Douluo Dalu II: The Peerless Tang Sect

Chapter 86 In-depth exchange with Elder Song!

"Old Song?"

Zhu Ziyang called out, but received no response. Old Song was looking down, his eyes filled with a complex mix of thoughts, lost in thought.

After a moment, she looked up at Zhu Ziyang and said, "Do you know why I'm telling you all this?"

"..." Zhu Ziyang was silent for a few seconds, then tentatively asked, "Is it because of the Sun Moon Empire?"

"Hehe! A perceptive child, not bad, not bad at all." Old Song couldn't help but laugh heartily upon hearing this, then continued, "You're right. It's precisely because of the Sun and Moon Empire!"

Old Song's smile faded, and he said, "Do you know how many Soul Masters the Sun Moon Empire has? Half of them—half of the total number of Soul Masters in the Douluo Three Kingdoms!"

Zhu Ziyang's eyes widened in shock. From what he knew, the number of Soul Masters in the Sun Moon Empire when it first clashed with the Douluo Continent was extremely small, only one-tenth of the total number of Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent at that time. How could it have increased from one-tenth to one-half in just four thousand years? Such a speed was simply terrifying!

"Isn't it incredible?" Old Song looked at Zhu Ziyang's expression, a mocking smile on his aged face, and said, "There's something even more incredible. The reason the Sun Moon Empire was able to cause such a surge in the number of Soul Masters is entirely because it adopted a system that once existed on our Douluo Continent!"

"You mean, the Spirit Hall?!" Zhu Ziyang felt his mouth was a little dry, and for a moment he felt that the royal family of the original Douluo Three Kingdoms might as well all be dead.

"That's right!" Elder Song said with resentment, "It's the Spirit Hall! After the Sun Moon Empire's first defeat, it deeply realized that its weakness lay in the number of Spirit Masters. So their royal family began to reform, learning a new system from the Spirit Hall, which had been destroyed in the Douluo Continent for six thousand years. They unified the Spirit Awakening Ceremony for the entire country, and the state began to awaken Spirits for everyone free of charge! The results of this reform were very significant. The number of Spirit Masters in the Sun Moon Empire is constantly increasing, and the level of high-level Spirit Masters is constantly breaking through."

Zhu Ziyang remained silent, because he knew some of these things, but he didn't realize they were so serious.

"Looking at the Douluo Three Kingdoms, not only have they failed to recognize their own shortcomings and the development of soul tools has almost stagnated, but they have also been spending huge sums of money to buy soul tools from the Sun Moon Empire for many years. Isn't this just spending money to aid the enemy? Even the number of soul masters is declining year by year! It's truly pathetic!" Elder Song said. "If it weren't for the academy, the continent would probably have been unified by the Sun Moon Empire, this alien nation, long ago!"

However, those despicable nobles and royalty were completely oblivious to the gravity of the problem. A thousand years ago, when Yun Tian Douluo implemented his remedial plan, those short-sighted nobles not only failed to support him but also united against him, causing Yun Tian Douluo's plan to fail, and he himself died with resentment!

Zhu Ziyang knew that what Elder Song was referring to was the origin of Shrek Academy's exclusive zone. Yun Tian Douluo was the dean of Shrek Academy at that time.

"If we had allowed Yun Tian Douluo's reforms to proceed smoothly back then, we wouldn't need to be so wary of the Sun Moon Empire's invasion now. These insects really brought this upon themselves!" Elder Song continued, his tone increasingly indignant. "Ziyang, you know. In terms of soul tool research alone, the gap between our Shrek Academy and the Sun Moon Empire's Royal Soul Tool Academy isn't that big, at most only fifty years. Apart from a very few core areas of knowledge, the soft power of our Shrek Academy's Soul Tool Department is no worse than theirs."

However, in terms of raw power, we are at least two hundred years behind them. Our academy's highest-ranking Soul Masters are only level eight, while they have several level nine Soul Masters, not to mention level eight ones. Due to the lack of high-level Soul Masters, even with the blueprints, we simply cannot manufacture them. It's infuriating to have such a treasure but be unable to possess it!

Zhu Ziyang could only listen to such matters. Although his library contained many soul tool blueprints, the newest ones were all from a hundred years ago, belonging to commonly used soul tools that were already in widespread use. Moreover, even if he took them out, they would be of no use, because Elder Song had already said that the weakness of the Eastern Three Kingdoms, or rather the soul tool department of Shrek Academy, lay in people, not in technology.

He had no intention of becoming a Soul Master. His twin ultimate martial souls left him with little energy to research anything else. Moreover, the prerequisite for becoming a Soul Master was to become a Soul Crafter, and the higher the level of a Soul Master, the more profound their Soul Power cultivation needed to be; otherwise, they would be unable to control advanced Soul Tools.

"If the three Eastern kingdoms learn from the Sun Moon Empire's unification of martial soul awakening, or entrust the right to awaken martial souls to the academy, so that all our commoner children can awaken their martial souls, and the number of soul masters on the Douluo Continent returns to its peak state of ten thousand years ago, I don't believe that with such a large base, there won't be a few outstanding soul master geniuses!" Old Song continued, gritting his teeth, as if he wanted to devour those nobles alive.

A hint of helplessness flashed in Zhu Ziyang's eyes. He had figured it out: this old man, who was at least over a hundred years old, was a radical youth!

"So, Mr. Song, what do you mean by telling me all this?" Zhu Ziyang finally couldn't hold back and asked.

"Hehe! Little guy, you finally couldn't hold back anymore." When Old Song heard Zhu Ziyang's question, he first showed a smug smile, then his expression turned serious, and he said, "Let me tell you slowly."

Looking at the changes in Old Song's expression, Zhu Ziyang couldn't help but want to complain. She really knew how to play the art of changing one's expression.

"The reason I'm telling you all this is because you are the only one of all the exceptionally talented children I've ever met who has the potential to become the second person capable of changing all of this!" Old Song said in a rather awkward way.

But Zhu Ziyang understood.

"You understand without me saying it. The first person capable of changing all of this was Elder Mu. Elder Mu was once unparalleled in the world, and could have unified the three kingdoms entirely through his own martial prowess," Elder Song said, a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice. "But now, Elder Mu is old, and he no longer has the energy to deal with these things. However, Ziyang, you are different! You are still young, your talent far surpasses Elder Mu's, and you possess an ultimate martial spirit. Your achievements will surely surpass Elder Mu's! Once you grow up, no one on this continent will be able to stand before you!"

Zhu Ziyang felt a little smug after hearing what Old Song said.

"Therefore," Elder Song's tone changed, becoming solemn, even containing a hint of pleading, as he said, "when you, Ziyang, become the number one person on the continent, I believe it's only a matter of time. You must use your own martial prowess to unify the three kingdoms of Douluo, and then standardize the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony, so that everyone can have the opportunity to awaken their Martial Soul. Even if you turn the academy into a second Spirit Hall, that's fine, as long as it can prevent our continent from being occupied by alien races, it's all worthwhile!"

Old Song's words deeply moved Zhu Ziyang, for they expressed a part of his own thoughts. He looked at Old Song, and Old Song looked back at him, her aged eyes filled with longing. Sensing this, he nodded solemnly and said, "Old Song, all I can say is, it's all up to human effort!"

"Good! Good! Good!" Old Song said three times, clapping his hands happily, and said, "I knew I hadn't misjudged you! If you ever need anything in the future, you can come to me. I will help you in any way I can."

"I understand, thank you, Elder Song," Zhu Ziyang said, overjoyed.

"It's alright, you deserve it," Old Song said with a smile and a shake of his head.

Zhu Ziyang remained silent.

"By the way, don't tell anyone about my conversation with you except Elder Mu," Elder Song reminded him one last time. "Unless you can protect yourself from a Title Douluo."

"I understand!" Zhu Ziyang nodded.

He was well aware of how dangerous his words were. The noble forces of the Douluo Three Kingdoms were still very powerful. Not to mention, the royal families of the three great empires alone had several titled Douluo. His future goal could be described as digging the grave for the empire. Any normal ruler would not let him go unpunished.

Five or six hours passed after the conversation with Elder Song ended, and Jiang Nannan's cocoon finally began to move again.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Ziyang immediately looked over with anticipation.

(End of this chapter)