Chapter 198: A Second God-Making Plan
"Another god-making plan? Explain it in detail," Xue Di said, rarely so proactive—after all, this matter concerned her clansmen.
"It's simple—just as the words suggest," Xiao Qiang replied calmly. "We find another suitable person to carry out a separate god-making plan, with Su Tong becoming her second martial soul. It would be similar to the path I took, though I've already paved many of the waypoints. Plus, we can invite other soul beasts from the Extreme North to participate, increasing the chances of success."
"Finding someone to become Su Tong's host? It's not impossible," Tianmeng muttered thoughtfully. "With careful handling, a soul beast embryo has a small chance of transforming into a second martial soul. If Su Tong agrees and is under Xue Di's protection—and with your help—this can be done."
"But who would be suitable? Once Su Tong becomes that person's second martial soul, how can we be sure that person will stay loyal to us? What if they turn against us?"
"Don't worry," Xiao Qiang said. "I already have a candidate in mind—someone I can guarantee will follow my lead."
Xue Di's eyes narrowed. "Your sister?"
Xiao Qiang nodded. "Yes. Even though her martial soul only had an innate soul power of level two, her martial soul is also an eye-type. For eye-type spirits, it's more about the organ itself than raw soul power. And she's not even twelve, yet she's already reached four rings—Soul Ancestor level—with three purple rings, each around six thousand years old, and a black soul ring that's over thirty thousand years old. Her soul power is at level forty-nine and will likely break through to fifty by age twelve. You all saw that."
"With Su Tong helping her compress her soul power, paired with better rings, soul bones, and the ten-thousand-year Black Ice Marrow, she's guaranteed to reach rank ninety-nine one day—and might even break into godhood."
"Besides," Xiao Qiang added, turning to Tianmeng, "you witnessed Sea God Tang San ascending ten thousand years ago. You know a first-level god can bring two people to the God Realm. Whether I or my sister becomes a god first, the other can follow. It's another layer of insurance for the god-making plan."
"That makes sense," Tianmeng nodded. "Let's go with that. She still has Xue Di's Snow Pill in her body, so her compatibility with the Ice and Snow Girl martial soul is extremely high. You could even say the Snow Pill gave her a foundation similar to the one I gave you. In that case, the probability of Su Tong successfully fusing as her second martial soul is very high."
"Bring her here. Let's do it now. With her current level—four-ring Soul Ancestor—we can use a bit of Su Tong's origin to form the base. Once she breaks through to fifty, Su Tong will become her second martial soul."
"By the way, which soul bone are you planning to assign Su Tong to?"
Xiao Qiang thought for a moment. "Snow Queen, what's the Ice Snow Girl Clan's spiritual power like?"
There was no need to consider the torso bone. This was his sister, and as her older brother, Xiao Qiang had long planned her future. Especially now, with soul spirits fully integrated into society, he aimed to ensure that once she reached level 80, she'd get a soul and soul bone from a fierce beast. A standard 100,000-year soul bone wasn't enough for that. In this new era—Douluo II—soul bones were more abundant and easier to obtain. A 100,000-year bone simply felt lacking.
Xiao Qiang still remembered his vow to Tianmeng: to one day return to the Star Dou Great Forest and turn those soul beasts who had tormented Tianmeng into his rings and bones. His younger siblings would carry soul bones from fierce beasts exceeding 200,000 years. Anything less, especially as the crucial torso bone, simply wouldn't do.
"You're thinking of letting Su Tong become your sister's skull soul bone?" the Snow Queen asked. "That works. While we're not at the level of pure spirit beasts like the Evil Eye Tyrant in terms of mental power, our clan's spiritual strength is still considerable. A skull bone would enhance her comprehension of ice and snow. As for the excess energy? The skull bone doesn't store it—but the Snow Pill can."
"Perfect," Xiao Qiang replied. "Then it's decided. Su Tong becomes her skull soul bone and her second martial soul. Same process I followed—first the bone, then the ring. I'll go get Xiaolan."
...
While construction of the Soul Palace in the outskirts progressed steadily, the Royal Soul Engineer Legion of the Sun Moon Empire had already been deployed to the border to guard against retaliation from the original Three Kingdoms of Douluo. This marked a pivotal moment: the existence of soul spirits would soon be made public.
In the short time before the Soul Palace made its official debut, within the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy—
Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo visited Xiao Xiao in her dormitory. The two were already preparing to move to the newly constructed Soul Palace and were now making one last effort to persuade their friend.
"Xiao Xiao, you know the Palace Master recently brought over a batch of soul masters from the Heavenly Soul Empire," Lan Susu began.
"Of course. That's not exactly a secret. But why bring it up now?"
"Xiao Xiao," Lan Luoluo added, "Susu and I saw the group with our own eyes. There are some incredibly talented individuals among them. One of them isn't even sixteen and already has level forty-nine soul power. Compared to her, even Senior Sister Ling doesn't measure up."
"So what?" Xiao Xiao responded calmly.
Sensing her indifference, Lan Susu still pressed on, determined to help her friend. "You should consider it. With your talent, if you join Soul Palace now, you'll definitely be high-ranking. But if you wait, once Soul Palace matures, competition for resources will get much steeper."
"When the Palace Master recruited us, he was desperate for talent. At first, only Senior Sister Ling, Luoluo, and I qualified as Saint candidates—plus Nana. But since the Qianfeng family joined, the number of potential Saint candidates has already neared double digits. In the end, only Qianfengqin was accepted as a Saint."
"The Palace Master told us that the standards for Saints will only go up as Soul Palace grows. Early members enjoy legacy privileges, but those who join late will receive far fewer resources."
"I understand," Xiao Xiao replied, her tone unbothered.
"Xiao Xiao, you…"
"No need to say more," she cut in. "I won't betray Shrek. After all this time, don't you know me better than that?"
Xiao Xiao didn't care about what they said. As someone blessed with twin martial souls—a talent so rare it only appeared once in a hundred years—Xiao Xiao had long since realized her own worth. Because of that, she wasn't the least bit concerned about missing out on early resources.
Even if she joined Soul Palace late, she believed that, with her twin spirits, she would still command respect and resources. After all, someone who could leap to Titled Douluo just through fusion of spirit rings, and who could rival a Super Douluo at level 83, would never be overlooked.
To her, the claim that those with twin spirits would get no opportunities was just fear-mongering—and she wasn't buying it.
——————
Pump up the power stone