The Great Stage of Douluo, My Name is Qian Xunji

And this young man appeared at just the right moment.

Watching his daughter gaze at the other boy with infatuation, Ning Fengzhi gave a light cough. "Rongrong, come over and meet him. This is Li Bai. From now on, he will be living in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. You two should get along well."

Ning Rongrong regained the poise and elegance of a little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, but her eyes remained fixed on the boy opposite her, filled with a sense of determination.

"Hello, my name is Ning Rongrong. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Chapter 16: Seven-Star Dragon Abyss Sword

As the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, raised with every luxury and affection, Ning Rongrong always got what she wanted.

She liked this new boy and wanted to spend every day with him.

Ning Rongrong had also learned about Li Bai's background: a genius with a top-tier sword martial soul and Innate Full Soul Power.

Since their last meeting, Ning Rongrong hadn't seen him again because Li Bai had gone out with Sword Douluo to obtain his first soul ring.

Ning Rongrong had Innate Soul Power of level nine, but she hadn't been training seriously since awakening her martial soul, and she didn't need to hunt for a soul ring yet, so she could only wait at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Ning Fengzhi saw his daughter's thoughts and wanted to use this to motivate her. After all, Ning Rongrong was the first person in the history of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to awaken the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul with level nine Innate Soul Power. Ning Fengzhi placed all his hopes for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul to break through the level 80 barrier on Ning Rongrong, as this concerned the inheritance of their martial soul.

In truth, Ning Fengzhi himself was somewhat conflicted. He hoped that Ning Rongrong could be with Li Bai, binding a future Title Douluo to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, but he also hoped that Ning Rongrong would find a partner with a lesser martial soul, allowing the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul—which had the potential to break through level 80—to be passed down.

Over the many years, the Douluo Continent had established the laws of martial soul inheritance: a child's martial soul inherits the stronger of the parents', and their aptitude also depends on the parents. However, generally, if the mother is powerful and has great talent, the child receives more nutrition during gestation and possesses stronger talent.

If Rongrong and Li Bai were together, the child they had in the future would likely inherit the Dragon Abyss Sword martial soul.

The full name of the Dragon Abyss Sword is the Seven-Star Dragon Abyss Sword. The sword body resembles a coiled dragon (Dragon Abyss), the hilt is inlaid with seven gems representing the Big Dipper (Seven Stars), and the blade is razor-sharp.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda comes with an innate treasure-appraisal buff. Just by taking one look, Ning Fengzhi had already confirmed that the Seven-Star Dragon Abyss Sword was absolutely a top-tier martial soul.

Thinking about it this way, it wasn't a loss. After all, Uncle Sword had praised him as a genius of the sword, and the Seven-Star Dragon Abyss Sword was no weaker than the Seven Kill Sword.

After weighing the pros and cons, realizing there was no loss either way, Ning Fengzhi chose to let nature take its course.

"Rongrong, do you like Li Bai very much?" Ning Fengzhi stroked his daughter, who was sulking because Li Bai hadn't returned yet.

"I like him. So, when is Brother Li Bai coming back?" Ning Rongrong was somewhat distracted; her heart was set on the boy she had met just yesterday, and all her thoughts were focused on him.

"Then Rongrong must train hard too! Once he returns from obtaining his soul ring, Li Bai will already be a Soul Master. He has Innate Full Soul Power, so his progress will only be faster than yours in the future," Ning Fengzhi said, guiding her gently.

Thinking about training made Ning Rongrong even more frustrated. "But it's just harder for support-type Soul Masters to train than other Soul Masters! How could I possibly catch up?"

The training methods on the Douluo Continent were quite singular, with support-type being the most difficult to cultivate, and food-type support-type being even harder. Furthermore, because support-type Soul Masters lacked combat power and could not protect themselves, high-level support-type Soul Masters were extremely rare.

However, despite her words, Ning Rongrong's body kept moving toward the training room. She didn't want to be a burden; she wanted to be a support partner for Brother Li Bai in the future.

Ning Fengzhi looked at his daughter, who finally felt the pressure and was striving to improve, and nodded with satisfaction.

Among the peers in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Rongrong had the best talent. No one else could put pressure on her, and even if she slacked off in her training, no one could catch up to her.

"Don't you go bullying this girl, Rongrong," Bone Douluo, standing to the side, said to Ning Fengzhi in a low voice as he watched the little girl run off.

He had watched Ning Rongrong grow up from a young age, treating her like his own child. He was quite doting, and usually, Ning Fengzhi, as a father, found it difficult to discipline her, though Ning Fengzhi himself was happy to see this situation.

Soul Beast Forest

Li Bai preferred the beauty of raw numbers. His self-created soul skills already included displacement, damage avoidance, and crowd control, and the Green Lotus Sword Art made his technique impeccable; he just lacked the raw stats. He really didn't want to keep "scraping" away at enemies.

He had already been taken in as a disciple by Sword Douluo—or rather, it would have been strange if Sword Douluo hadn't taken him in.

When Sword Douluo and Ning Fengzhi found Li Bai, he was alone on the mountain hunting for game. The newly awakened Dragon Abyss Sword moved as if it were an extension of his own arm, the sharp blade easily slicing through the body of a thick-skinned wild boar that often came down the mountain to destroy crops.

The wild boar charged aggressively, trying to attack, but the boy dodged with light and elegant movements.

By the time the vigorous wild boar finally died and its hundred-pound body hit the ground with a thud, kicking up a cloud of dust, the boy—looking like an immortal from another realm—flicked his sword in a beautiful flourish. Not a single drop of blood remained on the blade as he looked toward the newcomers.

Sword Douluo was moved instantly. Unlike beast martial souls, tool martial souls did not significantly enhance a Soul Master's physical fitness, making them appear weaker in the early stages. However, due to their utility, they were much easier to develop into various soul skills. The most famous example was the Clear Sky Hammer of the Clear Sky Sect, which had been passed down and developed through generations, possessing many self-created soul skills.

For Sword Douluo Chen Xin, in terms of pure martial soul strength, the Seven Kill Sword was not inferior to the Clear Sky Hammer. What it lacked was the bloodline inheritance and the foundation. Being passed down to only one person per generation, the Seven Kill Sword martial soul, which was on the verge of extinction in this generation, could not compete with the Clear Sky Sect, which had many members and had accumulated a vast number of self-created soul skills.

This child not only had extremely strong talent for martial soul cultivation, but his talent in the way of the sword also left Chen Xin in awe.

He had seen many tool-type Soul Masters who, after just awakening and using their martial souls, would only attack by charging blindly, sometimes even getting injured by their own martial souls. Even after a long time, they would only use them crudely, let alone develop them.

Sword-type martial souls were the most prominent among them; they would hold a sword-type martial soul but use it like a kitchen knife, hacking away without any technique at all.

If someone else had used the close-quarters sword-handling techniques and footwork this child had just displayed, let alone killing a wild boar, they would likely have killed themselves first.

Chen Xin did not hesitate to take this disciple, which further increased Li Bai's standing in Ning Fengzhi's heart.

Chapter 17: Switching to a Power Attack Soul Master

The benefits of having a teacher are self-evident.

Especially when that teacher is a powerhouse at the Title Douluo level, whose theoretical knowledge and life experience far exceed that of ordinary people.

Sword Douluo Chen Xin's martial soul was also a sword. He understood the amplification and effects that those soul beasts had on sword-type martial souls, as well as what kind of soul rings were most likely to be produced.

These were things that could be verified through past records, rather than the speculative theories of Yu Xiaogang.

Although ordinary people on the Douluo Continent did not know these data points, everyone followed the intuitive choice of hunting soul beasts similar to their own martial souls. Everyone did it this way, and generally, no major problems occurred. Even the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan prioritized hunting dragon-type soul beasts to obtain soul rings. There was a reason why such practices were passed down; it was just that the current technology of the Soul Master world could not explain it.

It was hard to fathom what was going on in Yu Xiaogang's mind, having a sudden flash of inspiration to tell Tang San to hunt animal-type soul beasts, obtaining soul rings that were completely mismatched with his own martial soul's attributes.

One of the ten core competencies of the martial soul world that he proposed was the martial soul mimicry theory. Plant-type martial souls did not necessarily have to absorb soul rings from plant-type soul beasts, and beast-type martial souls were not necessarily unable to absorb plant-type soul rings. Under various preconditions, the two could be mutually absorbed.

This meant that a martial soul could absorb a soul ring that didn't match it, but he completely failed to mention what the effect would be after absorption. It was still in the experimental stage, and Tang San was that test subject.

If it weren't for the fact that Tang San's Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul possessed the bloodline of the Blue Silver Emperor and carried a life attribute that granted it tenacious vitality, it would have been ruined long ago.

A normal person hearing his theory—a theory completely devoid of precedent and contrary to common sense—would have run away immediately.

But because Tang San grew up in a small village, his own father was irresponsible and taught him nothing, and he had just enrolled knowing nothing, he believed Yu Xiaogang's words.

In reality, it was because Tang San had suffered enough from lacking a teacher in his past life, coupled with the influence of the ideology that one should respect their teacher and that a teacher for a day is a father for life, that he cherished and respected Yu Xiaogang as his master so deeply.

Tang San had been an orphan adopted by the Tang Sect since childhood; his background was clean and he had talent, but because he lacked connections and a teacher, he wasted so many years in the outer sect that he eventually hardened his heart to steal their techniques.

Having suffered such losses, Tang San saw Master Yu Xiaogang show off a trick upon enrollment, felt he had genuine knowledge, and naturally became willing to take him as a master and believe in his theories.

In short, he suffered from a lack of education.

Li Bai did not want to use his own Soul Ring for experiments either, so under the recommendation of his teacher Chen Xin, he chose a Soul Beast that had a high probability of enhancing the sharpness and damage of his sword Martial Soul to hunt for a Soul Ring.

In a sense, a Soul Master leveling up to hunt for Soul Rings is also a process of Martial Soul Evolution; as Soul Rings are added, the Soul Master's Martial Soul will undergo corresponding changes.

For example, the Dragon Transformation used by Soul Masters of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect is equivalent to an overall increase in the Soul Master's attributes, allowing them to break through the defenses of ordinary Soul Masters of the same level with ease.

Although the specific principles of Dragon Transformation are unknown, various factions have investigated and can vaguely guess that it is related to the fact that Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Soul Masters always do their utmost to hunt dragon-type Soul Beasts.

Li Bai's Dragon Abyss Sword belongs to the metal attribute, and combined with his strong demand for increased attack power, he finally chose a Golden-Beaked Bird.

This is a type of bird-type Soul Beast with a body as hard as iron, a violent temperament, and extremely fast flight speed.

Its beak is extremely slender, sharp, and hard; its usual method of attack and predation is to dive at high speed and use its beak to pierce the prey. Ordinary Soul Masters rarely manage to hunt it due to its extreme speed and iron-hard defensive capabilities.

Li Bai also successfully obtained its Soul Ring with the assistance of Sword Douluo.

There was no help for it; he didn't have a single Soul Ring yet, couldn't fly, and it would be quite difficult to hunt such a Soul Beast that could fly and had high defensive power.

However, the harvest was naturally satisfying. The praise from those sword-wielding seniors was indeed true: the Soul Ring added by the Golden-Beaked Bird not only increased the sharpness and hardness of the sword but also carried some wind attributes, granting a 25% increase in agility, and charged attacks would have an effect similar to armor penetration.

Master Chen Xin looked at the boulder that had been pierced through by Li Bai's charged strike and nodded with satisfaction.

"The power is indeed good. In terms of destruction alone, it is already comparable to some level 20 Soul Grand Masters. However, this charged strike requires preparation time, so it is best not to use it lightly in battle," Chen Xin carefully analyzed the pros and cons.

Li Bai nodded; in battle, how could he casually release a skill with such an obvious wind-up?

But...

The support characters in this world seem to be glass cannons! Who is going to tank the damage? Who is going to protect the damage dealers?

Unlike the playstyle of Honor of Kings, where the focus is on targeting the damage dealers and supports—who are considered worthless—are usually sacrificed, the main theme of battles on the Douluo Continent is to protect the support, with Battle Soul Masters dealing damage and tanking, and occasionally the Control-type Soul Master providing crowd control.

By that logic, if supports like Su Lie, Zhang Fei, and Donghuang were here, would they all have to change careers to become Power Attack-type Battle Soul Masters?

Li Bai took a sip of wine and decided not to think about it anymore. Good luck to them!

Well, it didn't taste like wine; it was a fruit drink with just a tiny bit of alcohol. After seeing Li Bai gulping down strong liquor, Master Chen Xin had forcibly swapped out the wine in his gourd.

He was afraid that this young disciple who had just awakened his Martial Soul would drink himself to death.

Chapter 18: Nuoding Academy

After Li Bai successfully hunted his Soul Ring, the other heroes also obtained their Soul Rings one after another.

And Kai, after settling his grandfather down, planned to head to Nuoding Academy to report.

Compared to other villages, Holy Soul Village was considered quite wealthy, but it was still very backward. The roads were bumpy dirt paths with no means of transportation; if the villagers wanted to sell vegetables or other agricultural products, they had to carry them on shoulder poles to the city, walking for half a day.

By the way, Tang San was also carrying a small bundle to report together.

Old Jack was a bit puzzled but didn't want to speak too bluntly for fear of hurting the child's self-esteem. He only hinted, "Little San, the tuition fee is ten Gold Soul Coins. The journey takes half a day, so you need to bring some water and dry rations."

"Grandpa Jack, I've brought everything. Let's go!" Tang San replied in a low voice.

Old Jack froze for a moment, unable to process the meaning of Tang San's words for a long time.

Tang San's family was notoriously poor in the village. Although Tang Hao was a blacksmith with skills, he drank heavily every day, was often dead drunk, and was sloppy and unkempt. Even when people came to him to forge things, he often refused the business delivered to his door.

The food at home was porridge so thin it was almost water, and they rarely saw meat. Tang San had learned to take care of himself early on, a small child standing on a stool to cook and do chores. The villagers felt sorry for Tang San and would occasionally help out.

Old Jack really hadn't expected that the village's famous drunkard could come up with so much money.

Old Jack might not be very clever, but he wasn't a fool.

Tang San's family had moved here suddenly and their origins were unknown; they usually didn't fit in with the villagers, but Tang Hao's daily drinking and decadent, degenerate behavior made people let their guard down.

Now that Tang San's family had suddenly produced so much money of unknown origin, this drunkard Tang Hao was definitely not simple.

When leaving the village, Tang San looked back from time to time, as if he were reluctant to leave something behind.

Old Jack's lips moved, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn't speak.

On the way, Tang San finally couldn't help but ask about knowledge regarding Soul Masters.