In the original story, Tang Wulin's first Soul Spirit was the defective Little Grass Snake.
The Golden Dragon King Bloodline inside that fellow even surpassed the Unyielding Soul Spirit Tyrant Dragon!
Though that was also because the Golden Dragon King Bloodline inside Tang Wulin was so domineering.
But one thing was certain:
Defective Soul Spirits without Soul Beast genes had their growth potential pushed to the limit.
If Tang Wulin's Martial Soul hadn't been Blue Silver Grass, but some kind of snake Martial Soul instead,
then that Little Grass Snake would have become Tang Wulin's bonded Soul Spirit.
Or, at least, it would have developed in that direction.
If his Martial Soul had been a Datura Snake,
then when the Grass Snake Soul Spirit provided his First Soul Ring, it would have acquired a trace of the Soul Beast genes from the Datura Snake Martial Soul.
Once it reached a hundred years and provided a Second Soul Ring, the compatibility between the Soul Spirit and Martial Soul would increase.
By the time it reached the thousand-year level, the Little Grass Snake would have evolved into a Datura Snake.
But that was only theory, or an ideal outcome.
After all, Beast Martial Souls weren't Soul Beasts, and even if they contained Soul Beast genes, there were very few.
In other words, Soul Spirits had a hard time obtaining genes from Martial Souls.
But the experimental subjects Mu Han had put through "Beast Soul Weaponization" were different.
Their Martial Souls had now all been transformed from Beast Martial Souls into Tool Martial Souls.
Yet even their Tool Martial Souls retained a trace of extremely pure Soul Beast genes from their original Beast Martial Souls.
For example, one person's original Martial Soul had been a Wind Tiger, but it had now become a bone blade called the Tiger Soul Blade.
The first three Soul Rings had all been provided by the First Soul Spirit.
The Fourth Soul Ring required a second Soul Spirit.
They chose a defective Soul Spirit made using an ordinary tiger.
While providing the Fourth Soul Ring, the Soul Spirit would also acquire a trace of Soul Beast genes from the Tiger Soul Blade.
That brought its compatibility with the Tiger Soul Blade straight to the limit.
The Second Soul Spirit would mutate directly into a Wind Tiger, with one hundred percent compatibility with the Tiger Soul Blade. It would become a bonded Soul Spirit.
After that, all they had to do was go to the Spirit Ascension Platform and grow stronger through slaughter.
The energy inside the Spirit Ascension Platform didn't come from nowhere.
The Spirit Pagoda had to bear considerable costs to keep the Spirit Ascension Platform running.
But, on the other hand, couldn't the Spirit Ascension Platform be used to directly empower Soul Masters?
Soul Spirits could already nourish Soul Masters in return as they grew.
And the higher their compatibility, the greater the proportion of that nourishment.
A bonded Soul Spirit had one hundred percent compatibility, so one could imagine just how much it could nourish its Soul Master.
And this wasn't forcing growth prematurely.
Even if anything was being forced to grow prematurely, it was the Soul Spirit.
The Soul Master's improvement came from the nourishment of the Soul Spirit—and, in this case, from a bonded Soul Spirit—so there were no side effects.
So when these experimental subjects appeared before the world again two years later, everyone was stunned.
Three purple and four black Soul Rings—a Seven-Ring Soul Saint?
Just three years earlier, these Soul Masters had been stuck at level twenty-nine: useless Two-Ring Soul Grandmasters who had exhausted their potential.
In just three short years, they'd been trained to this level?
A Soul Saint's standing was basically on par with the head of a second-tier city's administration.
And these were Seven-Ring Soul Saints with four Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings!
Even an elite from Shrek Academy like Wu Zhangkong hadn't gained a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring until his Fifth Soul Ring.
But these experimental subjects of Mu Han's had gained Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings starting with their Fourth Soul Rings.
Two years ago, Mu Han had risen to fame in one fell swoop thanks to Qiangu Dongfeng's excessive praise, becoming as renowned as Tang San and Huo Yuhao.
But now, he didn't need anyone to hype him up.
He had earned the right to stand alongside Tang San and Huo Yuhao.
Even Shrek Academy couldn't guarantee that every student would be trained into a Soul Saint!
Many of its outer courtyard graduates were only Five-Ring Soul Kings.
And even many of its inner courtyard graduates were only Six-Ring Soul Emperors.
After all, the requirement for graduating from the outer courtyard was to become a One-Word Battle Armor Master, while inner courtyard graduates needed to become Two-Word Battle Armor Masters.
Neither required the cultivation of a Seven-Ring Soul Saint.
Yet Mu Han had not only created Artificial Soul Saints, he'd done it in just three short years!
No matter what the cost, they were Artificial Soul Saints!
For a time, the Soul Master World was swept by a storm.
Countless people swarmed in like sharks that had caught the scent of blood.
All kinds of messages poured in to Mu Han and Mu Chen.
Every one of them was pressuring the father and son to hand over the Beast Soul Weaponization technology.
At the latest Federal Council meeting, they even arranged for several councilors to attack Mu Han and demand that he surrender the technology.
They didn't want to offend Mu Han—or, more accurately, they didn't want to offend Mu Chen, who stood behind him, or even Divine Craftsman Zhen Hua.
So they made an issue of it at the Federal Council, trying to use the weight of public opinion to force Mu Han to comply.
Unfortunately for them, it didn't work.
After preparing for so many years, Mu Han no longer had to rely on them.
He announced the founding of a faction called the Fatui, backed by three top experts.
They were the Spirit Pagoda's former Deputy Pagoda Master, Heavenly Phoenix Douluo Leng Yaozhu;
the War God Temple's former War God, Emperor Sword Douluo Long Tianwu, and Divine Sword Douluo Su Mengjun.
Their strength had also undergone a qualitative leap.
Heavenly Phoenix Douluo had already been a four-word Battle Armor Master at the demigod level.
Now, she had advanced to the quasi-god level.
Emperor Sword Douluo and Divine Sword Douluo had both reached the demigod level as well.
On top of that, with their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, their strength even exceeded that of an ordinary quasi-god.
However, the husband and wife were both Three-Word Battle Armor Masters, so they were roughly on par with Heavenly Phoenix Douluo.
The couple should have been able to defeat Leng Yaozhu, but only by a slight margin.
Their defection had naturally drawn the ire of their former employers.
The Spirit Pagoda's previous Pagoda Master, Battle Heaven Douluo Qiangu Dieting, challenged her, only to suffer a crushing defeat at Leng Yaozhu's hands.
It was said that Leng Yaozhu's Heavenly Phoenix Martial Soul had also transformed into a long, fiery-red spear.
Phoenix wings unfurled along its shaft.
At the spearhead was a flaming phoenix spreading its wings in flight, its sharp beak glinting with a chilling light.
There was no doubt that this, too, was the result of Beast Soul Weaponization.
Leng Yaozhu's Heavenly Phoenix Martial Soul had already been a top-tier Martial Soul, no less powerful than the Coiling Dragon Staff.
Now that her Martial Soul had undergone a Second Awakening, its power had naturally reached a whole new level.
That was how she had so easily defeated Qiangu Dieting.
As for the two former War Gods who had defected, Chen Xinjie, the current head of the War God Temple, also made a move.
Emperor Sword Douluo and Divine Sword Douluo had both reached the demigod level.
In theory, Limit Douluos couldn't use a Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
Or, rather, if they did, they might have to pay with their lives.
That was because a Martial Soul Fusion Skill from Limit Douluos crossed the divide between mortals and gods.
But Emperor Sword Douluo and Divine Sword Douluo drew a third sword.
Could it be the Emperor God Sword?
With an Emperor God Sword forged ahead of time, the two completed a Trinity Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
Although Chen Xinjie wasn't crushed, he still lost to the husband and wife.
Or perhaps the couple had held back?
But there was one thing that was certain:
After joining the Fatui, all three of them had undergone a qualitative leap in strength.
And all of it had come down to the Beast Soul Weaponization technology!
Before you continue