Douluo Continent: From Internal Martial Arts to the Law of Heaven and Earth

Feeling that the other party's offer was already quite generous, Tang Shan no longer hesitated. He knew very well that to gain more, he had to first demonstrate stronger self-worth; he couldn't expect the other party to continuously increase investment based solely on his promises. He had a clear understanding of himself; he wasn't a "failed art student" with exceptional eloquence. It was more reliable to demonstrate his abilities to persuade the other party to voluntarily increase investment.

"Since Your Highness is so sincere, I will no longer hesitate. You treat me as a national hero, and I will repay you with the world."

Tang Shan stood up and bowed deeply to Xue Qinghe.

Xue Qinghe quickly helped him up and asked him to sit down, then turned his gaze to Su Yuntao who was standing to the side.

"Since Shanzi has pledged allegiance to Your Highness, I will not hesitate any longer and will follow Your Highness's orders from now on."

Su Yuntao grinned, looking as if he would obey Tang Shan's every word.

"Good, good, good!" Xue Qinghe was overjoyed. With the help of Tang Shan and Su Yuntao, two exceptionally talented heroes, how could the Tiandou Empire not prosper in the future?

Moreover, these two are disciples of the master. If your disciples fall into my hands, even if you want to escape in the future, you may not be able to.

As for the Grandmaster's current seclusion, Xue Qinghe firmly believes that with the Grandmaster's monstrous talent, the bottleneck of the Limit Douluo realm is nothing at all.

Master, you are destined to fall into my control.

Looking at Xue Qinghe's radiant smile, Tang Shan felt a chill creep down his spine, as if he were being watched by some ominous creature.

This feeling doesn't seem to come from those two titled Douluo. So what exactly is this sudden sense of foreboding?

Instinctively, Tang Shan felt an urge to shield Xue Qinghe in front of him, but he ultimately suppressed it.

"Your Highness, what are your further instructions?"

Tang Shan was very self-aware of his role as a subordinate; as soon as he joined Xue Qinghe's forces, he took the initiative to inquire about his duties.

Of course, he also felt that, given the current situation, Xue Qinghe probably didn't have much for him to do immediately.

"No need to be so respectful, Tangshan. If you don't mind, just call me Brother Xue from now on."

"Etiquette should not be neglected; it is still appropriate for me to address you as Your Highness."

Tang Shan responded verbally, but in his heart, he was making a series of calculations.

What a joke! If I call him "Brother Xue" now, what if his true identity is revealed later? Would I have to call him "Sister Xue"? I have my pride too, how could I do that?

Xue Qinghe couldn't refuse Tang Shan's request, so he let him continue to call him Your Highness; Su Yuntao was older than Xue Qinghe, so he also called himself Your Highness like Tang Shan.

"Tangshan, all you need to do now is focus on your cultivation. Only when your cultivation level improves can you truly help me. You don't need to worry about anything else."

As Tang Shan had expected, Xue Qinghe gave the order, and he nodded and agreed earnestly.

"By the way, you're level nineteen now, not far from level twenty. You should start looking for a spirit beast to get your second spirit ring. What are your thoughts on that?"

Tang Shan was overjoyed; this was a real boon! If he relied solely on Su Haichao, with his current strength, venturing into either the Star Dou Great Forest or the Sunset Forest would be fraught with danger, and finding a suitable spirit beast would be incredibly difficult. Even if he were lucky enough to find a spirit beast safely, it was uncertain whether Su Haichao could successfully injure it severely.

Now that he has successfully pledged allegiance to Xue Qinghe, both the overt power of the Prince's Mansion and the covert power of the Spirit Hall can become his aid in finding spirit beasts.

Once you find the target spirit beast, you can go straight there, kill it, and absorb its spirit ring—it couldn't be more exhilarating.

"Your Highness, I don't yet know exactly how many years the second spirit ring can absorb, as I haven't had a chance to test it. After all, my original spirit soul provides an extraordinary boost to my physical attributes, and since the first spirit ring already has a lifespan of a thousand years, the lifespan of the second spirit ring might be significantly longer than the first. As for the type of spirit beast, it's best to prioritize those with a strength attribute as the primary one; if the spirit beast's skills have both strength and some mental attributes, that would be even more perfect."

My main spirit also encompasses the brain, so absorbing this type of spirit ring should be of considerable benefit to my main spirit.

Xue Qinghe's eyes flickered. Speaking of which, she had never truly witnessed the full strength of Tang Shan and Su Yuntao.

"I understand. I will send people to the various Soul Beast Forests as soon as possible to find suitable Soul Beasts. As for the time limit for Soul Ring absorption..."

She looked up at the sky outside the window and continued, "Tomorrow, come over tomorrow. I have several powerful guards with me, more than enough to test your physical fitness and the upper limit of your spirit rings. Besides, I also want to see for myself what's so special about your original spirit, Tang Shan."

"Then I'll have to trouble Your Highness tomorrow."

Tangshan expressed its gratitude once again.

"Now that you have joined my ranks, it is only natural that I should help you solve these problems related to cultivation."

Xue Qinghe turned his gaze to Su Yuntao, but before he could ask anything, Su Yuntao spoke first:

“Your Highness, I am still some distance from reaching my cultivation bottleneck, so I am not in a hurry to find a soul ring. Moreover, according to my teacher's arrangement, the soul beasts I absorb only need to be wolves, and the higher the quality, the better. There are no special requirements for their attributes. If there is anything I need in terms of cultivation, it is that I hope Your Highness can arrange more opponents for me to spar with.”

I've found that I improve much faster in combat.

"Of course, that's no problem."

Xue Qinghe agreed without hesitation: "Since you want to find an opponent to spar with, I'll go to General Hong Zhen in a few days and ask if we can arrange for a Grand Soul Master in the army to compete with you."

"Then thank you, Your Highness."

"It's alright." Xue Qinghe's eyes flickered, his mind already fully prepared: with Su Yuntao's strength, crushing the Grand Soul Masters in the army would be a piece of cake. He could use the competition to see how the soldiers truly viewed him. If things went wrong, that plan would be put into action. In any case, when only one option remained, Old Man Xue Ye should be able to see the situation clearly. After all, he was his 'son,' and no matter how dissatisfied he was, he had to consider the future of the Heaven Dou Empire.

The three briefly discussed the situation on the mainland, and as the sun set, Tangshan took the initiative to say goodbye.

Xue Qinghe escorted the two to the door and even dispatched his own carriage to take them back to their inn.

Watching the carriage disappear into the distance, Xue Qinghe returned to her seat. Without a sound, two figures appeared beside her.

"What do you two uncles think of them?"

Xue Qinghe closed her eyes slightly, clearly exhausted after a busy day. Even though her cultivation was not weak, she was already somewhat tired.

Chapter 62: Looking back on the events, the cleansing of the internal organs has yielded some minor results.

They are all capable of becoming indispensable subordinates in the future. Su Yuntao's innate soul power is relatively low. Even with full training, he can only grow into a Soul Saint-level Soul Master at most. However, this excludes the influence of the so-called 'Soul Fusion' special factor.

The Porcupine Douluo quickly gave Su Yuntao a relatively fair evaluation.

"Tang Shan is indeed a genius. Not only is he born with full soul power, but with the support of the energy of the thousand-year soul ring, he has reached level nineteen at the age of seven, which is truly rare. Moreover, he not only has remarkable talent in cultivation, but also has an extremely profound grasp of his teacher's theoretical knowledge."

Serpent Spear Douluo then commented on Tangshan.

"Not to mention, he and you, young master, are both the first ring in a thousand years."

Xue Qinghe leaned back in his seat, pondered for a moment, then opened his eyes again, picked up a piece of paper, and began to write on it.

"I've written down a summary of today's events in the letter. I'll trouble you, Uncle Porcupine, to take this letter to the Spirit Hall later and have Salas pass it on to Grandpa."

She paused slightly in her writing, then continued writing.

"I will also write some theoretical content about whether the Martial Soul Fusion, that is, the Beast Soul True Body, is complete. Let Grandpa take a look first, and after he confirms that there are no problems, I will give it to Grandpa Golden Crocodile and the others for review. Please remember to remind Salas when you do."

"Okay, young master."

……

Xue Qinghe's carriage was exceptionally high-class. Regardless of the interior decoration, its shock absorption effect alone far surpassed that of the carriage that was specially purchased to avoid disturbing Su Yuntao's deep meditation.

Even though the scenery outside the window was passing by quickly, the interior of the carriage felt as quiet and undisturbed as if it were a still room.

Before long, the carriage arrived at their inn. Su Yuntao and Tang Shan alighted from the carriage, and the driver bowed to them before turning the carriage around and driving away quickly.

Once he was sure the guards were out of sight, Su Yuntao finally breathed a sigh of relief and said with a hint of smugness, "How was it, Shanzi? I did pretty well today, didn't I?"

Tang Shan nodded affirmatively: "Perfect coordination."

As they spoke, the two walked together upstairs to their room.

"My goal has been achieved. In the short term, there should be no shortage of various resources that are helpful for cultivation."

As Tang Shan went up the stairs, he even raised an eyebrow at Su Yuntao.

"Brother, how about it? I've managed to secure some cultivation resources for you, shouldn't you thank me properly?"

Su Yuntao kicked at Tang Shan in annoyance, but Tang Shan reacted quickly and jumped to avoid the attack.

"Once I arrive in Heaven Dou City, I'll be preparing to travel. If you ask me to join Xue Qinghe's forces now, will I still be able to get any help from the Spirit Hall?"

"There's probably no problem."

Tang Shan was in a great mood today and said leisurely, "In the end, the Spirit Hall is just a Spirit Master force, while the Heaven Dou Empire is a country. Will improving your relationship with your country affect your status as a member of the Spirit Hall?"

"really?"

Su Yuntao couldn't help but feel a little suspicious. Tang Shan stared at him with wide eyes: "Do I look like someone who would lie?"

In fact, Tangshan's words were neither a lie nor the truth; they were only half true and half false.

Joining one of the two great empires, or strengthening one's relationship with them, would obviously have no impact on a Soul Master's situation within the Spirit Hall. However, if one were to join Xue Qinghe, or Qian Renxue, the situation would be entirely different.

After all, putting aside the current pope's irrational decision to appoint a fox spirit master as the Holy Maiden of the Spirit Hall, from the perspective of legal legitimacy or bloodline inheritance, Qian Renxue is the most reasonable successor to the papacy.

Joining Xue Qinghe's ranks might seem like a way to be suppressed by the Spirit Hall, but in reality, one's status might even be elevated in the eyes of the true core members of the Spirit Hall.

Upon reaching the second floor, Su Haichao seemed to hear the commotion outside. He opened the door and asked with a hint of curiosity, "Why are you back so late today?"

Tang Shan chuckled and walked into Su Haichao's room, with Su Yuntao following behind him.

Su Haichao closed the door, pulled up a chair and sat down, looking at the two of them with great interest.

"Judging from your expressions, you two have obviously had a good day. Tell me, what did you get today?"

Tang Shan thought for a moment and said, "That's a long story."

"Then let's get straight to the point," Su Haichao urged.

After a moment of contemplation, Tang Shan summarized his gains for the day in one sentence: "I met the Crown Prince of Tiandou, and after a series of tests, I successfully pledged allegiance to him."

Su Haichao's lips twitched slightly, and his fists clenched unconsciously: "Shanzi, have you gotten a little arrogant since you didn't get a beating after getting your first spirit ring?"

Tang Shan's lips twitched. He realized that he had become a little too complacent after achieving his goal. After all, Su Haichao was a Soul Master and had the Soul Skill Teleportation, which was practically a bug. He wasn't confident that he could defeat him.

So, he tactfully gave a brief account of what had happened that day.

"So, from now on, the two of you will essentially be working under the First Prince Xue Qinghe?"

Su Haichao stroked his chin, seemingly lost in thought.

“He might be the future Crown Prince of Tiandou, or even the Emperor of Tiandou,” Su Yuntao added.

"That's hard to say."

Su Haichao shook his head. "Competing for the position of Crown Prince is not so simple. Moreover, the current Emperor Xueye is in his prime. Even if Xue Qinghe can become Crown Prince, who knows how many years it will take for him to sit in that position."

Tang Shan's lips twitched, suspecting that Su Haichao's words were blessed. The future Xue Qinghe was exposed because Emperor Xue Ye was too long-lived, and he wanted to poison him to death. Otherwise, even if Emperor Xue Ye knew that his other two sons were most likely killed by Xue Qinghe, he probably would not have changed the position of crown prince.

Ultimately, it was a struggle for the crown prince's position, so it's not surprising that brothers would kill each other.

Although he might be dissatisfied with Xue Qinghe's ruthless methods, Emperor Xueye, as the emperor, could still distinguish between public and private matters.

Unfortunately, Xue Qinghe was too hasty and his methods were not very clever. If it were Tang Shan, with two Title Douluo by his side, he could have launched an assassination and killed Emperor Xue Ye. Even if Xue Beng was very cunning and had Prince Xue Xin and Dugu Bo backing him up, it would have been useless.

The three of them briefly discussed the day's events in the room, then went downstairs for dinner before returning to their respective rooms.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Tang Shan briefly reviewed the entire process of seeking refuge today. After confirming that he had not made any mistakes, he closed his eyes and entered a meditative state.

The soul power between heaven and earth was drawn in and slowly entered Tang Shan's body. It was enveloped by the soul power in his dantian and circulated spontaneously within his body.