Three days later, Spirit City, Saintess Hall.
"Are you sure?"
Qian Renxue's pair of purple beautiful eyes widened round, looking at She Long, who was reporting the results of the mission, with a face full of disbelief.
The spirit beast hunting plan proposed by Bibi Dong during the elder council was something Qian Renxue naturally paid close attention to. Even before the group set out, she had specially instructed She Long to report to her immediately upon their return.
She Long said solemnly, "Young Mistress, although I did not witness it with my own eyes, the two hundred-thousand-year soul beasts that were sacrificed should be the Sky Azure Bull Python and the humanoid soul beast that appeared during the Soul Master Tournament.
Counting the dead Titan Giant Ape, three hundred-thousand-year soul beasts perished. And the fall of all three was related to that expert who once saved you."
After thinking for a moment, Qian Renxue said, "Aside from that person, tell me the strength and characteristics of the other four."
"Young Mistress, the other four did not reveal their appearances or martial souls, and my strength is too low to accurately gauge their power.
However, they were all very strong. The weakest, a wind-attributed Titled Douluo, should not be below level 95.
The ice- and fire-attributed Titled Douluos were slightly stronger, likely level 96; and the strongest was the one with both fire and earth attributes, at least peak level 96, possibly even level 97.
Right, all four of them wore golden armor. Judging by the armor's style, the wind and fire-earth attributed Titled Douluos were male, and the ice and fire attributed ones were female."
Recalling the traits of those four unknown powerhouses in his mind, Xie Long reported.
Actually, Bibi Dong and others had suspected these four might be the Four Douluos of the Elemental Academy. After all, Titled Douluos were rare in the soul master world, and the genders and soul power attributes aligned.
But suspicion remained just that — suspicion, and a very low-likelihood one at that.
For good reason too: how could the strength of the Four Douluos from the Elemental Academy compare to these unknown powerhouses?
Take Wind Douluo Feng Zhen, for instance — he hadn't been a nine-ring Titled Douluo for long!
He had no hundred-thousand-year soul ring, no hundred-thousand-year soul bone, and no top-tier martial soul like the Clear Sky Hammer or Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. How could he possibly compare to this wind-attributed Titled Douluo of at least level 95?
Similarly, Bibi Dong didn't believe that Huo Lie, who ten years ago was just an eight-ring Soul Douluo, could now be a Titled Douluo with at least level 97 strength.
It could only be said that this era's soul masters lacked experience and had no clue about the value of black technology.
"Two men, one woman, wind attribute, ice attribute, fire attribute, fire-earth dual attribute..."
Raising an eyebrow, Qian Renxue was now certain — these four mysterious powerhouses were indeed the Four Douluos of the Elemental Academy.
To be honest, without knowing their appearances or martial souls, it was difficult to conclude just from strength, soul power attributes, and gender that they were Huo Lie and the others.
But they had appeared alongside Mu Yang and Shui Bing'er, activating a humanoid martial soul fusion technique together.
And the reason those three hundred-thousand-year soul beasts fell was none other than that Mu Yang and Shui Bing'er had cultivated to level 70 quasi-Soul Sages and needed soul rings to advance.
Only, a new problem arose: besides the Titan Giant Ape being hunted, the Sky Azure Bull Python and Xiao Wu were sacrifices.
Among the six, the four — Huo Lie and the others — were Titled Douluos and didn't need soul rings. The only ones who did were Mu Yang and Shui Bing'er.
But that's just two hundred-thousand-year soul rings. Where did the third go? There's no way Mu Yang and the others would waste such a precious soul ring, right?
Suddenly, Qian Renxue recalled that during the Soul Master Tournament, Mu Yang had used mental-type secret techniques several times.
"My good little brother has mental secret techniques that can control others' minds?"
Qian Renxue couldn't help but think to herself.
If her guess was right, then this good little brother of hers had secretly pulled off something big!
Qian Renxue remembered that during the Soul Master Tournament, before the Heaven Dou Spirit Hall was destroyed by the furious Tang Hao, she had launched her "repay kindness" plan. At the same time, Salas had dispatched top experts from the Hall to assassinate Mu Yang and Shui Bing'er.
As a result, the next day, two Red-robed Bishops from the Heaven Dou Hall went mad and, ignoring warnings from the Heaven Dou Empire and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, attempted to assassinate contestant Tang San. This ultimately led to Tang Hao's retaliation and the annihilation of the entire Heaven Dou Hall.
Why those two Red-robed Bishops from the Heaven Dou Spirit Hall wanted to assassinate Tang San had always remained a mystery that the Heaven Dou Empire could never uncover.
But now, it seemed that this was Mu Yang's secret retaliation after the assassination attempt on him!
"She Long, tell me, under what kind of conditions can a soul master consecutively attach two soul rings?"
After reflecting, Qian Renxue asked She Long.
"Young Mistress, didn't you yourself consecutively attach your first and second soul rings back then?"
She Long was stunned for a moment, then brought up what had once happened to Qian Renxue herself.
Rolling her eyes, Qian Renxue said, "I'm talking about high-level soul masters, evaluated at the seventy-level mark."
"Young Mistress, may I propose a bold hypothesis?"
After a moment of hesitation, She Long cautiously asked.
"Go ahead and propose boldly, as long as it's theoretically plausible."
Qian Renxue waved her hand.
Though it was said to be a bold hypothesis, if this hypothesis were applied to Mu Yang, then as long as it made theoretical sense, it couldn't be ruled out as truth. After all, Mu Yang had surprised her too many times.
Organizing his thoughts, She Long slowly said, "Young Mistress, let's assume your subordinate is now a level 70 quasi-Soul Sage. If I then attach a hundred-thousand-year seventh soul ring and refine a hundred-thousand-year soul bone, my soul power level will most likely reach level 75 Soul Sage.
If I refine two more hundred-thousand-year soul bones, my soul power level should increase to level 78 or 79 Soul Sage.
If among those three soul bones there's a torso bone, and I hadn't just barely broken through to level 70 before the hunt but had trained for a long time, then with a hundred-thousand-year seventh soul ring and three hundred-thousand-year soul bones, reaching level 80 isn't impossible.
This way, it would allow a level 70 quasi-Soul Sage to consecutively attach two soul rings.
Of course, there's an even simpler explanation — that this level 70 quasi-Soul Sage is a twin martial soul wielder but had only cultivated one martial soul. Without considering endurance limitations, they could attach up to eight soul rings.
Wait, the soul power increase from eight soul rings should definitely be enough to push the soul power level to level 80 — there should actually be ten soul ring slots."
Everything before the word "of course" was what She Long had dreamed of in his youth.
In reality, there was no such good fortune — but in dreams, well, that was possible. Just sleep early and wake up late, and keep dreaming.
"Twin Martial Souls?!"
She Long's bold hypothesis was like a bolt of lightning piercing the darkness, dispelling the fog in Qian Renxue's heart.
For additional chapters
Versatile mage {40 chapters}
Douluo Dalu:This Soul Master is to Weird {30 Chapters}
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