Choosing a Soul Spirit for Tang Wuling

Of course, although Qi Ji and Tang Wuling were supposed to make their own choices, Gu Chaosheng and Luo Yuhang could not possibly let two children make the final decision on something as fundamental as their first Soul Spirit.

After all, the first Soul Spirit was of vital importance, and this was no longer the era of the Soul Ring system from ten thousand years ago.

Back then, once low-year Soul Rings reached higher levels, they were basically useless aside from soul skills with special mechanics or enhancement effects. If they were weak, then so be it. Being enough to get through the early stages was already pretty good.

But under the modern Soul Spirit system, every Soul Spirit was a combat partner that would accompany a Soul Master for life. The soul skills granted by Soul Spirits would continuously grow stronger alongside the Soul Master's development and the Soul Spirit's evolution, so every soul skill could be considered crucial.

Still, the children had to be given some sense of participation in this.

There was no harm in choosing more Soul Spirits that caught their eye. After all, Soul Spirits were a Soul Master's future combat partners. If they did not get along, then no matter how strong their stats were, working together would still feel awkward.

"Um... Qi Ji, what kind of Soul Spirit do you think I should choose?"

Tang Wuling stared at the dazzling list of Soul Spirits on the tablet. Names of beast-type, plant-type, and elemental Soul Spirits filled several densely packed pages. How could a six-year-old girl possibly tell them apart? After looking for a long while until her eyes went blurry, she immediately turned to Qi Ji for help.

Qi Ji put down his own tablet and took the one Tang Wuling handed him. "All right, let me take a look."

He swiped across the screen a few times, explaining seriously to Tang Wuling as he operated it. "Wuling, your martial soul is the Golden Dragon, a top-tier True Dragon martial soul focused on strength. So you should prioritize strength-type Soul Beasts, which will better match your martial soul's attributes."

As he spoke, he selected "strength type" from the tablet's filter options.

Most of the agility-type, spiritual-type, and elemental-type Soul Spirits on the list were instantly filtered out.

"Second, you're a True Dragon, and a top-tier True Dragon martial soul at that. So it would be best to choose a True Dragon or Sub-Dragon Soul Beast as well. Your bloodlines would be closer, and fusion would be more likely to produce a synergistic effect."

As he spoke, Qi Ji selected the "dragon type" option in the filters as well.

The next second, the previously plentiful list turned completely blank.

Qi Ji could not help freezing for a moment, and the office fell silent for two seconds.

Gu Chaosheng's old face reddened slightly. He gave a dry cough and cleared his throat before explaining.

"Little Qi... although your martial soul theory is very solid, which is good, you overlooked one key issue—how could powerful True Dragon and Sub-Dragon Soul Spirits possibly be only a hundred years old?"

He sighed, his tone carrying the helplessness of wondering just how much material this child had read.

"True Dragon species and Sub-Dragon species—even the lowest among them had to be at least a thousand years old when the Spirit Pagoda captured them and turned them into Soul Spirits. Most True Dragon Soul Beasts were born with cultivation bases of several thousand years. After cultivating for a few hundred years, they would be heading toward ten thousand years. You want a hundred-year True Dragon Soul Spirit... that is basically impossible. Isn't that just ridiculous?"

Actually, if it were an artificial Soul Spirit, hundred-year True Dragons did exist. After all, what strange thing had the Spirit Pagoda not created in order to study Soul Spirits?

But artificial Soul Spirits had their upper limits firmly fixed, and their growth potential was extremely limited. He did not want his disciple's first few Soul Rings to still be purple in the future. That would be an utter waste.

"That's true..." Qi Ji paused, then quickly understood.

Right. Why would a True Dragon species only be a hundred years old?

He had been poisoned too deeply by certain fanfictions. There were even things like "the unyielding hundred-year True Dragon Soul Spirit." The Spirit Pagoda was not stupid. If they caught a True Dragon hatchling, they would definitely raise it to a thousand or ten thousand years before turning it into a Soul Spirit. Besides, True Dragons should not even exist on Douluo Continent...

After all, the only True Dragons on Douluo Continent were Di Tian and Zi JI. Every other one, no matter how powerful, was a Sub-Dragon.

"Then... shall we set our sights on snake-type ones?" Qi Ji began adjusting the filters again, removing dragon type and replacing it with snake type.

"Dragons and snakes share the same origin. Snake-type Soul Beasts, especially giant pythons, are skilled at constriction and are very strong. They suit you very well, Wuling."

There was another point he did not say aloud—Tang Wuling's second martial soul was the Soft Bone Rabbit, and flexibility techniques and constriction were also among the Soft Bone Rabbit's ways of injuring opponents.

This was an extremely clever choice. The constricting ability of a giant python Soul Spirit could form a subtle complement to the Soft Bone Rabbit's flexibility techniques.

Thinking of this, an image could not help surfacing in Qi Ji's mind—an adult Tang Wuling wrapping her long legs around an opponent's neck...

No, no. He hurriedly shook that image from his mind.

That was how a pure Soft Bone Rabbit Soul Master would fight. For Tang Wuling, who possessed the Golden Dragon King's power within her, the proper path should be to break all techniques with one punch. She had no need for those flashy grappling skills.

"Anyway, I'll listen to you, Qi Ji." Tang Wuling tilted her head up, her large eyes shining as her trust in Qi Ji showed almost no reservation.

She did not even spare another glance at the Soul Spirit list on the tablet, as though anything Qi Ji said had to be right.

Gu Chaosheng and Luo Yuhang exchanged a glance beside them, then nodded in unison.

So far, every choice Qi Ji had suggested had been correct, without the slightest mistake.

This child's understanding of martial souls and Soul Spirits far exceeded what a six-year-old should possess.

He was practically a master reborn!

Qi Ji: No, stop insulting me?!

"Let me see..." Qi Ji quickly scanned through the list of snake-type Soul Spirits. His gaze landed on a name, and he tapped it lightly.

"Found it. A snake-type Soul Beast around four hundred years old—an ancient Soul Beast, the Titan Python. It has no special attributes, no venom, and no elemental abilities. It is simply powerful, a pure physical strength-type Soul Beast."

Another thought turned in Qi Ji's mind—taking Jin Yu, which had gradually evolved into a five-clawed Golden Dragon under Tang Wulin's bloodline influence, as a reference, if Tang Wuling chose a Titan Python as her first Soul Spirit, perhaps it could also be influenced into becoming a true Golden Dragon after long-term exposure to the Golden Dragon bloodline.

At that point, the value of a four-hundred-year Titan Python would far exceed the value of its species itself.

"Not bad." Gu Chaosheng nodded, his tone full of praise. "Wuling, Little Qi is absolutely right. The Titan Python truly is the most suitable first Soul Spirit for you. There will be no unnecessary elemental interference, only pure strength attributes, perfectly matching your Golden Dragon Martial Soul. Even if I were choosing myself, I doubt I could find a better option."

"All right, then I'll listen to Qi Ji." Tang Wuling immediately nodded in agreement, her eyes curving into crescents as she smiled, as though Qi Ji had done her some tremendous favor.