Becoming an Apprentice / Soul Guidance Devices...

This domain-type Soul Skill came with his Martial Soul.

And that was indeed the case. Just as the Blue Silver Emperor came with the Blue Silver Domain and the Seraphic Angel came with the Angel Domain, the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff also possessed its own Innate Domain, known as Domination.

Under the effects of the Domination Domain, the strength and defensive power of the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff, or its Martial Soul wielder, would surge dramatically. It granted immunity to pain and increased the power of all their abilities by more than fifty percent.

Taking a Master

If Hua Tianyu's initial assessment of Bai Chen had merely been that he was extraordinarily exceptional, then his current assessment was simply incomprehensible.

He had never seen a Soul Master who possessed a domain ability from birth. Bai Chen had completely overturned his understanding of Martial Souls.

Under the effects of this powerful domain, Bai Chen's aura rose rapidly. For a moment, Hua Tianyu thought he was facing not a child who had not even obtained a Soul Ring yet, but a battle-hardened warrior.

Bai Chen stepped forward, drew 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 expression had completely changed.

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

That was simply terrifying. The child had only just turned six!

How old had he been when he attained this level of physical strength? Thirteen or fourteen, perhaps.

Hua Tianyu swallowed, then said to Bai Chen with some excitement,

"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 new heights!

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

"This disciple, Bai Chen, greets Master!"

Hua Tianyu was a Rank 94 Title Douluo. Though he had not yet reached the level of a Super Douluo, only those major organizations standing at the very pinnacle of the world possessed Soul Masters with higher cultivation than his.

Before he had fully matured, Bai Chen could not easily come into contact with those peak experts. Besides, he was a member of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect. In truth, he had no room to refuse.

Hua Tianyu immediately beamed with joy. He gently patted Bai Chen's 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 be a Century Soul Ring at most. That was mainly due to the limitations of physical strength. A Level 10 Soul Master could generally only endure a Soul Ring of that age. If the Soul Ring exceeded the Soul Master's limit, it would not only bring no benefits, but could cost the Soul Master his life.

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

Even without factoring in his domain, his physical strength was already at the level of a strength-type Soul Grandmaster.

Take note, a strength-type Soul Grandmaster, not a strength-type Level 20 Soul Master.

There was a Century Soul Ring's difference between a Level 20 Soul Master and a Soul Grandmaster. Their physical strength was not remotely on the same level. In fact, many strength-type Soul Grandmasters already had the ability to endure a Millennium Soul Ring. They simply lacked the cultivation and had to reach level 30 before they could absorb their next Soul Ring.

And do not forget that domain-type Soul Skills could assist in absorbing Soul Rings. With the effects of the Domination Domain included, Bai Chen absorbing a Millennium Soul Ring would absolutely pose no problem at all.

Soul Masters whose first Soul Ring was a Millennium Soul Ring could not be called unprecedented in the history of Soul Masters, but they were certainly extremely rare.

As he imagined that wonderful future, Hua Tianyu's smile grew even brighter.

"Cough, cough."

At that moment, Ning Jingchen's light cough suddenly sounded. At some point, he had arrived beside them and said to Hua Tianyu,

"You two are drawing too much attention. Let's speak inside."

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

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

Though it was not something shameful, less trouble was always better. Hua Tianyu and Bai Chen followed Ning Jingchen and his daughter into their residence.

Ning Jingchen sat down and smiled at Bai Chen.

"I am very satisfied with your performance just now. You truly possess 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 certainly lead our Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect to new heights."

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

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

Due to the special nature of the Martial Souls possessed by the core members of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect, the spouse of every generation's sect master had to be a powerful battle Soul Master, someone who at the very least possessed formidable combat ability.

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 peak genius itself.

But Bai Chen was different. The fact that he possessed an Innate Domain alone meant that his talent was not inferior to that of any genius.

Considering his status as Ning Tian's partner as well, 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.

Keep the benefits within the family. That would also save him the trouble of searching for a husband for his daughter.

With that thought in mind, Ning Jingchen patted Ning Tian's little head.

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

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

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

Seeing how serious she was despite her young age, Bai Chen could not help but smile warmly. He introduced himself as well.

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

After seeing the two exchange greetings, Ning Jingchen smiled and said,

"Good, then we'll leave it at that for today. You'll have plenty of time to grow familiar with each other in the future. Today, we'll first... hm?"

His words came to an abrupt halt because Bai Chen suddenly bowed to him and said in a deep voice,

"Lord 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 can now be considered a core member of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect, so we will fulfill it as best we can."

Just as he had said, Bai Chen was no longer the same as before.

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, or perhaps not below hers at all.

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

Bai Chen raised his head and said seriously,

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

Soul Tools

Soul Tools were one of the factors that overturned the gap between Soul Masters and Soul Beasts.

In the Douluo I Era, the Soul Tools used by Soul Masters were merely relics passed down from ancient times. But beginning in the Douluo II Era, Soul Masters gained the ability to manufacture Soul Tools themselves.

In Bai Chen's view, the Soul Tool technology of the Douluo II Era was extremely important.

This was no exaggeration. The Soul Tool technology of the Douluo III Era was indeed generally more advanced than that of the Douluo II Era, but at the same time, the Douluo II Era also possessed some utterly absurd black technologies.

There were two most typical examples.

One was Linked Soul Devices.

These things could gather the Soul Power of large numbers of Soul Masters, achieving a 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 Defense Barrier of an ordinary Soul Engineer legion 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 Soul Tool technology in that era was stronger than before, the power of top-tier weapons such as Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Cannon Shells had not improved much.

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

So how powerful were Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Cannon Shells in the Douluo III Era? There was a very straightforward comparison: Yuanen Zhentian's full-power eighth Soul Skill, after he had just broken through to the Quasi-God realm, was described as no weaker than a Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Cannon Shell.

Yuanen Zhentian had only recently entered the Quasi-God realm at the time, so using him as the benchmark for a newly advanced Quasi-God posed no issue. From this, one could see just how heaven-defying Linked Soul Devices were.

The other absurd black technology was the Humanoid Soul Guide Devices of the Douluo II Era.

Most people believed that Battle Armor was a more advanced form of Humanoid Soul Guide Device. This view was correct, but not entirely correct.

Take another example: the Humanoid Soul Guide Device Phoenix Guardian worn by Ju Zi. This thing allowed a mediocre food-type Soul Master to withstand three attacks from a Limit Douluo without having her defenses broken.

Take note, Kong Deming had given that assessment, so the people he used as references were most likely Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui.

In the Douluo III Era, Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui would both have possessed Quasi-God-level combat power.

Because both the Douluo II Era and the Douluo III Era had the rank of "Demigod," people often mistakenly believed that the two Demigod ranks referred to the same realm.

But that was not actually the case. Only two people in the Douluo II Era had truly reached the Demigod realm. One was Electrolux, at the Divine Official Rank, and the other was Huo Yuhao after defeating Di Tian but before inheriting a Divine Position. They were clearly not the same as the Demigods of the Douluo III Era.

Other than them, whether Di Tian or Huo Yuhao during his Limit Douluo period, both were merely Limit Douluos who possessed Demigod methods.

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

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

Because the cultivation methods and conditions of Soul Masters had changed too drastically over the past ten thousand years, direct comparison was difficult. Although Battle Armor had been added, natural Soul Rings and Soul Bones had been lost. Therefore, 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 Shells just mentioned, the other unchanged factor 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 the Linked Defense Barrier jointly constructed by ten Soul Engineer legions with a single blast from the Reaper Tower...

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

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

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

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

At least in Bai Chen's understanding, Four-Word Battle Armor definitely could not achieve 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 of the Phoenix Guardian, both had mysteriously disappeared after the Douluo III Era.

There could have been many reasons. Bai Chen was more inclined to believe that some core technologies had been lost when the Sun-Moon Empire became the Sun Moon Federation. Later, Godslayer consumed enormous amounts of resources, causing those technologies to never reappear.

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 make them complement each other.

His Douluo III self would study forging and technology, while his Douluo II self would fill in the gaps in Soul Tool technology. Both tasks would proceed simultaneously.

Even with materials far inferior to those of the Douluo III Era, the Douluo II Era had created something as heaven-defying as the Phoenix Guardian. He did not dare imagine what absurd creation might result if forging technology were combined with Humanoid Soul Guide Device technology.

"Hmm..."

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

He asked,

"Are you sure? Our Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect belongs to the Heaven Dou Empire. Surely you know the relationship between the Sun-Moon Empire and our nation?"

"I know."

Bai Chen said firmly,

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

"Hmm..."

Ning Jingchen fell into deep thought.

How could he not understand Bai Chen's reasoning? In fact, he had begun considering this matter long ago.

But before today, he had only considered it by himself. Today, Bai Chen had voiced the idea outright.

He sighed and asked,

"Then how can you guarantee that you will 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 will sincerely teach us."

"As for that."

Bai Chen smiled confidently.

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

Level-One Soul Engineer

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