["Soul Masters and soul beasts complemented one another. If Soul Masters slaughtered soul beasts at will, then one day, Soul Masters would also head toward oblivion as soul beasts went extinct. Since you don't need this soul beast for a soul ring, spare its life."]
[Soul Masters needed soul beasts to cultivate. The number of soul rings a Soul Master absorbed in a lifetime was limited, but the soul beasts they killed were beyond counting.]
[Truly wise Soul Masters all understood that, unless the Soul Masters' cultivation system changed, one day it would decline along with the soul beasts.]
[As the leader of one of the Soul Master World's foremost powers, all Qian Daoliu could do was try to teach his own Soul Masters not to slaughter soul beasts excessively. This was also the publicly acknowledged consensus among the major powers.]
["..."]
[Dugu Feng said nothing, merely putting away the sword in his hand slowly.]
["Squawk!"]
[The Wind Blade Falcon seized the opportunity to beat its wings and lurch unsteadily toward the Heavenly Mechanism.]
[Beast God above, what strange business-getting elbowed by a human cub.]
[Seeing this, Qian Daoliu also breathed a sigh of relief.]
[As expected, Dugu Feng simply lacked proper guidance. At heart, he was still a good child.]
["Once Xiao Xue reaches that stage in the future, little Feng will be able to take over my duties..."]
[The image suddenly shook, then sank into darkness. When it appeared again, it showed an entirely different scene.]
[Inside a bustling hall, several six-year-old children stood quietly in line. Up ahead, one child had already completed his martial soul awakening.]
[The child's hair was half black and half white, and he stared blankly at the martial soul before him.]
[The martial soul had golden skin and a plump, puppy-shaped body. At that moment, it was looking adorably at its master.]
[The instant this martial soul appeared, another black-haired boy, lavishly dressed and seemingly seven or eight years old, immediately stared at him with worry written across his face.]
["Yu Tiansheng, awakened martial soul... Pig? Innate soul power... half a rank."]
["No... is this a dog?"]
[With the officiating elder's words, the Celestial Screen went dark.]
Heaven Dou Empire, Nuoding City.
"I have a part in this too?"
Watching the final scene before the Celestial Screen went dark, Yu Xiaogang's eyes lit up.
An almost identical martial soul, the same Innate Half-Level Soul Power.
Anyone recorded by the Celestial Screen had to be extraordinary in some way.
After all, the first people to appear on the Celestial Screen had been those three legendary figures.
Could it be...
"In the future, under my guidance, this child will surely overcome his martial soul's innate defects and become a powerhouse no inferior to Dugu Feng. After all, Dugu Feng has already wasted his first two soul rings."
Yu Xiaogang had to admit that Dugu Feng truly was a genius among geniuses.
"If I had taught him from the beginning, I would have added two soul rings from ice-attribute plant soul beasts to Frost-Cold Nine Provinces, strengthening its ice attribute."
"Given time, this child would surely have become a Titled Douluo renowned for ice control."
"Unfortunately, though, Dugu Feng's first two soul rings have already been wasted."
"One of those soul rings even exceeds the age he can withstand. His body must have suffered damage, squandering his potential on something like this. He truly doesn't treasure his own gifts."
"As for this child named Yu Tiansheng..."
"Heh, his surname is Yu, and the scene on the Celestial Screen was clearly the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's council hall. It seems I must have resolved Luo Sanpao's martial soul defects in the future."
In his room at Nuoding Academy, Yu Xiaogang looked at the books filling the room, brimming with confidence.
It was as though he could already see himself resolving Luo Sanpao's martial soul defects, returning to the clan to slap the faces of those who had looked down on him, and finally guiding this child named Yu Tiansheng to revive the clan.
Yu Xiaogang still had some self-awareness. Already advanced in years, he was past the golden age for cultivation. Even if he resolved his martial soul's defects, leading the clan alone would still be somewhat taxing.
With his experience cultivating the Luo Sanpao martial soul, if he instructed Yu Tiansheng, Yu Tiansheng would surely become a Titled Douluo. Then, master and disciple would naturally be able to lead the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan to rise again.
"But I haven't heard of any genius in Spirit Hall lately. It seems Spirit Hall hasn't found Dugu Feng yet."
"In that case, he is meant to be my disciple. With Tiansheng and Dugu Feng under my tutelage, two Douluos from a single lineage, let's see who dares belittle my theories!"
"Hahaha!"
In the otherwise empty room, Yu Xiaogang, mentally pleasuring himself and utterly immersed in his own world, had already seen his bright future.
"Dugu Feng... Yu Tiansheng... It seems the heroes of this world can't be underestimated."
In Holy Soul Village, Tang San looked at the sky, which had already returned to normal, and could not help sighing.
But his pride as a Tang Sect disciple made Tang San confident that he would lose to neither of them in the future.
Twin martial souls, innate full soul power.
After this period of exposure to the Celestial Screen, Tang San had gained a clear understanding of his own talent.
His hammer martial soul, in particular, should be the Clear Sky Hammer!
The Clear Sky Hammer of the peerless rank-99 powerhouse, Clear Sky Douluo Tang Chen!
"Clear Sky Douluo Tang Chen. I have twin martial souls as well as the Tang Sect Secret Arts. In the future, I will certainly surpass this senior too." Curling the fingers of his left hand slightly around empty air, Tang San's eyes brimmed with confidence.
Still, I wonder what connection Dad has to this legendary Clear Sky Douluo. Did my Clear Sky Hammer martial soul come from this Clear Sky Douluo?
Unfortunately, Dad doesn't seem willing to tell me.
Turning his gaze toward his father's room, so quiet it was beginning to stink, Tang San wondered whether he should ask again.
"...Forget it. A parent's word stands above heaven. Dad has no intention of telling me now, presumably because I'm too weak."
"As long as I work hard to grow stronger, one day Dad will be open with me!"
Confidence flashed in his eyes as Tang San rose and headed toward the kitchen. After all, they still had to eat.
"Ah Yin, our child has grown up..."
Watching the child stand on a stool to cook through tear-blurred eyes, the current Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao, clenched his fists.
"Don't worry, Ah Yin. I will make sure our child becomes a true powerhouse!"
"Even someone with Innate Half-Level Soul Power can appear on the Celestial Screen. There must be some fortuitous opportunity involved. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan... and Dugu Feng, an eight-year-old Soul Elder. If I can't obtain him, then... I'll destroy him myself!"
Meanwhile, in the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's central hall, a trace of excitement shone in the eyes of its clan leader, Yu Yuanzhen.
The core clan elders gathered around the central hall also had eyes full of delighted surprise.
"One has a martial soul like Xiao Gang's. He probably appeared on the Celestial Screen because of some unusual opportunity in his future. But the other child..."
The appearance of another "Luo Sanpao" was not the reason for Yu Yuanzhen's delighted surprise. What truly excited him was the other child, who had appeared only briefly on the Celestial Screen.
"For the Celestial Screen to give him a close-up, there must be something extraordinary about him. If he's a genius who can rival Dugu Feng..."
The appearance of the Celestial Screen had also shown the entire continent what true peerless geniuses were.
Qian Daoliu, Tang Chen, and Bo Saixi in their youth, and the recently revealed Dugu Feng-an eight-year-old Soul Elder whose second ring was a thousand-year ring, who could battle a thousand-year soul beast.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was desperately short of geniuses.
The two brothers, Yu Tianxin and Yu Tianheng, could only be called geniuses. It would be good enough if they could become Titled Douluos in the future. They could not compare at all with a genius like Dugu Feng.
An eight-year-old Soul Elder-how many people in history had managed that?
At present, the entire Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had only one Titled Douluo: its clan leader, Yu Yuanzhen. The burden of the whole clan rested on his shoulders alone, and the hardship was truly beyond words.
Laughably enough, apart from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the Upper Three Sects were all renowned throughout the world for their overwhelming strength.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect remained unsurpassed in wealth, with extensive connections.
Even though the Clear Sky Sect had been forced into seclusion, the Clear Sky Douluo's formidable reputation still awed the world.
Only the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had clearly begun to go downhill.
If this continued, even its position among the Upper Three Sects would likely be hard to preserve.
"Clan leader! We've found that child!"
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