No, You Seem to Be Ahead of the Current Version! (Please Collect!!!)

Salas felt a sense of superiority at that moment, as if everyone else was drunk and he alone was sober.

Not many people knew Qian Renxue's true identity—only the many worshipers of the Worship Hall, many Titled Douluo-level elders of Spirit Hall, and, beyond them, the many Soul Masters responsible for carrying out this plan.

And he, Salas, was one link in that chain. As the Hall Master of Heaven Dou City's Martial Soul Holy Hall, the mobilization of many Soul Masters on this side required his cooperation, so he knew about the plan.

"Hall Master, are you telling me to pretend to pledge myself to the Crown Prince?"

Given the Crown Prince's status, he really could ward off a lot of prying eyes. And if the two sides got along well, it was possible that the other party would arrange a few Soul Emperor-level guards.

After all, Su Wen's range of activity was generally limited to Heaven Dou Royal Academy and the Great Soul Arena.

He was practically right under the Crown Prince's nose, which made arrangements extremely easy.

"Mm. You'll need to show sufficient value as well," Salas said after pretending to ponder for a moment.

If it was only the Thousand-Year Second Soul Ring plus the development model now suitable for Xiao Zhan, those two points still were not enough to make the crown prince of a nation specially arrange guards for him.

"Hall Master, are you talking about my identity as a Scholar?"

"That's right." Salas nodded and said meaningfully, "Su Wen, you must understand that although Spirit Hall is powerful now, in terms of history, the Two Great Empires are the oldest. The information they control might even be greater than Spirit Hall's."

Spirit Hall had many powerful experts, but its development time had been short. The existence and basic information of many special Soul Masters in history could be learned by examining history, but their specific records were not so easy to collect.

After leaving Spirit Hall, Su Wen returned directly to Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

"Xiao Wen, after today, quite a few forces may come looking for you. Don't worry about their pressure," Xiao Zhan said when he saw Su Wen, patting him on the shoulder.

"Uncle Zhan, it's not that I doubt you, but you're only a Soul Sage, right?"

"Only?" Xiao Zhan's eyes widened as he stared at Su Wen, looking shocked.

"You don't think a Soul Sage has low status, do you?"

A Soul Sage could already serve as a high-ranking official in charge of a region, all right?

Not to mention, was he, Xiao Zhan, an ordinary Soul Sage?

"I don't. I didn't," Su Wen denied.

A Soul Sage's status was still quite high. He had not looked down on it. But the major forces that might come knocking could all have Soul Sages or even higher-level experts holding down the fort, which was why Su Wen had instinctively questioned it.

"Hmph, kid, do you know your Uncle Zhan's Soul Power Level?"

"How high?" Su Wen asked curiously.

"Seventy-ninth Rank!"

Although he had been stuck at this rank for nearly ten years, such a high Soul Power Level was still the peak among Soul Sages.

Moreover, Xiao Zhan was famous for his Self-Created Soul Skill. In battle, he fought as he pleased. His Fire Demon Style Soul Skill covered both offense and defense, close-range attacks, long-range attacks, and every other aspect. Among those of the same rank, his combat strength was invincible!

He even had a real chance of fighting a Soul Douluo head-on by combining so many Self-Created Soul Skills.

"Seventy-ninth Rank!" Su Wen's eyes widened. "Doesn't that mean, Uncle Zhan, you could become a Soul Douluo at any time?"

Xiao Zhan, who had been looking proud, instantly froze.

"Ahem, breaking through to Eightieth Rank may not be that easy."

"What's going on?" Su Wen asked curiously.

Xiao Zhan looked bleak as he said, "When I cultivated, I pursued the quantity and quality of soul power too much, causing the progress of my soul power liquefaction and the degree of my accumulation to far exceed Soul Masters of the same level."

Su Wen stared.

I feel like I just heard something beyond the current version of Douluo Continent!

Uncle Zhan!

What did you say?

Say it again!

"Sigh. Since you asked, kid, I might as well give you a warning," Xiao Zhan said. "Our Book Martial Soul isn't suited for battle, so we have to do everything possible to improve our combat strength. Among those methods, the quality and quantity of soul power are the most obvious path."

"You can use the method of adding Soul Rings to increase your total soul power, or increase your soul power recovery speed, or enhance the quality of your soul power. But you must never rely on cultivation techniques to compress your soul power during cultivation!"

Xiao Zhan's tone was stern.

However, the more he spoke, the stranger Su Wen's gaze became.

"So, Uncle Zhan, that's how you cultivated?"

Good grief. No wonder he dared say he was invincible among Soul Sages. So it was not only because of the Fire Demon Style Soul Skill, but also because of the quality and quantity of his soul power.

"Mm." Xiao Zhan nodded and said, "In a Soul Master's cultivation, before reaching Soul King, soul power exists in a gaseous state inside the Soul Master's body. Upon breaking through to Soul King, it must be condensed, giving birth to liquid soul power. This continues until one cultivates to Eighty-ninth Rank, at which point the Meridians in the body are completely filled with liquid soul power."

"At that time, breaking through the bottleneck means reaching Ninetieth Rank, and the liquid soul power will also turn solid."

"I'm already filled with liquid soul power now. In other words, if I want to break through to Eightieth Rank, I need to turn my soul power solid. That is the bottleneck for breaking through to Titled Douluo, while all my other conditions are far inferior to the level of those Soul Masters at the peak of Soul Douluo."

Other people could be trapped at Eighty-ninth Rank until they died, let alone him, a Soul Sage whose other conditions were much worse.

"But Uncle Zhan, is there really no technique to solidify soul power?"

"The technique is simply to move in the direction of solidifying soul power." Xiao Zhan shook his head.

If one wanted to break through, one still had to rely on opportunity and luck.

Su Wen let out a breath of relief, thinking to himself that this was more like it.

Right now, Soul Master cultivation on Douluo Continent was still at a primitive level; there were no techniques for condensing soul cores.

Breaking through to the Ninetieth Rank probably all came down to luck.

Poison Douluo's Poison Pill was probably the key to his breakthrough, and the other Titled Douluo should each have similar cores of their own.

As Su Wen thought of this, an idea suddenly came to him.

"The things Titled Douluo on Douluo Continent condense nowadays aren't soul cores, but their potential doesn't seem bad either?"

In this era's Douluo Continent, there were quite a few Limit Douluo as well.

However, there was still a gap. For example, the number of Titled Douluo was very small, while in later generations there were far more Titled Douluo.

"The vortex form of a soul core might make it easier to condense, so breaking through is easier, but after the Ninety-ninth Rank, one has to condense a Second Soul Core."

And even further down the line, breaking through to God-level might require condensing a third one.

But on today's Douluo Continent, there was no such concept.

"Perhaps the Titled Douluo who break through in this era condense something that, while not a soul core, is a natal form more compatible with their own Martial Soul."

Seeing Su Wen sink into deep thought, Xiao Zhan nodded in satisfaction.

Looks like he took it in.

In truth, he had no idea that Su Wen was already thinking about, if one followed Douluo Continent's current cultivation method, then after condensing Solidified Soul Power at the Seventieth Rank, what the conditions for breaking through to Titled Douluo would become.

This might touch upon the conditions for breaking through to Limit Douluo on today's Douluo Continent, and to know the answer to that question, he would have to ask a Limit Douluo.

"Will I have a chance to come into contact with a Limit Douluo?"

Whether the methods of the present age were better or the Soul Core Method of later generations was better, Su Wen still wasn't sure.

But he knew one thing: the Soul Core Method of later generations was clearer, the breakthrough method was more fixed, and breakthroughs were easier.

So he put forward this idea as well and told Xiao Zhan.

Xiao Zhan was only a little surprised, but he did not react as if he had seen some heaven-defying revelation. He shook his head and said, "It's not that simple."