Soul Ring Planning

Nuoding Cafeteria had two floors; the first floor was the main hall, while the second floor was for ordering dishes separately.

The group got their meals on the first floor and found seats one after another.

The food here wasn't great, but it was cheap and the portions were generous.

"Isn't this Wang Sheng and his bunch of paupers?"

No sooner had they sat down than a discordant voice rang out.

Yu Cheng looked toward the source of the sound and saw Xiao Chenyu and his group standing on the stairs, looking down at them from a height.

"Eating sour radishes and rotten greens again, huh."

"Tsk tsk tsk, paupers will always be paupers. I'm afraid they'll never get to eat on the second floor."

Xiao Chenyu wagged his finger, a thick disdain evident in his eyes.

"What the hell are you, barking like a dog over here!"

Xiao Wu was still feeling a bit annoyed after being beaten by Yu Cheng. Hearing Xiao Chenyu's words, she exploded on the spot.

She stood up abruptly, slammed her chopsticks down, and glared at him.

"Sister Xiao Wu, don't be impulsive."

A Work-Study Student quickly tugged at her sleeve.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Chenyu didn't pay any attention to Xiao Wu's insults. Instead, he looked at her with keen interest, a gleam of excitement in his eyes.

"Oh, what a pretty little loli."

He stroked his chin. "Wang Sheng, I'm going to eat now. I'll let you off this time."

With that, the group headed up the stairs to the second floor.

Xiao Wu lifted her foot to chase after them, but Wang Sheng grabbed her arm. "Sister Xiao Wu, forget it. Let's eat first."

"Are you all this afraid of trouble?"

Xiao Wu looked at Wang Sheng with some contempt.

Wang Sheng smiled bitterly. "That guy is Xiao Chenyu. His father is the City Lord of Nuoding. He's always been arrogant and domineering in the academy, and even the teachers don't dare to discipline him."

Over the years, Wang Sheng had shouldered the banner of the Work-Study Students, resisting the oppression of the noble students.

But...

Every time a brawl broke out, he didn't even dare to go all out. He was afraid of injuring someone on the other side and inviting unnecessary trouble.

"Sister Xiao Wu, you're a girl. You'd better stay away from them from now on."

Wang Sheng advised.

"What's wrong with being a girl!"

Xiao Wu was immediately displeased upon hearing this.

Wang Sheng sighed. "Before, we had another female Work-Study Student, but she suddenly dropped out."

"Why?"

A hint of confusion flickered in Xiao Wu's eyes.

"I heard she was bullied by Xiao Chenyu. Reporting it to the academy was useless, so she had no choice but to drop out."

Wang Sheng smiled bitterly.

"Bastard!"

Xiao Wu clenched her fists and slammed the table hard.

The 'bullying' Wang Sheng referred to naturally wasn't just a beating—it was the loss of her innocence.

Xiao Wu, also a girl, felt like charging up to the second floor right then and there to tear Xiao Chenyu limb from limb after hearing Wang Sheng's words.

"This person already has a reason to die!"

Tang San put down his chopsticks and couldn't help but say.

"And such things happen!"

Yu Cheng was also surprised.

He had read the original work and knew that the nobles of Douluo Continent weren't good people. But Xiao Chenyu's behavior was no different from that of an animal.

Yu Cheng tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

Originally, he had been hesitating about whether to use Xiao Chenyu to strike at the City Lord's Mansion.

Now it seemed that leaving someone like this in the world was simply a waste of food.

Yu Cheng glanced at Xiao Wu, who was about to explode, and Tang San, whose face was dark, and his plan gradually became clear in his mind.

Academy life began.

Tang San didn't attend the opening ceremony. The day after school started, he followed Yu Xiaogang to the Soul Hunting Forest.

That afternoon, Xiao Wu also took leave from the academy.

Her reason: hunting a soul beast.

Inside the library.

"Old pal, what's your first soul ring?"

Yu Cheng closed the Soul Beast Illustrated Handbook and communicated inwardly with the Ash Box.

He'd spent two or three days in the library and found that there weren't many soul beasts suitable for the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul.

In fact, there were only a few books with information on the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul.

"My first soul ring came from hunting a soul beast called the Sun Flower."

The Evil Soul Master Yu Cheng spoke.

"My first soul skill is called Sunlight. It can speed up my own cultivation. In battle, it can assist teammates by recovering soul power, and it has a slight healing effect."

Yu Cheng rubbed his chin. "So you're a Support System Soul Master?"

The Evil Soul Master Yu Cheng nodded. "There aren't many paths suitable for the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul. Support System is the most normal one."

"As for the others..."

He let out a cold laugh.

"Control System barely works, but don't be like Tang San, picking a bunch of trash poison-type soul rings. The toxins added to the martial soul are negligible, but they destroy the Blue Silver Grass's vitality instead."

Yu Cheng nodded and smiled. "I didn't expect you to have done research on soul rings too."

The Evil Soul Master Yu Cheng snorted coldly.

He hadn't eaten pork, but he'd seen pigs run.

In his years at Slaughter City, he'd killed no fewer than eighty, maybe a hundred, plant martial soul masters.

"Then should I do the same as you and kill a Sun Flower soul beast?" Yu Cheng asked.

Sunlight.

The effect of that soul skill sounded incredibly powerful.

However, the Evil Soul Master Yu Cheng shook his head.

"I got that soul skill to increase my cultivation speed and make up for my lack of innate soul power."

"With Innate Soul Power at half a rank, early cultivation can be propped up with resources. But if you don't strive for improvement, you'll end up like Yu Xiaogang, stuck at level twenty-nine for life."

He glanced at Yu Cheng and sighed. "You started with the Blood Sacrifice Array. You don't need to worry about cultivation speed at all."

Yu Cheng scratched his head. "Old pal, is that Blood Sacrifice Array really that impressive?"

"Absorbing the blood of soul masters and soul beasts, its biggest advantage is fast cultivation speed, but this array has a flaw."

The Evil Soul Master Yu Cheng changed his tone.

He recalled, "I defeated a soul master in Slaughter City and got the Blood Sacrifice Array by chance. That guy's soul power was higher than mine, but he couldn't bring his actual combat strength to bear."

"Later, I understood. The soul power boosted by the array is very impure, and the energy inside the body can even conflict."

Yu Cheng asked in confusion, "Then why did you still use the array to cultivate?"

The Evil Soul Master Yu Cheng let out a long sigh.

"I only figured it out inside the Ash Box. I kept wondering why I couldn't beat Tang San, and the more I thought about it, the angrier I got!"

"Uh..."

Yu Cheng fell silent.

The Evil Soul Master Yu Cheng was really too pitiful. He'd lifted a rock only to drop it on his own foot.

"What do I do then?"

Yu Cheng suddenly thought of this problem.

If he used the array to boost his soul power, wouldn't he run into the same situation?

Soul power would increase rapidly, but it would be impure, and his foundation would be unstable.

In the end, some "genius soul master" would defeat him with inferior strength and use him as a stepping stone.

"Although the Blood Sacrifice Array has flaws, it's still a sharp tool for cultivation. The previous few blood sacrifices had their soul power filtered through my soul body, so there were no side effects."

The Evil Soul Master Yu Cheng said seriously.

"Therefore, your first soul skill must act as a filter."

"Devouring, purification, growth."

"These are the three directions you can choose from."

Yu Cheng nodded. "Devouring and purification, I understand those. What about the growth direction?"

"Certain plant-type soul beasts can absorb corpses to replenish their own energy, like the Ghost Face Banyan Tree or the Ghost Vine."

"This ability is different from direct devouring and purification."

"A fresh flower planted in cow dung absorbs the filth yet blooms into a blossom."

"That is growth."

Evil Soul Master Yu Cheng explained.

"That example is straightforward enough." Yu Cheng scratched his head with a laugh.

"In the Soul Hunting Forest outside Nuoding City, there is a Ghost Vine that suits you perfectly," Evil Soul Master Yu Cheng said.

"You mean... the soul beast Tang San hunted for his Second Soul Ring?"

Yu Cheng tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

A First Soul Ring chosen at over six hundred years?

With his current physical condition, there was no way he could absorb it.