Douluo: I am a biologist, awakening the weapon spirit?

Chapter 160 Starting Point
Chen Feng didn't pay attention to Gu Yueling and Xiao Wu's conversation; he was focused on Ning Rongrong's soul ring experiment.

In his mind, he had basically decided that Gu Yueling was the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, the auspicious beast of the Emperor.

The martial spirit and name may be coincidental, the characteristic of great strength may also be coincidental, and claiming to be lucky may also be a coincidence.

However, with so many coincidences combined, it's unlikely to be a coincidence at all.

Furthermore, Gu Yueling can make the giant steel snake submit to her. Even if this can be explained by the effect of the earth dragon golden gourd, after combining all the clues, the conclusion that Gu Yueling is a three-eyed golden lion in human form is basically confirmed.

In this way, it's only a matter of time before Gu Yueling discovers Xiao Wu's identity as a soul beast transformed into a human.

However, whether or not it is discovered will not have much impact, so the priority at present is to verify the feasibility of the Soul Ring Condensation Method.

Although Chen Feng succeeded once, a single example is not enough. Only when the Soul Ring Condensation Method is successful on a second or even more people can it truly become universal and no longer be considered an accidental phenomenon that occurs only to lucky individuals.

Absorbing a spirit ring takes time, and Ning Rongrong's condition remained stable during this period. Seeing this, the others felt at ease and began to cultivate. Only Chen Feng, Tang San, Gu Yueling, and the four teachers stayed by Ning Rongrong's side.

Gu Yueling was there to observe this so-called Soul Ring Condensation Method, while the others were there to prevent Ning Rongrong from getting into trouble and also to serve as a warning.

After all, they are currently in the lair of a soul beast, so necessary precautions are still necessary.

However, the giant rock snakes around remained silent, each finding a place in their caves to coil up, occasionally glancing at the strange humans brought by their leader.

Meanwhile, the giant steel snake, as the leader, lay quietly near Gu Yueling and Xiao Wu, seemingly dozing or perhaps guarding them.

Time was lost in the cave, and after an unknown amount of time, Ning Rongrong finally opened her eyes.

She held the Nine-Treasure Glazed Pagoda in her hands, and three soul rings—two yellow and one purple—rose from beneath her feet, pulsating slowly around her, filling her face with joy.

"Xiao Feng, I did it!" Ning Rongrong said to Chen Feng with a smile as she withdrew her martial spirit.

"Very good," Chen Feng said, giving a thumbs up.

Hearing the commotion, everyone else stopped cultivating, but Bai Chenxiang remained immersed in her practice.

"This is all thanks to you." Ning Rongrong reached out and hugged Chen Feng's arm.

"Ahem, Ning Rongrong, what kind of soul skill did you acquire?" the master asked with a light cough.

"It's a defense boost, the effect is to increase defense by forty percent," Ning Rongrong replied.

The effects of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's soul skills are actually fixed, while the quality of the soul beast mainly affects the soul power required to use the soul skills.

As a special individual within the Onix clan, the Thousand-Year Steel Serpent's quality is undoubtedly excellent, making it a very suitable soul beast for Ning Rongrong at this stage.

Flander glanced at the unscathed, thousand-year-old Steelix beside him and sighed:

"I had some doubts about this so-called Soul Ring Condensation Method before, but now that I've seen it with my own eyes, it feels like a truly miraculous skill."

The master nodded. "That's right. I used to worry that one day, the soul beast race would be wiped out by soul masters. Now, that worry has been resolved by the Soul Ring Condensation Technique."

"Should we promote this method within the academy?" Liu Erlong asked.

The master pondered for a moment, then looked at Chen Feng and said, "I think we should be more cautious about this matter. What do you think, Xiao Feng?"

Chen Feng nodded. "That's what I think too. The spread of this Soul Ring Condensation Method has a huge impact, so we can't do it rashly, otherwise it will definitely cause a lot of trouble."

"Furthermore, now that this method of condensing spirit rings has been verified, I plan to officially name it the Ring-Expanding Method, while the traditional method of obtaining spirit rings will be called the Ring-Hunting Method."

"The Ring-Exploring Method and the Ring-Hunting Method... Hmm, very apt." The master nodded in agreement.

"But what kind of trouble will the spread of the ring-topography method cause?" Xiaowu asked, puzzled.

At this moment, she really wanted the Ring-Raising Technique to immediately replace the Ring-Hunting Technique, so that the damage to the soul beasts would definitely be much less.

Chen Feng understood Xiao Wu's thoughts, and he explained:

"Firstly, among the Soul Master community, a considerable number of people and forces are profiting by hunting Soul Beasts. The spread of the Ring Expansion Technique will first and foremost damage their interests. Harming someone's livelihood is like killing their parents, so you can imagine the reaction of these people and forces."

As he spoke, his gaze swept across the faces of the other people.

Among those present were the Star Luo Royal Family and the Zhu Family, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon School, and the Dragon-Snake Family to which Meng Yiran belonged.

As the wealthiest sect, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School reaps extremely high profits from treasure appraisal, and they don't even care about the paltry gains from soul hunting.

The same logic applies to the Star Luo Royal Family, the Zhu Family, and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. For them, it's better to let their family disciples cultivate a little longer than to spend time hunting souls to make money.

The Dragon-Snake family is said to be one of the shareholders of the Beast Academy and also controls a portion of the assets of the local Great Soul Arena. They do not need to profit from hunting souls.

In other words, the Tuohuan method will not affect the interests of the factions to which these people in the cave belong, so Chen Feng does not need to worry about being betrayed by his teammates at this stage.

As for what happens in the future, we'll talk about that later. At least for now, the team is still pure.

The master agreed with what Chen Feng said, "That's right. Hunting soul beasts and selling materials has become a business. Although the profits are not huge and the truly powerful forces don't care much for them, there are quite a few people involved in this business. That's why I think we need to be cautious."

Xiao Wu pursed her lips and remained silent, but Gu Yueling noticed her sullen mood.

"Secondly, there's the issue of the soul beasts. We still don't have a stable way to communicate with them," Chen Feng continued.

"Really? I feel like we communicated quite well with the soul beasts both that time in the Star Dou Great Forest and this time," Ma Hongjun said with some doubt.

"Is it because we encountered special individuals both times?" Oscar looked at the young Steelix. "This one was probably just too lucky; there's no chance it will become common."

Chen Feng nodded. "Yes, if we want to truly spread the Ring Expansion Technique, we must have a means to communicate stably with soul beasts. We can't rely on good luck every time. Even if we have good luck every time, others won't have it either. Then spreading the Ring Expansion Technique would be meaningless, because ordinary people simply can't use it."

"It seems there's still a long way to go," Tang San sighed.

He deeply empathized with Xiao Wu's low spirits because he possessed half of a soul beast's bloodline.

His mother died because of the Ring Law, so he also wanted to change all of that.

However, after listening to Chen Feng's words, Tang San understood that this matter could not be rushed and that Chen Feng needed to plan it carefully.

The reason Tang San didn't try to plan it himself was because he simply didn't know anything about things like the new order.

Fortunately, Chen Feng understood this, so Tang San believed that he only needed to follow instructions.

"Why replace the Hunting Ring Method with the Ring-Expanding Method? It's both laborious and doesn't bring any benefits. The soul beasts that survive as a result might not even thank you." A clear, cold voice rang out at this moment.

The master paused for a moment, then said:

"Because if the Hunting Ring Technique continues to be used, one day the soul beasts will be killed to extinction, and then the soul masters will also perish."

"So it was all for the future of the Soul Master profession," Gu Yueling said calmly. "That's not all," Chen Feng added at this moment.

"Oh? What else?" Gu Yueling raised her delicate eyebrows.

"The Hunting Ring Law turns the relationship between humans and soul beasts into a zero-sum game, meaning that if one side wants to gain something, it must cause losses to the other side. I think this kind of relationship is unhealthy."

"So what do you consider to be healthy?"

"Peaceful coexistence, mutual benefit and win-win results, and common development." Chen Feng smiled and said, "Humans and soul beasts are both beings born from Douluo Star. Instead of killing each other to the point of bloodshed, we should learn from each other's strengths to solve the predicaments faced by our respective races."

“It’s a beautiful fantasy; you can’t eliminate all the strife in the world,” Gu Yueling said.

“You misunderstand. I don’t want to eliminate all the fighting. I just want to turn the fighting into a competition that benefits both sides, so that neither side can be driven to a dead end,” Chen Feng said, shaking his head.

Gu Yueling quietly looked at Chen Feng, who was smiling, and after a while, she looked away and said:
"Hope you can make it."

"I will do my best," Chen Feng said.

"I never imagined you had such a dream, Xiaofeng," Dai Mubai exclaimed in amazement.

"Since God has given me such talent, wouldn't it be a waste not to do something great?" Chen Feng said with a smile.

“I will help you,” Dai Mubai said earnestly.

“Me too.” Ning Rongrong followed closely behind, and the others echoed her.

Flanders and his three companions looked at each other and said with a smile:

"Let's include a few of us too, this sounds like a very important matter."

"Then let's all work together." Chen Feng's smile deepened considerably.

"Huh? Why hasn't Xiangxiang woken up yet?" Xiaowu suddenly asked, puzzled.

Everyone looked at Bai Chenxiang upon hearing the sound, only to see that she was still in a meditative posture and had not moved since the beginning.

"I hope nothing bad has happened?" Ma Hongjun muttered.

"Shut your mouth." Xiao Wu glared at him.

“I am a phoenix, not a crow,” Ma Hongjun retorted defiantly, but no one paid him any attention.

Liu Erlong came to Bai Chenxiang's side, put his hand on her shoulder to feel it, and said:

"Everything is normal, the child is still cultivating."

"Working this hard?" Xiao Wu asked, stunned.

Someone like her, who can catch up with the main group in cultivation level just by eating and playing, has never really experienced the taste of hard work.

However, after everyone else had eaten the immortal herbs, she could no longer relax as before and had to curl up, otherwise her soul power level might not be able to keep up.

“Since Bai Chenxiang is cultivating, let’s wait for her. It’s also a good opportunity for us to rest a bit more,” Flander said.

No one objected, and they all went to find places to rest. Those who didn't want to rest started cultivating. After all, even the young girl Bai Chenxiang was so enthusiastic, and the others were also motivated.

The surrounding rock snakes did not disturb them; some went out to forage, some stayed in the nest to rest, and others guarded the eggs in the nest.

After some time, Bai Chenxiang finally opened her eyes and happily said:

"I've broken through! I've reached level 30!"

"Congratulations!" Chen Feng, who had just awakened from his cultivation, was the first to offer his congratulations.

“In this way, we will all become Soul Masters very soon.” Oscar also woke up.

“I am a Soul Master,” Dai Mubai interjected somewhat abruptly.

"Oh, I know you're a Soul Master now, what's so great about that?" Ma Hongjun muttered.

Dai Mubai grabbed his neck and locked him up, saying with a half-smile:
"Fatty, what did you just say?"

"Uh, I mean, we all know that you're from the Soul Sect, Boss Dai. That's really amazing." Ma Hongjun admitted defeat very quickly.

"That's more like it." Dai Mubai let him go.

"Are there any wind-attribute soul beasts here?" Bai Chenxiang asked curiously.

"Yes, they exist, but not in large numbers, and they generally live in high places," the master said.

Flanders nodded and said:

“When Lao Zhao and I came here before, we did see some wind-attribute spirit beasts occasionally. Since we are going to find a flying spirit beast for Hong Jun, let’s go and take a look at that mountain peak we were going to before.”

"Shall we set off now?" Ma Hongjun asked impatiently.

Chen Feng glanced at the Steelix and Onix lying quietly not far away and said:

"We should give them a thank-you gift before we leave, after all, they helped us."

The master thought for a moment and said, "Both Onix and Steelix feed on rocks, and metal ores are also acceptable."

Upon hearing this, Tang San took out several pieces of iron essence from the Jade Snow Ice. "Will this be alright?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the giant rock snakes around him immediately stood up and stared at the iron essence in Tang San's hand.

"Well, it seems they quite like it." Tang San took out all the iron essence he had stored and placed it in front of the giant rock snakes.

"These metals must be difficult to make, right?" Ning Rongrong asked.

"Luckily, I played it during my free time," Tang San said.

Ning Rongrong thought for a moment, then took out a black card and handed it to him, saying, "Consider it a purchase by me."

"We don't need that many, it's just a few gold soul coins." Tang San said, somewhat amused and exasperated.

As soon as she finished speaking, Ning Rongrong took out a bag of gold soul coins and handed it over.

(End of this chapter)