Douluo: Brains Over Bloodline

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"What's wrong?"

Seeing Lan Muzi's expression, Xu Yuan felt a pang of unease in his heart.

Could it be…?

Could it really be…?

A ten-thousand-year-old academy like Shrek didn't have a suitable hundred-thousand-year soul spirit for me?

Seeing Xu Yuan's anxious expression, Lan Muzi let out a helpless sigh.

"It's not that there aren't any soul spirits suitable for you. It's just that I suddenly realized I can't pinpoint what kind of soul spirit you need," he explained. "As for your Heavenly Origin Brush martial soul, I'm not sure what kind of soul spirit it needs. In Shrek's history, we've never had a powerhouse with a brush-type martial soul. If we were to reference the current Divine Brush Douluo's configuration, there are a few powerful soul spirits that might fit. But your Heavenly Origin Brush clearly has a different development path than the Divine Brush Douluo."

"As for your Heavenly Origin Five Elements Spear—actually, there have been quite a few strong individuals in Shrek's history who used spears as their martial souls, since spears themselves are naturally suited for offensive systems. However, your spear is fused with blood energy. And from what I know, aside from its spear spirit, your spear martial soul doesn't seem to have any other soul spirits fused into it. Does that mean you don't plan on fusing new soul spirits?"

Xu Yuan nodded.

He had already carved out a very specific path for cultivating the Heavenly Origin Five Elements Spear.

That path involved continuously fusing new special metals into Jue (the spear spirit), turning them into its innate abilities, thereby granting Xu Yuan's Heavenly Origin Five Elements Spear new soul skills.

Jue had already become the first soul spirit in the world to break the limit of providing only four soul rings per soul spirit.

In the near future, it might even become the first soul spirit to provide all nine soul rings to a soul master.

"As for your brain martial soul…" Lan Muzi fell silent.

He realized he truly had no idea about the configuration of Xu Yuan's brain martial soul.

From what he knew, the configuration of the Heavenly Origin Brush was clear because Xu Yuan had once asked him to replicate its abilities, and during past battles, Xu Yuan had demonstrated mastery over the five elements. The Heavenly Origin Five Elements Spear, being his primary weapon in battle, also had an obvious setup.

But the brain martial soul?

Lan Muzi only knew that Xu Yuan possessed a brain martial soul; beyond that, he knew little about its configuration.

"I'll summarize the information on the academy's hundred-thousand-year soul spirits for you," Lan Muzi said with a wry smile, preparing to let Xu Yuan choose for himself.

With three martial souls on completely different tracks, at least one suitable hundred-thousand-year soul spirit should be found within the academy's heritage.

"By the way, Little Yuan, you should also keep an eye on intelligence regarding the Spirit Pagoda. You're still under thirty years old, and the Spirit Pagoda hasn't noticed yet that you're capable of fusing a hundred-thousand-year soul spirit. Time is of the essence."

After some thought, Xu Yuan nodded.

This wasn't hard to understand.

Although the Spirit Pagoda claimed transparency in its rules, it was ultimately controlled by the Spirit Pagoda itself, and they could arrange things however they pleased.

Remember, once a hundred-thousand-year soul spirit is fused, it's gone forever, permanently collected by the corresponding faction.

Under these circumstances, the fact that the Spirit Pagoda even put these hundred-thousand-year soul spirits up for grabs showed considerable sincerity.

If there were any conflicts among factions, the higher-ups of the Spirit Pagoda could easily arrange things so that you wouldn't find a suitable hundred-thousand-year soul spirit, even if they couldn't outright prevent you from reaching the corresponding floor.

That's why Lan Muzi reminded Xu Yuan to act unexpectedly.

In fact, Lan Muzi had already qualified to fuse a hundred-thousand-year soul spirit when he reached the eighth ring.

At the time, he also met the condition of being under thirty years old.

But when he attempted the tower, he ultimately didn't find a satisfactory hundred-thousand-year soul spirit.

With his strength, and even with the support of Tang Yinmeng, two control-system Soul Sages, and one auxiliary-system Soul Sage, they managed to fight through six floors containing hundred-thousand-year soul spirits using the rules of a relay battle.

But after six floors, he still hadn't found a satisfactory soul spirit.

In the end, he had to settle for fusing a ninety-thousand-year soul spirit as his third soul spirit.

Now, he had fused his fourth soul spirit—the Fire Elemental Spirit.

Among his four soul spirits, the first two provided seven soul rings, while the two strongest soul spirits each provided only one soul ring.

Though this distribution seemed imperfect, in reality, a single soul ring was enough.

The soul skills contained in the eighth and ninth soul rings were the trump cards of a soul master—the most important skills that would receive the majority of the soul master's effort and cultivation.

If all of a soul spirit's power was concentrated into a single soul ring, it could create an unprecedentedly powerful soul skill.

---

Lan Muzi acted swiftly.

He had a document in hand, quickly found and summarized the relevant information, and handed it over to Xu Yuan.

Leaving the Sea God Pavilion, Xu Yuan returned to his dormitory.

"Hundred-thousand-year soul spirits…"

If not for Lan Muzi's hundred-thousand-year soul spirit, Xu Yuan might have temporarily forgotten about preparing for a hundred-thousand-year soul spirit.

It wasn't that he lacked attachment to such soul spirits.

Rather, he had previously envisioned a scenario where, even without a hundred-thousand-year soul spirit, he was confident in artificially advancing it to that level.

But now, his thoughts had shifted.

With one more avenue to obtain a hundred-thousand-year soul spirit and a greater chance of finding a suitable one, he naturally entertained the idea of taking advantage of the situation.

"Uncle might know something about the Spirit Pagoda's situation. Let me ask Uncle to investigate."

Xu Yuan sent a message to Xu Shengqun and then began reviewing the list of hundred-thousand-year soul spirits inherited by Shrek Academy.

"Seven-Star Sword Kirin Dragon, hundred-thousand-year level, with star and sword attributes?" Upon reading the description of this soul spirit, Xu Yuan immediately thought of Ye Xinglan.

It matched her perfectly.

Soul beasts with sword attributes were extremely rare.

This wasn't just compatibility with sword-type martial souls—it meant the soul beast itself possessed sword-like qualities.

"Heavenly Sunflower? A yang-attribute immortal herb-grade treasure…"

Xu Yuan spotted an immortal herb-grade heavenly material among the soul spirits.

"A mutated Three-Origin Great Magnet Beast, a Three-Eyed Demon Tiger…"

One by one, the profiles of hundred-thousand-year soul beasts came into view, leaving Xu Yuan in awe.

There were so many.

The document contained detailed information on a total of thirty-three hundred-thousand-year soul spirits.

Including those that might have already been fused by the current Elders or Lan Muzi, Shrek Academy likely controlled up to forty hundred-thousand-year soul spirits!

Xu Yuan took a deep breath, stunned by the sheer number.

"This era's Shrek Academy truly has deep roots."

And now, Xu Yuan could enjoy the benefits of this heritage. Unlike Tang Wulin in the original story, who never reached the stage of enjoying such resources before everything turned to ashes.

For a moment, Xu Yuan felt overwhelmed.

So, even hundred-thousand-year soul spirits could be described with the word "choose."

"The Three-Origin Great Magnet Beast might be suitable for Fang Yuan to fuse. The Three-Eyed Demon Tiger has mental attributes, matching Wu Siduo's mutation direction—it's a perfect fit…"

Xu Yuan began matching soul spirits for his companions.

He scanned through the list but couldn't find a suitable soul spirit for himself.

Of course, he also couldn't find one for Tang Wulin.

There were only two dragon-type soul spirits on the entire list, possibly because there were now too many dragon-type martial soul powerhouses in Shrek.

Finally, toward the end of the list, he found a soul spirit suitable for himself.

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Author's Note: Regarding the number of hundred-thousand-year soul spirits, there's no need for me to pad the word count with explanations, right?

It's not that there were so many hundred-thousand-year soul beasts in this era. Rather, it's the accumulation of soul spirits recovered generation after generation.

Some were originally hundred-thousand-year soul beasts transformed into soul spirits, while others were ten-thousand-year soul spirits that broke through to the next level thanks to the efforts and opportunities provided by soul masters.

This is part of the charm of the soul spirit system. Though soul spirits lose the ability to cultivate and improve on their own, they can still thrive alongside soul masters. Their growth is tied to the soul master's cultivation. If they happen to bond with a destined individual, they hit the jackpot, improving their own lifespan through the soul master's rapid cultivation speed.

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