"Tell me, what do you need me-or rather, the Su Clan-to do?" After confirming that they were going all in, the Su Clan ancestor got straight to the point.
"Give me a Soul Bone first. It doesn't need to be high quality. The worst one will do."
"All right. What next?"
"Keep an eye out for a mental-type Head Soul Bone. Don't worry about what Soul Skill it has. There's only one standard for judging its value: how much mental power it can give whoever absorbs it."
"Once I have the clan's Soul Bone, I'll run an experiment in the next couple of days. If it succeeds, the clan should sell off every asset it can and buy a top-tier Head Soul Bone, whatever the cost."
"And that Soul Bone's value will still be judged solely by the amount of mental benefit, rather than any powerful Soul Skill it might provide?"
"Exactly. Only the amount of mental power matters, not the strength of its Soul Skill. No matter how powerful the Soul Skill is, it won't enter into consideration. The sole criterion is how much mental power it can give whoever absorbs it."
"Understood. Anything else?"
"Take this and start practicing it."
A cultivation technique was pushed in front of the Su Clan ancestor. It was the technique Su Yun had obtained in the cave, an Earth Class technique whose power was far beyond anything like Tang San's Mysterious Heaven Skill.
The Su Clan ancestor took the scroll and began practicing according to its instructions. Then surprise appeared on his face, which was usually as still as an ancient well.
"This-where did you get this? If I'd had this sooner, if I'd had this sooner, how could I still be a Soul Douluo now, unable to do anything!"
Tears streamed down the Su Clan ancestor's aged face, as though he had recalled something painful.
"Ancestor, there's still time to practice it now."
At that, the Su Clan ancestor shook his head. "It's too late. I don't have much time left, and even now, I'm only at Level 86."
"I'm already a hundred and sixteen years old, yet I'm only at Level 86. How many years do I have left?"
"With this technique, I'm confident I can reach Level 87 in a short time, but I absolutely cannot reach Level 90. My age no longer permits me to challenge the Level 90 bottleneck."
"After a hundred, blood and vitality decline. Reaching Level 90 is no longer something human effort can achieve. This technique is good, but it came a little too late."
"If it had come ten years earlier, even with my declining blood and vitality, I would at least have had quite a few years left. There might have been some possibility then. But now, it's all too late."
"Ancestor, it's a little early to call it too late. I told you I could make you a Titled Douluo. I wasn't lying."
At that, the Su Clan ancestor instinctively reached to grab Su Yun's hand, but remembering his present condition, he ultimately withdrew his hand.
"Su Yun, if you really can make me a Titled Douluo, I will directly confirm your position as the Su Clan's young clan chief."
"Furthermore, after confirming your position as young clan chief, I will voluntarily step down from supreme elder to grand elder."
This time, Su Yun truly was stunned by the supreme elder's words.
He had known that giving the supreme elder hope of breaking through to Titled Douluo would earn him benefits, but he had never expected that the supreme elder would not only grant him benefits outright, but even lower himself.
Supreme elder and grand elder were two entirely different concepts.
The former could be called the clan chief's father. Only when the supreme elder and the clan chief agreed would the clan chief's opinion be heeded.
When the supreme elder and the clan chief disagreed, only the supreme elder's word counted.
A grand elder, however, was an entirely different matter.
Things were one way when the clan chief was weak, but when the clan chief was forceful, a grand elder might genuinely rank below even the young clan chief.
Su Yun's father, Su Lie, was not particularly forceful, but what the supreme elder meant would allow Su Yun to wield authority even if his father did not.
"What a generous gesture, Supreme Elder!"
At that, the supreme elder laughed. "What's so generous about it? I'm a hundred and sixteen this year. If I don't break through to Titled Douluo soon, I'll be buried in the ground."
"But if I can break through to Titled Douluo, not only will my lifespan increase greatly, letting me live several more decades, but more importantly, a Titled Douluo's standing is completely different from a Soul Douluo's."
"As a Soul Douluo, I'm supreme within the Su Clan, and quite a figure in Shanhai City. But once I go outside?"
"The Su Clan's influence doesn't even extend beyond the province. As for when I'm faced with those truly important figures..."
The supreme elder shook his head with a bitter smile and said no more, but Su Yun understood what he meant.
At that moment, he thought of the Soul Douluo who had gone after Tang San during Douluo I.
Just as he was about to kill Tang San's friend, Chrysanthemum Douluo slapped him aside.
Unable to kill that friend, he prepared to kill the others, only to be slapped aside by Chrysanthemum Douluo again.
That certainly involved dumbing down the villains, but didn't it also show how little prestige the Soul Douluo realm actually carried?
That was already the case in Douluo I, where high-ranking Soul Masters were scarce, let alone in Douluo II.
But once someone became a Titled Douluo, they could serve as an Imperial Family retainer in any empire, or as a senior elder at Shrek.
Even in the Holy Spirit Cult, which had the most mid-tier fighting power in Douluo II, they could land an elder position.
It could be said that once he became a Titled Douluo, although the supreme elder's word would carry less weight in the Su Clan, it would carry more throughout the province, and even in the Sun Moon Empire.
However one looked at it, he would not lose out.
"All right, then it's settled. Give me authorization first. I'll take a Soul Bone to experiment with."
The token representing the supreme elder's status was handed to Su Yun, who then headed straight for the clan treasury without another word.
Thanks to the number of Soul Bones in Douluo II, and the lack of a custom of absorbing Soul Bones in the Sun Moon Empire, Su Yun soon found a Soul Bone inside a Soul Tool.
The Soul Bone was of extremely poor quality, but that did not matter. It was only meant to test whether someone who cultivated Dou Qi could absorb a Soul Bone.
After a simple sting operation, an unlucky fellow who thought Su Yun looked easy to bully was captured by him.
Testing and retrieval were completed in one smooth sequence. That people who cultivated Dou Qi could absorb Soul Bones was proven very quickly.
After completing that verification, Su Yun went to the Alchemist Guild.
To get a good price for anything, one had to sell it to someone wealthy, and Soul Bones were naturally no exception.
And if he wanted pills such as Dou Ling Pills in exchange, the only buyers he could seek out in the entire Jia Ma Empire were Gu He and Fa Ma.
An ordinary person obviously could not meet Gu He or Fa Ma, but fortunately, Su Yun did not have to be an ordinary person.
In a place like Battle Through the Heavens, where people valued forging good ties, no one would refuse to meet an exceptionally young genius alchemist, even if they were a master alchemist themselves.
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