Chapter 15: Wind Arrows and Thunder Strings
This is the consensus in the Soul Master realm.
Choosing a soul ring whose attributes closely match one’s own martial soul is the path of least risk and the most reliable gain.
For someone like Bai Chenxiang, attempting to fuse a completely different attribute with her very first soul ring is nothing short of gambling her future on a reckless bet.
“Who says my path is purely wind?” Bai Chenxiang’s retort struck like a heavy hammer, reverberating deeply in everyone’s hearts.
She extended her right hand, palm open.
This time, no wind swirled around her fingertips, yet everyone sensed that as she focused her intent, the surrounding air grew thick and heavy.
“Grandfather, elders, do you still remember when I spoke of the ‘bow and arrow’?”
The crowd nodded instinctively.
“My body is the bow, my speed the arrow. That much is true,” Bai Chenxiang said calmly, her voice carrying an undeniable penetrating force.
“But you have overlooked the most crucial element—the bowstring.”
“Bowstring?” Elder Bai Shan asked in confusion.
“Yes, the bowstring.”
“No matter how sturdy the bow or how sharp the arrow, without a bowstring that is filled with ultimate elasticity and explosive power, the arrow shot will still be weak and powerless.”
“The speed of the wind hawk is light, swift, and moves with the wind. It is like a ribbon that lets the arrow fly farther and with less effort.”
“But it cannot become the bowstring that tightens and releases in an instant, bestowing the arrow with thunderous might!”
She paused, her gaze sweeping across the stunned faces before her, then continued in her unique manner that perfectly fused fantasy theory with practical logic to dissect her chosen path.
“What I need is not sustained high speed, but instantaneous, extreme burst!”
“From a standstill to an invisible launch speed, to abrupt stops and direction changes defying the laws of physics during high-speed motion!”
“What does such an explosion require? Power! A force that can compress and unleash all energy in one hundredth of a second!”
“Pure wind is too gentle; it cannot achieve this. But lightning possesses the most extreme, wildest instantaneous burst power in nature!”
“Wind is my arrow, carrying me wherever I wish to go.”
“Lightning will be my bowstring! Every draw will shake the heavens and earth!”
“Combining wind and lightning, driving the ultimate wind with thunderous power! This is the path of offense I must take!”
Her words fell like thunder.
The entire council chamber fell utterly silent.
The four elders, along with Bai He, stood frozen, as if countless bolts of lightning exploded in their minds.
Bowstring...
Using lightning as the string!
This idea completely surpassed their understanding of speed.
In their view, power and speed were two ends of a balance; to gain one meant sacrificing the other.
The Minzi Clan was fast precisely because they gave up almost all power and defense.
Yet this young lady, a six-year-old prodigy, was attempting to intertwine these two seemingly opposing attributes in an unimaginable way!
She was not choosing between the scales; she was overturning them and setting new rules herself!
Elder Bai Shan’s lips trembled as he tried to object but found his mind blank.
Bai Chenxiang’s theory was rigorous and tightly linked—starting from “bow body training” to “wind arrow and lightning string”—forming a perfect closed loop.
He could find no flaw to attack because this was an entirely new realm he had never encountered.
“But the Wind Lightning Demon Wolf is at least a thousand-year-level soul beast, and wildly ferocious. With your current strength, how can you hope to hunt it?”
“Moreover, absorbing two different attribute soul rings demands extreme mental power. A slight mistake could cause madness or even physical collapse!” the stout elder voiced his trembling concern.
This was the most practical issue.
No matter how perfect the theory, it must be achievable.
Bai Chenxiang looked at Bai He, her gaze carrying no plea or request, only pure, unreserved trust.
“Because I have Grandfather.”
That simple sentence made Bai He’s heart, once as calm as a deep well, tremble deeply.
He looked into his granddaughter’s clear, bottomless eyes, seeing his own aged but still upright reflection within.
An indescribable surge of pride welled from his chest.
Indeed, she had him!
He was the head of the Minzi Clan, an eighty-two-level Soul Fighter, one of the fastest on this continent!
If he could not protect his own granddaughter, if he dared not support her chosen path—
At his age and cultivation, wouldn’t he have lived in vain?
To hell with caution! To hell with tradition!
My granddaughter Bai Chenxiang will walk a path never before trodden and one that none will follow after!
“Ha ha... hahaha!”
Bai He laughed heartily, his laughter brimming with unrestrained pride and wildness.
Stepping forward without hesitation, he slapped his calloused old hand heavily onto the scarlet “Sunset Forest” map.
“A fine ‘wind and lightning as string’! Well said!”
Turning, his gaze like lightning swept over the four still-shocked elders as he issued a command in an unchallengeable tone.
“Relay my orders! From this moment, the Minzi Clan is on high alert!”
“Bai Shan, Bai Shi, Bai Feng, Bai Yu, remain to oversee the clan affairs.”
“I will personally escort Xiangxiang to the Sunset Forest!”
“Big brother!” Bai Shan tried to persuade again.
“No more words!” Bai He waved off his objections.
“The Minzi Clan has grown complacent for too long, so long we have almost forgotten our ancestors fought through mountains of corpses and seas of blood!”
“We are not flowers grown in greenhouses, and neither is my granddaughter!”
Lowering his head, his wildness melted into infinite tenderness and indulgence as he looked at Bai Chenxiang.
“Xiangxiang, go choose your path. If the sky falls, Grandfather will hold it up for you. If gods block your way, kill gods; if Buddhas stand in your path, slay Buddhas!”
“If that Wind Lightning Demon Wolf dares to be ungrateful,”
He grinned, revealing white teeth, the smile tinged with a bloodthirsty madness,
“Grandfather will personally skin it alive and make you the warmest cloak!”
Seeing her grandfather brimming with boundless passion, Bai Chenxiang smiled too.
Her smile was bright and pure, as if she had received the most precious treasure in the world.
Yet, as the elders prepared for this wild expedition, they all silently shared a thought that made them both amused and exasperated:
Is this grandfather taking his granddaughter to hunt soul rings, or is the granddaughter dragging her grandfather to challenge the very worldview?