Douluo I.
Spirit City.
Outside the Pope's Palace.
Bibi Dong looked up, gazing at the images on the Heavenly Screen.
Bibi Dong had naturally anticipated that Soul Masters could absorb Soul Rings above their level.
But as she understood it, that was exclusive to Twin Martial Souls.
Yet Lin Yi, on the Heavenly Screen, had accomplished the feat of obtaining a thousand-year Second Soul Ring.
How had he done it?
Countless Soul Masters had the same question.
Not far away, outside the Worship Hall, Qian Daoliu also wore a grave expression.
"He hasn't undergone a God's Trial, and he's only just begun cultivating. What gives him the means to absorb Soul Rings above his level?"
Qian Daoliu realized there had to be a method for absorbing Soul Rings above one's level.
Unfortunately, although the Heavenly Screen was showing images, they were not continuous. They were key moments selected from Lin Yi's past.
Awakening his Martial Soul, Innate Full Soul Power!
Hunting his First Soul Ring alone!
A thousand-year Second Soul Ring!
Each image carried its own impact.
They also showed how extraordinary Lin Yi himself was.
The images on the Heavenly Screen continued.
After Lin Yi obtained his thousand-year Second Soul Ring, the next image was unexpectedly not of him obtaining his Third Soul Ring.
In this fourth scene, Lin Yi sat cross-legged, his Martial Soul naturally manifesting in the world around him.
Now, in the image on the Heavenly Screen, Lin Yi had merged with heaven and earth.
The space around him seemed to become a chessboard, heaven and earth contained within this small square.
Countless lines intertwined, tracing its outline.
Lin Yi seemed to have entered some kind of profound state: Deep Meditation.
"An epiphany? What did he comprehend?" Qian Daoliu had finally seen Lin Yi cultivating, and a sharp gleam flashed in his eyes.
The next moment, Qian Daoliu's pupils abruptly contracted.
In the image, the scene around Lin Yi, whose body had merged with heaven and earth, suddenly changed.
The sense of unity between man and nature was instantly shattered.
Yet another bearing burst forth from Lin Yi.
His chess game moved from the outside inward.
To grasp the grand course of the world was beyond the limits of the age for him with his two rings, so after gaining some insight, he placed everything within his own body.
After comprehending the chess game of heaven and earth, he had drawn it all back into his own body.
"He's actually using himself as the chessboard. His meridians, dantian, and acupoints are all part of the game!"
Qian Daoliu murmured to himself, a golden light flashing in his eyes as he involuntarily voiced his admiration.
"Wonderful, simply wonderful!"
But just as he was admiring this astonishing scene of cultivation, an ill-timed bullet comment drifted across the screen.
There he went again, and again, and again...
[Yu Xiaogang: See? Something must have gone wrong with his cultivation. I said his approach to combining Soul Rings was wrong!]
The corner of Qian Daoliu's mouth twitched.
Just what sort of person was this Yu Xiaogang?
If he remembered correctly, wasn't the man merely a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster?
A man who had passed fifty without reaching level thirty.
Where did he get the nerve? Even now, he was still disparaging a Soul Grandmaster who looked to be less than eight years old.
This time, even Yun Ming had no desire to engage with Yu Xiaogang.
He felt the one on the other end wasn't human.
It had to be a Soul Beast that had yet to reach ten thousand years old, mixed in among the bullet comments.
The Heavenly Screen continued its broadcast.
The next image showed Lin Yi absorbing his Third Soul Ring.
Nuoding City.
After having Tang San complete the enrollment procedures, Yu Xiaogang parted ways with him.
He stood alone in an open area, staring at the images in the sky.
"Impossible!"
His voice trembled as he stared fixedly at the dead Soul Beast in the image.
Countless pieces of knowledge flashed through his mind, allowing him to identify the dead Soul Beast's species and age.
"Seven thousand years..."
Yu Xiaogang felt his whole body trembling. The worldview he had taken for established truth was on the verge of collapse.
Why?
Why could he break this limit?
A Soul Master's cultivation had to proceed within fixed bounds.
A Trash Martial Soul should remain a Trash Martial Soul.
With innate level-one Soul Power, being stuck at Soul Grandmaster was only natural.
The first two Soul Rings could be no more than hundred-year rings.
Only the Third Soul Ring could be a thousand-year ring.
Why?
Why could this Lin Yi break that rule?
[Yun Ming: Without that trash talking, it's actually a little strange.]
Yu Xiaogang clenched his teeth, staring at the bullet comment on the Heavenly Screen.
His eyes were bloodshot.
Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King.
Yun Ming was in a good mood.
"Communicating with a Soul Beast that hasn't developed intelligence really is too difficult."
"But teasing a beast like that when there's nothing else to do is pretty entertaining."
Ya Li hadn't expected Yun Ming to have this side to him either.
Spirit Pagoda Headquarters.
In the office on the top floor, Qiangu Dongfeng stood before a floor-to-ceiling window, watching everything on the Heavenly Screen.
"Ten thousand years ago, Lin Yi..."
Qiangu Dongfeng could confirm that no such person existed in the history he knew.
"Still, a thousand-year Second Soul Ring is nothing impressive."
He sneered.
The limitations of the age meant that Lin Yi's Soul Ring combination could never shock him.
"How can a fixed Soul Ring combination compare to us, with our Spirit Ascension Platform and our ability to ascend Soul Rings?"
There were a great many bullet comments on the Heavenly Screen.
However, these comments only appeared in their corresponding eras.
For one to appear in another era, it first had to receive likes and replies.
Only bullet comments with good engagement could be seen by more people.
If a comment didn't get many likes or replies, it might not even last a second after being posted before it was pushed off the screen.
The Heavenly Screen's broadcast continued.
It was another scene of Soul Hunting. Once again, he was absorbing a ring above his level.
Douluo I.
Countless Soul Masters stared at the scene.
Though they had expected it, when the scene actually played out on the Heavenly Screen, it still tugged at the heartstrings of countless Soul Masters.
"A ten-thousand-year Fourth Soul Ring!"
"Incredible!"
[Grandmaster, where's the Grandmaster? Can you explain the principle to us?]
A Soul Master posted the bullet comment, humbly asking for guidance.
But at that moment, Yu Xiaogang could only stand there in silence.
He didn't understand.
Yet as more and more bullet comments humbly asked for guidance, Yu Xiaogang felt his reputation was about to be shaken.
He gritted his teeth and sent another bullet comment.
[Yu Xiaogang: It's just a snowball effect. Somehow he got lucky and absorbed a Soul Ring corresponding to someone else's Third Soul Ring as his Second Soul Ring. Naturally, everything after that followed suit.]
But not long after sending the comment, Yu Xiaogang gave a bitter laugh.
The contrarian had appeared again.
[Yun Ming: 666. You make a ten-thousand-year Fourth Soul Ring sound so easy. Trash, you don't actually not know that absorbing a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring causes Soul Shock, do you?]
[What's Soul Shock?]
The bullet comment section erupted with replies. Someone asked what Soul Shock was.
Yu Xiaogang also stared at the replies beneath Yun Ming's bullet comment.
This had truly touched upon a blind spot in his knowledge.
Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings, Soul Shock?
What was that?
Shrek Academy, outside Suotuo City.
Seeing his good friend mocked like this, Flender could almost picture Yu Xiaogang's expression at that moment.
From his experience traveling the continent with Yu Xiaogang years ago, the atmosphere in the area around him should now have turned deathly oppressive.