One day, it will come to pass.
When the Imperial Xue Clan is annihilated, the entire Heaven Dou will fall into a state of leaderless chaos.
To stabilize the empire, a new royal lineage will be chosen from among the various noble families.
Among all the noble families in the Heaven Dou Empire, only the ten great noble families with hereditary titles at or above the rank of Marquis are eligible to contend for the next royal position. These are:
The three hereditary Dukes:
Lin Clan (Dragon Soul Vine), Bai Clan (Heavenly Star Furnace), Shi Clan (Black Tortoise Turtle).
The seven hereditary Marquises:
Ye Clan (Nine-Hearted Begonia), Ao Si Clan (Ghost Leopard), Yu Clan (Wind Chime Bird), Wei Clan (Snow Lotus), Lu Clan (Heavenly Martial), Zhi Clan (Azure Vine), Du Clan (Thousand Leaf Banyan).
Although there are more than three Dukes and more than seven Marquises among the nobles of Heaven Dou, the titles of all other noble families, except for these ten, are inherited with a downgrade rather than through perpetual succession.
Noble titles are divided into five ranks: Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron.
Once a noble title is downgraded to Baron, with no further possibility of demotion, the holder will be stripped of their noble status and reduced to a commoner.
For non-hereditary nobles to maintain their titles without downgrading, the current heir must achieve a certain standard in their Soul Power cultivation.
For example:
To retain a ducal title, one must break through to level seventy Soul Saint in Soul Power cultivation.
To retain a marquis title, one must break through to level sixty Soul Emperor in Soul Power cultivation.
To retain an earl title, one must break through to level fifty Soul King in Soul Power cultivation.
...
Among the ten hereditary noble families eligible to contend for the throne, most are blessed with numerous descendants. The Lin Clan and the Ye Clan are the only two exceptions.
Due to the family's inherited Martial Soul, the Nine-Hearted Begonia, the Ye Clan can only have two Spirit Masters with the Nine-Hearted Begonia Martial Soul existing simultaneously.
Therefore, the day a new generation of children in the Ye Clan awakens their Martial Soul is the day the oldest elder in the Ye Clan dies.
If the elder does not willingly meet their end, the junior will instantly perish the moment they awaken the Nine-Hearted Begonia, due to a curse on the Martial Soul.
Consequently, the Ye Clan has been unable to escape its predicament of having few descendants from beginning to end.
As for the Lin Clan, it is simply because the family has always had a single successor throughout generations, with no exceptions ever occurring.
A long, long time ago.
The ancestor of the Lin Clan.
His father was a commoner who awakened the mutated Martial Soul, the Dragon Soul Jade Wall, at the age of six. His mother hailed from the hereditary Marquis Zhi Clan, and her Martial Soul was the Azure Vine.
When the Lin Clan ancestor awakened his Martial Soul at the age of six, the two great inherited Martial Souls within his bloodline fused and mutated, awakening the Dragon Soul Vine, which the Lin Clan has inherited to this day.
This connection has fostered a close relationship between the Lin Clan and the Zhi Clan for generations.
Furthermore, the Du Clan, one of the seven hereditary Marquis families, is the maternal family of Lin Rong, the current Duke of the Lin Clan.
Therefore, when Lin Rong contends for the Heaven Dou throne in the future, both the Zhi Clan and the Du Clan can become his allies.
Although, when the time comes to contend for the throne, Lin Rong will be fully capable of suppressing all dissenting voices within Heaven Dou by force.
However, when it comes to allies, the more the merrier.
...
Inside the military tent.
Lin Rong sat in a chair next to Ge Long and said:
"Uncle Ge, I'll be leaving Hongjun in your care. My attendant here will be arranged to stay by Hongjun's side, providing him with personal protection."
"There are still some matters in the imperial capital that Grandpa Yu needs to attend to, so I won't be staying here with you any longer, Uncle Ge."
"Farewell."
Ge Long heard this and knew that Lin Rong's words were just an excuse.
However, Ge Long also knew that imperial law strictly prohibited hereditary nobles from interfering with military power. As a hereditary Duke of the empire, it was indeed inconvenient for Lin Rong to linger in a military stronghold like Jialing Pass.
Therefore, Ge Long did not try to persuade him to stay but instead stood up to see Lin Rong and the old butler out of the pass.
Outside the pass gate.
Ge Long stood there to see them off until the carriage carrying Lin Rong disappeared from view, then turned back to the pass.
Inside the carriage.
Lin Rong looked back through the carriage window at the now-diminutive Jialing Pass and instructed:
"Grandpa Yu, tell the driver to change our route. We're going to Thunderclap Canyon."
"Yes." The old butler did not ask for the reason behind this decision but stepped out of the carriage to convey the young master's orders.
After the old butler returned to the carriage, Lin Rong entered a state of cultivation.
Lin Rong's own Soul Power had already reached the peak of level thirty-eight when Ma Hongjun broke through to level thirty.
The day after Ma Hongjun obtained his third Spirit Ring, Lin Rong had already set out with him for Jialing Pass.
Lin Rong's own Soul Power had also successfully broken through to level thirty-nine a few days before the carriage arrived at Jialing Pass. He was only one level away from breaking through to level forty.
At this time, Lin Rong was only eight years and ten months old, still two months shy of his ninth birthday.
"One more level of Soul Power, and two months of cultivation time should be enough. By then, I'll have just turned nine."
"Whether it's returning to Heaven Dou City from Jialing Pass or taking a detour to Thunderclap Canyon, it will take about a month."
"If I go to Thunderclap Canyon now, I won't be able to break through to level forty by the time I get there, but I'll only be a month away from cultivation."
"It's just that a month's time is acceptable for me, but my fourth Spirit Ring might not be able to wait."
"According to information from the secret guards not long ago, the Thunderclap Nether Vine in Thunderclap Canyon is about to be unable to suppress the destructive power within its body."
"This Thunderclap Nether Vine is really useless! It forced me to make a trip to Thunderclap Canyon myself to help it suppress the destructive power within its body."
"But since it's my fourth Spirit Ring, I can't let it self-destruct before I break through to level forty."
"However, from another perspective, it's not necessarily a bad thing that the Thunderclap Nether Vine is about to lose control of the destructive power within its body."
"According to the theoretical proof in the original work, the greater the pain a Spirit Beast endures before its death, the higher the probability of dropping a Spirit Bone."
"Since the Thunderclap Nether Vine in Thunderclap Canyon is about to lose control of the destructive power within its body, it can be said that it is constantly enduring extreme pain."
"In this way, the possibility of it dropping a Spirit Bone is extremely high, and the Spirit Bone it drops has a high probability of inheriting the Thunderclap Nether Vine's ability to grow by absorbing lightning."
"I hope my luck is a bit better. I hope the Spirit Bone dropped by the Thunderclap Nether Vine is not a Head Bone or a Right Leg Bone, but a Spirit Bone from the other four positions. Even a Torso Bone would be fine."
"After all, as a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the Sky Azure Bull Python can selectively drop Spirit Bones from fixed positions. Even if it's not the Torso Bone I hope for most, changing it to another position wouldn't be bad."
"However, if the Thunderclap Nether Vine really drops a Head Bone or a Right Leg Bone, I can only accept it. At worst, I'll give that Spirit Bone to Grandpa Yu to absorb."
"But if that happens, my six pre-selected regular Spirit Bones will be missing one, and it won't be so easy to find another one that suits my preferences."
After obtaining the Head Bone of the Kongqing Bamboo, Lin Rong had already pre-selected six Spirit Bones for the regular positions.
The Kongqing Bamboo had already occupied the Head Bone. For the other five positions, except for the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor's Spirit Right Leg Bone, which he had not yet obtained.
The other four Spirit Bones originated from:
Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng, Lovesick Heartbreak Red, Sky Azure Bull Python, Thunderclap Nether Vine.
Among these, the first three were guaranteed to produce Spirit Bones, and the positions of the Spirit Bones could be chosen according to Lin Rong's wishes.
Only the Thunderclap Nether Vine did not necessarily drop a Spirit Bone. Even if it did drop a Spirit Bone, its position would be random.
Out of the six regular Spirit Bones, two positions were confirmed, and there were four positions left for the Thunderclap Nether Vine to choose from.
Therefore, once the Thunderclap Nether Vine dropped a Spirit Bone, the probability of its position matching Lin Rong's wishes was as high as two-thirds.
"My luck has always been very good. I hope this time is no exception."
After muttering this in his heart, Lin Rong no longer thought about it and calmed himself down to cultivate the Marrow Cleansing Scripture.
...
In the northeastern region of the Heaven Dou Empire, there was a vast canyon perpetually covered in dark clouds and filled with lightning.
The unique geographical environment endowed this canyon with extremely abundant lightning elements, making it the largest gathering place for lightning-attribute Spirit Beasts on the continent.
This canyon was thus named Thunderclap Canyon, a sacred place for countless lightning-attribute Spirit Masters seeking Spirit Rings.
At the same time, among the continent's Seven Great Sects, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, ranked at the bottom of the Upper Three Sects, had its sect located in Dragon City, near Thunderclap Canyon.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul must absorb Spirit Rings from dragon-type or quasi-dragon-type Spirit Beasts to possess the ability to dragonize.
Among these, the Spirit Beasts most compatible with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul were naturally dragon-type or quasi-dragon-type Spirit Beasts with lightning attributes.
And nearly seventy percent of the continent's lightning-attribute dragon-type Spirit Beasts lived in Thunderclap Canyon.
For this reason, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had once intended to occupy the entire Thunderclap Canyon, turning it into the sect's private property and prohibiting Spirit Masters from outside the sect from entering.
This overbearing behavior, which harmed the interests of all Spirit Masters, naturally attracted the attention of the Spirit Hall.
At that time, the Spirit Hall was still led by the Qian family as Pope, and the Spirit Hall personnel were not as corrupt and incompetent as they are now.
When the Pope at the time learned of this news, he personally led three elders to forcefully ascend the mountain gate of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
Facing the pressure of the Spirit Hall's four Titled Douluo, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was forced to swear before the Pope:
"I swear as the Sect Master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan that Thunderclap Canyon belongs to all Spirit Masters, not the private property of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan."
After receiving the promise, the Pope of the Spirit Hall at that time then left with the three elders in a dashing manner.
This event was also recorded in historical records and widely circulated, becoming a black history that the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan could never erase.
One month later.
Lin Rong stood outside Thunderclap Canyon, engrossed in reading an ancient text that recorded this event, and commented:
"The Spirit Hall led by the Qian family is completely different from the Spirit Hall led by Bibi Dong."
"It is said that great powers inevitably breed some pests, but during the period when the Qian family served as Pope, the Spirit Hall bred far fewer pests than when Bibi Dong served as Pope."
"The existence of the Spirit Hall is beneficial to the common Spirit Masters across the continent, and it also provides all the common people on the continent with a sole opportunity to turn their lives around. This is an indisputable fact."
"But who cares if I'm not a beneficiary of the Spirit Hall's existence? The Spirit Hall is blocking my path, so it must be overthrown!"
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