A Suitable Cultivation Path

Xu Tinglan had once learned from the sect's library.

The Mysterious Underworld Sect raised a kind of venomous snake in the back mountains behind the sect, known as the Violent Frenzy Snake.

Its venom could paralyze the heart.

Now that he thought about it.

His uncle would most likely send someone to poison Mother Jiang because she had rejected him. His goal was Jiang Nannan's primordial yin, possessing Innate Full Soul Power.

With such a strong, powerful heartbeat, Mother Jiang, who had once been a member of a soul-hunting squad, could not possibly have a congenital heart condition!

Damn it!

I was misled by my preconceptions.

"Sect Master!" The man wore dark casual clothes and stood respectfully to one side, bowed in wait.

"Speak." Xu Bingtian kept his eyes closed, his tone calm.

"That woman rejected your invitation."

"Following your instructions, I offered gold soul coins, Mysterious Water Pills, and other terms. Yet she still refused to let her daughter join the Mysterious Underworld Sect."

Xu Bingtian listened to his subordinate's report.

He slowly opened his eyes, and a streak of scarlet devoured those dark green pupils.

Xu Bingtian muttered to himself, "The Mysterious Underworld Sect is not some evil sect that devours people at random, yet she avoids us as though we were snakes and scorpions."

"Even Shrek trades with us. Why would a mere commoner refuse?"

The man cautiously probed, "Sect Master, how about secretly eliminating her mother, then adopting the girl?"

"Idiot!" Xu Bingtian snapped.

"That girl is already over eleven. She is not some child who understands nothing. Even if she does not know who the culprit is now, she will sooner or later figure it out."

"She possesses supreme-grade primordial yin and will likely become the mistress of the Mysterious Underworld Sect in the future."

"And you actually want to kill her mother?"

At that point, Xu Bingtian gave a half-smile.

The dark-clothed man shuddered all over and hurriedly nodded in agreement.

"If you useless fools had not discovered her so late, why would I be in such a difficult position now?"

Xu Bingtian's eyes transformed into scarlet snake pupils.

"However, I already have a plan."

Xu Tinglan suppressed the unease in his heart. The possibility of such a thing was not low.

He did not raise the matter.

To learn the truth, all he needed to do was leave this place and see whether Mother Jiang developed heart disease in the future.

After pondering for a moment, Xu Tinglan looked at the two women.

"Nannan, I've thought this through carefully."

"Your martial soul and soul skills are well suited to a Soul Engineer's combat style. The Soft Bone Rabbit gives you exceptional bodily coordination and control."

"And your Second Soul Skill, Gravity Control, is practically a divine skill."

"Just imagine it: if you operate soul tools while using Gravity Control, your opponents will instantly become living targets with no way to escape."

"Even venomous snakes harboring ill intent would be easily struck by you."

And that was not all.

Xu Tinglan remembered that the soul skills Jiang Nannan would gain in the future included Spatial Teleportation and Invincible Golden Body...

They were all divine skills among divine skills.

Invincible Golden Body in particular could even withstand attacks from a Title Douluo. It was practically rule-based defense.

It was a skill every Soul Engineer dreamed of!

Hearing this,

Jiang Nannan's eyes lit up. "Now that you put it that way, soul tools really do suit me."

She hated fighting others at close range, but she had no choice.

The girl seemed to think of something and hesitated.

"But yesterday, Shrek's admissions teacher told me that studying soul tools costs a lot of money. He said I absolutely had to choose the Martial Soul Department."

Xu Tinglan shrugged. Shrek again.

Jiang Nannan's martial soul and soul skills were clearly better suited for the Soul Tool Department.

Yet in the original story, not a single teacher from the Martial Soul Department had recommended that she transfer to the Soul Tool Department.

They would rather turn students into honors on their own résumés.

Even after working hard to enter the Inner Court of the Martial Soul Department, students still had to take enormous risks completing missions for the Inspector Group.

For hardworking commoners like Jiang Nannan, a little bad luck meant dying without even a body left behind.

Their parents would beat their chests and weep bitterly at the academy.

"I've already looked into it."

"One Soul Engineer academy offers preferential treatment to students with high innate soul power, and commoner students can have most of their tuition waived."

Jiang Nannan's face lit up with joy as she exclaimed in surprise.

"Commoner students can have most of their tuition waived!"

Upon learning this, she was deeply tempted and hurriedly asked,

"Which academy is it?"

"Sun Moon Royal Academy, ranked first among Soul Engineer academies," Xu Tinglan answered.

The woman froze for a moment. "Isn't that a little far away?"

They held no particular hostility toward the Sun Moon Empire.

The Dou Ling Empire was the farthest from Sun Moon, and there were also the fewest conflicts between them.

They had only vaguely heard that four thousand years ago, the Sun Moon Empire and the Douluo Three Kingdoms had fought a great war.

But that history was simply too distant.

"Which academy are you going to?" Jiang Nannan asked after some thought.

"Sun Moon Academy."

"I believe that combining soul tools with martial souls is the mainstream of future development. The Douluo Three Kingdoms are merely clinging to old ways."

Xu Tinglan was brimming with confidence.

"Alright! I'll go too." She nodded.

"You're not going to Shrek?" Mother Jiang asked in surprise.

"No. I suddenly think soul tools are more interesting, and I can study with Brother Lan too."

The girl's face was bright with a radiant, captivating smile.

After thinking it over, Mother Jiang said, "Wouldn't it be somewhat unsafe in a foreign country?"

She also felt that the young man made sense. Becoming a Soul Engineer suited her daughter better, but as a mother, she was still worried.

"I'm a level-twenty-five Agility Attack System Soul Grandmaster. Don't underestimate me." The girl puffed out her chest.

"I'm awesome, right?" she said to him.

Under the table, Xu Tinglan squeezed her soft little hand, then turned to Mother Jiang.

"Don't worry, Auntie."

"I'm not someone who makes plans on a whim. I've already contacted a merchant caravan heading to the Sun Moon Empire."

Moreover, Xu Tinglan was quite confident in his own strength.

At twelve years old, he was already a level-thirty-four Soul Elder.

One had to know that the Soul Elder realm was a dividing line. More than ninety percent of soul masters would remain stuck at this realm for life.

Xu Tinglan had long seen that Mother Jiang was tempted as well; she was merely worried about safety.

The three continued discussing matters for a while.

Only after Mother Jiang learned of the young man's current cultivation and that people from the Nine Treasures Chamber of Commerce would be traveling with them did she finally set her mind at ease.

The beautiful woman glanced at the young man, then at her daughter, and sighed.

"It seems that you young people truly have more courage."

From that point on,

the three decided to head to the Sun Moon Empire together.

Xu Tinglan and Jiang Nannan met each other's eyes and smiled.

Now that matters here were settled, they could contact the local chamber of commerce belonging to the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, then set off for Sun Moon Academy.

Xu Tinglan picked up his cup and took a sip of water.

He still remembered how his uncle had told him to get lost that morning.

Though he knew perfectly well that those words had not meant for him to leave the Mysterious Underworld Sect.

Xu Tinglan still felt an indescribable anger deep in his heart.

So he might as well venture out into the world. Why keep enduring other people's contempt?

His uncle had merely eaten thirty more years of food than him, yet he acted so high and mighty, as if his cultivation were truly extraordinary.

He's only a Soul Douluo. I will surpass him!

Xu Tinglan possessed that confidence and fighting spirit.

The young man rose to his feet and gazed into the distance through the window.

The land and sky stretched boundlessly, mountains and rivers spanning thousands of miles. His body felt like drifting clouds, while his heart was like a soaring bird.

The world was vast—where could he not go?

And where... could he not stay?