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According to a book called The Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls, the absolute limit for a soul master's first soul ring is 423 years. But that's something only a handful of geniuses can pull off—most average soul masters can only handle a soul ring that's just a little over 200 years old.
Meteor (Liu Xing) knew about this book. It was written by the famous "Grandmaster," a main character's teacher from ten thousand years ago. The guy wrote it after studying the extensive archives of the Spirit Hall, which was the dominant power on the continent back in the day.
What Meteor didn't expect was that after ten thousand years, the book still existed, people still remembered the Grandmaster, but the true origin of this knowledge—the Spirit Hall—was basically forgotten.
In Meteor's personal opinion, the book does make some sense, but not a lot. Human bodies aren't all built the same, martial souls vary in type and quality, and their boost to physical strength also differs. So how can you talk about one "universal limit" that fits everyone?
If a soul master with insane talent and strong physical constitution could absorb a 600-year soul ring, but decides to stick to the book and only tries for a 423-year-old ring just to be "safe," then this book would be doing more harm than good.
That said, the book isn't entirely useless. For regular soul masters without any clan or sect backing, it's actually kinda helpful. At the very least, it lets them know what age range is safe when picking a soul ring—so they won't end up as a rookie trying to absorb a thousand-year soul ring and blowing themselves up. Not that regular folks could kill a thousand-year soul beast anyway. Most of the time, they only hunt ten-year beasts, and their first ring ends up being white.
Meteor had found this book in the Earth Dragon Sect's library. Nanshui Shui had told him too: the book's somewhat useful for commoners, but doesn't mean much for people trained within big sects.
Take Nan Qiūqiū for example. Her Rouge Dragon martial soul is technically a beast-type, but it's more of a caster-type beast—so it doesn't boost the body much. But because she was raised and trained by the Earth Dragon Sect since she was little, eating soul beast meat and soaking in medicinal baths, she was able to absorb a 450-year-old soul ring as her first one. If they weren't being cautious, 500 years wouldn't have been a problem.
Now, compare that to a poor kid who grew up malnourished and weak. Even if they awakened a powerful beast martial soul, they'd probably only be able to handle a 200-year soul ring at best. Any higher and they'd risk failure.
Of course, if you're born with twin martial souls, then that's a whole different story.
After all, people with twin martial souls naturally have way better bodies than those with top-tier beast martial souls. Even if a kid grew up weak and starving, if they awakened twin martial souls, they could probably handle a 400-year ring for their first one. And if they were trained from a young age, eating soul beast meat and getting good resources, they could probably absorb a 700–800-year ring easily. Their second ring might even be a thousand-year one.
As Nan Qiūqiū successfully absorbed her first ring, Meteor was getting more and more excited for when he and Liuying would awaken their own martial souls. He wondered if the two of them would also be able to absorb rings beyond their level.
Since absorbing soul rings mainly depends on physical condition, then with Liuying's body... could she pull off a thousand-year soul ring?
After observing Nan Qiūqiū and comparing her to his own body, Meteor figured it should be possible. But he wasn't a soul ring expert—he'd never absorbed one himself—so this was something best left to the grown-ups. People like Nanshui Shui and Luan Yu had real experience; they'd know more than he could guess.
Meteor brought up the topic with Nanshui Shui, and she did seriously think it through. From her perspective, when it comes to absorbing the first soul ring, it's better to play it safe. Even if you want to push the limit, jumping straight to a thousand-year ring is just too risky.
Still, she knew that if Meteor and Liuying did manage to absorb a thousand-year soul ring as their first one, they'd immediately leap ahead of 99.9% of soul masters. Their future potential could put them at the peak of the continent—maybe even reaching the legendary rank of Limit Douluo.
Nanshui Shui was both worried and excited. She knew that Liuying's physical condition was truly exceptional. For such a young girl to already be this strong... give her two more years, plus access to rare herbs, more medicinal baths, and soul beast meat, and as long as their martial soul awakenings went smoothly, they might really absorb a thousand-year soul ring on their first try.
Thinking about that got Nanshui Shui fired up. After all, they were her adopted goddaughter and godson. The stronger they became, the happier she'd be. With those two around, the Earth Dragon Sect and Nan Qiūqiū's future would be in good hands.
But all of that depended on how their martial souls turned out. If the two of them ended up with trash martial souls, all hopes would go out the window. After all, Meteor and Liuying's backgrounds were a mystery, and martial souls are passed down through bloodlines. What if their real parents were just normal people?
That said, from Nanshui Shui's point of view, kids as gifted as them probably wouldn't awaken anything too bad—even if their parents were nobodies.
Sure, awakening a martial soul is mostly based on luck, but it follows some patterns too. The better your childhood—more resources, medicinal baths, soul beast meat—the better your chances of awakening with higher innate soul power.
For ordinary kids from poor families, the only chance to rise up is through mutation. A few manage to stand out, but most just fade into the background.
On the other hand, families and clans can basically ensure their children awaken the family's martial soul, and their innate power usually isn't too low—unless they get unlucky with a bad mutation, and then... well, tough luck.
Meteor believed that he and Liuying wouldn't end up with trash martial souls, but he still felt a bit anxious. Until the results were in, there was always that small chance of disappointment. And sure, with their talent and foundation, they'd still be able to grow even with bad martial souls.
But let's be real—if you could get a top-tier martial soul, who the hell would want a trash one?
Meteor remembered something from The Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls. The Grandmaster had written: "There are no trash martial souls, only trash soul masters." Honestly, Meteor didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that one.
Come on. He'd seen the first series—he knew exactly what kind of guy the Grandmaster was. That quote? It felt like it was talking about himself! Yeah, sure—"no trash martial souls, only trash soul masters"—what a brutally honest self-own.
Who knows what was going through the Grandmaster's head when he wrote that. Did he not think it through? And the former protagonist actually bought into that line and got all fired up. Seriously?
What blew Meteor's mind even more was that this one-liner managed to survive ten thousand years. People still quote it like gospel, even now. He wanted to say something, but at the same time, he didn't know where to start.
"No trash martial souls, only trash soul masters"—what kind of nonsense is that? You think people want to be trash? Sometimes they just don't have a choice!
And what annoyed him even more was that theories from ten thousand years ago were still popular. No one had come up with any new ideas since then? Meteor couldn't help but think... maybe this continent was a little messed up in the head.
But hey, that had nothing to do with him. He wasn't planning on becoming some theory-crafting master. He was just bored and felt like ranting a bit.
"....."