"Heaven Prison Douluo was a top-tier Plant-type Soul Master. His Martial Soul was initially only of high-grade quality: the Azure Vine Martial Soul."
"And the most famous Soul Master among the younger generations of his clan today is Zhi Lin, one of the three education commissioners of Heaven Dou Royal Academy."
"The reason Heaven Prison Douluo took the title 'Heaven Prison' rather than 'Azure' was that, shortly after reaching rank 70 in his early years, he happened upon a cluster of lightning-attribute plant Soul Beasts while hunting for his seventh Soul Ring with a team."
"According to his descendants, that cluster of plants seemed to have been called something like 'Thunderclap Vine' or 'Thunder Prison Vine.' In any case, Heaven Prison Douluo mustered his entire team's strength to kill it and took that cluster of lightning vines as the seventh ring for his Martial Soul Avatar."
"It was precisely with that cluster of lightning vines' help that Heaven Prison Douluo formed his 'Azure Thunder Prison Vine' avatar in one stroke. His Martial Soul's quality also leaped to the very highest tier, laying the foundation for his potential to become a Peak Douluo."
"However, that 'Thunder Prison Vine' Soul Beast seemed to have been the only one of its kind and vanished from the continent. Heaven Prison Douluo devoted a full century of his later years to searching, yet never found another. And after becoming a Soul Saint, Heaven Prison Douluo gradually lost his ability to father children because of his age."
"Those two factors combined meant that the 'Azure Thunder Prison Vine' Martial Soul was never passed down. From then on, 'Heaven Prison' became a title never to be seen again, left only to hang high within Douluo Hall."
"Although the younger generations of the Azure Vine Zhi Clan enjoyed a century of splendor through Heaven Prison Douluo's glory, after his passing, the Azure Zhi Clan knew they lacked the strength to retain the Heaven Prison Pope Token. They sensibly returned it, along with an autobiography of Heaven Prison Douluo, withdrawing bravely from the raging current to preserve their clan."
In one breath, Bibi Dong finished recounting both the top-tier plant Martial Soul on the Pope Token and Heaven Prison Douluo's life and legacy.
The reigning Pope's words carried great authority.
The story's twists and turns had Xu Zi utterly enthralled. Only when her voice fell silent did he awaken as if from a dream. "So that top-tier Plant-type Soul Master was an Azure Vine Soul Master who absorbed a 'Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine' Soul Ring when forming his Martial Soul Avatar with his seventh ring."
According to what was depicted on the Pope Token, the vines were blue-green. The only plant that matched that color was the "Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine" left when the Thunder God fell to the mortal world.
The strongest of all plant Soul Beasts in Douluo!
Like the God of Love's teardrop, "Lovesick Heartbreak Red," it was something a deity had left in the world, and even possessed the potential to inherit a divine position.
However, the Thunder God was a first-class elemental deity, while the God of Love was a second-class emotion deity, which placed the "Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine" half a tier above "Lovesick Heartbreak Red."
Then everything made sense. That top-tier Plant-type Soul Master on the Pope Token was an Azure Vine Soul Master who had absorbed a Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine Soul Ring.
Because only the "Azure Thunder Prison Vine" Martial Soul would appear blue-green.
Even the Blue Silver King among Blue Silver Grass had blue-violet leaves, while the Blue Silver Emperor was unique in the world. The Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast "Ah Yin" had still been alive and well at the time, so there could not possibly have been a Blue Silver Emperor Soul Master among humans.
The only pity was-
Martial Soul: Azure Thunder Prison Vine.
Heaven Prison Douluo.
Such an imposing title, yet it had vanished...
That stood to reason. A grassroots Soul Master with a high-grade Plant-type Martial Soul already cultivated somewhat more slowly than someone with a Beast Martial Soul of the same quality. Becoming a Seven-Ring Soul Sage in middle age had already put him ahead of the vast majority of his peers. Unfortunately, after his Martial Soul's superevolution, he had lost his ability to father children, cutting off the "Azure Thunder Prison Vine" lineage.
Moreover, the Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine was born of the Power of the Thunder God. According to the book's setting, whenever it accumulated seventy or eighty thousand years of cultivation, the excess lightning within it would trigger a lightning explosion, sending it into another cycle of death and rebirth.
It was only reasonable that Heaven Prison Douluo and the Zhi Clan had failed to find it after a century of searching.
For what seemed far beyond the horizon was right before their eyes. Whether the Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine died naturally or was hunted down, its remains would trigger a lightning explosion after death, so its seeds would not be blasted too far away.
But as grass growing on the Thunder God's grave, it would not sprout aboveground until it had absorbed enough lightning falling from the sky.
Now, one of the two great mysteries on the Pope Token had been solved, and the title of Heaven Prison Douluo had also been brought to light. Yet Xu Zi still persisted in his respectful request. "Your Holiness, even so, your student still wishes to have that Heaven Prison Pope Token."
"Why?" This time, Bibi Dong did not refuse him sternly again, but instead asked curiously for his reason.
"Because of you, Your Holiness." Xu Zi answered with certainty. "Because you have just set a lofty ideal before me-to add my own bricks and tiles to the new order you establish. That is why I need a Pope Token, as a goal to strive toward, to constantly spur myself on."
"Because of me?" Faced with these words that sounded loyal but were, in truth, rather strained, Bibi Dong fell briefly silent.
Just then, the fragrance of autumn chrysanthemums drifted over on the wind.
His golden hair flying, Yue Guan landed on the spirit-fighting platform and came to Bibi Dong's side.
He extended an item in one hand and said, "Your Holiness, I have fulfilled my mission."
In his two hands, Yue Guan held a Pope Token and a gold bracelet.
A pale-gold crystal was also set into the gold bracelet. By Xu Zi's judgment, this was very likely a Storage Soul Tool, and one capable of storing living things.
Sure enough, Yue Guan's next words confirmed his guess:
"But the Golden Crocodile Family provided a twenty-one-hundred-year-old one. They said that, among their thousand-year Golden Crocodiles, none had less than two thousand years of cultivation left. They suggested that the foreign guest simply keep it for his fourth ring."
The air abruptly fell still.
Bibi Dong's expression turned ugly.
With this move, the Golden Crocodile Family had given something, yet might as well have given nothing.
Because no one could absorb the Soul Ring of a twenty-one-hundred-year-old top-tier Soul Beast as their third ring. The record for the limit of ring absorption was seventeen hundred and sixty years. Even Tang San had only used a two-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Pearl for his third ring.
But saving it for the fourth ring made it far too much of a chicken rib-of little use, yet a pity to discard. It did not even come close to... half the maximum age for a fourth Soul Ring under the "Golden Configuration" theory.
The Golden Crocodile Family Clan was plainly embarrassing Bibi Dong in front of someone from a friendly overseas nation, even openly telling her: Spirit Hall was not hers alone to command.
But Xu Zi smiled, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
The Golden Crocodile Family had truly done him two great favors. Not only had they given him an older third ring, but they had also helped him obtain...
Xu Zi looked at the Pope Token.
If his earlier words had been somewhat pale and powerless, then this divine assist from the Golden Crocodile Family had made Bibi Dong see clearly just how difficult it was for her lone palm to clap within Spirit Hall's circle of power, beyond the Pope Hall she controlled.
This would also give rise to a certain mindset, one that monarchs throughout the ages had shared: a thirst for worthy talent.
Next, Bibi Dong would spare no effort in cultivating her own core followers, hoping to counterbalance the host of supreme powerhouses in the Elder Hall.
Sure enough-
The next moment, Bibi Dong took back the Pope Token and the gold bracelet, then, under Yue Guan's astonished gaze, held them out to Xu Zi.
To keep some friends from saying, "The author is padding the story with the six titled figures on the Pope Token."
This author will give you friends a shot of spoilers in advance: 1. Only Heaven Prison Douluo's clan knows the Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine's exact location, and in the original work, the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon was accompanied by lightning during Martial Soul Possession; 2. One of the male lead's two Martial Souls, the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon, has strength as its root attribute, which has nothing to do with the "Imperial Sun Meditation Method." So he needs to find a top-tier meditation method to use as a reference, and in the future, he will draw on the "Giant Strength Meditation Method," renowned for strength.