"A Martial Soul that developed a will of its own. Truly terrifying." Xu Zi's purple eyes regained their clarity, but apprehension still filled them.
Yet even with its trick exposed, those whispered temptations born of that will continued spreading ceaselessly through the purple sun.
"It seems I need to deal with this Dragon Scale Fruit as soon as possible." Xu Zi lifted his gaze from the Branding Sun Soul Guidance Ring.
"Gui Mei."
Just then, Bibi Dong summoned another "person" from outside the hall's main doors, a man with corpse-white skin and an eerie, ghostly presence.
Naturally, he was the other guardian elder of the Pope's Palace: Ghost Douluo.
Bibi Dong handed over the two drawings. "Distribute these two drawings. Have the Soul Masters of every main hall and branch hall across the continent search for traces of this beast and this fruit."
"Yes." Gui Mei took the two drawings, then dissolved into a ghostly shadow and vanished.
Having finished giving her instructions, Bibi Dong turned her face back and asked, "How much of your Soul Power have you recovered?"
Xu Zi rose. "Most of it."
"Follow me." With her scepter in hand, Bibi Dong walked out along the corridor.
Xu Zi did not know what Bibi Dong wanted to take him to do, but beneath another's eaves, he could only choose to obey and carry out her instructions.
Along the wall to the left of the corridor, stained-crystal windows slipped backward on his left like a revolving lantern.
"Do you know what attribute of Soul Master you are?" Bibi Dong suddenly asked.
"Attribute? Is that related to my Martial Soul?" Xu Zi frowned.
"No." Bibi Dong shook her head and patiently corrected him. "It's related to your Soul Power, just as fire-attribute Soul Masters generate fire-attribute Soul Power, and lightning-attribute Soul Masters generate lightning-attribute Soul Power."
"So while your Martial Soul's attribute is determined at birth, which attribute of Soul Master you choose to become depends on the gradual adjustments you make afterward, changing your Soul Power's attribute to choose a path uniquely your own."
"So attributes are related to Soul Power?" Xu Zi fell silent.
He truly had never considered the question of Soul Power attributes, and the precise attributes of his own Soul Power were also difficult to define.
"You don't know?" Bibi Dong raised her free left hand. A wisp of purple Soul Power rose between her five fingers, displaying both purple and green.
As she demonstrated, she said, "Here, I can tell you plainly that I, your Pope... am a dual-attribute Soul Master of darkness and poison."
"Of these two attributes, darkness alone has the greatest potential. Not only is it high-order, but it can also give rise to branches such as evil and death. My Martial Soul took darkness as its foundation and extended it into the death attribute."
As she spoke, the five fingers of Bibi Dong's left hand began to move rhythmically. Poisonous gas and deathly intent rose, looking just like a purple-and-green demonic spider.
"Is that how it works?" Xu Zi pondered silently.
"What is it?" Seeing that Xu Zi did not reply, Bibi Dong turned her face toward him and asked, "Are you disappointed? As the continent's most revered Soul Master, as Spirit Hall's most glorious, great, and righteous existence, I nevertheless possess a Martial Soul like those of the fallen. Does that leave a great gulf between your expectations and reality?"
Toward this young man who shared her purple hair and eye color, Bibi Dong displayed a rare measure of patience, as though a little of her maternal love, with nowhere to settle, had inexplicably leaked out.
"No." Xu Zi shook his head. "Whether it's a holy sword or a demon scythe, whether it is good or evil depends entirely on how its wielder uses it. So whether your Martial Soul is light or darkness has no direct connection to whether you yourself are good or evil."
Here, Xu Zi did not explicitly name the Angel Holy Sword or the Rakshasa Demon Scythe, yet his words sounded rather thought-provoking.
"I was merely thinking just now: what attribute is my Martial Soul, exactly?"
After all, the book had never really given the Xu family's Sun Martial Soul a clear definition. But by the world's standards, the Sun Martial Soul ought to fall under the fire attribute of the five elements.
Yet the sun did not possess the property of combustion, nor did it require a source of fire or combustible material. It simply released high temperatures and light.
Analyzing these characteristics, the Sun Martial Soul ought to be a light-attribute Martial Soul, capable of generating light-attribute Soul Power.
From this, it also followed that all Sun Soul Masters should be light-attribute Soul Masters.
As for the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon Martial Soul, according to the "attribute extension" explanation Bibi Dong had just given, the source attribute of its power of destruction ought to be strength, with the characteristic of destruction extending from strength.
This was just like how the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's darkness attribute could extend into evil; it was even more like how the previous Dark Dragon King could derive the power of annihilation from ultimate darkness.
(Original setting: the Light Dragon King and the Dark Dragon King were husband and wife, as well as Di Tian's parents. One of these two dragons commanded ultimate light and ultimate holiness, while the other commanded ultimate darkness and the power of annihilation.)
Furthermore, as the Dragon God's physical body, the Golden Dragon King was naturally endowed with the ultimate strength attribute. Logically, then, both the Dragon God and the ancestor of the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon should have started out as strength-attribute dragons.
This was not an attempt to elevate the standing of the strength attribute, but because strength... was itself the source of all laws.
The strength attribute had the lowest floor and the highest ceiling, and it was widespread throughout the universe. Examples included Soul Power, spiritual power, life force, destructive power, and even the power of space and time, among countless others.
So-
Xu Zi answered, "Your Holiness, this student's Soul Power attributes are 'light and strength.' In that case, this student should be a dual-attribute Soul Master of 'light and strength.'"
Upon hearing this, Bibi Dong offered only one assessment. "Very broad."
But she took the initiative to raise another topic. "Before you define your own Soul Power attributes, let me first tell you an anecdote about the Holy City."
Xu Zi promptly offered an appreciative response. "This student will wash his ears and listen."
Bibi Dong recalled, "It was probably several decades ago. An observatory still stood in our Martial Soul Holy City, and a family surnamed Xu lived there. Their hereditary Martial Soul was the Star Crown, and they called themselves star-attribute Soul Masters."
Xu Zi cut in. "Your Holiness, are you describing the Star Crown, one of the six Martial Souls on the Pope Token?!"
Bibi Dong was not annoyed. Instead, she nodded in confirmation. "That's right. Those six Martial Souls on the Pope Token actually represent the six Super Douluos who competed in the same generation as the Pope from two reigns ago and earned recognition."
"The current Star Crown Douluo was one of them."
"However, after the previous Pope died in his prime... passed away early, that Star Crown Douluo took advantage of the turbulent times to move his entire household out of Martial Soul Holy City. He is currently living in seclusion within the Star Luo Empire."
"And the Soul Power they use is unique even across the entire continent today: star-attribute Soul Power."
"Star-attribute Soul Masters? Star-attribute Soul Power? This is the first time this student has heard of such terms," Xu Zi picked up the conversation.
Because the sun, one of his Martial Souls, was ultimately also a star-a fixed star.
In terms of Soul Power, he did share something of a common origin with this Star Crown Xu family.
Bibi Dong patiently explained, "The star attribute, plainly speaking, is simply the two attributes of light and earth. But thanks to the dedicated research of generations of Star Crown Soul Masters, they blended these two attributes together, giving birth to this new attribute called 'star.'"
Something suddenly occurred to Xu Zi, and he asked in return, "Then Your Holiness wants this student to..."
Bibi Dong nodded. "That's right."