Picking Up Fragments on Douluo Continent

"No wonder it's the number one Tool Martial Soul in the world!"

Lu Feng gazed at the fragment in his hand with satisfaction, itching to fuse it into his body right away.

"Sigh, looks like I'll have to find a chance to visit the Clear Sky Sect someday. Even if I can't pick up any black fragments, I can gather a bunch of yellow and purple Clear Sky Hammer fragments and slowly combine them."

Lu Feng put away the Martial Soul Fragment, quickly calmed himself, and began another round of meditation.

Cultivation was like rowing against the current: if one did not advance, one fell behind!

Besides, more Martial Souls were not necessarily better.

And now, another new problem lay before Lu Feng: Soul Ring selection!

Chapter 5: Planning

Outside Holy Soul Village, on a small hillside.

Lu Feng sat on the ground, writing and drawing. Beside him, several simple little "towers" had been piled up from pebbles.

If anyone else saw it, they would only think a child was playing.

"Tang Chen, Strength Attack System."

"Qian Daoliu, Strength Attack System."

"Bo Saixi, Strength Attack System."

"Golden Crocodile, Azure Luan, Lion, Light Feather, Chopsticks Brothers."

"Tang San."

Halfway through his thoughts, Lu Feng suddenly stopped and kicked away the pebble representing Tang San.

"This guy's a total cheater. He has no reference value whatsoever."

Before transmigrating, Lu Feng had read novels purely for entertainment and had never given such matters much thought.

But after transmigrating to Douluo Continent and awakening Innate Soul Power, Lu Feng had no choice but to start planning his future path.

The circles before him represented the main development paths of Soul Masters: Strength Attack System, Agility Attack System, Control System, Defense System, Support System, Healing System, and Food System.

In the circle representing the Strength Attack System, the pebbles formed a small mountain. The circles for the Agility Attack System and Control System also had a few scattered pebbles.

There was no helping it. Almost all the famous Title Douluo on the continent belonged to the Strength Attack System.

As for the Support System?

Ning Rongrong counted as one, while Oscar could only be considered half of one.

"Oh, sorry. How could I forget you, sir?" Lu Feng picked up a leftover bone and placed it in the circle representing the Defense System.

Looking at the piles of pebbles before him, Lu Feng already had his answer.

"Then the general direction of my future development will be the Strength Attack System. I can also keep one or two Agility Attack System Martial Souls in reserve. If I can't win, at least I can still run."

"Forget the Control System and Support System. Trying to swallow too much will only leave me unable to digest it."

Lu Feng swept all the pebbles before him aside and began another round of deductions.

"Qian Renxue, Balanced Style."

"Zhu Zhuqing, Extreme Style."

"Shui Bing'er."

"Ye Lingling."

Lu Feng looked at the two equally sized piles of pebbles before him and frowned slightly.

On Douluo Continent, regardless of what system a Soul Master belonged to, aside from certain special Martial Souls, their development paths could be divided into two categories: Balanced Style and Extreme Style.

The so-called Balanced Style had the advantage of versatility. One could fight and endure attacks, and exchange a few moves with anyone. It was like a top laner in a competitive game: advance, and fight one against nine alone; retreat, and sit back waiting for the enemy to surrender at fifteen.

The most typical example was Dai Mubai from the original story. Just thinking about that pile of Soul Skills that boosted all attributes by percentages made Lu Feng green with envy.

Of course, Balanced Style Soul Masters did not possess every type of Soul Skill. Rather, while maintaining their main direction, they added other abilities on the side.

An Agility Attack System Soul Master could add Support or Defense Soul Skills for themselves, but they would never waste a Soul Ring slot on a healing ability.

Not every assassin was called Master Yi.

As for the Extreme Style, as its name implied, it was about strengthening one's advantages without limit, ensuring that one aspect always held the initiative under any circumstances.

The most typical Martial Soul was the Clear Sky Hammer.

According to the original story, nearly all the Soul Rings of Clear Sky Hammer Spirit wielders added strength-based abilities.

The moment Tang Hao became a Title Douluo, he was able to carve his way out of the encirclement of Qian Xunji and the Heng Ha Two Generals. The advantage of Extreme Style Soul Masters was plain to see.

In Lu Feng's original plan, since he could use different Martial Souls, he naturally needed to account for everything and follow the Balanced Style path.

However, once he calmed down and thought it over, he discovered that things were not so simple.

"The Balanced Style is like a warrior, commonly known as a jack-of-all-trades. In battle, it can steadily display its strength against all sorts of opponents. But the drawback is obvious too. If it encounters a higher-level Balanced Style Soul Master, there is almost no chance of turning the tables."

"The Extreme Style is the exact opposite, like an assassin. There are countless examples of defeating stronger opponents and turning the tide with only a sliver of health left!"

"However."

Lu Feng pushed himself up and looked at the setting sun in the distance. "I'm not the kind of person who likes walking a tightrope!"

After transmigrating to another world, especially a fantasy world where strength reigned supreme, what was the most important thing?

Pointing at the realm, stirring up grand ambitions?

Singing passionate songs, sword in hand, roaming the ends of the earth?

No!

The most important thing was caution!

As the saying went: what was the difference between a ninety-eight percent chance and courting death?

When fighting others, if you could gang up on them, do not fight one-on-one; if you could ambush them from behind, do not launch a frontal assault; unless you surpassed the enemy by an entire major realm, never make a move lightly!

Lu Feng stood up and knocked down all the pebble piles before him.

"Scratch, scratch, scratch."

Lu Feng picked up a pebble and drew a triangle on the ground.

"Strength, speed, defense."

Soon, Lu Feng erased the triangle and replaced it with a five-pointed star.

"Besides the three essentials of online games—attack, speed, and defense—I should add Soul Power and special effects."

"Soul Power consumption and recovery will also be indispensable parts of my future training. In the original story, Tang San's Blue Silver Domain was inexhaustible, while Bo Saixi was said to be invincible in the ocean. Fighting either of them was no different from diving into the enemy's base to farm kills at their fountain."

"As for special effects—lightning, fire, ice—these attributes were basically innate to Martial Souls and very difficult to acquire later."

"Sigh, it'd be great if I could pick up the live-action version of Three Thousand Lightning Movement from Battle Through the Heavens someday!"

Lu Feng looked at the five-pointed star before him, yet felt that something was missing.

He stretched slightly and casually looked toward the village.

At that moment, thin wisps of cooking smoke rose from several places in the village. A thin little figure emerged from the village chief's house, carrying a small basket on his back.

That child was Tang San. He was probably borrowing rice from the village chief again.

Ever since Spirit Awakening, Lu Feng and Tang San had suddenly become the prized treasures of Holy Soul Village. Even the village chief's usually stingy daughter-in-law no longer complained about Old Jack helping Tang San.

After all, they were future Lord Soul Masters.

At the sight of Tang San, Lu Feng suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, I've got it—Spiritual Power!"

In the original story, there was very little description of Spiritual Power. There was not even any specialized cultivation method for Spiritual Power on the continent.

Other than naturally increasing it through Soul Power growth or absorbing a head Soul Bone, there was no other way to improve Spiritual Power.

"Purple Demon Eye, Purple Demon Eye!"

With a thought, Lu Feng checked his "inventory." Purple Demon Eye still had only six fragments.

"Looks like I'll have to supervise Tang San's training more often from now on!"

"Squeak—"

As he pushed open the gate to the small courtyard, a rich aroma of meat wafted over.

He entered the kitchen and lifted the lid of the clay pot. The pig trotters inside had already been thoroughly stewed.

Lu Feng picked up his chopsticks and placed a piece of pig skin into his mouth. A burst of delicious flavor immediately bloomed across his tongue.

Children from poor families grew up early. In his previous life, Lu Feng had already developed impressive cooking skills.

The pig trotters had been chopped into several large pieces. Lu Feng picked up the largest one, placed it in a bowl, sat on a small stool, and slowly gnawed on it.

Halfway through eating, a small arrow hole in the leg bone caught his eye.

Lu Feng stood on tiptoe and looked toward the west side of the village. Wisps of cooking smoke were also rising from Tang San's home.

"Thinking about it, it's about time for me to go collect that debt!"

Chapter 6: Collecting a Debt at the Door

A rooster's crow awakened the sleeping little village.

"Clang, clang, clang."

At the blacksmith shop, the sound of hammering rang out continuously.

Tang San swung his hammer, his clothes already soaked with sweat. Every strike was powerful and forceful.

"Stop. If you hammer like that, it won't become fist-sized even in a year," Tang Hao said.

"Dad." Tang San stopped the hammer in his hand and looked at his father in confusion.

Although Tang Hao had interrupted Tang San, the shock in his heart had not subsided. At Tang San's age, he himself had not even been able to lift a forging hammer.

"No wonder he has Innate Full Soul Power!" Tang Hao thought to himself.

"Tell me, when you forge, what part of your body exerts force first?" Tang Hao asked coldly.

Tang San thought for a moment. "It should be the waist. The waist drives the back, then the back drives the arms to swing the forging hammer?"

Tang Hao was about to correct Tang San when a hurried knocking sounded from outside.

"Bang, bang, bang."

"Blacksmith Tang, are you home?" Lu Feng's voice called from outside the door.

"Bang, bang, bang."

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Tang Hao walked to the door impatiently and pulled it open.

"Why are you here so early in the morning, you brat—"

Before Tang Hao could finish speaking, he suddenly saw the half pig head Lu Feng was carrying.

His expression instantly brightened as he laughed loudly. "Haha, Lu Feng, you came and even brought a gift? Did you use up those arrowheads from last time?"

Without waiting for Lu Feng to answer, Tang Hao snatched the pig head from his hands.

After arriving in Holy Soul Village, Tang Hao spent every day longing for his late wife and could only numb himself with alcohol.

Gradually, he actually grew accustomed to that life.

Food like pig ears was something Tang Hao would not have spared a glance at in the past. But now, he felt they were the most delicious drinking snack on the continent.

"Oh, Tang San's home too," Lu Feng said with a smile.

"Judging by this, Tang Hao must be teaching Tang San how to forge. I came at just the right time!" Lu Feng secretly rejoiced.

"Lu Feng, what do you need?" Tang San asked guiltily.

Tang San had actually forgotten about cutting corners last time, since so much time had passed.

However, when Lu Feng came to his door again, Tang San immediately remembered.

He can't be that petty, can he? Tang San silently prayed.