Choosing a Soul Ring

"How do you know he can't do both?"

Tang San stopped and turned his head to look at him. Xiao Wu turned around too, her eyes shining. "What do you mean?"

Wang Xingyu slipped his hands into his pockets and spoke as he walked. "Blue Silver Grass can already wrap around things. That's control.

"But if it can also cause damage while it's wrapped around something, that's power attack. Ordinary Blue Silver Grass is too fragile: it breaks before it can hold an enemy, so it can only focus on control.

"But Little San's Blue Silver Grass is different-it has enough capacity and toughness. As long as he chooses a Soul Beast that already has strangling abilities for his First Soul Ring, he can raise both the strength and attack power of his Blue Silver Grass, giving him both control and power attack."

Tang San was silent for a moment. "What Soul Beast?"

Several names flashed through Wang Xingyu's mind. The Mandala Snake offered entanglement and paralysis, but its attack power was too weak.

The Ghost Vine offered strangulation and poison, but poison did little to improve combat power. Unless it was a particularly potent venom, it was just icing on the cake, not simple and brutal enough.

What he wanted was a Plant-type Soul Beast that strangled its prey through sheer strength.

"The Iron Thorn Vine," Wang Xingyu said.

Tang San and Xiao Wu looked at him at the same time.

"I read about it in a Spirit Hall book. It's a carnivorous plant. Its vines contain metallic elements, making them much harder than ordinary vines and extremely tough.

"Its hunting method is simple: its vines wrap around its prey, tighten, and crush its bones.

"There's no poison or paralysis, just strangulation through sheer strength." Wang Xingyu looked at Tang San. "If your Blue Silver Grass absorbs it, your first Soul Skill will be Iron Thorn Strangulation. It deals physical damage while controlling the enemy. Simple and brutal."

Tang San thought for a moment. "Are there any in the Soul Hunting Forest?"

"There should be. This kind of Soul Beast isn't rare, and they're generally between two hundred and four hundred years old. If we get the mercenary group Su Yuntao recommended to take us looking, we're sure to find one."

Xiao Wu had been listening intently beside them. Suddenly, she leaned over. "What about me? What about me? What kind of Soul Ring do I need?"

"As for you..."

I miscalculated. I was always busy roasting Tang San before. Who'd roast Xiao Wu? I never looked into it. How should Xiao Wu choose?

Xiao Wu watched Wang Xingyu as he failed to answer. "Don't tell me you have no idea?"

"I've got it! Do you know what the Soft Bone Rabbit's superior Martial Soul is?"

"A superior Martial Soul?"

"Yeah. Just like Blue Silver Grass has the Blue Silver King and Blue Silver Emperor, there must be stronger rabbits too."

Wang Xingyu sat up. "I was thinking yesterday: your flexibility techniques are already strong enough, but if your Martial Soul could evolve toward a higher bloodline, your future upper limit would be much higher."

Xiao Wu was intrigued. "For example?"

Wang Xingyu thought for a moment. He remembered Xiao Wu's ninth Soul Skill, "Moon of the Nine Heavens," clearly from the anime in his previous life: she leaped into the air and summoned a giant pink moon to crash down, instantly killing even a Titled Douluo. Soft Bone Rabbits and the moon had a natural connection.

"The Red Moon Rabbit, for example," Wang Xingyu said. "It's a rabbit-type Martial Soul with the moon attribute. It excels at fighting under moonlight, and both its speed and strength increase dramatically."

Xiao Wu's eyes lit up. "Red Moon Rabbit! That's a nice name! I want to evolve into a Red Moon Rabbit!"

"There's also the Purple Lightning Rabbit. It has the lightning attribute, is extremely fast, and has a paralysis effect. Or the Moon Shadow Rabbit, an agility type that's nearly invisible at night."

Wang Xingyu counted them off on his fingers. "If you evolve in one of those directions, your future Soul Skills will definitely be more explosive than they are now. Absorbing Soul Beasts with similar bloodlines can evolve a Martial Soul. That's a theory from a Spirit Hall book."

Wang Xingyu had also come up with this idea based on Grandmaster. In his previous life, people had said that Grandmaster should have absorbed dragon-type Martial Souls to make up for his own Martial Soul's shortcomings.

And what had Grandmaster done? He had absorbed two farting Soul Rings for himself. Luo Sanpao's mutation had already failed, yet he had gone on absorbing one random Soul Ring after another, turning a Martial Soul that might have made a comeback into complete trash.

He claimed there were no trash Martial Souls, yet in practice, he was sprinting in the opposite direction.

Xiao Wu pressed him earnestly. "What should I pay attention to when I evolve, then?"

"Remember one thing." Wang Xingyu held up a finger. "Never absorb Soul Skills related to your waist. Things like Waist Bow and flexibility techniques can be trained on your own anyway. Don't waste a skill slot."

Xiao Wu thought about it, found it reasonable, and nodded earnestly. She had originally been thinking of a waist technique for her first Soul Skill, but now she felt there really was no need.

The three of them talked as they walked to the cafeteria entrance. After lunch, Wang Xingyu pulled Tang San out of the academy and headed for the Spirit Hall Branch in Nuoding City.

Before leaving, he had also asked Xiao Wu whether she wanted to go Soul Hunting with them, telling her not to worry about the cost.

Xiao Wu declined, saying she had already found someone to help her.

Wang Xingyu nodded and said no more.

Xiao Wu's Soul Skills were originally formed by herself, so there was no question of hunting for Soul Rings. He had only said that to give her a way out.

"Let's go find Su Yuntao or Grandpa Ma Xiuluo at the Spirit Hall. They should know a reliable mercenary group, and the cost shouldn't be too high." Wang Xingyu patted his pocket. "I saved it up from the soap. It's enough."

Tang San was a little puzzled. "Does your soap make that much money?"

"You don't understand what an IQ tax is. Those noble lords love chasing after this kind of thing. If you price it too cheaply, it's actually no good."

Tang San nodded. "You're spending money again because of me."

"Come on, we're close enough that there's no need to say that. Once your Soul Ring is settled, my support will actually be useful. You control, I attack-we can't do without either one. " Wang Xingyu paused, his voice dropping. "Besides, it's time we started expanding our circle."

Tang San turned his head to look at him.

"Before, we were too weak. With level-four Soul Power, we didn't even dare think about setting foot in the Soul Hunting Forest. We're still not all that strong now-it's embarrassing to even say it out loud-but at least we've got a tiny foundation."

Wang Xingyu looked at the road ahead. "After your Soul Ring is settled, I'll have to start thinking about my own First Soul Ring. My Life System Blue Silver Grass can't get by on taking root and cultivating alone. I need to encounter more different Plant-type Soul Beasts and see if any of them resonate with my grass."

In fact, he had been too weak before and hadn't dared expand the soap business too much. Otherwise, he was afraid it would make people jealous.

But now, if something really happened that he couldn't handle, he still had Tang Hao as his trump card.

With a Titled Douluo standing there, every faction would have to lie down.

The exception would be the Titled Douluo of the major factions, but a Titled Douluo probably wouldn't care about such a small business.

Wang Xingyu didn't say any of this aloud, and Tang San didn't ask. The two of them simply walked on.

As they walked, they passed a meat pie stall. Each bought one and ate it on the way. Although they had already eaten, they were still growing, so they treated the meat pies as snacks.

As he ate his meat pie, he hadn't expected that it had already been over a year since he transmigrated to Douluo Continent.

The two continued onward. The gray-white stone building of the Spirit Hall Branch in Nuoding City came into view.