chapter)
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