Registering Soul Master (Seeking Monthly Votes, Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Evening.

After horsing around, Xiao Lin and Tang San finally entered Notting City before its gates closed.

The two competed nearly a dozen times—running, long jump, even rock-paper-scissors.

In the end, Xiao Lin narrowly won. As for the disguise, Tang San would be on the bottom, while Xiao Lin would be on top.

"What a blood-pumping spar!"

Xiao Lin brought Tang San, who had never visited Spirit Hall before, to its entrance and grinned smugly.

"Yes, yes."

Tang San could not help but sigh.

Even with his endurance, he was nearly unable to keep up with sparring against Xiao Lin.

One could only imagine how terrifying Xiao Lin's strength was.

No, it should be said that Xiao Lin's First Soul Ring had enhanced him far too much.

The eight hundred years of soul power alone had raised Xiao Lin to level 13. Poor Tang San was only level 12 even now.

Xiao Lin's level advantage alone forced Tang San to use all sorts of methods just to barely keep up.

After entering Spirit Hall, Xiao Lin led Tang San straight inside.

After several turns left and right, they went directly up to the second floor and arrived before a plain door.

Xiao Lin knocked on the door and led Tang San directly into the office of Notting City's Spirit Hall.

At that moment, the spacious office contained only a slightly gray-haired old man seated at his desk, handling documents. After seeing Xiao Lin and Tang San enter, he merely glanced at them before continuing with his work.

"Grandfather Ma Xiunuo, I'm already a Soul Master."

Seeing that Ma Xiunuo was actually ignoring him, Xiao Lin immediately dropped a bombshell in front of him.

"Good evening, Hall Master Ma Xiunuo. I'm Tang San, Xiao Lin's good brother. I'm also here to register as a Soul Master."

Unlike Xiao Lin, Tang San could not help rolling his eyes at Xiao Lin's opening words. Then he bowed and offered a greeting.

"Xiao Lin, coming here this late at night..."

Ma Xiunuo was still stunned by Xiao Lin's words. His hand, which was processing the documents, trembled involuntarily a few times as a bitter smile appeared on his face.

"Grandfather Ma Xiunuo, everyone at Spirit Hall has gotten off work. There are only a few gatekeepers left, so how are we supposed to register as Soul Masters?"

Xiao Lin chuckled. He had not done it on purpose.

"Fine, I'll register you two as Soul Masters."

Ma Xiunuo sighed and rose from his seat.

"It's been years since I last registered anyone as a Soul Master. You two really are..."

Ma Xiunuo walked over to the filing cabinet beside his desk, took out a set of Soul Master registration forms, flipped to roughly the middle, and began recording their names.

"Xiao Lin, Horned Dragon Staff Soul. Registered as a Soul Master on July 16th. Your Soul Ring is?"

"A four-hundred-year Great Strength Vajra Bull."

Xiao Lin hurriedly answered, deliberately understating the age of his Soul Ring.

"Alright, a four-hundred-year Great Strength Vajra Bull."

"Little San, report your Martial Soul and Soul Ring as well."

After finishing Xiao Lin's entry, Ma Xiunuo turned toward Tang San with a slight smile and asked.

"Tang San, Blue Silver Grass Soul. My Soul Ring is a four-hundred-year Three-Eyed Salamander."

Ma Xiunuo froze upon hearing Tang San's Martial Soul and Soul Ring. Since when could Blue Silver Grass be cultivated?

Not to mention at Tang San's age.

However, Ma Xiunuo quickly recalled what Su Yuntao had said about Blue Silver Grass with Innate Full Soul Power, and he smiled faintly.

After finishing the records, Ma Xiunuo leisurely returned the Soul Master registration forms to the filing cabinet and casually asked, "You two, have you considered coming to Spirit Hall and joining us?"

"No. We thought it over and decided we'd rather work hard on our own."

Xiao Lin sat in an office chair nearby, leaned back, and refused.

"Why? With your talents, if you went to Spirit Hall's main city, you would receive extensive cultivation even under the Pope. It's even very possible that an Elder who is a Titled Douluo would take you as disciples."

Ma Xiunuo was stunned. Sitting in his chair, he stared at Xiao Lin and Tang San in disbelief.

"Little San, your Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass. It won't be easy for you to cultivate. Are you sure you don't want to join Spirit Hall?"

Seeing that Xiao Lin did not seem to be joking, Ma Xiunuo turned to Tang San and asked.

"No, thank you, Grandfather Ma Xiunuo. We still choose to cultivate on our own, because we both feel that Spirit Hall's theories are too outdated."

Tang San gave Ma Xiunuo a slight bow in thanks before explaining.

"Little San is right. I've found that the theories of Spirit Hall, and even the entire Soul Master world, are far too old-fashioned nowadays."

"The most classic example is Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang's Spirit Ten Core Competitiveness Theory, but some of it is simply incomprehensible."

"We plan to study our own spirits and then seek out more suitable soul rings. If we join Spirit Hall and really become disciples of a Titled Douluo, then our voices will carry little weight, and we may not be able to obtain the soul rings we want."

"Would a Titled Douluo's perspective be any lower than ours? They wouldn't care about what we think."

Xiao Lin shook his head, then used Su Yuntao's spirit as an example.

According to the original timeline, if Su Yuntao had not met Xiao Lin, he would have obtained his soul rings according to Spirit Hall's theories and the theories of the Soul Master world.

The Lone Wolf spirit was an ordinary spirit, and its combat ability was not particularly strong.

Under the original arrangement, Su Yuntao would have obtained Encirclement Hunt, a soul skill commonly used by ordinary Wolf-type Spirits.

It was a skill whose damage could stack when multiple people coordinated their attacks.

However, the skill's base damage was not high.

Moreover, Su Yuntao usually traveled alone to help the various villages awaken their spirits. The only times he fought alongside others were when he helped hunt soul rings.

After Xiao Lin met Su Yuntao and built a good relationship with him, he recommended a soul skill that gave Su Yuntao independent combat capability and stable fighting strength.

In the end, Su Yuntao was quite lucky and obtained the soul skill Howl. Not only could it increase his own attack power, but it could also slightly boost his teammates' attack power.

With Howl, the power of Su Yuntao's original First Soul Ring was no weaker than that of an ordinary Yellow Soul Ring.

Whether in a duel or a group battle, Su Yuntao was now far better than he had been with Encirclement Hunt.

That was the difference between the two theories.

Traditional spirit theory had power-attack Soul Masters mainly choose skills that buffed themselves or powerful Attack Soul Skills.

Xiao Lin's theory, on the other hand, held that power-attack Soul Masters could also choose group utility-type soul skills.

Xiao Lin even placed greater emphasis on the combination of one's soul rings, rather than the old approach where attack skills were simply attack skills and enhancement skills were simply enhancement skills.

Furthermore, the soul skill Xiao Lin had chosen for Su Yuntao was also highly suitable for military use.

If a whole group of Wolf-type Spirit Soul Masters used Howl together, the effect would be terrifying.

And this was only the difference in soul ring choices for ordinary power-attack Soul Masters. When applied to other types of Soul Masters, the gap between the theories and traditional spirit theory would be even greater.

"Sigh, if that is the case, then it can only be this way. I only hope that your theories will benefit all Soul Masters in the future."

"Come on, I'll take you to collect this month's Gold Soul Coins."

Seeing that Xiao Lin had put it this way, Ma Xiunuo merely sighed before leading Xiao Lin and Tang San out of the office.

In Ma Xiunuo's view, Xiao Lin and Tang San had far more reasons than that for not joining Spirit Hall.

At the very least, Ma Xiunuo believed that Xiao Lin and the others planned to become nobles in the future, which was why they would not join Spirit Hall...

"By the way, the Soul Master world respects strength above all else. The two of you must not waste your talents. Oh, and one more thing—you probably do not have a room to sleep in yet, right? If you do not mind, you can sleep in Spirit Hall's study for the night..."

"Yes, thank you, Grandfather Ma Xiunuo."

Xiao Lin and Tang San hurriedly bowed in thanks.

Although Xiao Lin had slept at Spirit Hall several times before, he could not treat this place as his own home. Without Ma Xiunuo's permission, he would still have to find somewhere outside to sleep.

A good friend has written a new book, "Douluo: The Tiger Slayer Is Wu Song." It is still new, so anyone interested can add it to their collection and take a look.