A Genius from Ten Thousand Years Ago
[Let's start with the fifth one, which is Bibi Dong.]
This last Pope of the Spirit Hall achieved the Titled Douluo at the age of 35.
In the official historical narrative dominated by Tang San, this name is almost synonymous with "evil," "brutality," and "ambitious man," the culprit who subverted the continent's order, and the number one villain nailed to the pillar of shame.
Later academic records and sect histories mostly spoke of her with gritted teeth, portraying her as a born villain.
If we set aside the biased perspective of the victors and focus solely on the cultivation talent and personal resilience of Soul Master, Bibi Dong was undoubtedly among the top tier of human Soul Master of that era.
It could even be said that he is a top-tier figure who forged his own path without relying on Godhood initiation, but solely on his own talent.
Many people immediately say that she is the Pope, possessing the most abundant resources on the entire continent, so isn't it natural that she cultivates quickly?
But they never bothered to think about just how difficult it was to cultivate Twin Martial Souls.
The number of people with Twin Martial Souls recorded throughout the entire Douluo Continent can be counted on one hand.
There are characters like Tang San, who are overpowered. He started with his past life's internal energy cultivation method, had immortal Immortal Herb to protect his meridians, and even had the Sea God personally guide his cultivation. Only then could he steadily raise the Soul Ring of both of his Martial Soul to the 100,000-year level.
But what about Bibi Dong?
In the era in which she grew up, the cultivation methods for Twin Martial Souls were completely nonexistent. There was no experience from predecessors, no systematic theory, and not even the kind of theoretical theories that Yu Xiaogang had.
Each level up requires enduring the conflict between the Soul Power of two Martial Soul; a single misstep could result in severed meridians and death from body explosion.
She relied entirely on her own trial and error to forge a path of cultivation for Twin Martial Souls in dire circumstances.
Not to mention all the terrible things she's experienced in her life.
Born into an ordinary family, she was chosen by the Spirit Hall to be trained as a saintess. She thought it was the beginning of defying fate, but she was defiled by her most respected master, the former Pope Qian Xunji, and was forced to give birth to Qian Renxue.
She drove away her lover, Yu Xiaogang, with her own hands, and lived her whole life in guilt and hatred, her early life filled with shackles and pain.
Ordinary people would have collapsed and gone mad after experiencing this, either giving up on themselves and sinking into complete depravity, or dying mysteriously in a power struggle.
But what about Bibi Dong? She swallowed all her pain, humiliation, and hatred, gritting her teeth as she climbed upwards.
Not only did he survive the infighting within the Spirit Hall, but he also gradually secured his position as Pope, breaking through the level 90 barrier at the age of 35 and becoming Titled Douluo.
What does 35 years old mean?
In those days, for ordinary sects, a genius who could reach the Soul Emperor by the age of 30 was already worthy of a grand banquet; Soul-Breaking Saint level by the age of 40 made them a powerful figure; and reaching the Soul Douluo by the age of 50 or 60 would bring glory to their ancestors and protect their descendants.
As for Titled Douluo?
Countless talented Soul Master have devoted their entire lives to reaching level 90, often working themselves to the bone in their seventies or eighties, only to find themselves exhausted.
Bibi Dong was standing there when she was 35 years old.
She didn't have Immortal Herb and celestial treasures like Tang San to eat Sugar Bean, nor did she have Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast lining up to offer themselves as sacrifices, and the Sea God didn't come down every now and then to give her special treatment and Divine Power.
Most of the resources she possessed were earned through her own strength and cunning; every step she took was stained with blood and tears.
Speaking of this, we must mention the Spirit Hall, which has been thoroughly vilified by later generations.
Many people followed Tang San's stance and condemned the Spirit Hall as an evil organization, a cancer on the continent, and the culprit who started the war.
But they never stop to think about whether the lives of ordinary people and Soul Master were better or worse during the years when the Spirit Hall controlled the order of the continent.
The Spirit Hall has branch halls in every city and even every remote village across the continent, and every year they send special personnel to provide free Martial Soul Awakening to all commoner children.
Before this, children from ordinary families didn't even know if they had Martial Soul or if they could become Soul Master. They could only spend their whole lives toiling in the fields, trapped in the cycle of poverty.
It was the Spirit Hall that extended the opportunity for awakening to every corner, allowing even the children in the most remote mountain villages to have the chance to touch the threshold of becoming Soul Master and have the possibility of defying fate.
Tang San himself, didn't he also awaken his Martial Soul for free in Holy Soul Village thanks to Su Yuntao of the Spirit Hall?
In addition, the Spirit Hall also provides a monthly subsidy to every registered low-level Soul Master.
The money wasn't a lot, but it was enough for a Soul Master to not have to struggle for a living and could focus on cultivation.
For a Hundred-Year Soul Ring, ordinary Rogue Soul Master no longer need to risk their lives alone in the Soul Beast Forest to gamble on luck. The Spirit Hall will organize unified hunting teams, sharing the risks and distributing the rewards equally.
These things will not be written into official history by Tang San, nor will the teachers of Shrek mention them, and the nobles of the Two Great Empires will certainly not talk about them.
They just keep emphasizing the Spirit Hall's ambition and repeatedly exaggerating Bibi Dong's brutality.
But they never say that Shrek Academy has charged exorbitant tuition fees since its founding, and children from ordinary families can't even get in the school. It's essentially a club for aristocratic children.
They also wouldn't say that the nobles of the Two Great Empires levied exorbitant taxes, exploited lower-level Soul Master Soul Master, and treated them as private soldiers and tools; who cared about the lives of ordinary people?
Only the Spirit Hall truly extended its reach to the very bottom, genuinely providing a path for those from humble backgrounds to rise in society.
Bibi Dong is ruthless, ambitious, and indeed ruthless, but sitting in the position of Pope, she has no room for mercy.
If she were truly as "saintly" and "righteous" as Tang San claimed, she would have died long ago in the power struggles of the Spirit Hall, and wouldn't even have been able to sit on the Pope's throne.
Putting aside stances, grudges, and the outcome of victory or defeat, based solely on her achievement of becoming Titled Douluo at the age of 35, Bibi Dong deserves the title of "peerless genius."
Her life was both a tragedy and a legend.
[Next is the fourth one, who is Tang San, the protagonist from ten thousand years ago, who is now Tang Buddha, God King Tang, who is watching Douluo Continent from the Divine Realm.]
He became Titled Douluo at the age of 25, the Sea God Inheritance, and later Dual Godhood.
Ranking him fourth will probably make many people who have been brainwashed by official history jump in anger.
After all, in the official narrative, he is a model of someone who rose to power through his own efforts and is the youngest Titled Douluo in the entire continent.
Being 25 years old and in the class of '90 is a shocking statement.
The question is, how much real value does this title he received at the age of 25 actually hold?
He was born with Innate Full Soul Power, Twin Martial Souls: the Blue Silver Emperor and the Clear Sky Hammer. One was a plant-type emperor Martial Soul, and the other was the number one Weapon Martial Soul in the world. He was born with full potential.
Right after leaving the beginner village, I encountered Xiao Wu, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in human form. She also came with memories of her past life and a complete set of the Tang Sect techniques, including the Purple Demon Eyes, the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, Hidden Weapon Hundred Explanations. It was like starting the game with a max-level technique gift pack.