Beginning the Selection of Soul Spirits

(P.S. The author usually dislikes naming characters, but since Sea Dragon Douluo will be a character with more detailed development in the future, I gave him a name here: Gu Chaosheng.)

Having arrived at Sea Dragon Douluo's office on the top floor, Qi Ji could not help looking around.

The office was far more spacious than he had imagined. Warm yellow Soul Guidance lamps were set into the four walls. A massive nautical chart hung on one side, while the other was covered by a bookcase stretching from floor to ceiling, packed with Soul Spirit tomes and cultivation notes.

The view outside the window was excellent. From the top of the tower, the entirety of Eastsea City lay in view, with a thin gray-blue line of sea visible in the distance.

"To obtain a Soul Spirit, we must first test your Mental Power." Gu Chaosheng walked to his desk and took a silver-white testing headband from a drawer.

"Still, you two are both geniuses with Innate Full Soul Power. There shouldn't be any problems with your Mental Power."

Having lived for so many years, he had seen cases of children with decent martial souls but abysmal Mental Power.

Children whose Mental Power did not exceed five found it exceedingly difficult to fuse even with a Ten-Year Soul Spirit. In the end, they could only barely attach one, and although they could still develop later, they had essentially lost at the starting line.

But the two children before him both possessed Innate Full Soul Power and Twin Martial Souls. Surely, they would not repeat those people's mistakes.

"No need. I already tested Qi Ji's Mental Power." Luo Yuhang leaned against the window with his arms folded, his tone utterly casual.

"You tested it?" Gu Chaosheng raised a brow, pausing with the headband in hand. "How much?"

The corner of Luo Yuhang's lips curled upward as he deliberately drew out his words. "Over five hundred. Innate Spirit Sea Realm."

After saying that, he watched Gu Chaosheng's face, waiting for the show to begin.

"Heh... keep bragging!" As expected, Gu Chaosheng scoffed. Shaking his head, he set the headband on the desk.

"Innate Spirit Sea Realm? How old were you when you reached the Spirit Sea Realm? You're telling me a six-year-old is born in the Innate Spirit Sea Realm? Dark Emperor, who would believe that?"

Luo Yuhang shrugged and did not argue. He merely said with a half-smile, "Believe it or not. Anyway, I plan for Little Qi's first Soul Spirit to be at the Thousand-Year level, so don't be stingy when the time comes."

"A Thousand-Year Soul Spirit?" Gu Chaosheng froze for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully. "Spirit Connection Realm... that would indeed be an enviable talent."

Though the Innate Spirit Connection Realm was still absurd, it was at least within an acceptable range.

Compared to something as outrageous as "Innate Spirit Sea Realm," which sounded like blatant bragging, the requirement for a Thousand-Year Soul Spirit at least sounded plausible.

"Then... Wuling, you can take the test." Gu Chaosheng picked up the headband, walked over to Tang Wuling, bent down, and gently placed the device on her head.

"Mhm." Tang Wuling nodded, sat up straight obediently, and placed her little hands on her knees with a very serious expression.

"Come, relax. Keep your mind steady and don't be nervous." Gu Chaosheng instructed her gently before pressing the activation button.

The chips inside the headband lit up with a faint blue glow, and the numbers began to fluctuate.

During that pause, Qi Ji suddenly asked, "Your Excellency Sea Dragon, what exactly is your name?"

Gu Chaosheng had been watching the results. Hearing this, he was slightly startled before smiling. "My name... ah, I nearly forgot to mention it. This old man is named Gu Chaosheng."

"Uncle Gu," Qi Ji immediately changed how he addressed him, a well-behaved smile on his face. "Is it alright if I call you that?"

This was also part of his strategy for building a closer relationship—after all, an address like "Your Excellency" was respectful, but it also carried a sense of distance.

How could "Uncle" not sound more intimate?

In a place like Douluo Continent, where personal connections mattered so much, an affectionate form of address could sometimes work better than any gift.

Gu Chaosheng's smile deepened. "Good. Very good."

Looking at Qi Ji's proper and well-behaved little face, he found the child increasingly likable.

Qi Ji was practically the perfect model of an ideal child in every middle-aged person's mind—sensible, polite, clever, and appropriately restrained. There was simply nothing about him that could be disliked.

Beep—

The testing device gave a crisp notification. Tang Wuling's result was out: 38 points of Mental Power.

"Not bad." Gu Chaosheng glanced at the number and nodded in satisfaction.

"It seems your Mental Power talent is quite good, Wuling."

Though 38 points did not seem like much, it was actually higher than that of some Soul Masters and even Soul Grandmasters who had never deliberately trained their Mental Power.

After all, not everyone devoted their energy to tempering Mental Power. Most people focused more on accumulating Soul Power.

Large-scale growth in Mental Power generally came after puberty, once the human body gradually matured. At that time, Mental Power and Soul Power would enter a period of rapid growth together.

Unlike Soul Power, however, Mental Power could maintain a certain rate of growth even in old age—unless one developed dementia.

"That's great!" Having received praise, Tang Wuling's eyes curved into crescents with delight, and she lightly swung her legs while sitting in the chair.

Then she turned her head and looked curiously at Qi Ji. "Qi Ji... how many points is your Mental Power?"

"Uh..." Qi Ji rapidly calculated in his mind.

His actual Mental Power was 510 points. Saying that number aloud would probably scare people to death. Besides, Luo Yuhang had already let it slip earlier, and Gu Chaosheng had taken it as bragging. There was no need for him to create more trouble for himself.

So, after considering it, he decided to give a number that seemed reasonable but was still much higher than Tang Wuling's. That way, he would appear impressive without sounding so outrageous that no one believed him.

"Sorry, Wuling, but I seem to be a little higher than you." Qi Ji smiled, his tone extremely modest. "My Mental Power is 118."

"That high!" Tang Wuling's eyes instantly widened as she exclaimed, "Qi Ji, you're amazing!"

There was an instinctive sense of pride in her voice, as though she herself were the one with 118 points of Mental Power.

Noticing the undisguised admiration in her eyes, Qi Ji could not help recalling that strange thought from downstairs—was this little girl becoming a little too close to him?

"Alright, children." Gu Chaosheng interrupted their gaze at the appropriate moment. He walked behind his desk, took out two tablet computers from a drawer, and swiped across the screens a few times.

"Since that's settled, shall we begin selecting your Soul Spirits?"

He set one tablet to the Hundred-Year Soul Beast interface and the other to the Thousand-Year Soul Beast interface, then handed them to Tang Wuling and Qi Ji respectively.

"Wuling, your Mental Power has only just reached 38 points. A Hundred-Year Soul Spirit will already be quite a burden on you, so choose a suitable one from this list first. Little Qi, yours is the Thousand-Year list. There are many types, so take your time. There's no rush."

Qi Ji took the tablet and lightly swiped across the screen. Rows upon rows of Soul Spirit names and images scrolled past his eyes.

His gaze swept over the names one by one as he seriously calculated—Seven-Colored Dragon and Nine-Tassel Crown, two martial souls, each needing a Soul Spirit. How should he choose?