Douluo: Starting from the Nine-Curved Vine Dragon

Chapter 66 Jialing Pass

Tianling Mountains.

Located on the southern border of the Tiandou Empire.

The mountain range runs from east to west and stretches for thousands of miles. It is one of the largest mountain ranges on the continent.

South of the Tianling Mountains is a narrow strip of flat plain.

This plain is rich and prosperous, and is the fiefdom of the Kingdom of Barak, one of the four vassal kingdoms of the Tiandou Empire.

In the center of the mountain range, there is a magnificent pass known as Jialing Pass.

Jialing Pass has a natural strategic location and is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

It has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times, with the situation that one man can block the passage of ten thousand men.

Inside the pass, in the camp.

A middle-aged man in his thirties or forties was sitting cross-legged on the couch with his eyes closed in meditation.

"marshal."

A young soldier walked into the tent, saluted the middle-aged man, and reported in a moderate voice:
"The current Duke of the Lin family is here with his men, and they are waiting outside the gate. Marshal, please make the decision!"

"Nephew Lin?" The middle-aged man on the couch opened his eyes, with a hint of doubt and surprise in his eyes.

Then, the middle-aged man stood up from the couch and instructed the young soldier:
"Let them in."

A quarter of an hour later.

Lin Rong, along with the old butler, Xu Pan and Ma Hongjun, walked into the tent.

"Uncle Ge, long time no see."

In terms of seniority, Grandpa Lin Rong and Ge Long's father are of the same generation, and Lin Rong's father and Ge Long are of the same generation.

Lin Rong and Ge Long are one generation apart, so they address each other as uncle and nephew.

"It's been a long time since we last met. The last time we met was during your full moon banquet. But you didn't remember anything at that time, so you probably didn't remember me. I guess your housekeeper told you."

Ge Long walked forward, picked up Lin Rong and lifted him above his head, and said with a smile:

"At that time, you were still a little kid."

"More than eight years have passed, and my dear nephew has grown so big now. You are much heavier when I hold you now than when you were one month old."

After a while, Ge Long gently put Lin Rong down, looked at the three people behind Lin Rong and asked:
"Who are these?"

Among the three people brought by Lin Rong, Ge Long only recognized the old housekeeper Yu Yuan. As for Xu Pan and Ma Hongjun, Ge Long did not recognize them.

"Uncle Ge, let me introduce you." Lin Rong pointed at the two of them and introduced them:

"This is the captain of my palace's guard, Xu Pan."

"And this boy's name is Ma Hongjun. He is a talented spirit master from a commoner family and possesses the top beast spirit, the Fire Phoenix."

Fire Phoenix Martial Spirit?
Ge Long couldn't help but take another look at the red-haired boy in front of him, and his mind instantly became active.

The reason why Golong was able to rise to the position of Grand Marshal of the Three Armies of the Tiandou Empire was that, in addition to his extraordinary martial arts, he also possessed a lot of strategy and wisdom.

When Lin Rong introduced Ma Hongjun, he specifically emphasized the fact that Ma Hongjun was born a commoner and had the Fire Phoenix spirit.

This gave Ge Long a clue to think about the purpose of Lin Rong's visit.

"Tiandou City is thousands of miles away from Jialing Pass. Since my nephew is willing to bring a talented soul master of civilian origin here, it must not be as simple as asking him to join the army."

Ge Long's eyes turned, as if he had thought of something, and he exclaimed in his heart:

"Hiss! You're after the spot under my butt!"

After figuring it out, Ge Long looked at Ma Hongjun carefully, then turned to ask Lin Rong:
"My dear nephew, this child doesn't look much older than you. He is probably about nine years old."

"With the Fire Phoenix Martial Spirit, I'm sure his innate spirit power won't be too low."

"Since this child was brought to me by you, my nephew, could it be that he is already a great spirit master?" "A great spirit master who is just over nine years old is indeed extremely talented."

After hearing this, Lin Rong didn't say anything, but just shook his head to deny it.

When Ge Long saw this, he was not disappointed at all.

After all, a nine-year-old great soul master, even if he is a genius with full soul power, needs to cultivate three levels a year to achieve it after absorbing a soul ring and breaking through to level eleven.

However, full innate soul power is so rare that even the top-grade beast martial spirit, the Fire Phoenix, cannot guarantee that its accompanying soul power will be at the innate full level.

However, the possibility of having innate full soul power is not high, but the possibility of having innate ninth-level soul power is still very high.

Moreover, Ma Hongjun was born a commoner, so his Fire Phoenix Martial Soul must have mutated. Mutated top-grade martial souls usually come with extremely high accompanying soul power.

So, Ge Long guessed:

"If he is not a great soul master, then he must have soul power of at least level 18 or 19, right?"

Lin Rong still shook his head to deny, which made Ge Long frown deeply.

Seeing this, Lin Rong gave a small hint:
"Uncle Ge, your guess is too low. You should guess higher!"

"Guess higher?" Ge Long blurted out instinctively:

"Above the level of Great Soul Master, isn't that Soul Venerable?"

"How is it possible for a nine-year-old soul master!"

Seeing Ge Long's determined expression, Lin Rong turned to Ma Hongjun and said:
"Hongjun, show us your spirit ring and let Uncle Ge open his eyes!"

"Understood!" Ma Hongjun responded, took a few steps forward, and summoned his martial spirit to possess his body.

During the process of the Fire Phoenix Martial Spirit possessing the body, soul rings symbolizing the soul master's identity and realm began to appear one after another.

On the side, Goron stared intently.

The first yellow hundred-year soul ring.

The second yellow hundred-year soul ring.

The third purple thousand-year soul ring!

Yellow, yellow and purple, the best soul ring combination of two yellows and one purple, the cultivation level of Soul Master.

This was nothing in Ge Long's eyes, but Ma Hongjun in front of him was only nine years old!

"He really is a nine-year-old Soul Master!"

Even though he saw it with his own eyes, Goron still found it hard to believe that the scene before his eyes was real.

"My dear nephew!" After Ge Long came to his senses, he looked at Lin Rong with a meaningful look and asked:

"Why don't you keep such a genius in your house, but let him join the army instead?"

"Mr. Yu is already old. Wouldn't it be better if you keep this man and train him well, and let him take over Mr. Yu's position in the future?"

After hearing what Ge Long said, Lin Rong showed the reason with his actions.

“Uncle Ge, look, besides Hongjun, there is another peerless genius in front of you.”

As he spoke, three soul rings, two yellow and one purple, appeared one after another under Lin Rong's feet.

"I can support the Lin family by myself, so, Uncle Ge, I have no reason to keep Hongjun in the Duke's Mansion."

Looking at the three soul rings with deeper colors in front of him, Ge Long was so shocked that he was speechless.

It was not until a while later that Ge Long was shocked to find that Lin Rong had revealed his soul ring without releasing his martial soul.

In Ge Long's impression, only Titled Douluo can reveal the soul ring without releasing the martial soul.

But his nephew clearly only had the cultivation level of a three-ringed Soul Master, so how could he be able to do things that only a Titled Douluo could do.

(End of this chapter)