Soul Ring Reset? Living a Second Life!

Wait!

You Chen looked at his arms, which had shrunk by a size, and his heart suddenly jolted.

A startling thought suddenly surfaced.

He hurried into the bathroom, where the spotless mirror reflected the face of a delicate-looking youth.

He looked very much like he had at around ten years old. Only, compared to his formerly ordinary appearance, he was far more handsome. On a ten-point scale, the old You Chen would only have rated a five, while he was now at least a seven!

Despite such a drastic change in looks, You Chen was not particularly surprised.

The odds of producing handsome men and beautiful women in the world of soul masters were countless times higher than among ordinary civilians.

As a master of theory, You Chen knew very well how martial souls optimized one's genes.

When he had been nine years old more than twenty years ago, his martial soul had merely been the fairly average Wind Hatchling Dragon among intermediate martial souls. How could it compare to what he had now?

Looks were irrelevant. To You Chen, there was only one thing that mattered—

"I've lived a second life!?"

Even with all of You Chen's experience, the familiar stranger in the mirror still shocked him nearly speechless.

He remembered that the system could record his age, so he hurriedly opened the attribute panel to confirm it, only to find that the truth was even more astonishing than he had expected.

Name: You Chen (II)

Age: 9

Martial Soul: Stardust Dragon (Advanced Martial Soul)

Level: Level 20 Soul Master

Soul Ring: First Soul Ring (12,000 years)

The first soul ring's age was several thousand years lower than expected. Normally, You Chen would have devoted all his attention to researching that, but it was not the important thing right now, because...

You Chen discovered that an "(II)" had appeared after his name.

Switch!

With a mere thought, he completed the "switch."

Name: You Chen (I)

Age: 35

Martial Soul: Stardust Dragon (Advanced Martial Soul)

Level: Level 50 Soul Ancestor

Soul Rings: ...

What was this? Dual SIM standby?

You Chen furrowed his brow.

As the character card switched, he became a thirty-five-year-old middle-aged man again. Even his shirt and pants adaptively grew larger and looser in the process.

The only change was that his features were much more handsome than they had been an hour or two earlier.

So... when he switched into his childhood form, his soul power had not vanished into thin air or been swallowed by some shady system. Rather, it had been suppressed to the level 20 limit imposed by his soul ring due to the world's rules.

Although he did not know why the system's rules had prevailed when he absorbed the Adaptive Best Age First Soul Ring granted by the system, restrictions on soul power had returned to being governed by the Douluo World's rules.

No, is there another possibility...

You Chen raised his brow, thinking with a strange expression, Could it be that the system only suppressed the Douluo World's rules earlier because I used that soul ring, forcing it to do so?

Compromising with the rule that soul power was restricted by soul rings did not mean the system's rules were weaker than the Douluo World's rules.

The system had that capability, but that did not mean doing so complied with its own rules and logic.

It had already handed out the reward. It could not exactly admit that there had been a bug before, could it? Was that why things had ended up like this?

You Chen fell into thought, feeling that this was very likely the truth.

And without a doubt, he had won big on this gamble!

In You Chen's theories, this kind of dual-SIM setup—one martial soul with two sets of soul rings—was absolutely more blessed by heaven than even Twin Martial Souls!

How could You Chen possibly sleep after that?

He spent the entire night immersed in planning for the future.

Just like that, dawn arrived.

Ding.

Mission: Your classmate Jiang Liu (Level 13 Soul Master) believes that your talent is nowhere near enough to support your reputation as a genius, and that you are unworthy of competing on the same stage as him. He has declared that he will defeat you, a third-rate soul master, in three moves at the final exam competition. Defeat Jiang Liu and tell him who the real third-rate one is. Complete this within three moves to receive an additional reward.

Basic Reward: Ten Beginner Nutrient Pills, one box of Friendly Advanced Candy (PS: Easily increases children's favorability)

Additional Reward: "Soul Shocking Tactic" (Mental combat skill; can intimidate enemies)

You Chen raised an eyebrow.

Unlike Ye Han, a third-generation heir with someone backing him, Jiang Liu was, like You Chen, from a civilian family. However, his talent surpassed Ye Han's by far.

He had level-five Innate Soul Power and an advanced martial soul, the Freshwater Crocodile. He was one of the genuinely talented students in their class.

He was now a level 43 Soul Ancestor. In terms of talent alone, he was not much worse than You Chen before the latter obtained the system. Although his level had fallen somewhat behind now, with the advantage of an advanced martial soul, he had a very high chance of eventually reaching the Soul Emperor level.

But what interested You Chen more was the timing of this mission's trigger, as well as the time mentioned in its description.

If I remember correctly, that conflict with Jiang Liu happened about a month after I dealt with that brat Ye Han, didn't it?

You Chen pondered this.

But some guesses would have to be gradually verified in the future.

In the blink of an eye, daytime arrived.

You Chen had already obtained the transfer order from Ye Han. However, because of the system's appearance, he did not intend to immediately take up the post. Instead, he planned to remain in Spirit City for a while longer.

As for the target of this mission?

Fortunately, Jiang Liu also worked at Spirit Hall, so You Chen did not need to go out looking for him.

Moreover, although Jiang Liu and You Chen were not particularly close, they had once been classmates. Coupled with their old rivalry, Jiang Liu naturally could not refuse You Chen's invitation to a soul battle.

Perhaps Jiang Liu was even thinking that You Chen had focused on theoretical research all these years. Even if he held an advantage in soul power, his practical combat ability and martial soul quality might not necessarily surpass his own.

Besides, below the Titled Douluo level, soul power level did not offer an overwhelming advantage within the same major realm.

Jiang Liu believed he had a great chance of winning!

Yet in reality, You Chen's combat ability had not declined in the slightest.

You Chen was no pure theoretician who knew nothing of combat.

Even the original You Chen could have relied on high-age soul rings to erase the gap between an intermediate martial soul and an advanced martial soul.

Jiang Liu might have had a chance to catch up to the original You Chen, but that would have taken many years. Not to mention You Chen after his martial soul's second evolution?

Even so, Jiang Liu was still a fairly powerful Soul Ancestor.

At the Soul Ancestor level, and with the two being familiar with one another, You Chen normally would not have been able to defeat Jiang Liu so easily.

But... for the mission's additional reward, You Chen could no longer spare his old classmate's pride.

Right from the start, he unleashed the ten-thousand-year fourth soul ring skill, Starlight Avatar. Then, both his true body and avatar used the third soul skill, Storm Airflow, which had gathering and binding effects, to pin Jiang Liu in place.

Two consecutive four-thousand-year soul ring skills forced Jiang Liu to use three soul skills in a row, including his fourth soul ring skill, just to barely withstand them.

As Jiang Liu tried to break through the Storm Airflow, the Starlight Avatar charged forward and self-destructed.

With an instant BOOM, Jiang Liu was blasted unconscious.

You Chen did not know whether enhancement-type soul skills counted as being outside "one move," so he directly used this tactic. No matter how it was calculated, it had to count as within three moves.

Even Jiang Liu had not expected You Chen to go all out from the very beginning. One moment of carelessness led to his crushing defeat.

Jiang Liu lay in the crater blasted out by the Starlight Avatar, his face blackened with soot and his expression full of existential doubt.