Ever since he began his "Self-Restraint" training, Xiao Lin's physical strength and mental power had been rising steadily. Even his soul power cultivation hadn't fallen behind; in fact, it was slightly faster than before.
Xiao Lin couldn't quite explain why—perhaps it was the sense of urgency.
He wanted to perfect his physical strength before reaching Rank 20. Although the Horned Dragon Staff helped share the impact of absorbing a Soul Ring, Xiao Lin never fought a battle he wasn't prepared for.
After nearly having an accident during his first Soul Ring absorption, he had become even more cautious. He didn't even want to consider the possibility of failing and having to give up.
During his daily academy life, Xiao Lin finished reading his new batch of books.
He planned to write his second research paper while swapping the books out. Crouched in the dormitory while the other students were in class, Xiao Lin wrote down the title of the paper.
"SHOCKING! The Secret to Over-limit Soul Ring Absorption!"
Still using that familiar "clickbait" style; Xiao Lin had no intention of abandoning such attention-grabbing titles. This time, however, he planned to write seriously, aiming for a six-thousand-word thesis.
Xiao Lin put pen to paper.
It is common knowledge that since Yu Xiaogang published the "Optimal Soul Ring Absorption Limits," almost everyone has accepted his theory. However, today, I, Lin Dong, have a different insight. It is time for those decades-old limits to change.
Below is the research conducted by me, Lin Dong, regarding the optimal absorption limits for Soul Masters.
Author: Lin Dong. Mentor: Celestial Marten Douluo.
Recalling some details, Xiao Lin followed the same format as his previous paper, starting with data.
Among the 1,503 Soul Masters investigated by Lin Dong, it was discovered that those who absorbed a first Soul Ring of around four hundred years tended to fall into specific groups:
First, geniuses from powerful Beast Martial Soul clans; second, geniuses from powerful Tool Martial Soul clans; third, Beast Martial Soul practitioners among commoner geniuses.
These three types of Soul Masters accounted for about 13% of the total data set, but among them, the rate of absorbing four-hundred-year rings was as high as 98%. Furthermore, commoner Beast Soul Masters only made up 8% of those three groups.
I cannot help but ask: must a Soul Master join a great clan or be a natural-born genius to absorb a four-hundred-year ring? Impossible!
Lin Dong discovered that the so-called genius status of these great clan Soul Masters does not necessarily represent their innate talent.
As everyone knows, the "Grandmaster" Yu Xiaogang is considered the "trash of all trash," yet both of his Soul Rings are hundred-year rings, very close to the absorption limit. Investigations show his first ring was approximately four hundred years old.
This clearly indicates that great clans possess methods to increase the absorption limit, or at least a "safety net" method to ensure a four-hundred-year first ring.
Considering Yu Xiaogang hails from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and that they possess a special medicinal bath technique, Lin Dong suspects this is their secret.
Speculation was just speculation, so Lin Dong also investigated geniuses from other clans: the Elephant Armored Sect, the Power Clan, the Dai and Zhu Clans of the Star Luo Empire, and so on.
Unsurprisingly, members of these clans almost always had four-hundred-year first rings.
Lin Dong concluded that in Beast Martial Soul clans, it was perfectly normal to absorb a first ring around four hundred years.
Next, he looked at powerful Tool Martial Soul clans.
Lin Dong took the initiative to learn about the Clear Sky Sect.
As the strongest Tool Martial Soul sect, their members love blacksmithing—tempering steel through a hundred refinements. They even possess a powerful self-created soul skill, the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Technique, which is excellent for tempering the physique.
These examples prove that people from these great clans have no issue absorbing four-hundred-year rings.
So the question arises: why is it that among commoner geniuses who are also Beast Soul Masters, the number of people absorbing four-hundred-year rings is so much lower?
Why are commoner Tool Soul Masters almost non-existent on this list? Is it simply because they lack the opportunity to find a four-hundred-year Soul Beast?
No.
It is because the physical fitness of clan Soul Masters and commoner Soul Masters is different. Could it be a matter of Martial Soul quality?
Unlikely.
As geniuses, many commoners have Innate Soul Power exceeding that of clan children; their Martial Souls cannot be significantly inferior. Some commoner geniuses even possess Martial Souls superior to those of clan members.
Therefore, the reason Beast Soul Masters can absorb four-hundred-year first rings must be due to their superior physical fitness.
Beast Soul Masters are influenced by their soul power and the Martial Soul itself, making their physical baseline naturally stronger than the average Tool Soul Master—excluding blacksmithing clans like the Clear Sky Sect.
Here, Lin Dong states that the data is absolutely authentic and reliable. Much of it comes from records collected by Spirit Hall and individuals known to Lin Dong.
Xiao Lin paused his pen.
There was nothing wrong with this.
Although he hadn't met Bibi Dong in person, he "knew" her. He knew the Titled Douluos of Spirit Hall. Could their Soul Rings be anything less than the limit? Did he even need to investigate that data?
Not just Bibi Dong—the deceased Qian Xunji was one of his data points as well.
This data set of over a thousand was rock solid.
Moreover, Xiao Lin was working backward from the results, revealing many truths.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's medicinal bath was real. The Clear Sky Sect's blacksmithing was real. The Clear Sky Hammer getting heavier as the Soul Master's physique grew stronger was perfectly logical.
After finishing the first section, Xiao Lin began the second.
Furthermore, Lin Dong has discovered a new secret. In the past, the optimal Soul Ring limits were much lower than they are now. The data is as follows:
...
These two examples basically prove that the optimal limit for a Soul Master to absorb a Soul Ring is shifting—it is getting higher and higher. It is now almost undeniable that Soul Ring limits are tied to physical fitness.
Xiao Lin stopped writing, eventually deciding to add one last piece of data.
He wrote an example concerning a "good disciple" (actually the Tang San of another timeline, referred to here as "Xiao Yan").
On the draft paper:
Xiao Yan is the son of a certain Titled Douluo from a great clan, but for various reasons, he lived alone from a young age, destitute and shockingly thin. However, his talent was extraordinary—he possessed a plant-type Martial Soul with Innate Full Soul Power.
He subsequently took me as his mentor.
When I took him to absorb his first Soul Ring—a four-hundred-year Datura Snake—I found the absorption process exceptionally difficult. He nearly met with an accident during the soul power impact, causing even me to break out in a cold sweat.
Fortunately, he succeeded in the end.
If it weren't for Xiao Yan's Innate Full Soul Power and the iron will he developed living alone, I suspect he would have failed. This further confirmed to me, Lin Dong, that physical fitness is the key to absorbing powerful Soul Rings.
Now, under my care, Xiao Yan is no longer malnourished and is incredibly healthy. When absorbing his second Soul Ring, he faced no obstacles, achieving a perfect absorption of a limit-year ring, even slightly exceeding it.
In conclusion, the above examples prove my hypothesis: the limit of a Soul Master's Soul Ring absorption is inevitably influenced by physical fitness. The higher the physical fitness, the higher the limit and the easier the absorption.
Furthermore, the greatest advantage of Twin Martial Souls is that after the first Martial Soul has perfectly absorbed its rings, the second Martial Soul can directly absorb rings of over ten thousand years.
This follows the same logic.
As the physical fitness of modern Soul Masters grows stronger, the "optimal limits" can already be pushed further back. If I am not mistaken, someone in the future will surely achieve a 500-year first Soul Ring and a thousand-year second Soul Ring.
He had written a sprawling six-thousand-word paper with total fluency. Xiao Lin felt that one saying was definitely true: writing a paper is like a bowel movement—the more "water" there is, the faster it comes out.
A "trash" paper like this would never pass in his previous life, but so what?
This was the Douluo Continent, and what he said was actually the truth.
Believe it or not, Xiao Lin was going to absorb a thousand-year second ring himself. If anyone doubted him, they could go ask the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan about their baths, or go ask "Xiao Yan"—or the other Tang San.
After organizing the paper and checking for any glaring flaws, he tucked it into his storage Soul Tool.