Su Ming knew at a glance what Yu Yuanzhen was about to ask, so he cut him off.
"Don't ask. There aren't any Immortal Herbs left. That treasure land belongs to Dugu Bo. I did him a big favor and helped Dugu Yan's Martial Soul evolve. By good fortune, that treasure land had nurtured three Immortal Herbs. I took two: I ate one, and Dugu Yan ate the other."
"The remaining Immortal Herb, I combined with other herbs to make two pills. My father-in-law and Rongrong ate them, so there's nothing left now."
"Only some ordinary herbs, a few thousand-year-old ginseng roots, and some thousand-year-old lingzhi remain in Dugu Bo's treasure land."
"If you want Yu Xiao Gang's Martial Soul to evolve into the Light Sacred Dragon, you'll have to find the required Immortal Herb yourselves."
"Besides the Light Sacred Dragon Martial Soul, there are other options. Do you still want to hear how to restore it to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon?"
Hearing that his Martial Soul could still be restored to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, Yu Xiao Gang perked up again and stood.
"Can my Luo Sanpao become the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon? What's the method? Tell me!"
Seeing that Yu Xiao Gang was already nearly frantic, Su Ming secretly relished it. One bad piece of news, then one good one, back and forth a few times. He looks like he's about to lose his mind. But his father, a level-95 Super Douluo, is still here. I can't take it too far. I'd better give him something useful.
Su Ming didn't answer. Instead, he gazed silently at Yu Yuanzhen.
Yu Yuanzhen understood what Su Ming meant when he saw him looking at him in silence. He took a box from his Storage Soul Tool and pushed it toward Su Ming with his Soul Power.
Su Ming reached out and picked up the box. When he opened it, a purple right arm bone crackling with arcs of electricity came into view.
Yu Yuanzhen watched Su Ming open the box containing the Soul Bone, then began explaining its origins.
"This Soul Bone came from the right arm of a Thunder Giant that had lived for over twenty-five thousand years. I obtained it when I acquired my Sixth Soul Ring. If I hadn't already absorbed the right arm bone passed down by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, I would certainly have absorbed this one."
"I know your Martial Soul mainly attacks with cloud and lightning attributes. I chose this one specifically for our deal. What do you think? A right arm bone from a Thunder Giant that lived for over twenty thousand years should be enough to pay for the price of evolving Yu Xiao Gang's Luo Sanpao into a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, shouldn't it?"
Su Ming closed the lid and put the box into his Storage Soul Tool. Then he looked at Yu Yuanzhen and said:
"This is enough to pay for the method to evolve Yu Xiao Gang's Martial Soul."
"But..."
Su Ming paused.
"Once I explain my theory behind this method, Yu Xiao Gang should be able to figure out how to evolve a Martial Soul, given how much material on Martial Souls and Soul Masters he's read. So you'll have to offer me something else."
Yu Yuanzhen had smiled when Su Ming said the payment was enough. After all, it was rather embarrassing for a level-95 Super Douluo to have a son who hadn't even reached level 30 as a Soul Elder.
When he heard the rest, Yu Yuanzhen had been about to teach Su Ming a lesson. But as soon as he stood, he saw Sword and Bone Douluo behind Su Ming, their Martial Souls already summoned—the Seven Kill Sword and the Ancient Dragon.
Seeing the Martial Souls of those two, Yu Yuanzhen thought it over, sat back down, and continued listening to Su Ming's demands.
"Then what else do you want?"
Su Ming smiled slightly.
"Most of the Soul Rings your Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul needs come from dragon-type Soul Beasts. I don't want much. Just give me a bone from a Soul Beast with a Golden Bloodline."
Yu Yuanzhen gritted his teeth, took a golden bone from his Storage Soul Tool, and tossed it onto the table in front of Su Ming with his Soul Power. Then he asked through gritted teeth:
"Is that enough now?"
"Enough! More than enough!"
As he spoke, Su Lie picked up the bone and probed it with his Soul Power. This Tyrant Dragon Bone should have come from a Soul Beast with over fifty thousand years of cultivation.
Sure enough, the marrow inside was still active. He could use the Creation Furnace in the future to extract its Golden Bloodline.
"There are two methods in total. I'll explain them, and you can choose."
"The first is to evolve into a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. This method is simple too. Sect Master Yu just needs to find a healing-type Soul Sage, then channel the lightning Soul Power in his body into Yu Xiao Gang."
"One person channels Soul Power to break him down while another heals him. He's level 29 now, so after about two rounds of this, he should reach level 30 and become a Soul Elder. After that, he can absorb a lightning-attribute dragon-type Soul Beast that's lived for over a thousand years. Once he's absorbed it and obtained his Third Soul Ring..."
"The body of a dragon-type Soul Beast that's lived for over a thousand years shouldn't go to waste either. Cook all the meat and feed it to Luo Sanpao. Crush the bones, boil them into soup, and have Luo Sanpao drink it."
"When he trains, make sure Luo Sanpao is well-fed. Give him plenty of food with the Lightning Attribute."
"Finally, since you've offered a Soul Bone and a Tyrant Dragon Bone, I'll personally provide you with a Dragon Blood Grass containing five thousand years' worth of medicinal power."
"Once he's advanced, all his future Soul Rings must come from lightning-attribute dragon-type Soul Beasts. As before, eat the meat and boil the bones into soup. Given Yu Xiao Gang's current age of over fifty, he should be able to cultivate to Titled Douluo and live two hundred years longer."
When Yu Xiao Gang heard that evolving his Martial Soul simply meant absorbing suitable Soul Rings, he wasn't so angry anymore. Instead, he grew somewhat calm. He had accepted that he was a good-for-nothing.
"Is it really that simple?"
"Yep. That's all there is to it."
"Since Sect Master Yu has already paid for the method, there's no need for Yu Xiao Gang to guess. I'll explain it all to you clearly."
Su Ming glanced around at the others in the room, indicating that they should listen carefully.
"When I awakened my Martial Soul and learned about Soul Masters, I thought the nine Soul Rings of a Soul Master were practically nine chances for people with low-quality Martial Souls to undergo minor evolutions."
"My thinking was simple. Take a Scythe Martial Soul, for example. Its owner has innate Soul Power of only half a level, but reaches level 10. If his First Soul Ring comes from a metal-attribute Soul Beast, even one that's only seventy or eighty years old and gives a white Soul Ring, wouldn't the metal attribute in the beast strengthen his Martial Soul? Wouldn't the sharpness and hardness of his Scythe Martial Soul improve a little too?"
"Then wouldn't his Martial Soul absorb Soul Power more efficiently? He could use the same approach with metal Soul Beasts for his Second Soul Ring and each one after that. Isn't that an evolution? Maybe he'd never reach Soul Sage in his lifetime, but he could at least become a Soul Elder, right?"
"So I later ran an experiment. That was Wang Sheng."
"After I obtained my first Hundred-Year Soul Ring, I went back to the academy and showed it off in the dormitory. He suddenly dropped to his knees and begged me to help him hunt a Hundred-Year Soul Ring."
"I thought, 'Here's my test subject,' so I helped him hunt a fire-attribute tiger-type Soul Beast. And his Martial Soul really did evolve. That made me even more certain my method worked."
"After that, I advised him to make sure his later Soul Rings came from fire-attribute tiger-type Soul Beasts, or beasts like leopards and lions."
"He listened to me from then on. You must have investigated Wang Sheng when you looked into me. Go see how he's doing now."
After hearing Su Ming explain his theory of Martial Soul evolution, everyone looked astonished, especially Yu Xiao Gang.
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