Chapter 11: Development Path
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School acted incredibly fast. In just one day, the sect arranged for special personnel to help Yang Xiong and his family move. Everything from their house, big and small, was packed up and moved, even the small equipment Yang Xiong used for his training.
Once they entered the inner sect, Yang Xiong finally felt the grandeur and wealth of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School.
The inner sect was magnificently constructed, with pavilions, lakes, rock gardens, and everything else one could imagine. Even the lake water was a deep green like jade, and the misty aura made the place feel like a fairyland. Even a simple tree was incredibly precious, emitting an aura that had a beneficial effect on soul masters.
Yang Xiong's family was assigned a courtyard near the west side. Though they only had four members, and even with two servants, it was still just six people, the house had more than ten rooms. The courtyard also featured a large training ground and a small pond, not to mention secret rooms. It was an ideal living environment.
The biggest surprise, however, was for Yang Wei, Yang Xiong's older brother. He had been attending school in Tiandou City, but in the blink of an eye, their entire family had become disciples of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's inner sect. Even their parents had new assignments within the inner sect.
It was well-known that the treatment in the inner sect of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School was vastly different from that of the outer sect. Every month, they received various monetary subsidies and medicinal pills, along with many other benefits.
However, at this moment, Yang Xiong sat in his new home, deep in thought. In front of him lay a pile of papers, covered with various writings.
Choosing a soul ring was extremely important to him, and he had spent a long time considering his future development.
With his body as his martial soul, Yang Xiong knew there were countless choices, but none seemed to be ideal.
On the paper, Yang Xiong wrote the basic attributes of the Douluo Continent: Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Light, Darkness, and Space. These were the fundamental elements that made up the world.
Apart from these, there were many other attributes, such as Ice, Lightning, Wind, Poison, Strength, Speed, and Mental, which were more like extensions of the basic elements. Ice was an extension of Water, Lightning was a combination of various elements, and Wind wasn't even considered a basic attribute.
Light, Darkness, and Space were considered advanced basic attributes.
Strength and Mental attributes seemed more like extensions of specific attributes or new combinations of multiple attributes.
For example, the Haotian Sect's Haotian Hammer was fundamentally just a normal hammer, but the Haotian Sect infused it with strength-type soul rings, causing it to display terrifying power. In the future, it might even evolve into a weapon of ultimate strength.
Similarly, the White Tiger martial soul of the Xingluo Dai family could be considered a combination of Strength and Gold attributes.
As for the so-called strength-type soul beasts, they were combinations of Gold, Earth, and other attributes, often with a mix of additional traits.
For example, the Blazing Lion and the Fire-Dragon had powerful Strength attributes but also Fire attributes, with the latter eventually taking the dominant role. Then there was the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, which was primarily Water-type but also had Lightning and Strength attributes.
Like Tang Lie from Haotian Sect, his Haotian Hammer, though containing Strength attributes, also manifested Fire attributes, greatly increasing its power.
After considering all these, Yang Xiong concluded that focusing purely on Strength was the best route. His body would continue to grow stronger, and if he followed this path, his physical abilities would become more formidable.
But after a thousand years, the Body Sect had not followed this path. Whether it was the Poison Immortal or the Immortal Poison, they had both chosen the Poison attribute. Although the Body Sect did have soul masters who specialized in pure Strength, their development was not as expected.
Just like the Four Families with single attributes, their pursuit of pure Strength led to a martial soul of a powerful gorilla, but even they couldn't produce a Title Douluo. Over time, their families were gradually phased out, proving that a pure Strength path wasn't necessarily the best way to grow.
After thinking for a whole day, Yang Xiong had mostly decided on his development path.
He would pursue the Strength path, incorporating all attributes. He would select Strength-type soul beasts for his soul rings, with attributes including Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Light, Darkness, and Space.
Among all the soul rings, the hardest to find would be the Wood-type Strength soul beast. The others were relatively easier to find.
Yang Xiong's reason for choosing this development path was simple: the Strength path would undoubtedly make him stronger in battle and improve his body and muscles significantly. Perhaps, by absorbing soul rings above his level, he could even trigger a second awakening of his martial soul.
Aside from attributes, Yang Xiong planned to choose stronger soul beasts, especially those with dragon bloodlines, which might be even better.
The key to all of this was the unique compatibility of the Body Martial Soul. Since his martial soul was based on his body, it could absorb soul rings of any attribute, and there was no rejection between different rings.
Yang Xiong even thought that if he could truly master all attributes, his body might undergo some qualitative change, reaching unprecedented levels of strength.
The next morning, Yang Xiong approached his homeroom teacher with his request for soul rings.
At the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, when students needed soul rings, special personnel were assigned to help analyze and select appropriate soul beasts.
The sect had a large number of soul beasts in captivity, mostly those under a thousand years old. They also had their own Soul Beast Forest, which covered over fifty kilometers, home to soul beasts aged below ten thousand years. Soul beasts over ten thousand years old had to be hunted outside.
However, regular students could only get soul beasts at the thousand-year level. Only those above the rank of Soul Elder could request soul beasts of ten thousand years, and these were outside the scope of the school's management.
Furthermore, obtaining a ten-thousand-year soul beast was difficult and required significant contributions to the sect, especially when some soul beasts had to be hunted in the Star Dou Forest, which was filled with dangers.
The homeroom teacher, Lin Gong, took out a thick book, which listed all the soul beasts available within the sect.
Yang Xiong flipped through the pages and was amazed at the large number of soul beasts, with many different ages. Common soul beasts were abundant, while rare ones were fewer and typically reserved for talented individuals.
On the first page, he saw the Thousand-Jin Ant, with detailed information provided.
"Thousand-Jin Ant, pure Strength-type soul beast, one hundred years old, seventeen of them; two hundred years old, nine of them…"
The second page contained the Soft Bone Rabbit. Although the Soft Bone Rabbit wasn't a particularly powerful soul beast, it was quite good for speed-type soul masters.
...
Yang Xiong flipped through the pages, but he didn't find the soul beast he was looking for. Most of the soul beasts in captivity were too common and didn't meet Yang Xiong's expectations.
Just then, Yang Xiong's eyes lit up, and after carefully observing, he pointed to one and said, "Teacher Lin, I want to choose this soul beast."
Lin Gong looked at the page with a bit of surprise. "Xiaoxiong, you need to think carefully. This soul beast has a good quality, but it's five hundred and forty years old, which is far beyond the first soul ring's absorption limit. Besides, this is a defensive-type soul beast, which doesn't match your martial soul very well."
"This soul beast has been raised in our sect for a long time, but no one has wanted it. The problem is that turtle-type soul beasts are too limited. They only provide defensive-type soul skills and are more suitable for turtle martial souls. Our sect has very few soul masters with turtle martial souls, let alone students."
Yang Xiong quickly responded, "Teacher Lin, I've thought it over, and I want this one. I think it's a perfect fit for me."
Lin Gong nodded. "This is a big decision. I need to report this to the sect master and also inform your parents. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, your body might be damaged, and that would be troublesome."
(END CHAPTER)
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