Three months passed in the blink of an eye.
During that time, Zhou Qing and Tang San continued their daily routines.
They studied together.
Visited the Spirit-Tuned Turtle together.
Bathe together.
Trained together.
Tang San also made great strides in modifying his hidden weapons.
The soul inscribed arrays on the Soul Tool Fan—after being organized, refined, and tested with his inner energy over the past three months—were finally integrated into a completely new type of throwing dart.
This dart no longer resembled a bamboo leaf, but instead mimicked the shape of a fan blade. Each blade of the dart carried a curved twist.
When imbued with inner energy and thrown, its trajectory arced—allowing it to turn midair—and it sliced through the air nearly without a sound.
Tang San named this new weapon: Wind Blade Dart.
"As expected! Adding Soul Tool inscriptions to hidden weapons really does make them stronger!" Tang San exclaimed as he retrieved the flying Wind Blade Dart with his Controlling Crane, Capturing Dragon technique. "Plus, with the enhancement of these inscriptions, the hidden weapon becomes much easier to control with inner energy… I wonder just how powerful the Soul Tools used by the top experts in this world are?"
Once he calmed down, Tang San put away the Wind Blade Dart and went off to find Zhou Qing—intending to visit the Spirit-Tuned Turtle with him.
However, when it came to inner energy, Tang San wasn't planning to tell Zhou Qing—at least not yet. He wanted to wait until after his Martial Soul awakened. After all, soul power was inner energy. So even if his Martial Soul turned out to be weak, he would still have innate soul power—because he could cultivate it himself!
All that was left now was to awaken his Martial Soul.
When he arrived at Zhou Qing's house and called out twice without receiving a response, Tang San immediately guessed that Zhou Qing had gone to visit the Spirit-Tuned Turtle.
For the past three months, every time the two of them treated the Spirit-Tuned Turtle's shell, they brought along a blank notebook to record the turtle's daily changes.
After consistent treatment, the Spirit-Tuned Turtle had begun to recognize their presence. Sometimes, even when it was awake, it wouldn't attack. Instead, it lay quietly on the shore, allowing Zhou Qing and Tang San to clean the mud, weeds, snails, and insects from its shell and apply yellow yam powder.
At one point, Tang San had even thought: This two-hundred-year-old turtle seems almost human—it must know we're helping it, so it's not attacking.
But Zhou Qing had a different theory.
As a modern-day transmigrator, Zhou Qing was familiar with the concept of symbiosis—like that between rhinos and oxpeckers, clownfish and sea anemones, or plover birds and crocodiles.
The Spirit-Tuned Turtle and the plant growing on its back were also symbiotic—except theirs was far more deeply integrated, to the point where two different species had essentially become one entity.
However—
Zhou Qing knew that only once the Spirit-Tuned Turtle reached the ten-thousand-year level would it fully merge with the plant on its back.
In the world of soul beasts, such symbiotic relationships were likely not rare.
Perhaps this turtle had picked up on the aura Zhou Qing and Tang San left behind when treating it. Each time it came ashore, passed out, then woke up again, it would sense that its body had improved—so maybe it instinctively regarded the two as scavenger-type creatures.
Of course, Zhou Qing wasn't completely confident in this guess. After all, Spirit-Tuned Turtles below the thousand-year level were known to store spiritual energy. Even though this one was only two hundred years old, its spiritual power was likely stronger than other soul beasts of the same age. Theoretically, it should possess intelligence comparable to a human child and should be able to recognize them as human.
Yet it didn't attack…
Zhou Qing didn't believe it was wise enough to judge human intentions. The more likely reason, he thought, was that this Spirit-Tuned Turtle had grown up in a human environment.
In the original lore, there was a vague but telling rule: Soul beasts who want to cultivate faster must integrate into human society.
Once they became human, they naturally had to interact with humans.
Humans, after all, were social beings. The relationships between people were, at their core, another form of symbiosis.
Soul beasts in human form might gain abstract, non-material information through their interactions with humans—information that could aid in their cultivation.
Although this Spirit-Tuned Turtle hadn't had direct contact with people, it lived in a stream surrounded by several villages. It had, undoubtedly, absorbed some human essence from the area.
Perhaps that was why it wasn't particularly wary of Zhou Qing and Tang San. It might even have ventured near Saint Spirit Village out of sheer curiosity about humans.
(Note: This is likely limited to relatively docile soul beasts like the Spirit-Tuned Turtle.)
Zhou Qing mentally added this condition to his theory.
After Zhou Qing finished applying the yellow yam powder, the Spirit-Tuned Turtle wobbled forward on its limbs.
Zhou Qing and Tang San quickly jumped off its back and dashed into the nearby bushes. The turtle didn't return to the water but instead slowly climbed onto a large boulder to bask in the sun.
Over the past three months, the Spirit-Tuned Turtle had instinctively come to realize that it shouldn't go back into the water immediately after receiving treatment. Sunbathing for a while helped it feel better.
Under the sunlight, the strange plant on its shell looked even more lush and vibrant. It had grown taller and even sprouted a third leaf.
"Brother Qing, have you figured out what kind of plant that is?" Tang San asked, gazing at it.
"No," Zhou Qing shook his head. "Half a month ago, I asked one of the uncles at the village gate to buy some books on medicine and plants from Nuoding City while he was selling vegetables. But none of them mentioned this plant."
"It's probably something that only truly powerful soul masters have encountered. Nuoding City may have a Soul Master Academy, but I heard their dean is just a two-ring Grand Soul Master. Even the head of the local Spirit Hall is only a Grand Soul Master—they probably don't have access to information like this."
"Besides, they say large parts of the Douluo Continent still haven't been fully explored. The Spirit Hall even discovers new soul beasts every two or three years…"
Tang San absorbed every word like a sponge, his curiosity about the Douluo Continent growing deeper and deeper.
Martial soul cultivation!
The mysteries of soul beasts!
This world was full of so many unknowns, and he couldn't wait to explore them.
What if the medicinal properties of these foreign plants could be used to create more potent medicines or poisons?
What kind of metal ores existed here? Could they be used to forge even stronger hidden weapons?
How many types of soul tool inscriptions were out there?
And Martial Soul cultivation!
Everything was so captivating.
"I really want to grow up fast!"
Tang San blurted out from the depths of his heart.
"Me too," Zhou Qing nodded. "I really want to turn six already so I can awaken my Martial Soul."
Martial Soul!
Innate Soul Power!
That would be the true beginning of his dream!
If he didn't awaken with innate soul power, well… at least all these years of guiding Tang San would ensure he didn't get misled by that guy, Yu Xiaogang…
(Indeed, Matthew Nuo was just a Grand Soul Master—still short of reaching Level 30.)