The Clown Theory!

"I didn't expect you to have such substantial assets!"

"It's nothing worth mentioning. One thousand Gold Soul Coins might be an astronomical sum to others, but for a Grandmaster such as yourself, I imagine it's trivial, right?"

"That goes without saying!"

Meeting Qin Yun's gaze, he swept his palm across his belt, and a wooden box of similar size landed on the ground.

It was actually another storage Soul Tool!

Tang San felt a jolt of surprise in his heart.

"One thousand Gold Soul Coins, I'll match it!"

In recent years, between the demands of cultivation and daily expenses, even the financial status of a Soul King was somewhat stretched.

One thousand Gold Soul Coins was nearly all of Qin Yun's liquid capital. Being able to seize this opportunity to squeeze some money out of Gangzi was naturally for the best.

Furthermore...

Whether it was intentional or accidental, ever since Gangzi disappeared and Bibi Dong took over as the Pope of Martial Soul Hall, she had very considerately used the finances of the two great empires to subsidize the income of low-level soul masters.

As luck would have it, given Gangzi's level, he happened to fall right into that category.

It was hard not to overthink such a result—was Bibi Dong trying to buy people's hearts, or was she simply preventing Gangzi from starving to death?

With a subsidy of ten Gold Soul Coins a month, even if he lost everything, he wouldn't exactly end up homeless, would he?

Given his current level, Qin Yun certainly lacked the confidence to cross blades with Dragon God Douluo Mu En, nor did he have the audacity to try.

But if it were against Yu Xiaogang, Qin Yun not only had the confidence, he had plenty of audacity!

And so, under Tang San's expectant gaze and Gangzi's somewhat nervous one, Qin Yun spoke slowly.

"Little San, do you know why this man before us was able to carve out the reputation of a 'Theoretical Grandmaster' on the continent?

The answer is actually quite simple!

Compared to his personal ability, I am more inclined to attribute it to the mainstream cultivation atmosphere of the Douluo Continent.

Soul masters with high talent focus entirely on increasing their soul power and rank, wishing they could spend every waking moment cultivating their martial souls and enhancing their combat power.

They do this in hopes of reaching the highest possible level during their golden years.

For such people, how could they possibly waste time on theoretical research?

As for soul masters with low talent, most come from humble backgrounds with no backing or influence.

They struggle just to survive; they have neither the capital nor the ambition to spend time researching theories."

Although Qin Yun did not state it directly, with Tang San's intelligence, it was not hard to grasp the underlying meaning.

The Yu Xiaogang before them was likely someone born into an extraordinary background but cursed with poor aptitude.

Strength dictates one's perspective; the two paths are distinct, yet Yu Xiaogang happened to emerge from the intersection.

Born into the top-tier Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, he lacked the talent to match his status.

With a heart higher than the heavens but unwilling to sink into obscurity, he could only pour all his time into theoretical research, hoping to prove himself through the title of a Theoretical Grandmaster.

He certainly didn't need to worry about his livelihood. Aside from the subsidies from Martial Soul Hall, he had brought plenty of money with him when he first left his clan.

Relying on these unique conditions, after years of research, he had indeed cobbled together the so-called Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul.

Yet, the only evaluation Qin Yun could give this theory was... a clown's theory!

"First, let's look at the first of the Ten Core Competencies: the size of soul power is directly proportional to the quality of the martial soul!"

Through this theory, Gangzi deduced that Tang San's Innate Full Soul Power was due to his Twin Martial Souls.

This theory cannot be called entirely wrong, but judging from Dugu Bo's subsequent deductions, it was clearly applied in the wrong place—he hadn't even grasped the basic conditions for the appearance of Twin Martial Souls.

That he managed to fool Tang San was purely a case of a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse!

Besides, one doesn't even need a brain to figure this out; even a toe could think it through.

Which high-level martial soul would have weak innate soul power?

Could there be a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon or a Golden Sacred Dragon martial soul with only half a level of innate soul power?

"Then there is the theory of soul ring age limits!"

Setting the upper limit for the first soul ring at 423 years and the second at 764 years—precise to the digit.

This theory seems professional, but in reality, as seen in the original work, the limit of a soul ring depends on one's physical constitution.

Furthermore, any soul master capable of becoming a Limit Douluo—is their soul ring configuration really that simple? They all start at the ten-thousand-year level.

Moreover, the soul master world has developed from nothing over so many years; there has long been a mature syllabus for soul ring absorption.

Without Yu Xiaogang, were soul masters just absorbing them randomly?

Did those older than him wait for him to publish this theory before they dared to hunt a soul beast under 500 years for their first ring?

Must we stop eating pork just because the butcher is dead?

"Third, the development direction for theoretical soul masters..."

"The fourth point: the amplification effect of the Martial Soul Avatar is directly proportional to the quality of the Martial Soul itself; the higher the quality of the Avatar, the greater its power."

Just like the third point above, this is another piece of common sense, isn't it?

Between the Martial Soul Avatar of the Seven Kill Sword and the Martial Soul Avatar of a kitchen knife, which is stronger? Need one even ask?

"The fifth point: the Martial Soul Mimicry Theory!"

In short, it suggests that plant-type Martial Souls can absorb animal-type Spirit Rings.

But the question arises: why would a plant-type need to absorb an animal-type Spirit Ring?

Is there any data to support the claim that, for the same Martial Soul, absorbing a different category of Spirit Ring—specifically an animal-type—results in greater power than a plant-type Spirit Ring?

If not, why must one insist on absorbing a different category of Spirit Ring?

Furthermore, even without plant-type Martial Souls, aren't there plenty of Tool Martial Souls on the continent?

Are you telling me that when applying a Spirit Ring to a Clear Sky Hammer, one shouldn't hunt beast-type Spirit Beasts or plant-type Spirit Beasts, but instead go hunt for hammer-type Spirit Beasts?

While writing this theory, Qin Yun truly had to wonder if Gangzi was just writing down whatever he dreamt up!

"The sixth point: if you have more rings and more bones, use your skills in one wave; if you have fewer rings and fewer bones, turn tail and run."

Is this even a theory?

In a competition or a battle, if you encounter someone with more Spirit Rings than you, should you just surrender immediately?

Even a child knows the logic of running away if they can't win; how could this possibly be elevated to a theory?

"The seventh point: Spirit Ring bottlenecks do not hinder spirit power accumulation; even if one has not obtained a new Spirit Ring and is stuck at a level bottleneck, spirit power can still be continuously accumulated, and upon breaking through, this spirit power can assist the Spirit Master in reaching a higher level."

Compared to the other theories, this one is somewhat useful, though the utility is minimal.

A level ten combatant is still a level ten combatant after holding back for months; who would intentionally stall their level for no reason?

Moreover, what is the upper limit for spirit power storage?

Is it limited to holding back ten levels? Or can one keep holding back until level ninety?

Apologies, but Gangzi, who is only level 29, doesn't even know that himself!

"The eighth point: the Martial Soul Heterogeneous Fusion Theory.

Martial Souls of different attributes and different categories can be fused through special methods to form a more powerful Martial Soul Fusion Skill..."

"The ninth point: the Spirit Bone Generation Theory.

When hunting a Spirit Beast, if the Spirit Beast is willing to become a Spirit Master's Spirit Ring, then a Spirit Bone can be obtained.

Additionally, if a Spirit Beast dies after being subjected to extreme, cruel torture, the probability of obtaining a Spirit Bone will increase."