Li Chen opened the door, and Long Xiaoyao peeked in. "Sorry, little brother. I didn't know you were picking up girls. If I'd known, I wouldn't have come. How about we leave now?"
"You're joking, Brother Long. She's just my senior sister, not my girlfriend."
Long Xiaoyao's eyes lit up. "There's cosplay involved too? You youngsters really know how to spice things up."
Behind him, Ye Zhaolu pinched Long Xiaoyao's back and twisted hard. "Don't corrupt the young!"
"Hiss-ah, yes, yes."
Long Xiaoyao grumbled inwardly. He was corrupting Li Chen?
At Li Chen's age, he had still been fiddling with game consoles. How would he have thought of picking up girls?!
Li Chen said, "Come in. She really isn't my girlfriend. We were just testing my new Soul Skill."
"A new Soul Skill? You-you've become a Soul Ancestor?!"
Long Xiaoyao led Ye Zhaolu inside by the hand, and the two sat down.
Both Long Xiaoyao and Ye Zhaolu were astonished. After all, just over a month ago, hadn't Li Chen only been a rank 31 Soul Elder?
Li Chen smiled as he poured them tea. "Yes, just a lucky break."
"Hiss. Little brother, do you really have a Divine Test from the God of Love?"
Long Xiaoyao knew full well that gaining ten ranks of Soul Power in a month was absolutely fucking impossible through normal cultivation.
The only explanation
was that him getting together with Ye Zhaolu had been part of the God of Love's Divine Test, and this was Li Chen's reward for it!
"Yes. But you'll have to keep this a secret. Don't spread it around."
Li Chen smiled as he spoke.
The Tree of Sorrow was still hard for Douluo natives to understand, but calling it the God of Love's Divine Test made things much easier.
"We understand, we understand."
Long Xiaoyao and Ye Zhaolu exchanged a glance. Even with their memories from ten thousand years ago, they were astonished.
After all,
they hadn't fucking seen a Divine Test ten thousand years ago either.
They had only heard of them.
But during the Peerless era ten thousand years ago, the Angel God and Rakshasa God inheritances had already been lost.
The Sea God and Asura God inheritances supposedly existed, but in reality, Tang San occupied those positions and had no intention of passing them on.
So, for the Douluo Continent, becoming a god was almost impossible.
In the current Dragon King era,
it was even more impossible.
No native had been able to become a god for a very long time.
Ye Zhaolu considered for a moment before speaking.
"Li Chen, could you tell us how you obtained your Divine Test?"
"The thing is, Xiaoyao... burned his origin before. Now, I'm afraid his strength will remain stuck at rank 97 for the rest of his life, with no way to advance."
"I was thinking that perhaps only a Divine Test could change all this."
As Ye Zhaolu spoke, she looked at Long Xiaoyao with a slight ache in her heart.
Long Xiaoyao scratched his head, pretending not to care at all. "Little brother, don't listen to her nonsense. If I can't break through, then I can't. It won't kill me."
Li Chen spoke sincerely.
"Sorry, I don't know how I obtained it either. It might have something to do with my Martial Soul. I can't communicate with the God of Love either. There's only the Divine Test in my mind. Completing a task earns me a reward, and if I can't complete it, I stay stuck on that task."
"I see."
Ye Zhaolu looked regretful.
Then she suddenly smiled again. "It's all right. We're still young. I still have plenty of time to research this."
"Yes. I believe you can do it, Sister Ye."
"By the way, how does the Federation intend to handle this incident?"
Long Xiaoyao smiled. "Fines, of course. What else? Shrek was fined five hundred million Federation coins to compensate the victims' families, plus another billion to cover the various losses suffered by Mingdu."
"Cai Yue'er has been expelled from Shrek for good. The Federation made a statue of her kneeling and plans to put it outside the victims' cemetery."
"Apparently, Ya Li also has to compensate me and the War God Temple for some losses. She asked for my opinion, but I haven't discussed it with her yet."
Ye Zhaolu snorted coldly. "Shrek ruined your prospects of becoming a Limit Douluo. What compensation could ever make up for that?!"
Long Xiaoyao patted her hand.
"We're still here, safe and sound. I'm already very satisfied."
Long Xiaoyao didn't know whether it was because of his past-life memories, but his temperament had lost much of its edge.
Before,
he would at least have made Long Yeyue drag herself over to apologize.
But now,
Long Xiaoyao no longer cared much about that sort of token compensation.
Besides,
he and Ye Zhaolu were the reincarnations of two Evil Soul Masters from a past life. That actually left Long Xiaoyao feeling faintly worried.
"Let's stop talking about that and discuss something good. Ye Zhaolu's Martial Soul Reshaping Surgery was a complete success, and all her injuries have healed."
Long Xiaoyao smiled. "All I can say is that the Bright Phoenix Martial Soul is a bit sneaky. A single Phoenix Nirvana can even repair a shattered Soul Core."
"The Federation has now officially launched a project based on Zhaolu's invention, with large numbers of researchers devoting all their efforts to refining and advancing this new technology."
"I think that perhaps, before long, Soul Masters who awaken evil Martial Souls will be able to reshape them right after awakening. That way, Evil Soul Masters will be strangled in the cradle."
Li Chen smiled and nodded.
To be honest,
even he hadn't expected this development.
"It's not that simple."
Ye Zhaolu spoke, deeply worried.
"If Martial Soul Reshaping Surgery is only used to reshape evil Martial Souls, then it would naturally be a good thing."
"But human ambition never stops there. I can imagine that, in the future, someone in the Federation will inevitably start using this as a foundation to artificially create Martial Souls!"
Ye Zhaolu's tone was grave.
The Douluo Continent had developed for tens of thousands of years. By now, never mind Soul Masters, even ordinary people knew that some Martial Souls were stronger than others!
Twenty thousand years ago, Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang had said something about there being no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters.
That was utter bullshit!
No shit, that was just what you said when you'd fucking awakened a useless Martial Soul and had no other options!
Given a choice, who wouldn't want a powerful Martial Soul?!
"Everyone having powerful Martial Souls sounds pretty good too."
Long Xiaoyao was puzzled. "What's there to worry about?"
Li Chen explained.
"Brother Long, Martial Soul reshaping isn't without barriers to entry. What Sister Ye means is, once Martial Soul reshaping is opened up completely, who do you think will have better access to it?"
"The rich and powerful, or ordinary people? Surely it's the rich and powerful who'll have the resources to reshape their Martial Souls?
"Besides, even if everyone can reshape their Martial Souls, there will still be differences in strength among powerful Martial Souls. Those in power will inevitably adjust their own Martial Souls to the stronger tier."
"For ordinary people in the Federation, acquiring a Soul Spirit to go with a Soul Ring is already very expensive. Now they'll have to add Martial Soul reshaping, too, so their children don't lose at the starting line."
Li Chen's tone was equally grave.
"Without strict controls, Martial Soul reshaping won't erase the gap between classes. It will only widen it!"
Understanding dawned on Long Xiaoyao.
Beside him, Ye Zhaolu gave Li Chen a surprised look. She hadn't expected him to think so deeply about this.
"Then... what do we do about it?"
Long Xiaoyao's head was about to explode.
Thinking it over carefully, if things really reached that point, those at the top might even be able to mass-produce legions of warriors with top-tier Martial Souls.
Perhaps... they could mass-produce a whole bunch of powerhouses like Yun Ming!
Good grief, an entire legion made up of Yun Mings. Fuck, couldn't they even fight a god?!
"Nothing. We take it one step at a time."
Li Chen spoke calmly.