Post-Battle Analysis

"You don't seem surprised?"

Qian Renxue scrutinized Su Yu from a distance, trying to spot the hidden shock in his expression.

Su Yu curled his lip. "Fifth soul skill, Self-Binding Spirit Lock."

"When he hunted my first soul ring for me years ago, he used it right in front of me..."

"I could roughly guess what the skill did. It consumed the enemy's Soul Power to form chains, making the enemy bind themselves."

As Su Yu spoke, he showed Qian Renxue the Brass Book in his hand and pointed to the sixth rule he had established.

[6. Those who twist the will of others and thereby violate the above rules shall receive severe punishment.]

"He twisted my will, consumed my Soul Power, and thus committed [Bullying the Weak] and [Restraining Others]..."

"That was his third violation of [Bullying the Weak]... He had probably already been teleported out of the Crown Prince's Residence."

"This was also his third attempt to imprison me. The Punishment was probably even harsher than last time..."

"On top of that, he succeeded this time, violating [Imprisonment, Restraining Others] for the first time."

"After breaking the rules so many times, the prize pool had already filled up..."

"Brother Xue, I suggest you send people out to look for him. His Life probably isn't in danger, but treating him sooner would spare him some suffering..."

Hearing this, Qian Renxue waved at the others in the courtyard, signaling for them to go search for Li Suo.

Once everyone in the courtyard had left, Qian Renxue walked over to Su Yu.

Looking at the bound Su Yu, a trace of confusion flashed through Qian Renxue's eyes. "Why did you get caught this time?"

The previous two times, Li Suo's chains had been teleported away together with him.

Su Yu thought for a moment. "Because what trapped me this time was the effect of a soul skill, not his martial soul."

"A person's martial soul counts as part of them, so I can Exile it along with them."

"But an already-cast ranged attack can't be..."

Su Yu said, "That should count as one of my weaknesses. I'll have to figure out how to establish laws that can restrain the effects of other people's soul skills..."

"You seem awfully practiced at this?"

Faced with Qian Renxue's question, Su Yu explained, "Over the years, although I haven't had any proper combat experience against Soul Masters, I've constantly been thinking about these things."

"As you said before, my body is a weakness. That means I need to keep a sufficient safe distance from my enemies, like an auxiliary Soul Master."

"In my plans, [Bullying the Weak] and [Insubordination] could almost cover everyone..."

Qian Renxue's delicate brows furrowed slightly. "What if you encountered an opponent with the same Soul Power Level?"

Su Yu immediately looked at Qian Renxue as if she were an idiot. "Even at the same Soul Power Level, there would definitely be differences in strength. How could there possibly be someone in the world who was exactly evenly matched with you?"

Qian Renxue's fist instantly clenched.

Then Qian Renxue realized another issue. "Then how do you determine whether the other person is stronger than you?"

"By your reasoning, even if the other person's Soul Power Level is higher than yours, their actual strength could still be below yours."

"If that happened, and you established the rule you just mentioned, then you would be the one Exiled..."

Su Yu froze for a moment, then shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Even if I get teleported away, I can still put distance between us."

Qian Renxue was dumbfounded. "Hiss... that actually makes a lot of sense."

After fooling her with crooked logic, Su Yu lightly coughed and continued, "In the situation you described, I'd need to clearly analyze the opponent's 'position' and determine whether they stood above me."

"Once I absorb a few more soul rings and deepen my mastery of my martial soul, I'll be able to do that."

Qian Renxue nodded, then continued asking, "There's one more thing. What exactly is the standard for judging strength and weakness?"

Su Yu spread his hands. "Actually, that's where the laws aren't rigorous enough."

"If I make detailed provisions, then the provisions take precedence."

"If there are none, then it goes by the general understanding of the people around us."

"When it comes to Bullying the Weak, everyone present immediately thought of Li Suo, a Soul King, bullying me, someone who was only a Soul Grandmaster."

"But in reality, it could also be said that I, backed by you and with a powerful background, was bullying a Soul King with no backing who didn't dare fight back with all his strength..."

"Therefore, I need to keep establishing new rules, making them more rigorous and more favorable to me."

Qian Renxue said thoughtfully, "Doesn't that mean the rules you establish have loopholes? People might even be able to exploit them against you?"

Su Yu nodded. "As long as the laws have loopholes, that possibility does exist."

"But I told you, I can patch them and fill those loopholes."

"Besides, up to now, I haven't encountered anyone who could use loopholes in the rules to counter me..."

Hearing that, Qian Renxue became interested and asked curiously, "How can someone exploit a loophole in the rules?"

Su Yu rolled his eyes at Qian Renxue. "You're openly asking me about my weakness like this. How much of an idiot would I have to be to tell you directly?"

"This is where combat experience matters. If you had extensive experience and had faced opponents similar to me before, you might instinctively make the right response in battle."

Qian Renxue pondered for a moment, then her eyes lit up. "Take [Attempting to Injure], for example. I could tell myself that I was merely using a soul skill, not trying to hurt anyone. The enemy was simply standing in front of me..."

Fine, fine. You're using me as a speed bump now, huh?

Tell that to my soul skill!

Su Yu immediately poured cold water on the idea. "You can fool me, but don't fool yourself too."

"You can pretend to think that way, but in your subconscious, hurting someone is still your ultimate goal... So you'll most likely still be unable to escape the law's Punishment."

Qian Renxue was shocked. "Your Brass Book can read minds too?"

"It can verify the effects of medicinal herbs and lock onto other people's locations. What's so difficult about reading minds?"

"I wanted to say this back then: hasn't this already gone beyond the scope of a martial soul?"

Su Yu curled his lip and muttered inwardly, Of course it has gone beyond the scope of a martial soul. Ever heard of uniqueness?

"Actually, what you just said is indeed one method."

"But the difficulty lies in the fact that you must genuinely want to use the soul skill."

"In other words, you have to deceive yourself first."

"Easy to say, difficult to do... Anyway, I can't do it."

"Besides, even if you did manage it, it would be useless."

Qian Renxue looked puzzled. "Why do you say that?"

Su Yu pointed to the next line of rules. "Even if you deceive yourself, you would still have harmed me."

"Even if you did it unintentionally, you would still need to receive Punishment."

"It's easy to find a loophole in a single rule, but I can establish more and stricter rules to reduce those loopholes or impose more precise restrictions."

"More precise restrictions?" Qian Renxue asked curiously. "What do you mean?"

Su Yu sighed softly. "I said before that my rules would restrict everyone, including myself and my companions."

"If I establish more and stricter rules, then the scope of those targeted will also narrow, precisely locking onto certain people, or even a single person."

Qian Renxue pressed on. "For example..."

"For example? Like this..."

At Su Yu's thought, new words quietly formed upon the pages of the Brass Book.