Martial Soul Testing and Soul Ring Selection

"Xiao San, aside from those forbidden zones, there are also some easier areas where Soul Beasts gather. The most common are the Spirit Beast Forests established and managed by Spirit Hall."

"Spirit Hall sets up guarded zones around some small forests, enclosing the entire forest to prevent the Soul Beasts inside from escaping or other people from entering. They regularly send people into the forests to inspect the Soul Beasts' levels, clearing out overly dangerous Soul Beasts and those with excessive cultivation years. That is why the strongest Soul Beasts inside only have thousand-year cultivation."

"They do this because these Spirit Beast Forests were prepared for weaker Soul Masters and commoner Soul Masters like us. To ensure the Soul Masters' safety, they regularly inspect the conditions of the Soul Beasts inside."

"Entering requires a Spirit Hall token. You need to apply to Spirit Hall for one, and it will be issued once your application is approved. The guards there will collect it afterward. Also, if no one is helping you hunt a Soul Ring, you can ask the guards for assistance. At the very least, they will protect you while you absorb the Soul Ring."

Gu You stretched lazily. "All right, that's enough for now. Lunch has mostly digested, so let's begin more precise tests on the various data of our Martial Souls. After the tests, I'll look up information on Soul Beasts and find the most suitable Soul Beast Soul Rings for the two of us."

Over the next two days, Gu You used all sorts of methods to test the three different Martial Souls belonging to him and Tang San. For example, Gu You had Tang San fire Hidden Weapons along his body to test his reflex speed, brought Tang San to the grasslands to sense the natural Blue Silver Grass outside through his own Blue Silver Grass and test its range, and used the Clear Sky Hammer to strike various metals and test its destructive power.

After the tests were complete, Gu You kicked Tang San out of the storage room, telling him to help ask Mo Hen for a week of leave and return to the storage room three days later in the afternoon.

Tang San, having been driven out by Gu You, sighed and shook his head before returning to the academy to ask Mo Hen for leave. As soon as Mo Hen heard that Gu You was taking leave because he had business at Spirit Hall, he immediately approved the leave slip.

During those three days without Gu You around, Tang San and Xiao Wu spoke more often. Although it was not as exaggerated as in the original story, their relationship did improve quite a bit. At the very least, Tang San no longer had to call her Sister Xiao Wu.

Three days later in the afternoon, Tang San arrived at the storage room door once more. When he pushed it open, the first thing he saw was an enormous Blackboard. Drawn on it were the overlapping regular hexagons Gu You had once shown him, surrounded by a great many annotations.

Gu You sat in front of the Blackboard, draped in a Lab Coat. A table stood before him, glasses rested on his face, and his hands were folded over his nose and mouth. He looked like Commander Gendo from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

"You're finally here," Gu You said in a low voice.

Looking at Gu You before him, Tang San let out a long sigh, pressed a hand to his forehead, and said, "What are you messing around with now?"

When he was little, Tang San had often seen Gu You strike strange poses and say strange things. For example, after making a mask, Gu You had stood there shouting, "Tang San, I'm not going to be human anymore! I'm going to surpass humanity!" as he covered his face with it.

There had also been the time they tested the Strength Amplification of their Martial Souls. Gu You had been lifting a large stone perfectly normally when he suddenly shouted, "Ta~ki~za~wa~Ro~la~da~!" He threw the stone to the ground, then punched while yelling, "Muda muda muda muda muda!" leaving Tang San completely bewildered.

Seeing the current situation, Tang San guessed that Gu You was acting up again—and he was right. He directly ignored Gu You, walked to the Blackboard, and carefully examined what was written on it.

Ultimate Conductor Tyranno: Strength 5 (upper-body strength, lower-body strength, tail, and bite force were all extremely powerful), Speed 2 (movement speed relied on explosive leg power for instantaneous acceleration; the upper limbs and tail were extremely flexible, and neural reflexes were exceptional), Endurance 5 (extremely strong stamina; Martial Soul Possession consumed very little Soul Power, physical strength was abundant, and recovery speed was extremely fast), Defense 4 (strong defense against blunt and sharp weapons, average defense against energy, strong damage recovery speed), Energy 2? (could fire attribute-less energy blasts from its mouth; there was a suspected energy-generating organ at the center of its chest), Special 0 (no other special abilities discovered), Total 18/30.

Blue Silver Grass: Destructive Power 0 (no offensive power whatsoever), Attack Speed 5 (could rapidly generate large quantities of Blue Silver Grass), Strength 2 (originally 1; strength could be increased by infusing Soul Power), Range 4 (could precisely sense Blue Silver Grass within a radius of about thirty meters; vague sensing extended to one hundred and fifty meters), Energy 0 (possessed no form of energy attack), Special 5 (tests showed it could sense and transmit life force), Total 16/30.

Clear Sky (crossed out) Hammer: Destructive Power 5 (dealt damage through powerful blunt strikes), Attack Speed 1 (too heavy to move freely, lacking flexibility), Strength 5 (extremely hard), Range 2 (could expand its damage range by being thrown, but the distance was very short), Energy 4 (tests confirmed that a special power existed within the Hammer; this energy increased the Hammer's weight and strength, and was also released during attacks to form a shockwave at extremely close range), Special 2 (originally 0; the Hammer's weight as felt by its user did not match the effect it had on the outside world, possibly related to gravity), Total 19/30.

Recommended Soul Beasts: Ultimate Conductor Tyranno—Wild Hunt Wolf, Blue Silver Grass—Lightning-Struck Wood, Hammer—none.

Tang San asked, "What are Wild Hunt Wolves and Lightning-Struck Wood?"

Gu You brewed a cup of tea, blew on it, and said, "Wild Hunt Wolves are Soul Beasts that struggle to survive in the Forbidden Zone of Life. As solitary Soul Beasts, they have a particularly bad habit."

Gu You took a sip of tea and continued, "Wild Hunt refers to the state this Soul Beast enters when hunting—madness. Once it locks onto a target, it ignores every other factor and pursues it relentlessly. These Soul Beasts often die because they ignore their surroundings while hunting. Moreover, because they are accustomed to hunting Soul Beasts of roughly the same level or stronger, it is also common for the Soul Beast they regard as prey to kill them instead. They can only survive in places like Spirit Beast Forests. If they were in the Forbidden Zone of Life, that habit would have wiped them out long ago."

"This type of Soul Beast usually provides Soul Skills related to automatic tracking. However, I found a record of a Soul Master with a Beast Martial Soul who obtained a Soul Skill named Wild Hunt. Its effect was to put the user into a hunting-like state. That Soul Master, whose Martial Soul was a tiger, said that during battle he felt as though he had truly become a tiger. His senses were enhanced, and he even performed movements he had never considered before. That is what I'm aiming for."

"Lightning-Struck Wood is commonly found in the Storm Rift within the Forbidden Zone of Life. It feeds on lightning but possesses no Thunder Attribute power. It looks like wood scorched after being struck by lightning, but it is actually still alive. Its distinguishing features are its hard bark and extremely developed root system. Even if high-year Lightning-Struck Wood is chopped in half, it will not die. It must be uprooted completely to ensure its death."

"Records state that absorbing its Soul Ring usually strengthens the Martial Soul itself. Most Soul Skills it provides are related to defense or vitality, but when the Martial Soul is clearly of the Plant Type, the Soul Skill will certainly be related to vitality."

P.S.: In Douluo I, when the protagonist obtained Soul Rings, there were actually passive effects. He did not merely gain the Entangle that is now jokingly called "Mommy Entangle"; the strength and toughness of his Blue Silver Grass were also passively improved. However, this setting seemed to have been removed later on. In this book, it will continue to be used.

The protagonist was actually on the verge of going mad. Having come from a relatively peaceful society to a place where strength ruled and one could die at any moment, the pressure of survival along with his longing for his family meant that he would inevitably display some strange behavior. Finally, please vote with recommendation tickets and add this to your collection. Monthly tickets would also be appreciated if possible.