"Chen Xin was really that poor? Didn't he have a single soul bone on him?"
Ji Juechen swept his gaze over the spot where Chen Xin had fallen. After his death, the level 96 Sword Douluo had left behind only a Storage Soul Tool. Not a single soul bone had dropped from his body.
"That's right."
Li Chen stepped forward and picked up the Storage Soul Tool Chen Xin had left behind. Three Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones lay inside, all of mediocre quality. Presumably, the Soul Hunting Operation had only just begun.
"Elder Kong, Old Ji, let's head back."
The three took flight and began their return journey.
On the way,
Kong Deming asked worriedly, "Li Chen, although you have the Emperor Auspicious Beast as your soul spirit, Beast God Di Tian isn't so easy to fool. How do you plan to maintain the balance between humans and soul beasts?"
When dealing with Di Tian,
even someone as powerful as Kong Deming had to exercise caution.
After all, he was an existence who could surpass a Limit Douluo.
In Kong Deming's eyes, Qian Daoliu, with his angel divine power, merely qualified to fight Di Tian. He wouldn't necessarily win.
Li Chen pondered.
"First, we need to popularize the Soul Spirit Method and make every soul master on the continent learn how to form contracts with soul spirits."
"Second, we need to establish protected areas. On the physical level, we have to designate habitats where soul beasts can live and reproduce."
"On the spiritual level, we need a system for recycling soul spirits so they don't disappear when their soul masters die. That means we'll need a dedicated place to house them. Ideally, soul spirits should be able to naturally increase their age and strength there, even after leaving their soul masters."
At this point,
Li Chen discovered another problem.
Setting aside whether he could house soul spirits in a Spirit Ascension Platform like the Spirit Pagoda in the era of Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King,
recycling soul spirits was itself a difficult problem.
Even the Spirit Pagoda had never solved it.
Even if he managed it,
it would inevitably create new social problems. Some soul masters would surely set their sights on other people's soul spirits, then forcibly kill those soul masters and steal their soul spirits.
It would be similar to organ transplants.
It would breed an entire underground soul spirit industry.
However, this clearly wasn't among Di Tian's concerns. Whether human society lived or died had nothing whatsoever to do with soul beasts like him.
"That's difficult."
Kong Deming shook his head after hearing just a couple of points.
Soul spirits were already spiritual entities. He had no idea what sort of place could house spiritual entities.
Moreover, they needed to keep soul spirits from dissipating when their soul masters died.
Kong Deming thought that soul masters in human society would certainly get other ideas upon seeing this.
If soul spirits could live forever, could humans become something similar to soul spirits?!
If that really were possible,
wouldn't that mean humans and soul beasts would never truly die again?
If humans and soul beasts kept increasing in number, just how chaotic would this world become?
The more Kong Deming thought about it, the more complicated it seemed. Faced with these complex problems, he was as helpless as a child.
"It certainly is difficult, but I can ask my superintelligence."
Li Chen smiled.
A dial appeared in his right eye, and he immediately entered his questions with a thought.
His supercomputer martial soul immediately began processing, and Li Chen's soul power started falling along with it. Unlike before, his computer spirit entered a prolonged state of contemplation this time.
But Li Chen wasn't in a hurry.
His soul power wasn't being consumed very quickly. He could simply keep flying toward Heaven Dou City and wait.
After a night had passed and Heaven Dou City appeared before Li Chen,
his supercomputer martial soul finished its calculations.
[The following solutions are offered in response to Master's questions.] [1. Obtain a fragment of the Divine Realm plane and use it as technological support for the Spirit Ascension Platform to establish a soul spirit habitat.] [2. Continue upgrading me. With greater computing power, I will research methods of creating digital life. Humans can become digital lifeforms after death.] [3. Develop a physical supercomputer to monitor human society. This will effectively reduce soul spirit transplant crimes and other crime rates.] [4. The soul spirit recycling system requires you, Master, to establish new laws for the world after becoming a god. These would resemble an underworld: after human soul masters die, their souls enter the underworld, while their soul spirits are released from their contracts and naturally do not perish along with their soul masters' souls.]
"Hmm, nicely done."
Li Chen quickly read through everything and considered it carefully. He found that the superbrain's proposed strategies really did have some merit.
If he could put them into practice,
then when humans died, their original lives could become digital lifeforms, while their souls would enter the underworld.
Soul spirits wouldn't have to dissipate alongside their soul masters either, and could be reused.
It was easy to imagine, then,
that as time passed, the number of soul spirits would rapidly increase. By then, the conflict between humans and soul beasts would be resolved completely.
But...
The most crucial part, the soul spirit recycling system, could only be implemented after he became a god. Would Di Tian be willing to take that gamble?
At that thought,
Li Chen gave a derisive chuckle.
Heh, whether he gambled or not wasn't up to Di Tian.
A Level 9 Fixed-Installed Soul Tool Shell was already enough to threaten Di Tian's life. Once I develop a Level 12 Fixed-Installed Soul Tool Shell, if Di Tian survives a single hit, I'll count it as a dud!
The three returned to Heaven Dou City.
All three were old hands at keeping a straight face. Their expressions remained perfectly normal, showing not the slightest change after killing Sword Douluo.
Li Chen immediately returned to the shop.
"Yuhao, how are things going?"
Huo Yuhao looked up and stopped inscribing the Magic Array in his hands. "Everything's going well. We've already delivered half of Xue Ye's order. Over the past few days, we've started getting private orders too!"
"Private orders?" Li Chen took a sip of water.
"Yes. Heaven Dou City's Heaven Dou Imperial Academy and the Heaven Dou Empire's Five Elemental Academies have all approached us over the past few days, saying they wanted to buy Soul Guidance Milk Bottles. Soul Guidance Milk Bottles can triple a soul master's endurance, so their academies are eager to use this technology in competitions!"
Huo Yuhao had also taken the opportunity during this period to learn about Heaven Dou City.
He had even asked about the academies when their deans visited.
He had met some of their prodigies, such as Dugu Yan and Yu Tianheng from Heaven Dou Royal Academy,
as well as Huo Wu from Blazing Fire Academy, Huyan Li from Elephant Armor Academy, and Feng Xiaotian from Godwind Academy.
Huo Yuhao had met them all, but in Huo Gua's eyes, these prodigies were nothing special.
Li Chen nodded. "That's to be expected. The Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament is only a year away. They probably want to familiarize themselves with using Soul Guidance Milk Bottles ahead of time."
Huo Yuhao smiled. "You guessed right. The people accompanying their deans were all prodigies from their respective academies. One girl named Shui Bing'er even insisted on fighting me when she saw me."
Li Chen chuckled.
"And then? Did you agree?"
Huo Yuhao grinned. "I didn't want to stomp a rookie, but this girl kept begging for a beating. I agreed to fight her at the Soul Fighting Arena tonight. I'll suppress my level, and if she doesn't go down after one soul skill, I lose."
Li Chen couldn't stop laughing when he heard that.
Shui Bing'er must have been drunk out of her mind to dare challenge Huo Gua to a duel. Never mind Huo Gua's current higher level-even at the same level, Shui Bing'er couldn't beat him.
Just then,
a panicked voice rang out from outside the shop.
"Someone, come quickly! Young Master Li! Young Master Huo! Elder Kong! Something terrible has happened! The Soul Guidance Milk Bottles we were transporting have been stolen!"
Li Chen and Huo Yuhao exchanged a glance, then walked outside with furrowed brows.
Before you continue