"Blue Silver Grass..."
"Why is my martial soul the most useless Blue Silver Grass?"
After returning home, Tang Wulin sat on the bed, holding a strand of the delicate blue vine in his hand. His lips curled downward as he stared at it with frustration, his heart heavy with disappointment.
On the Douluo Continent, everyone knew the reputation of Blue Silver Grass. It was considered the most useless martial soul. Even awakening it was little more than a joke—completely overshadowed by nearly every other spirit out there.
"But don't tell me... Tang San's martial soul was also Blue Silver Grass?" Wulin muttered to himself with a conflicted look.
Of course, he had heard the tales of Tang San since childhood—mostly from his brother. But Wulin didn't really buy it. His brother said that man's martial spirit wasn't the simple Blue Silver Grass at all, but something greater. And even if Tang San had started with it... that didn't change how worthless the Blue Silver Grass in his own hand looked now.
No matter how he turned it over in his thoughts, there was no escaping the truth: this martial spirit was the weakest of the weak.
"My brother is so powerful, why am I..." Wulin whispered under his breath, feeling a deep ache in his chest.
His older brother, Tang Luochuan, was born with innate full soul power. Meanwhile, he himself had awakened with only level three. That enormous gap weighed on him like a mountain pressing down.
"Am I even really their biological child?" Wulin's eyes blinked with doubt, the raw thought flashing in his heart.
Somewhere deep down, he almost felt like... he wasn't.
"Wulin."
Tang Luochuan's voice gently broke him out of his brooding.
Facing his younger brother's crestfallen expression, Luochuan struggled for the right words. "Actually, Blue Silver Grass is also... uh... well... it's not that bad. It's... pretty decent."
But even as the words left his mouth, he couldn't bring himself to believe them. Without the future influence of the Golden Tree, Blue Silver Grass—on its own—was just powerless grass. Nothing more. Nothing special. There was no sugarcoating it.
"I'm fine, brother."
To Luochuan's surprise, Wulin suddenly looked up and smiled. It was a little forced, but it brightened his entire expression. "At least I still have soul power. Even if I can't grow as strong as you, at least... at least I'll have enough strength to protect Mom and Dad."
The boy's voice carried a quiet firmness.
Luochuan blinked.
Wulin went on, the gloom gone from his eyes as if a light had sparked inside him. "Mom and Dad are just ordinary people. When you become some great powerhouse in the future, maybe you won't have the time to always guard them. But me... I'll be here with them. That's my role."
Then Wulin's lips curved into an eager smile. "And besides... who says I can't find a path of my own someday? The chance might be small, but it's not impossible!"
Seeing the fire of determination in his younger brother's eyes, Luochuan chuckled softly. He reached over and ruffled Wulin's hair. "All right then. Brother believes in you."
Yes... If there was a true protagonist among them, it wasn't necessarily him. His younger brother had all the makings of one: ordinary yet brimming with stubborn determination.
In truth, Tang Wulin wasn't Tang San's son. He was just his younger brother—his precious younger brother. That was enough.
Wulin changed the subject quickly, his eyes lighting up. "Brother, tomorrow the Spirit Pagoda is giving you a soul, right? What kind do you think you'll get?"
"Hmm..." Luochuan tilted his head, smiling with understated calm. "The Spirit Pagoda will probably take this more seriously than even we do."
Of course, he had long expected that the Spirit Pagoda would gift him a soul. For them, it was a wise investment: exchanging a hundred-year soul for a young genius with innate full soul power and no established ties. A win for the pagoda.
For Luochuan, it wasn't about taking advantage. In this era, there were very few major forces outside of the Tang Sect and Shrek Academy. Only the Spirit Pagoda stood alongside them. Building goodwill in advance was nothing but beneficial—especially since it was also the power Gu Yue would later choose to align with.
But when it came to souls...
Luochuan narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "Golden Dragon King Martial Soul... does it even need external souls? Or should I be obtaining something else, like a blood and qi soul ring instead...?"
The question lingered in his mind. In the original history, Wulin had acquired blood and qi soul rings that seemed as resplendent as gold. If he absorbed a hundred-year soul tomorrow... would such a ring appear for him as well?
He pressed his lips together but said no more.
At that same moment, in the bedroom down the hall, Tang Ziran and Lang Yue sat in silence. Husband and wife exchanged a glance heavy with unspoken emotion. Neither could quite calm their hearts.
They weren't ordinary parents. Tang Ziran was an eighth-level mecha maker, Lang Yue an eighth-level mecha designer. Both had reached the cultivation level of Soul Saints. Though not considered top powerhouses in the current era, they stood leagues beyond normal folk.
By choice, the family had settled here in the remote city of Aolai to live incognito—hiding from the shadows of the past, yearning only for a peaceful life.
But now...
"Us..." Lang Yue finally broke the weighty silence. Her tone was soft, but her words trembled with concern. "Tang Ziran... does this have to continue? Can't we just let our two precious sons live ordinary lives, like we always dreamed before?"
Her eyes misted faintly as she spoke.
Tang Ziran fell quiet, his face tense.
All he had ever wanted was a simple life for his family. To live modestly, safely, happily. Without involvement in the power struggles of the outside world. But looking at the talent his two sons displayed—he knew such a dream no longer held ground.
One of their sons wasn't even biological. Tang Wulin had been adopted when fate brought him into their lives, yet they treated him as dearly as their own blood. But his martial talent... it was weak. Souls and cultivation would always be uphill for him. If he ever reached the fourth ring, it would be an amazing achievement. Perhaps... it might be better for him to live life as an ordinary person. Still, if Wulin wanted to walk the soul master's path, they would never block his way.
But Luochuan...
That was another story altogether.
Innate full soul power.
And not just that—the Golden Dragon King martial soul! A dragon-type spirit of terrifying origin and never-before-seen might. Tang Ziran had tested it himself. Even though Luochuan wasn't technically a soul master yet, whenever the boy released his martial soul, Ziran's own martial soul—a Golden Dragon Lion—instinctively wanted to kneel and submit.
To make a Soul Saint like him feel such overwhelming suppression... Luochuan's gift was beyond extraordinary.
If such a heaven-defying genius were to be buried in obscurity... Ziran knew he would regret it for the rest of his life.
A sharp gleam flickered in his usually calm eyes. His decision was clear.
"You've decided," Lang Yue said softly, reading his expression with the ease of years at his side. She didn't look surprised, only resigned.
"Of course," Tang Ziran replied firmly, his tone heavy with resolve. "With our current salaries here in Aolai, even if we save for an entire year, we couldn't afford even a ten-year soul for our sons. As for the hundred-year souls the Spirit Pagoda hands out? We'd need over ten years of work... and still not manage. In this era, we simply cannot raise two geniuses."
He paused, voice like stone. "We can't give them both the resources they'd need."
Lang Yue lowered her eyes before speaking, slow and deliberate. "Then let's do this: Wulin can stay here in Aolai and attend Hongshan Academy for junior college studies. Every junior academy is more or less the same; it won't impact him. In these three years, he can see if the path of a soul master is truly meant for him. As for Luochuan... we prepare him for the bigger stage."
Her words carried both fairness and pragmatism.
Ziran's hands clenched, but then he let out a laugh, one touched with sorrow yet also warmth. "As expected... you're right. We have to think of both of them. To both of us, Wulin is no less our child than Luochuan. But their paths can't be the same."
He fell silent for a moment, then added firmly: "If Luochuan goes to Tianhai City—the coastal metropolis where true geniuses gather—it will give him the best resources. But for Wulin, being thrown into that environment now... it would crush his fragile self-confidence. That's something I will never allow."
"Yes," Lang Yue agreed softly.
Ziran's gaze hardened as he turned toward a small box resting quietly in the corner of the room. He walked over, opened it, and stared at what lay inside.
Two badges gleamed against the dark velvet lining—jet-black in color, inscribed with unique emblems that marked them as symbols of mastery.
Black-level Mecha Master badges.
He reached out, his fingers brushing one lightly, and murmured almost to himself:
"Our identities as mecha masters... it's time to bring them back into the light."
His voice dropped lower, as though recalling the years of rusted silence.
"Our mecha... our blades... they're still sharp."