"I didn't expect you to have quite a bit of wealth!"
"It's nothing much. A thousand Gold Soul Coins might be a sky-high sum to other people, but to the Grandmaster, I imagine it's nothing, right?"
"Of course!"
Meeting Qin Yun's gaze, he brushed a hand over his belt, and a wooden box of similar size fell to the ground.
Another Storage Soul Tool!
Tang San was startled.
"A thousand Gold Soul Coins. I'm in!"
Over the years, he'd had to cultivate and spend money, so even a Soul King's finances were rather stretched.
A thousand Gold Soul Coins was practically all of Qin Yun's available funds. Naturally, it was best to seize this chance to get some money out of Gangzi.
Besides...
Whether it was deliberate or not, ever since Gangzi disappeared and Bibi Dong became the Spirit Hall Pope, she had been very thoughtful about using the finances of the two great empires to subsidize low-ranked Soul Masters.
As luck would have it, given Gangzi's rank, he qualified for the subsidy.
It was hard not to wonder what was behind this. Was Bibi Dong trying to win people over, or was she worried Gangzi would starve to death?
With a subsidy of ten Gold Soul Coins a month, even if he really lost everything, he wouldn't end up living on the streets, would he?
At his current level, Qin Yun truly had no confidence in fighting Dragon God Douluo Mu En—and he didn't have the nerve, either.
But if he was facing Yu Xiaogang, Qin Yun not only had confidence, he had nerve to spare!
Sure enough, under Tang San's somewhat eager gaze and Gangzi's somewhat anxious one, Qin Yun slowly spoke.
"Xiao San, do you know why this man here managed to make a name for himself on the continent as a theoretical master?
"The answer is actually very simple!
"Rather than crediting a certain someone's own abilities, I'm more inclined to point to the prevailing cultivation culture on the Douluo Continent.
"Talented Soul Masters focus single-mindedly on improving their Soul Power and rank. They can't wait to spend every moment cultivating their Martial Souls and increasing their combat strength.
"They hope to reach the highest possible rank during the golden years of their lives.
"For people like that, how could they possibly waste time on theoretical research?
"As for Soul Masters with poor talent, most come from ordinary backgrounds. They have no connections and no backing.
"They struggle just to survive, let alone find the means or ambition to spend time researching theories."
Although Qin Yun hadn't stated it outright, Tang San was clever enough to grasp his meaning.
Yu Xiaogang here might have come from a distinguished family, but his aptitude was poor.
Strength determined one's horizons. The two paths were as distinct as a line drawn in the sand, yet Yu Xiaogang was an oddity.
He came from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, a top-tier power, yet lacked the talent to match.
With ambitions as high as the heavens and unwilling to sink into obscurity, he could only pour all his time into theoretical research, hoping to prove himself with the title of theoretical master.
He certainly didn't need to worry about making ends meet. Besides Spirit Hall's subsidy, he'd taken plenty of money with him when he first left his family.
With such uniquely favorable conditions, after years of research, he really had come up with a so-called Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul.
But the only assessment Qin Yun could give this theory was... clown theory!
"First, the first of the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul: Soul Power is directly proportional to Martial Soul quality!"
Through this theory, Gangzi had concluded that Tang San's Innate Full Soul Power was due to his Twin Martial Souls.
The theory wasn't exactly wrong, but Dugu Bo's later deduction made it clear that Gangzi had applied it incorrectly. He hadn't even figured out the basic conditions for Twin Martial Souls to appear.
The fact that he'd managed to fool Tang San was pure blind luck!
Besides, you didn't even need to use your brain. You could figure it out with your toes.
Which high-grade Martial Soul would have low innate Soul Power?
Was there really a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul or a Golden Sacred Dragon Martial Soul with half a level of Innate Soul Power?
"Then there's the Soul Ring age-limit theory!"
The upper limits were set at 423 years for the First Soul Ring and 764 years for the Second Soul Ring. Precise down to the last digit.
This theory seemed highly technical, but in reality, the original story showed that the age a Soul Ring could withstand depended on one's physical constitution.
Besides, for those who could become Limit Douluo, their Soul Ring configurations were never that simple. They started at ten thousand years.
And the Soul Master World had developed for so many years, growing from nothing into a mature system of guidelines for absorbing Soul Rings.
Before Yu Xiaogang came along, had Soul Masters just absorbed them at random?
Were all the people older than him really waiting for him to publish this theory before they went looking for a Soul Beast under five hundred years old to become their First Soul Ring?
Just because the butcher was dead, that didn't mean people stopped eating pork with the bristles still on!
"Third, the development path of theoretical Soul Masters..."
"Fourth, the theory that a Martial Soul Avatar's enhancement is directly proportional to the quality of the Martial Soul itself. The higher the quality, the stronger the Avatar."
Like the third point above, this was just common sense, wasn't it?
Which was stronger, the Seven Kill Sword's Martial Soul Avatar or a kitchen knife's? Did anyone even need to ask?
"Fifth, the Martial Soul Mimicry Theory!"
In short, Plant-type Martial Souls could absorb animal Soul Rings.
But here was the question: why should a Plant-type Martial Soul absorb an animal Soul Ring?
What evidence supported the claim that, for the same Martial Soul, an animal Soul Ring's power was greater than that of a plant Soul Ring?
If there was none, why insist on absorbing a Soul Ring from a different category?
Besides, even if there were no Plant-type Martial Souls, weren't there plenty of weapon-type Martial Souls on the continent?
When adding Soul Rings to the Clear Sky Hammer, did one avoid hunting animal and plant-type Soul Beasts, and instead go hunt hammer Soul Beasts?
When writing this theory, Qin Yun really had to wonder whether Gangzi had simply written down whatever he dreamed up!
"Sixth, more rings, more bones, more skills—fight with all your might. Fewer rings, fewer bones—run for your life."
Was this a theory?
In a competition or a battle, if you ran into someone with more Soul Rings than you, could you just surrender?
Even children knew that when you couldn't win, you ran away. And he'd turned that into a theory.
"Seventh, Soul Ring bottlenecks don't stop the accumulation of Soul Power. Even if you haven't obtained a new Soul Ring and are stuck at a rank bottleneck, your Soul Power can continue to accumulate. When you break through, this Soul Power can help you reach a higher level."
Compared with the other theories, this one was somewhat useful—just not very.
A few months of holding back at Level 10 still left you with Level 10 strength. Who would deliberately get stuck at a rank for no reason?
And what was the upper limit of stored Soul Power?
Could you only store enough for ten levels? Or could you keep storing it all the way to Level 90?
Sorry, Gangzi, who was only Level 29, didn't know the answer himself!
"Eighth, the theory of different Martial Souls fusing.
"Martial Souls of different attributes and types can fuse through special methods, forming a stronger Martial Soul Fusion Skill..."
"Ninth, the theory of Soul Bone formation.
"When hunting Soul Beasts, if a Soul Beast willingly becomes a Soul Master's Soul Ring, the Soul Master can obtain a Soul Bone.
"Also, if a Soul Beast dies after being subjected to extreme torture, the chance of obtaining a Soul Bone increases."
Before you continue