Each with Their Own Thoughts, Becoming a Soul Master

"Damn humans! Let me out!"

Luo Chen had just inspected this Soul Ring: it was eight hundred thousand years old! It would provide two Soul Skills, and a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast was guaranteed to drop a Soul Bone. In this case, it should have been an External Soul Bone for the eyes. But something had gone wrong!

Luo Chen hadn't sensed any Soul Bone. Could it be that Evil Emperor wouldn't drop one unless he was killed outright?

Perhaps that was it!

"What are you yelling about? Xiao Xiezi, answer me: why didn't your Soul Bone drop?"

Evil Emperor froze. Xiao Xiezi? No one had ever called him that before! But he didn't dwell on it. Instead, he wondered how this kid had managed to seal away an eight-hundred-thousand-year-old Soul Beast like him.

"Human, can you tell me what kind of Martial Soul that is?" Evil Emperor had calmed down by now. He knew he probably wouldn't be able to escape anytime soon.

"My Martial Soul is pretty strange. Even if I told you, you wouldn't know what it was. From now on, stay here and be my underling." Luo Chen wasn't sure whether Evil Emperor might escape one day and kill him. He only hoped to draw on Evil Emperor's Soul Power to grow stronger quickly—strong enough that he wouldn't have to fear Evil Emperor's threat anymore.

Evil Emperor had, in fact, kept a trick up his sleeve. That was why Luo Chen hadn't sensed the External Soul Bone.

As for exactly what he'd done, we can only guess...

"Xiao Chen! Xiao Chen!"

Two voices rang out. It was Lin Xiaomei and Luo Dashan—Luo Chen's parents.

Only then did Luo Chen realize that night had fallen. A whole day had passed!

He hurriedly straightened his clothes and called out, "Dad! Mom! I'm here!"

Luo Dashan and Lin Xiaomei froze when they heard him, then quickly ran over. A strange middle-aged man followed behind them.

Lin Xiaomei ran even faster than Luo Dashan. She came over and checked that Luo Chen was unharmed, then grabbed him by the ear.

"Hey, hey, Mom, I'm sorry!"

"You little rascal! You were gone all day. Where did you go? Do you have any idea how worried we were?" Lin Xiaomei was nearly in tears.

Luo Dashan hurried over to stop her. "Xiaomei, our boy's fine, isn't he? Good grief, the little rascal's grown taller again since I last saw him a few months ago!"

Luo Dashan was a strapping young man in his early thirties, with the look of someone who had plenty of strength.

The middle-aged man following Luo Dashan spoke up. "Brother Luo, since your son is all right, why don't you take him home first?"

Luo Chen sized up the stranger curiously. Suddenly, Evil Emperor's voice sounded in his mind: "Kid, that man is a Soul Ancestor. Don't let him discover your secret."

Luo Chen's thoughts stirred. He sent a thought back to Evil Emperor: "With a First Soul Ring this eye-catching, it'd be hard not to draw attention."

He naturally didn't think Evil Emperor was showing mercy. His warning was also meant to cover his own tracks—who knew how Luo Chen's getting into trouble might affect him?

"It's fine. This Emperor can change the color of a Soul Ring. Just say your First Soul Ring came from a Hundred-Year Soul Beast."

The group returned to Luo Dashan's home. The man he'd brought back was named Fule, someone Luo Dashan had rescued while escorting goods with a merchant caravan.

Luo Chen couldn't understand how a Soul Ancestor could have been rescued by his father, an ordinary man with no Soul Power.

After hearing the explanation, Luo Chen finally understood. Fule had come from Heaven Dou City to take a post at the Junior Spirit Master Academy here. Their small city was called Hailun City, and it had a Spirit Hall Branch as well as a Junior Spirit Master Academy.

Hailun City wasn't large and mainly focused on light industry. The city lord was a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor, and the head of the Spirit Hall Branch was one too.

Fule had come to take up the position of principal at the Junior Spirit Master Academy. With him, the little city now had three Soul Ancestors.

But on his way there, he had run into a band of outlaws who called themselves bandits. There were ten of them in all. Their leader was also a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor, while the others included four with three rings and five with two.

Fule, however, had brought only one servant, who had just two rings. Fortunately, Fule was powerful. At level forty-six, he drove off the attackers, killing six and gravely wounding four.

But he was badly injured himself and collapsed by the roadside. Luo Dashan had rescued him. When he learned that Fule was headed to Hailun City, Luo Dashan left the merchant caravan with him in Dinos Province, and they traveled to Hailun City together.

After hearing the story, Luo Chen finally understood what had happened.

Just then, Fule turned to Luo Chen. "Your name is Luo Chen, right? We've only just met, and I didn't bring you a gift."

"Brother Fule, you're too kind. Xiao Chen, hurry up and call him Uncle." Luo Dashan laughed heartily.

"Hello, Uncle." Luo Chen greeted him. At least Fule had made a good first impression. Most Soul Masters looked down on ordinary people. Douluo Continent was a world of rigid hierarchy, and Soul Masters held the most revered profession.

The fact that Fule could treat Luo Dashan, an ordinary man, like a sworn brother showed that he was someone worth befriending.

"Then I'll call you Xiao Chen too. If I'm not mistaken, your Soul Power Level has already passed level ten, hasn't it?" As a Soul Ancestor and a former teacher, Fule had a good eye for these things.

"Level ten? That can't be right. When Xiao Chen awakened, his Soul Power Level was only..."

"That's right, Uncle." Luo Chen cut in at the right moment. "I just finished absorbing my First Soul Ring."

"Just finished absorbing it?" Three different voices cried out at once. Lin Xiaomei was wondering when her son had absorbed it. Luo Dashan was thinking about how much his son had improved over these past few months! Fule, meanwhile, was concerned that absorbing a First Soul Ring without proper consideration might affect his future.

"Son! Why did you absorb your First Soul Ring?" Luo Dashan asked.

Lin Xiaomei chimed in too. "Xiao Chen, you're with me every day. How come I didn't know you absorbed a Soul Ring?"

"Dad, Mom, today I went to the seaside... and accidentally ran into a Soul Beast..."

"A Soul Beast!" Luo Dashan and his wife were alarmed. They hurried to their feet and circled their son, looking him over from every angle.

"I'm fine, Dad, Mom. It was badly wounded, and I beat it. Then I absorbed its Soul Ring."

"Good, good. As long as you're all right!" They were still shaken.

Fule didn't quite know what to say. Then he asked, "Xiao Chen, can you release your Soul Skill and show me?"

Luo Chen nodded, stood up, and summoned his Martial Soul. Just as Evil Emperor had said, the original red-purple-gold Soul Ring had turned into a yellow Hundred-Year Soul Ring!

"It's a Hundred-Year Soul Ring!" Fule exclaimed. "A genius!"

Don't assume that just because Tang San and his companions all had Hundred-Year Soul Rings as their First Soul Rings, ordinary Soul Masters had the same opportunities!