Chapter Eighteen: On the Allure of the Spiritual Martial Soul to Muye

“Who is this?”

After shaking hands, Zhen Hua’s gaze fell upon the boy standing beside Xu Minghuang.

Xu Zhao’s rare pair of sun-and-moon eyes were widely known only among the elite circles of Mingdu.

Since Tiandou City was thousands of miles away, and given Zhen Hua’s status, he had never sought out such information and was unaware of Xu Zhao’s identity as the heir of the Xu family.

Upon hearing this, Xu Minghuang stepped forward and introduced his grandson, “Xu Zhao, my grandson.”

Then he turned to his grandson and said, “Zhao’er, address Uncle Zhen Hua properly.”

But Xu Zhao ignored his grandfather’s instruction and instead said, “Greetings, Chairman.”

“Chairman...” Zhen Hua looked at the six-year-old boy with a meaningful smile and asked with interest, “Only blacksmiths call me Chairman. Tell me, are you a blacksmith?”

“Or perhaps, do you aspire to become one?”

After speaking, he seemed to have an idea and shifted his gaze from Xu Zhao to the elderly face of Xu Minghuang with a scrutinizing look.

“The head of the Xu family brings his grandson to visit me. Could it be that you intend for your grandson to apprentice under me?”

Just as Xu Minghuang was about to respond, the kitchen door of the small dining hall was pushed open.

Mu Ye, the sect leader of the Original Body Sect, appeared—a middle-aged man dressed in chef’s robes, pushing a serving cart inside.

Zhen Hua twitched his nostrils, catching the aroma of food, and said, “Let’s eat first. We can talk after the meal.”

He was a gourmand himself, extremely particular about food, which was why he had hired his good friend Mu Ye as his private chef.

When Mu Ye placed three bowls of lightly fragrant clear soup on the table, Zhen Hua looked at him with a hint of excitement, unable to hide his delight.

“Fairy Spirit Mushroom Soup? How could you bring yourself to make such a dish today?”

Upon hearing this, Xu Zhao’s mind conjured up information about the Fairy Spirit Mushroom:

The Fairy Spirit Mushroom is the king of fungi.

It only grows in the rarest places where yin and yang energies harmonize, making it extraordinarily precious.

This mushroom is one of the few fungi that grow in the soil, and once it breaks through the earth, it emits energy fluctuations comparable to a thousand-year-old soul beast.

Each year of growth equates to a thousand years of cultivation. When it reaches ten thousand years, it detaches from the soil due to its overwhelming energy.

The Fairy Spirit Mushroom cannot develop sentience. Once detached from the earth, its nutrients and size rapidly diminish.

Only when it ceases shrinking is it considered truly mature.

Its effect lies in balancing the yin and yang within the human body. The faint spiritual energy contained within, when absorbed by a soul master, can reduce the difficulty of breaking through cultivation bottlenecks.

The Fairy Spirit Mushroom is extremely rare and precious. Even with the Xu family’s deep resources, Xu Zhao had only eaten it twice in six years—once on his first birthday, and once a few days ago at the dinner celebrating his awakening of the martial soul.

Now, simply because of a visitor, Mu Ye had used such precious ingredients. Even Zhen Hua’s wealth couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pain at the extravagance.

“You’ll let me decide the ingredients for your daily meals,” Mu Ye said nonchalantly, ignoring Zhen Hua’s expression.

“It just so happened that today the ingredients included Fairy Spirit Mushrooms, and it coincided with your mealtime visit, so I made two extra servings.”

“What, Chairman of the Blacksmiths Association, you’re not going to begrudge a little ingredient like this, are you?”

“Of course not,” Zhen Hua said proudly, unwilling to admit otherwise in front of others. He composed himself, picked up a bowl of the mushroom soup, and began to drink.

As he sipped, his eyes inadvertently spotted the second dish Mu Ye brought to the table:

Six Red Jade Prawns!

“...” Zhen Hua’s eyes twitched, thinking, “Mu Ye, you’ve gone all out today—Fairy Spirit Mushroom Soup and Red Jade Prawns, the very dishes you usually wouldn’t spare for me!”

“So, the cost isn’t coming out of your pocket, and you don’t care at all, huh?”

Mu Ye paid no mind to Zhen Hua’s thoughts. Since the moment he saw Xu Zhao’s sun-and-moon eyes, his gaze never left them.

Xu Zhao noticed this unabashed attention early on but pretended not to notice. He quietly lifted a bowl of Fairy Spirit Mushroom Soup and drank it.

As for the Red Jade Prawns, well, that was a treat. The Fairy Spirit Mushroom, being so beneficial for breaking through cultivation bottlenecks, was naturally welcome in abundance and must not be wasted.

After Xu Zhao finished the soup, Mu Ye, who had been eagerly waiting, finally spoke.

“Child, may I see your martial soul?”

As the sect leader of the Original Body Sect, Mu Ye had an instinctive feeling upon seeing those sun-and-moon eyes—this boy’s body housed a martial soul of a quality surpassing his own Original Body Martial Soul.

“Uncle,” Xu Zhao looked at Mu Ye, his sun-and-moon eyes reflecting the shadows of the sun and moon, smiling softly.

“Haven’t you already seen it?”

“Your eyes?” Mu Ye guessed, then shook his head sharply.

“No, my intuition tells me that’s not your true martial soul.”

“But it is the manifestation of an eye-based martial soul. Still, I believe my intuition—your eye martial soul cannot be stronger than your Original Body Martial Soul.”

“Uncle, a hint for you,” the energy of the spiritual martial soul flowed around Xu Zhao, “What are the eyes the window of?”

“What are the eyes the window of?” Mu Ye was momentarily stunned.

“The mind, the mind!” Suddenly understanding, he excitedly exclaimed, disregarding his composure.

“The eyes are the windows to the soul. Your martial soul is the soul itself, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Uncle,” Xu Zhao’s voice echoed in Mu Ye’s consciousness.

There was no mental energy fluctuation—this was communication of consciousness, the power of the soul!

“Child, would you be willing to join my Original Body Sect?”

Mu Ye crouched down, gently placing his hands on Xu Zhao’s shoulders, his tone gentle and slow, as if afraid the boy might refuse.

Zhen Hua, standing aside, was stunned by the scene.

A spiritual Original Body Martial Soul—so this pair of grandfather and grandson from the Xu family were not here for him, but for Mu Ye, the private chef.

But very few knew Mu Ye’s identity as the sect leader of the Original Body Sect. How did the Xu family find out?

“Uncle, I’ve heard of the Original Body Sect’s great name, but...” Xu Zhao’s tone shifted, “The clan’s history records that our Xu family are descendants of the royal family of the Sun-Moon Empire, and that there was a significant grudge with your Original Body Sect ten thousand years ago.”

“This grudge is no less than the feud between your sect and Shrek Academy. So, perhaps you should reconsider?”

“Xu family? No problem!” Mu Ye waved his hand dismissively, unconcerned.

“The Xu family of today are no longer descendants of that eunuch Xu Tianran. That grudge does not apply to you.”

“Besides, the grudge between my Original Body Sect and Shrek Academy is recorded in our sect’s ancestral teachings—you Xu family have none of that, so there is no need to worry.”