As he spoke, Chen Shijie instinctively reached for the teacup next to him, only to find it empty. To cover up the awkward motion, he casually brought his hand to his mouth, coughed dryly twice, and tried to look as if he were deep in thought about the family's troubles.
"Oh right, Xiao Ming, summon your martial spirit for me. I want to take a look at how far your Emerald Scorpion has developed. Everyone assumes the quality of our family's Emerald Scorpion martial spirits is always about the same, but actually, there's variation. Generally, the higher your innate soul power, the better the martial spirit's quality. Let me have a look at yours."
"Okay, Grandpa."
Chen Ming nodded, pushing aside all the swirling thoughts in his mind. He jumped down from his seat and stepped in front of Chen Shijie and Chen Tianyun. Taking a deep breath, he focused his mind, feeling the strength within his body. After a moment of silence, his soul power surged from his dantian, and his martial spirit was summoned.
His straight back broadened, a layer of armor-like shell spread across his skin, and a long scorpion tail extended from the base of his spine. His arms swelled up, covered with protective carapace like natural armor.
Chen Shijie sniffed at the faintly released poison gas from Chen Ming's martial spirit and his eyes lit up instantly. He moved behind Chen Ming, grabbed the tip of his scorpion tail, and began counting the tail segments one by one with his fingers.
"Eleven segments? This is incredible!"
He couldn't quite believe it. He counted several more times just to be sure, but the result was still the same.
"The Emerald Scorpion martial spirit has many ways to identify its stage, but the simplest and most reliable is by counting the tail segments."
"As a soul beast, this species is born with five tail segments, all white at first. Every 100 years of cultivation, one segment turns green, completing a cycle every 500 years. After 1,000 years, all five segments turn dark green."
"Beyond that, every additional 2,000 years of cultivation grows a new segment, which takes another 1,000 years to fully turn dark green. Only after reaching the 10,000-year mark can it grow a ninth segment. Growth continues with time, but the pace varies based on talent—some gain a segment every 10,000 years, others every 20,000."
"According to legend, the maximum number of segments is eighteen. Fifteen segments mark the Scorpion Emperor level, while twelve segments signify the Scorpion King."
"For us, as martial spirits, our Emerald Scorpion gains one segment with each of the first three soul rings, has a chance to gain another with each of the middle three, and no longer grows with the last three—at least, not with average-quality soul rings."
"I'm a Soul King with five soul rings. Thanks to some inexplicable luck, I gained four extra segments and barely made it to twelve, hitting Scorpion King level. Even so, in all of Biluo City, no one has a martial spirit of higher quality than mine."
Staring at Chen Ming, Chen Shijie's eyes welled with tears.
"Once you absorb your first soul ring, you'll likely jump straight to Scorpion King level. With your five levels of innate soul power and a top-tier martial spirit, you could become a Soul Emperor or even a Soul Sage in the future. And if you're able to gain another segment later on, achieving Scorpion Emperor status, that would be a transformative breakthrough. Our family might finally produce a high-rank Soul Douluo and completely solve our bloodline problem..."
"This is wonderful…"
At this point, Chen Shijie was weeping, his voice choked with emotion.
"I thought we'd have to risk everything on you absorbing the Biling Sevenfold Flower's soul ring, gambling with your life. But now, it seems that's completely unnecessary… If Tianfeng and Ruoyu are watching from the heavens, they must be so relieved."
"…"
Chen Ming stood there, holding his sobbing grandfather and watching his second uncle secretly wipe tears from his eyes. He wasn't sure what to say—honestly, the whole scene felt… a bit awkward.
It was like having a huge boulder pressing down on his chest, and just as he was figuring out how to smash it apart, the construction team came by, took one look, and said, "Oh, don't worry, that rock will sprout legs and run away on its own soon…"
Still, although in theory he no longer needed to absorb the Biling Sevenfold Flower's soul ring to change his fate, Chen Ming found himself itching with curiosity now.
The Biling Sevenfold Flower was a legendary poison, its only weakness being extreme ice or fire—and even that was due to its plant nature. If you only harnessed its poison attribute, it could even resist those extreme elements to some extent.
While the Biling Five Poisons were excellent, they were nothing compared to the Biling Sevenfold Flower. If he gave up on that soul ring now, it would be nearly impossible to find another poison-type soul ring of such high quality in the future.
There were plenty of low to mid-tier poison-type soul beasts, but at the top? It was like falling off a cliff—true high-end poison beasts were even rarer than the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear.
Not only were they hard to find, but even if you did find one, it might not be a good fit. And it definitely wouldn't provide the same clear boost in martial spirit quality as the Biling Sevenfold Flower.
Tsk…
He'd have to see when the time came—if he had the ability to absorb the Biling Sevenfold Flower's soul ring, he'd definitely take a gamble.
Come to think of it… wasn't this thing basically a kind of immortal herb, just one that normal people couldn't handle?
As he hugged his grandfather, who was sobbing and sniffling in his arms, Chen Ming's mind was spinning with thoughts while he gently patted the old man's back to comfort him.
After a while, the overwhelmed old man finally collected himself, stood up from Chen Ming's embrace, wiped the tears and snot off his face, and smiled with a sense of relief.
"Xiao Ming…"
"Yes, Grandpa?"
"What I'm about to tell you, you might not fully understand yet, but you have to accept it—it's for your own good."
His grandfather's face turned serious. Although he didn't want to be too strict with his only grandson, the family burden was crushing him. He had no choice but to give it everything he had.
"For the next few years, your second uncle and I will be by your side to protect you. One of us will always be with you. Your chances to leave home will be drastically reduced. Until you absorb your second soul ring, there won't be much rest for you. All of your time will be spent learning everything about being a soul master and training hard."
"For now, don't worry about any of the family matters. Your only focus is on training. The position of family head will eventually be yours. As long as you work hard, showcase your talent, and show the potential to change the family's decline, that will be the greatest contribution you can make."
"Once you've absorbed your second soul ring, we'll send you to study at the Heaven Dou Royal Academy. After you graduate from there, you'll have both strength and status. At that point, the sky's the limit—you can do whatever you want, and we won't stop you."
"Train hard. The family will be proud of you. Who knows, maybe in the future, your name will get its own dedicated page in the family record."
(End of Chapter)