Douluo Continent: A Thousand Miles of Cultivation

Because the offensive type is the most versatile.

All the past popes of the Spirit Hall have been power-attack type spirit masters, and two of the three upper sects are power-attack type spirit sects, including the three peerless Douluo of this era!

Everyone seemed lost in thought. The questions about Title Douluo and the secrets of Peerless Douluo left them somewhat bewildered. Ghost Douluo was a little surprised, but he didn't think too much about it. After all, all the information in the Spirit Hall was open to Qian Shui, and he could even ask Qian Daoliu if he wanted to.

“But you’re an agility-based attacker, Xiao Shui…” Feng Jingyi realized immediately after asking the question. Qian Shui was not only a pure agility-based attacker, or did he really look like one?

Qian Shui turned to Feng Jingyi, still feeling a little uncomfortable with so many people talking so loudly: "In terms of category, my martial soul is no different from Uncle Gui's, and the path I want to take is also speed, so I made up for my shortcomings."

"What are the shortcomings?" As an agility-based attacker, Ruoyou was quite eager to find the answer to this question.

Qian Shui flashed in front of him and said, "Strength and attack!"

"To put it simply, I believe that no matter how many defenses, controls, or attacks you employ, speed is the only way to break through! If you can't hit me, it's as if you haven't used any skills at all."

"But when you only pursue speed, you often have to give up strength and attack in exchange for extreme speed, just like a leopard."

Just like the cheetah, the fastest land reptile, in order to achieve extreme speed, their claws are more like those of a wolf. Their strength is far inferior to that of other felines, but more importantly, they have endurance.

"The most important foundation for achieving the goal of speed is strength and attack. In other words, the body needs to be able to support that speed. When you surpass your enemy, your attack needs to be even stronger and more powerful. Otherwise, it will be ineffective. What good is speed then?"

"No wonder I was defeated by you."

"The reason is not that simple. Theoretically, your speed is faster than mine, but I have also focused on training my endurance."

"Every evening run?" Feng Jingyi understood at least this part.

"That's right, to sum it up, it's about cultivating the body, soul power, and spirit simultaneously."

The body represents experience, skill, and physique.

Physical strength is the most fundamental aspect and the easiest part to cultivate. A tall building starts from the ground up. If your physical strength is strong enough, you will be able to use your skills with ease and have more energy to cultivate your soul power and summarize your experience.

As for the spirit, that benefits from my martial spirit. I don't have a full understanding of that yet, so I won't go into details.

After saying all that, Qian Shui was also parched.

"What Xiaoshui means is that we focus too much on cultivating our martial spirit, while neglecting other powerful factors, and even underestimating the benefits that our bodies themselves bring us," Chen Sha said, offering her most insightful summary.

"That's not right, this also explains the speed of soul power cultivation!" Feng Jingyi still grasped the essence.

“It’s about hard work, balance, and cycle,” Ling Yunzhi answered first. “Hard work is natural, but I think the leader means that we need to achieve a balance between physical and soul power cultivation, and then cycle through this balance day after day.”

“That’s right, my strength is also the result of accumulated experience.” Qian Shui agreed. Any cultivation method should be balanced; too much of anything is bad. One needs to reach a balance point in overall personal improvement. Just like the cultivation of immortality, which involves cultivating essence, qi, and spirit simultaneously, it can be said to be an all-round improvement. Without these, the development of skills is like a source without foundation, only a waste of time and an overdraft of talent.

Similarly, can balance be achieved by excluding cultivation methods? The experiences of Bibi Dong and Tang San, Shrek Academy's development of martial soul techniques ten thousand years later, and Huo Qubing's cheat-like abilities clearly demonstrate that it is possible. While cheating is one aspect, the importance of physical tempering and mental cultivation is already evident.

Even without cheating, the slow, accumulated extra benefits can reach a terrifying amount over time, far exceeding those of someone using only ordinary martial soul techniques, though not as quickly as a protagonist with cheat codes. And few of these people are weak in talent; even ordinary titled individuals should be able to achieve this.

"This kid's experience far exceeds your imagination. He was abandoned by His Holiness the Pope in the Star Dou Great Forest when he was just six years old and had just awakened his martial soul. He cultivated alone until last year. He is irreplaceable."

Ghost Douluo spoke up to remind him that Qian Shui's theory was indeed reasonable, and even he could not refute it. If he had been like him back then, his achievements might be far greater than they were now, and he might have already entered the Hall of Worship.

But if all these kids played like Qian Shui, almost none of them would survive.

Chapter 49 Teammates' Speculation

After Ghost Douluo revealed Qian Shui's past experiences, everyone understood where his extraordinary combat power came from.

Qian Shui retorted, "Surprised? That's useless. Get practicing! What I could do before I was six, you can't do now? Reach my level at six years old, and you'll be good enough!"

But unlike Qian Shui, they don't all have their own troubles. He was able to do these things largely because of his nature as a time traveler.

To achieve what Qian Shui calls "boredom," which is essentially a state of complete detachment from worldly thoughts, is truly asking too much. Qian Shui comes from an era where entertainment was paramount, a trait that makes it difficult for him to find interest in anything from the resource-scarce feudal era; he is essentially forced to achieve a state of complete detachment.

More importantly, there is Qian Renxue. Without her support, Qian Shui might not even have been able to gather enough nutrition for physical exercise, and it would have been impossible for him to achieve the above accomplishments before the age of 6.

Fortunately, as regular members of the Martial Soul Academy, their living conditions are almost top-notch, and they have everything they need in terms of other supplies.

In short, everyone except Yu Zhou is to train their physical abilities, while the big guy is forced to read books to improve his skills and reaction time.

Beast-type Soul Masters with offensive Soul Martial Souls have an innate physical advantage that other Soul Masters do not possess.

Qian Shui didn't have time to argue with them. He briefly explained some goals and prospects and then announced the disbandment.

"I'm only ten years old. I know you're not convinced. To be honest, I don't want to take this job either. The facts and the reasons have been presented. Whether I choose to practice or not, it doesn't matter to me."

Let's leave it at that for the first day. Let's get used to it, and if we need to move, we'll move.

"Is everything alright, Uncle Gui?"

"can."

"Then disband!"

He said that and walked away without looking back.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Ghost Douluo disappeared before Qian Shui announced the disbandment, and Feng Jingyi followed him.

"Hey, team leader, don't run so fast~ How about we have dinner together later? Look, it's only the first day, let's all get together, it's on me!" Feng Jingyi was a little reserved, which made Qian Shui feel a little uncomfortable.

"How about this, class monitor, you remember that place outside Wuhun City? I'll pay for this meal." He couldn't easily refuse such a suggestion, and given his lazy nature, he would have ignored it directly anyway. Feng Jingyi's suggestion was a reminder.

"Sister Sasha is probably still moving, right? You guys go ahead with your work and come find me later."

"Really? Hmm, I'll go tell everyone." Perhaps it was the temptation of the delicious food, but Feng Jingyi seemed to relax a bit.

Qian Shui was not used to this atmosphere; it felt particularly out of place. Without thinking too much about it, she went to prepare.

In the past, Qian Shui only needed to tell the maids what ingredients to buy, which saved her a lot of trouble. Now, she has to buy them herself. She is quite familiar with Wuhun City. Although she hasn't wandered around the city for some years, she still has some memory of the general layout.

"After all these years, nothing has changed here..." Qian Shui sighed. The market he saw back then was almost exactly the same, and even the stalls seemed to be owned by the same people.

Having obtained the ingredients and bought some tables and chairs, Qian Shui didn't delay and went straight to that place.

……

"Everyone, the team leader has made arrangements. After Sasha and Yinjin finish moving, we'll go to see him, and he'll treat everyone to a meal."

Feng Jingyi announced the dinner gathering to the five people who were still standing there, and everyone understood.

"Sasha, I'll help you!"

"Okay, thank you, Zhouzhou~"

The only couple naturally had to help each other.

"Hey, is there anyone who can help me?" Yin Jin offered to help.

"Let's go, Boss You and I will help you. Besides, don't you have a spatial soul tool? Don't be afraid of this." Ling Yunzhi put his arm around Yin Jin's shoulder; the two had a good relationship.

"Sigh, I knew it!" Yin Jin said with a disappointed expression.

"What? You still want Xiao Feng to come over?" Ling Yunzhi saw through his thoughts.

"Of course I want to! Besides, Brother Zhi, you can't help wanting it either..."

The two of them made fools of each other.

"Speaking of which, what do you guys think of our new team leader?"

“Very strong!” Ruoyou answered Yin Jin’s question calmly.

"It should be said that he is beyond the scope of the curriculum. He truly deserves to be the Pope's disciple." Ling Yunzhi's expression was somewhat solemn.

"Sigh, if you ask me, regardless of how strong he is, we're all going to be bossed around by a ten-year-old kid now~"

“He is very capable, and his theories make a lot of sense. I am willing to listen to him.”

"Huh? Boss You, that's too much..."

"He is the disciple of the new Pope. Today's events are clearly the Pope's will, designed to provide a platform for our new team leader, with the ultimate goal of winning the Elite Tournament. And His Majesty Ghost Douluo is merely backing him up," Ling Yunzhi briefly analyzed the situation.

"Oh, I see. Well, there's nothing we can do about it then."

"That may be true, but I do admire this team leader."

“Brother Zhi, why are you saying that too? Although we have to listen to what our superiors say, that kid is just a greenhorn. Our team leader is a Ghost Douluo. If there’s anything, we can just ask His Majesty the Title.”

"Yin Jin, you underestimate him. Putting aside the fact that His Holiness the Pope can make this decision, it is enough to say a lot."

Ling Yunzhi gazed at the Papal Palace, seemingly seeing through the great figures from afar.

"What does that prove? That it's to gild the disciples?" Yin Jin didn't have any opinion on gilding, but he was very clear about the intricacies involved.

"This shows that His Holiness the Pope has enough confidence that even a ten-year-old child can lead the team to victory!"

"That's right, don't you think about what level we guys are at? The championship four years from now will be a piece of cake!" Ruoyou and Ling Yunzhi both turned to look at Yin Jin, who was standing proudly with his hands on his hips. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Xiao Jin, you're too naive. Let me ask you, how big is the gap between us and the previous champions? In four years, are you confident that we can match their strength or even surpass them?"

"Uh... they're all 25 years old. How can we compare? They're all high-level support Soul Masters. I don't have the confidence to break through 10 levels in four years..." Yin Jin wilted like a vegetable leaf, losing all confidence.

"The previous team was led by the Pope himself, so they were incredibly strong. If we had just let them develop on their own, we might not have been able to even touch them, and the championship would have been out of the question."

So either the Pope believes the leader has the ability, or…”

"Or what?"

Ling Yunzhi's first guess was already quite astonishing: comparing Qian Shui, a ten-year-old child, to the Pope's teaching abilities? What a joke!

Ling Yunzhi recalled what Feng Jingyi had told Qian Shui: "Either he alone is enough to sweep the entire competition!"

"That's impossible! No matter what, the tournament is a team battle, it's impossible for one to fight seven..." It's absolutely unbelievable that one could beat Yin Jin by fighting seven. "Besides, he'll only be 14 years old at that time, at most he'll break through to Soul Master, how strong can he be? If it's him, plus us, we'd be enough to sweep the tournament."

Ling Yunzhi nodded in agreement, but still seemed thoughtful.

"By the way, boss, do you know what rank the Pope would be at this age of 10?"

"I don't know. But I heard from older teachers that she was already a Soul Emperor at our age. I think at least 10 years old, that would be..." Ruoyou didn't finish her sentence, and suddenly looked at Ling Yunzhi.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

"Eight years. If you want to advance to Soul Emperor, based on my personal reference and prediction, starting from now, you may not even have the chance to cross 20 levels!"

"My goodness, does that mean... His Holiness the Pope was already a Soul Master at the age of 10?"

"Even with innate full soul power, can one level up 30 times in four years? Let's rule out that possibility for now. If that's not the case, and if it's more evenly distributed, what if one levels up 30 times by the age of 10?" Ling Yunzhi frowned, and based on his most reasonable speculation, he came to a conclusion.

"Qian Shui is very likely a genius at the level of a Pope! And if this speculation is correct, he is very likely to achieve the Soul King level at the age of 14, or even more!"

Bibi Dong achieved Soul Saint status at the age of 20. Her cultivation speed was even more astonishing than people imagined, although it was very likely that she reached that level by relying on her twin martial souls.

However, such an analogy is enough to illustrate Qian Shui's level, and his extraordinary combat power makes the conjecture of fighting seven people at once seem more credible.