Douluo Continent: My Martial Soul is the Black Dragon, I am the Lord of the Gods

……

“Rules…” Xuanming murmured to himself. Gods can bestow soul rings, and they can also take them away.

Human Soul Masters can theoretically relinquish their Soul Rings, but the price is the complete destruction of their cultivation. In this context, there seems to be a tangible connection between divine power, soul power, and Soul Rings.

With that in mind, Xuanming found a step in the Sea God Temple and sat down.

"Sea God, lend me two divinely bestowed soul rings."

Poseidon's divine sense carried a hint of doubt, but he still bestowed two ordinary divine-given soul rings. The maximum age of these items was only 100,000 years, which was the limit that most Seagod Island examinees could reach under normal circumstances.

If it's a divinely bestowed soul ring like the one Xuanming absorbed before, which can reach up to a million years, then it's not something that can be given away casually.

After all, a million years is the limit for reaching the realm of gods.

The million-year soul rings contain the power of the laws of the divine realm. The Asura, Evil, Destruction, and Goodness rings that Xuanming has obtained so far all contain the power of the laws of several god-kings themselves. Although they are only in their infancy, it means that Xuanming has a "seed".

Just like a seed of Blue Silver Grass, it can grow into Blue Silver Grass, or into a ten-thousand-year Blue Silver King, or even a hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor.

Once you have the seed, how high it can reach depends on how you plant it.

Xuanming grasped the two divinely bestowed soul rings, closed his eyes, and immersed all his divine sense into the ring of kindness within his body. He wanted to feel and understand how the gods "created" soul rings. He wanted to deduce this process in reverse.

A long silence fell over the Temple of Poseidon, with only Poseidon quietly standing by, watching the pure white aura surrounding Xuanming and the two divinely bestowed soul rings in front of him reflect each other.

A month passed quietly.

Xuanming opened his eyes, raised his hand, palm facing upwards, and the vast, attribute-less divine power within his body began to slowly gather, compress, and construct in an extremely complex manner...

He attempted to mimic the law fluctuations of the divinely bestowed soul rings granted by Poseidon, using his own divine power to condense a brand new, independent divinely bestowed soul ring!

This process was extremely difficult, requiring an almost obsessive level of precise control over divine power, as well as a profound understanding of the underlying rules governing the formation of spirit rings. The unique connotations of "creation" and "bestowing" contained within the Ring of Kindness provided him with crucial guidance.

Time passed slowly, and fine beads of sweat even appeared on Xuanming's forehead, which was extremely rare for a level 100 True God. The energy ball in his palm kept changing and flickering unstablely, as if it might dissipate at any moment.

After a whole day and night.

"Om-"

A soft but steady hum sounded.

A ball of light, emitting a faint white glow and with energy fluctuations roughly equivalent to a hundred-year-old soul ring, finally slowly took shape!

It worked!
Although this spirit ring is of extremely low quality, it can only be granted to a spirit master as a hundred-year spirit ring at most. Moreover, because his divine power has no specific attribute, this spirit ring is also attributeless, and its effect may not be as good as hunting a suitable hundred-year spirit beast.

But that's not important!
Importantly, he can indeed create spirit rings.

Since creation is possible, then theoretically... reverse analysis to find the "node" connecting the spirit ring and the spirit's origin, and then "stripping" it away, isn't entirely impossible! Poseidon's divine sense was filled with undisguised shock: "You...you brat...you actually managed to do it?!"

Although it's just a hundred-year-old spirit ring, its significance is completely different! This is no longer a simple application of power, but rather a "creation" that touches upon the level of rules!
He was only at the initial stage of godhood and did not have a divine position, yet he was able to "create"?
Xuanming stared at the faint ball of light in his palm. The energy fluctuations of the century-old soul ring were like fireflies to him, but the significance it represented was immense. He had proven the possibility of "creation," which provided the theoretical foundation for "deprivation" and "substitution."

He could understand Poseidon's shock, but he was more concerned about the feasibility of the actual operation.

"What are the raw materials for condensing a divinely bestowed soul ring?" Xuanming asked, wanting to assess the cost.

“Divine power, the power of faith, either is fine,” Poseidon replied, then understood Xuanming’s intention, his tone filled with disbelief, “You don’t really intend to use this method to replace the soul beast’s soul ring, do you? Kid, do you know how many that would cost?”

Poseidon's divine sense carried a strong sense of denial: "Even on my Seagod Island, divinely bestowed spirit rings are only granted to those who pass the Black-level assessment or above! How vast is the number of spirit masters on the Douluo Continent? A spirit master needs a maximum of nine spirit rings in their lifetime! Even if most spirit masters don't need that many, just the existing generation of spirit masters alone require hundreds of thousands or even millions of spirit rings! To fill that gap with divinely bestowed spirit rings?"

"Believe me, even if you had that ability, you wouldn't have the leisure to do it."

Xuanming didn't refute it; he knew Poseidon was telling the truth. But that didn't mean the path was completely blocked; it just meant a more efficient, more fundamental method was needed, or... the "demand" itself needed to be changed.

He temporarily set aside this difficult question and instead asked another crucial question: "How long will it take for Poseidon to inherit your divine position?"

Poseidon pondered for a moment and estimated, "She has a solid foundation and possesses the complete Trident of the Sea God and the Heart of the Sea God, but it will take at least two more years for her to fully integrate her divine position and condense her own Sea God authority."

Two years… Xuanming silently calculated in his mind. Then, connecting this with Bibi Dong, who was receiving the inheritance of the Asura God, a clear outline emerged in his mind.

On Seagod Island, there is Poseidon, who is about to become a god, while on the mainland, in the Martial Soul Empire, there is Bibi Dong, who is undergoing the Asura God Trial. The content of this fifth trial is "Reshaping the Continental Order," which is essentially to help Bibi Dong establish a truly stable and sustainable empire.

The divine realm is... putting a rein on him.

Because of Poseidon's existence, he cannot and will not take action against Poseidon Island and the creatures of the seas it protects.

Because of Bibi Dong and the Spirit Empire, he was also unable to indiscriminately destroy the humans on the continent.

Poseidon's willingness to let Poseidon inherit the divine position was tantamount to indirectly handing over some of the "jurisdiction" and "responsibility" of Poseidon's island to Poseidon, who had a close relationship with him. This was not simply a matter of moral coercion, but rather endowed him with a certain degree of influence and the ability to interfere.

Once Bibi Dong becomes a god, given the complex and strong relationship between them, she will become the strongest force to restrain humanity and maintain order on the continent. She will also be able to largely prevent humans from excessively harming soul beasts and destroying the internal order.

The God of Kindness guided him to think about the rules of Soul Rings, and gave him the Soul Ring which contained the meaning of "creation", in order to provide him with the "tools" and "thinking" to solve problems.

Furthermore, despite his obvious signs of instability and destructive tendencies, the rewards from the divine trials were still distributed on time: four divine soul rings at the God-King level—Asura, Evil, Destruction, and Good—as well as help Gu Yuena restore her original form… All of this indicates that the divine realm does not want to completely oppose him; they are also avoiding extreme measures and are willing to provide him with support and space to grow within the rules.

What they want to see is a potential collaborator who can solve problems within a framework, possesses leadership and constructive thinking, rather than a madman and enemy who only knows how to destroy.

Having figured this out, Xuanming's restless and irritable state, which had been fueled by calculation and restraint, calmed down considerably.

Since the divine realm has made its stance clear, willing to play within the rules and granting him corresponding leverage and a certain degree of freedom, he is naturally willing to play a brilliant move on this chessboard.

He will not disappoint these "expectations," nor will he waste these "resources." (End of Chapter)