Heavenly Restriction, Toji Fushiguro

Hei Ranbai sat down cross-legged and began absorbing his soul ring. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Gangzi, who had already regained consciousness, and an anxious Tang San.

"Thank goodness, Ranbai's all right." Tang San let out a sigh of relief.

"Ranbai, what's your soul skill?" Gangzi asked eagerly.

"First Soul Skill, Shadow Binding!"

Thick shadows spread like ink, enveloping Hei Ranbai's entire body.

"This is my first soul skill. It can bind an opponent or wrap around me to protect my body," Hei Ranbai explained simply. He was quite pleased with this skill. It could serve as the foundation for Barrier Ninjutsu, making it easier to construct a domain later.

At the very least, he wouldn't end up making a deluxe Simple Domain like Megumi Fushiguro's. He had no desire to play elephant versus house.

Tang San also introduced his soul skill. It was still the same Mother's Entanglement as in the original story.

With that, their soul-hunting trip came to a successful end.

Everyone had been in a pretty good mood. Although Gangzi had injured his backside, he had at least secured soul rings for his disciple and prospective disciple.

Because of his injured backside, Gangzi limped when he got out of the carriage, even needing Tang San and Hei Ranbai to support him.

Just then, a familiar voice rang out. "Well, well, if it isn't Gangzi! What happened to your ass?"

Gangzi turned toward the voice, his face darkening.

The newcomer was Bai Ranmo's middle-aged clone.

"Oh, I heard you took your two students out soul hunting, Gangzi. I was wondering how that hilarious Fart Soul Skill of yours could possibly kill soul beasts. Now I get it. To help your two students hunt soul beasts, did you have to offer someone a little something to get them to do it for you?"

Bai Ranmo glanced at Gangzi's odd gait, making his meaning perfectly clear. He laughed without restraint. "Hahahaha... Grandmaster really lives up to his name! What a wonderful teacher, so devoted to his students. There's nothing he won't sacrifice for them!"

Hearing someone insult his teacher—and realizing it was that same bastard from before—Tang San flew into a rage.

"Apologize! Apologize to my teacher right now!" Now that Tang San had his first soul ring, he wasn't remotely afraid of the man insulting his teacher.

"Well, well, aren't you an arrogant little shit! I kindly warned you not to take Gangzi as your teacher, and this is how you repay me? Come on, then! If you've got the guts, kill me right here in public!"

Looking utterly fearless, Bai Ranmo stuck his neck out.

Tang San clenched his fists, the Silent Sleeve Arrow inside his sleeve ready to fire at any moment.

"Xiao San, we're in public..." Hei Ranbai gripped Tang San's hand tightly.

Pretending to suspect that Tang San was about to use a soul skill, Hei Ranbai shook his head in concern.

Tang San looked around and saw that there really were too many people nearby. He silently resolved to find another chance to kill this bastard for insulting his teacher.

Under Bai Ranmo's deafening verbal assault, the group left with dark expressions.

Looking at the emotion points filling his screen, Bai Ranmo felt thoroughly satisfied.

But why does my scalp feel all prickly? It's like I'm about to get hammered to death...

Sure enough, that very night, Tang Hao smashed Bai Ranmo's clone to death with his hammer.

Previously, Bai Ranmo had only insulted Gangzi, so Tang Hao hadn't harbored any hostility toward him. But this man had dared to curse his darling son. That was utterly unforgivable.

Bai Ranmo didn't mind losing a One-Ring Soul Master clone. He had seen it coming anyway, so he had withdrawn his main consciousness from the clone and hadn't felt any pain. Besides, clones like that were cheap. He could easily make another hundred and send them to mock Gangzi every day.

Still, he would remember this grudge.

Once I have enough points in a few days, I'll make a Peak Soul Douluo clone and steal your wife! Even if I can't steal your wife, I'll steal her soul bone!

Ever since his daily emotion point cap had reached 8,000, Bai Ranmo no longer had to pinch pennies when spending points.

First, he would make a hundred ordinary people, then ten White-Ring Soul Masters, and have them mock Gangzi every day. He set himself a modest goal: max out his daily allowance of 8,000 emotion points.

Finally, twenty days later, Bai Ranmo created his first powerful clone.

[Clone: Toji Fushiguro]

[Martial soul: Heavenly Restriction]

[Soul power level: 89.9 (Soul Douluo)]

[Soul skills: All enhance physique]

[Innate weapons: Inverted Spear of Heaven, Playful Cloud, Soul-Eater Blade, Chain of a Thousand Miles]

That was right—the clone he ended up making was Toji Fushiguro. He was Megumi Fushiguro's father, after all. He had to pay him some tribute.

Unlike the original, who had traded away all cursed energy for an extraordinary body, the Toji of the Douluo Continent possessed soul power. It was simply so faint that it served only to sustain the existence of his martial soul as a concept.

He couldn't use soul skills either. Strictly speaking, once he absorbed a soul ring, its soul skill fused with his body, strengthening it in every respect.

If I had soul power and got my hands on Tang San's mother's soul bone, wouldn't I be invincible? The thought flashed through Toji's mind.

Just imagine how powerful someone with Heavenly Restriction would be if he could use Reverse Cursed Technique. Of course, neither the original Tyrant nor the Douluo Tyrant could do that. Although the Douluo version of Toji had soul power, again, it only sustained the existence of his martial soul as a concept. Anyone who examined Toji without knowing better would think he was merely a Soul Ancestor.

He selected a random hundred-thousand-year soul bone from the panel. After he confirmed its use, it turned out to be a Torso Bone.

"Lucky me!" Toji's eyes lit up. Aside from external soul bones, Torso Soul Bones were the most valuable kind.

This soul bone had two soul skills, but Toji had no interest in even looking at them. Like his soul skills, the soul bone's abilities would go directly toward strengthening his body.

Without hesitation, Toji immediately absorbed the hundred-thousand-year soul bone. His soul power level had already been just a step away from level 90.

The boost from the hundred-thousand-year soul bone instantly pushed him through the level-90 bottleneck.

Then Toji used a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring. The God-Given Soul Ring settled directly around him. After absorbing a hundred-thousand-year soul bone and a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring in succession, Toji's soul power level shot straight to 92, not far from 93.

"Next comes the Titled Douluo Investiture... But where should I go? The Heaven Dou Empire or Spirit Hall?" Toji began to consider his options.

A Titled Douluo Investiture required personal recognition from one of the Two Great Empires or Spirit Hall. Rather than recognition, though, it was more of an announcement to the world.

In the end, he decided to undergo his Titled Douluo Investiture in the Heaven Dou Empire. After all, this clone would eventually be established as Hei Ranbai's father. In other words, he was theoretically part of the heroes' camp, so it was better to avoid getting involved with Spirit Hall.

But before that...