Was there anything more exciting to a researcher than a successful experiment?
After Qian Xunqian and the few Spirit Hall personnel accompanying her had awakened the Martial Souls of all five hundred children, she rushed straight back to the laboratory to further research and design a mass-production process for the Innate Spirit Power Cultivation Device.
Time flew by, and before long, it was the day Qian Renxue would awaken her Martial Soul.
How time flew! Qian Xunqian was now a sixteen-year-old girl, tall and graceful, with a glossy black waterfall of hair tied into a simple high ponytail.
As she walked, her ponytail swayed from side to side. Paired with her slender figure, it gave her a youthful, radiant beauty.
Over the years, under Qian Xunqian's direction, Spirit Hall had continued expanding into Star Dou Forest.
Soul Beast: "Damn humans! Give us back our home!"
And they had done so under the guise of a righteous cause: the prince of Balak Kingdom had slaughtered commoners and brewed wine with their blood, provoking the wrath of heaven and the fury of the people.
Then Spirit Hall launched a righteous decapitation strike and slaughtered the entire royal family of Balak Kingdom.
Spirit Hall's Soul Master legions descended like heavenly soldiers, swiftly massing along the border of Balak Kingdom.
With no one left to lead them, the people of Balak Kingdom were caught unprepared. Soon, some were dead and the rest had surrendered.
Under Qian Xunqian's leadership, Spirit Hall had mastered the art of decapitation strikes. Whenever anyone tried to drag commoners into the maelstrom of war, proclaiming "ten thousand jade fragments" or "a million jade fragments"—those "emperors"—
Spirit Hall would send out a Titled Douluo. In less than half a moment, the head of some nobleman still guzzling wine in his castle would be brought to the front lines.
Seeing their leader dead, the army would surrender outright.
Without losing a single soldier, Spirit Hall had taken the entire Balak Kingdom.
The Heaven Dou Imperial Family was furious, but there was nothing they could do. Distant water could not put out a nearby fire—and besides, their distant water could not quench the flames of Spirit Hall.
What's more, Spirit Hall wielded the advantage of public opinion. Nearly the entire Douluo Continent now knew of Balak Kingdom's misdeeds. The commoners agreed that Spirit Hall had acted on heaven's behalf; public sentiment was firmly against Heaven Dou Empire.
Besides, Spirit Hall controlled eighty percent of the Soul Masters on the continent. Finding a righteous excuse was already a generous courtesy to the Heaven Dou Imperial Family.
Spirit City had undergone earth-shaking changes over the years. It was almost different every day. Now, factories stood everywhere, and towering buildings had risen.
On the outskirts of Spirit City, vast stretches of breeding farms and collective farms had sprung up. Farmers drove tractors and used advanced plows, seeders, and harvesters.
The crushing burden of agricultural labor had instantly fallen several levels. The old life of rising at dawn and returning home only after dark was gone for good.
Now they only had to work in the fields for two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon. The rest of the time was theirs to rest and sleep.
(All of the above is wish-fulfillment fiction. In reality, development could never happen this quickly. Even with Soul Power in the fantasy world of Douluo Continent, it would still be unlikely. This is a case of deus ex machina.)
Thanks to large-scale mechanized production, Spirit Hall's agricultural output had gone from lagging behind Balak Kingdom to nearly matching the combined output of the two great empires.
With powerful agriculture as its foundation, factories kept springing up throughout Spirit Hall's territory. All kinds of industrial goods had emerged over the years, especially after the invention of fertilizer.
It felt like mass production of Soul Tools below level five might begin before long.
The key problem was engraving the Soul Tool cores. Figuring out how to dispense with carving knives and build a machine that could engrave automatically had become the crux of Soul Tool production.
Strong agriculture and industry had also greatly boosted the tertiary sector. Soul Fighting tournaments, once a spectacle reserved for nobles and the wealthy, had now made their way into ordinary households.
All kinds of entertainment had also arrived in a flood—novels, comics, and more.
The most popular novel of all was one Qian Xunqian had adapted from true history:
<The Story of My Uncle and the Clear Sky Douluo, and the Sea God Douluo>
Qian Xunqian had spun the love triangle between the old man, Tang Chen, and Bo Saixi into a grand, heart-rending saga.
In the main hall of Clear Sky Sect, Tang Chen and the elders watched Qian Daoliu, who had come alone, with scornful expressions. They regarded him as a dead man.
Bo Saixi—Qian Daoliu's beloved—was chained to a pillar in the hall. Her eyes were frantic as she shook her head again and again, almost pleading with him.
Amid the laughter of everyone in Clear Sky Sect, Qian Daoliu remained unfazed. He stepped forward one pace at a time, uttering one word with each step.
"Tang Chen, fight me! Today, even if the gods descend, no one can stop me from taking Xixi away!"
Qian Daoliu floated in the air, his Angel Spirit ready to strike. His golden hair fluttered in the wind, and his eyes were filled with unshakable resolve.
"Qian Daoliu, give up. Xixi loves the strong! Only I, the Clear Sky Douluo—Tang Chen—can give her happiness!" Tang Chen summoned his Clear Sky Hammer, ready to fight!
Bo Saixi: "No! Liuliu! You'll die! Hurry and go! They set this trap just to lure you here! Go!"
Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen fought from day to night, and from night to day, evenly matched.
At that moment, the Clear Sky Sect Master, the previous Clear Sky Douluo—Tang Wei—made his move.
Tang Wei said coldly, "You useless trash from the Angel Family! You dare compete with my son? Take this hammer!"
Tang Wei fought dirty, using his seniority to bully the younger man. He swung his Clear Sky Hammer down at Qian Daoliu's head.
Qian Daoliu couldn't dodge in time. He took the blow head-on, his internal organs nearly shattered, and he was left on the brink of death.
Perhaps sensing that his time was up, Qian Daoliu made his final declaration of love:
"Xixi, I don't regret it. When you love someone, you'll risk everything for her. Even knowing that coming here meant almost certain death, as long as there was the slightest hope, I would come to save you!"
"Not good! He's going to self-destruct! Stop him!" Tang Wei cried in alarm.
Qian Daoliu burned his life force and whisked Bo Saixi away at an extraordinary speed.
"Damn it! That cunning brat! He only pretended he was going to self-destruct, but really he burned his life force and rescued her while we were caught off guard! After them!"
Watching the people of Clear Sky Sect close in behind them, Qian Daoliu's gaze turned resolute. He shoved Bo Saixi away and charged alone at their pursuers!
"Goodbye, Xixi! Live well! And... I love you!"
"No—!"
Qian Daoliu self-destructed. His sacrifice held back the people of Clear Sky Sect, while Bo Saixi could only snatch one of his arms from the blast.
Later, Bo Saixi became the Sea God. Relying on the one arm that remained, she brought Qian Daoliu back to life, and the two went on to live happily ever after...
(The End)
Qian Xunqian had, of course, added plenty of her own embellishments. What could she do? He was her own uncle, after all!
After reading the book, countless young women and men wept buckets, lamenting, "Who can measure the depths of love? It dares to make people disregard life and death!"
Qian Daoliu cried like a child, too. He held up the book and jumped around, laughing, crying, and trembling with excitement as he shouted:
"Xixi and I are together!"