Douluo Continent: Starting with a Void Treasure Trove

Xiao Hongchen wanted to use his intuition about soul-guided cannonballs to bombard the silver dragon.

Seeing Xiao Hongchen's actions, Jing Hongchen thought to himself:

"Oh no, this is bad!"

Xu Yang watched with a slight smile.

Just as Xiao Hongchen was about to activate his cannons, the silver dragon stepped forward and, with its body now almost the size of an adult, swung its claws, tearing Xiao Hongchen's soul-guided cannons to shreds.

Then he ran happily to Xu Yang's side, as if he were asking for credit.

Xu Yang patted its head and said:

"Alright, you should go back and rest for a bit, or you can go have some fun by yourself."

With the increase in his soul power, Xu Yang can now summon the Silver Dragon for at least an hour. It's still possible to let it play around within Xu Yang's field of vision, since it only has the Void Treasury that will ruthlessly suppress it if it stays in the Sea of ​​Spirit all day.

The entire battle was very quick, lasting only about thirty seconds.

"Alright, the game is over."

Looking at Xiao Hongchen's withdrawn state!

Xu Yang said softly.

"Dean Hongchen, look at this..."

"Don't worry, brother will get better soon. He lost to me when we were learning how to use close-combat soul tools before, but he recovered very quickly then."

"So it's the same this time!"

"Are you Xu Yang, the number one genius of the Sun Moon Empire that Grandpa mentioned? My name is Meng Hongchen. Can we get to know each other?"

Meng Hongchen spoke, while looking at Xu Yang with a face full of infatuation.

Xu Yang noticed that Meng Hongchen's large eyes were staring intently at his face, completely ignoring Xiao Hongchen, who was standing beside him, feeling utterly defeated. His lips twitched slightly.

"Is...is everything really alright?"

Xu Yang asked Jing Hongchen again.

"Consider it a lesson for him, and it's a good thing so that he won't cause any trouble when he grows up because of his arrogant nature."

"Also, I'm sorry, I didn't expect Xiao to cause such a mess. I was planning to let you get to know each other better after the sparring session, so I'll send him back first."

"Meng, you can stay here for now. Haven't you been wanting to get to know Xu Yang properly for a while now...?"

Jing Hongchen smiled, then picked up Xiao Hongchen, who was still in a daze, and walked out the door.

Xu Yang glanced at Meng Hongchen, who was dressed in a beige dress with a few perfectly placed ornaments. Xu Yang could tell that those ornaments were all soul tools with different functions, and of a high grade, showing that Jing Hongchen had put a lot of effort into his granddaughter.

As for Jing Hongchen's purpose in keeping her here, it's quite obvious.

Xu Yang didn't care about any of that and spoke first:

"Miss Meng, you must already know quite a bit about soul tools. Well then, I need an assistant. I need you to help me organize the magic arrays involved in various low-level soul tools related to soul beasts."

This is another research direction for Xu Yang. The Void Treasury told him that knowledge related to soul beasts is of great value to it.

Coincidentally, Xu Yang also had a great interest in these things.

The two hit it off in a sense. Xu Yang's next research focus then turned to the combination of soul beasts and soul tools.

Perhaps it could also be called bionics.

However, compared to soul beast-like soul tools, Xu Yang researched more about how to transform the corpses of soul beasts into soul tools. After all, in addition to hunting soul rings, the number of soul beasts that die each year for various reasons is quite large.

Xu Yang felt it necessary to make use of these things. Furthermore, this would lay some foundation for his future plans to integrate warriors.

Xu Yang was originally worried about lacking an assistant who could help him handle miscellaneous matters, but unexpectedly, this opportunity came knocking on his door.

Believing that there's no harm in not using it, he simply decided to let Meng Hongchen work for him here. As for compensation... she's already gained work experience and knowledge from me, so why would she need compensation?

Not making her pay internship fees was already considered a great act of mercy from Xu Yang.

……

On the other side, at Jing Hongchen's home.

Xiao Hongchen, devastated, was crying with snot and tears streaming down her face.

"Grandpa...I...really...really...not...as good as Xu Yang...?"

Because he was crying so hard, Xiao Hongchen was already out of breath, and even his speech was choked with sobs.

Jing Hongchen said as if he had expected all of this:

"Laugh, losing once is not terrible, what is terrible is losing your eternally proud heart."

Sometimes, when your spirits are low, you can't stand firm anymore.

"If I lose this time, can I win it back in the future...?"

"Don't dwell on temporary gains and losses. People should learn to look forward. You are only a year apart now, and his soul power is much higher than yours."

"But after several decades, this gap will gradually narrow, until it is almost non-existent."

"Grandpa...you...you mean...in the future...I can...win it back...right?"

Xiao Hongchen continued to sob as he asked.

Although Jing Hongchen knew that the possibility was very small, because he had discovered the moment the silver dragon appeared, it was definitely a being that surpassed all other beast spirits.

Even the bloodline of a divine beast would pale in comparison to such talent.

But he still spoke up to comfort her:

"Of course, as long as you keep working hard and getting stronger, you will eventually get your revenge."

"But you must remember to always maintain a humble heart, and I don't want something like today to happen again."

Having gained Jing Hongchen's approval, Xiao Hongchen finally smiled again.

He still had tears streaming down his face, but he smiled and said:

"I will, Grandpa. I will definitely beat Xu Yang at least once in the future."

……

Xu Yang didn't take Xiao Hongchen's challenge to heart, but Xiao Hongchen's visit today reminded him that the main storyline seemed to be starting in eight or nine years.

This was plenty of time for him, and Xu Yang kept calculating the opportunities that appeared in the original work.

Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm... Electrolux... Ice Emperor... Gold of Life... Snow Emperor...

One word after another floated into his mind.

He eventually discovered a harsh reality: apart from the Gold of Life, everything else was currently very difficult for him to obtain.

Tianmeng Ice Silkworm and Electrolux are essentially working together. Without any special assistance, they can only wait for Tianmeng Ice Silkworm to find Huo Yuhao on its own. Electrolux only became a guest in Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea after being intrigued by Tianmeng's sacrifice.

Getting the Ice Empress to sacrifice herself for him would be no less difficult than him enduring the explosion of a level nine soul-guided cannon. He couldn't possibly get the Ice Empress to sacrifice herself just by talking, and he also didn't have the method to condense a so-called wisdom soul ring.

The Snow Emperor was in the same boat. He couldn't pinpoint exactly when that unfortunate Snow Emperor had been captured. Sending people to investigate would be like searching for a needle in a haystack, and would likely attract the attention of those with ulterior motives.

The only thing that should still be in the territory of the Sun Moon Empire is that we can find it using our own family's resources.