The Asura God's Successor (Please Vote)

Jiang Mingyang had thought carefully about how to deal with the Dark Gold Hell Three-Headed Bat King.

The Dark Gold Hell Three-Headed Bat King was probably a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, but as a bat, he could fly.

That made him far harder to handle than an ordinary Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Jiang Mingyang had to kill him in one strike, or he would have no choice but to flee.

In theory, because the Spiritual Holy Sword had a fifty-percent chance of striking the soul directly, Jiang Mingyang could kill the Dark Gold Hell Three-Headed Bat King with two swords.

The problem was that his Imperial Jade Seal had lit up for no apparent reason back in Slaughter City.

When Jiang Mingyang returned to his resting place and entered his Sea of Consciousness, he discovered that the Imperial Jade Seal's presence had grown much stronger than when he had first obtained it.

A vast amount of knowledge had also been etched into his Sea of Consciousness. Judging by the information the Imperial Jade Seal had conveyed to him,

these seemed to be general theories about the world of Douluo Continent, derived from the Imperial Jade Seal's perception of that world's consciousness.

One theory held that, as Soul Beasts grew older, they tended to strengthen their souls' innate defenses before reaching ten thousand years, barring those with unusual gifts.

As a result, their intelligence developed especially slowly before that point.

At the same time, their souls' innate defenses improved enormously with age, making them increasingly resistant to mental attacks.

After reaching ten thousand years, however, Soul Beasts gradually began to focus on developing their souls' offensive abilities.

Thus, the vast majority of Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts possessed Spiritual Shock. The powerful Spiritual Shock encountered when absorbing a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring made that clear.

During this period, frequent use of mental power to develop offensive abilities also caused their intelligence to grow rapidly.

By the time Soul Beasts reached a hundred thousand years, their intelligence was generally comparable to an ordinary person's.

Humans were much the same, except that they could attain a high level of intelligence while still in their teens.

In a contest of consciousness, intelligence was, in essence, both a special offensive ability and a special defensive one.

That was why a Soul King would generally win a contest of consciousness against a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast: the Soul King was actually more intelligent.

Compared with mental offensive ability, the soul's defensive ability was much harder to improve.

Generally speaking, the defensive ability of a human soul improved as its owner's cultivation rose.

But even a Titled Douluo could hardly compare with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in that regard.

As for mental attacks, a Titled Douluo's theoretical upper limit was far higher than a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's.

But the people of Douluo Continent relied too heavily on Soul Skills. Like Soul Beasts, they used only crude mental attacks.

So Titled Douluos and Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts were, in practice, evenly matched in mental offense.

Since Titled Douluos were weaker in soul defense, while Soul Beasts had thick hides and tough flesh,

the vast majority of Titled Douluos could not defeat Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.

Absorbing a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring was also extremely difficult because Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts had already developed exceptional intelligence.

In theory, it was impossible for a Soul Douluo to withstand the Spiritual Shock of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

But during Soul Ring absorption, only part of the beast's consciousness delivered the Spiritual Shock.

That gave a Soul Douluo a chance to absorb a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring successfully.

At the same time, apart from people with unusual gifts, even Titled Douluos found it difficult to actively develop mental offensive abilities.

Most Titled Douluos could only launch primitive, crude attacks once their cultivation reached a certain level.

Moreover, because Martial Souls existed, most Titled Douluos attributed the ability to launch mental attacks to one's Martial Soul. They believed it belonged exclusively to Soul Masters with mental-type Martial Souls.

As a result, virtually no one tried to develop it. Even when someone did, mental power demanded real talent.

So almost no Titled Douluo achieved anything through such efforts.

On top of that, even mental-type Soul Masters on Douluo Continent placed little importance on mental attacks. Ordinary mental attacks could be canceled out with powerful Soul Power.

Over time, Titled Douluos came to disregard mental attacks altogether.

Generally, they might use them only to exert pressure on lower-level Soul Masters.

Furthermore, although Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts were less intelligent than ordinary people, their souls were stronger than a Soul King's. In other words, their souls had stronger innate defenses.

In fact, whether the target was human or Soul Beast, if they had no ability to repair their soul, two strikes from Jiang Mingyang's swords would theoretically wound it and bring about mental death.

In reality, though, every species' soul protected itself.

Generally speaking, that capacity for self-protection increased with strength.

This meant that a mental attack aimed at the soul first had to break through its innate defenses.

So when Jiang Mingyang attacked the Dark Gold Hell Three-Headed Bat King, he would need several swords to break through his soul's defenses.

He was unlikely to leave him dazed and helpless with a single strike to the soul, as he could an ordinary Soul Master.

Taking into account the fact that Soul Skills could not be used in Slaughter City, Jiang Mingyang finally reached a conclusion:

If he wanted to kill the Dark Gold Hell Three-Headed Bat King with any certainty, he needed to save all his Spiritual Holy Swords for him.

With his current mental power, Jiang Mingyang could form ten complete Spiritual Holy Swords.

In practice, though, he could only release nine. Releasing the tenth would drain his mental power and make him faint.

Jiang Mingyang refused to believe the Dark Gold Hell Three-Headed Bat King could still be leaping around after taking nine Spiritual Holy Swords.

Looking at the Dark Gold Hell Three-Headed Bat King before him, Jiang Mingyang did not hesitate. He poured all his strength into forming nine Spiritual Holy Swords.

Before the Dark Gold Hell Three-Headed Bat King could react, Jiang Mingyang unleashed them.

The fourth Spiritual Holy Sword struck. The Dark Gold Hell Three-Headed Bat King collapsed at once, his eyes turning vacant.

Jiang Mingyang was overjoyed. And so the curtain fell on a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast...

Far away in the Divine Realm, the Asura God King, who had been watching Jiang Mingyang's every move, narrowed his eyes at the sight.

Talent of this caliber... The Asura God King quietly looked around. Hmm... no other gods.

Then a powerful figure appeared on the Road of Slaughter.

A ripple passed through the air, and Jiang Mingyang felt himself enter another space in an instant.

A tall, imposing figure sat on a throne before him. He seemed to be judging all living beings, his eyes filled with cold indifference.

The figure beckoned toward Slaughter City, and a sword appeared in his hand.

At the same time, a beam of light flew from his hand. The King of Slaughter's eyes instantly cleared, while the Blood-Red Figure inside him was obliterated.

Then the figure slowly raised the Divine Sword and swept it through the empty air before him. In a commanding voice, he declared, "I am the Asura God King! One of the Divine Realm's Three Law Enforcers and five council members!"

Jiang Mingyang was wildly excited, but he remained neither servile nor arrogant.

The Asura God King smiled slowly. "Your heart's pounding that hard, yet your face doesn't give a thing away! Well, well..."

Jiang Mingyang was not embarrassed. This was a God King! What was wrong with being a little thick-skinned if it helped him keep his composure?

Besides, would a God King send down an incarnation for no reason?

The Asura God King regarded Jiang Mingyang with satisfaction and said slowly, "Little fellow, you've just barely met the minimum standard to inherit my position as the Asura God King. Keep working hard! Come back here once you've become a Titled Douluo!"

The Asura God King tossed the Asura Demon Sword into Jiang Mingyang's hands, then slowly vanished.

Jiang Mingyang looked at the Asura Demon Sword in his hands, his spirits soaring.

He did not doubt the Asura God King's claim that he had "just barely met the minimum standard."

It was not that Jiang Mingyang knew nothing of the original story. Rather, he understood perfectly well that, in theory, there was no upper limit to what an heir to a God King's position might achieve.

That meant the requirements could be limitless. Saying he had merely met the minimum standard was no exaggeration.

Of course, that minimum standard might also be the ceiling!

Then Jiang Mingyang strode forward with the Asura Demon Sword in hand and left Slaughter City.

He first pursued letters, but failed the examinations for three years.

He turned to martial arts. On the training ground, he loosed one arrow, hit the official beside the drum, and was expelled.

He then went into business. First he met a swindler, then a thief, then a bandit.

So he tilled the fields himself. One year brought severe drought, the next great floods, and the next a plague of locusts.

Then he studied medicine, achieved some proficiency, and wrote a fine prescription of his own.

He took it. He died.

"The Life of an Unlucky Person"