A Scholar's Business Isn't Theft

He had been wondering why someone he had never met would suddenly say such things to him. So this had been her intention all along!

The way he looked at Yu Xiaogang instantly filled with the same contempt Lin Yue had shown, along with a trace of coldness.

This kind of person actually wanted to trick him into taking him as a master and use him. He was practically courting death!

Tang San spoke up as well, his tone full of agreement. "Lin Yue is right. Turning trash into a genius is real skill. What does it count for if you turn someone who was already a genius into a genius? You're just basking in someone else's glory."

With the two of them taking turns tearing into him, Yu Xiaogang's face went from green to white, his entire body trembling as his mind turned into a complete mess.

Something was wrong! Very wrong!

Tang San's reaction was wrong, and this Lin Yue who had suddenly appeared was even more wrong! How did she know these things? How was she so familiar with his background?

Could it be... she had been reborn too?

Had she come for Tang San, this future god, too?

Did she want to get ahead of him and secure herself a place among the gods?

The thought struck Yu Xiaogang's mind like a bolt of lightning, instantly breaking him out in a cold sweat.

No! Absolutely not!

Tang San was his! He had discovered him first! He had personally raised him in his previous life! The chance to become a god could only be his!

But he did not dare voice that suspicion.

If he said it outright and Lin Yue really had been reborn, would she kill him directly to silence him?

Would she string him and his Martial Soul, Luo Sanpao, up on a skewer?

A six-year-old attack-type Soul Master with a hundred-year Soul Ring could kill a useless Soul Grandmaster like him, who had only broken through rank thirty at fifty years old, as easily as breathing.

After all, all his strength lay in Luo Sanpao, his detached beast Martial Soul. He could not even perform an ordinary Martial Soul Possession.

It could be said that he himself was nothing but a weakling. What was he supposed to fight with?

His brilliant little buzz cut?

He forcefully suppressed the panic in his heart, craned his neck, and shouted righteously, "Nonsense! How can a scholar's business be called theft?! Even if earlier generations had scattered records of it, I spent decades painstakingly organizing and refining them into a complete Martial Soul theory system! No one on the entire Douluo Continent understands Martial Souls better than I do! I possess exclusive knowledge that countless Soul Masters, even high-level Soul Master Academies, do not know. I can teach all of it to you properly!"

"Oh? Exclusive knowledge?"

Lin Yue raised an eyebrow and looked at him with amusement. "Then tell us a few points. Let me see just what kind of extraordinary exclusive knowledge you have."

Yu Xiaogang gritted his teeth, his mind racing.

He had to reveal something genuine and impress these two children, or he would lose even his last chance.

After steadying himself, he brought out his most basic and widely known theory, then said solemnly, "Fine! I'll start by telling you the most basic Soul Ring Absorption Age-Limit Theory. A Soul Master's first Soul Ring has a maximum absorption limit of four hundred and twenty-three years. The second Soul Ring's limit is seven hundred and sixty-four years, the third is one thousand seven hundred and sixty years, the fourth is five thousand years, and the fifth is ten thousand years! This is the iron rule of Soul Ring absorption that I researched. If this limit is exceeded, a Soul Master will inevitably suffer backlash from the Soul Ring's power. At best, they will be severely injured. At worst, their body will explode and they will die!"

After saying that, he looked at them smugly, waiting for expressions of shock to appear on their faces.

Yet to his surprise, Lin Yue burst out laughing. She casually pulled a thick, hardbound book from her bag and held it out before them. Several large words were written prominently on its cover—

Complete Compendium of Soul Master Knowledge

Lin Yue flipped to one of the pages, pointed at its contents, and looked at him with a faint smile. "An iron rule? Are you dreaming? Take a look at what this book says."

Yu Xiaogang leaned closer to look, and his expression changed instantly. The page clearly stated: Beyond the approximate normal upper limit for a Soul Master's Soul Ring absorption, there is in fact no fixed age limit. The core factors are the Soul Master's physical strength, the resilience of their spiritual power, the target Soul Beast's bloodline quality, and attribute compatibility. At the same age, an ordinary hundred-year Blue Silver Grass Soul Beast and a hundred-year dragon-type Soul Beast possess vastly different energy levels and cannot be treated as the same. If one's physical strength is sufficient, absorbing a thousand-year Soul Ring as a first Soul Ring is not impossible, provided the Soul Ring's age is high but its energy is relatively low.

Not only did it explain the theory, it also included dozens of real cases. Even the reference values for Soul Ring absorption corresponding to different levels of physical strength were written out clearly. It was countless times more detailed and rigorous than his so-called "iron rule of limits."

With a snap, Lin Yue closed the book. Looking at Yu Xiaogang's pale face, she sneered, "So? Does your face hurt? That's it? Yu Xiaogang, this is what you call your exclusive research?"

Yu Xiaogang trembled with rage, his face flushing red as though he had been slapped hard more than a dozen times. It burned painfully.

He gritted his teeth and desperately searched his mind for knowledge he had only encountered in the later years of his previous life. Then he suddenly said, "Then do you know that absorbing a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring produces Soul Shock? This shock directly impacts a Soul Master's spiritual foundation. One careless mistake can turn them into an idiot, or even destroy their soul entirely! Even many Title Douluo don't know this. Don't tell me that's written in the book too?!"

This was a secret Xiao Wu had told him when he accompanied Tang San in absorbing a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring in his previous life. After being reborn, he had planned to use it to thoroughly win Tang San over.

But the moment he finished speaking, Lin Yue opened the book again, flipped several pages farther back, pointed to one chapter, and said expressionlessly, "The chapter Detailed Explanation of Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring Absorption and Soul Shock explains it clearly. It even includes methods for avoiding Soul Shock and techniques for protecting one's spiritual power. What, do you need me to read it aloud for you?"

Yu Xiaogang's eyes widened round as if he had seen a Ghost. He snatched the book from Lin Yue's hand and began flipping through it frantically.

The more he read, the more alarmed he became. The more he read, the more terrified he grew. Every theory in his Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul was recorded in detail in this book, and its explanations were even deeper, more comprehensive, and more rigorous than his own research! Martial Soul classifications, Soul Ring absorption, attribute compatibility, Martial Soul mutations, Soul Bone compatibility, even the cultivation taboos of Twin Martial Souls—it had everything!

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Yu Xiaogang suddenly screamed hysterically, wildly tearing the book in his hands apart. The pages were shredded to pieces and scattered all over the ground.

"These are my theories! Things I spent my entire life researching! How could they appear in this book?! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

He completely broke down, his eyes bloodshot and his appearance crazed.

After being reborn, his greatest advantage had been his Martial Soul theories, which were ahead of the entire age. Yet now, every advantage he had already been written down in a book!

"See, Xiao San? He's a lunatic."