Chapter 29: The Birth of "Grandmaster" Yu Xiaogang—His Ego Soared!
Because Bibi Dong admired knowledgeable people,
Yu Xiaogang began pretending to seriously research various theories, drawing from the books he had read in the public library of Spirit City.
For example, he started to study the soul ring absorption limits for soul masters.
During this time, of course, Yu Xiaogang needed to collect data.
So he took Bibi Dong to the Soul Master Academy in Spirit City to gather data from students.
In Douluo Continent, soul masters are generally very unwilling to share information about their martial souls or soul rings with anyone who isn't a friend.
But thanks to Yu Xiaogang relying on Bibi Dong's status as the Holy Maiden, the students of the Spirit City Soul Master Academy—upon recognizing her—grudgingly cooperated and told Yu Xiaogang about the age limits of their soul rings.
Over time, Yu Xiaogang successfully collected data on soul ring absorption age limits from soul masters of various ranks (although only up to Soul Elder, since graduates leave at that level from advanced academies).
Though the combined student population of the elementary, intermediate, and advanced academies in Spirit City was much larger than other cities, soul masters aren't exactly common.
Across the entire continent, soul masters are one-in-ten-thousand existences.
So even in Spirit City, the total number of current students barely reached a few thousand.
And fewer than half of them were willing to provide usable data.
Furthermore, they were spread across three levels of training.
Thus, when divided, Yu Xiaogang only had a few dozen to a hundred samples for each level: Soul Master, Grandmaster, and Soul Elder.
The sample size was far too small to properly support any credible theory.
Bibi Dong could only help him this much.
In Spirit City, most students—after graduating from advanced academies—are quickly assigned as heads of branch halls in different regions.
Those at Soul Ancestor rank or above were usually reserve members of Spirit Hall's leadership, often away on training missions and rarely seen.
Others with even higher cultivation were already in management roles within Spirit Hall.
At her current rank as Holy Maiden, Bibi Dong could only ask favors for minor things.
But information about soul rings is private, and even she couldn't easily persuade others to share it.
Perhaps she could threaten them—but that wasn't Bibi Dong's way.
Without Bibi Dong's help, trash like Yu Xiaogang would find it even harder to collect such data.
And if he left Spirit Hall altogether, nobody would give him the time of day.
Yet he still needed to improve Bibi Dong's impression of him—and he had to come up with a theory to do that!
So in the end, Yu Xiaogang asked Bibi Dong to help him access archived Spirit Hall records containing soul ring age data for newly joined soul masters.
But due to her limited authority, she could only obtain data for soul masters below Soul King.
So Yu Xiaogang's data was only valid for Soul Master, Grandmaster, Soul Elder, and Soul Ancestor levels.
For anything beyond that, he relied purely on speculation drawn from books, and the supposed "limits" of soul ring absorption were vague at best.
But Yu Xiaogang didn't care!
His real goal behind this "theory" was simply to show off in front of Bibi Dong and boost her opinion of him.
The earlier data was enough!
Once Yu Xiaogang proposed his so-called theory of soul ring absorption limits for soul masters,
The naïve Bibi Dong was filled with admiration, thinking Yu Xiaogang was truly brilliant!
But upon seeing this part of the stream, everyone else—the leaders of other major soul master factions—were utterly speechless.
Yu Xiaogang really lived up to his title as the laughingstock of the soul master world.
Who could've guessed that his theory of soul ring absorption limits was created in such a ridiculous way?
Even if he had genuinely researched it, no one would have adopted it!
Because the theory was absurd, naive, and fundamentally flawed!
It's common knowledge: a soul master's maximum soul ring absorption age is determined by their physical constitution.
And physical fitness varies greatly—even within the same rank—depending on gender, martial soul type, and whether they've undergone specific training.
For example, a 10th-level soul master with an auxiliary tool-type martial soul (a girl) would clearly have a lower ring absorption limit than a boy with a power-attack beast-type martial soul.
That's not even a question!
If any organization took Yu Xiaogang's ridiculous theory seriously…
And tried to help their disciples hunt spirit beasts whose ages matched the supposed "maximum" limit—say, 423 years for a first ring—
How many disciples would die every year?!
In reality, major factions like the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had long studied ring absorption limits.
But Yu Xiaogang never inherited the clan's martial soul, so he never had access to this kind of information!
Damn it! What is this livestream even trying to do—do they have a grudge against me?
Why are even my inner thoughts being revealed!?
At this rate, I won't be able to show my face on the continent!
In Nuoding Academy, Yu Xiaogang broke into a cold sweat as he watched the stream not only display his past deeds but also expose his internal monologue. His expression darkened, and fury welled up in his heart.
But the livestream continued.
To raise Bibi Dong's favorability even more, Yu Xiaogang kept pushing forward with his so-called martial soul research.
With prior experience showing that Bibi Dong didn't seem to mind his use of Spirit Hall's knowledge,
Yu Xiaogang grew bolder and began summarizing the contents of the books in the public library, eventually presenting his famous "Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls."
Most of these "core competencies" were simply common sense found in various books.
Examples: innate soul power level corresponds to martial soul strength, there are only tool-type and beast-type martial souls, every soul master has their own growth path, etc.
Though, one actually useful point was:
When soul power reaches its limit—level 10—it's possible to delay acquiring a ring and continue cultivating. The extra energy accumulates and manifests once the ring is obtained.
And then there was the laughable motivational line: "There are no useless martial souls, only soul masters who don't know how to cultivate!"
But somehow, Bibi Dong loved this kind of stuff.
After Yu Xiaogang introduced the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls,
Bibi Dong practically worshipped him. She even helped him publish the theory in book form.
Because she personally oversaw it,
Many soul masters in Spirit City, though they privately scoffed at the theory, publicly sang its praises:
"What an amazing theory!"
"I've learned so much!" and other such empty platitudes.
Some even pretended to respect him, mockingly calling him the "Martial Soul Theory Grandmaster"—or simply, "Grandmaster."
For a time, all this fake flattery in Spirit City made Yu Xiaogang feel like he was floating on air.
Back in the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, he had always been mocked as a useless failure.
He had never experienced such praise in his life. It was intoxicating!
So much so that Yu Xiaogang began to consider giving up his quest to evolve his martial soul altogether.
Instead, he shifted his ambition to becoming a master of martial soul theory—famous and respected throughout the land.
(END CHAPTER)
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