Douluo: Children of the Versions Gather, but the Eras Are Misaligned

This domain-type soul skill was innate to his Martial Soul.

That was indeed the case. Just as the Blue Silver Emperor inherently possessed the Blue Silver Domain and the Seraphic Angel inherently possessed the Angel Domain, the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff also possessed its own innate domain, known as Overlord.

Under the effects of the Overlord Domain, the strength and defensive abilities of a Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff—or the holder of the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff Martial Soul—would skyrocket. It granted immunity to pain and increased the power of all abilities by more than fifty percent.

Apprenticeship

If Hua Tianyu's previous assessment of Bai Chen had merely been that he was beyond standard, then now, he simply could not comprehend him.

He had never seen a Soul Master who came with an innate domain ability. Bai Chen had completely overturned his understanding of Martial Souls.

Under the effects of that powerful domain, Bai Chen's presence surged rapidly. For a moment, Hua Tianyu mistakenly felt as though he was not facing a child who had yet to obtain even a Soul Ring, but a battle-hardened warrior.

Bai Chen stepped forward, took a deep breath, and threw another punch.

Bang!

As expected, Hua Tianyu easily blocked the punch again. It still had no effect on him whatsoever.

But Hua Tianyu's gaze had completely changed.

With the domain's enhancement, Bai Chen's strength alone had actually reached the level of a strength-type Soul Ancestor.

That was simply terrifying. This child was only six years old!

How old had he been when he attained such physical prowess? Thirteen or fourteen, perhaps.

Hua Tianyu swallowed and said excitedly to Bai Chen,

"Child, would you like to become my disciple?"

As an elder of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect, he had seen quite a few geniuses over the years.

But he could say with certainty that none of those so-called geniuses could surpass the child before him.

If properly nurtured, this child would definitely lead the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect to a new pinnacle!

Upon hearing that, Bai Chen immediately bowed and said respectfully,

"Disciple Bai Chen greets Master!"

Hua Tianyu was a Rank 94 Title Douluo. Though he had yet to reach the level of a Super Douluo, in truth, only a few major organizations standing at the pinnacle of the world possessed Soul Masters with higher cultivation than his.

Before he had grown strong enough, Bai Chen could not easily come into contact with those peak experts. Besides, he was a member of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect after all, so there was no room for him to refuse.

Hua Tianyu immediately beamed with delight. He gently patted Bai Chen on the head and said with satisfaction,

"Good, good! Another day, I will personally take you to the Star Dou Great Forest to obtain a Soul Ring. With my strength, I will certainly hunt down the most suitable Millennium Soul Ring for you!"

Ordinarily, a Soul Master's first Soul Ring could only absorb one at the century level at most. That was mainly due to the limits of physical strength. A Rank 10 Soul Master could generally only withstand a Soul Ring of that age. If its age exceeded the Soul Master's limit, it would not only bring no benefits—it could even cost the Soul Master his life.

But Bai Chen was different. His physical strength was simply too terrifying.

Even without counting his domain, his physical strength was already at the level of a strength-type Great Soul Master.

Note that this meant a strength-type Great Soul Master, not a strength-type Rank 20 Soul Master.

There was a century Soul Ring's difference between a Rank 20 Soul Master and a Great Soul Master. Their physical strength was not even on the same level. In fact, many strength-type Great Soul Masters already possessed the ability to endure a Millennium Soul Ring; they simply lacked sufficient cultivation and had to wait until Rank 30 to absorb their next Soul Ring.

And one should not forget that domain-type soul skills could assist in absorbing Soul Rings. With the effects of the Overlord Domain included, Bai Chen absorbing a Millennium Soul Ring would absolutely not be a problem.

Soul Masters with Millennium Soul Rings as their first Soul Rings could not be called unprecedented in the history of Soul Masters, but they were certainly exceedingly rare.

Dreaming of a bright future, Hua Tianyu's smile grew ever more radiant.

Cough, cough.

At that moment, Ning Jingchen suddenly cleared his throat. At some point, he had arrived beside them and said to Hua Tianyu,

"You two are drawing too much attention. Let's go inside and talk."

Just as Ning Jingchen had said, the commotion caused by Bai Chen and Hua Tianyu's actions had drawn everyone's attention.

After all, Bai Chen had just defeated Wu Feng with such overwhelming superiority. At that moment, he had become the center of attention.

Though there was nothing shameful about it, it was still better to avoid unnecessary trouble. Hua Tianyu and Bai Chen followed Ning Jingchen and his daughter into their house.

Ning Jingchen sat down and smiled at Bai Chen.

"I am very satisfied with your performance just now. You truly have the qualifications to become my daughter's partner. From now on, the two of you must get along well. I believe that in the future, you will surely lead our Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect to new heights."

He had witnessed the interaction between Hua Tianyu and Bai Chen. Though he appeared very calm on the surface, his shock had been no less than Hua Tianyu's.

In truth, he was already considering bringing Ning Tian and Bai Chen together.

Because of the special Martial Souls possessed by the core members of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect, every generation of sect master had to marry a powerful battle Soul Master, one with formidable combat strength at the very least.

Previously, the wives or husbands of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect's sect masters had all been found outside the sect. After all, it was somewhat unrealistic for the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect to cultivate a top-tier genius on its own.

But Bai Chen was different. Just his innate domain alone meant that his talent was not inferior to that of any genius.

Considering his status as Ning Tian's partner, the two would surely spend every day together in the future. In Ning Jingchen's eyes, marrying his daughter to Bai Chen would not be a loss at all.

Better to keep the good fortune within the family. It would even save him the trouble of searching for a husband for his daughter.

Thinking that, Ning Jingchen patted Ning Tian's little head.

"Come, Tian'er. Say hello to him."

Ning Tian nodded lightly, stepped forward, and said seriously to Bai Chen,

"Hello. My name is Ning Tian. I am the Young Master of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect."

Seeing how solemn she was despite her young age, Bai Chen could not help but reveal a gentle smile. He introduced himself as well.

"My name is Bai Chen. I am your partner, and I will definitely protect you."

After the two had finished greeting each other, Ning Jingchen smiled.

"Good. Then let's leave it at that for today. You will have plenty of time to become familiar with each other in the future, so for today, we'll first... Hmm?"

His words abruptly stopped because Bai Chen suddenly bent at the waist toward him and said in a deep voice,

"Sect Master, I have a request."

Ning Jingchen raised his brows, exchanged a glance with Hua Tianyu beside him, and asked,

"What is your request? You are now considered a core member of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect. We will do our best to satisfy it."

Just as he had said, Bai Chen was no longer what he had once been.

Even without his special status as Ning Tian's partner, he was now the sole disciple of Hua Tianyu, a Rank 94 Title Douluo.

As the only disciple of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect's strongest expert, his status among the younger generation could be said to rank only below Ning Tian's—perhaps not even below hers.

As long as it was not an excessive request, Ning Jingchen would find a way to satisfy it.

Bai Chen raised his head and said earnestly,

"I want to go to the Sun-Moon Empire and study Soul Guide Device technology."

Soul Guide Devices

Soul Guide Devices were one of the factors that overturned the disparity between Soul Masters and Soul Beasts.

In the Douluo I Era, Soul Masters merely used Soul Guide Devices handed down from ancient times. But beginning in the Douluo II Era, Soul Masters gained the ability to create Soul Guide Devices themselves.

And in Bai Chen's view, the Soul Guide Device technology of the Douluo II Era was extremely important.

This was not an exaggeration. Overall, the Soul Guide Device technology of the Douluo III Era was indeed stronger than that of the Douluo II Era, but at the same time, the Douluo II Era also possessed some absurdly advanced technologies.

There were two most typical examples.

One was the Linked Soul Device.

This thing could gather the soul power of a large number of Soul Masters together, achieving qualitative change through quantitative accumulation and allowing low-level Soul Masters to contend against high-level Soul Masters.

Simply put, in the Douluo II Era, the linked defensive barrier of an ordinary Soul Engineer regiment could even withstand the bombardment of a Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Cannon Shell.

Do not underestimate the Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Cannon Shells of the Douluo II Era. The original work of the Douluo III Era stated that although the Soul Guide technology of that era was stronger than before, the power of peak weapons such as Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Cannon Shells had not improved much.

In other words, Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Cannon Shells from the Douluo III Era were roughly as powerful as those from the Douluo II Era.

So how powerful were Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Cannon Shells in the Douluo III Era? There was a very direct comparison: Yuanen Zhentian's eighth soul skill, unleashed at full power shortly after breaking through to the Quasi-God realm, was described as no weaker than a Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Cannon Shell.

At the time, Yuanen Zhentian had only recently broken through to the Quasi-God realm. There was no issue using him as the benchmark for an entry-level Quasi-God. From that alone, one could see how heaven-defying Linked Soul Devices were.

The other absurdly advanced technology was the Humanoid Soul Guide Device of the Douluo II Era.

Most people believed Battle Armor to be the more advanced form of Humanoid Soul Guide Devices. That view was correct, but not entirely correct.

Take Juzi's Humanoid Soul Guide Device, Phoenix Guardian, for example. It allowed a mediocre food-type Soul Master to withstand three attacks from a Limit Douluo without having her defenses broken.

Note that this assessment had come from Kong Deming, so the people he used as references were highly likely Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui.

And in the Douluo III Era, Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui would both have possessed combat strength at the Quasi-God level.

Because both the Douluo II and Douluo III Eras had a realm known as "Demigod," people often mistakenly believed that the Demigods of those two eras referred to the same level.

But that was not actually the case. Only two people in the Douluo II Era had truly reached the Demigod realm. One was Elex, at Divine Official Rank, and the other was Huo Yuhao after defeating Di Tian but before inheriting a Divine Position. Clearly, neither was the same as the Demigod of the Douluo III Era.

Aside from that, whether it was Di Tian or Huo Yuhao during his Limit Douluo period, they were merely Limit Douluos possessing Demigod-level methods.

And Di Tian had personally admitted in the Douluo III Era that his strength had not changed over ten thousand years, yet his realm was at the Quasi-God pinnacle.

If the Demigod of the Douluo II Era and the Demigod of the Douluo III Era were the same realm, then he should only have possessed Quasi-Demigod cultivation. With no growth whatsoever in his cultivation, how could he possibly have been a Quasi-God pinnacle expert capable of rivaling Yun Ming and Chen Xinjie?

Because the cultivation methods and cultivation conditions of Soul Masters had changed so drastically over the past ten thousand years, even though Battle Armor had appeared, natural Soul Rings and Soul Bones had also disappeared. It was therefore difficult to make direct comparisons. To estimate the strength of Douluo II Era Soul Masters in the Douluo III Era, one could only compare things that had not changed much over those ten thousand years.

And besides the Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Cannon Shell just mentioned, the other thing that had not changed was Soul Beasts.

Regarding Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Cannon Shells, the power of Quasi-God Yuanen Zhentian's eighth soul skill was roughly equivalent to one. Yet Ye Xishui nearly shattered a linked defensive barrier jointly created by ten Soul Engineer regiments with a single blast from the Reaper Tower...

Never mind that Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Cannon Shells of the Douluo II and Douluo III Eras were roughly equal in power—even if there truly were a threefold difference, Ye Xishui's attack would still have been roughly three times as powerful as Quasi-God Yuanen Zhentian's eighth soul skill.

As for Soul Beasts, Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao of the Douluo II Era were both positioned as being steadily stronger than Bear Lord, who stood at the Demigod pinnacle. Even the more than six-hundred-thousand-year-old Sea Princess had performed less impressively than they had.

From that, one could see just how heaven-defying Phoenix Guardian was, considering it allowed a mediocre food-type Soul Emperor to withstand three attacks from those two experts without her defenses breaking.

Giving a mediocre food-type Soul Emperor the ability to withstand three full-force attacks from a Quasi-God without having her defenses broken was terrifyingly exaggerated, even if it sacrificed everything other than defense.

At least in Bai Chen's understanding, Four-Word Battle Armor definitely could not accomplish that. The most basic issue was that a Soul Emperor could not wear Four-Word Battle Armor at all.

Unfortunately, whether it was Linked Soul Device technology or the manufacturing process for Phoenix Guardian, both mysteriously disappeared after the Douluo III Era.

There could have been many reasons. Bai Chen was more inclined to believe that when the Sun-Moon Empire became the Sun Moon Federation, some core technologies were lost. Then Godslayer consumed enormous amounts of resources, preventing those technologies from ever reappearing.

But none of that mattered to Bai Chen, because he existed in both the Douluo II and Douluo III Eras. He could fully absorb the strengths of both eras and use them to compensate for each other's weaknesses.

His Douluo III self would study forging and technology, while his Douluo II self would fill in the gaps in Soul Guide Device technology. Both tasks could proceed at the same time.

Even with materials far inferior to those of the Douluo III Era, the Douluo II Era had been able to create something as heaven-defying as Phoenix Guardian. He did not dare imagine what absurd creation could result from combining forging technology with Humanoid Soul Guide Device technology.

"Um..."

However, upon hearing his request, Ning Jingchen revealed a troubled expression.

He asked,

"Are you certain? Our Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect belongs to the Heaven Soul Empire. You do know the relationship between the Sun-Moon Empire and our country, don't you?"

"I know."

Bai Chen said firmly,

"But Sect Master, isn't what our Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect lacks most a means of fighting without relying on Martial Souls? If our Soul Guide Device technology develops, then even without guards, Seven-Treasure Glazed Pagoda Soul Masters could possess sufficient combat ability. Besides, we are only going there to learn the technology. There is no reason that learning a few techniques there would turn us into a sect subordinate to the Sun-Moon Empire."

"Um..."

Ning Jingchen fell into deep thought.

How could he fail to understand Bai Chen's reasoning? In truth, he had begun considering this matter long ago.

But before today, he had only contemplated it alone. Today, Bai Chen had voiced the idea outright.

He sighed and asked,

"Then how will you ensure that you can learn the technology after going to the Sun-Moon Empire? If we do not join them, what we can learn will ultimately be limited. I do not believe they would sincerely teach us."

"As for that..."

Bai Chen smiled confidently.

"Rest assured, Sect Master. I have some talent in the field of Soul Guide Devices. I can already create Level-One Soul Guide Devices."

Level-One Soul Engineer

He spoke with utmost seriousness, but unfortunately, Ning Jingchen clearly did not believe him.