Martial Soul Talent Domain: True Self's Intent!

"Careful."

Meng Xinghe warned the young man.

As he spoke, the flowing mass of golden light around him seemed alive, instantly spreading over every part of his body.

In the young man's eyes, Meng Xinghe now resembled an infant god radiating dense golden light. The light extending from his body condensed into a slender whip of radiance that whistled toward him.

The young man twisted his body with all his strength. The golden whip grazed past him and blasted a long, narrow dent into the arena floor.

"That powerful?"

While the young man was horrified, Meng Xinghe was also stunned.

Huh?

He had assumed the young man would take the attack head-on, so he had deliberately slowed it down to give him time to prepare. He had not expected the young man's instinctive reaction to be dodging.

"I see. My Millennium Soul Ring scared him, huh?"

Meng Xinghe instantly understood why.

What a bore.

The golden whip that had struck the ground curved around and lashed the young man. He was immediately flung into the air like a kite with its string cut, tracing a graceful arc before turning into a stream of data light and vanishing before he hit the ground.

"Star Network Ladder Ranking Tournament, Rank One match. Winner: Above the Galaxy (1+10); Loser: Three-Foot Green Edge (93-10)."

Three seconds later, back in his private space, Meng Xinghe gave it some thought.

Rank One matches were boring. Even if he held back, there was no real competition.

So, he was going to Rank Two.

"Star Network Ladder Ranking Tournament, Rank One match. Winner: Above the Galaxy (11+5); Loser: Fish in the Sea (44-9)."

"Star Network Ladder Ranking Tournament, Rank One match. Winner: Above the Galaxy (16+8); Loser: Golden Legend (71-9)."

"Star Network Ladder Ranking Tournament, Rank One match. Winner: Above the Galaxy (24+9); Loser: Overlord of the Eastern Sea (88-8)."

"Star Network Ladder Ranking Tournament, Rank One match. Winner: Above the Galaxy (99+9); Loser: Xiu'er Is Me (89-1)."

"Your points have reached the limit. You have obtained the qualification to begin the Promotion Tournament. You may begin the challenge at any time. Succeed, and you will break through the point limit and advance to Rank Two. Fail, and 10 points will be deducted."

Meng Xinghe did not hesitate and immediately made his choice.

"Begin the Promotion Tournament."

For the promotion match from Rank One to Rank Two, the Soul Master Projection would be an ordinary Soul Grandmaster just above Level Twenty.

Calling them ordinary was one thing, but there was much more to it than that.

An ordinary Soul Grandmaster did indeed have Soul Power just above Level Twenty, and their Soul Rings were ordinary Century Soul Rings. But their Martial Souls were another matter entirely.

The Martial Souls of Soul Master Projections were randomly generated from every Martial Soul record collected by the Douluo Federation over the past ten thousand years.

Therefore, if you were lucky, the Soul Master Projection might randomly receive a useless Martial Soul like Blue Silver Grass. If you were unlucky, it might receive a top-tier Martial Soul like the Radiant Saint Dragon.

That was not even the most insidious part. If your luck was abysmal, the Soul Master Projection's Martial Soul might randomly become the natural counter to your own Martial Soul, and even its Soul Skills could turn out to counter yours.

For ordinary Soul Masters, luck truly mattered in the Promotion Tournament.

With good luck, everything was manageable. With bad luck, you were finished.

Historically, there had once been a Soul Master who set a legendary record by fighting one hundred Promotion Tournaments before finally advancing.

Rumor had it that during that time, the legendary Soul Master had been so unlucky that even drinking water could get food stuck between his teeth.

The ordinary Soul Grandmaster Meng Xinghe encountered in the Promotion Tournament did not have a particularly powerful Martial Soul, but it was extremely underhanded.

"A Soul Skill that seals Soul Rings..."

Meng Xinghe glanced at the Soul Ring on his body, now dim and devoid of light.

The Martial Souls and Soul Skills of Douluo Continent came in every conceivable variety. Forget sealing Soul Rings—even Soul Skills that sealed Martial Souls existed.

For any other one-ring Soul Master, having their only Soul Skill sealed while facing a Soul Grandmaster with another Soul Skill would mean they could already admit defeat.

But Meng Xinghe was different.

Setting aside the many combat techniques he had created over the years, as a Soul Master, he possessed not only the Soul Skills granted by Soul Rings, but also a talent domain innate to his Martial Soul!

Domain-type abilities were divided into innate and acquired varieties.

Under normal circumstances, a Soul Master's innate domain came with their Martial Soul, such as the Angel Domain innate to the Seraphim Martial Soul. Or it could be bestowed by a deity, such as the Divine Slaughter's Domain of Slaughter City.

Acquired domains came in many forms and could broadly be classified into four types: Soul Skill Domains, Battle Armor Domains, Mental Domains, and Bloodline Domains.

There was no inherent superiority between innate and acquired domains. Ordinarily, innate domains were more suited to the Martial Soul itself, while acquired domains were more suited to the Soul Master.

But that was under normal circumstances. Meng Xinghe's situation was anything but normal.

Of his Twin Martial Souls, the Sky Martial Soul was himself before he transformed and rebuilt his cultivation, while the Noumenon Martial Soul was himself after that transformation and reconstruction.

Both Martial Souls were himself. While his two talent domains suited the Martial Souls themselves, they suited Meng Xinghe even more.

The talent domain of his Noumenon Martial Soul was called—True Self's Intent!

As the domain unfolded, the dim Soul Ring on Meng Xinghe's body instantly regained its dazzling, captivating purple glow. Yet he did not use a Soul Skill. Instead, he continued expanding the domain until it enveloped the Soul Grandmaster within its range.

The True Self's Intent Domain could forcibly control everything within its range. To resist that control, one had to defeat him on the level of will.

Thus, under Meng Xinghe's control, a scene that should never have appeared in a Promotion Tournament took place.

The system-generated Soul Master Projection actually spoke.

"I concede."

As those words fell, silence filled the air.

This time, the system did not immediately announce the Promotion Tournament's result. The battle space flickered as though it were lagging.

Half a minute later, the system, which had perhaps crashed just moments earlier, finally announced the result.

"Above the Galaxy has won the Star Network Ladder Ranking Tournament promotion match from Rank One to Rank Two. Promoted to Rank Two. Point limit exceeded. Current points: 108."

Three years later, Star Dou Battle Network.

Having just finished a Ladder Tournament match, Meng Xinghe returned to his private space and looked over the achievements he had earned over the past three years:

Ten-Win Streak: Win ten consecutive matches without suffering a single defeat. (Current streak: forty-nine wins. Win another fifty-one matches in a row to activate the achievement "Hundred-Win Streak.")

Undefeated Promotion · Rank One: No defeats in any Rank One match, including the Promotion Tournament.

Undefeated Promotion · Rank Two: No defeats in any Rank Two match, including the Promotion Tournament.

Undefeated Promotion · Rank Three: No defeats in any Rank Three match, including the Promotion Tournament.

Legend of the Unbeaten · Three: Since entering the Ladder Tournament, not a single defeat. (Keep it up. Advance to Rank Five with an invincible record to activate the achievement "Legend of the Unbeaten · Four.")

Ever since advancing to Rank Four, Meng Xinghe had rarely participated in Ladder Tournaments, often fighting only once every month or two.

There was no helping it. Before Rank Four, the Ladder Tournament was shallow water full of small fry. After Rank Four, the water ran deep.

The chaotic presence of Rank Five and Rank Six competitors meant that Rank Four could include Soul Masters at the Soul King and Soul Emperor levels.

Meng Xinghe was not worried about encountering Soul Kings or Soul Emperors, losing, and ending his winning streak. He was worried that beating them would draw too much attention.

If an eight- or nine-year-old child defeated a Soul Emperor in the Ladder Tournament, he could guarantee that within half an hour, he would be the number one trending topic across the entire Federation.

Therefore, Meng Xinghe took advantage of the system's matchmaking mechanism. By playing only one Ladder Tournament match every month or two, the system would judge him to be an inactive user and match him with weaker opponents to improve his experience.