Soul Bones and a Treasured Land, Qin Ming and Flender

Although a Soul Bone's Soul Skill was not necessarily powerful just because it was older, its toughness was certain to be high enough. The same volume could naturally hold more poison, and its completeness and size went without saying.

The more complete a Soul Bone was, the older it was. As for proportions, those depended on the part of the body the Soul Bone belonged to. In theory, a chest bone could certainly be the largest.

At Dugu Yan's current cultivation speed, as long as nothing went wrong, she had a good chance of reaching Soul Saint or Soul Douluo through normal cultivation. Titled Douluo was harder to say. Xiang Yang estimated that she would need a Soul Bone twenty or thirty thousand years old, or two or three if each was younger.

Compatibility also had to be considered. The Soul Beast a Soul Bone came from had to have at least some resistance to poison, or simply be poison-attributed itself.

But whether the news was good or bad, there always had to be a "but"!

Soul Bones were far rarer at this time than they would be in later generations; at the very least, they could not be put up for public auction. For one thing, there was the behemoth that was Spirit Hall, which held at least half of all Soul Bones. For another, the balance of power among the factions was extremely stable.

Of the Upper Three Sects and Lower Four Sects, the former controlled most of what remained, while some of the latter did not even possess a single Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone.

Then there were the imperial families of the two empires. Xiang Yang was not sure about Heaven Dou, but according to Dai Mubai, the Star Luo Empire should have more than a complete set of Soul Bones. By that reasoning, Heaven Dou should not be far behind; it ought to have at least three or five.

A Titled Douluo like Dugu Bo had only a Head Soul Bone because he was unaffiliated. Otherwise, why would he force the poison into such a dangerous place? Presumably, he would never have done so if he had a choice.

"Hmm..." Xiang Yang stroked his chin and pondered for a moment. "Have you ever thought about why she's been able to cultivate safely up to now?"

After all, according to Tang San, someone like her was no different from a person who had soaked in a poison jar since childhood. It could no longer be explained by poison resistance and detoxification. Humans were flesh and blood, carbon-based life forms, and they had limits.

A Martial Soul was only an energy body, and its ability to interfere with the human body was limited. Otherwise, she would not have been harmed by the toxins.

"That... Someone probably helped her with their own Soul Power, or... she used quite a few rare medicinal herbs."

As Tang San spoke, he recalled the faint "impurities" he had sensed when he circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill through Dugu Yan's body earlier.

Seeing this, Xiang Yang continued to guide him. "I can understand it with her, since her level isn't high, but what about Poison Douluo? How did he cultivate all the way to Titled Douluo without dying?"

Huh?!!

That's right! Tang San felt a jolt run through his whole body. How had he not thought of that? People from later generations really did have sharper minds.

Excited, Tang San took a wooden box out of his Soul Tool, opened it, and pulled out a book. He flipped through the pages until he stopped, and Xiang Yang, standing beside him, saw that the page read:

"Under heaven, there are three great treasure basins suited to the growth of rare plants, capable of reducing their growth time by more than tenfold... One of them..."

They were also enormously beneficial to the cultivation of people and animals, not just plants. No matter the cultivation method or attribute, as long as the primordial Qi of heaven and earth in a place was sufficiently concentrated, it would naturally increase cultivation speed.

Even inanimate objects, such as utterly ordinary stones, had a chance of turning into rare jade, ores, and the like in such a place.

As before, when he had taught the cultivation method, Tang San had taken Xiang Yang's suggestion and copied down the secret manuals from his previous life. After they were bound into books, Xiang Yang had leafed through them several times as well. He had been a little excited at first, but later felt they were nothing special.

After all, once the Tang Sect was established, it could not rely entirely on word of mouth, could it? Not unless they wanted the teachings to die out before the third generation. Besides, the books were kept in a mechanism box that would self-destruct and turn to ash if opened with the wrong technique.

The two slowly exchanged a smile. Now they had to go take a look!

Meanwhile, Qin Ming, the Imperial Fighting Team's leader and teacher, had also sought Flender out at that shop.

Hearing footsteps, Flender idly turned a page and said, "Take a look around."

"Qin Ming pays his respects, Teacher. You really are here!" He immediately bowed.

"Oh? It's you, boy!" Seeing who it was, Flender hurriedly stood up.

"Haha, what made you think to come see me? I heard you're the second-youngest Soul Emperor on the continent now, and a teacher at Heaven Dou Royal Academy." Flender patted him on the shoulder. He had visited the Heaven Dou imperial capital several times before and picked up quite a bit of news.

"Your disciple has never stopped thinking about the academy, but I've been far too busy... This time, I happened to use leading the team out for training as an excuse to visit my teachers." As Qin Ming spoke, he lifted the gifts he had set beside him.

Flender could tell at a glance that they had cost quite a bit. An ordinary person might have protested, but everyone knew what he was like. He reached out, took them, and put them straight into his Storage Soul Tool. "Give me Old Zhao and the others' gifts too. I'll take them back for them."

"Well..." Qin Ming had been about to remark that his teacher was just the same as ever. He had not expected him to set his sights on the other teachers' gifts too...

"You don't trust me, boy?" Seeing him hesitate, Flender tilted his head up slightly.

"That's not it..." Of course it is. We haven't seen each other for years, so how has Teacher gotten even worse? Qin Ming could not help grumbling inwardly, and his hands moved at a snail's pace.

Flender waited for him to take the gifts out, then snatched them up. "Don't worry. I'll be sure to give them to your teachers personally."

I'm your teacher too, and the dean at that! They can't use them anyway, so I might as well keep them all safe.

With that thought, he tucked everything away with a clear conscience.

Qin Ming did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Yes, I... trust you, Teacher." What he trusted him with was better left unasked.

In truth, this was because the Grandmaster had been taking all the money spent on the students from him. The initial medicinal baths and large quantities of food had been manageable; he had made quite a bit by betting on his own students at the time, and he had his existing savings on top of that.

But later, as the students' Soul Power Levels rose, the old training equipment was no longer suitable, and supplies were being consumed extremely quickly. They urgently needed replenishing.

On top of that, the Grandmaster had learned that the students had actually paid to have those things made themselves. He had sought Flender out and given him a thorough scolding. Fortunately, Flender was exceptionally thick-skinned when it came to such matters.

So when it came to money, Flender, like Xiao Wu with Tang San, had been deprived of the right to use it by the Grandmaster. Although he knew all that money would be spent on the students, which was no different from his own goal, a habit of loving money as dearly as life, cultivated over so many years, was not so easily changed. Without money in his hands, he truly felt insecure.

Watching him, Qin Ming did not know what to say, so he changed the subject and brought up what he had in mind.

"Ahem, Teacher, I actually wanted my students to have a match with my junior schoolmates this time. But the Soul Fighting Arena said you haven't accepted a team battle in months. Is it because you don't have enough people, or...?"

Qin Ming recalled finding the person in charge of the Soul Fighting Arena yesterday. He had wanted to arrange a friendly match, both to see the talents of the junior schoolmates he had asked about beforehand and to take the young people under him down a peg.

Unfortunately, the result had made his jaw drop. It could not be done!

With no other choice, he had come in person.

"Well..." Flender looked him over. "If it's something you can't tell me, Teacher..." Qin Ming was just about to say there was no need to force himself when Flender interrupted him.

"Ah! It's not that, it's just, hehehe~"

Thinking of the Little Monsters at the academy, Flender could not help the corners of his mouth from rising, leaving Qin Ming as baffled as a monk scratching his head. Fortunately, his teacher quickly composed himself. "Ahem, what realm are those students of yours at now? How talented are they?"

"Oh? You want to test me, Teacher?" Qin Ming smiled faintly. "I graduated from Shrek too. Of course I haven't forgotten that Shrek only accepts monsters."

Listening to his disciple's praise, Flender's smile instantly twitched, and his gaze drifted involuntarily toward the book he had placed on the table. Unfortunately, Qin Ming did not see it. He turned away and walked about as he began his introduction:

"The Imperial Fighting Team's captain, Yu Tianheng, comes from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect. His Martial Soul is the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, and his Soul Power is level thirty-eight!"

"Dugu Yan's Martial Soul is the Jade Phosphorous Serpent. Her grandfather is His Majesty Dugu, whose title is Poison."

"Besides them, there's..."

"All right, all right." Flender was no longer in the mood to tease him. He already knew all about those students; they had been competing before. He got straight to the point. "There are currently eight students in the academy, and two of them are Soul Ancestors."

"What?" Qin Ming was somewhat surprised. No wonder they could not fight; someone was about to graduate. What a pity...

"One is sixteen, and the other is thirteen." Flender swiftly unleashed his big move.

"What?!" Qin Ming was stunned.